DISCHARGED BUT DISGRACED, EXETER, 1886.

 Thomas Pope, a twenty-seven year old musician, had come to Exeter and taken lodging with a Mr. Brice.  Mr. Brice had a sixteen year old daughter, Eva. The two young people fell in love and they ran off to nearby towns for three nights of passion,   Thomas Pope was apprehended and taken into custody.   It was 76 days confinement before he came before the visiting judge, Justice Stephens, at the City Assizes.  The case depended on whether or not Thomas Pope knew that Amy was not yet eighteen.   His defence was that she had told him that she was.  The prosecution brought powerful arguments to bear and the case was something of a cliffhanger.  In the end the jury found Thomas Pope not guilty.  It seems that the citizens who had come to see the trial agreed with the verdict:

"The jury acquitted the prisoner, and the verdict was greeted with an outburst of cheering and laughter.

"His Lordship, springing to his feet, said:  Take into custody one of the men who laughed and bring him to me.  No action was taken on this command. and his Lordship again said:  Policemen, take into custody any man you saw making a noise and bring him before me,- The policemen in the Hall, however, seemed not to have seen anyone making a noise, for no one was arrested, and his Lordship continuing, said:  I must say I never felt greater disgust in my life at hearing applause upon the acquittal of a man who has disgraced himself in a most infamous manner.  I don't criticise the verdict of the jury, but I say that those who are glad that a man has escaped punishment for a most filthy, a most treacherous, a most cruel and wicked action, share some of his guilt and would probably be capable of doing something of the same kind themselves.  To the prisoner:  You are discharged,  but you are disgraced."

I notice nobody thought to ask Eva anything about anything.

Let us pay tribute to the stalwart Exeter policemen who, in the tradition of Admiral Lord Nelson, did not see what they did not want to see.

Source:  The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette,  1st February, 1886.

NINEPENNYWORTH OF COKE, EXETER, 1893.

"HENRY ROGERS, aged 15, WILLIAM GLASS. aged 15, and EVA COOK, aged 13, were summoned for stealing ninepennyworth of coke and wood the property of Exeter Gas Light and Coke Company, on November 22nd at St. Thomas.

"....P.C.Rounsefell deposed that at 7.30 a.m., he saw the defendants with about twenty others in Haven Roads following the carts coming from the Gas Comany's premises and taking pieces of coke out.  Those who could not reach, knocked the coke out with a stick.

"On the three defendants taking their bags to go home, witness stopped and took them back to the Gas Works, where their bags were weighed,  Rogers's weighed 41 pounds, that of Glass fifteen pounds, and Cook's thirty-five pounds....Cook said what he (she) picked up was from the ballast heap. - The boys said they simply picked up what fell out of the carts.

"....The Bench fined defendants 2s 6d each or three days' imprisonement, and thought the company ought to be more careful." 

It had been half past seven of a November morning.  A small army of children had been chasing behind the Gas Company's laden coke-carts to glean fuel to take home.  They had come with their bags and, the little ones, with sticks.  P,C Rounsefell had nabbed  two fifteen-year-old boys and a thirteen-year-old girl and, at the Castle in Exeter, the Bench, consisting of an Admiral, a Knight, a Colonel, who was also a Lord, and a, no doubt distinguished, Commoner,  (viz:  Admiral White, CB,  Sir Dudley Duckworth King, Colonel Lord Courteney, and Mr. W. T. Bayne) condemned them as thieves. 

I only hope, by some miracle, the three children managed to find their get-out-of-jail half-crowns.

Source, The Exeter Flying Post, 9th December 1893.

GENERAL JOY. EXETER, 1812.

 The Exeter Flying Post of 10th September 1812 (in a leading article dated the 9th) resorded that:

 "Last evening a general illumination took place in this city, in celebration of the glorious victory obtained by the great Wellington and the British army on the plains of Salamanca, and on the recent capture of Madrid.  "Never have we witnessed on any former occasion more general joy than was diffused amongst all ranks of people.

"The morning was ushered in by the firing of cannon, ringing of bells, flags triuphantly waving in every direction, and the houses so decorated with laurel, as to form the appearance of a grove.  In the evening each endeavoured to outdo his neighbour; there were an immense number of coloured and other lamps displayed in various devices, whilst the name of the conquering hero shone conspicuously every where.

"Mr. Land, New London Inn, had a most brilliant crown, with the words, 'Wellington and the Army,' the whole length of the house in front, which took nearly one thousand lamps, and had a fine effect.  There were also an immense number of transparencies appropriate to the event....

"....The Cavalry Barracks, now occupied by the 88th regt. of foot, had a large transparency, and was otherwise brilliantly lighted.  The band of this regiment passed though the High-street in the course of the evening playing "God save the King" and "Rule Britannia," amidst the loud acclamations of thousands of people with whom the streets were thronged."

'General Joy' pervaded Exeter, or so it would seem  It was, writes The Post, a 'joyous scene, in which every individual seemed so highly interested.'  Nowadays, I suspect, half the citizens would have been grumpy about it and more or less offended.   How did the Georgian Exonians manage to be, to seem at least, so united?

I'm glad the Cavalry Barracks was 'lighted' and not 'lit'.     

96 HUNGRY CHILDREN, EXETER, 1809.

An advertisement appeared in The Exeter Flying Post of 31st August 1809, to this effect:

"There are in the Exeter Cavalry Barracks, FORTY WOMEN and NINETY-SIX  CHILDREN belonging to the Soldiers of the 9th Regt. of Light Dragoons who are now serving their country in the Expedition to Holland.   These women and children are in the greatest stress, being almost in a starving state, having nothing to subsist on, and their little property of cloathes, &c. they have been obliged to dispose of to maintain themselves since their husbands' departure.  

"They came to Exeter with the remainder of the regiment, to await the result of the Expedition; and in the interim the kindness of the public is appealed to, to relieve them from their present extreme want. - Whatever assistance the public may be disposed to render, will be received by Mr. W. Curson, library, High-street, Exeter, who will give any further particulars; and the subscriptions, as received, will be immediately transmitted to the Commanding-Officer, who has engaged to see them properly distributed and applied." 

The dragoons had left for the disastrous Walcheren Expedition,   They had only just landed in the marshes of that malaria-ridden island and they  needed  to clear it of French defenders.  Few of the 9th Dragoons died in battle but, by the end of the year, 152 of them had died of the 'Walcheren Fever' and many more were sickened for life.

Of the women and many children who were close to starving in the Exeter Higher Barracks and popping down town to pawn their 'cloathes &c.'  some would surely have been widows and orphans by the time the regiment came home. 

I hope the patriotic citizens of Exeter acted generouly towards them.   I'm sure they did.

I was intrigued to see the word stress being used in this context in 1809.

CLERICAL RAPACITY, EXETER, 1850.

 In June, 1850, the resourceful Messrs. Norris and Redway of South Street, Exeter, in agreement with the South Devon Railway Company laid on two excursion trains, one for Exonians to visit Plymouth and a second for Plymothians to visit Exeter. 

The novelty of rail travel was such that all tickets were soon sold and more than 650 people travelled from Exeter in a train of sixteen carriages pulled by two engines, 'The Brigand' and 'The Corsair' which were gaily decorated with flags and laurels:

"As it gracefully swept along, fast gathering speed, it was saluted with enthusiasm by hundreds and hundreds of spectators."

The citizens of Exeter had a fine old time in Plymouth but the next day, when an equivalent trainload of Plymouth folk arrived in Exeter,  there was, according to The Western Times, this very general and well-founded complaint:

"....the principal object of attraction in this city is the Cathedral, and the visitors felt indignant that they were not allowed to see it without a fee.  Such, however, was the case - the fee was ruthlessly enforced;  no one was permitted to enter 'God's House' without feeing the door keepers.  

"We are told that the Church of England is the Poor Man's Church, but we fancy this is only applicable to the extent that the Deans and Chapters are so poor, that they cannot afford to pay their servants, but suffer them to make a raree show of God's House, to obtain their bread and cheese.

"We are sorry that this should be the case, but we trust that visitors to the city will not put down this instance of clerical rapacity to the account of the inhabitants generally, who are not answerable for the meanness of the Dean and Chapter, and very much regret their conduct."

Source: The Western Times, 8th June 1850.

 

 

SILENT KILLERS, EXETER, 1878.

On Thursday 2nd May 1878, at the Exeter Police Court, before the commencement of the ordinary business, Captain Bent,  the Chief Constable, had a word or two to say about bicycles:

"Captain Bent said young men were in the habit of riding through the public streets after dark at the rate of 10, 12, and sometimes 14 miles an hour, to the great danger of pedestrians,  for they were unprovided with a lamp or bell, or anything that would give notice of their approach.

"The tires of the wheels of the machines were made of india-rubber, so they came very silently and unaware upon persons crossing the streets, and accidents had occurred and were often narrowly escaped.  A case of a death caused in this way had occurred in Surrey, and as many complaints had already been made by citizens, he thought a public caution would be of service. 

"....The Mayor said that one day he saw a child knocked down by a bicycle on Southernhay.  No serious harm was done but the child might have been killed.  He suggested that the attention of the Town Council should be drawn to the matter, so that they might make a by-law to protect the public from such danger."

And did the Town Council make a by-law?

And did the young men  (no young women mad cyclists!) take any notice of the by-law?  (This was, however, when the streets were policed, - ages before policemen lost the use of their legs,)

Today there are more Exeter by-laws than a dog has fleas but, alas, they are so seldom enforced they might as well not exist.

Tires, of course, have, in the UK at least, generally become tyres.  

Source:  The Exeter and Plumoth Gazette, 3rd May, 1878. 

DOCTOR GAMBLE'S PAPER BAG, EXETER, 1814

Balloon ascents were all the rage in the first decades of the nineteenth century,  Exeter saw its share and was impressed.   This one, however, was different!

"On Monday last, in consquence of public advertisement that a Balloon would be launched from the Castle-yard by a Doctor Gamble, curiosity was excited to the highest pitch, and thousands repaired to the surrounding hills and fields to witness the sight. -  Several hundred paid for admission to the Castle, where, having waited upward of an hour beyond the time appointed for the ascension, the company grew impatient.

At  length the Balloon, (or rather a paper bag), was produced, but so badly constructed, and the operation of filling it was so clumsily managed, that instead of taking the promissed aeriel flight of 20 miles, it instantly caught fire, and vanished in smoke,

The public indignation was now roused against the poor Doctor, and but for the interference of constables, he would probably been roughly handled.   He was, however, obliged to unburden himself of the cash he had collected, about twenty pounds, which has been disposed of...."

The poor Doctor was allowed his coach-fare home.   The rest of the money he had collected, after his creditors had been paid, was donated to the Exeter Eye Infirmary.

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 10th February, 1814.

THE ART OF FAINTING, EXETER, 1800.

The Exeter Flying Post of 28th August, 1800, cautioned its readers that there was a vagrant in the city who was not altogether honest:

" A novel Imposter has made his appearance in this city.  He personates a sailor, and practices the Art of Fainting, and falling into a Fit, with great success.   He began his vocation here early on Saturday morning and continued it at proper distances the whole of the day,  The humanity of individuals supplied him with many comfortable refreshments and considerable sums of money.  

"In the evening, however, he was still 'faint for want of a bit of bread,' as he had spent his last two pence two days since.  The craft is so lucrative, that if some magistrate do not apply the proper remedy, it is to be feared the practitioner will go on fainting in every city, town and village in the kingdom.

"....He is a middle-aged man, somewhat marked with the smallpox, and produces a disabled sailor's discharge."

N.B. A rare 'subjunctive after if' for pedants to enjoy!

Centuries may pass but on the streets of Exeter there are still such petty impostures.  There is one  'homeless person' I meet who is forever needing ' just a cup of tea' and another who wants 'a pound for the bus home' with improbable regularity. 

I haven't yet met anyone subject to faints or fits and the petty imposters no longer get a mention in the newspapers but they are surely still with us and so are the individuals whose humanity supplies the imposters with many comfortable refreshments and considerable sums of money.

Plus ça change.... and all that.!    

  

CHILD DROPPING, EXETER, 1823.

 One Saturday in April 1823, at about half-past ten at night the door bell of Mrs Cosserat's house on Southernhay was rung in a violent manner.

"On the maid-servant opening the door, she perceived a band box, without any person appearing, and, on taking it up, she heard the cry of a child issue from it.  being alarmed, she set it down again, and hastened to the balcony, from whence she called to a chairman then passing, to ring the bell of Mr. Kingdon's (the adjoining) house.  Mr. K. being apprised of the circumstances, immediately took in the box, and found it contained a female child, about a fortnight old, dressed in new but plain clothes.

"The Corporation of the Poor are using every exertion to discover the unnatural mother, and the person by whom the child was dropped; and have offered a reward of five guineas for their apprehension."

"Child Dropping" was The Flying Post's title for this piece.  No doubt, in Georgian Exeter, everybody knew what that meant.

Band boxes, bandboxes, according to OED are so called because they  contained the 'bands' or 'ruffs' as worn in the 17th century.  Then they changed with the fashion to become hat boxes.  Do we still speak of bandboxes?

Was this desperate mother a romantic?  Did she hope for a better life for her baby daughter in Mrs Cosserat's posh house in Southernhay?  There would be not much chance of anything like that, I imagine, once the Corporation of the Poor was involved.

So much of this story remains untold.  One can only hope for happy endings!

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 24th April 1823.

WHISTLING THE 'MASHER', EXETER, 1884

The Exeter Flying Post of 26th March 1884 reported how a young lad's complaint caused the Rector of St Olave's church, the Rev.John Ingle, to be summoned before the Exeter Police Court to answer a charge of assault.  It was affirmed in court that two boys, William Denham and Fred Harper,:both telegraph messengers with the Exeter Post-office, ....:

"...were walking up Fore-street on Wednesday afternoon.  Denham was whistling the familiar air of the 'masher' and on arriving outside St. Olaves Church they met the Rev. John Ingle.  The defendant then went near to the complainant, and said 'I don't pay you boys for whistling in the streets.' and he thereupon, as complainant stated 'fetched' him a blow in the mouth.  His fist was half closed,  The blow caused his mouth to bleed,  Complainant exclaimed 'That is the second time you have hit me today, and I shall report it this time.'   The complainant [in fact, the defendant!] rejoined, (wringing his fist) . 'If you don't go along I will give you another in the 'chops''   The boys then went on, followed by the rev. gentleman, and at the corner of Mary Arches-street the latter demanded Denham's number.  Denham subsequently complained to a constable that he had been assaulted, and he also went to the Station-house, where he saw Inspector Wotton.  His face was bleeding a little at the time."  

To their credit the police and subsequently, reluctantly, the Court , accepted young William Denham's claim that he had been assaulted by the Rector of St. Olave's and the Reverend.John Ingle was fined 5s and the expenses.  The magistrates made it clear that they were unhappy that the case had been brought forward.  The fine was nominal but the principle that grown men, even reverend ones, ought not to assault boys when they whistle in the streets had been established at the Exeter Police-court..

I wonder how it goes, that familiar air of  the 'masher'.   Does anybody know?

The chops = chaps, and, according to my Lloyds Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1895,  means, curiously enough, the jaw.       

A SUMPTUOUS SUPPER, EXETER, 1826.

 "The Devon Glee Club gave a superb entertainment to the Ladies on Wednesday night, at the Subscription Rooms.  About three hundred of the rank and fashion of the county and city sat down to a most sumptuous supper,  in the arrangement of which the utmost taste and elegance were displayed. champaigne and costly 'vins de tout espece et de la premiere qualite,' were in great abundance and highly approved.  

"After supper 'Non nobis Domine' was sung and a series of the best old and modern glees, madrigals, and catches were introduced, in excellent style, by the members of the Glee Club.

"E. Divett, Esq. presided; and did the honours of his situation in a spirited and appropriate manner, introducing between the Glees a variety of loyal, national and complimentary toasts, which were followed by musical cheers.  J. Wentworth  Buller, Esq. was Vice-President.

"It was nearly two o'clock when the company separated, so highly delighted were they with their liberal and elegant entertainment, - It was certainly one of the most tasteful and handsome suppers ever served in Exeter,"  

No!, -  'to the Ladies' does not imply that this was a whopping-great, Georgian hen-party.

'Wasn't it Non nobis Domine'  that Kenneth Branagh was singing after he won the Battle of Agincourt?  Not the same tune though!

I admire the swank with which The Post casually offers to its readers a few words of French, (even if the printers can't hack the accents!). It wants its readers to leap like porpoises.   Today's papers seem to be digging down ever deeper in their search for the lowest common denominator.

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 2nd February, 1826.

A TOAD TO THE BOSOM, EXETER, 1838.

In January 1838, Thomas Way was summoned to the Exeter Guildhall by Caroline McDermott who lived in Exe Lane :

"for having wantonly entered her room, and producing a toad, placed it, or attempted to place it on her bosom, which produced such a degree of terror on her mind that she was seized with fits, and for several days was under the care of a medical gentleman.

"The Magistrates condemned the defendant for his cruel act, but willing to afford him an opportunity to compromise, permitted the case to stand over, suggesting the payment on his part of £3, in order to cover the surgeon's bill, &c., allowing also a trifle out of it to complainant for loss of time;  the defendant having failed to do this the Mayor sentenced him to a fine of £5, or to be commited for two months to the House of Correction - when, unprepared with the cash he was taken into custody."

I would guess most women these days would be unfazed by a toad to the bosom and would either make a pet of it or cook it for supper but it would seem that Caroline McDermott and the Mayor of Exeter took Thomas Way's cruel act very seriously.   Perhaps the old superstition that toads are the familiars of witches was still lurking in the minds of mayors and maidens.

I suspect institutionalised sexism here.  Had it been a male bosom...! 

The House of Correction was no less a prison than the prison.  Two months in jail for messing with a toad seems a bit stiff. 

Source:  The Western Times, 3rd Febuary 1838.

FOG IN EXETER, 1891.

There was an admirable journalist who signed himself TOUCHSTONE who filled the back page of The Exeter Flying Post with 'Local Gossip'.  On 5th December 1891 he reported a great fog:

"People a good deal older than I am have assured me that they never saw in Exeter a more impenetrable fog than that which settled over the city - especially in the less elevated parts - on Sunday last.  It was absolutely impossible to see more than two feet ahead and many persons were literally lost.

A friend of mine told me he heard - he couldn't see - two young women discussing as to where they were, and eventually one of them declined to move a step further than where she was standing in the middle of the road until the mist lifted.   The fog came up the valley of the Exe in great banks, whose limits could be easily distinguished.  It filled the places of worship till the congregation on one side could scarcely see those on the other side, and being generally inhaled, the result was that 'coughing drowned the parson's saw' to an unusual extent..

I remember feeling my way through such dense, coal-dust-laden, poisonous fogs from the nineteen-forties, when I was a boy in Liverpool. We always found them exciting.  People do not fear them these days and many perhaps can hardly imagine them.  There's progress for you!  Such fogs, however, were a direct product of the Industrial Revolution.  There perhaps, was regression!  

'Touchstone' was no fool when it came to the plays of the Bard. I am always pleased when Victorians et.al. quote (in this case, misquote) from Shakespeare.  It is a kind of bonding exercise which still works across the centuries,  The coded message is: ''Let us rejoice in the genius of our National Poet!'

Nota Bene:  This impenetrable fog, it would seem, didn't stop the good people of Exeter filling the churches .    

A MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE, EXETER, 1866.

 On Saturday 13th November 1866, a wild November night,  there was a  fire in Exeter which consumed the business premises of Messrs Moass, builders in Combe-street..  Shops, stores, stables and two cottages were compltely destroyed.  It was the fiercest fire Exeter had seen for many years and the citizens turned out to see the blaze..

"The gleam was seen in the country for miles around and from the hills towards Ide the spectacle was magnificent, only too terrible to enjoy.  Of course thousands of people turned into the street, notwithstanding the rain, the confusion, and the wild drift of sparks, carried by a strong wind over that side of the city.

"Down James-street rushed the arrivals, encountering and interrupting the poor souls who were flying from their houses, carrying with them such of their furniture, clothes , or valuables as they could lay their hands on - the women and children uttering distressful cries.

"It was said there were thieves base enough to steal even from people in such an extemity as this - that from one house the chair on which the careful wife had placed the childen's linen for airing, was walked off by some double-dyed villain who richly deserved a roasting himself.  

"No life was lost, the horses as well as the human beings all happily escaping."

The story was told how two of Moass's workmen were still in the workshops working late, making a coffin for the relative of one of their mates.  

"It was just as their mournful job was finished that the workshops took fire.- how has not been explained.  The men were unable to save even the coffin they had been working on." 

If we had a conflagration in Exeter these days, as indeed we did in 2016, the spectacle would not be so 'magnificent'.   Blatant light pollution ensures that we no longer fully appreciate the comet, the stars, the moon - or even a good blaze.

Source: The Western Times,  16th November 1866.

THE RIGHT END OF ENGLAND, EXETER, 1879.

In October 1879,  the City of Exeter laid on a grand banquet in the Victoria Hall to congratulate Colonel Redvers Buller, the gallant commander of the South African Light Horse, on the occasion of his safe return from the Zulu War.  Some four or five hundred ladies and gentlemen gathered to listen to the many toasts.   Colonel Buller, when he replied, said, among much else:

"I was passing through Maritzburg in August last year. The regiment I was commanding wanted a few recruits, and so many offered themselves that I had a good deal of difficulty in selecting them.  I asked some ten or a dozen their names.  The second man told me his name was Vinnicombe.  I said, 'That's good enough for me - (a laugh ) - you come from the right end of England at any rate.' 'Well," he replied, I come from Devonshire.'

" 'And he was good enough for me.  He stayed with me throughout the war, he was one of the very best men I had, and I had the greatest pleasure last week in witing to his mother to tell her that the Queen had been pleased to give him one of the most valuable decorations a soldier can receive - the medal for distinguished service and gallant conduct in the field' - (Loud applause\.)"

"Buller by name, buller by nature!" you might think, but is this not the trick of all great commanders, carefully  to remember and honour the men who serve them?   The conclusion of  Colonel Buller's speech went like this:

"I ask you now, therefore, to let me feel that the praises, the kind words , and the honours you have bestowed on me today are offered equally, and belong equally, to those men who gained for me the renown I now enjoy."  

Source, The Exeter Flying Post, 8th October 1879. 

"THE TRUNK OF THE ELEPHANT", EXETER, 1881.

On a Wednesday in August, 1881, the procession of Sanger's circus was passing along Exeter's High Street when  William Payne's cab drove out from Broadgate between the camels and the elephant.  The cab-horse reared high on his hind-legs and swung himself round on the pavement among the people, dragging the cab with him.  Three ladies were knocked down and one of them, Miss Mary Hill, aged 67, a schoolmistress, was rolled along the footpath for ten or twelve feet and the wheels of the fly passed over her chest. She was carried on a stretcher to the Turk's Head Inn where she died.  The police were of the opinion that no blame could be levelled at the driver and his horse.   

At the inquiry at The Papermakers' Arms, Exe-street:

"The Rev J.C. Rowlatt said that he and his family were in Payne's cab at the time of the accident, and, of course, he saw the whole of it.  He could substantiate the whole of what the policeman had stated, and he, too, maintained that it was a perfect accident.  The horse was not frightened at the camels but at the elephant; he passed the former without notice, but the trunk of the elephant alarmed him.

The jury unanimously returned a verdict of ' Accidental death,' and entirely acquitted the cabman of all blame." 

These days the heroes of Health and Safety might have saved the life of this unfortunate maiden lady but dampened, you can be sure, the joy of thousands. O the glory of the camels and the elephant waltzing up the High Street!  There is joy and bustle on the pavement.  No doubt there are musicians and flags processing..  The children are excited and perhaps even 67 year old Mary Hill is, for just a moment, a wondering child again   But death's chariot approaches from Broadgate at walking pace in the shape of William Payne's cabhorse with a cabful of Anglican passengers:  the family of the Reverend J.C. Rowlett.  The elephant is waving his trunk,  Truly, in the midst of life we are in death! 

We today might incorrectly say 'frightened by'. The Reverend Rowlett's 'frightened at' has elegance and logic to recommend it. 

Source: The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 5th August, 1881.

  

PLAUDITS OF DELIGHT, EXETER, 1823.

" Our Theatre closed on Monday Evening with the benefit of Mr. BRUNTON, under the worthy patronage of our worthy Chief Magistrate, JOHN HARRIS, Esq.; and the house as we anticipated was fully and fashionably attended on the occasion, - The feelings of the manager must have been highly gratified with the loud and repeated peals of applause with which he and his daughter were greeted on their entrance; indeed many minutes elapsed ere their enthusiastic admirers ceased their loud plaudits of delight and approbation.

".... -Between the Play and Interlude, Mr. BRUNTON came forward, and, in a neat and very appropriate speech, thanked his Friends and the Public, for the liberal patronage, kindness and support received by him, since he had had the pleasure of conducting the management of the Theatre, and at the same time, announced that he had made such arrangements with Mr. BENETT, the Proprietor , that he should have the honor of appearing before them next season, - which information was hailed by the whole house with loud and reiterated cheers.

"The delighted audience, after giving three cheers to the Mayor, unanimously called, a second time , for 'God save the King,'  which was sung by the corps dramatique, and, in the chorus of our national air every one in the house appeared to join hand and voice." 

Our theatre, our worthy Chief Magistrate, our national air!  The Flying Post's  and the theatre audience's commitment to civic and national harmony and unity is palpable.  Was it justified?  No, of course not,  George IV was hardly a popular figure, but Yes, in the sense that what people tell themselves is real, has real consequences.  There might be no harm in again our singing 'God save the Queen' at least once at the end of a visit to our theatre.  Twice might be too much! 

"THE HONOR OF THIS COUNTY," EXETER, 1807.

 The 26th August had been appointed to be observed as the anniversary of the Devon and Exeter Hospital and "the governors of that noble institution assembled in the board-room, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon ....to consider of the propriety of  'authorising the medical gentlemen of this institution to 'vaccinate any poor person, gratis, at this hospital.'

Mr. S.F Milford, the vice-president,  a worthy citizen whose speeches were even more ornate and pompous than the usual, proposed the motion in style,  after which the Rev. Jonas Dennis seconded:

"he stated, to the honor of this county, that the first discovery of vaccination, was made about 40 years ago, by a Mr. Bragge of Axminster, who ascertained that the cow pox was not only a preventative of the finall pox, but also that it might be communicated by means of innoculation.  He did not mean by this to detract from the merit of Dr.Jenner, since he had been the happy instrument of extending its practice, but it proved that vaccination was not so novel as some had imagined, yet as nothing was more difficult to remove than the prejudices of the lower order of society, when they found that this practice had been sanctioned by so large a number of governors as were now present, highly respected both as men of understanding and of independence, he doubted not but they would most willingly acquiesce in the measure proposed."

Bring back 'forenoon'!   It is so much more elegant than 'morning'.  And 'consider of'' has its charm.

I was jabbed gratis only a couple of forenoons ago - flu jab in one arm; covid booster in the other - and now both arms ache and I sleep on my back!   Don't misunderstand!   I am very grateful to the medical gentlemen and particularly, in my case, to the medical ladies at the Saint Leonard's vaccination centre.

Jabs world-wide, hey!  And to think it all started with cows in Axminster!

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 27th August, 1807.