PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 79 



It would not do justice to this interesting paper to attempt an 

 abstract in the space to which we are, of necessity, circumscribed ; 

 we shall, therefore, now only touch upon the preliminary part which 

 gives an account of the state and discipline of the troops at that pe- 

 riod. In a future number or numbers we shall give a separate 

 article devoted to the battle itself which will be found highly inter- 

 esting as a contrast to modern warlike science. 



It was not until 1671 2, that regimental uniforms were intro- 

 duced into the French service in imitation of the Swedes who, under 

 Gustavus Adolphus, were first clothed in Germany by something 

 like requisitions upon the great manufacturing towns of that country. 

 Until then a national sash was the great distinctive mark of the 

 armies of Europe. Now cloth, of such colour as circumstances 

 could produce was adopted and thence regiments at first had uni- 

 forms differing in their main colours. Each Colonel next endeavour- 

 ed to dress his own corps in the livery of his arms and it was by 

 degrees only that national uniforms became general. Thus in En- 

 gland, although Cromwell had introduced the red or scarlet coats 

 to clothe his troopers, at the restoration that colour fell into disgrace, 

 and James, Duke of York, gave to his regiment of marines yellow 

 and grey dresses, and it was not until the accession of King William 

 that the scarlet was again restored. Even in 1762 the Coldstream 

 guards had no royal facings and Lord Bath's regiment was still in 

 blue, and the Oxford regiment of horse retains that colour to this 

 day in consequence of an article in the will of the last Earl of the 

 house of Veer. In France, during the latter days of Louis XIV. the 

 national infantry began to be all clothed in white, as also the horse, 

 but the dragoons wore scarlet or green and the Irish and Swiss 

 brigades red. 



At that period the coats of the infantry were without collars, but 

 they had very broad cuffs buttoned or looped back upon the upper 

 arm, and the skirts were so ample that it was necessary to hook 

 them back, to facilitate the men in marching. The waistcoats had 

 pockets down to the knees and, in the allied armies, gaiters or spat- 

 terdashes as they were then called, had become general. Hats were 

 the most common covering of the head, small and with three peaked 

 corners ; but some infantry wore low montero caps and grenadiers 

 were mostly distinguished by high sugar-loaf caps, embroidered and 

 laced, or furnished with a brass plate. These bore on the breast a 

 brass tube to hold slow match when employed in throwing hand 

 grenades, from which they derive the name of grenadiers. The belts 

 were of leather, one slinging a large, flat, unhandy cartridge box, and 



