When an officer at the mustering of his company in a circle, was installed as chief captain and father, he begged his dear soldiers, in a friendly manner, to be true and obedient to him, recounted to them their duties, promised to stand by them in every emergency, and as an honest man, devote himself to them in life or death, and leave them whatever he had. Unfortunately the captain's first duty was to be faithful in money concerns, both towards the colonel and his own soldiers, to procure clever good soldiers for the reviewing officer, not to charge for more mercenaries than was right, and to give the soldiers their full pay; but this seldom happened. The temptation to a system of fraudulent gain was great, and conscientiousness in the uncertain life of war was a virtue which quickly disappeared; even the most honourable fell upon dangerous rocks when the pay had been long in arrear, or not fully given. Besides this, it was necessary for him to be an energetic experienced man, just and kind in disposition, but strict in maintaining rights. During the week, he was, according to the old proverb, to look severe, and not to smile upon the soldiers before Sunday; when there was preaching in the camp, the soldiers sat on the ground, but stood up, taking their hats off, before the captain, but he who wore a morion kept it on. On the march, the captain rode, but before the enemy he went on foot, carrying either the pike or the musket of his company.[7] The banner of the infantry, which was held sacred by the company, had a standard about the size of ours, but the silken flag, like an enormous sail, reached almost to the end of the standard; it was of heavy material, according to the taste of that time, with allegorical pictures painted on it, and short Latin sentences beautifully illuminated. The "_cornete_" of the cavalry, sometimes vandyked, were smaller, and fixed to the standard like our banners. The regiments were sometimes called after the colours of the banners; for example, in Electoral Saxony, where the ground of the banners was always of two colours, they were called the black and yellow, blue and white, red and yellow, regiments; each of the ten banners of the regiment also had its especial emblem and motto, and different combinations of the regimental colours, grained, striped and in squares, yet the chief standard showed the regimental colours only on the border. The "_cornete_" of the cavalry had a ground of only one colour: the corps of cavalry were denoted according to the colours of their banners, and not by their uniforms, which they hardly ever wore; for example:--"two corps of orange-coloured cornet cuirassiers," "five corps of steel-green cornet arquebussiers." The Swedes also distinguished their brigades, which were in Germany frequently called regiments, by the colour of their banners; thus, besides the yellow (Body Guard) there were the green, blue, white, and red. The colours of regiments were often chosen from the armorial