To you therefore , Heroick Brutes , and truly entitled Gentlemen , that either haue , or hereafter intend in the Academie of valour & vertue ( which Vigetius stileth the Campe ) to bestow your worthy to be termed honorable indeauours : ●a poore , Vnusauis● fortunae suae faber . but willing admirer of Armes , offer sand , in stead of siluer , and more acceptable and beneficiall matter towards the not building , but repaying the ruines of decayed Arte militarie , — Sit valuisse , sat voluisse . Non quia posse fugit , me quoque velle sugit . To craue pardon , or intreate fauourable acceptance , were but to suspect your generous dispositions : assuming therefore the confidence , which Innocency armes resolution with all : like a Souldier , vnwilling to prouoke , yet not daring to feare censure , I say , Either commend it , or , Come mend it ; and so goe forward .

From the Pike , or the Pen , only proceedeth true Gentilitie : for non genus , sed genius ; non gens , sed mens , proclaymeth the merit of the person .

Laying hold then of the Pike , a weapon for a Prince to practise , why should not all young Gallants iumpe with the Poet , Qui Veneri est habilis , b●llo quoque conueni aetas . And hauing vigour and valour , enable themselues so farre to bee acquainted with the vse of this discipline , that what winde soeuer blow , they may bee freed from that aspersion , which wise Vlysses cast vpon Aiax ; Neque enim clipei coelamina norit , Or from the like taxe , Postulat vt capiat qui non intelligat Arma. If they should at any time , either for their own or countries good , attempt to vnder-take command , or expect preferment by the wars : if either they disdain to be taught , or shame to seem to learne , let them but remember , that qui breui tempore disciplinam non patitur , omni tempore in pudore insipientiae permanebit . Let them therefore practise , that they may be perfect : Paucos fortes natura procreat : quamplures bona institutione reddit industria . It can be no disparagement to bloud , nor disgrace to birth , to manage or follow Armes : for truly it is said , Virtus militaris praeest caeteris omnibus : and , iter ad virtutem istam per artis regulas : Which as Vigetius prescribeth , is , Militari gradu ambulare , celeriter & aequaliter : locum destinatum non deserere : ordinem non turbare : sed ad nutum ducis , sine tumultu respondere . All which may full well and easily be learned , by frequenting such places where mustring shall bee , and remembring such termes of discipline , as are at this time chiefly in vse . For as taste cannot bee tryed by sounds : no more can direction in trayning be vnderstood by any , to whom the words of command are vnknowne . It is therefore greatly to bee desired , that all men would learne , how to receiue direction , by acquainting themselues with the termes . And that musters might be often vsed , that euery one might practise publikely , what they haue priuately learned : And though some more curiously captious , then considerably politike , seem to affirm , that it is dangerous as now , to disquiet the times with trayning of Souldiers , or to awaken the securitie of peace with rumours of warres : for that , as they say , it may giue occasion of suspect to our Neighbors , and may buzze conceits in greene heads ( quibus bellum dulce ) which may draw on further attempts , then stands with the quiet of our peacefull gouernement to admit , yet since it is aliud parare , aliud exercere belium , if I may haue leaue to speake my opinion as a parcell-guilt Scholer , and a pen and inke-horne Souldier , I doubt not but that it may stand with the policie of the State , to admit more then yeerely shewes of Armour to be made , yea , I dare affirme with Lypsius , Salus reipublicae , plus fortitudine quàm concordia consistit : And how can there be fortitudo , when a Souldier is little known , lesse respected ? And Martiall discipline , without which a Souldier is no more valiant then bookes not vnderstood , is learning , neither vsed nor remembred : wisely he said , that as in warre , peace ; so in peace , war , Bracton . l. t in Rege qui recte regit . 2. sunt necessaria , arma & Leges . is to be prouided for : the true knowledge of this , conseruing the quiet of that , and the due obseruance and execution of order in either , maintayning the honor and estimation of both : And worthy the remembrance are those principles of learned and iudicious master Case , where he maintayneth a necessitie in the time of cessation of warre , to exercise Militarie discipline , Sphaera Ciuitatis . alleadgeing , Opportunius res bellicas tractari non posse , quàm tempore pacis : affirming further , Non altis moenibus Ciuitatum , sed expertis manibus militum , Imperij salus , & tutela continetur : their experience being wonne by exercise in the time of peace , and made perfect in the time of warre : For as the multitude of Pleaders and Physicions , is an argument of a riotous and distempered Citie ; so nothing , saith Vigetius , Firmius aut foelicius est Reipublicae , in qua milites abundant eruditi . Ars bellandi , saith Cassio , si non pace praeluditur , quando fuerit necessarium , non habetur : discat ergo miles otio , quod performare possit bello . Scientia rei bellicae , saith Vigetius , demicandi nutrit audaciam , nemo enim bello facile metuit , quod se pace didicisse bene confidit . The same Author goeth further , and saith , Qui desider at pacem , praeparet bellum : qui victoriam cupit , milites imbuat diligenter : qui secundos optat , euentus discat pace , vt dimicet arte , non casu . And saith Seneca , Diu praeparandum est bellum , vt vincas caelerius . And , Sub Clipeo tutius succedit pacis negotium : ac pace de bello melius consulitur . If then it be not onely lawfull , but expedient , to haue in peace expert Souldiers , which can no waies be made so , but by those ordinarie courses which our Predecessors haue inuented : Ars tritos , vsus promptos , imitatio reddit Artifices aptos . and our bordering Neighbours doe put in practice : that is , by instruction , and conuenient exercise , I hold it for granted , that to train & muster Souldiers , and to instruct them with the termes of motion , and militarie principles , is a thing most necessarie , and in some sort commanded : For wheras a Souldier is said , to bee a Protector of his Prince , a Defender of liberall Arts , an Vp-holder of the seate of Iustice , a Resister of Forrainers , and a Represser of domestick Enemies , a Maintayner of the Libertie , and quiet of his Countrie ▪ It is to bee vnderstood , of an expert valiant Souldier : for valour and discretion in a Souldier are inseparable adiuncts : And without direction and obedience , it is not possible for any militarie or worthy attempt , to be successefull : For he is no more a Souldier , Miles quasi vir ex milibus vnus . that receiueth his pay , is inrolled in a companie , and weareth the abilliment of war , without knowledge of discipline , and obseruance of order : then Pilate is a Saint , though he be named in our Creede . It behoueth therefore euery person that intendeth to leade the life of a Souldier , at the entring of his name in Bellonaes Register , to put on the first habit of a Souldier , which is obedience : without which , whosoeuer endeuoureth to learne the vse of Armes , labours to make his skore the greater , by paying the reckoning with chalke : And will assoone suck milk from a flint , as true merit in martiall courses : for hee can neuer be able to command wel , which hath not first laboured to obey : Summa enim militiae laus , in obedientia consistit . And this obedience , in reuerentiam exhibendo , in mandata suscipiendo , & in iudicium subeundo , plerunque sita est . The Souldier sheweth his loue , by vsing obedience to his Officer ; performeth his dutie , in doing what hee is commanded by his Officer , and proclaymeth his modestie , in not expostulating the reason , but willingly vndergoeth the censure of his Officer or Captayne : For euery chiefe Commander , as Captayne and his Lieftenant , Ensigne-bearer , Seriants , and Corporalls , either haue , or ought to haue in themselues , authoritie respectiuely to command , and procure reuerence , and obedience , from others , and experience , and gouernement to direct , and censure themselues , and others : Miles ( saith a Father ) mandatum ducis non procrastinat , parat aures auditui , pedesitineri , manusoperi , & se totum intus colligit , vt mandatum peragat imperantis : he saith not linguam voci : for silence is the first lesson of obedience : and how can he be said to obey , that will not silently attend when , & what , he shall be commanded . Obedience hauing prescribed Silence : the next lesson a Souldier is to learne , is to apt himselfe to manage and practise such weapons , as by his Officer is appointed to him : for howsoeuer a naturall inclination is in some more then others , to vse the Peece rather then the Pike , and so , &c. And though that is soonest lerned , to which a man by nature is most inclinable , yet the weapon is appointed to , not chosen by the Souldier ; howsoeuer it is to be wished , that all such to whom the appointment of weapon doth belong , would obserue in his Souldier , Quid valcant humeri fer●e , & quid ser●e recusant .

Now hauing his Armes , which are the members of a Martialist , they must be alwaies carefully kept cleane from rust , both within and without , be it Peece or Corslet , with all the furniture thereunto belonging , that is to say , to a Musket , a Head-peece , a Sword and Dagger , a Musket carrying a Bullet , whereof ten make a pound : a Musket Rest , Bandaleros , ( the flaske being more cumbersome and subiect to firing , and therefore more dangerous ) Bullet-bagge with Bullets , Poulder , and Match . To a Pike-man , a Pike , a Sword and Dagger , a Head-peece , a Gorget , a Brest-plate , a Back , with powldrons to the elbow . I set downe these furnitures particularly , the rather for that Count Morrice , Anno 1598. gaue expresse order that none should passe the muster , except thus furnished .

Being thus furnished , it is requisite , that he acquaint his eye , and eare with such signes and sounds , termes and wordes , as his Leader or Commander shal vse in his direction , or charge . And first , he must be perfect in euery particular sound of the Drum , as namely : first , a Call : secondly , a March : thirdly , a Troope : fourthly , a Charge : and fifthly , Retrait : For the Battali● , Reliefe , Batterie , Parlee , and such like , I betray my ignorance to the World , I take to bee no other but one of the fiue first sounds , and not by the eare easily to bee distinguisht , and therefore of no great importance to be obserued .

The Drum ( as a most iudicious and painefull Gentleman , whose industrie and experience discouereth by practick , what I partly gleane from him in the theorick , defineth it ) is an instrument , designed for the exercise of foot Souldiers , resounding the command of the Generall , the which euery souldier is obliged to obey , and follow , without delay , as well as the voice of his Commander : of the seuerall sounds whereof , what Souldier soeuer is ignorant , it is vnpossible hee shall performe his dutie in all points , and at all times : for either hee must doe by the example of others , which perhaps at all times hee is not bound vnto ; or else expect his Commanders direction , whose voice cannot extend to the hearing of all , & so become culpable in his dutie : wherfore , as it is most expedient , that euery companie exceeding the number of a hundred , should bee furnished with two sufficient Drummers , such as are able to beate perfectly : So is it most necessary that euery Souldier , at the first , and for the first principle , should apply his eare , and studie to apprehend , and learne to vnderstand , those seuerall sounds : without the knowledge wherof , how doth any Souldier know of his owne meer motion , when to march , troope , charge , or retrait , &c. except only by the Drums direction , who is alwayes at his Commanders elbow , readie by the sound therof to denounce his wil ?

As the eare by the Drum , so the eie must bee directed by the Standard or Colours : the one designing of the time , the other the place , whither to repaire , and where he is to attend the command of his Officer .

The Ensigne is an ornament of Armes , first inuented for direction , and distinction . For direction , to the Souldier , whither vpon all occasions to draw , and where to abide : for distinction to bee knowne from other Companies , and other Nations : The colours whereof are at the discretion of the Captayne : either his owne Colours , belonging to his house ; if he be a Gentleman of Coate-Armour , or what other his inuention shal best like of . But alwayes hauing a red Crosse therin , being the badge of an Englishman : St. GEORGES Crosse being peculiarly appropriated to that Nation : For as in old time : Phrysij suem , Armenij arietem , Scythae fulgur , Persi Arcum , Scilices caput armatum , Thrases Martem , Phoenices Herculem , Aegyptij Ibidem , Milesij Leonem , Athemenses noctuam , Corinthij Pegasum , Peloponnesi testudinem , Itali Equum , Venetiae Leonem cum libro , diuo Marco consecratum ; Genoae sanctum Georgium equo insidentem , Senenses Lupam , Florentini Leonem , Ita Angli crucem rubram pro insigne habuerunt . And as Mr. Francis saith in his Treatise , De insignibus libro primo : Insignum singularis est vtilitas ; ad gradus turmasque distinguendas . Vexilla , saith another , intuentur milites : ea sequuntur , obseruant , tuentur , & corum signibus , vt nauis gubernaculo diriguntur . Being come to the Colours ▪ that he may be able to performe what he shall be appointed ; he must be perfectly instructed with the true knowledge of Files , and Rankes , Fronts , and Flankes , Leaders , and Followers , Middle-men , and Bringers vp , and not be ignorant of the chiefe principles of Action , ( that is to say ) of Posture , Distance , and orderly Motion , the knowledge of which warlike motions , may truly be said to be the art of Warre .

By Posture is vnderstood the manageing of Martiall weapons , either Standing , Marching , Chargeing , or Dischargeing , the easiest and readiest way to offend or defend : Si doctrina cessat armorum , nihil Paganus distat a milite .