soldiers and sailors when threatened by the armada in Queen Elizabeth's reign, there was a general impressment on Easter Sunday, even in the churches-which verifies the remark of Sir Michael Foster, who observes, "that impressment is of very ancient date, and the practice of a long series of years." According to Blackstone," the power of impressment of seafaring men for the sea service, by the king's commission, has been a matter of some dispute, and submitted to with great reluctance." Henry VII., at the suggestion of Bishop Fox, 1435, had a body guard of fifty men, half bow and arrow men and half harquebusiers. They still remain, and are called yeomen of the guard-but more commonly called beef-eaters, which any one, on seeing them, would be certain they did, in pretty large quantities. They always attract great notice from the juvenile part of society, by their original, gaudy, grotesque dresses and decorations. That was all the standing army England then knew. No one at that period need ask "What are those whisker'd and mustachio'd things- James's courtiers were too busy about hatching plots that would enable them the better to rob and torment the Catholics, to trouble themselves about anything else; and he was dividing his time between his inkstand, his bottle, his hunting, his high court commission, and his cruel rack. So the people felt that "freedom is only in the realm of dreams."* The pay of the soldiers in the time of King James was three pence per day for the infantry; two shillings and sixpence for cavalry-one shilling out of that for the horse. In describing, in another part of this work, the general dress of the gentry, it will be stated that the silk doublet was occasionally exchanged for a buff coat, reaching half-way down the thigh, with or without sleeves, and sometimes laced with gold or silver; and the cloak in that case for a scarf, or sash of silk or satin worn either round the waist or over the shoulder, and tied in a large bow either behind or on the hip. When over this coat was placed the steel gorget, or a breast-plate and back-plate, the wearer was equipped for battle complete armour being then confined almost entirely to the heavy horse. With the reign of Charles I. we may be said to take leave of armour. His father, King James, had declared it to be an admirable invention, because it prevented the wearer as * Schiller. much from doing harm to others, as receiving injury himself; and the improvement of fire-arms gradually occasioned the abandonment of it piece by piece, until nothing remained but the back and breast plates, which were made bullet-proof, and the open steel head-piece, or iron pot, as the common sort was called. The intercourse with Spain in the reign of James had changed the name of lancer into cavalier, an appellation which distinguished the whole royal party from that of republican under Cromwell. Buff coats, long buff gloves or gauntlets, and high boots of jacked leather, thence called jacked or jack-boots, defended sufficiently the rest of the person. Troops so dressed acquired the name of cuirassier. In 1632 the English cavalry was divided into four classes: the cuirassier, the lancers, the carbineers, and the dragoons. These last are of French origin, (raised in 1600.) They had a gun like a modern blunderbuss, the muzzle representing a growling dragon; wore only a buff coat, deep skirts, and an open head-piece, with cheeks; and were divided into two classes, pikemen and musketeers. But the muskets were soon changed for the dragon; and in 1649 this was abandoned for the carbine, without a match or wheel lock, similar to those now in use; and to this was added the bayonet, which was an invention of the brave, and learned, and worthy Catinet, a French marshal. The rifle was introduced in the thirty years' German wars. The lancer was the fullest armed, wearing a close casque or head-piece, gorget, breast and back plates, (pistol and culiver proof,) pauldrons, vambraces, two gauntlets, tassetts, culessettes, or garde-de-reins, and a buff leather coat, with long skirts to wear between his clothes and armour. Their weapons were a good sword, "stiff, cutting, and sharp-pointed," a lance eighteen feet long, one or two pistols of sufficient bore and length, a flask, a cartouch-box, &c. Meyrick says, "cartridges were first used to pistols, and they were carried in a steel case." The cuirassier had back, breast, and head pieces; armed only with sword and pistol. The harquebusiers, or the carbineers, were similarly defended, and, in addition to the above weapons, had a carbine. They all wore enormous jack-boots. Soon after the close of the American war, I being only a boy in petticoats, was put into one of these boots, belonging to a private of the Oxford Blues, when I could not look over the top, and, being hideously frightened at my situation, and so scared, I shall never forget it. In 1638 Charles I. incorporated the gun-makers' company in Birmingham, which, in the civil wars, supplied the parliamentary army under Cromwell. When that charter was granted, Charles did not contemplate how it was to be used. "Oh! that some voice could penetrate his ear, Call up his soul, and free his slaves from bondage!" It was the cause of many of his friends biting the dust, over whom their friends might sing, "The moonlight that glitters o'er rill and o'er fountain, But it falls where it lies, on the bleak barren mountain, For his brand it was faithless, though true was his quarrel, But the hand of his lady shall twine with fresh laurel, Before the commencement of the civil wars, the citizens of London were carefully trained in the use of the pike and musket. The general muster of the civic militia was at first once a year; the training and exercises of individuals took place four times a year, and lasted two days each time. These trainings were considered very irksome to weary artisans and thrifty shopkeepers; as, independently of the weight of the back and breast plates, skull-cap, (all iron,) sword, musket, and bandoliers, with which they were obliged to repair to muster, the military discipline was of such a complex character, that it both imposed much labour and consumed a great deal of time. The ponderous match-lock, or carbine, four feet long in the barrel, and discharged a bullet ten to a pound, had to be put through a long succession of manœuvres before it could be loaded, primed, and discharged. In learning to shoot with it, the soldier citizen was obliged to gather courage, and accustom himself to the recoil of his piece, by flashing a little powder in the pan: the use of wadding for the ball not being as yet understood, he could only shoot effectually breast high; and his fire was delivered in the act of advancing, lest he should become himself a mark to the enemy while standing to take aim. As for the pike, it was a ponderous, heavy weapon, of pliant ash, sixteen feet long; and dexterity in the use of it could only be acquired by frequent practice.* The Puritans at first regarded these warlike musters in the artillery gardens with abhorrence, as an absolute mingling with the profane; but when they were taught from the pulpits that their projected reformation could only be accomplished by carnal weapons, they crowded to the exercise with alacrity.† In the meantime the proud cavaliers, who were still blind to the signs of the times, laughed scornfully at these new displays of cockney chivalry, and used to declare that it took a Puritan two years to learn how to discharge a musket without winking. But the laugh was turned against themselves after the civil wars commenced, when the pikes and guns of the civic militia scattered the fiery cavalry of Prince Rupert, and bore down all before them. When the Puritans were converted into actual soldiers, they marched into the field in high-crowned hats, collared bands, great loose coats, long tucks under them, and calves' leather boots. The active Major Shippon used, when riding about, to address his men thus: "Come boys, my brave boys, let us pray neartily and fight heartily, and God will bless us." They used to "sing a psalm, fall on, and beat all opposition to the devil."§ There was also some praying on the part of the king's troops. It is stated that, at the battle of Edge Hill, (the first onset,) Sir Jacob Astley, who commanded the foot, made the following remarkable prayer at the commencement: "O Lord! thou knowest how busy I must be this day; if I forget thee, do not thou forget me. March on, boys!" It is worthy of remark that the long service and military renown of the Puritan campaigners gave them no disrelish, after the war had ended, for their former peaceful and humble occupations; they resumed their mechanical or handicraft employ ments. * Grose's Military Antiquities. + Life of Samuel Butler, in Somers' Tracts. + Ibid. |