232 SUNDAY LEGISLATION AND ITS OBSERVANCES. 



Lord's resurrection, which in the middle ages, denoted not only Eas- 

 ter day, but every Sunday throughout the year.* In the copy of 

 this celestial diploma, which is preserved entire by Roger de Hoveden, 

 the Lord is made to define the Sunday to be between the ninth hour 

 of Saturday, and sunrise on Monday ; and to swear by his right hand 

 that he will send the Pagans upon the people to slay them, unless 

 they keep the Sunday, and the festivities of the saints.-f* 



As the commencement of Sunday on three o'clock of the preceding 

 afternoon was a considerable enlargement of the holy day, and an 

 equal infringement on the time which should be devoted to business, 

 there seems to have been some difficulty in procuring a strict observ- 

 ance of the supernumerary hours. What could not be effected by 

 persuasion or law, was attempted by intimidation, and the people 

 were alarmed by prodigies. A carpenter, driving a nail, on Satur- 

 day afternoon, was struck with a palsy : a man baked a loaf on 

 Saturday afternoon, and when he broke it on Sunday, blood issued 

 forth ; and a miller, who was grinding corn on Saturday afternoon, 

 suddenly beheld the machinery stand still, and a torrent of blood 

 flow from the mill instead of flour. Notwithstanding these and many 

 other visible manifestations of divine displeasure, the people, says the 

 accurate chronicler, fearing more the loss of earthly than of heavenly 

 profit, continued to transact their venal affairs on the Sunday as 

 usual. J The Saturday afternoon is still considered as a sort of holi- 

 day in many country places in the north of England, and no doubt it 

 is in consequence of this early connection of it with Sunday. 



Bad examples were set in high places, and tended greatly to nullify 

 the efforts of the monks. On the Continent we find Queen Maria 

 conveying an estate on the second Sunday of the year 1205 ; and 

 at home, in 1209, King John does not hesitate to receive a number 

 of palfreys in liquidation of a fine, even on a Palm Sunday. || Trans- 

 fers of property among the higher orders of the nobility, on Sunday, 

 are innumerable in this reign. In that of his successor, Henry III., 

 a circumstance is said to have occurred at Tewkesbury, which has 

 undergone several versions, and which is consequently well known. 

 It is briefly related in the Latin Chronicle of Evesham, which Leland 

 supposes to have been written in this reign ; and the anecdote may so 

 far be considered to be authentic. " In the year 1260, a Jew at 

 Tewkesbyri fell into a privy on the Sabbath, and from reverence of 

 that day would not suffer himself to be drawn out. Richard, Earl of 

 Gloucester, would not allow him to be extricated on Sunday, and 



Du Cange, Suppl. torn. iii. col. 599. Art de Verifier les Dates, torn. i. tit. 

 Glossaire, &c. 



f Juro vobis per dextram meam, &c. This composition is unworthy of its 

 pretended origin. It seems to have been much easier to work a miracle than to 

 write elegant, or even correct Latin, the appearance of which would itself have 

 been almost miraculous. 



+ Roger de Hoveden, p. 822. 



Dacnerii Spicileg. aliquot, Script. Veter. torn. viii. p. 221. 



H llotul. Literar. Clausarum, p. 114. 



