Non-commissioned officers and men of the Coldstream were lent to militia regiments for the purpose of drilling them. On November 20, 1852, a Regimental Order expresses the gratification felt by the Lieutenant-Colonel at the reports which he received of their good conduct, and of the manner in which they conveyed the instruction required. Footnote 184: It must be noted here, that the Prince Consort was an advocate of a system by which men might be allowed to leave the Colours, on furlough, before their army service expired, and so form reserve battalions in case of emergency (Theodore Martin, _Life of H.R.H. the Prince Consort_ , ii. 436; 4th edit.: London, 1877). ----- [Illustration: REGULATION MUSKET 1830.] [Illustration: ENFIELD. 1853-1865.] [Illustration: SNIDER. 1865-1871.] [Illustration: MARTINI HENRY. 1871.] [Illustration: LEE METFORD. 1890.] [Illustration: N.R. Wilkinson del. A.D. Innes & C^o. London Mintern Bros. lith.] The armament of the Brigade underwent a change during the first sixteen years of Her Majesty’s reign. As far back as 1836, the Quartermasters of the 1st Coldstream and of the 3rd Grenadiers received “percussion muskets intended for trial;” but the old flintlock was still retained, until about the year 1843, when percussion caps were introduced, and the “pickers and brushes,” worn by the corporals and privates, were discontinued in the Regiment. The Minié musket-rifle was produced in 1851, and Brigade Orders, dated February 26th, and April 1, 1852, directed the seven Battalions of the Foot Guards to send two intelligent Non-commissioned officers to Woolwich, for the purpose of being instructed in its use. Early the following year, a few of these firearms were served out, when each Battalion of the Regiment received 200. A general distribution of the new musket-rifle, however, was not by any means complete when hostilities broke out in 1854, nor had the authorities apparently quite made up their minds upon its value; but, fortunately, sufficient progress had been made in its construction, and the Guards and the greater portion of the British Army, that took the field, were all armed with it before they met the Russians. It may therefore be stated at once, that the weapon which we had in the Crimea, was much superior to that used by the majority of the enemy’s troops. Another pattern was adopted in 1853, but it was not issued till later.