A SCUFFLE WITH THE MILITIA, EXETER 1772

 A Letter from Exeter September 21st 1772

"A great Concourse of People assembled on Sunday Evening last, to see the Militia at Roll-call. in a large spacious Green at the back of this City;  but the Company being so great, crowded rather too close to the Officers.   Col. Ackland then addressed the Company, and begged they would draw back; which not being readily complied with, he addressed them a second Time, though in a different and somewhat rougher Stile, bidding them stand off, or he would force them to it.  His Threats, however, were attended with just the same Effect as his Entreaties.  Finding all his Endeavours to persuade the Company to draw back, fruitless, he had Recourse to other Means:  He applied to Capt. Chase to march his Company of Light Infantry among the Crowd and knock down all who obstructed the Passage, among whom were several Women with Child, old Cripples, &c.  This Behaviour soon raised the Resentment of the Mob, who, in their Turn, discharged a Volley of Stones, &c. at the Soldiers, and collared and struck the Colonel several times.  The Officers and Soldiers in an Instant, with their Swords drawn, rushed among the Crowd, and endeavoured to seize some of the Ringleaders, on which a dreadful, though not very bloody, scuffle ensued;  the Mob endeavoured to mark the Fellows by cutting their Clothes off their Backs, in doing which they sometimes cut rather too deep.

The Worshipful the Mayor, attended by the Stewards and Constables, repaired to this Scene of Confusion and by taking two Fellows into custody, restored matters to Order.  On examining the Prisoners it appeared that the Officers first collared and drew their Swords on them, without the least Provocation, in Consequence of which they were immediately discharged.  This is not the first Scuffle we have had with these Men-ofWar."

  Derby Mercury 2nd Oct 1772

Eighteenth Century life seems to have been as rumbustious as Hogarth painted it.   Here in Exeter it seems you could spend your Sundays scuffling.   If you were a part-time soldier you could hope to knock down a few old cripples and pregnant women and even to wave your sword at the 'mob'..  If you were with 'the People' you could heave a few bricks at a light-infantryman or even collar a colonel. 

I like the capitalisation of nouns in these old newspaper reports,  'Volley of Stones' is so much more graphic than 'volley of stones'.