"The committee being prepared to enrol members of this corps under the regulations recently issued from the War Office, all persons wishing to join are requested to forward their names in writing to any member of the committee, and they will be duly enrolled. "All members of the corps must undertake to pay for their own uniform (the cost thereof not to exceed £3 10_s._), to be provided through the medium of the committee. "The arms and accoutrements will be provided by the committee from the funds to be raised by subscription, and will thenceforth be the property of the corps." The attention of all the citizens of Salisbury was called to this advertisement by the editor of the paper, and from this date very many enrolled themselves as members of the Salisbury corps; J.H. Jacob, Esq., being appointed captain-commandant, and he afterwards selecting and recommending the names of gentlemen willing to serve to fill the subordinate positions. That something more than playing at soldiers was intended may be inferred from the editorial of the paper in which the advertisement appeared. It is presumed that the editor not only appreciated the gravity of the situation, but repeated the sentiments of those attending the meeting, when he stated the result of inquiries to be, "the obligation of every member to obtain a fair proficiency in drill, and to obey the regulations published, and that this could be done easily by an hour-and-a-half's drill in the morning, say from 7 to 8.30 a.m., and an hour-and-a-half in the evening, from 6.30 to 8 p.m., on consecutive or separate days, as most convenient, so that interference with professional or other avocations need not be feared." Shades of the past! "to be done easily." Time was precious, and men were enthusiastic; and perhaps were circumstances to repeat themselves, elderly gentlemen and striplings would again be seen very early in the morning practising judging distances on a common or on some wild moor, and of an evening setting out in hail, rain, or snow for the shed, hall, or yard used for drill instruction. There certainly is not the necessity now for all this assiduous attention, but the Force would be better for more care being given to these preliminary drills. The foundation of drills was well laid there, and the result was greater steadiness in the ranks, and perhaps a greater individual knowledge of the meaning of certain manœuvres. It would take a good deal now-a-days to make young England turn out at daybreak to improve his knowledge of skirmishing and judging distance, or to give up the sweet saunter on the _pavé_, with a bad cigar in his mouth and the refreshment derivable from an occasional glass of bitter beer, for one to two hours' instruction in minutiæ, and an occasional lecture on war as a science. If skill in the use of the rifle and a thorough knowledge of the movements of a company in battalion or singly were necessary in