2"^ S. N« 108., Jan. 23. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



75 



As there is much similarity in the descriptions 

 of the marches of these regiments when they re- 

 ceived their routes, we shall only select that of 

 one regiment, the Royal North Gloucester, which 

 is extracted from the different newspapers of the 

 period : 



" Sept. 2, 1798 (Sunday night), the North Gloucester 

 militia were drawn up in the barrack -yard at Portsea, to 

 volunteer for Ireland, and at 4 o'clock, p.m. of the next 

 day (the 3rd), they set out for Bristol, by Salisburj', in 

 waggons, carts, chaises, and different carriages, which 

 were pressed for their conveyance; and expresses were 

 forwarded to provide relaj's, so that by Tuesday night, 

 the 4th, they will arrive at Bristol."— TAe Star of Tues- 

 day, 4 Sept^ 



The next account states that on the evening of 

 Sept. 5, they had arrived at Bristol, and embarked 

 (935 men) the next day for Ireland. 



The London Chronicle has a letter concerning 

 the embarkation at Pill of this regiment, on Thurs- 

 day, Sept. 6, for Ireland, and says — 



" Every assistance was most loyally and spontaneously 

 given by the inhabitants of Pill ; and the inhabitants of 

 Bristol, in the few hours that the regiment was in that 

 city, collected 300/. as a present to the men for their gal- 

 lant conduct in volunteering." 



The Star of Monday, Sept. 17, says — 



« On the 11th inst. arrived the North Gloucester militia 

 at Dublin, commanded by Colonel Kingscote ; it is a very 

 handsome regiment, and musters nearly 1000 men. They 

 had a verj' boisterous passage." 



The arrival of so many regiments soon had the 

 effect of depressing the spirits of the insurgents 

 to such a degree that this memorable rebellion 

 was shortly after suppressed ; and the militia regi- 

 ments returned to England. 



The readiness and success of this plan, in sup- 

 plying a most efficient and valuable augmentation 

 of the regular army, made due impression on Col. 

 H. Calvert, Deputy- Adjutant-General, and con- 

 sequently a bill was brought in to allow the men 

 of the militia to volunteer into certain regiments 

 of the line ; and this, the first step of that kind, took 

 place in the summer of 1799, when a large body 

 of men was raised, and as expeditiously as possi- 

 bly despatched to the Helder. 



Upon the renewal of hostilities in 1803, after 

 the peace of Amiens, the government occasionally 

 had recourse to the militia to supply the great de- 

 ficiencies in the regiments of foot occasioned by 

 the drain of continual warfare, with complete 

 success; and these reinforcements terminated with 

 a very large draught in January, 1814, many of 

 which assisted on the glorious 18th of June, 1815. 



Another measure the government brought be- 

 fore parliament in 1811, and carried, which was 

 to permit the British militia to volunteer, by regi- 

 ments, to Ireland, and the Irish militia to transfer 

 tlielr services to England. And this Bill had an 

 enactment, that all men In future sworn in for the 

 militia should serve indifferently in any part of 



the United Kingdom ; when previously their at- 

 testations, upon entering the service, were the 

 English, Welsh, and Scotch for Great Britain, and 

 the Irish for that country only. 



With the present militia, since the commence- 

 ment of the Russian war, the system has undergone 

 a great change ; the ballot is wholly suspended ; 

 the men are raised by beat of drum, and seem 

 principally devoted by continual volunteering to 

 recruit the ranks of the regular army. <I>. 



P.S. From July 18 to Nov. 15, 1799, there 

 volunteered from the militia 24,977 men to the 

 artillery, guards, and seventeen of the regiments 

 of foot, appointed to receive volunteers. 



Subjoined are the principal Acts of Parliament 

 authorising the changes alluded to above : — 



38 Geo. III. c. G6., June 21, 1798. Militia to volunteer to 

 Ireland for the Suppression of the Rebellion. 



39 Geo. III. c. 106., July 12, 1799; 39 Geo. III., 2nd Ses- 

 sion, c. 1., Oct. 8, 1799. Volunteering for the Line. 



47 Geo. III. c. 57., Aug. 13, 1807. For ditto. 

 51 Geo. III. c. 118., July 1, 1811. To permit the inter- 

 change of the British and Irish militias respectively. 



WESTMINSTER PLAYS. 



(2"<» S. V. 33.) 



In a very interesting notice of Merchant Tay- 

 lors' School, by its excellent master Dr. Hessey, 

 occurs the following note : — 



" In 1762-3, dramatic performances were revived at 

 Merchant Taylors', at the wish of Mr. Tounley. In 1762 

 the Eunuchus of Terence was enacted in the School-room. 

 The Second Act of the Phormio of Terence was performed 

 the same year, more privately. The next year the 

 Troades of Seneca, abridged into Three Acts, and Rug- 

 gles's Ignoramus, abridged into Two Acts, were enacted 

 six times to very large audiences." — Pp. 47, 48. 



In the mastership of Dr. Thackeray (c. 1759), 

 English plays were acted at Harrow for a few 

 nights previous to the Christmas holidays. They 

 were moral and serious dramas ; but Tate Wilkin- 

 son says, in his Memoirs, that he prevailed on the 

 Doctor to permit the representation of The Pro' 

 voked Husband; and he himself, then a boy at 

 school, took the part of Lady Townley. The 

 neighbourhood was scandalised, and the annual 

 custom of acting plays was abolished. 



I believe, in Knox's time, at Merchant Taylors' 

 plays were acted : but at Winchester, in Dr. 

 Burton's time, in 1732, William Whitehead, after- 

 wards poet laureate, acted the part of Marcia*in 

 Addison's Cato. Your editorial remark is, there- 

 fore, thoroughly correct. Several entries occur 

 at an early date referring to the use of the Col- 

 lege Hall as a theatre : — 



" 1574. In payments for the erection and removal of a 

 scaffold and dressing rooms made anew, and for carriage 

 of joists and other borrowed articles, with 75 links, and a 



