[Illustration: SECOND (THE QUEEN'S ROYAL) REGIMENT OF FOOT.] THE SECOND, OR QUEEN'S ROYAL REGIMENT OF FOOT, BEARS IN THE CENTRE OF EACH COLOUR THE QUEEN'S CYPHER ON A RED GROUND WITHIN THE GARTER, AND CROWN OVER IT; ALSO THE FOLLOWING DISTINCTIONS, _Egypt, with the Sphynx_--_Vimiera_--_Corunna_--_Salamanca_-- _Vittoria_--_Pyrenees_--_Nivelle_--_Toulouse_--and _Peninsula_. IN THE DEXTER CANTON OF THE SECOND COLOUR THE UNION: IN THE THREE OTHER CORNERS THE PASCHAL LAMB; WITH THE MOTTOES _Pristinæ Virtutis Memor_, and _Vel Exuviæ Triumphant_, AND THE DISTINCTIONS ABOVE SPECIFIED. HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE SECOND, OR QUEEN'S ROYAL REGIMENT OF FOOT. [Sidenote: 1661] The Second Regiment of Foot was raised in 1661, for the purpose of providing a garrison for _Tangier_, a fortress on the northern coast of Africa, which was ceded to England as part of the marriage portion of Donna Catherina, Infanta of Portugal, who, in the following year, was married to King Charles II[1]. The command of this regiment was conferred by King Charles II. on Henry (second) Earl of Peterborough, whose commission as Colonel bears date the 30th of September, 1661. King Charles II. having, soon after his restoration, disbanded the army of the Commonwealth, the ranks of Lord Peterborough's regiment were speedily completed with disciplined soldiers: it is reported to have assembled on Putney heath on the 14th of October, 1661, and to have numbered one thousand men. The destination of Lord Peterborough's regiment to garrison so valuable a portion of Her Majesty's dower was, no doubt, the cause of its early advancement to royal favour: it was designated 'the _Queen's_,' and the _Paschal Lamb_, the distinguishing badge of Portugal, was placed on its colours, and has ever since been continued to be borne by the regiment[2]. [Sidenote: 1662] In a few months after its formation, the _Earl of Peterborough_ embarked with his regiment and a troop of horse[3], and arrived at _Tangier_ on the 29th of January, 1662, where he found a British fleet, under the command of the _Earl of Sandwich_, lying in the roads, and _Sir Richard Steyner_, with a detachment of officers and seamen, occupying the town: a duty from which the _Queen's_ Regiment, relieved them on the following day[4]. The fortress was already surrounded by walls upwards of a mile and a quarter in extent, but the English began constructing, at immense cost both of money and labour, a series of external fortifications. It was also determined to form a secure harbour by building a pier, or mole, several hundred yards in length. A spirit of enterprise, which has since become so conspicuous in British subjects, was, at this early period, strongly evinced in these improvements, carried on amidst barbarian tribes on the unpromising shores of Africa.