art or exercise of shooting with a bow and arrow.

Vol. II. Part I.

In most nations, the bow was anciently the principal implement of war, and by the expertness of the archers alone was often decided the fate of battles and of empires.—In this island archery was greatly encouraged in former times, and many statutes were made for the regulation thereof; whence it was that the English archers in particular became the best in Europe, and procured them many signal victories.

The Artillery Company of London, though they have long divided the weapon, are the remains of the ancient fraternity of bowmen or archers. Artillery Archeolos (artillerie) is a French term signifying archery; as the king's bowyer is in that language styled artiller du roy. And from that nation the English seem to have learnt at least the cross-bow archery. We therefore find that William the Conqueror had a considerable number of bowmen in his army at the battle of Hastings, when no mention is made of such troops on the side of Harold: And it is supposed that these Norman archers shot with the arbalest (or cross-bow), in which formerly the arrow was placed in a groove, being termed in French a quadré, and in English a bolt.

Of the time when shooting with the long-bow first began among the English, at which exercise they afterwards became so expert, there appear no certain accounts. Their chroniclers do not mention the use of archery as expressly applied to the cross-bow, or the long-bow, till the death of Richard I., who was killed by an arrow at the siege of Limoges in Guienne, which Henningsford mentions to have issued from a cross-bow.—After this, which happened in 1199, there appear not upon record any notices of archery for nearly 150 years, when an order was issued by Edward III., in the 15th year of his reign, to the sheriffs of most of the English counties for providing 500 white bows and 500 bundles of arrows, for the then intended war against France. Similar orders are repeated in the following years; with this difference only, that the sheriff of Gloucestershire is directed to furnish 500 painted bows as well as the same number of white. The famous battle of Creasy was fought four years afterwards, in which our chroniclers state that we had 2000 archers, who were opposed to about the same number of the French, together with a circumstance which seems to prove, that by this time we used the long-bow, whilst the French archers shot with the arbalest. The circumstance alluded to is as follows: Previously to the engagement there fell a very heavy rain, which is said to have much damaged the bows of the French, or perhaps rather the strings of them. Now the long-bow (when unstrung) may be most conveniently covered, so as to prevent the rain's injuring it; nor is there scarcely any addition to the weight from such a case; whereas the arbalest is of a most inconvenient form to be sheltered from the weather. As therefore, in the year 1342, orders issued to the sheriffs of each county to provide 500 bows, with a proper proportion of arrows, it seems probable that these were long-bows, and not the arbalest.

At the above-mentioned battle, the English ascribed their victory chiefly to the archers.—The battle of Poictiers was fought A.D. 1356; and gained by the same means.

Sometimes the archers gained great victories without even the least assistance from the men-at-arms; as Archery, particularly, the decisive victory over the Scots at Homildon, A.D. 1402. In that bloody battle, the men-at-arms did not strike a stroke, but were mere spectators of the valour and victory of the archers. The Earl of Douglas, who commanded the Scotch army in that action, enraged to see his men falling thick around him by showers of arrows, and trusting to the goodness of his armour (which had been three years in making), accompanied by about eighty lords, knights, and gentlemen, in complete armour, rushed forward, and attacked the English archers sword in hand. But he soon had reason to repent his rashness. The English arrows were so sharp and strong, and discharged with so much force, that no armour could repel them. The Earl of Douglas, after receiving five wounds, was made prisoner; and all his brave companions were either killed or taken. Philip de Comines acknowledges, what our own writers assert, that the English archers excelled those of every other nation; and Sir John Fortescue says again and again, "that the might of the realm of England standeth upon archers." The superior dexterity of their archers gave the English a great advantage over their capital enemies the French and Scots. The French depended chiefly on their men-at-arms, and the Scots on their pikemen; but the ranks of both were often thinned and thrown into disorder by flights of arrows before they could reach their enemies.

James I. of Scotland, who had seen and admired the dexterity of the English archers, and who was himself an excellent archer, endeavoured to revive the exercise of archery among his own subjects, by whom it had been too much neglected. With this view, he ridiculed their awkward manner of handling their bows, in his humorous poem of Christ's Kirk on the Green; and procured the following law to be made in his first parliament, A.D. 1424, immediately after his return to Scotland: "That all men might bulk thame to be archares fra the 12 years of age; and that at ilk ten pounds worth of land thair be made bow markes, and speciallie near paroche kirks, quhairin upon halie days men may cum, and at the leist schute thryfe about, and have uffage of archarie: and whaif uffis not archarie, the laird of the land fall rais of him a wedder; and gif the laird raisis not the faid pane, the king's thire or his ministers fall rais it to the king." But the untimely death of that excellent prince prevented the effectual execution of this law.

There is not found any act of Parliament of Henry V. in relation to archery, and all the orders in Rymer till the battle of Agincourt relate to great guns, from which he seems at first to have expected more considerable advantage than from the training of bowmen. It should seem, however, that this sort of artillery, from its unwieldiness, bad and narrow roads, together with other defects, was as yet but of little use in military operations. In the year 1417 this king therefore ascribes his victory at Agincourt to the archers, and directs the sheriffs of many counties to pluck from every goose six wing-feathers for the purpose of improving arrows, which are to be paid for by the king.

In 1421, though the French had been defeated both at Cressy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, by the English archers, yet they still continued the use of the crossbow; for which reason, Henry V., as duke of Normandy, confirms the charters and privileges of the bailiwick, which had been long established as a fraternity in his city of Rouen.

In the fifth year of Edward IV., an act passed, that every Englishman, and Irishman dwelling with Englishmen, shall have an English bow of his own height, which is directed to be made of yew, wych, hazel, alh, or awburne, or any other reasonable tree according to their power. The next chapter also directs that butts shall be made in every township, which the inhabitants are obliged to shoot up and down every feast-day, under the penalty of a halfpenny when they shall omit this exercise.

In the 14th year, however, of this same king, it appears by Rymer's Fœdera, that 1000 archers were to be sent to the duke of Burgundy, whose pay is settled at fifteen pence a-day, which is more than a common soldier receives clear in the present times, when provisions are so much dearer, and the value of money so much decreased. This circumstance seems to prove, very strongly, the great estimation in which archers were still held. In the same year, Edward, preparing for a war with France, directs the sheriffs to procure bows and arrows, "as most specially requisite and necessary."

On the war taking place with Scotland, eight years after this, Edward provides both ordnance and archers; so that though the use of artillery (as we now term it) was then gaining ground, yet that of the bow and arrow was not neglected.

Richard III., by his attention to archery, was able to send 1000 bowmen to the duke of Bretagne, and he availed himself of the same troops at the battle of Bosworth.

During the reign of Henry VII., however, there appears no order relative to gunpowder or artillery; whilst, on the other hand, in 1488, he directs a large levy of archers to be sent to Brittany, and that they shall be reviewed before they embark. In the 19th year of his reign, this same king forbids the use of the cross-bow, because "the long-bow had been much used in this realm, whereby honour and victory had been gotten against outward enemies, the realm greatly defended, and much more the dread of all Christian princes by reason of the fame."

During the reign of Henry VIII., several statutes were made for the promotion of archery. The 8th Eliz. c. 10, regulates the price of bows, and the 13th Eliz. c. 14, enacts, that bow-laves shall be brought into the realm from the Hanse-towns and the Eastward; so that archery still continued to be an object of attention in the legislature.

In Rymer's Fœdera there is neither statute nor proclamation of James I., on this head; but it appears by Dr. Birch's Life of his son (prince Henry), that at eight years of age he learned to shoot both with the bow and gun, whilst at the same time this prince had in his establishment an officer who was styled bow-bearer. The king granted a second charter to the artillery company, by which the powers they had received from Henry VIII., were considerably extended.

Charles I., appears, from the dedication of a treatise tise intitled The Bowman's Glory, to have been himself an archer; and in the eighth year of his reign he issued a commission to the chancellor, lord-mayor, and several of the privy-council, to prevent the fields near London being so inclosed as "to interrupt the necessary and profitable exercise of shooting," as also to lower the mounds where they prevented the view from one mark to another.

Catharine of Portugal (queen to Charles II.) seems to have been much pleased with the fight at least of this exercise; for in 1676, by the contributions of Sir Edward Hungerford and others, a silver badge for the marshal of the fraternity was made, weighing 25 ounces, and representing an archer drawing the long-bow (in the proper manner) to his ear, with the following inscription: Regina Catharina Sagittaria. The supporters are two bowmen, with the arms of England and Portugal. In 1682 there was a most magnificent cavalcade and entertainment given by the Finsbury archers, when they bestowed the titles of "duke of Shoreditch," "marquis of Islington," &c., upon the most deserving. Charles II. was present upon this occasion; but the day being rainy, he was obliged soon to leave the field.

So lately as the year 1753 targets were erected in the Finsbury fields, during the Easter and Whitmon holidays; when the best shooter was styled Captain for the ensuing year, and the second Lieutenant.

Why this military weapon was so decisive in the battles of former days, the following reasons may be suggested.

Before the introduction of fire-arms, the enemy could only be struck at a distance by slings, the bow used by the ancients, or the cross-bow; to all which the English long-bow was infinitely superior. As for slings, they never have been used in the more northern parts of Europe by armies in the field; nor does their use indeed seem to have been at all convenient or extensively practicable, for two principal reasons: In the first place, slingers cannot advance in a compact body, on account of the space to be occupied by this weapon in its rotary motion; in the next place, the weight of the stones to be carried must necessarily impede the flingers greatly in their movements. The bow of the ancients, again, as represented in all their reliefs, was a mere toy compared with that of our ancestors; it was therefore chiefly used by the Parthians, whose attacks (like those of the present Arabs) were deftly. As for the cross-bow, it is of a most inconvenient form for carriage, even with the modern improvements; and, in case of rain, could not be easily secured from the weather. After the first shot, moreover, it could not be recharged under a considerable time, whilst the bolts were also heavy and cumbersome. The English long-bow, on the other hand, together with the quiver of arrows, was easily carried by the archer, as easily secured from rain, and recharged almost instantaneously. It is not therefore extraordinary, that troops, who solely used this most effectual weapon, should generally obtain the victory, even when opposed to much more numerous armies.

It may be urged, that these losses having been experienced by our enemies, must have induced them to practise the same mode of warfare.—But it is thought that the long-bow was not commonly used Archery, even in England till the time of Edward III., when the victory at Crecy sufficiently proclaimed the superiority of that weapon. It required, however, so much training before the archer could be expert, that we must not be surprised if soon afterwards this military exercise was much neglected, as appears by the preambles of several ancient statutes. Whilst the military tenures subsisted, the sovereign could only call upon his tenants during war, who therefore attended with the weapons they had been used to, and which required no previous practice. On the other hand, the English archers were obliged by acts of parliament, even in time of peace, to erect butts in every parish, and to shoot on every Sunday and holiday, after repairing perhaps to these butts from a considerable distance, whilst the expense of at least a yew-bow is represented as being a charge which they were scarcely equal to. The king and parliaments of this country having thus compelled the inhabitants to such training, the English armies had (it should seem) the same advantage over their enemies as the exclusive use of fire-arms would give us at present.

It appears also by what hath been already stated, that the long-bow continued to be in estimation for more than two centuries after gunpowder was introduced, which probably arose from muskets being very cumbersome and unwieldy. It is well known that rapid movements are generally decisive of the campaign; and for such the archers were particularly adapted, because, as they could not be annoyed at the same distance by the weapons of the enemy, they had scarcely any occasion for armour. The flower of ancient armies likewise was the cavalry, against which the long-bow never failed to prevail, as man and horse were too large objects to be missed: and hence the great number of French nobility who were prisoners at Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt; for being dismounted (if not wounded) whilst they were also clad in heavy armour, they could not make their escape. The same reason accounts for the English obtaining these signal victories with so inferior numbers; for the nobility and gentry thus becoming prisoners, the other parts of the French army made little or no resistance. No wonder, therefore, that in England the greatest anxiety was shown to promote the exercise of this most important weapon, and that so many statutes were made for that purpose.

In Scotland, also, little less attention, though apparently not with equal success, was shown to the encouragement of the art. In both kingdoms, it was provided, that the importers of merchandise should be obliged, along with their articles of commerce, to import a certain proportion of bows, bow-flaves, and shafts for arrows. In both, every person was enjoined to hold himself provided in bows and arrows, and was prescribed the frequent use of archery. In both, a restraint was imposed upon the exercise of other games and sports, lest they should interfere with the use of the bow; for it was intended, that people should be made expert in the use of it as a military weapon, by habituating them to the familiar exercise of it as an instrument of amusement. As there was no material difference between the activity and bodily strength of Archery. the two people, it might be supposed that the English and Scots wielded the bow with no unequal vigour and dexterity; but from undoubted historical monuments it appears that the former had the superiority; of which one instance has been already narrated. By the regulations prescribed in their statute-book for the practice of archery, we find that the English shot a very long bow, those who were arrived at their full growth and maturity being prohibited from shooting at any mark that was not distant upwards of 220 yards.

In the use of the bow, great dexterity as well as strength seems to have been requisite. Though we hear of arrows at Cheviot Chace which were a yard long, yet it is by no means to be supposed that the whole band made use of such, or could draw them to the head. The regulation of the Irish statute of Edward IV. viz. that the bow shall not exceed the height of the man, is allowed by archers to have been well considered; and as the arrow should be half the length of the bow, this would give an arrow of a yard in length to those only who were six feet high. A strong man of this size in the present times cannot easily draw above 27 inches, if the bow is of a proper strength to do execution at a considerable distance. At the same time it must be admitted, that as our ancestors were obliged by some of the old statutes to begin shooting with the long-bow at the age of seven, they might have acquired a greater flight in this exercise than their descendants, though the latter should be allowed to be of equal strength.

As the shooting with the long-bow was first introduced in England, and practised almost exclusively for nearly two centuries, so it hath occasioned a peculiar method of drawing the arrow to the ear and not to the breast. That this is contrary to the usage of the ancients is very clear from their reliefs, and from the tradition of the Amazons cutting off one of their paps as it occasioned an impediment to their shooting. The Finsbury archer is therefore represented in this attitude of drawing to the ear, both in the Bowman's Glory, and in the silver badge given by Catharine to the Artillery Company. Not many years ago there was a man named Topham, who exhibited surprising feats of strength, and who happened to be at a public-house near Islington, to which the Finsbury archers resorted after their exercise. Topham considered the long-bow as a play-thing, only fit for a child; upon which one of the archers laid him a bowl of punch, that he could not draw the arrow two-thirds of its length. Topham accepted this bet with the greatest confidence of winning; but bringing the arrow to his breast instead of his ear, he was greatly mortified by paying the wager, after many fruitless efforts.

As to the distance to which an arrow can be shot from a long-bow with the best elevation of forty-five degrees, that must necessarily depend much both upon the strength and flight of the archer; but in general the distance was reckoned from eleven to twelve score yards. The butts for exercise, as above-noticed, were directed to be distant upwards of 220 yards. There is indeed a tradition, that an attorney of Wigan in Lancashire (named Leigh) shot a mile in three flights; but the same tradition states, that he placed himself in a very particular attitude, which cannot be used commonly in this exercise. According to Neade, an archer might shoot five arrows in the time of charging and discharging one mullet.

The archers consider an arrow of from 20 to 24 drop weight to be the best for flight or hitting a mark at a considerable distance, and that yew is the best material of which they can be made. As to the feathers, that of a goose is preferred; it is also wished, that the bird should be two or three years old, and that the feather may drop of itself. Two out of three feathers in an arrow are commonly white, being plucked from the gander; but the third is generally brown or grey, being taken from the goose; and, from this difference in point of colour, informs the archer when the arrow is properly placed. From this most distinguished part therefore the whole arrow sometimes receives its name: And this, by-the-by, affords an explanation of the grey goose wing in the ballad of Cheviot Chace. Arrows were armed anciently with flint or metal heads, latterly with heads of iron; of these there were various forms and denominations. By an act of parliament made the 7th of Henry IV. it was enacted, that for the future all the heads for arrows and quarrels should be well boiled or braised, and hardened at the points with steel; and that every arrow-head or quarrel should have the mark of the maker: workmen disobeying this order, were to be fined and imprisoned at the king's will, and the arrow-heads or quarrels to be forfeited to the crown.

Arrows were reckoned by sheaves, a sheaf consisting of 24 arrows. They were carried in a quiver, called also an arrow-case, which served for the magazine. Arrows for immediate use were worn in the girdle. In ancient times phials of quicklime, or other combustible matter, for burning houses or ships, was fixed on the heads of arrows, and shot from long bows. This has been also practised since the use of gunpowder. Neade says, he has known by experience, that an archer may shoot an ounce of fire-work upon an arrow 12 score yards. Arrows with wild-fire, and arrows for fire-works, are mentioned among the stores at Newhaven and Berwick, in the 1st of Edward VI.

The force with which an arrow strikes an object at a moderate distance, may be conceived from the account given by king Edward VI. in his journal; wherein he says, that 100 archers of his guard shot before him two arrows each, and afterwards all together; and that they shot at an inch board, which some pierced quite thro' and struck into the other board; divers pierced it quite thro' with the heads of their arrows, the boards being well-feaioned timber: their distance from the mark is not mentioned.

To protect our archers from the attacks of the enemy's horse, they carried long stakes pointed at both ends: these they planted in the earth, sloping before them. In the 1st of Edward VI. 350 of these were in the stores of the town of Berwick, under the article of archer's stakes; there were also at the same time eight bundles of archer's stakes in Pontefract castle.

To prevent the bow-string from striking the left arm, the arm is covered with a piece of smooth leather, fastened And he was clad in cote and hode of grene, A shefe of peacock arwes bright and keen, Under his belt he bare full thriftily: Wel coude he dreffe his takel yewmanly, His arwes drouped not with fetheres lowe, And in his hand he bare a mighty bowe, A not-hed hadde he, with broune vifage, Of wood crafte coude he wel all the ufage; Upon his arms he had a gai bracer, And by his fide a fwerd and a bokele, And on the other fide a gaie daggere Harneifed wel, and sharp as pointe of fphere: A criftofre on his breafh of silver shene, An horn he bare, the baudrik was of grene, A forefter was he fothely as I gefse.

Though archery continued to be encouraged by the king and legislature for more than two centuries after the first knowledge of the effects of gunpowder, yet by the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. it seems to have been partly considered as a pastime. Arthur, the elder brother of Henry, is said to have been fond of this exercise, so much that a good shooter was styled Prince Arthur. We are also informed, that he pitched his tent at Mile End in order to be present at this recreation, and that Henry his brother also attended. When the latter afterwards became king, he gave a prize at Windsor to those who should excel in this exercise; and a capital shot having been made, Henry said to Barlow (one of his guards), "If you still win, you shall be duke over all archers." Barlow therefore having succeeded, and living in Shoreditch, was created duke thereof. Upon another occasion, Henry and the queen were met by 200 archers on Shooter's hill, which probably took its name from their assembling near it to shoot at marks. This king likewise gave the first charter to the Artillery Company in the 29th year of his reign, by which they are permitted to wear dreffes of any colour except purple and scarlet, to shoot not only at marks but birds, if not pheasants or herons, and within two miles of the royal palaces. They are also enjoined by the same charter not to wear furs of a greater price than those of the martin. The most material privilege, however, is, that of indemnification from murder, if any person passing between the shooter and the mark is killed, provided the archers have first called out faft.

The following description of an archer, his bow and accoutrements, is given in a MS. written in the time of Queen Elizabeth. "Captains and officers should be skilful of that most noble weapon, and to see that their soldiers according to their draught and strength have good bows, well nocked, well strung, evrie stringe whippe in their nocke, and in the myddes rubbed with wax, brafer and fluting glove, some spare strings trymed as aforeaid, every man three of arrows, with a case of leather defensible against the rayne, and in the same fower and twentie arrowes, whereof eight of them should be lighter than the residue, to gall or affoyne the enemy with the hailshot of light arrows, before they shall come within the danger of their harquebus shot. Let every man have a brigandine, or a little cote of plate, a skull or hufkyn, a mawle of leade of five foot in lengthe, and a pike, and the same hanging by his girdle, with a hook and a dagger; being thus furnished, teach them by musters to march, floute, and retire, keepinge their faces upon the enemy's. Sumtyme put them into great numbers, as to battell apparteyneth, and thus use them often times practised, till they be perfecte; for those men in battell ne skirmish can not be spared. None other weapon maye compare with the same noble weapon."

The long-bow, as already observed, maintained its place in our armies long after the invention of firearms. Nor have there been wanting experienced soldiers who were advocates for its continuance, and who in many cases even preferred it to the harquebus or musket. King Charles I. twice granted special commissions under the great seal for enforcing the use of the long-bow. The first was in the 4th year of his reign: but this was revoked by proclamation four years afterwards, on account of divers extortions and abuses committed under sanction thereof. The second, anno 1633, in the 9th year of his reign, to William Neade and his son, also named William, wherein the former is styled an ancient archer, who had presented to the king a warlike invention for uniting the use of the pike and bow, seen and approved by him and his council of war: wherefore his Majesty had granted them a commission to teach and exercise his loving subjects in the said invention, which he particularly recommended the chief officers of his trained bands to learn and practise; and the justices and other chief magistrates throughout England, are therein enjoined to use every means in their power to assist Neade, his son, and all persons authorized by them in the furtherance, propagation, and practice of this useful invention. Both the commissions and proclamation are printed at large in Rymer. At the breaking out of the civil war, the Earl of Essex issued a precept, dated in November 1645, for stirring up all well-affected people by benevolence, towards the raising a company of archers for the service of the king and parliament.

Archery with the long-bow continues to be used as a manly exercise by the inhabitants of Geneva, and in many parts of Flanders; nor is it totally neglected in Great Britain. There are several societies of archers in England; the chief of which are, the Woodmen of Arden, and the Toxophilite. But the most noted society of this kind, now existing, is

The Royal Company of Archers in Scotland.—The ancient records of this Company having been destroyed by fire about the beginning of the present century, no authentic traces of their institution now remain. It is said that they owe their origin to the commissioners appointed in the reign of James I. of Scotland for enforcing and overseeing the exercise of archery in different counties. Those commissioners, who were in general men of rank and power, picking out amongst the better sort of people under their cognizance the most expert archers, formed them into a company, and upon perilous Archery. rilous occasions made a present of their services to the king as his chief body-guards; in which situation they often distinguished themselves for their loyalty, their courage, and skill in archery. This rank of the king's principal body-guards the Royal Company still claim within seven miles of the metropolis of Scotland.

Certain it is, that by an act of the privy-council of Scotland in the 1677, this Company was recognised under the name and title of "His Majesty's Company of Archers:" and by the same act a piece of plate of the value of L.20 Sterling was ordered to be given to be shot for by them at their annual parades called Weapon-shewing, and to be called The King's Prize.

At this period the Royal Company consisted, as it does at present, of the principal nobility and gentry of Scotland. But their unfortunate attachment to anti-revolution principles, upon that event's taking place, put almost a period to their existence: Their public parades or marches were discontinued, and the royal prize was withheld.

Upon the accession of Queen Anne, their former splendor was revived; and in the year 1703 they obtained a royal charter, confirming in general terms all their former rights and privileges, and conferring others upon them. But their partiality to the family of Stuart was at various after periods the cause of a temporary prosperity and decline.

These unhappy differences of opinion having totally subsided, the Royal Company are now more numerous and flourishing than ever, and perhaps even more dexterous archers. His present Majesty, as a mark of his royal patronage and approbation, has been pleased to revive the royal prize, which for the first time was shot for upon the 28th of July 1788 by a numerous and respectable meeting.

The Woodmen of Arden and the Toxophilite have lately been pleased to admit the members of the Royal Company to the freedom of their societies: these grants have been followed by reciprocal diplomas from the Royal Company; so that the three chief societies of archers in Britain may be said to be now incorporated into one.

The prizes belonging to this Company, and which are annually shot for, are, 1. A silver arrow, given by the town of Musselburgh, which appears to have been shot for as early as the year 1602. The victor in this, as in the other prizes except the king's prize, has the custody of it for a year, then returns it with a medal appended, on which are engraved any motto and device which the gainer's fancy dictates. 2. A silver arrow given by the town of Peebles, A.D. 1626. 3. A silver arrow given by the city of Edinburgh, A.D. 1709. 4. A silver punch-bowl of about the value of L.50, made of Scottish silver at the expense of the Company, A.D. 1720. And, 5. The king's prize above mentioned, which becomes the absolute property of the winner. All these prizes are shot for at what is termed rovers, the marks being placed at the distance of 183 yards.

Besides these, there is another prize annually contended for at butt or point-blank distance, called the Goose. The ancient manner of shooting for this prize was, a living goose was built in a turl-butt, having the head only exposed to view; and the archer who first hit the goose's head was entitled to the goose as his reward. But this custom, on account of its barbarity, has been long ago laid aside; and in place of the goose-head, a mark of about an inch diameter is affixed upon each butt, and the archer who first hits this mark is captain of the butt-shooters for a year.

The affairs of the Company are managed by a preses and six counsellors who are chosen annually by the whole members. The council are vested with the power of receiving or rejecting candidates for admission, and of appointing the Company's officers civil and military.

The Royal Company now consists of above 1000 members, among whom are most of the Scottish nobility of the first distinction. A number of the Company meet weekly during the summer season in Edinburgh, in the Meadows, where they exercise themselves in shooting at butts or rovers: And in the adjoining ground they have a handsome building, erected within these 12 years, with suitable offices, whither they adjourn after their exercise, and where they hold their elections and other meetings relative to the business of the society.

The uniform of the Royal Company of Archers is tartan, lined with white, and trimmed with green and white fringes; a white fah, with green tassels; and a blue bonnet, with a St Andrew's cross and feathers. The Company have two standards. The first of these bears on one side Mars and Cupid encircled in a wreath of thistles; with this motto, "In peace and war." On the other, a yew tree, with two men dressed and equipped as archers, encircled as the former; motto, Dat gloria vires. The other standard displays, on one side, a lion rampant gules, on a field or, encircled with a wreath; on the top, a thistle and crown; motto, Nemo me impune lacesset. On the other, St Andrew on the cross on a field argent; at the top, a crown; motto, Dulce pro patria periculum.