In this same year the Lancers’ tunic was embellished with a plastron of the colour of the regimental facings,--a change which made the dress of the Seventeenth, by general admission, the smartest in the Army. The plastron being an essential feature in the uniform of the German Uhlan, is presumably imitated from Napoleon’s Polish Lancers. No one will quarrel with so smart a dress; but it is nevertheless a little curious that the whole world should go to Poland for its Lancer fashions. The lance may be called the oldest of cavalry weapons, at least it can demonstrably be traced back beyond the days of Alexander the Great; and its present vogue is simply a return, and a late return, to an old favourite. Its reputation as the queen of cavalry weapons is not one century, but many centuries old; and though it was for a time driven out of the field by firearms, it may be said never to have wanted champions. I have found the lance advocated, for instance, by a French military writer in 1748, and by an English colonel, Dalrymple, in 1761. In 1590 the best authorities swore by it. [Sidenote: 1876.] In 1876, likewise, came two more changes--the one temporary and the other permanent. The first was the issue of six carbines to every troop, a sign of a further change to come. The second was the appointment of the Duke of Cambridge to be Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment, which from henceforth is designated the “Duke of Cambridge’s Own.” In the early days of the Army it was customary on all occasions to insert the colonel’s name after the regimental number; and thus it has been easy to identify the 18th (Hale’s) Light Dragoons of 1759 with the present Seventeenth Lancers. The only colonels whose names enjoyed the distinction in the Seventeenth were Hale, Preston, and Gage. The Duke’s name is now permanently bound with that of the regiment, a connection whereof, we trust, he will ever have good reason to feel proud. [Sidenote: 1877.] After staying at Aldershot until August 1877, the Seventeenth marched north to Leeds and Preston. After some service in aid of the civil power, which brought it at Clitheroe in collision with a mob of cotton operatives on strike, [Sidenote: 1878.] it returned to Aldershot in July 1878. A month later Colonel Drury Lowe retired, and was succeeded by Colonel Gonne. The Adjutant, Lieutenant John Brown, also resigned, but remained with the regiment as paymaster with the rank of captain.