by that regiment in 1703, at the siege of Tongres: their badge of the Paschal Lamb, the ensign of Portugal, was granted to it in honour of the Queen, Katharine of Braganza, in 1661, as they are known as the Queen’s Royals; but it was perverted into a cruel slander when the regiment was commanded by Colonel Kirke, in 1685, when their popular designation of Kirke’s lambs, was attributed to their presence at the “Bloody Assizes,” of Judge Jeffreys. The “Quò fata vocant,” of the 5th Fusiliers, took origin, probably, in a regimental order of merit, established in 1767. The “Antelope” of the 6th Foot, has been referred to the circumstance of their capture of a Spanish standard, at Saragossa, in 1710. The “Sphinx,” of the 13th and other regiments, commemorates their share in the campaign in Egypt, in 1801. The 12th, 39th, and 56th, and other corps wear their “Castle and Key,” with the motto “Montis Insignia Calpe,”—the Arms of Gibraltar, given by Henry IV, of Castile—for their heroic defence of the “Castle-Key” of the Mediterranean in 1783. The 39th received in 1757, the royal authority to adopt the motto “Primus in Indis,” in 1757. The royal tiger of Hindostan appears on the colours of the 14th and 17th, as the reward of gallant service. The elephant appears also a badge. The “Firm” of the 36th dates back upwards of seventy years. The “Britannia” of the 9th Foot, confirmed to them in 1799, probably refers to their part in the war of the Spanish Succession. The 18th bear the Arms of Nassau in memory of their storming of Namur, in 1695, under the eyes of William of Orange; and the word “China,” with “the Dragon,” for their campaign in 1840-2. The “Green Dragon” of the 3rd Buffs, granted in 1707, has a different origin; it was one of the royal supporters of Queen Elizabeth, in whose reign the regiment was formed out of the loyal London citizens; and it still possesses the peculiar privilege of marching through the streets of the “City” with music playing and colours flying. When the 31st were embodied, the 3rd received the popular appellation of the “Old Buffs,” by way of distinction to the “Young Buffs:” both, however, derived their name from their accoutrements of buffalo leather. The “Bold Fifth” is a sobriquet of long standing; they wore a red and white feather, and subsequently a white plume, in honour of their rout of the French Grenadiers, at Morne Fortune, in the West Indies, when their success was so complete that every man was able to furnish his cap with the white plumes of the enemy. The 87th have the proud distinction of the Eagle of the 8th French regiment of the Line, as it was the first taken in action during the Peninsular war, having been captured at Barossa, in 1811. The kettle-drums of the 3rd, or King’s Own Light Dragoons were taken at Dettingen; and when the 34th Foot embarked for the Crimean war, they were compelled, out of courtesy to our Allies, to leave in store in England, their entire corps of brass drums, having taken them by a curious coincidence from the 34th French Infantry, at Arroyo dos Molinos. The King’s Royal Irish, 8th Hussars, in 1715, were permitted to wear buff sword belts, suspended across the right shoulder, as a memorial of their rout of the Spanish cavalry, at Almanza; they were also the well-known “Pepper’s Dragoons,” whom George I. sent to overawe the Jacobites at tory Oxford, while he gave a fine library to whiggish Cambridge,—a delicate distinction which provoked this witty epigram in reply to a Cambridge sarcasm:—
Our royal master saw with heedful eyes,
The wants of his two Universities.
Troops he to Oxford sent, as knowing why
That learned body wanted loyalty,
Books he to Cambridge gave, as well discerning
That that most loyal body wanted learning.