“All effective Members of Volunteer Corps and Companies accepted by His Majesty, are entitled to the exemptions from ballot allowed by 42 Geo. III. cap. 66, and Geo. III. cap. 121, provided that such persons are regularly returned in the muster rolls to be sent in to the Lord Lieutenant, or Clerk of the General Meetings of his County, _at the times_, _in the manner_, and certified upon honour by the Commandant, _in the form_ prescribed by those Acts, and schedules thereto annexed. “The Monthly Returns should be transmitted to the Inspecting Field Officer appointed to superintend the District in which the Corps is situated, and to the Secretary of State for the Home Department.” * * * * * Thus, we see that the regulations for the Volunteers were very similar to what they are now. Of course the arms served out to them were, to our modern ideas, beneath contempt. There were a few Rifle Corps, who were armed with what was then called the Brunswick Rifle. It was short, because the barrel was very thick and heavy. The rifling was poly-grooved, the bullet spherical, and somewhat larger than the bore, so that when wrapped in a greased linen patch (carried in a box, or trap, in the butt of the gun) it required a mallet applied to the ramrod—to drive the bullet home—and fill up the grooves of the rifling. Of course it was a far superior weapon to the musket, or “Brown Bess”[75]—which was not calculated even to “hit a haystack” at thirty yards. The _Morning Post_, July 24, 1810, thus speaks of the shooting of a Corps: “The Hampstead Volunteers fired at a target yesterday on the Heath. Many excellent shots were fired, and some nearly entered ‘the Bull’s eye.’” They were always holding Volunteer reviews, and having Volunteer dinners, and Volunteers, generally, were raised to the rank, at least, of demigods—they were the saviours of their country. Never was there such bravery as that of these fire-eaters: and, if _Boney_ dared show his nose on English soil—why—every British Volunteer would, individually, capture him! Volunteering even made them moral, and religious—_teste_ the _Times_, September 3, 1803: “Since the formation of Volunteer Corps, the very manners of many have taken a more moral turn: public-houses are deserted for the drill, our churches are better frequented, profane swearing is banished, every man looks to his character, respects the Corps in which he is enrolled, and is cautious in all he says or does, lest he should disgrace the name of a _British Volunteer_.”