THE SCARLET REGIMENTALS OF THE ENGLISH ARMY.
When was the English soldier first dressed in red? It has been said the yeomen of the guard (vulgo Beef-eaters) were the company which originally wore that coloured uniform; but, seventy years before they were established, viz. temp. Henry V., it appears the military uniform of his army was red:
"Rex vestit suos rubro, et parat transire in Normaniam."—Archæolog. Soc. Antiquar., Lond., vol. xxi. p. 292.
William III. not only preferred that colour, but he thought it degrading to the dignity of his soldiers that the colour should be adopted for the dress of any inferior class of persons; and there is an order now extant, signed by Henry, sixths Duke of Norfolk, as Earl Marshal, dated Dec. 20, 1698,
"Forbidding any persons to use for their liveries scarlet or red cloth, or stuff; except his Majesty's servants and guards, and those belonging to the royal family or foreign Misters."
William IV., who had as much of true old English feeling as any monarch who ever swayed the English sceptre, ordered scarlet to be the universal colour of our Light Dragoons; but two or three years afterwards he was prevailed upon, from some fancy of those about him, to return to the blue again. Still, it is well known that dressing our Light Dragoons in the colour prevailing
with other nations has led to serious mistakes in time of action.
A.