And herewith should also be preserved and carefully taught all the
customs, usages, terms of war, and terms of art used in sieges, marches
of armies and encampments, that so a gentleman taught in this college
should be no novice when he comes into the king’s armies, though he has
seen no service abroad. I remember the story of an English gentleman, an
officer at the siege of Limerick, in Ireland, who, though he was brave
enough upon action, yet for the only matter of being ignorant in the
terms of art, and knowing not how to talk camp language, was exposed to
be laughed at by the whole army for mistaking the opening of the
trenches, which he thought had been a mine against the town.
The experiments of these colleges would be as well worth publishing as
the acts of the Royal Society. To which purpose the house must be built
where they may have ground to cast bombs, to raise regular works, as
batteries, bastions, half-moons, redoubts, horn-works, forts, and the
like; with the convenience of water to draw round such works, to exercise
the engineers in all the necessary experiments of draining and mining
under ditches. There must be room to fire great shot at a distance, to
cannonade a camp, to throw all sorts of fireworks and machines that are,
or shall be, invented; to open trenches, form camps, &c.
Their public exercises will be also very diverting, and more worth while
for any gentleman to see than the sights or shows which our people in
England are so fond of.
I believe as a constitution might be formed from these generals, this
would be the greatest, the gallantest and the most useful foundation in
the world. The English gentry would be the best qualified, and
consequently best accepted abroad, and most useful at home of any people
in the world; and His Majesty should never more be exposed to the
necessity of employing foreigners in the posts of trust and service in
his armies.
And that the whole kingdom might in some degree be better qualified for
service, I think the following project would be very useful:
When our military weapon was the long-bow, at which our English nation in
some measure excelled the whole world, the meanest countryman was a good
archer; and that which qualified them so much for service in the war was
their diversion in times of peace, which also had this good effect—that
when an army was to be raised they needed no disciplining: and for the
encouragement of the people to an exercise so publicly profitable an Act
of Parliament was made to oblige every parish to maintain butts for the
youth in the country to shoot at.
Since our way of fighting is now altered, and this destructive engine the
musket is the proper arms for the soldier, I could wish the diversion
also of the English would change too, that our pleasures and profit might
correspond. It is a great hindrance to this nation, especially where
standing armies are a grievance, that if ever a war commence, men must
have at least a year before they are thought fit to face an enemy, to
instruct them how to handle their arms; and new-raised men are called raw
soldiers. To help this—at least, in some, measure—I would propose that
the public exercises of our youth should by some public encouragement
(for penalties won’t do it) be drawn off from the foolish boyish sports
of cocking and cricketing, and from tippling, to shooting with a firelock
(an exercise as pleasant as it is manly and generous) and swimming, which
is a thing so many ways profitable, besides its being a great
preservative of health, that methinks no man ought to be without it.
1. For shooting, the colleges I have mentioned above, having provided
for the instructing the gentry at the king’s charge, that the gentry, in
return of a favour, should introduce it among the country people, which
might easily be done thus:
If every country gentleman, according to his degree, would contribute to
set-up a prize to be shot for by the town he lives in or the
neighbourhood, about once a year, or twice a year, or oftener, as they
think fit; which prize not single only to him who shoots nearest, but
according to the custom of shooting.
This would certainly set all the young men in England a-shooting, and
make them marksmen; for they would be always practising, and making
matches among themselves too, and the advantage would be found in a war;
for, no doubt, if all the soldiers in a battalion took a true level at
their enemy there would be much more execution done at a distance than
there is; whereas it has been known how that a battalion of men has
received the fire of another battalion, and not lost above thirty or
forty men; and I suppose it will not easily be forgotten how, at the
battle of Agrim, a battalion of the English army received the whole fire
of an Irish regiment of Dragoons, but never knew to this day whether they
had any bullets or no; and I need appeal no further than to any officer
that served in the Irish war, what advantages the English armies made of
the Irish being such wonderful marksmen.