he making alt they all take up their several distances behind him till he who is File-leader turn himself about on that same ground he stood on and then all turn likewise so that all the File faceth to the Rear in that same order that before the Counter-march it fac'd to the Van by this means the Body loseth ground in the Rear and therefore our Modern Drillers when they command the Macedonian counter-march they say By the Right or Left hand Countermarch and lose ground in the Rear or gain ground in the Van which is all one thing The Laconian is when the Batallion is commanded to take up as much ground in the Rear as it possess'd before and is done thus The File-leader Lacedemonian turns just where he stands and marcheth as many foot behind the Rear-man as the Body at its due distance should possess all who follow him turn not about till their Leaders go by them and so the Bringer up doth only turn himself without any further motion The Modern word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right and Left hand and gain ground in the Rear The Persian is when the Batallion keeps the same ground it had but with this difference that the Leader stands where the Bringer up was and the Persian Rear-man where the Leader stood It is done thus The Leader advanceth three steps and then turns and marcheth to the Rear and all who follow him turn not till they come to that place to which he advanced and then they face about and take up the same ground they formerly possest The word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right or Left hand and keep your ground It is also called the Chorâ—an Counter-march because Oâ— Choraean as the Chorus useth to sing and dance all together so here all the Ranks move at once and keeping that same measure and distance in turning resembles a Dance But indeed all these Counter-marches as most of all evolutions are better and sooner illustrated nay demonstrated by a Body of Souldiers in the Field than they can be either by words or figures on Paper Philip King of Macedon Father of the Great Alexander put down the first of these Counter-marches which was his own Countrey one and with good reason for it hath a show of flying at least of retiring being a Body of sixteen deep as the Macedonian Phalanx was by that Counter-march lost in the Rear where the Enemy is suppos'd to be one hundred and twelve foot of ground one foot being allowed for every Rank to stand on and six All three of small use foot of distance between the Ranks at least it loseth one hundred and six foot And truly I think the hazard were small if all the three several Counter-marches were for ever banish'd out of all Armies except those of our Enemies It is true I never saw any of them used in sight of an Enemy for if they be practis'd then I am confident confusion would follow them which is but too ready to appear in any Army though never so well order'd when it is unexpectedly attack'd by an Enemy in the Rear If the Grecians had been acquainted with our great Guns nay even with our Muskets which kill at a greater distance by far than Darts or Arrows and against which their Defensive Arms would not have been proof they would have found that an Enemy a good way from their Rear would have render'd their best Counter-marches both unfeasible and dangerous All the good I suppose that is intended by a Counter-march is to place the very same men and Ranks with their faces to the Rear in that very same order they were with their faces to the Front And truly if Captains be careful to place their best men in the Front their next best in the Rear and make middle men of the third and rank every man according to his worth and dignity as they should do but too many of them are negligent in this it will be needless to hazard a Counter-march but with much ease and with one word of Command and that is By the Right or Left hand about an Enemy may be fac'd in the Rear without danger of any confusion or disorder I have seen some very punctual Officers and Drill-masters who have taken much pains to teach new beginners all these three sorts of Counter-marches and have made them practise their lessons very exactly yet for all that I could never in my own Judgement have a better opinion of Counter-marches than they say some Physicians have of Cucumbers which they first order to be well corrected and prepar'd with Vinegar Oyl Pepper and I know not what else and then advise to throw them out of doors or over the Windows In exercising Bodies the first care is to make Ranks and Files keep that distance that is allowed by the Prince or General who commands the Army for he may do in that according to his pleasure The Grecian Foot had a three-fold distance the first was of six foot and this Aelian will have to be in exercisings and marches between File and File as well as Rank and Rank but assuredly there was not so good reason for the one as there was for the other in regard all the heavy arm'd Foot cartying long Pikes required six foot in their march between Rank and Rank for the conveniency of their Pikes but there was no need of so much between File and File as Distances of the Foot any man at first view may easily comprehend The second distance was of three foot between Rank and Rank as also between File and File and this was when they were drawn up and stood in Battel with their Pikes order'd and their posture at this distance was called Densatio The third was of one foot and a half between both Files and Ranks and that was when they were either to give or receive a charge and it was call'd Constipatiâ— In that posture having presented their Pikes with their left foot formost their Targets touch'd one another and so their Phalange look'd like a Brazen Wall as Lucius Aemilius the Roman Consul spoke of that wherewith King Persâ—â—s fac'd him at the Battel of Pidna where they fought for the Soveraignty of the Kingdom of Macedon The Grecian Horse were marshall'd in several figures and of their distance I can say nothing nor doth Aelian help me in it at all Of these several figures of Horse Troops I shall speak in the next Chapter but one And Of the Horse then my Reader will perhaps believe with me that the Square Battels probably kept that distance that Troops have done since and that both the Rhombus and the Wedge required a greater distance when they were commanded by a motion either to the Right or Left hand to change the posture or the place wherein they stood and I conceive when either of them was to charge the Horse men were obliged to â—err
be out-wing'd as assuredly he was it will easily be granted Alexander at Arbela but eight deep that the more ground he took up in Front the less subject he was to that danger And this Curtius confirms when he tells us that the Commanders of the several Bodies had orders given them to extend their Batallions as far in length as without eminent danger they might lest saith the same Author they should be environ'd I conceive then it cannot be doubted but Alexander studying how to make as large a Front as feasibly he might against so numerous an Enemy he made his heavy arm'd Foot Phalange but eight deep as that which suited best with his present affairs and as he had seen other Grecian Captains do before him for by that means he made himself master of twice as much ground as he had when it was marshall'd sixteen in File That he had Reserves is most clear both from Curtius and others for Nicanor follow'd the Phalange with the Argyraspides or Silver Shields and these were heavy armed observe it and Cenos with a Band of men which And had Reserves saith Curtius was appointed note this to be a Relief Then Horestes Lincerta Polycarpon and Philagus all with several Bodies follow'd the Phalanx And that all these were Reserves Aelian himself nor any for him will not be so impudent as to deny But I shall speak more of the marshalling this Army in the Chapter following the next I come now to the third Reason which is pretended for sixteen deep of Third reason for 16 deep the heavy armed Phalange And it is this Though the Pikes of all those Ranks that stand behind the fifth or if you will the sixth be useless in regard they can reach but little or nothing beyond the File leader and you will remember these Ranks are not fewer than ten if not eleven yet being at close order with their Pikes advanc'd they bear forward with the weight and force of their Bodies those five or six Ranks that are before them and so make the Impression the greater and stronger they take all occasion of flight from them and impose a necessity on them to overcome or dye I answer first that this pretended advantage if it was any at all was very oft dear Answered bought Secondly I say five Ranks having their Pikes presented to the Enemy three Ranks behind them might have serv'd sufficiently to bear forward the five before them or if Aelian thought six Ranks might present all their Pikes with advantage then let four Ranks be allowed behind them to bear them forward to the charge and hinder them to fly and this will make in all but ten Ranks and so still six Ranks might have been disposed of either to enlarge the Front or make a Body in the Rear for a Reserve And thirdly I say when Aelian's six formost Ranks were busie in fight the ten behind them who were to bear those six forward were at their closest distance which he calls constipation and so not able to open very suddenly and face about in so good order and so soon as was requisite to receive or beat back the charge of an unexpected Enemy For certainly they must first have open'd backward and then fac'd about both which must have been done by the command of some of their Officers probably the Lieutenant and it is well enough known how confusion and disorder which seldome fails to attend such occasions stops the ears and dulls the judgement of Souldiers that they can neither hear nor understand the words of Command aright I will fetch two instances from History and those I believe will prove all I have said and clear this whole matter pretty well At the Battel of Cynocephalae or Dogs heads fought by Philip the last King Battel of Cinocephalae of Macedon except one against Titus Flaminius a Roman Consul the half of Philips heavy armed Phalange on the right hand bore down all before it and trod over the Legions gaining ground so far that the Macedonian thought the day his own But Flaminius having observ'd that the left Wing of the Phalange could not draw up in any close order because of the unevenness and knottiness of the Mountain whose little hillocks represented the heads of Dogs sent a Tribune with a Legion and some Elephants up the Hill to charge that Left Wing which he smartly doing easily routed it and immediately fell on the Rear of the victorious Right wing and without opposition cut it in pieces Now if the Left Wing of the Phalange which had no convenient ground whereon to draw up had plac'd it self on the top of the Hill at a distance behind the Right Wing as a Reserve the Romans durst never have hazarded to have come between them or if the last ten Ranks of the Right Wing who serv'd for nothing but to bear forward the other six Ranks had fac'd about according to Aelians rule they could not so easily have been broken But the close posture or constipation of these last ten Ranks to bear forward the formost six Ranks made them uncapable to do that quickly which the present necessity required or else the sudden charge of an unlook'd for Enemy did so appal them that they knew not what they were doing nor who commanded or who obeyed which as I have said frequently falls out in such cases So this Phalanx cast in Aelian's Macedonian mould cost King Philip very dear but another modell'd after the same fashion cost his Son Perseus much dearer At Pidna a Town of Macedon King Perseus fought with Lucius Aemilius Battei of Pidna a Roman Consul and the ground for his Phalange being as good as his own heart could wish the Roman Legions were not able to resist its furious charge but gave ground in several places insomuch that the Consul seeing Fortune look with so grim a countenance upon him began to despair of the Victory and to tear his Coat of Arms but being of a ready judgement he quickly espied his advantage for he saw the Phalange open its constipation some small Bodies of it pursuing those who gave ground and others fighting loosely with those of his Romans who made stouter opposition and therefore order'd some of his Legionaries to fall into those void and empty places of the several Phalangarchies and these getting entrance at those intervals came upon the sides of the Macedonian Pike-men and so without much trouble made most of them dye on the place If but a third nay a fourth or fifth part of this Phalange had been standing at a convenient distance in Reserve ready to have charg'd the weary and disorder'd Legions will any man doubt but that in all humane probability Perseus had been Master of the Field But the want of that lost him in the twinkling of an eye his Wife and Children his Kingdom his Riches which he lov'd too well his Honour and at last his Life The Defect then of
a Grecian Troop of Horse consisting of sixty four to be marshall'd three deep as most of our Modern Troops now are and so there should have been in it twenty one Files for 21 multiplied by three produceth sixty three and he who shall make the sixty fourth shall be the Trumpeter with whom we could not meet before in Aelian's enumeration of the Officers of a Troop What distances were kept between Ranks or Files between several Troops or yet between greater Bodies of the Horse Aelian tells us not Yet writing of the right ordering of Batallions I think he was obliged to speak of Distances for who can marshal an Army unless those be condescended Nor of Distances on I conceive that assuredly the Rhombus was oblig'd to keep a great Distance both between its Ranks and its Files otherwise it could not turn to either Right or Left hand or to the Rear without Wheeling and this if I mistake not was one of the advantages the Thessalians proposed to themselves by that form of Horse Battel But when either it or the Wedge was to charge they were oblig'd to serr together as close as they could otherwise they could not pierce so home as was expected by those who cast them in those moulds It is probable that the Square Bodies of the Grecian Horse were exercis'd did march and fight at those distances used now in our Modern Militia Our Author makes the number of the Cavalry in a Macedonian Army to be half the number of their Velites or light armed Foot I told you those were eight thousand one hundred ninety two therefore the Horse must be four thousand ninety six The smaller Bodies of which he composeth this Cavalry are shortly these Sixty four Horse-men made a Denominations of the several Bodies of the Horâ—e Troop and were called an Elarchy its Commander Elarchas our Ritmaster Two Troops made an Epilarchy of one hundred twenty eight Horse-men its Commander Epilarchas for whom we have no Officer unless a Major and I find no such man among the Macedonians Four Troops made a Talentinarchy of two hundred fifty six Horse its Commander Talentinarchâ— is represented by our Lieutenant Colonel Two Talentinarchies made one Hipparchy of five hundred and twelve Horse he was called Hipparcha our Colonel Two Hipparchies made an Ephipparchy its Commander Ephipparchâ— had under him one thousand twenty four Riders our Brigadieer may resemble him Two Ephipparchies made a Telos which consisted of two thousand forty eight Horse its Commander was called Telarcha whom if you please our Major General of Horse shall represent Two Telarchies made up an Epitagma and this consisted of four thousand one hundred ninety six Horse-men which compos'd the whole Phalange of the Macedonian Cavalry its Commander was called Epitagmarcha for him our Modern Militia furnisheth us with a Lieutenant General or if you will a General of the Horse Now though our Author hath given us the exact number of both the smaller and greater Bodies of the Macedonian Cavalry Inexcusable omission yet he hath not at all told us how many of them were heavy armed and how many light armed for which he is inexcusably to blame CHAP. VIII Of the Great Macedonian Phalanx of its number and how marshall'd with some Observations on both APhalanx signifieth a number of men great or small Train'd and Instructed The signification of Phalanx in Military Duties and order'd in Ranks and Files By this Definition any Foot Company or Horse Troop is a Phalanx as well as an Army and a whole Army is a Phalanx as well as a particular Company or Troop It is true in Authors the word Phalanx is ordinarily taken for the great Body of sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four heavy armed Foot which formerly I have out of Aelian described to you of which I shall tell you thus much more that he saith it had two Horns for so the Translator renders the word Kâ—ras and those were the Right and Left hand Horn which we either simply call the Right or Left hand or the Right and Left Wing But indeed I wonder why Aelian divides the whole Phalange of Foot into two Horns Right and Left and why so many of our Commanders in the Modern Wars imitate him in dividing a whole Body into the Right or Left Wing never considering that naturally and really there is a Body between two Wings and the same error is committed in dividing a whole Batallion of armed men into two Flanks very ordinarily done by some Drill-masters And here no doubt Aelian forgot himself for the Phalange of the heavy armed Foot was divided as I â—old you before into four lesser Phalanges or Phalangarchies two whereof made the two Wings which he calls Horns and the other two compos'd the Body These four Phalangarchies made three Intervals how great we know not out of Phalangarchies which before the fight issued the light armed and if they prevail'd they pursued their Victory being followed by the Phalange but if they were beaten as for most part they were they retired to the Rear the same way they came and then the four Phalangarchies closed together to give or receive the charge according as they were ordered by their Superiours But now I am to speak of the whole Macedonian Army which was called The great Macedonian Phalanx of both Horse and Foot the Great Phalanx consisting of heavy and light armed Foot and Horse not reckoning their Chariots and Elephants Their heavy armed Foot were sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four the Velites were eight thousand one hundred ninety two the Horse four thousand ninety six Add all these together you will find the Macedonian great Phalanx to consist of twenty eight thousand six hundred seventy two Combatants A Story goes that either the Great Alexander or Julius Câ—sar or both should have said That they desired no more than thirty thousand men to conquer the whole World Certainly if either of them or both said so they meant that that number should still be kept compleat and full for though they should have been constantly Victorious and never have lost one man in Battel or Skirmish yet sickness and toyl would have made all that number to have moulder'd away before they could have march'd over the tenth part of the then habitable World But I do not at all believe that either of them said so for true Histories if there be any truth in Histories assure us that both of them had Armies which far exceeded that number At Arbelâ— Alexander had more than double the number of a Macedonian Army and yet Aelians numbers did noâ— always hold at that same time when he fear'd to be surrounded I suppose he wish'd his forces to be more numerous than they were Neither do I believe that his Father Philip who was the framer of the Phalanx did keep himself precisely within that number for at Cherâ—nea where he routed the Confederated Greeks he exceeded
Bodies of Foot it is the easiest motion of all the rest and cannot be suddenly done and therefore is dangerous if an enemy be near to take advantage of the disorder of the motion Thirdly If all the three Countermarches Laconian Macedonian and Chorâ—an Third be of very little use and great danger in the Infantry as I have endeavour'd to make appear in one of my Discourses of the Grecian Militia then I suppose it will be easily granted that the use of any of the three is as little and the danger as great in Bodies of Cavalry Fourthly That I conceive Wheeling a more proper motion and more easie Fourth for the Horse than for the Foot it is a motion that hath been much used by Horse in fight for unless in wheeling they are charged in the flank and if so they are ill seconded they are quickly reduced to their first posture but it is not so with the Foot for if the Body be but indifferently great suppose fifteeen hundred men standing at three foot distance in files and six in ranks you must â—irst make them come both ranks and files to their close order before you can wheel your Battel and that requires some time for it is a motion of it self and the greater the Body be the longer time it will have to make that first motion for great Bodies move slowly Next the motion it self of wheeling the Battel is not soon done if well done for if it be not order'd discreetly the Body is immediately in confusion Thirdly when you have wheel'd this Body of fifteen hundred men you must beg yet a Cessation of Arms from your Enemy till you put your Battel in a fighting posture which you cannot do till you reduce them to their first order for at close order your Musqueâ—eers cannot fight and therefore you must cause your Battel to open it is true the ranks will quickly open backward but the files being no less in a Body of fifteen hundred men than two hundred and fifty must have such a time to open though they do it with all the hast imaginable that a resolute Body of Horse will Charge thorough them before you end these three motions But a Body of Horse being in rank and file at that distance at which it is to fight needs no command to close ranks and files before it wheel nor no command to open them after it hath wheel'd being constantly in a posture to receive an enemy And with submission to great Drill masters I should think the motions of Facing and Countermarching of Bodies of Horse whether greater or smaller might be spared in their Exercise because you may face an enemy with a Squadron of Horse either in flank or reer by wheeling either to the right or left hand or by either of the two about a great deal sooner with a great deal of more ease and with a great deal of less danger than you can do by either Facing or Countermarching Fifthly Observe that no man can or will attain to a perfect understanding of Fifth either postures motions or evolutions in the Training particular men or yet Bodies of Horse and Foot by reading the words of command in a Book or Paper or looking upon the figures of them for the Military Art is practical one shall understand what belongs to Drilling and Training more by looking on the real practice of it three days than by the contemplative study of it three years when you see a Countermarch in the Field you will quickly understand what an Evolution it is when you see the figure of it in a Book but you will not so soon know what it signifies when you see the figure before the practice And lastly I avouch it to be the essential duty of a Captain to Exercise his Sixth Troop or company himself whether it be of Foot or Horse nor should it be permitted that his Lieutenant should do it when he is present much less a Serjeant as I have often seen for thereby he Uncaptains himself and changeth places with his Lieutenant And this is too ordinary a Military grievance against which the Earl of Swafford guarded by an express instruction that no Lieutenant should exercise a Company unless the Captain were absent which he might not be without either sickness or that Lords own permission a very just command And by the same reason all Colonels should exercise their Regiments and in their absence their Lieutenant Colonels but when either of them are present the Major ought neither to be commanded nor of himself offer to do it and this is contrary to the opinion of many who will impose so many duties on a Major that they make thereby Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels Cyphers or very insignificant Creatures CHAP. XI Of Compaies Regiments and Brigades of Foot what they have been what they are how they are Marshal'd of all their Officers their Duties and Qualifications I Suppose most Military men acknowledg the Infantry to be the Body of an Army with it the Artillery Munitions and Provisions lodg and so doth he who commands in chief The members of this Body are Regiments or Brigades and the sinews and arteries of these are Companies A Company is a Band of armed men Marshal'd in rank and file a rank and file differ in this that the first consists of men whether on horseback or foot standing in one A Rank and a File front side for side the second of men standing in one row or lane one behind another so they may easily be converted a file into a rank and a rank into a file The number of these ranks and files must be determined by the number of men appointed to be in each Company for which there is no general rule every Prince and State ordering that as they please neither do they restrict themselves constantly to one number but appoint their Companies to be stronger and weaker as the emergency of affairs or the present Ratio Belli seem to require it In former times ever since Gunpowder was invented it has been so likewise for sometimes Companies were more numerous than at other times yet never were the weakest of them of so small a number as generally now they be The first time I remember to have read of a Company of one hundred in the Modern War was in the Civil Wars of France in the Reign of Charles the Ninth about one hundred years since in them I find that the Protestant Foot-Companies Company of one hundred strong were but generally one hundred strong for which I can guess at no reason unless it were that many Gentlemen who were forc'd to take Arms and durst not stay at home might be invested with Charges and Imployments suitable to their qualities yet methinks it had conduced more to the advancement and prosecution of the grand design that Troops and Companies of Gens d'Armes or Curiassiers had been made up of those numbers of Gentlemen a service very
have discharged their shot even in the hottest Piece of service and without the help of Musquet-rests And I suppose it needs be thought no Paradox in me to say that five ranks of Musqueteers can fire one after another without intermission and Five deep the first of the five be ready to fire again before the last have discharged let any Commander try it with expert Firemen he will find it will be done easily enough And that you may see that this is no new conceit of mine I shall tell you that Giovio informs us that at Vienna the twenty thousand Harquebusiers that were in the Christian Army were all marshal'd five deep and so made four thousand files It is without all peradventure that the best Commanders then in Europe were there who would not have permitted this if they had not known that the first rank could have fired and made ready again before all the other four had discharged neither must you impute this to the ignorance of the Historian as being a Churchman for he is so punctual as to write nothing of any Military action but what he had from the relation of the greatest Captains that were upon the place And truly if you will consider all I have said or all that may be said on this subject Reasons for it you may perhaps think with me that both Musqueteers and Pikemen may be marshal'd five deep with no inconvenience at all to the service I think I hear some speculative persons cry out that this is against the rules of all Tacticks who reject odd numbers as unfit for doubling But stay do you exercise for shew only or for use If only for shew I grant you should neither have odd ranks Objections against it nor files but if for use I say that five deep is better than six deep for those very reasons that made six deep better than eight deep and eight better than ten You say you cannot double your ranks at five deep what then I say you need not for I would have your ranks no fewer than five when you are ten Answered deep why double you your ranks is it not to make them five and thereby to enlarge your front and why then may you not be five ranks at first and thereby save your self the labour of doubling And as it is not at all necessary to double your ranks when your Batallion consists of no more but five ranks so I conceive the doubling of ranks not necessary when your Battel is but six deep for three ranks of Pikes is not strong enough either to give or receive a Charge nor are they numerous enough for Musqueteers to fire one rank after another without interruption it not being feasible for the first rank to fire and be ready before the third rank have discharged so that when six ranks are made three it is only for a parting blow for the Musqueteers to fire kneeling stooping and standing Now you may order the first three ranks of five to fire in the same fashion kneeling stooping and standing and you have by the bargain two ranks in reserve till the first three recover and those two ranks may afterward fire the first rank kneeling and the second standing and then all the five ranks have fired and are as ready either with Buts of Musquets or Swords to receive the enemy if he advance as the six ranks doubled in three and in far better order Either then your doubling of ranks is unnecessary in service or five deep at first is as good if not better as ten ranks to be doubled in five or six ranks doubled in three And though five ranks cannot be doubled the inconvenience of that is not so great as the advantages it hath of a large front and bringing many hands to fight and if upon any emergency which will fall out very seldom you conceive your front too large you may quickly help it The Authors private opinion by causing your files to double and then you are ten deep But I shall quickly part with this opinion when I hear a stronger argument against it than that which says that thereby ranks cannot be doubled for the truth is it is my private opinion that there be many superfluous words in Exercise and though I think doubling of ranks and files too sometimes convenient before the near approach of an enemy yet I hope none will deny that both of them are very improper in the time of service But Loquendum cum vulgo is a Golden sentence Well we have our Foot-Company no stronger than one hundred men and Seventeen Files in a Company of one hundred men divided into three parts whereof two are Musqueteers and Pikemen are glad to be admitted to make the third These must be marshal'd six in one file now seventeen times six is more than one hundred and sixteen times six is less than one hundred Add therefore three Corporals to the hundred Soldiers you shall have seventeen compleat files and one man over whom you may appoint to help the Ensign to carry his Colours for a Furer is not allow'd him in all establishments A Company being thus marshal'd in seventeen files eleven must be Musqueteers and six Pikemen to wit on the right hand of the Pikemen six files of Musqueteers and on the left hand five files The Captain is to teach his Soldiers to keep their just distances between file The several kinds of Distances and file end between rank and rank Distances are ordinarily threefold Order open Order and close Order The first of three foot the second of six the third of one foot and a half to which in some case is added open open order which is of twelve foot At Exercisings both ranks and files should stand at open order in Marches the files at order but the ranks at open order because of the Pikes which must have more ground than Musqueteers require and in service both the files and ranks of Musqueteers must be at order that is three foot distance but the Pikemen both in file and rank at close order that is at the distance of one foot and a half I must tell you in this place of a general mistake Mistakes in reckoning Distances and is the very same I accused Vegetius of in the Roman Militia and it is this All say that the files when they stand in Battel should be at order that is at the distance of three foot as indeed they should But if you ask how many foot of ground seventeen files whereof our Company consists possess in front they will immediately answer you fifty and one And here there is a double Distance of Files error first no ground is allowed for the Combatants to stand on for the distance of three foot between files takes up that one and fifty foot or very near it Secondly they make seventeen files to have seventeen distances whereas they have but sixteen This oversight I
have observ'd in most Tacticks Lieutenant Colonel Elton is very clear in his definition of a distance which though I told you of it before I shall again give you Distance says he is a place or interval of ground between every rank and rank and every file and file as they stand By this description then three foot of distance being allowed between every file and file there are in seventeen files sixteen distances or intervals which make but forty and eight foot then you are to allow seventeen foot to the Combatants that is one foot for every man to stand on seventeen being added to forty eight make sixty five and so many foot of ground doth a Company possess in front if it consist of seventeen files for the ground of the ranks you are to compute it thus Six ranks take six foot to stand on and thirty foot for five intervals six foot being allow'd for open order in all six and thirty foot which a Distance of Ranks Company Regiment Brigade or Army of Foot constantly possesseth from the toes of the Leaders to the heels of the Bringers up unless you bring the ranks to stand at order which you may frequently do with very good reason and then the five Intervals take up but fifteen foot which being added to the six foot on which the ranks stand make but twenty one foot And when Pikes are to give or receive a Charge you may bring them to close order that is one foot and a half and then the five Intervals take up but 7½ foot these being added to six make 13½ foot Observe that in Exercising this Company of seventeen Files you are to set aside one of the Files because it is odd and so The Colours will hinder the doubling the Files The Colours of the Company are to be on the head of the Pikes neither can they conveniently be between the second and third rank in time of Battel as some would have them to be for you may easily consider what room an Ensign can have with his Colours between ranks when they are at order much less at close order as they should be in the time of Battel It will be fitting before I go further to meet with an objection concerning Objection against my Distances of Files Distances it is this The three foot of distance allowed between Files say they must be reckoned from the Centers that is from the two middle parts of the two File-leaders as from the middle part of the right hand File-leader to the middle part of the File-leader who stands on his left hand I wonder at this notion for hereby two File-leaders take up one foot of ground and so doth the rest of the File and there are but two foot of Interval between the two files and this cannot at all quadrate with the definition of distance for that is an Interval between Files and not betwixt the two middle parts of two mens Bodies And the Authors of Tacticks should have been clearer in their expressions and have said two foot between Files which they knew was too Answered little and have added that every File should have one foot of ground to stand on for what language is this a man shall have half a foot for his right middle part and another half foot for his left middle part for this way of their reckoning of the three foot of distance amounts to just so much and no better language which I conceive is very improper besides by this account the right and left hand Files would have each of them one half foot of ground more than any of the rest of the Files the right hand Filemen hath it by the right middle parts of their bodies and the left hand Filemen by the left middle parts of their Bodies because these two Files on these two hands have no Sidemen which you may easily conceive if you please a little to consider it Let us in the next place see what Officers are appointed to have the command Of Officers of a Company and inspection of this Company and here we may find some difference in the several establishments of Princes and States yet in this we find all agree to have a Captain a Lieutenant an Ensign Serjeants Corporals and Drummers except the Spaniard who rejects the Lieutenant as useless some allow no more Officers than those I have spoken of some allow more to wit a Captain of Armies a Furer a Fourier and a Clerk or Scrivener And besides some allow Lancepesats or Lancpresads as they are commonly called as also Reformado's and Gentlemen of a Company But neither Lancepesats Gentlemen of the Company nor Reformado's are Officers and though Corporals be yet they carry Arms and march in rank and file I shall describe all these and all the Officers of a Foot Company beginning with the Reformado and ending with the Captain Those are called Reformado's or Reformed who have been Officers suppose Reformed Officers Commissionated and those only and are out of charge and bear Arms till they can be prefer'd In some places they are permitted to be without Arms. A Gentleman of the Company is he who is something more than an ordinary Gentleman of a Company Souldier hath a little more pay and doth not stand Centinel In French he is called Appointe and with the Germans he is called Gefreuter They march and watch with Arms they go common Rounds and Patrouills and near an Enemy they are to be the forlorn Centinels whom the French call Perdus Lancespesate is a word deriv'd from the Italian Lance spesata which signifies a broken or spent Lance. He is a Gentleman of no ancient standing in the Militia for he draws his Pedigree from the time of the Wars between Francis the First and his Son Henry the Second Kings of France on the one part and the Emperour Charles the Fifth and his Brother-in-law the Duke of Savoy on the other part in those Wars when a Gentleman of a Troop of Horse in any Skirmish Battel or Rencounter had broke his Lance on his enemy and lost his Horse in the Scuffle he was entertain'd under the name of a Broken-Lance by a Captain of a Foot Company as his Comerade till he was again mounted But as all good orders fall soon from their Primitive Institution so in a short time our Monsieur Lancespesata for so he was called was forc'd to descend from being Lancespesata the Captains Comerade and became the Corporals Companion and assisted him in the Exercise of his Charge and therefore was sometimes called by the French Aide Caporal But when the Caporal grew weary of the Comradeship of his Lancespesata he made him officiate under him and for that had some allowance of pay more than the common Soldier which he enjoys in those places where he is made use of and still keeps the noble Title of Lancespesata though perhaps he was never on Horseback in his life corruptly
of drilling I said that in exercising a Body of Horse whether one Troop or more some allow for order six foot some ten and for open order some allow twelve foot and some twenty others conclude six Distance foot between rank and rank and file and file sufficient but in marching there should be the length of a Horse between rank and rank but so much is not at all needful between files now it seems the Germans allow ten foot for the length of a Horse in marching and exercising as well as in their Castrametation for when Horse are orderly quarter'd in the field ten foot of ground are allowed for a Horse to stand on between his head and his tail But for all this I say six foot are not to be allowed in all motions of exercise as in Wheeling which is the poper motion of the Cavalry you cannot make it till your ranks and files be at close order and in this motion of Wheeling observe that the Wheeling to the left hand being the Bridle hand is more proper than Wheeling to the right Observe also that after your body hath Wheel'd you are to reduce them to their first order by making the ranks open which they must do by advancing and not by stepping back as the foot do The stronger the Troop be it should have the more Corporals who begin now to be qualified with the Title of Brigadeers for it seems not proportionable for a Troop of One Hundred and Twenty to have no more Corporals than a Troop of sixty or seventy yet for most part now all Troops have a like number of Officers and these are the Captain or Ritmaster The Lieutenant the Cornet the Quartermaster three Corporals or Brigadeers two Trumpeters some have three and some four a Saddler and a Smith and some allow a Chirurgion and a Clerk Many Troops have no allowance for the last four though all four Officers of a Troop are very necessary In some places if a Chirurgion be allowed for every Regiment it is thought very fair many Ritmasters entertain a Saddler and a Smith in their Troops allowing them the pay of Troopers and what benefit else they can make by their several Trades But if all who ride in the Troop be Gentlemen they will not permit these two Mechanicks to ride with them yet my opinion is since all who ride now in Troops are not Gentlemen they may without any disparagement suffer a Smith and a Saddler to ride in rank with them being they are profitable members of that little Commonwealth It is I think an oversight that a Clerk is not allow'd for every Company of Horse for a Quarter master hath enough to doth otherwise though he be not bound to officiate for the Clerk to receive the Pay of the Troop and give it out and keep the accounts of it unless you will say that the paying Money to a Troop falls out so seldom that the receiving it will be rather a divertisement than a trouble to the Quartermaster Having spoke to the Duties of a Captain Lieutenant and Ensign-bearer of a Foot Company I have nothing to add to the Duties of a Ritmaster Lieutenant and Cornet but between the Quartermasters of Foot and Horse there is this difference that the first hath no command but the second hath in Quarter-master of Horse other duties there is none But I shall tell the Quatermasters of Horse that they should have skill in Castrametation as much as the Foot Quartermasters have and rather more for the last look only to the regular quartering of Men in the Field the first to the quartering of both Men and Horses A Corporal Corporals of Brigadeers of Horse should have experience for he either assists the Lieutenant in placing and setting the Guards or he doth it himself without his Lieutenant he sets the Sentinels and sees them reliev'd and orders the Patrovils which are Rounds He is to ride in Rank and if the Troop march not in breast but in three several Squadrons then there is a Corporal on the right hand of every Squadron but in absence of higher Officers Corporals lead Divisions so do they those parties which they are to command if there be none to command above them When a Troop is divided into three Squadrons they have not their denominations from the Corporals or Brigadeers but the first is called the Captains Squadron the second the Lieutenants the third the Cornets and if there be a fourth it is called the Quartermasters When a Troop marcheth the March of a Troop Captain leads the first division the Cornet with his Standard the second the Quartermaster leads the third and the Lieutenant brings up yet some will have the eldest Corporal to lead the last division and the Quartermaster to bring up on the Lieutenants left hand for which I see very small reason or rather none at all Some French Troops and ours likewise have besides these Officers whom I have nam'd a Sub-Lieutenant or under Lieutenant who Sub-Lieutenant hath no command in the Lieutenants presence but in his absence he commands over the Cornet the French have likewise a Guidon to whom perhaps may Guidon answer he who in other places is appointed to carry the Standard either in the Cornets absence or when he pleaseth to appoint him to carry it As to the Officers of the Regiment-Staff of the Cavalry they are the same with those of the Foot and their Duties are the same But now methinks I hear a Trumpeter sound a Call Of Trumpets and of Trumpeters I have spoke in my Discourses of the Roman Art of War That which I have now to add is Trumpeters should be skilful to sound all the Trumpeters points of War and in the Fields they should seldom want their Trumpets about them for sudden Alarms And because they are frequently sent to an Enemy they ought to be both witty and discreet and must drink but little that so they may be rather apt to circumvent others than be circumvented they should be cunning and whereever they are sent they should be careful to observe warily the Works Guards and Sentinels of an Enemy and give an account of them at their return to him who sent them One Trumpeter should constantly lodge where the Standard quarters The German Trumpeters assume to themselves a great deal of liberty and have in a manner set up Pretended priviledges of the German Trumpeters a Republick of their own independent of that Discipline by which the Army of which they are members is governed They pretend to have their own Laws whereby they punish crimes very severely especially such faults that any of their number commits against the Articles of War of that Prince whom they serve and endeavour to vindicate themselves from any punishment inflicted by others than those of their own Common-wealth If any Trumpeter be abus'd or disgrac'd whether by his own Ritmaster or any other Officer
were called Tarentines and some had Bows and Arrows and were called Scythae because the Scythians delighted much in the Bow If you will compare the Antient Grecian and the Modern Armies used not half an age ago in the point of Arms you will not find any considerable Grecian and Modern Arms compared difference To the heavy arm'd Grecian Foot answer our Pike-men when they were and still should be armed with Head-piece Back and Breast Greeves and Taslets except in this that ours want Targets and walk not in Brazen Boots To the light armed or Velites of the Greeks do answer our Bowmen or Harquebusiers when we had them and now our Musquetiers To the Grecian Cataphracti on Horse-back correspond our Gens d'Arms or Cuirassiers armed with Lances when they were in fashion and now with Pistols and Carabines To the light armed Horse-men called Sagittarii or Scythâ— you may compare those whom the French call still Archers armed formerly even since Gun-powder was found out with Bows and Arrows and half Lances and now with Pistols or Carabines To the Tarentines answer generally our Light Horse-men armed Offensively now with Hand-guns and Swords and some of them Defensively with Back Breast and Head-piece but most without any of them CHAP. IV. Of their great Engines and Machines of their Training and Exercising THe Ancients had their Artillery as well as we have These were their Rams Balists and Catapults They had also their Vineae Plutei Moscoli and other Engines whereby they made their approaches to the Walls of besieged Towâ—s I think it strange that some attribute the invention of the moving or ambulatory Tower so much admired by Antiquity to Demetrius the Son of Antigonus for to me it is clear enough that his Fathers Master the Great Alexander had one of them at the Siege of Gaza which was rendred ineffectual by the deep Sand through which it could not be brought so The ambulatory Tower near the Walls as was needful for the Wheels on which it was to move sunk down Neither do I think that Alexander himself was the inventor of it Whether the Trojan Horse whose Belly was stuffed with armed men might be such a Machine as this or whether it had only its existency in the Poets brain is no great matter But because the Romans used all these Warlike Engines at the expugnation and propugnation of Towns I shall refer my Reader concerning them to the fourth Chapter of my Discourses of the Roman Militia where I shall also show him the substance of what Aeneas an Ancient Grecian Tactick saith on that subject Here I shall only observe that as the Grecians were very apt to usurp to themselves the invention of many Arts and Sciences which they stole from others So it will be found that many of these Machines were used in the World before the Grecians were so much known as afterwards they came to be We read in the seventeenth Chapter of the second Book of the Chronicles That Ozias King of Judah by the invention of skilful Masters made and planted on the Towers and corners of the Walls of Jerusalem Engines which shot Arrows Darts and great Stones And these were no other than those Machines the Greeks called Catapults and Balists And this was long before the overthrows and defeats of the Persian Monarchs These Machines not invented by the Grecians made Greece famous in the habitable World Some think Moses invented them and I think they may as well fansie he invented the moving Tower of all which hereafter whereof I spoke but just now But the place alledged for this which is the last verse of the twentieth Chapter of Deuteronomy will not justifie that for it is said there as the Italian Translation hath it Thou shalt cut down those Trees which bear no Fruits and make Bulwarks Bastioni of them against those Cities thou art to besiege And though Lipsius and Tâ—rduzzi think that here are only meant Stakes and Pallisadoes for Ramparts and Sconces yet I may without Heresie believe that the Vineâ— and Plutei of which we read in Latin Histories may be meant in the Text and the Ram also wherewith I suppose Joshua may have battered the Walls of those Cities which he had no authority from the Almighty to beat down with the sound of Rams horns as he did the strong Walls of Jericho The Grecians were very exact in Training and drilling both their Horse and Foot and without question they taught their Souldiers very perfectly to handle and manage all the Arms they were appointed to carry whether those were Javelins Darts Stones Slings Swords Pikes Lances Maces or Bows and Arrows And as careful they were to teach them those motions Grecian words of Exercise and evolutions whereby their Bodies whether small or great changed their present posture into another either by Facings Doublings Countermarches or Wheelings And though the European Nations were forc'd to find out words of Command each in their own language to teach the use and handling of the Pistol Carabine Harquebuss Musquet or any other Fire-gun in regard none of those were known to any of the Autients yet the handling of the Pike is the same in all its postures that the Grecians had And all our European words of Command for the motions and evolutions of Bodies are borrowed from the Greek By Example That which they call'd All one with ours Declina in hastam we call To the Right hand That which with them was Declina in Scutum with us is To the Left hand Because they carried their Pike on their right Shoulder and their Target on the left Their Inflectio in hastam aut Scutum was our Right or Left about Jugare with them is to my sense though I know others think not so to Double Ranks Their Intercalatio was our Doubling of Files Reddere in arrectum is As you were It is needless to give you more since most of our Modern words are the same with theirs and are obvious in most languages Yet here I shall take liberty to speak a little of both their and our Counter-marches that hereafter I need not trouble either my self or my Reader with that point of exercise for which I have so small an esteem They called a Counter-march Evolutio per versum and they had three kinds of it which are yet retained in our Modern Exercises and these were the Macedonian the Lacedaemonian and the Persian which was also called the Choraean The Macedonian is when the Batallion is commanded to take up as much ground in the Van as it possessed before e're he who was Leader faced Macedonian Countermarch to the Rear It is done thus He who is in the Rear marcheth through or between two Files to the Van and then without an alt so many foot beyond the File-leader as the Body at their due distance possesseth all the rest that were in the File before him following him in order as they stood till
and thirteen Riders as thus First one behind him three behind them five behind them seven then nine then eleven then thirteen and in the eighth Rank place fifteen from that Rank your number decreaseth for next to fifteen you are to place thirteen behind them eleven then nine then seven then five then three and lastly one This is also a Thessalian Rhombus of Horse a Figure whereof Aelian bestows upon us This Troop I conceive being at open order for it was very requisite it should be so could upon an occasion front any way without wheeling to the Right or Left hand by a half turn of their Horses and to the Rear by two half turns and immediately thereafter serr together either to give or receive the charge This Figure of the Rhombus is call'd by some the Diamond but if so the Diamond which it resembles must be a four-corner'd one Observe here that Aelians number of Horse represented in his Figure of the Simple Rhombus amounts but to forty nine and this I attribute to his neglect for he told us it should consist of sixty four The Wedge Battel which the Latines called Cuneus or Rostrum was a Body The second is the Wedge of men either on Foot or Horse-back drawn up with a sharp point and encreasing in its bigness till it came to that greatness which the maker of it design'd for it and so represented a Wedge from which it hath its denomination or it is like a Dagger sharp at the point growing broader till it come to the haft I told you that Philip of Macedon invented it choosing a Wedge to be the fittest pattern whereby to model his Macedonian Troops by placing his choicest Men and Horses both for strength of body and courage of mind in the formost Ranks the rest behind them serving to bear them forcibly forward Take the description of it thus First one then three then five then seven then nine then eleven then thirteen and lastly fifteen These added together make up Aelian's Macedonian Troop of sixty four Horse-men But in his description of it he oversees himself twice first in A twofold mistake his words for he saith the Wedge is just the half of the number of the great Rhombus but that consists as I just now told you of one hundred and thirteen and the Wedge is of sixty four much more than the half of one hundred and thirteen Next in his Figure which presents us only with thirty six Horse-men twenty eight fewer than King Philips Troop But if you would take a Wedge out of the Rhombus you may do it easily by causing that Rank wherein are fifteen Horse-men with all the Ranks that are before it to stand and all that are behind it to remove and then you have a perfect Macedonian Wedge Troop consisting of sixty four Riders But the manner of embatteling in form of a Wedge was not appropriated Wedge Battels of Foot only to the Cavalry The Infantry both of Grecians and Romans and several other Nations used it in many occasions Epaminondas that famous Theban at the Battel of Mantinea seeing the Lacedaemonians stand stoutly to it after he had routed their Confederates the Athenians chose out a parcel of his gallantest Foot cast them in a Wedge and broke so forcibly in upon their Batallion that he pierc'd it and after brave resistance forc'd them to quit the Field but this prov'd his last action for in it he receiv'd so many mortal wounds that he dyed of them before the next day I shall speak more of this Wedge Battel in my discourses of the Roman Militia Neither it nor the Rhombus have been heard of in the World in many ages since those antient times It is probable the Great Alexander permitted his Thessalians to make use of the Rhombus at Arbela because almost half of their Great Rhombus might face to the Rear and so prevent surrounding by Darius his numerous forces It is also like that his Macedonian Horse might have kept the form of a Wedge both at Issus and Arbela And I find that his great Captains who after his death shar'd his vast Conquests among themselves used it frequently But I believe likewise that both he and they and other Grecians and Asians too made use of the Square Battel The Square form of embattelling was most commonly used by the Grecians The third is the Square in marshalling their Infantry and most of them us'd it in ordering their Cavalry I speak not of an equilateral Square but an oblong one such as we use in our modern Wars Yet I do not deny but the Antients several times used equilateral Square forms of their Batallions as when they made their Ranks and Files consist of equal numbers of men and this we call a Battel Square of men or sometimes Square of ground when the Front was of no greater extent of ground than the Flank but of these I shall speak hereafter when I come to discourse of the Square Root Not only many of the Grecians but the Persians and Sicilians used the Square Horse Battel and many great Preferr'd to the other two Captains preferr'd it to both the Rhombus and the Wedge first because by it the Troops could march with more celerity and convenience and next they could bring more hands to fight at one time As for Example in a Wedge Troop of sixty four the first Rank consists but of one the second of three the third of five and the fourth of seven In these four Ranks there are but sixteen Riders Oppose a Square Battell'd Troop of sixty and marshal it in an oblong fifteen in Rank and four in File you may see that the sixteen Riders in the four first Ranks of the Wedge must fight with all the sixty of the Square Troop this is a very great odds and as much may be said of the Rhombus But Aelian doth not at all tell us how deep the Grecian Square Battels of Horse were This was a great neglect for thereby we might have known how many of Aelian speakâ— nothing of the deepness of Horse Files the Ranks could have reach'd an Enemy with their Lances and whether the rest behind serv'd only to bear forward those before as the ten last Ranks of Pikes did to the six formost Yet as far as I can conjecture by some of his Figures he seems to insinuate that his Countrey-men order'd their Horse to be half as many in File as they were in Rank His Figure of that Phalanx which he calls Quadrata of fifty Horse hath ten in Rank and five in File This manner of Battel whether it be of Horse or Foot is called by the Square Root men a Doubled Batallion of the fashion of which and how it is done I shall shew you in its proper place But I dare not believe that all Grecian Troops were marshall'd so neither indeed doth Aelian aver it I know not then why I may not imagine
others were fighting the Triarii rested themselves till the Consul or General gave Triarii rest them either an Order or a Sign to rise But in what posture they rested whether they kneel'd or sate or if they kneel'd whether they did it on one knee or both or if on one knee whether on the Right or the Left is not to me very clear Vegetius in the twentieth Chapter of his first Book seems to say on But how is a question both knees genibus posuâ—s are his words and indeed this was the easiest way In the sixteenth Chapter of his second Book he makes them kneel but on one knee and this I believe is the truest But in the fourteenth Chapter of his third Book to my thinking he makes them fit which I suppose could not be true at all for at that posture they could not with any conveniency make a Pent-house of their Shields which both he and Polybius say and which Reason teacheth they were bound to do to save themselves from the Enemies missiles There is no doubt the Triarii did often recover the honour of the day when it was well near lost When Lucius Furius was well beaten by the Volscians Ordinarily the Triarii kept for the last Reserve at Satricum Livy tells us in his sixth Book that Furius â—amillus advanc'd seasonably with his Triarii charg'd gallantly and obtain'd the Victory The Latines after an obstinate fight at Vâ—suvius had fair hopes of Victory when they had wholly defeated the Lest Wing of the Roman Army and in it kill'd the Conâ—ul Decius and forc'd both the Hastaâ—â— and Principes to give ground on the Right hand But Manlius with his Triarii fell freshly upon them and recover'd the Battel Polybius in his Second Book says The Triarii were not only kept for the last Reserve on the Land but at Sea likewise in their Naval Battels Yet were they not always left for the last for at or near Capua the Consul Petilius perceiving by the extent of the Samnites Army that they intended to out-wing him a danger to which most of the Roman Armies were obnoxious did not stay till the Hastati and Principes had fought but presently call'd up both the Principes and Triarii to the Van and of them making a large But not always Front by a furions charge of all his three Bodies marshall'd in Breast routed his Enemy Neither do I make any doubt but those six Cohorts which Caesar call'd up to the Front of his Army at Pharsalia were Triarii for he says he call'd them ex terâ—iâ— agmine out of the third Batallion He did it to assist his Horse against Pompey's Cavalry which far surpass'd his in number and to these Cohorts himself attributeth the Victory And if he had nor call'd them up before the fight begun but delay'd according to the ordinary custome till his Hastati and Principes had retir'd perhaps he should have made use of them too late but he fore-saw the danger of that well enough and prevented it Since the Hastati when over-power'd were to retire to the Principes and both of them when over-master'd to the Triarii there is no question but in each of these Bodies there were distances and intervals prepar'd wherein to receive one another whether by the Retreat of the first to the second or of both first and second to the third or by the advance of the second and the third to the first That these Intervals were is granted by all but what measure or podisme of ground for any of them is not at all punctually set down by any for any thing I know an inexcusable oversight tâ— but I shall speak of them all in my Discourse of Intervals Here I shall only take notice of two things First That Machiavel errs when he says in the Third Book of his Aâ—t of War that the Error of Machiavelli Hastati had no Interval but fought in one Body Spossi fâ—rmi Thick and close For if so the Principel could not advance to their assistance or yet conveniently and feasibly receive them when they retir'd within their Intervals if they had not been marshaâ—l'd in smaller Bodies I suppose this fancy had its birth only in Machiavel's Brain whose Head no doubt was full of more hurtful notions The second thing I am to acquâ—int you with in this place is that whatever distance was allow'd between the Maniples or Cohorts of the Principes for receiving the Haâ—â—â—ti the double proportion of distance must have been given between the Maniples or Cohorts of the Triarii in regard they were to receive both the Hastati and Principes Polyâ—â—â—s in his fifth Book avers that though the number of the Hastati and Principes might vary and be greater or lesser according to the strength or weakness of the Legion yet the number of the Triarii never alter'd but they were constantly six hundred Now in his time the number of the Principes was twelve hâ—ndred and that of the Hastati as many Achilleâ— Terâ—â—â—zzi not adverting to what I have said of A mistake of Terduzzi distances concludes first that the two formost Batellions were marshall'd twelve deep which I will not grant him and next that the Triarii were drawn up but six deep which I would not fail to deny him though I had granted him the first His reason for the last assertion is that the Triarii being but half the number of the other two Batallions could not make an equal Front with the other two unless they were drawn up but half their depth But he doth not take heed that if they had made an equal Front of men with the other two they could not have receiv'd both the other two in their Intervals but only one of them and then they had not done that for which purposely they stood in the third Batallion And if he had adverted that the Intervals between the Maniples of the Triarii must have been double that which was allow'd to the other two Classes that stood before them he would have marshall'd six hundred as deep as he did twelve hundred for the double distance between the several Bodies of six hundred made six hundred of equal Front of ground with the twelve hundred before them so you may easily consider that notwithstanding the disparity of their numbers the difference of the several Intervals made the Front equal as to the ground of all the three Batallions of Hastati Principes and Triarii The Reason and the only Reason why we must believe that the Triarii Triarii but 600 in every Legion were constantly six hundred is because Polybius said it was so but I shall suppose it was neither so before his time nor yet after his time nor doth he offer to give any reason why it was so in his time Lipsius who is very ready for such things offers to give two Reasons for it the first whereof is stark naught and it is this That the
Right Wing of the Batallion so the fifth is to stand on the Left hand These five Cohorts make up the first Acies or Batallion Our Author proceeds and tells us The sixth Cohort The second Batallion consists of five hundred fifty five Foot and sixty six Horse in it must be those of the younger years he means the Hastati because the sixth Cohort hath its station behind the Eagle and the Ensigns The seventh Cohort hath in it five hundred fifty five Foot and sixty six Horse The eighth hath as many but they must be couragious men because they keep the middle of the second Batallion The ninth consists of five hundred fifty five Foot and sixty Horse And so doth the tenth but the Souldiers must be good Warriours because they stand on the Left hand of the second Batallion Now you see the first Batallion consists of three thousand three hundred twenty five Foot and three hundred ninety six Horse And the second Batallion of two thousand seven hundred seventy five Foot and three hundred and thirty Horse Add these together the aggregate will be six thousand one hundred Foot and seven hundred twenty six Horse And so the Legion is compleatly divided into these two Batallions without Reserve for a third Body which I pray you observe And he avers there should not be a lesser number mark it of armed men in every Legion a greater sometimes hath been And for a Corollary to this division of a Legion he saith in the eighth Chapter of that same Book that there were in every Legion fifty five Centurions If any man be not satisfied with what he hath said already he may read him in the fifteenth Chapter of that same Book and there he shall be sure to hear him speak that same language with very little difference Our Author says By the example of one Legion he will declare how the The same thing over again Field should be marshall'd when a Battel is to be fought The Horse saith he are to be plac'd in the Wings let us remember this The Body of the Foot saith he begins to be order'd on the Right hand where the first Cohort is plac'd To this is joyn'n the second Cohort the third stands in the middle of the Batallion To it joyns the fourth and the fifth stands on the Left hand All says he that fought in this first Batallion were called Principes and there he describes their Offensive and Defensive Arms needless here to be spoken of The second Battel says he was of the Hastati arm'd as the Principes After these were the light armed with Plumbatae Swords Bows and Arrows Slingers there were likewise who cast Stones out of Slings and Batton-slings also Darters who he saith shot Arrows out of Manubalists and Arcubalists Thereafter he tells us forgetting what he said but seven or eight lines before that the second Batallion O Memory where art thou consisted of Hastati And saith he not remembring he had told us the same words in the sixth Chapter In the second Batallion on the Right hand was plac'd the sixth Cohort to which was joyn'd the seventh The eighth kept the middle Battel accompanied with the ninth and the tenth Cohort kept constantly the Left hand of the second Batallion And so our Author ends that Chapter Thus we have twice in two several Chapters the description of a full Legion divided into ten Cohorts and these ten marshall'd in two Batallions or Classes of the Principes and Hastati without any mention Triarâ—i forgot of the Triarii or leaving room for them But in the sixteenth Chapter of that same Book as if some body had awaken'd him out of his dream he says after all these Batallions the Triarii were placed arm'd with Cataphracts Head-pieces Swords Daggers Semispathis two Darts and Lead-Bullets Weapons given to that Class by none but himself These Triarii says he kneeling on one knee rested till the first Battel At length remembred chancing to be beaten they might renew the fight If any man think he hath done well to remember the Triarii at last who were the Romans greatest strength I shall be content he enjoy his opinion provided he let me keep mine which is that he needed not now have mention'd them at all since he hath already marshall'd his Legion all the ten Cohorts of it and all the full number of six thousand one hundred Foot compleatly without them whereof I shall tell you more in the next Chapter In the seventeenth Chapter of his second Book he informs us that in the beginning Velites of the fight the Principes and Hastati stood still and mov'd not and the Triarii kneel'd or sate for he speaks of both postures till the light armed had skirmished and were beat in to the Legionaries and after the Victory the heavy arm'd kept their ground and stood like a Wall leaving the pursuit of the routed Enemy to the Horse and the Velites But I cannot find in my heart to part with Vegetius till I see how he will Legion once more marshall'd yet be pleased to dispose of the Triarii And I find him in the fourteenth Chapter of his third Book begin de novo to marshal the Foot as if he had never spoke one word of it before It is saith he the Law of embattelling to place the old and experienced Souldiers in the first order here he confounds Ordo and Acies and these were called Principes In the second were the Hastati and then he speaks of Distances between the Orders whereof I shall tell you in my discourse of Intervals The third Order or Body was of the swiftest Velites as Darters and the youngest Archers The fourth was of the youngest Archers Good Lord again youngest Archers and these saith he who Strange repetitions were called Lanciers and were also called Martiobarboli and were Lead-casters If these beat the Enemy saith he they pursued him too but if they were beaten they were receiv'd by the first and second Batallion suppose of heavy armed You see how Vegetius loves to refresh his Readers memory Well then the third and fourth Batallions fought before the first and second or any of them came to the shock In the fifth Batallion our Author places Carrobalists Slingers and Batton-Slingers But I must propose a question or two by the way First Did the third and fourth Batallions both which as you see Two questions he makes to consist of the Velites after they had fought with and were repelled by an Enemy retire only to the Rear of the Hastati or to the Rear of the Army I suppose the last though Vegetius through inadvertency saith only to the Rear of the two first Batallions for if so they â—ad undoubtedly obstructed very much the advance of the Triarii or the Retreat of both Principes and Hastati my next Query is why Vegetius doth not appoint the Slingers and Batton slingers to skirmish in the Van as well as
make not their Captains do their duty in so necessary a point of War I have seen in Germany and Denmark Regiments newly raised and some also sent out of Sweden in the time of the long War before the Peace of Munster only exercised and drill'd three or four times and that was enough for them Supine carelesness of Colonels for the whole time they were to serve for a man would have made himself ridiculous if he had spoken of drilling old Soldiers to keep them in mind of their Postures and Motions this would have been lookt on as a disparagement to them for it would have been presupposed that they stood in need of Exerciseing as in truth most of them did It is a pity and sometimes matter of sport to hear men glory that they are old Soldiers who either never have learned Old Soldiers or have forgot what belongs to their profession and so upon the matter prove themselves to be old fools Nay I have seen in these same Wars many new levied Companies Troops and Regiments never Train'd or Exercised at all nay not so much as one lesson given to a Soldier for the handling his Arms. It is true most of those who were levied in my time had serv'd in those Wars which were before my time but all had not and therefore some were raw and unexperienced and the oldest Soldiers of them needed exceedingly to have had their memories refresht This was the condition of five thousand Foot and three Troops of Horse which the City of Dantzick levied and entertain'd in the time of the late Swedish War against Poland from the year 1656 till the year 1660. I have not seen braver men nor better equipp'd in any Militia than these were but in one whole Summer that I was there I never saw one Company or one man of a Company drill'd or exercis'd Since the Estates of the Vnited Provinces made their Peace with the King of Spain their Officers have been negligent enough of this duty which might have been easily observ'd in most of their Garrisons wherein I have been But I suppose their late alarms have made them resume their ancient care and diligence These Military Exercises were so far worn out of use that I knew Count Koningsmark in the year 1655 when he raised some new Regiments for his Master the King of Sweden take some old Officers to be Drill-masters to the Drill-masters new levied Companies which notwithstanding were provided with all the Officers belonging to them and these Drill-masters he entertain'd with Monthly wages which I thought was not done without some blemish to the reputation of all the Officers especially of the Colonels and Captains That part of Training which teacheth the handling Arms is different to wit that which teacheth a Horseman to manage handsomely and readly his Pistol Carbine and Sword whether he be a Curiassier or Harquebusier and that which teacheth a Foot soldier to handle his Musquet and Pike and his Swedes Feather if he have one And as a Horseman is obliged to learn to Saddle and Drilling of Horsemen Bridle his Horse quickly and well to mount and dismount handsomely to ride decently and carry his body well or as it is called to have a good seat in his Saddle and how to use his voice his hand his leg and his spur so he is obliged to teach his Horse to obey him whether it be in trotting galloping running standing stopping turning or wheeling The Horseman ought to be taught how to keep his Pistols and Carbine fixt and bright without rust how to charge them quickly and prime them how to fire them and readily charge again And he must be especially careful not to ride a shie-horse for such a one may not only bring his Rider in danger and disgrace but disorder the whole Troop Exercise and accustoming his Horse to all feats of Horsemanship especially to see fire to stand when a Pistol or Carbine are discharg'd close by him and to hear the Trumpet will by degrees banish shieness from him and therefore frequent Drilling-troops of Horse teacheth both man and horse their duties Troops should in some points be exercised by sound of Trumpet that Horsemen may know the several points of War by their several names as to the Watch to Saddle to Horse to March to Charge to Râ—tire The particular words of command for Drilling a single Horsemâ—â— that is to teach him the right and true use of his Arms whether he be a Curiaâ—â—â—â—r Harquebusier or Carbiner are too tedious to be set down here and indeed needless for they are vulgarly known and so are those for the Arms of the Infantry whether for the Pike or the Musquet To teach either Horsemen or Foot-Soldiers their Motions and Evolutions Motions or Evolutions of Bodies both of Horse and Foot when they are in Bodies greater or smaller is the second part of Training or Drilling The words of command for both Horse and Foot in these Motions are the very same only the Distances are different Three Foot are allowed between files of Foot and that is order six is open order and twelve is open open order or double double distance and these you may make use of in Exercising Marching or Fighting as you think convenient In Marches the length of the Pike requires six foot of distance between ranks Some allow in Distances exercising Bodies of Horse six foot for single distance between ranks and files and twelve for double distance The Germans ordinarily allow ten for the one and twenty for the other All these Motions and Evolutions may be reduced to four kinds these are Facings Doublings Countermarchings and Wheelings I do not intend to trouble either my Reader or my self with the several words of command ordinary Drill-masters have most of them though not all But he who would have those for Horse exactly may find them in the Supplement to the Compleat Body of the Art Military and both for Foot and Horse in the famous Earl of Straffords Instructions for the Discipline of his Army And those for the Foot alone very well done by Sir Thâ—mas Kâ—lliâ— and compleatly indeed by Lieutenant Colonel Elâ—on in his compleat Body of the Art Observations concerning Training of War Yet I shall desire my Reader with me to observe in Exercises of Foot and Horse these few Particulars First That none of the three ordinary ways used for doubling of ranks in First Observation Bodies of Foot can be made use of in exercising Bodies of Horse as now they are Marshalled in most places of Europe that is three deep or three in file nor can it be where they are five in file as in some places they were all odd numbers being improper for doublings either of ranks or files Secondly That the Facing of a great Body of Horse to either right or left Second hand or about by either right or left hand is a difficult work though with
Protestant War in France 100 years ago Charles the Ninth and his Brother Henry the Third they managed them at as small an expence as possibly they could yet they obliged every man at Arms to keep three Horses two strong Coursers and one Gelding every Archer and Light-Horse-man two a good Horse and a good Nag And I suppose you will really think it strange how they could keep so many when I tell you what allowance of pay they had Every man of Arms had 45 French Livres in the Month about Three pound fifteen shillings Sterling every Archor and Light-Horse-man had Thirty Livres about Two pound ten shillings A Captain of all three had five Riders pay allow'd him the Lieutenant four the Cornet three and the Quartermaster two very inconsiderable wages but assuredly they had either other shifts or things were at easier rates in France then than they have been since In the times of the Emperours Ferdinand the First Maximilian the Second Rodolph the Second and Matthias I find that the German Establishment was Old German Companies of Horse particularly Curiassiers that no Ritmaster or Captain of Horse should have any Rider in his Troop but Gentlemen and that every Troop of Curiassiers should consist of Three-hundred Riders many whereof were bound to maintan three serviceable Horses and all the rest two at least and every one of these Gentlemen who kept either two or three Horses were to keep a lusty fellow well Hors'd in quality of a servant armed with a long Gun wherewith they rode when commanded before the Troop and fired on the Enemy and immediately retired behind the Troop as I told you the Carabineers did these being equal in number to their Masters made up Three hundred and resembled the French Archers These Dutch Servants had the Emperours pay or that of some German Prince but their Masters received it with their own nor had the Masters power to put away these Servants or the Servants to go from the Masters so long as the War lasted but if any difference arose between them it was voided by the Ritmaster or Marshal of the Army These German Companies of Horse had for Officers a Captain a Lieutenant a Cornet a Quartermaster Their Officers and six Corporals whom they called Ritmasters which is to say File-leaders each whereof had fifty Troops under his command two Trumpeters There was likewise allowed to every Troop a Priest a Clerk a Chirurgion a Dagmaker a Saddler and a Smith All these Curiassiers were armed for offence with two Pistols a Sword and a Lance so long as this last was in fashion so if you will reckon all that belonged to this German Troop both Masters and those who attended them who were all obliged to fight you will find it consisted of six hundred fighting men and of nine hundred Horses at least But since that time I have seen four Regiments in that same Country who were not all of them together so strong In later times Commissions have been given for levying Regiments free Squads and Troops but all Regiments did not nor do not consist of alike Troops and Regiment of those times number of Companies nor all Companies of alike number of Riders nay not under one Prince you shall see a Lieutenant Colonel have four Troops in his Squadron which he calls free because he acknowledgeth no Colonel or other Commander under the Major General and each of these Troops to have fifty or sixty Riders being oblig'd to have no more by their Ritmasters Capitulation You may see in that same Army a Regiment of six Companies each of Seventy men another of eight Troops each of fifty horse so little is an uniformity in equal numbers of Troops or of Horsemen in every Troop regarded or look'd after I saw one Regiment in the Sweedish service I may say one for I saw not such another in any of their Armies in which were according to Capitulation twelve Troops each of them consisting of one hundred Riders effectively but four of the Regiments of that Army were not so strong as that Regiment was alone Troops Squads and Regiments of Horse in our Modern Wars are not cast into Wedges or Rhombs as some of the Ancient ones were at which manner of figures Aelian makes his Grecian Companies to be very dexterous The Square front being now only in use The number of Ranks of either Regiments or Troops whether they be strong or weak are alike in all because the depth of the Battel is determined by the Prince or State to be alike in all and in the matter of this depth there hath been great variance among those who assume to themselves the title of Tacticks who teach the rules of War Many would have the file of Horsemen to be five deep others will not hear of How deep Horse should be marshaled Difference of opinions that because thereby ranks cannot double an objection which I have answer'd already in my discourse of Exercise Others will have six because that admits doubling of ranks but that is rejected because if six deep be enough for the Foot it will be too much for the Horse There be others who would have every Troop of Horse to consist of sixty and four Riders and these being Marshall'd eight deep and eight in front according to the square root make a perfect square of men and Horse and this speculation seems very pretty but I Square Root reserve my answer to it till I speak of the square root it self for the present let it suffice that if six deep be too many for a Cavalry eight deep will be very far out of purpose The late Earl of Strafford as he appointed in his Military Instructions the foot to be eight deep so he order'd his Troops of Horse to be four in File But Universally now for any thing I know unless it be in the Low-Countries the Horse are Marshall'd three deep without Three deep regard to doubling of ranks whereof I have already spoken and assuredly this of all others brings most hands to fight When you have known how deep the Troop is to be drawn up you should cause to be set down in paper in what order you will Marshal your Horsemen whom you ordain to be Leaders and whom Bringers up and whom for the right and left hand files that all your Riders may be placed according to their dignity then it will be an easie matter to draw up your Troop and for the Major to draw up the Regiment for being that all the Horsemen are arm'd alike there is no separation to be made of one part of the Troop from another as there is of separating the Pikemâ—n from the Musqueteers in Foot-Companies the Major giving every Ritmaster his place of dignity according to his antiquity or Commission and those intervals being kept that are appointed the several Troops be they few or many are very soon cast into the mould of a Regiment In my discourse
Horse make the Reer-guard behind which at a miles distance follows a strong party of commanded Horse The Baggage may be in the Van or the Reer or May be divided easily into several Bodies if the General appreheâ—d danger in them both it may march immediately after the Train This great Body may be very soon divided into either two or three several ones and may march as many several ways as the General pleaseth But truly with submission to great Commanders I should be of opinion that the Baggage of an Army should never be divided unless the Army it self divides if danger be in the Van let it all stay in the Reer the proper place of Baggage if the enemy be expected in the Reer post away all the Baggage to The proper place of Baggage in a march the Van if in both necessity will force it to be in the middle of the Army But my humble opinion is that without apparent danger it should constantly be in the Reer of the whole Army for the disadvantage is but small that the Brigades or Regiments of the Van have and withal they have but their turns of it that they must wait very long at night till their Baggage come from the Reer It is but small I say if you compare it with the great prejudice the Prince or States service suffers by having the Regiments or Brigades which march in the Reer benighted being hinder'd by the Baggage that is order'd to march before them two three sometimes five hours whereas if that Baggage had not been in their way they might have reach'd their Quarter seasonably enough But there is a worse thing in it than that when upon the unexpected appearance of an enemy in the Van the Brigades that are in the Reer-guard being suddenly call'd up they are not able â—â— advance for the unavoidable Embarras of Baggage that is before them Indeed I think the middle or center of the Infantry a proper place for the great Guns and Train and the Generals Secretaries and Cabinets with his Papers and for most of his and some of the other General Officers Coaches especially if their Ladies be in them and there I think these should constantly march But my judgment is that all other Baggage whatsoever belonging to either Horse or Foot should be in the Reer according to that priority or precedency the Regiments or Brigades have themselves in the march and these should change every day that who is in the Van one day may be in the Reer the next that all may participate equally of the ease or toil of a march Where the sick and wounded should be What is spoke of the place where Baggage should march is to be understood also of the sick and wounded Soldiers who if they cannot be put in some secure or fortified place should be brought forward though Baggage-horses should be borrowed from the owners for that use and in time of danger should be sent as far from it as may be with a good Guard or Convoy When ground will permit the Brigades of an Army whether Horse or Foot to march in one breast or front there is a question what distance or interval should be kept between these Brigades There be some who theoretically argue that the distance between two Brigades both marching in breast but the one behind the other should be of as much ground as a Brigade drawn Distance between Brigades on a march should not be so great as when they are to fight up in front doth possess because say they when one Brigade is drawn up on the right hand of a large field where the whole Army is to be marshal'd the second Brigade which follows cannot draw up in full breast on the left hand of the first unless there be such an Interval between them on their march as that I just now told you of nor can the third draw up on the left hand of the second unless it have that same distance the like is to be said of all the rest To this I answer when an Army is marshal'd in battel-Battel-order that distance is to be kept between Brigades whereof I spoke in the last Chapter and so the second will have the less difficulty to marshal it self on the left hand of the first But that cannot make me allow so much ground between Brigades on a march as I willingly do when they are to fight To the reason produced against it I say to think that a Brigade all in one breast and marching directly behind another though at never so great a distance can draw up in breast on the left The contrary opinion examin'd hand of another without some turning or wheeling is a meer speculation And I say more let a Brigade march in three Squads at as great a distance as you will the second shall not draw up on the left hand of the first without some wheeling And if a smaller body cannot do it much less can a greater And practice will shew the vanity of the other opinion to any who will be at the pains to examine it and observe it in the march of Brigades in the field as I have done oftner than once This opinion then vanisheth unless they who follow it bring a better reason for it which I have not yet heard But be pleased to take notice what an inconvenience and that no small one the observing this rule will bring along with it in a march I speak still when Brigades march all in one front one behind another at that rate there shall be such avast distance between the Van and the Reer that the last Brigade shall not get up though it run which it should not do to the place where it should be marshal'd but in a very long time which you will easily grant to be true if you will with me make this computation We have spoke of eight Brigades of foot in this Chapter to be in our Army each of them shall be no stronger than 1800 men and therefore each of them must be 300 in front allowing four foot to every Leader these 300 Leaders possess in rank 1200 foot of ground as much by this opinion which I combate must be allowed for an Interval between two Brigades marching one after another in breast now in eight Brigades there are seven Intervals seven times 1200 foot make 8400 Every one of the Brigades possess in deepness 36 foot multiply 36 by 8 which is the number of the Brigades the product is 288. Add 288 to 8400 the aggregate is 8688 foot so much distance there is from the Leaders of the first Brigade of Foot to the Bringers-up of the eight and last Take a view of our six Brigades of Horse each whereof shall consist And found inconvenient of no more than 600 being three deep each Brigade hath 200 in front allow but three foot for every Rider the front of each Brigade possesseth 600 foot of ground as much
How guards march to the Parade Companies one two or three sometimes out of a Regiment as the duty seems to require these meet at the several Captains Tents or Huts and after the Drums have done beating the Gathering the Captains march with their several Companies in good order to the Parading place of the Regiment or of the whole Army more ordinarily to the last which is either a place appointed peculiarly for it or is the Forum or Market-place near the Generals Lodging or Pavilion Here they are drawn up according to the antiquity or precedency of the Regiments to whom they belong by either the Major General or Adjutant General of the Foot At this Parade should all the Majors of the Foot be as also one Sergeant out of every Company and most of the Captains of the whole Army The Companies being marshall'd in breast the Major or Adjutant General calls the Majors together to whom he imparts the several orders and directions of the General which may and very oft doth vary every night because they depend on emergencies The Majors stand in a ring on How the Orders and Word are given to the Majors both hands of him according to their dignity the first standing on his left hand in whose ear he whispers the Word and he whispers it to him who standeth on his left hand and so successively till the youngest Major deliver it to the Major General If it be returned right to him there is no necessity to send it about the other way as some would have but if the Word be not deliver'd right to him then he gives it to the Major who stands on his right hand and so it is re-deliver'd to him by the Major who stands on his left hand not without a check to him or them by whose inadvertency it was mistaken This word for most part is the name of a Town a Country or a Castle sometimes it is the proper name of a Man and sometimes it is a Sentence as it pleaseth him who gives it who is still he who commands in chief Men may pass any Sentinel without it in the night time but none should pass the Corps de guards that An abuse i◠making it common are on the Fortification unless they give the Word And from the misunderstanding of this many gross abuses are committed as when Servants or other mean persons are sent in the night time either into Camps or Towns concerning affairs very lawful in themselves and have the Word given them that they may pass the Guards which should not be suffer'd for if the business is necessary and will admit of no delay as the sending for a Physician Apothecary Chyrurgion or Minister for sick or wounded persons in such cases addresses should be made to him who commands over the whole Guards who is obliged to send a Caporal or a Gentleman of a Company along with the person that is sent who should see him pass and re-pass without interruption When the Major General imparts his orders to the Majors the Sergeants of the Parade should make a ring at a good distance about them standing with their Halberts order'd and this both to shew with what respect orders should be given and receiv'd as also to hinder any to come near and hearken to what is said or spoken either to the Majors or among themselves After the Majors have done their business with their Major General they Where Orders should be given by the M 〈…〉 in Fo 〈…〉 fied Camps should give both the orders they have received from their superiours and their own to the several Regiments and many think they should do this at their own quarters beside the Colours which I think is formal enough and may well enough be done but my humble opinion is they should do it at the great Parade and therefore I said before that at it there should be a Serjeant of every Company there and the reason I give for my opinion is this that the several Companies that are to be sent from that Parade to divers places of the Fortification there to keep Watch may carry the Word along with them and so not need to wait so long as for the Major first to go home to the quarter of the Regiment and then give out his Orders and send them to the Companies that are on duty in several Posts And to anticipate that objection which I suppose will be made against my opinion that Majors are to give to the Companies All Commissioned Officers should be present at a Parade the orders of the Colonels as well as of the Major Generals I say that at Parades all Colonels all Field and Commissionated Officers should be present for a Parade is the Exchange of Officers neither should any thing excuse their absence but indisposition or being on present duty and this is incumbent for Officers to do where-ever the Parade be whether in Camp or Garrison when the Major gives orders to his Sergeants he doth it in the same manner as the Major General doth to the Majors and should have a ring of Musketeers about him to hinder any to approach or hearken unless they be Commissionated Officers of that Regiment who may be within the ring and may hear but ought not to speak while the Major is discoursing to the Sergeants After Orders and the Watch-word are given every Captain marcheth How the Posts are divided to that Post that is appointed him and that appointment is made two ways either as the Major General pleaseth in sending Companies several nights to several Posts and not constantly to one or it is done by billets the way thus The names of the several Posts being writ in several Papers they are cast into a Hat and are drawn by the Majors who according to the billets they draw send their Captains to their Posts And this indeed is the best way for it saves the Major General from suspicion of partiality and doth a more general good than that for it prevents Treachery whether it be in Camp Garrison Town or Castle After the Watch is set it should not be permitted to any whether he be No Officer or Common Souldier should go from his Guard Officer or Common Souldier from the highest to the lowest to leave his Post unless sickness occasion it neither indeed should an Officer of what quality soever he be by absenting himself give example for Souldiers to desert their Posts those Officers who do it should be exemplarily censur'd yet for most part this piece of Discipline is neglected which too often encourageth an Enemy to make attempts which perhaps otherwise he would forbear Truly it is a shame to hear what excuses I have heard in more places of the World than one and none more ordinary than for an Officer to say I was no longer from my Guard than I was taking my Dinner and Supper at my Lodging If Officers would dine or sup in their Corps de