Enlistment bounties, deductions, and recruiting incentives

Edward Costello joined the 95th from the Dublin Militia in 1807 for an eighteen-guinea bounty. Four pounds immediately went towards his kit, and other recruits could lose more to drinks, the drummer's fee, and ribbons for the sergeant's wife. Costello later discovered that a recruiter could earn two pounds for every successful enlistment. Borrowing a shilling from a publican, he secured a recruit who spent it on whisky before passing the doctor and being sworn in. Holmes's example exposes recruitment as a small economy of deductions, commissions, credit, alcohol, and personal initiative.