Lady Shrewsbury also was an adept in the use of the bow, as we find Sir F. Leake writes to her husband: "My right honourable goode Lorde,--Your Lordeshyppe hath sent me a verie greatte and fatte stagge, the welcomer beynge stryken by your ryght honorable Ladie's hande; I trust by the grace of God, he shall be meanlie eaten at thes assizes, when your Lordeshyppe and my ladie shall be often remembered. My bold bucke lyves styll to wayte upon your Lordeshyppe and my Ladie's comyng hyther; howbeit I knoe her Ladishipp takes pitie of my bucke sense the last tyme yt pleases her to take the travell to shote att them. I am afræyde that my honourable Ladies Alathea and my Ladie Cavendish will commande their aroe heades to be verie sharpe: yett I charitablé trust that such good Ladies wyt be pittifull." (1605). From this time until the revival of archery at the end of the last century, its practice among women appears to have been gradually abandoned. The first Archery Society to be established in 1781 was the Royal Toxophilite, but this consisted only of men. Shortly afterwards many other societies were started, among them in 1787 the Royal British Bowmen, and to them belongs the honour of being the first to admit ladies as members, and very sociable, pleasant gatherings they seem to have had. Other societies soon followed this good example, some admitted ladies as members, and some like the Woodmen of Arden only as guests. The assemblies at Meriden are still held every year, the old customs being strictly kept up. [Illustration: _Hertfordshire Society of Archers_ _Dutchess of Leeds._ _Marchioness of Salisbury._ _Hon'ble Miss Grimstone._ _Miss Seabright._] Women were not slow to appreciate the gracefulness of archery, and it soon became a fashionable amusement, the Lady Salisbury of the time being one of its most ardent supporters. Most of the societies adopted a distinctive dress, in which white and green predominated. The Royal British Bowmen adorned their Lady Patroness with a white feather in her hat, the other lady members being compelled to wear black ones, while their dresses were green with pink vandykes round the edge of skirt. The Harley Bush Bowmen were so fond of the distinctive colour, that they even had green boots, and it is pleasant to know that it was provided by the rules these should be "easy fitting!"