The History of ths Honourable Artillery Company. By Captain G.
A. Raikes. 2 vols. (Bentley.)—It is not the fault of this very complete work that the critic finds very little to say about it. It is we should suppose, almost exhaustive of its subject. Nothing in the history of the Artillery Company, the oldest Volunteer force in Eng- land, is left untouched. If these annals seldom possess any great and stirring interest, they are yet well worth record, and that quite apart from any personal concern which past or present members of the Corps may feel in them. The existence-of the Company may be dated from the latter part of the sixteenth century. It soon began to supply officers to the Train Bands of the City, and thus had an im- portant part in the Civil War, the issue of which the Volunteer force of the City of London had certainly sorne share in determining. At the Restoration, the Company became as loyal as the test of England, electing, on June 26th, 1660, the Duke of York as its Captain- General. His Highness, seems to have been very punctual in perform- ing his duties. Shortly after this, we find an account, which is not without a strong comic element, of a sham-fight. The Romans, who have among them some very barbarous names, were supposed to be invading- Greece. This was, at least, an improvement on the common practice, which seems to have been to style the enemy "Revolters." In the Plague of 1665 the Company had a narrow escape of losing their ground, which was wanted for a burial-ground. It would .be interesting to know how many of their number perished. We learn that ten of the officers elected in the year before are marked as " dead " on the roll of 1666. The Com- pany passed through the troubles of the Revolution without hurt, pru- dently holding no court from October, 1667, to October, 1688. King William succeeded King James as Captain-General. We find little or no notice of the stirring events of the time under the dates of 1715 and 1745. The history of the Company becomes more ex- citing as we approach the end of the century. It turned out to pre- serve order when Hardy, Horne Tooke, and others were tried for treason in.1794. From 1795 to 1800 its attention was taken up by a fierce battle which it fought with the Corporation touching the right of the Militia to exercise on its ground. When a French invasion became or was supposed to be imminent, the number of the Com- pany was largely increased, more than 600 new members being admitted in the course of two months. Perhaps the most interesting incident in the history of the Company is the foundation, in the seven- teenth century, of an affiliated company in Massachusetts. It still, we are glad to find, exists, and owns a dutiful allegiance to the parent society.
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