called forth upon these principles need not fear of being conquerours A just cause may be spoiled through the ill management thereof or through perfidious dealings A Rebellious Conquerour may make lawes even to death it self to maintain his Victory as our late Usurpation hath experienced But at last the whole world beheld with an eye of admiration to see how miraculously God restored his Majesty to his Crown and Dignities the Church and People to their just rights and liberties I do affirme and truly say of Soveraign Power Kingdomes Lawes and Armies as was said of Hippocrates's Twins they laugh and weep together they live and die together for as without Lawes the Soveraign power and the Common-wealth cannot subsist by reason of disorders within so without Armes and the exercise of them thâ— cannot be safe by reason of dangers without I shall further and briefly prove that the safety both of King and people is much advanced by the exercise of Armes although Solomon saith In the multitude of people is the honour of a King and for want of people cometh destruction Notwithstanding I may affirm that safety is not in a multitude of men without weapons and skill to manage them It is asserted That Counsel and strength are for War Then how shall Counsell and strength be established Isa 36. without education and instruction to service and how shall a man be instructed without Military Exercises There are some disadvantages that happen in Wars partly by reason of the suddainness of the War and partly in respect of the inequality and odds betwixt party and party Now Souldiers without dexterity and skill can never be able to extricate themselves out of such difficulties as may befall them All which proves that the exercise of Armes is to be allowed and Commanded And as I told you at first I have heard some say that we live in Gospel times which are to be times of Peace and not of war therefore there needeth not those Exercises of Armes as you reason for c. This is argued by some out of covetousness to save their expences but are ready to declare when there is occasion then they will be in a readiness to do their best There are others of a Fanatick humour He speaketh not against the use of weapons or lawfull War Whereas before Christ they were enemies but now there shall be love c. unwilling to set forward any thing that may be commanded them argue from that in Isaiah They shall heat their swords into plough shares and their Spears into pruning hooks Nation shall not lift up a Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more Now in answer hereunto we must oppose it by another saying in Joel where the people were called upon to beat their plough shares into swords and their pruning hooks into Spears For the reconciling hereof the learned say that Isaiah was to distinguish between the purpose and intent of Christs coming into the world and the other sheweth the success and event which was accidental in respect of mans malice Again to the first of these they argue what Christ said to Saint Peter Put up thy Sword for he that strikes with the Sword shall perish by the Sword But I pray you observe what he saith to his Disciples That he that hath no Sword let him sell his coat and buy a Sword Although the end of Christs coming was to reconcile things in Heaven and things on earth I have been further taught by the Learned that this is attained unto between God and us in our Justification and will be accomplished between man and man in the day of Redemption Yet as long as there is a Sathanical Spirit in the children of disobedience and so long as there is a remnant of sin in the heart of any there will be Divisions Familists Quakers Anabaptists Independents and Presbyterians All being refractory to the present commands c. Which sheweth a necessity to have a care and prepare for the exercise of Armes That none of these by their Usurpation may for ever hereafter snatch the Trumpets out of Moses's hands nor the Trumpet only but the Sword also nor the Sword alone but the Crown and Scepter also Now by this mutual exercise of Armes I doubt not but in a litttle time God Almighty will unite the affections of most against such as shall exalt themseves above all that is called God Let me excite all to be diligent in the use of the meanes to make themselves able and fit Souldiers and Commanders by often Exercising and willing to get compleat Armes to be exercised in Martial dispipline considering how ill it was with Israel when there was not a shield to be found amongst 40000 men And consider again how worthy of praise it was to Martial Discipline in Israel when they had 170000 every one able to lead an Army c. I must tell you we have not our peace by Patent we know not how long it may continue Let war therefore be provided for as to train up some to military practises If War should come it is labour well spent If not it is a labour well lost Long preparations make a short and quick victory Some are apt to say we have Souldiers enough we will all fight when occasion shall serve Let me tell such that they that never tried it think it a pleasure to fight and they will fight strangely if they have no weapons and use their weapons more strangely if they have no skill Re Milita lib. 1. c. 20. It is a saying of Vegetius Non de pugna sed de fuga cogitant qui nudi in acie exponuntur ad Vulnera Their minds are not so much on fighting as fleeing that are exposed to War without weapons and a Souldier may be almost as well without them as not to know how to use them Now that the Souldier may not be failing herein and that his Majestie may never want able Souldiers in the Country as well as in the City I most humbly beg and crave pardon in presuming to present it That the Muster master in every Countrey should be a careful unbyassed person an able Souldier and one whom the Commanders and Gentlemen love and affect who should be alwayes by authority to attend at such times and places as shall be thought convenient to exercise and teach the Art of Military discipline to all that shall willingly imbrace it And if his pay be too little for him to make it his business and to attend upon it It may be then augmented without any trouble and the Souldier will be found much more capable for service when commanded There must be exercise or else mens spirits will grow restie what turnes to putrefaction sooner than standing water what is Vertue without Action Idleness doth neither get nor save but lose If exercise be good then those are best that tend to the most good The exercises of War step in to
been apapproved of by some of the ablest Souldiers in this Kingdom Vic. Wimbaldon Sir Tho. Genham If once the Countrey saw the practice of it and what a strong preservation it is against the incursion of the Horse and in all other respects rather an advantage to the Souldier than disadvantageous to him it would be not only esteemed good but carefully put into practice As the Musquetteer is secured by the gallant invention of the Half-Pike Bow and Pike any strange eye would think it very unjust that such Numbers of the Pike-men should be slain by the shot and not able to resist and offend again I could therefore say much for the Long Bow to be joyned with the Pike how their showers of Arrows will gaul and terrifie the Horse wound and hurt the Souldiers both on Horse and Foot So if this should be duly performed all hands would be fighting and all in a readiness for self preservation History is full of the great slaughters and Atchievements in those days when the Bow was most in use but because it is laid aside I shall be silent hoping the practice will never be forgotten CHAP. III. The Places of Dignities both of Files and Ranks IN this Military Age who would have thought that few or any could be so ignorant of the difference between a File and a Rank but finding in our Annual Exercises many Farmor like Souldiers to be much guilty thereof I shall speak a a little thereunto shewing what is required to the making up of a File and also of a Rank with the dignity of each as they stand both in File and Rank A File First Know that a File is a sequent Number of men standing one behind an other Front to the Reer Or from the first which is termed a File-Leader unto the last which is termed a bringer up which shall be demonstrated according to our mode of Discipline A Ranke Secondly A Rank is a Row of men be they more or less standing or marching shoulder to shoulder in a direct Line from the right hand to the left and from the left to the right even a breast And by the way observe that in all preparations to exercise Files must be made up first and being then drawn forth and the Files joyned together Ranks are made Both which are according to Barriffe Ward and others but in giving their Dignities to a file of eight deep there are various opinions yet all endeavouring after a Geometrical proportion and it is that which Commanders should chiefly follow as near as possibly they can And because the Sages of our Times do differ in their Judgments more in this particular than in any one thing that I know of I shall set down what Rules I have know or heard leaving it to the more experienced that can command better Here followeth the Rule of Barriffe Ward and others in placing the Dignities for six eight and ten both in File and Rank I shall here insert those various Opinions of the Dignities of Souldiers eight in File and so for eight Companies in a Regiment by all which you may dignifie each Officer in his due place of Honour either in March or in a Body The consideration that there is or ought to be an answerableness in the Reer to the Front in the left flank to the right by an equitable right in their true Dignity is that which giveth life and being to orderly Discipline for the worth of one must be answerable to the other in Skill Valour and in Number The equality in this opposition is thus As 1 and 4 makes five in the Colonels Division so 3 and 2 in the Lieutenant Colonels Division makes five also Then as in the first 5 and 8 makes thirteen so the second 7 and 6 is thirteen which is an equal opposition As inform'd Mr. Elton's Rule A Second Opinion for the Dignity of eight Companies is as followeth These oppose as the first and somewhat more in the equality of their Number as one and six is seven in the right Wing of the Colonels Division so two and five is equal to that in the right Wing of the Lieutenant Colonels Division and six and seven is equally thirteen in the first as five and eight in the second But according to the Rules for the Dignity of a File the second Captain hath lost his place of Honour For those of that Opinion who place the second Captain in the Lieutenant Colonels Division affirm that there may be a Geometrical equality in length and breadth in File and Rank yet in point of Honour according to first Rule in the Colonels Division the second Captain being placed loseth his Dignity for if the eldest Captain in priority is placed upon the Head or first Division Body or stand of Pikes leading the Colonels Colours then by the self same Rule of Equity the second Captain Numb 5 may and ought to be in the head of the Lieutenant Colonels Division Body or stand of Pikes To which I conclude that the second Captain hath as much Honour to bring up the Reer of the Colonels own Division of Pikes when so marched but if marched intire Regimentally there to bring up the Reer of the whole Body or stand of Pikes is a greater Honour and the second Captains Dignity A third Opinion for the Dignity of eight Companies This is the most received Opinion of the other two of late years and the Reasons may be as followeth First their opposement is more upon a direct equality than the former as for example 1 and 8 stands upon the right Wing of the Colonels Division which maketh 9 now equally to oppose this there is 3 and 6 on the left Wing of the Lieutenant Colonels Division that maketh 9 also then upon the Right Wing of the Colonels Division there is 4 and 5 that maketh 9 and to oppose that there is 2 and 7 which is 9 also all this makes out the justness of this opposement and in that particular exceeds both the former for what can be said for the second may be alleadg'd for this third also The differences in them as to their opposements may hereby be discerned and how that all three make equal in numbers as in half Files and half Ranks 18 is equal to 18 and in Rank and File making 36. Indeed when the Seignior Officers of a Regiment had more Souldiers in their respective Companies there was then great reason to stand upon an equal opposement or else one Wing might be too strong for the other All this being now laid aside and there being of Souldiers an equality of number in each company why then should our first rule for the dignity of a File be laid aside for the marching of a Regiment either intire or divisional In the second Opinion the second Captain is placed in the Lt. Colonel's divisions in the third he is placed in the Collonels although I conceive he ought to be in that
I have stretched them as far as is convenient that by their figures they may be so well understood that when larger numbers are before you your Commands may be performed with more delight and security But before the Drum beates a march to depart the field I shall briefly declare That in grand Battalias or field services the Souldier fires by vollies or as termed by some Salves of shott that is when they are to fire intirely by two or three Ranks or more as your number will permit and occasion require thereby powring showers of lead upon your Enemy Now this way of firing and those also of gaining ground I could wish the Souldier should be often experienced in The Commander in taking pains with his Souldier cannot be the worse for it and I am sure the Souldier much the better being fitted thereby to meet his Enemy in any field service when his Majesty shall have occasion to Command him For that Commander that is experienced in this Art Military finds that those who know but little more than the Theory part are oftimes pusled or at a stand What can such who are but meer Bookleidgers do when their Number of men is wanting or nature in place sparing to their advantage or intentions such when they are forced to action they will fail of their expectation and at last must be beholding to others that are better Artists or else it may prove a fatal ruin to both Some of my friends might think that I should treat also somewhat concerning the dignities of Officers in marching in placing of them in field services but that belonging to Commanders of an higher degree it would be presumption in me to lay down rules for them to follow for any Minor Officer that for his satisfaction will be pleased to view the third Chapter of these Obsevations he may understand the method and mode thereof and I hold it in my judgment that all dignitie in marching of a Regiment is from a file and the drawing up of Companies for a Battalia is from a Rank In the next place I come to shew the necessity of the exercise of Armes c. CHAP. XXIII Shewing the necessity of the Exercise of Armes with their Antiquity BEcause I have heard it sounding in my ears what needeth all this trouble and expences in the exercise of Armes We are now in times of Peace what need we to make provision c I shall lay down some examples shewing First How Antient the use of Armes have been Secondly A complaint for want of Arms. And Thirdly The end and use of them For the first Abraham had three hundred and eighteen men in his House fitted for War upon short warning Moses shewed the people how to encamp by their Standards under the Ensigns of their fathers Houses Joshua and the Judges under whom of Reuben and Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh were four hundred and forty thousand seven hundred and sixty men exercised in Wars You may read of David of Solomon of Jehosaphat of Asa of Vzziah whose care in this particular is most plentifully declared Secondly Of the complaint for want of Arms. We read in the History of the Judges Was there a shield or a Spear seen among forty thousand in Israel This question is a plain negative there was not here is that Defectus Remedii the want of help Great was their misery but no remedy not a Spear to offend nor not so much as a Shield to defend War was at their Gates yet neither offensive nor defensive weapon to assist Such an extremity as this was will cause all to be lost either present possessions or in future possibilities so that hope and help in such extremities must be laid aside There was likewise a great distress in the time of Saul when the spoilers were come out from the Philistins there was neither Sword nor Spear found in any of the hands of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan but with Saul and Jonathan only yet although here was a great want they had victory It is well known that God can give victory by small means and as the Apostle said to Christ Master here are two Swords he answered it is enough He can give your Enemies into your hands with two Swords with one Sword with no Sword All this was to convince the Children of Israel that God fought for them to move them to bless the Lord Fifth monarchy men Although some have been such audacious Rebels to think their zeal should even beck God Almighty or to command power and aid from him to fight for them therefore boldly attempted of late saying that ten should chase an hundred and an hundred a thousand But through the unjustness of their undertakings and fewness in Number they must sink to convince them and all others upon any pretence of Religion that will be such Rebellious dissenters God Almighty will not only fight against them but will deliver them into the hands of Justice to magnifie his own power in bringing such to condign punishment Thirdly For the end and use of Armes It is for the recovery of our just rights which wrongfully have been detained or for the preservation of them against any opposer either forraign or domestick For these ends Armes may be used and War proclaimed yet not by any other way or pretence but by and with his Majesties consideration thereof whether just or unjust by which we are to be either incouraged or discouraged A just cause may be farther considered in the Peace of the People the safety of the Countrey and the Glory of the Kingdom As to the first there was never any War intended but to make way for Peace it is a base end to desire Peace by which to leavy a force against an unjust War but so to desire a just War that thereby may be settled a well grounded peace A second thing that may be considered is the health and safety of the Countrey some must be endangered that all may not be destroyed I could wish that our Chiefetains and Gentlemen with those dull leaded spirits of our rotten Country and miserable worldlings would consider for whose sakes the worthy Souldier spares neither time nor purse in this Noble Exercise but even for them and theirs theirs and their Children yet they must be judged most contemptible rather than to countenance them some will burden them in their rates and taxes and keep their just dues and payes from them yet consider who it is that must preserve your Cities and Countries Temples and Pallaces Trafficks and Marketts Ships and Shops from ruine desolation and destruction but the Souldier under God Thirdly The Glory of a Kingdom lyeth much in a people well disciplin'd in the Art of War That Prince that maketh it his designes to have his people instructed and trained up in Military exercises will make his Enemies to fear him both at home and abroad And that people that shall justly be
divided into many Bodies yet did they not carry several Ensigns but every Body the Ensign of his own Tribe so that Companies were not distinguished by their Captains or Chiefs but by their Tribes nor could they say there goes such a particular Commander but there is such a Tribe not there marches Aaron but there marches the Tribe of Levi and thus of the rest Hence and from this ground was taken up the use of the Ensigns or Banners of Kingdoms by which several Armies display to the World their several Nations as with us in England we have the Ensign of St. George as we term it which is a bloody Cross in a white field which shews to the world not what private Company I follow but what King I serve and what Country I acknowledge for howsoever private Captains are allowed their Ensigns for private respects or distinctions yet they are not allowed or to be born on foot without this general Ensign of this Kingdom for thus it holdeth in all Christian Kingdoms and amongst the Turks also as appeareth by their Cressant or Half Moon in all their Armies as the Ensign of their Universal Monarchy Thus you see Moses first and that by the Commandment of God himself began Ensigns which by succession of time descended and came down with a more general use unto the days of Maccabees for the Tribes then being dispersed far and wide and made Kings of many spatious and fruitful Countries they took liberty to alter their Ensigns according to their own fancies The glory thereof when it came to the cares of the Graecians and Macedonians for Alexander is supposed to reign in the time of the Maccabees they took to themselves a lawful imitation thereof and so commanded their Captains c. to carry in their Ensigns Devices in honour of their Renown and Conquests Then from the imitations of the Graecians the Romans took to themselves the carriage of Ensigns and because they found it the chiefest beauty and ornament of Armies they made it therefore the noblest and richest spoil which could possibly be taken away from the Enemy and so made it an hereditary right for any man that should take in honourable fashion such spoyls ever after to bear them as his own to him and his Posterity for ever The Romans first brought this custom into the Monarchy of Great Britain when Caesar first invaded and got footing into the same Howsoever there is an opinion taken that Brute when he first conquered this Island brought in the Trojan Ensigns and other Ornaments of their Wars yet it is certain that through Civil Dissentions and other Forreign Combustions all these Honourable Marks were lost and forgotten and only the Romans renewed and brought them back unto memory partly by their glory and example and partly by their loss when they were repulsed back who left behind them many of these spoyls to adorn the Britains From these times hath the use of Ensigns remained amongst us and as the Ages have succeeded and proved wiser and wiser and one time more than another so hath the alteration of these Emblems or Ensigns changed and brought themselves into the form wherein they are at this instant carried as the Romans varyed from the old Britains so the Saxons from the Romans and the Danes from the Saxons But the French then being the most refined Nation of all other altering from them all and now the English having altered all into this present mode of Uniformity they may display them to the World for their Gallantry CHAP. II. The Definition of Ensigns AFter the Original Antiquity and first beginning hath been endeavoured to be made to appear I shall now descend to the definition and distinction of them and by what proper names they were called in the best and most renowned Wars of Christendom and for what reason they have held and retained them To begin with the first and most antient name belonging to Ensigns I think it not amiss to borrow it from the Romans for although the Hebrews Chaldeans and Graecians were the first Inventers yet the Names and Attributes they gave them were much incertain and unconstant and as the experience of Wars grew great and as the Invention dilated and spread further so did the signification alter for what was proper and substantial in this Age in the next was utterly lost and forgotten so as I shall not rest upon these Titles or significations The first then that retained a constant and firm settled name for those Trophies of Honour is taken to be the Romans who indeed being the greatest Schoolmasters in the Art of War are the most worthy to be held for Imitation or Authority The name which the Romans first gave to the Ensign or him that carried the Ensign for to the man was ever attributed the Contents of the thing he carried was Insigne or Sign bearing and so Ensign-bearer because they carried in those Ensigns Marks Empressaes or Emblems best agreeing with their natures and condition according to their own Inventions or else the Pourtraictures of their former Battles and Conquests either of which was so honourable that indeed they were made Hereditary descending down to their Children from Generation to Generation And no more were called Signs c. but Coat-Armour or the Honour of the Families nor were they of slight or ordinary esteem as at first neither had men liberty any longer to make election of them at their own Wills but this power was incabinated within the breast of Emperours Kings and Generals who indeed under God are the unbounded Oceans of Honour they only have the liberty of bestowing and confirming Honour at their own pleasures Hence it came that Ensigns thus carrying of Coat-Armours were of such reverend esteem that men took it for the honourablest place that might be to fall near or about the Ensign and for the defence of it no hazzard could be too great nor any torment insupportable So that many times the Zeal of those that did defend these Ensigns c. and the inflamed desire or greediness of those which sought to conquer and atchieve them was so immeasurable and unbounded that an infinite of blood hath been shed and many powerful Armies overthrown only for the purchase of one of these honourable Trophies This when the wisdom of the Romans perceived and that those Insignias were not Bugbears to affright but rather fires which did inflame their Enemies courage beyond their proper natures they forthwith forbad the carrying of any Coat-Armour or Device in their Ensigns but only such slight inventions as might not make the Enemy much the richer by the enjoyment thereof nor themselves much the poorer by the loss And hence it followed that the word Insignia was put out of use and they then called the Ensign Antesignia and made other Devices contrary to all Coat-Armour intimating to the Enemy that whatsoever they got by those purchases was dishonourable rather than any way worthy of
were but once suffered to land and have firm footing Which imagination groweth for want of skill and judgment in Martial actions and therefore we seek to prevent that by a desperate and disorderly fight which we might more safely remedy by a defensive and less dangerous course as may appear by the examples of a weak Ship and a battered Town which both by suffering themselves to be entered and assaulted the one by her close fights the other by new intrenchments do give the entered Enemy the greater foyle even then when they think themselves possest of all Besides a King that is in his own Country may be supplied with infinite Numbers of Pioniers who in few hours may rear earth works to triple his force against an Invadour as is well known to him that is a Souldier whereof he should be utterly deprived by that most barbarous custome heretofore used and yet maintained I mean of that disorderly running down to the Sea side to give an Invading Enemy battel at his first landing What reason had Spain to attempt the Conquest and subversion of this Realm but that they presumed The only hope of an invador is to prevaile by Battel we would assuredly rely upon our old Custom of giving them Battel at their landing which if we should do there would be great likelihood first that we should lose the same and next having lost the Battel I fear that the subversion of this famous Island would ensue For an aspiring King that hath a great faction within a Contry may presume beforehand to carry the same if he be assured that the people thereof will give him battel at his first landing Therfore if you will avoid an Invasion and the danger of a Conquest let it be known to the world that it is an error whereby you might imbrace those advantages and the benefit that our Country affords and you shall undoubtedly avoid the trouble of the first and be free from the danger of the last Scanderbegg against the Turk We read that Scanderbegge never theless that he expected the Invasion of so puissant an Enemy as was the Turk thought it not good to leave any great Army of Force to give him Battel but only certain select bands or Companies of Foot with Troops of Horse the foot too lightly armed causing all the frontiers to withdraw themselves their Cattel Corn and Substance into the strong and fortyfied places of the Country did with such select forces face the Enemy on the frontiers by keeping of streights passages making suddain attempts in the night such other times as by Spies he found the Enemy careless and so with a few people or small force by time famine and expences he wearied the Enemy and caused him to retire that otherwise in Battel might have gotten the victory and so in short time commanded the whole Country Wherefore I would not wish any Prince to adventure his Kingdom that way unless he be weary of the same Battel being the only thing for an Invadour to seek and on the contrary for the invaded to avoid and shun for the one doth hazzard but his people and hath a lot to win a Kingdom and the other in losing of the Battel endangereth his Crown The Opponent disalloweth of a confused disorderly running down to the Sea side and yet would fight with them in their landing which is a thing impossible For if you tarry time to put men in order which you must of necessity do by reason of the Countries slack assembly then will the Enemy land in the mean time and frustrate your purpose unless you were made acquainted long beforehand when and where he intended to land and where you may make your supposed Trenches you have declared to lodge your men in There be some also that conceive a great advantage of the Enemies weakness coming from the Sea and of their landing out of Boates disorderly which when it shall happen to come to trial it will easily appear how far they are deceived of both for who knoweth not that even all men coming near the shore and smelling land become well and sound again of their Sea sickness Also what numbers of men will be landed at one instant in Boats Gallies and other Vessels of small draught and that safe enough those that have been imployed in like actions can testifie And as touching Rocks Shelves contrary Winds c. which is said may fight for us we must not build upon such uncertainties for an Enemy will beforehand so set down and lay his plot where he will make his descent as that none of all those accidents shall give any impedement to the same What other advantages our Country men may have either of their Courage or goodness of their cause Strength and courage availeth much being joyned with skill and order to dispose of them without knowledge and order how to dispose thereof will rather be an occasion of their overthrow than means of the Victory But especially a few to fight against many disordered against ordered Countrey men against experienced Souldiers the odds that the Enemy hath of you therein will be much greater than your imagined advantages And albeit that I confess our Country men have a shew of desire to fight as having as great natural help of strength courage and ability as any other Nation yet can it not be denied but that in the Artificial we must needs be defective for want of use and Practice therefore not to be suffered to run down to the Sea side in that confused and accustomed manner unless it might be done with a compleat number of choyce men conducted by a skilful leader that knoweth how to make his fight upon the best advantages and to retire them orderly again to their least hurt and discouragement otherwse I do altogether disallow of that general repair to the Sea side But rather to make your assemblies five or six miles distant with all your Foot forces and to attend them in the plaines with your Horse for whatsoever men resolve with themselves before hand and what minds soever they may seem to put on when they shall be driven to make their wayes through the vollies of shot having never been acquainted with the game before it may either make them pinch courtesie through the strangeness thereof or at least having tasted of that sauce and finding it bitter may spread rumours to discourage a whole Army for oftentimes the same and bruite of a repulse maketh others as fearful that but hear of it as those that have been in the Action and born the blows themselves How unlikely then it is that you should profit your selves by that means or impeach your Enemy may easily appear But let us come to examples for it is not sufficient to say by experience of former invasions c. not alledging any Where can it be remembered that a strong Enemy proffering to land hath been prevented by the Frontier forces I