THE NEW MANUAL and PLATOON EXERCISES, as practised by HIS MAJESTY’S ARMY.

Coloured engraving by and after Robert Dighton Snr, 1795 (c).
Published by Bowles and Carver, London, 2 Jan 1795.

Manual exercises were the sequence of movements by which a soldier learned how to handle his musket, to perform bayonet drill, and to carry out a variety of ceremonial movement such as saluting. In Platoon Exercises a soldier learned the drill for loading his musket and firing in volleys.