Warlike Directions or the Souldier’s Practice

Military manual by Thomas Fisher, printed in 1642. The previous woodcut appears in this book as does this, almost identical image, though this time the musketeer/dragoon is not armed to the teeth. More of the odd ties here which begin to look like points or laces through to the breeches, though the style of his coat is really too late for points. The ghost musket is a bleed through from the next page. It has been suggested that these images are meant to reflect the part time soldiers of the Trayned Bandes of London.

Military and Spiritual Motions

……for foote companies, by Captaine Lazarus Howard of Ailsford in Kent. This is the picture on the front page of Captaine Howard’s pamphlet, printed in London,  1645. The musketeer has a plain square cut coat and close fitting breeches with a pot helmet, falling band (darted). He may have been a dragoon as he wears long boots with spurs and boothose. All the accoutrements of a musketeer are present, and a nice example of a matchlock musket.

A Declaration of a Strange and Wonderful Monster

Born in Kirkham Parish in Lancashire, March 3rd 1645, according to George Thomason’s annotation on the front cover. One of those “World Turned Upside Down” moralising stories about a deformed stillborn infant whose mother had badmouthed the Parliamentarians and as such was thought to have been punished with a monster for a child. The images are a bit cartoonish, but nevertheless it’s reliably dateable and there are a few decent costume details.