262 CHAPTER IX. THE HOUSEHOLD BRIGADE. Thick'ning their ranks, and wedged in firm array, ADDISON. To narrate the services of those cherished regiments, of which Englishmen are so justly proud as 'the Guards,' would require, however condensed the narrative, a far greater amount of space than our limits permit us to afford. Their annals, indeed, may almost be said to be identical with those of the British army, as in every campaign of importance-every campaign which has had a material bearing on the fortunes of the commonwealth -their services have been called into requisition. They have shared in our greatest battles. Their serried ranks stood firm at Fontenoy; turned the tide of battle at Quatre Bras; withstood, unshaken, the assaults of Napoleon's brilliant chivalry at Waterloo; and ascended, with stately movement, the bristling heights of the Alma. We shall not, therefore, attempt a record of their achievements, to which, in the preceding pages, we have often incidentally referred, but content ourselves with a few details in reference to their original formation, which will probably be interesting to the reader. By 'the Guards' are, at present, understood the following regiments: The Grenadier Guards,-Colonel, H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, who bear on their colours the inscriptions: 'Lincelles,' 'Coruña,' 'Barossa,' 'Peninsula,' 'Waterloo,' 'Alma,' 'Inkermann,' and 'Sevastopol.' The Coldstream Guards,-Colonel, Sir William Gomm,who bear on their colours the inscriptions: 'Lincelles,' 'Egypt,' 'Talavera,' 'Barossa,' 'Peninsula,' 'Waterloo,' 'Alma,' 'Inkermann,' and 'Sevastopol.' The Scots Fusilier Guards,-Colonel, Sir Alexander Wood THE SCOTTISH ARCHERS. 263 ford,-who bear on their colours the inscriptions: 'Lincelles,' "Egypt,' 'Talavera,' 'Barossa,' 'Peninsula,' 'Waterloo,' 'Alma,' Inkermann,' and 'Sevastopol.' In every army there is necessarily a corps or regiment which contains the élite of its soldiers, and whose superior merit is recognised by peculiar privileges. This favoured corps has usually been attached to the person of the sovereign. Thus, the French kings had their 'Scottish Archers,' men of approved fidelity and experience, who were rewarded with liberal emoluments and special distinctions. Charles VI. had instituted this celebrated body,' says Sir Walter Scott, 'with better reason than can generally be alleged for establishing round the throne a guard of foreign and mercenary troops. The divisions which tore from his side more than half of France, together with the wavering and uncertain faith of the nobility who yet acknowledged his cause, rendered it impolitic and unsafe to commit his personal safety to their keeping. The Scottish nation was the hereditary enemy of the English, and the ancient, and as it seemed, the natural, ally of France. The people were poor, courageous, faithful; their ranks were freely supplied from the superabundant population of their own country, than which none in Europe sent forth more or bolder adventurers. Their high claims of descent, too, gave them a good title to approach the person of a monarch more closely than other troops, while the comparative smallness of their numbers prevented the possibility of their mutinying, and becoming masters where they ought to be servants. 'On the other hand,' continues Sir Walter, 'the French monarchs made it their policy to conciliate the affections of this select band of foreigners, by allowing them honorary privileges and ample pay, which last most of them disposed of with military profusion in supporting their supposed rank. Each of them ranked as a gentleman in place and honour; and their near approach to the king's person gave them dignity in their own eyes, as well as importance in those of the nation of France. They were sumptuously armed, equipped, and mounted; and each was entitled to allowance for a squire, a valet, a page, and two yeomen, one of whom was termed coutelier, from the large knife which he wore to despatch those whom in the mêlée his master had thrown to the ground. With these followers, and a corresponding equipage, an archer of the Scottish Guard was a person of quality and importance; and vacancies being generally filled up by those who had been trained in the service as pages or valets, the cadets of the best Scottish families were often sent to serve under some friend or relation in those capacities, until a chance of preferment should occur.' In course of time Scotland ceased to supply her sons for the service of the French king, and Swiss mercenaries formed a considerable portion of the armies of France. A special corps, however, was still maintained, and the victories of Louis XIV. were often decided by the superb gallantry of the Brigade du Roi, his household troops, the most renowned body of fighting men in Europe, who at Steenkirk and Malplaquet displayed the most brilliant valour. Napoleon carried this system of maintaining a special corps of veterans to an extraordinary height, and his victories were mostly won by the charge, at a critical moment, of his Imperial Guard. This famous body, whose renown has descended to our own times, was organised in three divisions: the Old Guard, the Middle Guard, and the Young Guard,-each having its proper complement of cavalry and artillery, and each forming a miniature army complete in every appointment. The Prussian army has also its favoured regiments, and Frederick I. assiduously attended to their equipment and training. The Potsdam regiment of giants, the tallest men in Europe, he reviewed daily with the minute attention and severity of an old drill sergeant. It was his ambition to form a brigade of Anakim, and every country was ransacked by his agents to supply recruits. These researches were not confined to Europe. No head that towered above the crowd in the bazaars of Aleppo, of Cairo, or of Surat, could escape the crimps of Frederick William. One Irishman more than seven feet high, who was picked up in London by the Prussian ambassador, received a bounty of near thirteen hundred pounds sterling.' In England there existed no ' Brigade du Roi' * until Charles II., a few months after his restoration, began to form a small standing army. In this force was included a regiment It must, however, be mentioned that Henry VII. established a bodyguard of fifty yeomen, and Henry VIII. the band of Gentlemen Pensioners. Edward VI. and Elizabeth mustered each about 150 archers and as many halberdiers to guard their persons. THE SCOTS FUSILIERS. 265 originally raised by Monk, Duke of Albemarle and known as the Coldstream Guards, because recruited in the neighbourhood of the village of Coldstream, near Berwick, early in the year 1660. Ten years later was formed the regiment of Grenadiers who were armed with hand-grenades which they threw among the enemy. These men being selected for their strength and stature, the word 'Grenadier' has come to convey an idea of more than average height. But all the Guards are now required to reach an uniform standard,—namely, five feet ten. The Scots Fusiliers were originally a Highland regiment, raised on March 18, 1641, by Archibald, Earl of Argyle, on behalf of Charles I. which did good service in Ireland against the 'rebel' colonists. Returning to Scotland they fought under brave old Leslie at Dunbar, and suffered severely from the pikes and musketry of Cromwell's redoubted Ironsides. At Worcester-Cromwell's 'crowning victory'-they were almost cut to pieces, and few were the veterans who survived to be embodied, ten years afterwards, in the Earl of Linlithgow's Fusilier regiment. At Bothwell Bridge these Scotch warriors dealt hard measure against the insurgent Covenanters. It was their last exploit in Scotland. In 1713 they were removed to England, and have ever since-except when engaged in foreign service-done duty in the neighbourhood of the sovereigns' palaces in the metropolis or at Windsor. They served under Marlborough at the battles of Walcourt and Fleurus, and at the siege of 1701, where William III. conferred upon their captains the rank of lieutenant-colonel; a rank still enjoyed by all the captains of the Guards. At Steenkirk, at Landen, at Namur, at Dettingen, and at Fontenoy the Household Brigade proved themselves worthy of the privileges they enjoyed, and earned the right to be considered the élite of the British army. At Coruña (January 16th, 1809) the Grenadiers displayed the most brilliant valour. They were placed by Sir John Moore on his right wing, and in conjunction with the 'Black Watch' repulsed the French attack with vigour, and drove the assailants back to their own lines in headlong confusion.* At Barossa (March 5, 1811) the three battalions of the Household Brigade shared in the honours of that unparalleled fight, when some 4,000 British heroes inflicted defeat and disgrace upon Leigh Hay's Campaign in the Peninsula. Victor and 10,000 Frenchmen. The battle was short, for it lasted only one hour and a half; but violent and bloody, for 50 officers, 60 sergeants, 1,000 British soldiers, and more than 2,000 French were killed and wounded; and six guns, an eagle, two generals, both mortally wounded, with four hundred other prisoners fell into the hands of the victors.* At Talavera, the headlong valour of the Guards entailed upon them a severe loss. The French General, Lapisse, pressing hard upon the British centre, was vigorously encountered by the Guards with levelled steel; who, when they beheld their enemy retiring, could no longer restrain their ardour, but poured forward in an impetuous and eager movement. Then they were met by the French supporting columns and dragoons, whereupon the beaten troops turned, while heavy batteries pounded the flank and front of the Guards. These, thus sorely maltreated and largely outnumbered, drew back, and coincidently, the German Legion being sorely pressed, got into confusion. "At this time Hill's and Campbell's divisions stood fast on each extremity of the line, yet the centre of the British was absolutely broken, and victory inclined towards the French, when suddenly Colonel Donellan was seen advancing with the 48th through the midst of the disordered masses. It seemed as if this regiment must be carried away with the retiring crowds, but wheeling back by companies it let them pass through the intervals, and then resuming its proud and beautiful line struck against the right of the pursuing enemy, plying such a destructive musketry, and closing with such a firm countenance, that his forward movement was checked. The Guards and Germans then rallied, a brigade of light cavalry came up from the second line at a trot, the artillery battered the flanks without intermission, the French wavered, and the battle was restored.' At Quatre Bras (June 16) the Guards turned the tide of battle by their irresistible valour. They were weary with a fifteen hours' march when they reached the battle-field, but having loaded and fixed bayonets, they advanced to the charge with the most lively alacrity. Nor could their imposing progress be arrested. The French masses were forced to yield, and the sun went down on a victory won. But they reached the climax of their fame at Waterloo. There * Napier's History of the Peninsular War, |