or other emergency, to join the army. The regulations which were obferved in forming the army, are minutely defcribed; together with the armour and weapons, and the manner of giving battle. The introduction of the feudal fyftem by King William, made a confiderable change in the military establishment of the . pation. By this fyftem, all the lands in the realm were divided into certain portions, each producing an annual revenue, called a Knight's fee. Every tenant in capite, that is, every perfon holding immediately from the King the quantity of land equal to a Knight's fee, was bound to hold himfelf in readine's, with a horse and arms, to ferve in the wars, either at home or abroad, at his own expence, forty days in a year; perfons holding more or lefs, were bound to do duty in proportion to their tenures, The fervice being accomplished, the tenant was at liberty to return home; and if he and his followers continued with the army, they were paid by the King. Our Author enters into many particulars refpecting this feudal fervice, which being to be found in feveral former works, do not now require to be laid before our Readers. The feudal troops however were only one part of the military force of the kingdom; the other confifted of the poffe comitatus, which was composed of all the freemen between the age of fifteen and fixty. Although the chief deftination of this eftablishment was to preferve the peace, under the sheriff, yet they were liable to be called out in cafes of invafion, either to defend the country or repel the enemy. Captain Grofe proceeeds to enumerate the special laws re lating to each of thefe fpecies of troops, and to defcribe their arms, &c. with the changes, which from time to time took place, both with respect to the army itself, and the feveral modes of offenfive and defenfive war. After the Reftoration, the feudal tenures were abolifhed by act of parliament, and a national militia was established, wherein houfe-keepers, and other fubftantial perfons, were bound to find men, horses, arms, ammunition and pay, each according to their real or perfonal eftates. The Captain here gives an abstract of 12 Car. II. c. 21 & 29. and of 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 3. accord ing to which the militia were occafionally muftered and exercifed, but being found expenfive, and troublefame to the coun try, it was by degrees neglected. * Our ancient lawyers do not agree as to the quantity of land, or fum of money, of which it confilled. Perhaps it varied in different periods. In the reign of Hen. II. it was flated at 201. pér ann, and their number in the kingdom was 60,000. About About the year 1756, the nation being much alarmed by the threats of an invafion, many leading perfons refumed the idea of inftituting a well-difciplined militia, which after fome oppofition was at length carried into a law, 30 Geo. II. c. 25. and by feveral fubfequent acts reduced to its present form; which the Author minutely details through feveral pages. Befide thefe conftitutional forces, there were in the English army, at all times, from the Conqueft downward, ftipendiary troops, both natives and foreigners; the firft were hired by the Kings, with the money paid by perfons commuting for feudal fervice; the foreigners were paid out of the privy purse, or fuffered to live on free quarters: they were known by the various names of Ruptarii, Routers, and Ryters, and were, in reality, a fet of freebooters of all nations, ready to embrace any fide for hire. These are feparately defcribed, and an account is given of the fervices they performed, and the Kings by whom they were employed. The ftipendiary forces, the garrifons and caftle-guards excepted, were kept up only in time of war, and though mercenary, were not a standing army. The firft ftanding forces which were employed by our Kings, were their immediate body guards, fuch as the fergeants at arms, the yeomen of the guard, and the gentlemen penfioners; yet thefe feem to have been calculated more for fupporting the fplendour of the court, than for actual fervice in the field. During the troubles under Charles I. a number of troops were raised by both parties, without any attention to law or custom, which Captain Grofe paffes over as not coming within the fcope of his work. Many of the regiments, raifed by the Parliament, were, on the Reftoration, difbanded, and on the fame day relevied by Charles II. for his fervice. Two regiments of guards, raifed by him in 1660, one of horse and one of foot, formed the two first corps of our prefent army; which was afterward confiderably increafed. The Revolution, which fucceeded, caufed the military conftitution to be new-modelled: and the army is now voted from year to year only, by an act ftyled the Mutiny Bill. After thus giving a general account of the army, Captain Grofe goes back, and fhews how the national forces were anciently affembled. In this part of the work, the reader will meet with many curious particulars, among which the manner of fummoning the ecclefiaftics, and their fervices in the army, are not the least remarkable. It feems difficult to reconcile the practice of the ancient ecclefiaftics with their principles, or even with their laws. We every where read,' fays the Captain, of Bishops ferving in, and fometimes commanding armies; and frequently of their fight ing, ing, like private troopers, in the ranks of å fquadron, and that not in crufades or religious wars: at the fame time Canons, Councils, and Popes unanimoufly forbid ecclefiaftics of all degrees to ufe the fword, or engage in any military operations. An inftance of this is fhewn in the cafe of Philip de Dreux, Bishop of Beauvais, who, as Matthew Paris relates, being taken prifoner by King Richard I. in complete armour, was confined in prifon; the Pope, interfering in his behalf, folicited his release, under the title of his fon, and the fon of the church. In answer to which, the King fent him the coat of mail wherein the Bifhop was taken, with the following queftion, "Is this thy fon's coat or not?" To which the Pope ingenuously anfwered, it was neither his fon's coat, nor the coat of the fon of the church; thereby difavowing him, and declining to intereft himself for an ecclefiaftic fo improperly employed. This Bishop, in order to avoid offending the letter of the canon and other regulations, did not ufe a fword, but fought with a mace, of which he made fo powerful an ufe, that, at the battle of Bovines, he beat down Long-Sword, Earl of Salisbury; how he avoided the fpilling of blood, is not fo evident, fince it would be next to impoffible, to beat out a man's brains, without caufing the prohibited effufion.' The methods of raifing the ftipendiary or mercenary troops are next defcribed; these were either by commiffions, in fubftance like our present beating orders, authorifing perfons to enlift volunteers; or by indentures, by which certain perfons engaged to provide a certain number of able men, properly armed, to ferve the King, for a ftated time, at a ftipulated pay. In these agreements it was usual for the King to advance part of the pay before-hand, and to give fecurity for the regular payment of the remainder in one of thefe indentures, fpecimens of which are given in the notes, Henry V. pledged all his jewels, which were not redeemed till after his death. The Author proceeds to defcribe the prefent modes of recruiting, and preffing. On thefe fubjects he offers fome excellent remarks, in his ufual manner, mixing humour with ferious and juft obfervation. An act for impreffing foldiers took place in 1779, when all the thieves, pickpockets, and vagabonds, in the environs of London, too lame to run away, and too poor to bribe the parish officers, were apprehended and delivered over as foldiers, to the regiments quartered in the very towns and villages where these banditti had lived and been taken; these men being thus fet at large in the midst of their old companions and connections, immediately deferted, whereby the whole expence, by no means an inconfiderable one, was thrown away: nor did the foldiers of the regiments on which they were im.pofed, take the leaft pains to prevent their escape, or to retake them; as they justly confidered being thus made the companions of thieves and robbers, a moft grievous and cruel infult, and loudly complained of it, as fuch, to their officers. Indeed it feems to have been a very This advanced money was afterward called impreft money. ill-judged meafure, tending to deftroy that profeffional pride, that efprit du corps which ought moft affiduoufly to be cultivated in every regiment. The profeffion of a foldier has long ceafed to be lucra tive, if ever it was fo. If it is likewife made difhonourable, where fhall we get foldiers on whom we may depend? When the exigencies of the times make it neceffary to take fuch men into the fervice, they fhould at least be fent to regiments quartered in a diftant part of the kingdom, where they and their characters are equally unknown, or divided among the regiments on foreign fervice.' After the Captain has embodied his army, he reviews the cavalry and infantry; the armour is minutely defcribed, and a variety of plates, reprefenting feparately the weapons and armour, illuftrate what cannot be properly expreffed in, or thoroughly understood from, verbal defcription; together with these are given figures of the foldiers, both horfe and foot, with all their accoutrements. In this part of the work, the reader is prefented with all the changes that have taken place in the army with respect to drefs, arms, method of fighting, &c. from the Conqueft to the prefent time. Having thus taken a general review of the army, Captain Grofe proceeds to particular corps, of which the firft that he defcribes is the band of gentlemen penfioners, inftituted by Henry - VIII. for an honourable body-guard, and to form a nursery for officers of his army, and for governors of caftles and fortified places. After enumerating the many laws, ordonances, and regulations iffued for the fupport of archery, and defcribing the bows, arrows, drefs, &c. of the archers, he proceeds to the inftitution of the artillery company, which was incorporated by a patent of Henry VIII. in 1537, granting to perfons therein mentioned, licence for them to become overfeers of the science of artillery, videlicet for long bows, crofs bows, and hand guns.' Succeeding Kings renewed the charter; and although both long and cross bows have for many years been laid afide, the company ftill continues to exercife in the artillery ground. The Prince of Wales is the prefent Captain General: there is alfo a Prefident, Vice-prefident, Treasurer, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, and Major (ufually chofen from the Court of Aldermen), with an adjutant, engineer, furgeon, chaplain, clerk, fergeant-major, drum-major, and meffenger. Captain Grofe next confiders the introduction of fire arms. By his account, it does not appear, that the invention of gunpowder, and its application to artillery and small arms, produced that fudden change in the art of war, or in the weapons, which might have been expected. He attributes this delay in the adoption of fire arms, to the almoft fuperftitious reverence that mankind generally have for old profeffional cuftoms. This arifes (fays our Author, in the character of a moral philofopher) not only from a ftrong prepoffeffion in favour of opinions, which they they [profeffional men] have been taught all their lives to con fider as uncontrovertible, but because improvements tend to fhew that the rifing generation is wifer than their forefathers and feniors,-a pofition old men will never willingly allow. This diflike to innovations is peculiarly found in old foldiers, because by adopting new weapons, and confequently a new exercife, the old and expert foldiers find themselves in a worse ftate than new recruits, as they have not only a new exercife to learn, but also the old one to forget: for the truth of this obfervation, I appeal to every military man, who has feen any alteration made in the ordinary routine of duty or exercife.' Fire arms of various kinds, which are difcharged with the hand, are described. They were first introduced into this kingdom in 1470, when Edward IV. landing at Ravenfpurgh, brought with him, among other forces, 300 Flemings, armed, as Leland fays, with "hange guns." Our narrow limits will not permet us to tranfcribe the hiftory of the improvements made in fire arms fince their first introduction, and it will be imperfect if it be abridged. It was found neceflary, on many occafions, to embark a num ber of foldiers on board of our fhips of war; and mere land-men being at first extremely unhealthy, and, until they had been accuftomed to the fea, in a great meafure unferviceable, it was judged expedient to appoint certain regiments for that fervice, who were trained to the different modes of fea fighting, and alío made useful in fome of those manœuvres of a fhip, where a great number of hands were required. This corps, from the nature of their duty, were diftinguifhed by the appellation of maritime foldiers, or marines. The precife time of this inftitution, like many other points of military hiftory, is involved in obscurity. The oldeft corps of this kind which the Captain has been able to difcover, was the third regiment of infantry, in the lift of the army for the year 1684. The marines proving a very ufeful corps, have been much increafed fince their firft eftablishment. At prefent, they confift of feventy companies; and are formed into three divifions, ftationed at Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Chatham, where they can eafily embark on any emergency. Captain Grofe next defcribes the invalids, fencibles, and independent companies. Of the London train'd bands he gives an ample account; they originated from the artillery company, and are wholly intended for the defence of the city and its fuburbs; their numbers at prefent amount to 24,621 men. The fergeants at arms were firft inftituted by Richard I. in imitation of a corps of the fame name, formed by Philip Au *Hand guns, we fuppofe. guftus |