FAJAU^FAi—T/w Irhli Guards. 25 



their last years in Ireland were identified. After 1690, indeed, they 

 disappeared from the roll of the regiments in the service of the 

 Eritish Crown, and it is hardly surprising that William III. made no 

 attempt to revive a corps which had fought for his opponent. But 

 though exiled to France for above one hundred years, the identity of 

 the regiment was never completely lost. It still continued to be 

 recruited abroad from the "wild geese" who flocked in a continuous 

 stream from Ireland to the Continent through the course of the 

 •eighteenth century. Under the leadership of Dorrington it served 

 with distinction at Loudon and Charleroy, and though broken up in 

 1698, after the Peace of Ryswick, when it ceased to retain its old 

 title, it was substantially re-embodied under its old chief, and 

 was known until his death, in 1718, as the Dorrington Eegiment, 

 The regiment continued during this period, by desire of King 

 James II,, to retain the uniform and colours it had worn in the British 

 Service. 1 Thenceforward it was distinguished by the names of its 

 successive Colonels, Counts Michael de Eoth and Edward de Eoth, 

 Eobert Dillon, Lord Eoscommon, and Count Antoine Walsh de 

 Serrant, all of them representatives of old Irish families, and all of 

 them soldiers of capacity. In the Marlborough wars, the regiment 

 served with the army of Flanders, and was present at Malplaquet 

 under Count Michael de Eoth ; it served with the Duke of Berwick 

 in Spain, and during the colonelcy of his son took part in the 

 battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy. Finally under Count Walsh 



^ See on this point, " Historique du 87^ Regiment d' Infanlerie de Ligne, 1690- 

 1892.^^ Par Capitaine Mallaguti. Paris, 1892, from which the following extracts 

 are taken: — 



"II semble que, des cette epoque (169S), les regiments Orlandais et suisses 

 etaient distingues par I'habit rouge garance ; tandis que toute I'infanteriefi'aneaise 

 portait I'habit gris-blanc," p. 16. 



" Notes sur Puniforme du Regiment de Dillon de 1690 a 1791.'''' — " Nous n'avons 

 pu trouver aucun renseignement sur I'unifoime de Dillon pendant les quarante 

 premieres annees de son se our en France. Le premier ouvrage qui nous ait furni 

 une donnee precise est la Carte abregee du militaire de la France (de Leman de 

 la Jaise) qui, pour les annees 1730 et 1733 attribue a Dillon : habit rouge et pare- 

 ments bleus," p. 75. The " habit rouge-garance " was worn continuously to 1791 

 by all the Irish regiments in the French service. The facings A-aried in colour, 

 and in the case of tlie Irish Guards were of St. Patrick's blue. A representation 

 of the uniforms of the French army in 1772 shows the Guards or Eoscommon 

 Regiment, as it was then called, to have worn a red coat or tunic with blue 

 facings, buff breeches, white Hessian boots, and a plumed helmet. 



Tlie colours of the Eegiment at this time showed a Mliite cross on a ground of 

 St. Patrick's blue. 



