Richard and Samuel Izacke, father and son, successive Chamberlains of the City, wrote a wonderful eighteenth century collection of Memorials of the City of Exeter. The very much Enlarged, second edition, from which the following is borrowed, was published in 1724. Of the year 1625, in the reign of Charles 1, it was recalled:
" A Pest-house in the Parish of St Sydwell's was purchased by the City, for the Benefit of such Poor People as were or should be infected with the Plague.
No common Beggars in the open Streets were permitted, but presently sent to the Work-House, or House of Correction, to get their bread by the sweat of their brows, Idleness being the root of all evil; it being no less true, than a witty Saying, That the Devil tempts all Men but the Idle Man, who tempts the Devil, the Idle Man's Brain being a Shop for the Devil to work in."
There are no beggars in Exeter now. The politically correct term for idle men and women who sit on the open streets and ask passers-by for change is the homeless. The devil is still at work though, witness the number of roaring-drunk, cursing, aggressive homeless who, all too often, seem to take command of the city's streets and gardens.
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