At this period the privates were not solicited to enter the service as at present; on the contrary, they purchased their appointments and held them on indenture. It appears from the Troop Registers that the usual price paid by a private for his appointment was £105 13s. 6d., a larger sum than any recruit is likely to possess at the present day. In 1722, in consequence of a threatened rising among the adherents of the Pretender, the Life Guards again encamped in Hyde Park. On the 10th of August a detachment formed part of the funeral cortège of the Duke of Marlborough, who was buried with much pomp and solemnity. They continued to discharge their usual duty till the King's death, in 1727; they were frequently reviewed, and a small party of them always attended the King when he went out hunting. They escorted him to Greenwich on the 2nd of June, when he undertook his last journey to Germany. The 1st troop of Life Guards and the 1st troop of Mounted Grenadier Guards were present when George II. was proclaimed king, on the 15th of June; the whole corps was reviewed on the 27th of July, and the usual party assisted at the coronation on the 11th of October. A detachment escorted the King and Queen to Cheapside on the Lord Mayor's Day, to see the procession pass; in the evening His Majesty was present at the banquet at the Guildhall. During 1728 they furnished the royal escort when the King visited Hampton Court, Richmond, Windsor, and Newmarket; during his absence in 1729 the usual number continued to wait upon the Queen. There were the usual reviews during 1730-1; in 1732 it became customary for four privates to attend upon the princes when they went out hunting. The King took an active interest in everything that concerned his army; the minutest details of the orderly room had a peculiar attraction for him, so much so that he gained for himself the sobriquet of "the little captain." He voluntarily undertook duties. which are usually left to the recruiting sergeant and the surgeon: no recruit was admitted into the Life Guards without having undergone his inspection and received his approval. In 1734 a party of the Life Guards assisted at the marriage of the Princess Royal with the Prince of Orange; the next year twenty of the best looking privates of the Life Guards were selected from the different troops to do duty in the palace in stockings and shoes. The King, who was somewhat penurious, probably adopted this arrangement from motives of economy. The year 1735 was remarkable for the audacity of the highwaymen who infested the country and even the streets of the metropolis. Those were the days of Dick Turpin, Rob Roy MacGregor, and other marauders still known to fame. The carriage of the Countess of Stafford, though protected by four footmen, was arrested in the park as she was returning from the palace. She escaped with the loss of her jewels, and returned in terror to the palace, where she received an escort of Life Guards to conduct her home. In 1742 the King sent 16,000 troops to Flanders, under the command of the Earl of Stair, to aid the Empress Maria-Theresa, whose possessions had been attacked by the Prussians and the united armies of France and Bavaria, after the death of her father, Charles VI. The 3rd and 4th troops of Life Guards and the 2nd troop of Horse Grenadier Guards, after having been reviewed on the 23rd of June, embarked for Flanders in August, landed at Ostend, and proceeded to Ghent. At the battle of Dettingen, fought on the 16th of June, 1743, the Life Guards and the Horse Grenadier Guards were formed into a brigade under the command of the Earl of Crawford, the colonel of the 4th troop. They were posted near the centre of the line, and were exposed to the fire of the enemy for nearly five hours. The Earl of Crawford, as the Gold Stick in Waiting, had special charge of the King's person-no easy task, as he was possessed of great courage, and dismounted to encourage the soldiers by his example. At one time he was exposed to the fire of a French battery, but Crawford manoeuvred his men with such skill that the enemy's forces were drawn between him and this danger. The King appreciated the service thus rendered. On seeing Crawford approaching next day, he exclaimed, "Here comes my champion." After being exposed to the enemy's fire for nearly five hours, the Life Guards were charged in front and flank. Crawford always appeared where the fight was the thickest, and encouraged his men by his voice and example: "Never fear, my boys; this is fine diversion." The enemy were beaten back, and the Life Guards remained on the field during the night, exposed to torrents of rain. In the general charge they were opposed by a division of French infantry, who, unable to sustain the impetuosity of their attack, broke and fled. In giving the order to charge, Crawford said: "Come, my brave lads, follow me; I warrant we shall soon defeat them. Trust to your swords-handle them well: never mind your pistols." The trumpeter of the 4th troop showed the same gallant spirit as his commander, and earned his special thanks by advancing to the front playing "Britons, strike home." The air was appropriate; the Life Guards struck home with a will, and the French infantry fled before them. While his own men were engaged in the pursuit, Crawford rode to the top of an eminence, and encouraged those who were lagging behind to continue it. On this occasion the following officers of the Brigade of Life Guards were wounded :-Colonel the Earl of Albemarle, Lieut.-Col. Lamolonier, Major Jackson, Captain Willis, Lieutenant and Adjutant Elliott, better known afterwards as General Elliott, the defender of Gibraltar; five privates were killed, and a great many wounded. The Life Guards behaved with great gallantry at the battle of Fontenoy, fought on the 30th of April, 1745, and also during the retreat. They charged the enemy, with Crawford at their head, but, overpowered by superior numbers, they were driven back. As they ⚫ were re-forming their ranks, a Dutch regiment of Dragoons rode into them in their headlong flight, and caused much confusion. Crawford rallied and encouraged them by his example. "Gentlemen," he exclaimed, "mind the word of command, and you shall gain immortal honour." The Life Guards, with two squadrons of the Royal Horse Guards (Blues), presented a bold front to the enemy, and covered the retreat of the fugitives till they reached Vezout, where General Ligonier had succeeded in arresting their flight. When the danger was over, and the Life Guards were defiling through the pass at Vezout, Crawford took off his hat and thus addressed them: "Gentlemen, you have gained as much honour in covering so great a retreat as if you had gained a battle." Their good conduct was admitted by others besides their commander. When General Ligonier was congratulated on the skill with which he had conducted the retreat, he frankly confessed that all the credit was due to Crawford, by whom it had been planned and executed. The squadrons of Life Guards and Horse Grenadier Guards had seven officers wounded: Lieutenant-Colonel Lamolonier, Major Brereton, Captains Melgrave, Elliott, and Burton, Cornet Burdett, and Adjutant Shacker; ten men were killed, and thirty-six wounded. Seventeen horses were killed, twenty-four wounded, and five missing. The Life Guards' career of arms on the Continent was arrested by the landing of Prince Charles Edward, the eldest son of the Pretender, in Scotland, and the civil war which ensued. not enter upon that war; its origin, progress, and final issue are known to all. The Life Guards remained in London for the protection of the Court and the King's person. When the danger was over, the corps was reduced from four troops to two; the strength of the two was increased by the addition of some privates from the disbanded troops. The officers of the two junior troops thus disbanded received annuities in addition to their regular half pay, and were placed as officers en seconde to the other troops. The gentlemen-privates who had been long in the service were pensioned; the rest received temporary allowances till they could be otherwise provided for; many of them received commissions in regiments of the line. At the same time three regiments of Horse were converted into Dragoon regiments, and were known as Dragoon Guards. The annual sum of £70,000 was thus saved from the national expenditure, and the King received the thanks of the House of Commons. A detachment of the Life Guards was present when Lord Lovat was executed on Tower Hill, on the 9th of January, 1747. His death was in keeping with his life-a strange admixture of buffoonery and cynicism. On seeing the people crowding around the coach which conveyed him to the scaffold, he told them they need be in no hurry, as there would be no sport till he came. One of the scaffoldings gave way, and five hundred persons were thrown to the ground or buried among the ruins. Colonel Carpenter, the officer commanding the Life Guards, caused his men to dismount and to aid in extricating the people. Twenty persons were killed and a great many wounded. Lovat is said to have expressed his feelings on the occasion in the old Scotch proverb, "The mair mischief the better sport." In 1750 the old building at Whitehall, where the Life Guards had hitherto mounted guard, was pulled down, and the present Horse Guards built instead. It was considered at the period a masterpiece of architectural skill. The King passed through the arcade on the 4th of November, and was met by the Life Guards, who were drawn up in the courtyard to receive him. Till the year 1756 there were no non-commissioned officers in the corps of Life Guards; the duties discharged by those officers were confided to privates of approved character, known as right hand men. On the 25th of September the King raised the four senior right hand men to the rank of quartermasters; the four junior right hand men were made corporals of horse. The non-commissioned officers of the Horse Grenadier Guards were the same as in infantry regiments; they were looked upon as foot soldiers on horseback. In 1758 the standard of the 2nd troop of Life Guards was ordered to be made of blue embroidered satin instead of crimson; the standard of the 1st troop continued to be crimson as before. After the King's death, on the 25th of October, the officers of the Life and Horse Grenadier Guards went into mourning, and a detachment attended his funeral on the 11th of November. His successor, George III., took a special interest in the Life Guards, and delighted in being present when they were reviewed. Hitherto they had always furnished the escort when the King rode out or removed from one Royal residence to another, but in 1760 George III. dispensed with their attendance, and this duty was now discharged by detachments of Light Dragoons. On September 8, 1761, a party of Life Guards proceeded to Romford to meet the Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and accompanied her to London, where she arrived at three o'clock p.m., and was married to George III. on the evening of her arrival. A hundred men of the Life Guards mounted guard daily at the palace. Hitherto the stables at Kensington had been occupied by the Horse Grenadier Guards, but in 1763 they were transferred to the Light Dragoons, who had to furnish the Royal escort. In 1764 the Life Guards received orders to allow their horse's tails to grow as nature would seem to direct; the practice of docking them had been introduced from Holland at the Revolution. The Dutch would appear to have adopted the same quaint taste in dressing their horses' tails as in dressing their gardens. On the 10th of February, 1766, a new warrant was issued, fixing the regulation price of commissions in the Life Guards : First Lieutenant and Lieutenant-Colonel £5,500 5,100 Cornet and Major 4,300 Guidon and Major 4,300 During 1768 there were frequent riots-first among the Spitalfields weavers, who were suffering from the depression in the silk trade, and then among the admirers of the notorious Wilkes, who happened at the moment to be the favourite of the London mob. When their favourite was apprehended they showed their sympathy by sacking. the houses of his supposed enemies, and were proceeding to burn the King's Bench Prison, when the Life Guards and Horse Grenadier Guards were called out. An undisciplined, unarmed mob can have little chance against regular forces; the rioters refused to disperse, and opposed force to force when the Life Guards attempted to clear |