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CHAPTER VIII.
FORTY YEARS' PEACE.
THE piping time of peace" which followed the Treaty of Paris (a stretch of forty years) gave the British army ample leisure to develop its taste for military music. No sooner had the war fever subsided, than attention was immediately directed to the regimental bands. Not that the War Office looked upon them with any favour, for bands were still in their eyes—so much "gingerbread." The only official sanction that the regulations of 1803 gave, was to permit one private soldier in each troop or company to be trained as a musician, and a sergeant to act as bandmaster. So strict were the authorities in this particular, that general officers of districts were required to report half-yearly that bands under their command were kept within the prescribed limit.' In 1822, the number of musicians for the regimental band is fixed at ten, not including "black men" or boys. The following year, the commander-in-chief was pleased to direct that " the establishment of each regimental band
throughout the service shall be a sergeant (master) and
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