HISTORICAL RECORDS

OF THE

BRITISH ARMY.

PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE
ADJUTANT-GENERAL.

THE SECOND REGIMENT OF FOOT;

OR,

QUEEN'S ROYAL.

LONDON:
Printed by William Clowes and Sons,
14, Charing Cross.

GENERAL ORDERS.

HORSE-GUARDS,

1st January, 1836.

His Majesty has been pleased to command, that, with a view of doing the fullest justice to Regiments, as well as to Individuals who have distinguished themselves by their Bravery in Action with the Enemy, an Account of the Services of every Regiment in the British Army shall be published under the superintendence and direction of the Adjutant-General; and that this Account shall contain the following particulars, viz.,

By Command of the Right Honourable
GENERAL LORD HILL,
Commanding-in-Chief.

John MacDonald,
Adjutant-General.

PREFACE.

The character and credit of the British Army must chiefly depend upon the zeal and ardour, by which all who enter into its service are animated, and consequently it is of the highest importance that any measure calculated to excite the spirit of emulation, by which alone great and gallant actions are achieved, should be adopted.

Nothing can more fully tend to the accomplishment of this desirable object, than a full display of the noble deeds with which the Military History of our country abounds. To hold forth these bright examples to the imitation of the youthful soldier, and thus to incite him to emulate the meritorious conduct of those who have preceded him in their honourable career, are among the motives that have given rise to the present publication.

The operations of the British Troops are, indeed, announced in the 'London Gazette,' from whence they are transferred into the public prints: the achievements of our armies are thus made known at the time of their occurrence, and receive the tribute of praise and admiration to which they are entitled. On extraordinary occasions, the Houses of Parliament have been in the habit of conferring on the Commanders, and the Officers and Troops acting under their orders, expressions of approbation and of thanks for their skill and bravery, and these testimonials, confirmed by the high honour of their Sovereign's Approbation, constitute the reward which the soldier most highly prizes.

It has not, however, until late years, been the practice (which appears to have long prevailed in some of the Continental armies) for British Regiments to keep regular records of their services and achievements. Hence some difficulty has been experienced in obtaining, particularly from the old Regiments, an authentic account of their origin and subsequent services.

This defect will now be remedied, in consequence of His Majesty having been pleased to command, that every Regiment shall in future keep a full and ample record of its services at home and abroad.

From the materials thus collected, the country will henceforth derive information as to the difficulties and privations which chequer the career of those who embrace the military profession. In Great Britain, where so large a number of persons are devoted to the active concerns of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and where these pursuits have, for so long a period, been undisturbed by the presence of war, which few other countries have escaped, comparatively little is known of the vicissitudes of active service, and of the casualties of climate, to which, even during peace, the British Troops are exposed in every part of the globe, with little or no interval of repose.

In their tranquil enjoyment of the blessings which the country derives from the industry and the enterprise of the agriculturist and the trader, its happy inhabitants may be supposed not often to reflect on the perilous duties of the soldier and the sailor,—on their sufferings,—and on the sacrifice of valuable life, by which so many national benefits are obtained and preserved.

The conduct of the British Troops, their valour, and endurance, have shone conspicuously under great and trying difficulties; and their character has been established in Continental warfare by the irresistible spirit with which they have effected debarkations in spite of the most formidable opposition, and by the gallantry and steadiness with which they have maintained their advantages against superior numbers.

In the official Reports made by the respective Commanders, ample justice has generally been done to the gallant exertions of the Corps employed; but the details of their services, and of acts of individual bravery, can only be fully given in the Annals of the various Regiments.

These Records are now preparing for publication, under His Majesty's special authority, by Mr. Richard Cannon, Principal Clerk of the Adjutant-General's Office; and while the perusal of them cannot fail to be useful and interesting to military men of every rank, it is considered that they will also afford entertainment and information to the general reader, particularly to those who may have served in the Army, or who have relatives in the Service.

There exists in the breasts of most of those who have served, or are serving, in the Army, an Esprit du Corps—an attachment to every thing belonging to their Regiment; to such persons a narrative of the services of their own Corps cannot fail to prove interesting. Authentic accounts of the actions of the great,—the valiant,—the loyal, have always been of paramount interest with a brave and civilized people. Great Britain has produced a race of heroes who, in moments of danger and terror, have stood, "firm as the rocks of their native shore;" and when half the World has been arrayed against them, they have fought the battles of their Country with unshaken fortitude. It is presumed that a record of achievements in war,—victories so complete and surprising, gained by our countrymen,—our brothers—our fellow-citizens in arms,—a record which revives the memory of the brave, and brings their gallant deeds before us, will certainly prove acceptable to the public.

Biographical memoirs of the Colonels and other distinguished Officers, will be introduced in the Records of their respective Regiments, and the Honorary Distinctions which have, from time to time, been conferred upon each Regiment, as testifying the value and importance of its services, will be faithfully set forth.

As a convenient mode of Publication, the Record of each Regiment will be printed in a distinct number, so that when the whole shall be completed, the Parts may be bound up in numerical succession.

HISTORICAL RECORD

OF THE

SECOND,

OR

QUEEN'S ROYAL REGIMENT
OF FOOT;

CONTAINING

AN ACCOUNT OF THE FORMATION OF THE REGIMENT
IN THE YEAR 1661, AND OF ITS SUBSEQUENT
SERVICES TO 1837.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY CLOWES AND SONS, 14, CHARING CROSS.

MDCCCXXXVIII.

THE SECOND,

OR

QUEEN'S ROYAL REGIMENT OF FOOT,

BEARS IN THE CENTRE OF
EACH COLOUR

THE QUEEN'S CYPHER

ON A

RED GROUND WITHIN THE GARTER, AND CROWN OVER IT;

ALSO THE FOLLOWING DISTINCTIONS,

Egypt, with the Sphynx—Vimiera—Corunna—Salamanca—Vittoria—Pyrenees—Nivelle—Toulouse—and Peninsula.

IN THE DEXTER CANTON OF THE SECOND COLOUR

THE UNION:

IN THE THREE OTHER CORNERS

THE PASCHAL LAMB;

WITH THE MOTTOES

Pristinæ Virtutis Memor, and Vel Exuviæ Triumphant,

AND THE DISTINCTIONS ABOVE SPECIFIED.

HISTORICAL RECORD
OF
THE SECOND,

OR

QUEEN'S ROYAL REGIMENT OF FOOT.

The Second Regiment of Foot was raised in 1661, for the purpose of providing a garrison for Tangier, a fortress on the northern coast of Africa, which was ceded to England as part of the marriage portion of Donna Catherina, Infanta of Portugal, who, in the following year, was married to King Charles II[1].

The command of this regiment was conferred by King Charles II. on Henry (second) Earl of Peterborough, whose commission as Colonel bears date the 30th of September, 1661.

King Charles II. having, soon after his restoration, disbanded the army of the Commonwealth, the ranks of Lord Peterborough's regiment were speedily completed with disciplined soldiers: it is reported to have assembled on Putney heath on the 14th of October, 1661, and to have numbered one thousand men.

The destination of Lord Peterborough's regiment to garrison so valuable a portion of Her Majesty's dower was, no doubt, the cause of its early advancement to royal favour: it was designated 'the Queen's,' and the Paschal Lamb, the distinguishing badge of Portugal, was placed on its colours, and has ever since been continued to be borne by the regiment[2].

In a few months after its formation, the Earl of Peterborough embarked with his regiment and a troop of horse[3], and arrived at Tangier on the 29th of January, 1662, where he found a British fleet, under the command of the Earl of Sandwich, lying in the roads, and Sir Richard Steyner, with a detachment of officers and seamen, occupying the town: a duty from which the Queen's Regiment, relieved them on the following day[4].

The fortress was already surrounded by walls upwards of a mile and a quarter in extent, but the English began constructing, at immense cost both of money and labour, a series of external fortifications. It was also determined to form a secure harbour by building a pier, or mole, several hundred yards in length. A spirit of enterprise, which has since become so conspicuous in British subjects, was, at this early period, strongly evinced in these improvements, carried on amidst barbarian tribes on the unpromising shores of Africa.

Tangier was announced after its occupation 'a place of such concernment that all the world will envy the English the attainment of it;' but this opinion was founded more on an expectation that the new colony would open a mart for trade, and bring to our influence, if not to our power, the adjoining states. It was, however, an acquisition of consequence to a nation aiming at commercial rivalry at a time when the voyage to India by the Cape of Good Hope was of rare occurrence. Tangier was situated so as to be a convenient resting-place for the Mediterranean trader, similar to what Gibraltar affords at the present time. These speculations gave the command a great importance, made evident by the warrant from King Charles II. on the appointment of the Earl of Peterborough to his government. It designates him 'Captain General, Chief Governor, and Vice-Admiral of our City of Tangier, and of the ports and coasts adjacent, and any of our dominions and territories, castles and forts, in or near the kingdom of Tangier, Fez, and Morocco, in Africa, which are or shall be in our possession, or reduced to our obedience, &c.'

On the arrival of Lord Peterborough at Tangier, he found Gaylan, the sovereign chief of Fez, with a body of 10,000 men, encamped within a league of the fortress. A treaty of peace was concluded between these commanders, and limits were fixed, beyond which the English were not to forage or cultivate. No great reliance was placed by the British on their new ally, and accounts from the new colony state, 'how the Moors will observe these articles we know not; however, we are, and we still shall be, upon our guard.'

Three other battalions of infantry also proceeded to Tangier from Dunkirk[5]. The friendly understanding which was established with the natives was for some time interrupted only by trifling skirmishes, in which the Moors satisfied themselves by beating back, with sticks, those of the garrison who passed the stipulated bounds. A jealousy was, however, very soon evinced; and upon opposition being made to the English in prosecuting the works and fortifications already alluded to, war burst out, in which the number and ferocity of the Moors were defeated and overcome by great discipline and courage on the part of the garrison. The use of cannon by the Europeans at length diminished the courage of the barbarians, but not before the garrison suffered severely. They had already lost 250 men, and the Moors about 500, amongst whom was a brother of Gaylan, when a peace was at length concluded in 1663, and Lord Peterborough returned in the same year to England[6].

The Earl of Peterborough was succeeded, both in the government of Tangier and in the Colonelcy of the Queen's Regiment, by Lieutenant-General Andrew Rutherford, Earl of Teviot (late Governor of Dunkirk), whose commission was dated the 9th of April, 1663. This second governor of Tangier consolidated all the infantry in garrison, and added them to the Queen's Tangier Regiment; he also so beautified and strengthened the town, that he obtained the title of its 'Restorer.'

Gaylan, hearing of the progress of the works, assembled an army of 4000 horse and 20,000 foot[7]; and at mid-day, on Sunday the 14th of June, 1663, when all the officers were at dinner, the Moors surprised and carried the advance-posts and attacked the great redoubt, where Major Ridgert of the Queen's Regiment, with forty men, made a most gallant defence, until the garrison, led by Colonel Norwood, sallied out, and charging the Moors with signal bravery, retook all the posts which had been captured. The garrison lost fourteen men killed and twenty wounded in this encounter; and the enemy upwards of one hundred. In an account of this action published at the time, it is stated, 'The Moors are men of resolution, and have most excellent fire-arms. When the horse charged us, he that did command them was clothed in crimson velvet, who being killed, they all went off immediately; it is presumed, therefore, that he was one of their chief men.'

A second attack was subsequently made with 10,000 men, 'but the most vigilant governor had so warily supplied the defects of the place, by planting great guns to annoy the assailants, that though the assault was very sharp, the enemy was beaten off with the loss of 900 men[8].'

In August a peace was concluded for six months, and a free trade was opened with the Moors, 'they daily bringing their camels laden with commodities, and in return they get money and other things.' Further additions were also made to the works, which again gave rise to acts of hostility, and in one encounter the garrison captured a splendid scarlet standard. A correspondence was opened with Gaylan—the Earl of Teviot insisted on making additional works—Gaylan objected, when his Lordship replied, 'he must have peace on those terms, or war without them.' The latter was the result, and led to numerous losses, particularly of the natives, in attempts to assault the fortress.

The chief losses sustained by the garrison of Tangier were in the sallies they made into the adjacent country to obtain fresh provisions. The Moors had a custom of driving two or three hundred head of cattle within sight of the walls, and planting a body of men in ambuscade, ready to fall on the detachment, which military ardour, to say nothing of a natural wish for fresh beef, was sure to bring beyond the cover of the fortress. These skirmishes frequently brought on more serious engagements, and in a sally made by the garrison on the 4th of May, 1664, the Earl of Teviot[9] met his death.

The Earl of Teviot was succeeded in the command of the Queen's Regiment by Colonel, afterwards Lieutenant-General Henry Norwood, whose commission is dated the 10th of June, 1664. The government of Tangier at this time was bestowed by His Majesty on John Lord Bellasyse, a younger son of the Earl of Fauconberg, who arrived at his government in April 1665, on board the Smyrna fleet, consisting of 'seven lusty, brave ships.'

Lord Bellasyse found the judicious arrangements of the late Commander-in-Chief had rendered Tangier impregnable to its enemies, who by this time were much disheartened, and inclined to terminate hostilities. A peace was concluded in the following year, and Lord Bellasyse was himself the bearer of it to England, where he arrived in May, 1666. The London Gazette states his favourable reception by His Majesty, and great expectations of future prosperity to Tangier were raised from his report.

General Norwood, who has been mentioned as succeeding, on the death of the Earl of Teviot, to the command of the Queen's Regiment, was now appointed to succeed Lord Bellasyse in his government. His administration was that of a judicious and vigilant officer; he acquired the confidence of the Moors, and conciliated Gaylan the sovereign chief of Fez. General Norwood's proceedings among the natives were considered so honourable, and his character, altogether, stood so high, that the Emperor Muley Xeriff admitted him to traffic at Tetuan free of imposts; a most beneficial offer, which he failed not to accept, as it so much concerned the welfare of Tangier, 'to whose advancement,' says Addison, 'he always declared a singular propensity.'

The death of this valuable officer, which occurred in 1668, made room for the appointment of John Earl of Middleton, whose commission, as Governor of Tangier, and as Colonel of the Queen's Regiment, is dated the 15th of May, 1668.

It was during the colonelcy of the Earl of Middleton, when war had been resumed with the ferocious Moors, that this regiment had the honour of numbering amongst its volunteers the man who afterwards became the most successful and most celebrated general of his age;—'the man who never fought a battle which he did not gain, or besieged a town which he failed to reduce,—John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough.' Mr. Churchill was at this time about twenty years of age, and held an ensign's commission in the Foot Guards, but made his first essays, in actual service, beneath the walls of Tangier, where he eagerly engaged in the frequent sallies and skirmishes of the garrison, giving, in this desultory warfare, the first indication of his active and daring character.

After an administration of nearly seven years, the Earl of Middleton died in the fortress, on the 25th of January, 1675[10]. He was succeeded in the command of Tangier, and also in the colonelcy of the Queen's Regiment, on the 5th of March, 1675, by William O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin.

Tangier had by this time so increased in strength and importance, that its occupation by the English was become an object of jealousy, not only to the natives of the country, but to all European powers. The fortifications had been rendered secure, and the harbour had been improved, and now afforded a safe anchorage. These important points had not been attained without great opposition from the Moors, and much credit was given to the garrison for their conduct and steady perseverance in the arduous duties they had to perform. We find acknowledgment made of them by the journals of the day in the following terms:—'Many and various have been the warlike exploits of the heroic English against the barbarians, during the possession of this famous garrison of Tangier, so much renowned throughout the world, standing as commandress of those seas, and a protection to shipping from the Turkish pirates.' The Oxford Gazette of the same period also contains a letter from Tangier, reporting a threatened attack from a French fleet, and adds, 'the soldiers, far from being surprised at the news, are infinitely rejoiced at it, expecting them with much impatience.' Thus we find the Queen's Regiment was ever at its post, and had for eighteen years, almost single-handed, maintained this important fortress, in defiance of numerous assaults from the equally destructive effects of war and climate.

Towards the termination of the Earl of Inchiquin's[11] command Tangier became an object of still greater attention in England. The Emperor of Morocco had joined with the forces of Fez, and a crusade was carrying on against the Christian occupants of this part of Africa; Europeans were found ready to direct the operations of the savages, and the war assumed an importance hitherto not bestowed on it. The following is an account given at the time:—

'The Moors being vexed, knowing it was impossible to make their approaches against Tangier above ground, resolved to effect it by drawing lines and working underneath the earth; which stratagem of war, it is supposed, they learnt from several French and Spanish mercenaries whom they keep in pay: this practice they were before quite ignorant of.'—The public journals also speak indignantly of some English who clandestinely imported 1500 barrels of gunpowder to the enemy, and say, ''Tis too often the custom of our nation to give away their swords, and fight with their teeth, and furnish our foes with means to cut our own throats.' Numerous losses sustained by the garrison, together with the increased force of the assailants, rendered it requisite to send reinforcements to the relief of the former. For this purpose a detachment left Ireland in the spring of 1680, consisting of four companies of the Royal Regiment of Foot; twelve other companies of the same regiment followed in the same year; five companies of the Foot Guards also sailed for the same destination under the Earl of Mulgrave.

In addition to the above reinforcements, a new regiment was raised in 1680, of which Charles Fitz Charles, Earl of Plymouth, (a natural son of King Charles II.) was appointed Colonel, and embarked on this service. This latter corps was called 'the Second Tangier Regiment,' and is now the 4th, or King's Own Regiment.

It has been stated that the Duke of Marlborough was initiated at Tangier in the first rudiments of war. The same theatre for the display of British valour and enterprise was at this time chosen by several other volunteers, among whom were Charles Lord Mordaunt, the afterwards celebrated Earl of Peterborough, and others of rank and celebrity.

In the year 1680 the Earl of Inchiquin vacated his appointment on being made Governor of Jamaica. Colonel Sir Palmes Fairborne[12], of the Queen's Regiment, who succeeded to the command of the fortress on the departure of the Earl of Inchiquin, was, in consequence of his gallant and meritorious services, confirmed in the appointment by his Majesty. The demise of this brave officer, however, occurred before the commission for his appointment was signed; he was wounded in an action with the Moors on the 24th of October, 1680, and died three days after, leaving the charge of the garrison to Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Sackville, of the Coldstream Foot Guards[13]. On the 27th of October the garrison attacked the enemy's lines with determined bravery, and the Queen's Regiment is reported to have 'behaved to admiration[14].' Considerable loss was however sustained by the English; 'not above fifty men were left in one of the battalions of Lord Inchiquin's Regiment (the Queen's): the English and Scotch behaved as brave and gallant men, and the Gentlemen Volunteers have alike proved themselves men of courage.'

The Queen's Regiment had Ensign Watson, Ensign Trent, and thirty-four men killed; and Captain Philpot, Lieutenants Guy and Tate, Ensigns Roberts, Thomas, Fitzpatrick, Webster, Norwood, Beckford, and Elliott, with 124 men wounded.

In a short period after the above engagement, his Majesty was pleased to appoint Lieutenant-Colonel Sackville to be Lieutenant-Colonel of the Queen's Regiment of Foot Guards, by which he was removed from service at Tangier.

The Government of Tangier was next conferred upon Colonel Piercy Kirke[15], who, on the death of the Earl of Plymouth, had been promoted, on the 27th of November 1680, to the Colonelcy of the 2nd Tangier Regiment, with which Regiment he had embarked for Africa as Lieutenant-Colonel in September of that year. He was removed to the Colonelcy of the Queen's Regiment on the 19th of April, 1682, in succession to Colonel Sir Palmes Fairborne, deceased.

During Colonel Kirke's services at Tangier, he had been frequently employed upon missions to the Emperor of Morocco. In Ockley's 'Account of South-west Barbary,' there is a letter from the Emperor to him, dated the 27th of October, 1682, which shows that there was a mutual interchange of civilities between them; it is written to acknowledge the receipt of a present of three English horses, which, however thankful he might be, the Emperor seems to think might have been improved upon, for he remarks, 'everybody knows that a carriage requires four horses to travel.'

The support of the colony of Tangier appears to have been a matter of serious dispute between the King and the Parliament: repeatedly the King urged upon the House of Commons the importance of the place, and the House as often acknowledged it; but still withheld the supplies necessary for its defence.

The advantage derived from the Levant trade, the fact that two millions of money had been expended on the works, and various arguments in favour of maintaining Tangier, were at length fully set forth in a speech from His Majesty on the 17th of November, 1680: a reply was made to it in eighteen articles, but the following remarks will sufficiently explain the whole affair, and account for the final sacrifice of the colony:—

'It was said by the Parliament that the money granted for works had been misapplied;—that the same thing might happen again; and although they were, indeed, afraid of Tangier, they were more afraid of a popish successor.—It was a nursery, not only for popish soldiers, but also for priests and religious persons too, and that there had been sometimes a popish governor of the place, so that to succour it was but to augment their present evils.'

In December, 1680, and again, in a Royal Declaration, dated the 8th of April, 1681, its great importance was urged. At length, in 1683, the King, finding the expense of maintaining the garrison and fortifications greater than he was willing, or, unassisted by Parliament, able to bear, came to the resolution of recalling the one, and demolishing the other.

About the end of the year 1683, Admiral Lord Dartmouth was sent to Tangier with twenty sail of the line, with orders to demolish the fortress and mole, and to bring away the inhabitants and garrison. Great sufferings had been endured for some time for want of supplies from England, and much joy was evinced by the former on the announcement being made. In six months all the arrangements to abandon this once favourite colony being completed, the final evacuation took place in April, 1684. The Portuguese government had offered a remuneration to have Tangier restored to that nation, but their power of defending it was questionable, and it was not considered prudent to risk so important a fortress falling into the hands of the Moors.

There are no means of ascertaining the number of officers and men lost by the Queen's Regiment during the twenty-two years of its service at Tangier; but to judge from the casualties amongst officers of superior rank, it must have been immense. The regiment had steadily persevered in performing the arduous duties required of it, and now retired from its post when a final evacuation of the fortress took place, by the King's command.

The Queen's Regiment left Tangier in April, 1684; and on its arrival in England it mustered 560 men, who were portioned into 16 companies. This number was part of 2300 troops, which had comprised the garrison of Tangier, and which, beside the Queen's Regiment, included

The want of confidence alluded to, as existing at this epoch between the Court and Parliament of England, did not terminate with the death of King Charles II., which event occurred on the 6th of February, 1685. His successor King James II. had scarcely ascended his throne, when the army was called upon to protect him from the designs of disaffected subjects, headed by the Duke of Monmouth, who had landed from Holland, and raised the standard of rebellion in the west of England. On this occasion the Queen's Regiment formed part of the forces assembled under the Earl of Feversham, and it is reported, that at the decisive battle of Sedgemoor, where Monmouth and his party were defeated, and his cause irretrievably ruined, 'the two Tangier regiments, Kirke's and Trelawny's, did good service[16].' Colonel Kirke was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General on the 11th of May, 1685, and afterwards appointed to command at Bridgewater.

Here we would willingly close the detail of this unfortunate affair; but there have been too frequent allusions to Kirke, and also to his regiment, by various historians, as connected with subsequent proceedings in Monmouth's rebellion to justify such a course. Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys was appointed by King James to conduct a special commission, and to pass judgment on the misguided people who had aided the ill-fated Duke and his adherents: Kirke with his regiment was ordered to escort the judges in their circuit; numerous are the acts of barbarity which history has handed down as perpetrated by Jeffreys and Kirke in what were termed the 'bloody assizes,' and we are told that no less than 261 persons were executed. The remorseless character said to have been evinced by Kirke on the occasion was supposed to be the result of the long and sanguinary wars he had been engaged in with the barbarians in Africa; but Savage, in his history of Taunton, states, that 'on Kirke being afterwards upbraided for his conduct by General Foulks, he excused himself, and said he had an express order from the King and his General, and that his commission went further.' Kirke is represented as 'a loose and bold soldier of fortune;' and there cannot be a doubt but he made himself a willing agent to his ermined and sanguinary coadjutor; but we are inclined to believe his vices have been greatly exaggerated. The most outrageous acts attributed to Kirke were said to have been perpetrated in the neighbourhood of Taunton; and a piece of ground, west of the castle, where he and his force were cantoned, was called 'Tangier,' in allusion to the services of his regiment. Had the conduct of Colonel Kirke approached the violence attributed to him, it is not very probable that in the short space of four years it would have been so lost sight of as to admit a demonstration of joy similar to the following, noticed by the historian of Taunton already quoted: 'The people of Taunton, in commemoration of his (Kirke's) relieving Derry, when besieged by James II. in 1689, devoted an evening to the drinking of his health in public, the expenses of which may be now seen in an old church book.' Zeal for party, or misstatement, are at all times liable to disfigure the pages of history; and if the case of Kirke is not admitted as exemplifying this fact, a very short statement will show that the character of his regiment has been unjustly implicated in these outrages. Dr. Toulmin and other writers remark, that the name of 'lambs' was given by Colonel Kirke to his soldiers, who were most ready to execute his cruel orders; but the truth is, that the regiment, as already shown, had the device of a Lamb on its colours and appointments from its first formation, and continues to bear it to this day. From this circumstance they were called 'The Lambs' long before the period alluded to, and without any connexion with its services in the West of England at this unhappy period.

After the decease of King Charles II. this regiment was styled 'The Queen Dowager's Regiment of Foot.' During the two years which followed Monmouth's rebellion, the Queen Dowager's Regiment formed part of a body of 12,000 troops assembled in camps for exercise on Hounslow Heath. King James made great efforts to ingratiate himself with this army: his success, as well as his object, on the occasion, will be inferred from the following remark given by Bishop Burnet—'That which abated the King's joy in seeing so brave an army about him, was, that it was visible, and on so many occasions, that his soldiers had as great an aversion to his religion as his other subjects had expressed.' An anecdote related of Colonel Kirke is further illustrative of the times:—when asked respecting a change of religion, he is stated briefly to have replied, 'he was pre-engaged; for he had promised the Emperor of Morocco, if ever he changed his religion, he would turn Mahomedan.'