Concerning archery as a pastime, or a healthful exer cise, it is unnecessary to say much. It has the sanction of Galen, as being sufficiently active and not too vio lent ; in addition to this salutary and moderate exertion of the muscles, it possesses two other advantages. It leads to pure air, and it is also abundantly interesting to the mind, especially when it is attended by competi tion.
For more than two hundred years after fire-arms were introduced, attempts were made by the English govern ment from time to time to encourage the practice of archery. Charles I. in the fourth year of his reign, granted a commission under the great seal for enforcing the use of the long bow ; and though this was revoked a few years afterwards, another was granted in the year 1633, to two persons of the name of Meade, authorising them to teach an invention for uniting the use of the bow and the pike. Ten years afterwards a precept was issued by the earl of Essex, calling upon all well af fected persons to assist in raising a company of archers for the service of the king.
Since that time, (and indeed long before) archery can claim only to be considered as a recreation. In Great Britain, a number of societies have contributed to pre serve the exercise from falling into total disuse. The archers of Finsbury are now extinct, but their society is incorporated with the archers' division of the Artillery Company of London, founded by royal charter in the 29th year of the reign of Henry VIII.; who were per witted to shoot not only at marks, but birds, except pheasants or herons, and to wear dresses of any colour, except purple, or scarlet. The only other companies still subsisting in England, are the Kentish Bowmen, the Woodmen of .4rden, and the Toxopholites.
The Royal Company of Archers in Scotland is said to have arisen in the tone of James I. The commissioners appointed by that prince to superintend the exercise of archery in different districts, selected the most expert archers, and formed them into a company, to act in the capacity of the king's principal body guards ; a distinc tion which the Royal Company still claim within seven miles of Edinburgh. In 1677, we find them recognized by an act of the privy council, as his majesty's company of archers ; and at the same time a king's prize, con sisting of a piece of plate valued at 20/. sterling, was ordered to be given annually to be shot for at their wea pon showings. Their attachment to the unfortunate family of Stuart subjected them, at different periods, to fluctuations of bad fortune, and occasionally threatened their entire dissolution.
In the year 1703, they obtained a royal charter from queen Anne, confirming and multiplying their privi leges. The royal prize, which had been withdrawn by king William soon after the revolution, was restored about twenty years ago by George III.
This company, which includes a great proportion of the Scottish nobility and gentry, as well as many respec table citizens of Edinburgh, contains above 1000 mem bers, A president and six counsellors, chosen from the body of the members, manage their concerns ; many of the members who reside in Edinburgh meet weekly during the summer in the Meadows, and shoot at butts or rovers. Their uniform is tartan lined with white, and trimmed with green and white fringes ; a white sash, with green tassels, and a blue bonnet, with a St Andrew's cross and feathers. The only prize shot for at butts, or point-blank distance, is called the goose: originally it was shot for thus : a living goose was in closed in a butt made of turf, having nothing but the head left visible, and he who first pierced the head with his arrow, received the goose as his reward. A practice so barbarous has long been discontinued ; a mark, an inch in diameter, is now placed on the butt, and the archer who first hits it is of the butt shooters for the succeeding year.
The other prizes annually given are shot for at rovers, the marks being 185 yards distant. The king's prize already mentioned, becomes the property of the winner ; all the others arc retained by the victors for a year, and are restored, each with a medal affixed, having a motto and device engraven on it. The first is a silver arrow town of Musselberg, 1603, or earlier The seeNnd is a silver arrow given by the royal borough of Peebles, 1626. The third, a silver arrow given by the city of Edinburgh, 1709. The fourth, a punch bowl, value 50/. made of Scottish silver, at the expense of the company, 1720, which is now surrounded with rows of gold medals, and always used at the convivial meet ings of the company in the Archer's Hall, a neat build ing adjoining to the Meadows, where all their business is transacted.
Among the members of this body there is at present a considerable number of gentlemen, whose dexterity is probably equal, if not superior, to what was ever exhibited in this part of the island in the most warlike times. (A)