plates, brassarts, swords, and a
pike eighteen feet long with an iron point, the handles of the best
were of ash; the lance-corporals and subaltern officers had halberds
and partisans. The two species of fire-arms which prevailed in the army
were the musketoon (which with the Imperialists was a heavy weapon six
feet long, with matchlocks and balls, of which there were ten in the
pound) and the short handgun, a weapon of lighter and smaller calibre,
which in the beginning of the war bore amongst the infantry the old
name of arquebuss. The musketeer wore also at his side a hanger, a
weapon with a small curved point, and over his shoulder a bandolier
with eleven cylindrical cases in which the charges were placed, a match
holder, and a musket rest, a staff with a metal point and two metal
prongs, on the top of which the musketeer laid his weapon: his
head was covered with a helmet or morion; this last piece of armour
was soon discarded. The foot arquebussier did not carry a rest or a
shoulder-belt; he loaded from his shot-pouch and powder-horn. There
were pikemen and musketeers in the same company, and long even before
the great war there were companies in which fire-arms alone were borne.
Out of the light infantry were formed, in the middle of the war, what
were called rifle companies, but among whom only a few had rifles. The
grenadiers, who threw hand-grenades, were then formed in small numbers;
for instance, in 1634, by the Swedes at the siege of Ratisbon.

At the beginning of the war the pikemen, as heavy infantry, were
considered of importance, and they were put down in the muster-rolls as
receiving double pay; but in the course of it they were found to be too
unwieldy for long marches, helpless in attack, in short, almost
useless, since the last decision of the battle now devolved upon the
cavalry; thus they gradually sank into contempt, and the clever
judgment pronounced by the jovial Springinsfeld, accurately expresses
the view that was taken of their utility. "A musketeer is indeed a
poor, much harassed creature; but he lives in splendid happiness
compared to a miserable pikeman: it is vexatious to think what
hardships the poor simpletons endure; no one who had not experienced it
themselves could believe it, and I think whoever kills a pikeman whom
he could save, murders an innocent man, and can never be excused such a
barbarous deed: for although these poor draught oxen--they were so
called in derision--are forme