STATE OF ENGLAND IN 1685.

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Nassau, fought not less bravely for the deliverance of the c “ l A ] p '

Netherlands. Both these gallant bands had at length, aftermany-

vicissitudes, been recalled from foreign service by Charles theSecond, and had been placed on the English establishment.

The regiments which now rank as the second and fourthof the line had, in 1685, just returned from Tangier, bringingwith them cruel and licentious habits contracted in a longcourse of warfare with the Moors. A few companies of in-fantry which had not been regimented lay in garrison atTilbury Fort, at Portsmouth, at Plymouth, and at someother important stations on or near the coast.

Since the beginning of the seventeenth century a greatchange had taken place in the arms of the infantry. The pikehad been gradually giving place to the musket; and, at theclose of the reign of Charles the Second, most of his footwere musketeers. Still, however, there was a large inter-mixture of pikemen. Each class of troops was occasionallyinstructed in the use of the weapon which peculiarly belongedto the other class. Every foot soldier had at his side a swordfor close fight. The dragoon was armed like a musketeer,and was also provided with a weapon which had, during manyyears, been gradually coming into use, and which the Eng-lish then called a dagger, but which, from the time of ourrevolution, has been known among us by the French name ofbayonet. The bayonet seems not to have been so formidablean instrument of destruction as it has since become; for itwas inserted in the muzzle of the gun; and in action muchtime was lost while the soldier unfixed his bayonet in order tofire, and fixed it again in order to charge.

The regular army which was kept up in England at thebeginning of the year 1685 consisted, all ranks included, ofabout seven thousand foot, and about seventeen hundredcavalry and dragoons. The whole charge amounted to abouttwo hundred and ninety thousand pounds a year, less than a

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