the left arm is an implement almost exactly like a cricket-bat. This
bat has a gilt knob to the handle, and on the shoulder of it are three
chevrons in gold, without doubt a sergeant's stripes. On the exposed
side of the bat is what would appear to represent a loose strip of
wood. This strip is nearly one-third of the width of the instrument,
and extends up the middle about two-fifths of the length of the body
of it. I can only guess that the bat was, at some time, primarily, an
emblem of a sergeant's office, and, secondarily, used for the
infliction of chastisement on clumsy or disorderly recruits; and
perhaps it was equivalent to the _Pruegel_ of German armies, with which
sergeants drove lagging warriors into the fray. But is there any
record of such an accoutrement as being that of a sergeant in the
British army? and what was the purpose of the loose strip, unless it
was to cause the blow administered to resound as much as to hurt, as
does the wand of Harlequin in a booth."

These questions received no answers from the learned correspondents of
the most useful and omniscient of weekly papers. Personally, I much
doubt Mr. Denman's suggested explanations of his highlander's curious
implement. There is no evidence that a sergeant in the British army
ever carried a cricket-bat-like implement either as a sign of office
or to be used for disciplinary or punitive purposes like the canes of
the German sergeants of long ago. It would seem to be more likely that
this particular figure was of unusual, perhaps unique, make, and had
some special local or individual significance, wherever or for whom
it was first made and used, which has now been forgotten.

After the suppression of the Jacobite uprising of 1745, the English
Government made war on Scottish nationality, and among other measures
the wearing of the highland dress was forbidden by Parliament. On this
occasion the following paragraph appeared in the newspapers of the
time: "We hear that the dapper wooden Highlanders, who guard so
heroically the doors of snuff-shops, intend to petition the
Legislature, in order that they may be excused from complying with the
Act of Parliament with regard to their change of dress: alledging that
they have ever been faithful subjects to his Majesty, having
constantly supplied his Guards with a pinch out of their Mulls when
they marched by them, and so far from engaging in any Rebellion, that
they have never entertained a rebellious th