THE CLERICAL COMMAND, EXETER, 1854.

In the wake of the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade, (25th October, 1854) the citizens of Exeter were more than ever contributing to The Patriotic Fund that provided support for men wounded in the Crimean War and for the widows and families of those killed.  The parishioners of St Olave were keen to help.  On Saturday 18th many of them assembled in the vestry of the church.  Mr. George Ferris, citizen of Exeter and a man of means, was one of them and, being unwell and the weather being cold, he sat in the vestry and did not remove his hat:

"The Rev. Rodwell Roper came to the meeting, apparently in an angry mood, and, casting a bitter look at Mr. Ferris, requested him to take off his hat.  He did not however, immediately obey the clerical command, and the the rev. gentleman ordered the churchwardens to remove it.  Mr. Ferris at once took it off,  telling the parson, however, that it was evidently done to insult him;  and subsequently informing the churchwardens, in the presence of the Rev. Rodwell, that if they came to his house for subscriptions they mustn't come with the parson, or they would get nothing.  The rev. gentleman stepped forward to pacify Mr. Ferris but that gentleman politely told him that he would have nothing to do with him, and made some forcible observations which were unpleasing to his clerical ears;  whereupon he threatened to summon him before the civil power, which Mr. Ferris invited him to "do as he pleased" and intimated that if he wanted to "show himself off" in a similar way to Parson Alban, at Mevagissey, in his persecutions of the fishermen, he would find him a tough customer to deal with.  The Rev, Rodwell, however, beat a retreat; and the churchwardens subsequently waited on Mr Ferris (leaving the Rev. gentleman some distance in the rear), and obtained from him £2 towards the Patriotic Fund."  

Source: The Western Times, 25th November, 1854. 

THE RECHABITES, EXETER, 1890.

In October 1890, the Rechabites of Exeter celebrated fifty years of their Order.  They met in the Royal Public Rooms. The Bishop of London, Frederick Temple, and Mrs. Temple , wearing the Rechabite regalia, were guests of honour.  Frederick Temple was a Devonian who had been Bishop of Exeter and who would go on to be Archbishop of Canterbury.  He said to the assembled Rechabites:

"I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is to me to find myself once more in Exeter, and once more in hearing what is so sweet to my ears - though not perhaps to all ears - the Devonshire accent.  I cannot tell you how pleasant it is to me once more to find myself in the city amongst those with whom I lived when I was a boy and afterwards when I came back here as the Bishop of this Diocese."

The Rechabites were first and foremost a temperance society.  The good bishop gave them what they wanted:

"What is the great evil that causes little children to shiver with cold in the winter because they cannot be properly clad; that causes children to cry out from the pinch of hunger which cannot be satisfied; which causes unhappy wives to wish to the bottom of their hearts that they had never married; what is the great evil that drags men who, in their moments of sobriety love their families, down to such degraded neglect?  What is it in nine cases out of ten?  It is drunkenness and nothing else.  It is the use of this intoxicating drink and nothing else."  

Source:  The Western News, 1st October 1890. 

LIKING THE WONDERFUL ANGLICAN PRAYER BOOK. EXETER, 1865.

 The annual meeting of the local Christian Knowledge and the Propagation of the Gospel Societies was held on the 12th September 1865 at the Guildhall in Exeter.  The city's MP, John Duke Coleridge, within a decade to be the first Baron Coleridge, had much to say to the meeting.   On the subject of the English Prayer Book he said:

"It was not for him, an humble layman of the church, to presume to praise the prayer book of the church to which he belonged....but this he thought, that everybody must admit, regard being had to the time when the prayer-book was composed, it being the product of a bloody and terrible controversial period, and drawn up by men who were liable to have their judgement warped and swayed by passion and by tempestuous religious storms,  that it was wonderful,  and they must recognise in it the overruling Providence of Almighty God,  that there was so little in it of a proud spirit. and so much in it which all Christians could fairly and honestly accept, that it contained so much of the language of scripture, so much of the thoughts of scripture, and that on the whole it was penetrated with the life and essence of Christianity. - (Hear, hear,)"

Well, That's all right then!  

I like 'an humble' but not in anybody's imaginings was John Duke Coleridge an humble man.

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 13th September 1865.

EVEN SUCH DOGS AS HAVE NO TEETH, EXETER, 1871

 In 1871,  it was an offence to let one's dog roam at large in the city of Exeter without a muzzle.   Mr. T. H. Stone, the High Street silversmith, was summoned to appear before the magistrates at the Guildhall for allowing his bull-terrier to wander through Martin's-lane unmuzzled.  In court was Thomas Ward, at whose instance the summons was issued.  Thomas Ward had himself been fined for the unmuzzled-roaming-dog offence by the same Bench and now he was on a crusade to make sure others conformed to the regulation.

In court Mr. Stone said to Ward: I think you were fined the other day for letting your dog roam without a muzzle.  Ward replied: Yes,  I was; and I'll drag everybody up who lets their dog go about.  I don't see why I should pay no more than others. 

Mr. Stone told the magistrates:   "It is a very quiet dog.  It is nine years old, and has no teeth.  It lived seven years in the Mint, and some 200 children attending the school could do what they liked with it.  I tried to put a muzzle on the other day, and it rubbed all the skin off its nose.  Every policeman in the city knows the dog is quiet.  The dog is better known than I am."

The Post in its reporting clearly distinguished between the vengeful 'Ward' and the good citizen 'Mr.' Stone. 

No magistrate could fail to have been moved by Mr. Stone's description of his famous, harmless, toothless, child-loving, policeman-friendly, old bull-terrier but justice demanded that the regulations should be observed.  Ward had his pound of flesh and honest Mr. Stone was fined two-shillings-and-sixpence and had to pay costs.

Today, when it would seem that none of the city's regulations are enforced, there are no such anomolies.  

Source:  The Exeter Flying Post, 9th August 1871. 

        

"MISCHIEF ON FOOT", EXETER, 1884.

On Thursday 5th July 1884, Mr G. Smith of Cowick Street complained to the St. Thomas School Board that great damage had been done to his property by the children attending the Girls' and Infants' Schools.  His garden adjoined the play-ground and the glass in his greenhouse was constantly being broken.  He had collected quite a peck of stones thrown from the play-ground and he invited members of the Board to pay him a visit and see for themselves the extent of the damage.  He was not the only complainant:

"Mr Denham  said they had also been smashing his glass;  the other day he saw a collection of children drawn up in line and at a given signal   they all threw,  and there was quite a shower of stones.  He thought the teachers should be held responsible for the better conduct of the children.

"Dr. Woodman inquired if the girls as well as the boys threw stones, and on receiving a reply in the affirmative, intimated that he had hardly expected to hear that the girls were so bad, but other members  intimated that where there was any mischief on foot the girls were quite as active as the boys.  

"It was decided to require the teachers to report every case of stone throwing they saw, whether damage was done or not, to take steps for punishing the offenders, and to also call the attention of the police to any stone throwing in the streets."

As every Board School boy, or girl, knows, a peck contains 554.548 cubic inches.  But yes, of course, Mr Smith is using the term loosely.

Source The Western Times, 7th July 1884.

JOYOUS BELL-RINGING. EXETER, 1824'

"The lovers of this amusement were afforded a high treat on Monday last, when three prizes were rang for on the musical bells in St. Sidwell's tower, in this city, by the ringers from Christow, and Cheriton Bishop, who united, Moretonhamstead, Tedburn St. Mary, Crediton, Kenton, Exminster and Southmolton....

"The fineness of the weather and it being Whit-Monday drew a great number of persons to the spot, and St. Sidwells bore the appearance of a general holiday; the prize ringing commenced at a quarter to three o' clock. P.M. and continued for about three hours, when the prizes were adjudged in the following manner, first, a Superb Silver Quart Tankard to Christow and Cheriton Bishop; the second a pair of very handsome Silver Table Spoons. to Moretonhampstead; and the third, six Silver Tea Spoons, to Tedburn St. Mary.

"Some disappointment was evinced at this decision of the Triers, the Moreton ringers conceiving themselves not fairly treated, but those excellent youths should know they have lost nothing in public estimation, their well-earned reputation was nobly sustained, and the sixrh peal rang by them, will be long remembered and spoken of by all who heard it as a master piece in the annals of ringing;  indeed great praise is due to all the sets for the manner in which they acquitted themselves."

It is the afternoon of Whit Monday, 1824, and the sun is shining and the bells are chiming from the tower of old St. Sidwell's Church and the good people of Exeter gather to hear them.

Rang rather than rung is fun!

They were all good but that sixth peal that was rang by the Moretonhampstead ringers was a masterpiece in the annals of bell-ringing!   It was awesome! 

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 10th June, 1824.
    

OPENING THE RAILWAY, EXETER, 1844.

" JOHN CHAWBACON AND HIS WIFE MOLL.

Cum up t' Exeter to zee the Railway Opened, May 1, 1844.

"Lor Johnny! lor Johnny! now whativver es that,/ A urning along like a hoss upon wheels?/ Tis as bright as yer buttons and black as yer hat,/ And just listen, Johnny, and yer how 'a squeals!"

"Dash my buttons, Moll - I'll be darn'd if I know./ Us was vools to come yerr and to urn into danger; / Let's be off - 'a spits vire! lor do let us go - / And 'a holds up his head like a goose at a stranger."

"I be a bit vrightened- but let us bide yerr/ and hark how 'a puffs, and 'a caughs , and 'a blows;/ He edden unlike the old cart-hoss last yer - / Broken-winded; - and yet only zee how 'a goes!

"'A urns upon ladders , with they things like wheels / on hurdles, or palings put down on the ground;/  But why do they let un stray out o' the veels? / Tis a wonder they don't clap un into the pound."

"''A can't be alive, John, - I don't think 'a can." / " I bain't zure of that, Moll, for jist look 'ee how/ 'A breathes like a hoss or a znivell'd old man;- / And hark how he's bust out a caughing good now!"

"'A never could dra' all they waggins, d'ee zee,/ If 'a lived upon vatches, or turmets, or hay;/ Why, they waggins be vill'd up with people - they be; / And d'ee but look how they'm larfing away!"

"And look at they childern a urning about,/ Wi' their mouths full of gingerbread, there by the zhows;/ And zee to the scores of vine ladies turn'd out; / And gentlemen all in their best Zunday clothes.

"And look to thie houze made o'canvas so smart; / And the dinner set out with such bussle and fuss;-/ But us brought a squab-pie, you know, in the cart, / And a keg of good zider - zo that's nort to us,

"I tell 'ee what 'tis, Moll - this here is my mind; / The world's gone quite maze, as zure as you'm born;/  "Tis as true as I'm living - and that they will vind,/ With their hosses on wheels that don't live upon corn.

"I wouldn't go home b'mbye to the varm / Behind such a critter, when all's zed and dun, / We've travell'd score miles , but we never got harm, - / Vor there's nort like a market cart under the zun."  - PETER"

John and Moll (Mary) were far and away the most popular christian names given to Devon's village children in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.  The county was full of Johns and Marys.

The 'gullibility' and 'simplicity' of the  dialect-speaking rural Devonians were a source of great fun to the writers and the readers of the Exeter newspapers,.  Of course, the 'peasants' were neither so gullible nor so simple as the citizens of Exeter liked to think they were. These days somebody would take offence. 

Urning for running is new to me.  Did people actually say that? 

Vatches and turmets are vetches (legumes) and turnips.

Znivelled is a pleasant adjective for an old man.   I feel like that sometimes.

Why the apostrophe before 'a ?  Does anybody know?

Source: The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 4th May 1844.

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KNOCKING AT THE CATHEDRAL DOOR, EXETER, 1887.

The Western Times in 1887 (5th March) was at its most radical.  'Common sense' dictated that Exeter Cathedral should open its doors to the citizens of Exeter as a place of entertainment.  This idea was inspired by the news that the daughter of an ex-rector of Heavitree was making for herself a career as an actress. (shock, horror!)

"Histrionics are coming into vogue in Church matters, and we are to have a musical festival in the scheme of a choir festival in Exeter Cathedral, to which the British public will be admitted by five shilling tickets.  A procession of singing men in surplice, marching and choralling as they march, with a banner displayed, is a mild sort of beginning which may be made the precursor of some bold and heroic achievements in the histrionic line.

"The cathedral is a national building, and the people may get the use of it in more ways than one.  Only get rid of the notion that consecration can affect bricks, stone, mortar, timber and iron, however they may be combined in structure, and the building may be used for any purpose which will give pleasure and satisfaction to the greatest number.  People must not surrender their common sense to the parsons.  They will find no more religion in a building than the worshippers take into it;  and if the professional worshippers who are paid to carry on the established religion of the country pervert their office to the exaltation of the professional class, seeking to exalt their position by the mental enslavement of the people, that building becomes desecrate thereby."

'Common sense' has made little headway over the many years and the Church guards the 'sanctity' of its bricks and mortar, stone, timber, iron, like a dog a bone.   Concerts there are, as indeed there were in Georgian times, but not too many and always such as blend with the 'holy' fabric of the building having, perhaps, a sanctified fragrance about them and a few pious words from a dean or something to introduce them.    

'To choral' is a pretty verb.

ENTER LEFT: MR. KEAN'S FAITHFUL HOUND, EXETER, 1841.

The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 13th February 1841, reported that Mr. Charles Kean, the celebrated Shakespearean actor, son of the legendary actor Edmund Kean,  looking rather thinner than before his visit to America, had commenced an engagement at the Exeter Theatre on Monday the eighth,

"The fire of his full bright eyes -  which Lady Bulwer describes as 'the finest that ever rolled in human head' (was beaming) with as much effulgence as ever."  

When he was on stage acting the part of the king in Shakespeare's  'Richard the Third', the Exeter audience was much amused by the unexpected appearance of his dog:

"During the fight of Richard and Richmond on Wednesday evening at our Theatre, a large dog belonging to Mr. Kean, rushed upon the stage, showed its teeth, growled at Richmond, and barked at the audience, who were cheering him.   

"When Richard fell, he walked around the dying warrior and licked his master's face.  At  last it was found necessary for Mr. Kean's servant to enter the field of Bosworth and make prisoner of the faithful animal." 

Curiously, in the same issue The Gazette notified its readers that:  "A report is now going the round of some of the papers that Mr. Charles Kean was married a short time since to Ellen Tree. We beg to contradict this, knowing it to be untrue, nothing of the kind having occured, or being even contemplated." 

In fact Charles and Ellen had long been lovers.  They married eleven months later.

It pleases me that The Gazette uses the personal pronoun, masculine, for the dog and also that he writes of  'our Theatre' and with a capital T!

"PUSSYISM", EXETER, 1851.

On the first day of 1851, a correspondent, signing himself R. B's. GHOST ( I don't know who is meant by R. B.) wrote an open letter to the Bishop of Exeter which was published in The Western Times:

"My Lord Bishop of Exeter,

As one of the congregation at Heavitree Church, last Sunday morning, I complain of the Pussy conduct  there exhibited.   Instead of one or two parsons to perform the service decently and in order, there were no less than four of them, (Canon Bartholomew, Vicar Atherly, Curate Box and sub-curate Atkinson) all dressed in dirty looking surplices,  Mr. Atkindon, a half-fledged priest, playing the most histrionic part.

Immediately upon the  singers commencing to sing the first psalm after the morning prayers, he quitted the reading-desk, stalked out into the Chancel, and whle the other three clergymen were standing, he there threw himself nearly upon all fours, turning his back upon the audience, bringing his olfactory proboscis within three feet of the Canon's seat of honour, and remaining in that amusing position for about two minutes by Shrewsbury clock. And during the Communion Service, in which he performed no part, he exhibited the like disgusting behaviour...."

Those clergymen who exhibited 'Pussy conduct' were the followers of Dr. Pusey, the Oxford don who was arguing the need for more ceremony and ritual in the Anglican church service.  This was, rightly, seen to be 'popish' by most citizens of Exeter and as such was hated and feared.   Such things really mattered!

The canon's seat of honour is, of course, his backside.   

I much like the expression  'by Shrewsbury clock' which is found in Shakespeare and elsewhere meaning, but not here!, exactly.

I am surprised that R.B's GHOST was sloppy enough to use 'less than' when he meant 'fewer than'.

Source:  The Western Times,  4th January, 1851.

RAYMOND CATTELL ON EXETER, 1937.

 Raymond Cattell, who grew up in Torquay and was at one time, before moving to America and making his reputation as a world-leading psychologist, a teacher at Exeter University, published a book (1937) called Under Sail through Red Devon.  I revisited his book to read what he had to say about Exeter.  He clearly loved the city but he had one or two dry comments to make about it. viz:

"The accumulation of bovine intelligence has perhaps been going on in the Exeter region for centuries.  In 1549 a great rabble of objectors to the new prayer book (who also believed that the 'gentry' wished to kill them, or grind the faces of the poor or wash them) swarmed around Exeter and laid siege to it.   Foiled, they fetched sticks and barrels of gunpowder to the gates and set them alight; but their bonfires were so poorly constructed that the defenders were able to pour water on them and put them out.  History relates that they were sent about their business; but when I look at Exeter to-day I think they must have got in after all." 

and elsewhere:

"Its motto is 'ever faithful', not to Truth, Goodness and Beauty, to judge by its present repute, but to the Past.   When William of Orange landed at Brixham, to the relief of all progressive opinion, and marched London-wards to replace the Stuarts, he was met at Exeter by the surliest suspician and ill-will.   The Dean refused to see him, and the canons, in agreement, stayed away from his Te Deum service.  Even forty years later they had barely got accustomed to a new idea,  for no Exeter man seems to have accepted an invitation to the ball celebrating the king's birthday.  Exeter is distinguished by having the world's narrowest street - Parliament Street, 27 inches wide:  it runs the risk of having Britain's narrowest mind.."

Young Cattell liked his little jokes and he was no great historian but he was not the only one to point to the capital of Devon as a city of lost opportunities: and this was before the disastrous bombing  of 1942 and the equally disastrous re-build.

AN ANTI-VAXXER GOES TO GAOL, EXETER, 1899

 "At the Exeter Police-court yesterday Albert Edward Lee, of Smythen-street was summoned at the instance of Mrs. Ashford, Vaccination-officer, for not complying with orders for his two young children to be vaccinated.

Defendant, in most emphatic language, said he objected, and he would not have the operation performed.  The Chairman said that by Act of Parliament, and for the good of the country, children had to be vaccinated and the law must be obeyed.  The law could not be defied by defendant or anybody else.  He would have to pay 5s with respect to each child, or, in default seven days hard labour.  It transpired that the costs of the previous cases had not been paid.  Defendant said he had no goods and went to prison for 28 days' hard labour - seven days for each offence, and a similar time for non-payment of the costs." 

Smallpox had been the killer since the beginning of time.  In the twentieth century it was estimated to have killed, according to Wikipedia, an estimated 300 to 500 million people.  In 1899 in Exeter, it would seem, you went to prison if you failed to vaccinate your children.   By 1979 smallpox world-wide had been virtually eradicated.  I suppose Mr. Lee's children went into the new century forcibly vaccinated against the killer disease.   In the enlightened twenty-first century, with our progressive understanding of the liberty of the individual, anti-vaxxers are infecting each other and dying of Covid.19!

PATRIOTISM, EXETER, 1832.

One hundred and sixty Electors of the City of Exeter met at Clench's New London Inn on Monday 3rd December 1832,  for an elegant and sumptuous dinner and to support Mr. W. W. Follett, the Tory candidate.  Mr Follett had much to say - all stirring stuff!   This was his take on patriotism:  

"Everything that can take us back to the history of ancient times - everything that can take us back from the time of our Edwards, ought to be carefully preserved.  After the flag of our country has, for a thousand years, braved "the battle and the breeze,"  shall we say, we care not for past ages, we belong not to other times?  I know not what patriotism is, if it is not built upon the history of our country, upon the recollection of the deeds of our immortal forefathers.  (Cheers.)   

"It is not the land of England that makes us patriots;  it is the history from which we learn the origin and progress of our free institutions, which are our glory and the glory of the world - it is the knowledge of what our fathers were that makes us what we are.  What Englishman is there, on looking back to other times, who will say, that the sons, if necessary, will not do what their fathers did? - (Loud cheers.)"

Mr, Follett, who was born in Topsham and schooled at Exeter and who was soon to be knighted and twice to be the Solicitor General, was unsuccessful in the 1832 election but it clearly wasn't for want of panache.

Source:  The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette,  8th December, 1832.

AN ADMIRER OF MADAME CATALINI, EXETER, 1821.

"To the Editor of the Exeter Flying Post.

SIR,

Observing in the Western Luminary of to-day a paragraph (copied from a Bristol Paper,) reflecting upon Madame Catalini, I wish to assure the public that the writer of it cannot be at all acquainted with the irreproachable character, charitable and amiable disposition of that Lady, otherwise he would be ashamed of himself for inserting it.  If he will give himself the trouble to enquire what were the sums distributed in charities in Exeter, by means of that Lady, when she visited it, together with the many others in various places throughout the kingdom, he will be convinced she is totally undeserving so scandalous a reflection.....

By inserting this in your next publication , you will oblige,

Sir,

A FRIEND TO TRUTH.

Exeter, 20th Nov. 1821."

Angelica Catalini, the truly great Italian soprano, had sung in Exeter in October 1814.  She had given a concert in the theatre but also had sung in a music-festival in the Cathedral.  (It surprised me to find music-festivals being performed in our Cathedral in the 1820s.)   She was celebrated for her generosity and was said to have contributed to good causes everywhere she sang to the tune (!) of two million francs.   

This FRIEND TO TRUTH was clearly a most devoted fan of that Lady.

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 22 November 1821.

"WRETCHED OBJECTS", EXETER, 1863.

The report of the first annual meeting of The Exeter Home For Reclaiming Fallen Women was intoduced, after a prayer, by its chairman, the Rev. Canon Woollcombe.   He said that: "the establishment of the 'Exeter  Home' was for the purpose of reclaiming those wretched objects who, they knew, wandered about our streets - the victims of 'the social evil.' " 

The Hon. Secretary, the Rev. H. F. Cann, reported: 

"Thirty-four applicants have been received, and temporary shelter has been afforded to several young women, who, from various causes, have not come under the 'Admission Rules.'   Of the inmates who have been fully admitted, seven have been placed in respectable service (and are, with one exception, doing well); three have been restored to their friends; four have left by their own desire;  two have been dismissed for insubordination; two have been sent to the hospital, of whom one has died;  one has been sent to the lunatic asylum; and fifteen remain in The Home, who are going on satisfactorily.  From amongst the cases specified many of the deepest interest might be brought forward; whilst two especially prove the value of that timely aid. which at once, and without parley, takes the object of its solicitation under careful protection. These are cases where suicide was premeditated.  Two poor victims of a sinful life, driven by destitution, misery and disease, were on the point of plunging into self-destruction - that last resource of a despairing and misguided mind - when The House interposed with its friendly shelter and rescued them from a dishonoured grave.   One of these young women is now doing very well in a respectable situation, and retains a most grateful recollection of The Home.  But the other, borne down by the sufferings of the past, has becomme a mental wreck;  there is , however, this consolation in her case, that during the interval which elapsed between her admission and the complete darkening of her mind, she heard the glad tidings of pardon and peace through the blood of Christ.  This, together with the very remarkable circumstances of her rescue, seems to encourage the hope that this poor wanderer may yet, by God's mercy, be reclaimed." 

This report seems to me about as alien as though from another planet.  The Reclamation of Fallen Women was big in Exeter.  'The House' had its competitor: 'The Devon and Exeter Female Penitentiary'.   Let  us not be too cynical about the relationship between Anglican Clergy and Fallen Women!  There were certainly distressed young women and no doubt there were many more well-meaning, warm-hearted clergymen than there were cherry-lipped perverts in the Church in Victorian Exeter.   The human comedy is still being played out and there are still far more people in this city, as in the world, wanting to help their neighbours than there are neighbours wanting to be helped.  

Source:  The Western Times, 03 February, 1863.  

SCREAMS AND UNEARTHLY YELLS, EXETER, 1870.

On the last day of September 1870, Two 'Fightable Females' were  up before the Magistrates at the Castle of Exeter: "Sarah Anne Bastin and L,ouisa Smith, two young women of  Exeter, were charged with being drunk and riotous.  About half-past ten on the night of Septemver 17th  P.C.Hall was meandering near the Topsham Barracks, when the quietness of the night was disturbed by wild screams and the most unearthly yells.  On nearing the barracks he discovered the two defendants locked in each other's arms, and they only loosed their embrace to pull each other's hair and clothes, and occasionally the one brought her fist in unpleasant proximity with her antagonist'd face.  The battle had waged with fury for some time, the language accompanying the blows being of a sort not to be mentioned to ears polite, and the peaceable residents of the neighbourhood were all out to find a reason for the unusual disturbance.  None, however, was given by the belligerents either then or now, and to teach them to live quietly in future the Bench fined each of them 10s 6d.   The alternative was a week in prison; one was able to get the money together, but the other marched away, in company with a policeman, to the gaol."

How glad we should be that we live in an enlightened time and place when and where people can be drunk and riotous and may fight each other in the streets of Exeter and issue wild screams and unearthly yells - I hear them all the time! - and use foul language in the certain knowledge that no one has the authority to interfere with their liberties!

It might reassure 'peaceable residents' of Exeter if a few constables, like P.C. Hall, were meandering along the streets at half-past ten at night .

Two women fight!  One can pay a fine and goes home.  The other spends a week in gaol.  In principle this alarming discrimination between the rich and the poor, the poor and the less poor, still operates.