Historical Records of the First Regiment of Militia. By Captain
G.
A. Raikes. (Bentley.)—The " First Regiment of Militia " is the" Third West York Light Infantry." The regiment has never been quartered out of the United Kingdom, and its history, therefore, has not been eventful. But its career, though one "only of usefulness, and not of glory," is worth recording. Useful it, as well as its fellow-regiments, has been in an eminent degree, not only as setting the Regular Army at freedom, but as furnishing that Army with its best recruits. The positive interest of the book is chiefly of a local character, though the valuable appendices which Captain Raikes has constructed with such infinite pains have something more. It is curious, for instance, to note the decrease in average length of service, age, and stature which takes place during a war. Between 1806 and 1812 the number of men of 5 ft. 10 in. had fallen from 178 to 63, while the number of those less than twenty years of age had risen from 16 to 79, the totals of the two years being respectively 797 and 739.
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