WAR MUSIC 199 



In the 17th century it was a post of some dignity, 

 and gave its holder the title of Esquire. 



During the great retreat in the winter of 1914 

 the effect of music was magnificently illustrated. 

 Mr. Conan Doyle^ wTites, ' ' Exhausted as the troops 

 were, there could be no halt or rest until they had 

 extricated themselves from the immediate danger. 

 At the last point of human endurance they still 

 staggered on through the evening and the night 

 time, amid roaring thunder and flashing lightning, 

 down the St. Quentin road. Many fell from fatigue, 

 and having fallen continued to sleep. ... In the 

 case of some of the men the collapse was so com- 

 plete that it was almost impossible to get them on. 

 Major Tom Bridges, of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoons 

 being sent to round up and hurry forward 250 

 stragglers at St. Quentin, found them nearly 

 comatose with fatigue. With quick v^dt he bought 

 a toy drum, and accompanied by a man with a 

 penny whistle he fell them in and marched them, 

 laughing in all their misery, down the high road 

 towards Ham." When he stopped he found that 

 the men stopped also, so he was compelled to 

 march and play the whole way to Roupy. 



In Sir Henry Newbolt's Song of the Great Retreat 

 {The Times, Dec. 16, 1914), this triumphant 

 success is described : 



" Cheerly goes the dark road, cheerly goes the 

 night, 

 Cheerly goes the blood to keep the beat : 



* The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1914, pp. 117 

 and 118. 



