354 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Meadows
?upwards of eighty years of age, as captain-general,
and the Earl of Wemyss as lieutenant-general,
marched at the head of the Royal Archers, with
colours flying, from the Parliament Square to Holyrood,
and thence to Leith, wbere they shot for the
Edinburgh Arrow, and returned with similar parade,
receiving from all guards and troops the honours that
are paid to the regular army ; but in the following
year (1715), the Earl of Cromartie being dead, they
vere led by the Earl of Wemyss to a similar parade.
On the 16th of June a letter addressed to Wodrow
says :-? Upon Monday last the Royal Company of
Archers, consisting of about zoo, all clad in the
old Scottish garb, made their parade through this
town and in Leith; they all consist of Jacobites,
except five or six At night they came to the
playhouse, and betwixt the acts they desired Sir
Thomas Dalzell (who is mad) to order the musicians
to play that air called ?Let the King enjoy
his own again.? After it was over, the whole house
clapp?d 3 times lowd, but a few hissed.??
These facts serve to show that what was called
the Royal Ccmpany of Archers all through the
reigns of Anne and George I. was really a sodality,
composed exclusively of the Jacobite aristocracyin
short, a marked muster for the House of Stuart.
Their leaders were, and have been always, nobles
of the highest rank; they had ?their adjutant and
other officers, their colours, music, and uniforms,
and pretty effective military organisation and appearance.?
(? Dom. Ann.?)
Their dress was tartan, trimmed with green silk
fringe ; their bonnets were trimmed with green and
white ribbons, with St. Andrew?s cross in front;
their horns and swords were decorated with green
and white ribbons, and the dresses of the officers
were laid over with rich silver lace. We are told
that ?the cavalier spirit of Allan Ramsay glowed at
seeing these elegant specimens of the Arisior? of
Scotland engaged at butts and rovers, and poured
itself forth in verses to their praise.?
After the futile insurrection of 1715, the Archers
made no parade for nine years; bur on James,
Duke of Hamilton, K.T., being chosen captaingeneral,
they marched to Musselburgh in 1724,
and afterwards occasionally till, the 10th July,
1732, when they had a special parade, in which the
Jacobite element greatly predominated. A guard
of honour brought the colours from the Duke of
Hamilton?s apartments at Holyrood, when the
march to the Links began under his Grace as
captain-general, preceded by Lord Bruce ? on
horseback, with fine Turkish furniture, as majorgeneral,
in absence of the Earl of Crawford.?
- ?Th?e Lord Provost and magistrates saw the
.-
.
procession from a window, and were saluted by the
several officers, as did General Wade from a balcony
in the Earl of Murray?s lodgings in the Canongate.
The Governor of Damascus came likewise to see
the ceremony. Betwixt one and two the company
arrived in the Links, whence, after shooting for the
arrow (which was won by Balfour of Foret), they
marched into Leith in the same order, and after
dinner returned to the city, and saw acted the
tragedy called Macbeafh.? (Caledonian Mermrj;
Including the sovereign?s prize, there are seventeen
shot for annually by the archers. Among
these are the City of Edinburgh silver arrow, given
in 1709, and the Musselburgh silver arrow, which
appears to have been shot for so far back as 1603.
As in the instance of many of the other prizes, the
victor retains it only for a year, and returns it with
a medal appended, and engraved with a motto,
device, or name. The affairs of the Guard are
managed by a preses, six councillors, a secretary,
and treasurer. The rules say ?That all persons
possessed of Scottish domicile or of landed estate
in Scotland, or younger sons, though not domiciled
in Scotland, of a Scottish landed proprietor qualified
to act as a commissioner of supply, are eligible for
admission to the royal company.?
After the battle of Culloden and the decay of
Jacobitism, the vigour of the Archer Guard declined,
till some new life was infused into its ranks by
William St. Clair of Roslin, and then it was that
the present Archers? Hall, near Hope Park End,
was built. There an acre of ground was feued
from the city, at a feu of 6 1 2 yearly, with double
that sum every twenty-fifth year, and the foundation
stone was laid by Mr. St. Clair on August
the 15th? 1776.
The dining-hall measures 40 feet by 24, and is
IS feet in height. There are two other rooms
about 18 feet square, with other apartments,
kitchen, &c The last most important appearances
of the Royal Archers have been on the occasion of
George IV.?s visit in 18zzwhen they wore the old
tartan costume, which was afterwards replaced by
tunics of Lincoln green,-on the visit of Queen
Victoria, and the first great volunteer review in the
Royal Park.
An old gable-ended house, the windows of.which
looked westward along the vista of the Meadows,
and their Fredecessor, the Burgh Loch, was traditionally
said to have been inhabited by George.
Heriot, but was removed in 1843, when the Messrs.
Nelson built there an establishment, which, for
printing, publishing. and bookbinding together,
was the most extensive in Scotland. His initials,
I734
