An interesting and suggestive chapter in our early colonial history is
found in the constitution, laws and court records of Connecticut. That
some of the enactments and judicial proceedings, to those ignorant of
the peculiar condition of the colonists, seem ludicrous, and fit to
provoke the unfriendly criticism they have received, is not denied. But
an honest, competent critic can not take them thus, and will not hastily
discredit the intelligence of the men who, under new and most trying
circumstances, made such regulations for their little commonwealth as
the exigencies of the situation seemed to demand. We do not approve of
all the laws of that olden-time as wise and just; nor do we think the
administration always beyond just reproach; but we do venerate the men
who for the glory of God and the good of society enacted and rigorously
enforced them.
The ancient orthography is retained as a specimen of the English of that
day: