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+ +. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +A blank page with a faint vertical line on the left side. + +M. Meeley +MVFA + +A black and white image of a person standing on a beach with waves crashing behind them. +1 + +A black and white image with a curved line at the top left corner. + +A historical illustration of a medieval archer in full armor, holding a bow and arrow. The archer is wearing a helmet, chainmail, and boots. The background is plain. +Stockard 1830 + +AN ESSAY +on +ARCHERY, +describing +(The Practice of that Art) +in all +AGES and NATIONS. + +WORCESTER +Printed by Hand by J. Hall. +(and sold by J. Robinson London). + +A blank page with some faint, scattered dots or lines. + +AN +ESSAY ON ARCHERY: +DESCRIBING THE +PRACTICE OF THAT ART, +IN ALL +AGES AND NATIONS. +BY +WALTER MICHAEL MOSELEY, Esq. + + +Vadit Fugitivus mecum +Non, pausa fui. +Arcus viris curum erit omnibus, maximâ vero mihi. + + +MDCCXCII. + +LENOX LIBRARY NEW YORK + +P R E F A C E. + +B +EING fond of the exercise of shooting +the Bow, it has often excited in me a +desire of forming some knowledge with respect +to Archery. The means of attaining informa- +tion, however, were not obvious, as no com- +prehensive treatise on the subject has appeared +during an interval of almost two centuries and +an half. The *Toxophilus* of Afcham, pub- +lished in the reign of Henry VIII. cannot be +effected a satisfactory account of this art, as +it principally regards Archery in England; +and as many circumstances of importance in +relation to the Bow in foreign nations are +omitted. In 1544, the time in which Afcham +wrote, the knowledge of the Western world was +but imperfect; and although some few Ameri- +can hiftories were written previous to that era, +yet + +P R E F A C E. + +yet the jealousy of the Spanish court, fludiously confined within the narrowest limits it was able, all information relating to the newly discovered continent. The manners and customs of the Eastern world were almost equally unknown, as commerce had not at that time opened a familiar intercourse with the inhabitants of this island. These sources of information, therefore, which afford an ample field for the investigation of a modern writer, with respect to Archery, could not have been enjoyed in so remote a period as that in which Afcham lived. + +During the last century, two works appeared: "The Art of Archery," by Gervas Markham, printed in 1634; and "Wood's Beauman's Glory," anno 1682. The former is nothing more than an abridgement of Afcham's *Toxophilus*. The latter, as its title page ex- prefixes, is "An account of the many signal favours vouchfied to Archers and Archery, by those renowned Monarchs, Henry VIII. James, and Charles I." It contains the charter of Henry VIII. given to the Frater- nity + +P R E F A C E. + +nity of St. George—a patent of James I. +to the fame Society, for the encouragement of +Archery, on the accustomed grounds near +London—and a renewal of the fame patent +by Charles I. But the principal part of this +little book, is a description of a very pompous +meeting, and cavalcade of Archers, under the +Duke of Shoreditch, and the Worshipful +Citizens of London, on the 17th of Sep- +tember, 1583. These two effays are at this +time extremely rare, and of great value. + +Finding the subject thus neglected, some +scattered anecdotes which my memory had +treasured up in the course of study, led me to +imagine, that a new selection of facts might +prove interesting; and the histories of those +nations which were formerly, and which are at +present in the continual custom of using the +Bow, as an instrument of war,—the writings +of the Greek and Roman authors, whom ex- +perience, as well as report, enabled to relate cir- +cumstances with respect to that weapon, as +they found it among the nations their arms +had often struggled with and subdued,—pro- +a 2 +mised + +P R E F A C E + +mused to yield many opportunities of collecting materials for an agreeable narrative. + +As the subject itself was essentially trifling, the pursuit of the object in view seemed scarcely worth the trouble necessary to accomplish it; particularly as the facts which alone could form the basis of a plan, were to be drawn from the depths of maffy folios. However, as nothing which related to my favourite diversion had ever escaped in the course of reading, without particular notice, the foundation of my scheme, by application, soon enlarged to a considerable extent. + +My own curiosity was satisfied,—but having received much pleasure and instruction in compleating the task prescribed to myself, I was flattered in thinking it would prove an agreeable entertainment to my fellow Archers, if I ventured to produce an Effay for their inspection. + +There is a peculiar difficulty in writing on a subject little treated of by others; and whoever finds an opportunity of composing on a thefts under such a predicament, will soon discover many unforeseen inconveniences he has + +P R E F A C E. + +has to struggle with. A critic of the eighteenth century will no doubt be astonished to hear me say, my subject is new; for who will imagine any branch of literature to be neglected at this day, whilst Caftio seems so abundantly to overflow its margin? This topic, however, seems to have lurked almost unseen, not only among the English, but in every part of Europe. Men formerly, perhaps, were contented with the practice of Archery; and as the art in latter ages fell into difuse, no one paid attention to the subject. + +"The Afiatic nations have, however, fhewn a more ready attachment to Archery; and we are told that there are many hiftories of that art, and Essays teaching the ufe of the Bow, written in the Perfian language." + +As the Bow, through a series of ages, has prevailed a favourite weapon in the East, and among people whose language is highly metaphorical, it is perpetually alluded to in the Eastern compositions; and has gained a place among hieroglyphical figures. The Bow is said + +† Bibli. Orientale, par d'Herbelot. Art. Can. + +P R E F A C E. + +said to represent a king; the Arrow an ambaf- +fador. § It appears, also, from an anecdote +related by Plutarch, that the coin of the Persians +was formerly flamed with the figure of an +Archer. For Ageflaus, being sent against +Tiffaphernes into Asia, by the Spartans, +Tiffaphernes, in order to engage the attention +of that people at home, dispatched a meneenger +loaded with gold, to excite the other flotes of +Greece to make war against them: and +having succeeded in his design, it became +necessary for the Spartans, that Ageflaus +should be recalled to their assistance. As he +was upon his return, he is said to have told his +friends, that Artaxerxes had driven him from +Asia with thirty thousand archers, intimating +that he had received a bribe of Persian money. +The Bow, the Arrow, the Quiver, the +Corytos, are not unuually to be seen on the +ancient coins of Greece; and particularly on +the Cretan. The Romans feldom struck the +trophies + +§ * Lare étoit chez le Mogula le symbole d'un +Roi, & la fleche, celui d'un Ambafideur & d'un +Viceroy. +Bibl. Orientale. + +† Plut. Antexerxes, & Briffoniaus de Reg. Persa, pg. 61a. + +A historical illustration showing a scene from ancient Greek history. + +P R E F A C E. vii + +trophies of Archery on their money; the reason of which will appear in the following pages; and I am ignorant of any more modern coins, on which these infinities have been impeded. + +The sculpture of the Greeks, and the fables which have defenced to us in their writings, confpire to prove the high regard that people shewed from the Bow and its accompaniments. It is unnecessary, in support of this affection, to relate the histories of Apollo, Diana, Cupid, or Hercules; the tales of Abaris, * or of the Centaurs. Chiron, even to this day retains his place among the signs of Zodiac. + +We are not entirely defite of facts in England, from which to judge, that the Bow was highly esteemed by our ancestors. But as the arts a few ages back remained in a rude and barbarous state; and as that little skill which was attained in sculpture and painting, was chiefly employed in the decoration of religious buildings, and consequently on faced subjects, among which allusions to Archery could have no place; we do not perceive fo many + +* Boyle has investigated the story of Abaris at full length.—See his Diss. Critique. + +viii +P R E F A C E. + +many permanent traces of this ancient and bloody art transmitted to us, as might be expected, when we consider the number of ruins subsisting at this day, which were erected and ornamented at the time Archery was in its greatest vigour. The testimony of history, however, clearly demonstrates the partiality which was shown to the Bow by our countrymen; and the value of that weapon in battle, is manifest, from the havoc which the skill of our English Archers formerly spread on the continent, against the Irish, and against the Scotch. + +What traces of Archery have defended to us from antiquity; and what remain at present in foreign nations, the Essay before us will display. I haften, therefore, to my subject, and forbear to keep the reader in suspense. + +I shall here, however, take occasion to observe, that had I perfused myself to have spent more time on this juvenile production, both the language and arrangement would have been much corrected: in its present state, it is with diffidence, and with a trembling hand I hold it forth to public view. + +TO THE READER. + +AS many of the quotations contained in the following Essay, are drawn from works of which there are various editions; it may not be improper, for the sake of verifying passages, to describe those herein made use of. As my notes were collected at distant times, and without any regard to publication, my manuscript did not specify the particular editions from which the quotations were made; except in some instances wherein the books used were not my own. Remembering this omission too late, I have ventured to give a descrip- + +[ x ] + +a description of those few books, which I judged most liable to perplex the reader. + +Alexander ab Alexandro, 8 vols. 8vo. Lug. Bat. +Ammianus Marcellinus, fol. Gronov. 1693. +Arrian, Exped. and Tafias, edit. Blancardi, 2 vols. +8vo. 1668. +Briffonius de reg. Pers. Lederlini, 1710. Argentarati, +Bulbrequius, 8vo. Bat., 1740. +Claudian, Geyerer, 2 vols. 8vo. 1759. +Diodorus Siculus, Weffeling, 2 vols. fol. 1746. +Herodotus, H. Steph. fol. 1592. +Jolaphus, Oxford, 1770. +Mat. Paris, Wats, a vola. fol. London, 1640. +Fliny, Nat. Hift., Harduin, 3 vols. fol. 1732. +Tacitus, Ellice, a vols. 8vo. 1672. +Strabo, Cafaelon, fol. Paris, 1650. +Vegetius, Stewechi, Lug. Bat., 1592. +Xenophon, Leundclav, fol. Paris, 1643. +Voyages de Chardin, 3 vols. 4to. +Gumilla, 3 vols. 12mo. 1758. +Charlevuix, Hift., de la Nouvelle France, 6 vols. +8vo. 1765. +Voyage de Ramulio, 3 vols. fol. 1535. + +AN +ESSAY +ON +ARCHERY. + +CHAP. I. +THE most superficial attention to History will exhibit to our view, many and extraordinary changes which have taken place in the Manners and Customs of the various People in the World. We fee a part of Mankind plunged in the extreme of human debasement, while others possess the refinements of Literature, moral Excellence, and Ease. + +B The + +AN ESSAY ON + +The progresfs of knowledge has been compared to a River, which in its course passing through a subterraneous cavern, is there for a time loit to view, but at a distance, again breaks forth, and pursues its current. + +Scarce any Science, Art, or Custom, has continued in an uninterrupted course for many ages. The Arts of Greece and Rome which so splendidly flourished, remained but a little Time. The Sciences of Greece and Rome fared worse. To what degree of perfection the latter arrived, is not precisely known, but the barbarity of a few succeeding ages effaced the greater part; and it is but a short time since this Stream hath again broke forth to Light. + +ARCHERY th'o' more permanent than many Arts, has suffered a revolution like-wife. The Bow! that weapon of remote + +A R C H E R Y. +3 + +mote antiquity—once fo destru'tive— +fo bloody—fo cruel!: —that weapon, by +which Nations have subverted Nations— +among us is now known only, as an in- +strument of polite amuseinent! Its terrors +now are vanified ; and a company of +Archers at this Day, appear lefs hostile +than the Gladiators of a fencing-school. + +It is not an unpleafing task, to confi- +der the circumftances which have given +Caufe to thefe changes.—It is instructive, +becaufe the Mind, in contemplating the +different Scenes which different Ages have +prefented on the Theatre of the Globe, +cannot fail to be expanded by the know- +ledge of human-nature; and the extent +of thought muft be enlarged by the va- +riety of Actions which, every moment, +would folicit the obervation, through +the vast Drama in View.—If we allow +improvement to be in proportion to the + +B 2 number + +4 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +number of Ideas prefented to the Mind, can we point out a subjeft which, when deeply considered, is better adapted to raife numerous and exalted sentiments, than this I now mention? Can we fee the extremes of polished and favage characters without wonder; or can we pafs without a defire to trace (however imperfectly) the intermediate links of that Chain which connects them? + +We fee the arts of War, as well as those which adminifter to our conveni- ence and pleafure, have, in every Coun- try, borne a near affinity with the State of Civilization. In the ruder Ages of the World, therefore, arms were simple, and the difcipline of Troops imperfect; but as the understanding of Men became more and more enlightened, fo the Arts of comfort and eafe increafed — the mi- litary regulations became more compli- cated + +A R C H E R Y. + +cated—weapons of various constructions and power were introduced, till, in the pre.sent advanced period, the Science of Tactics is become a deep and abstract study. + +I shall now, in the prosecution of my subject, take a short view of the different manners of nations, and point out the several degrees of estimation the Bow has commanded in the progress of Society. + +During the most distant periods of which any record has been transferred to us, mankind appear to have had much the same general character with that we have presented to our eyes among savage nations. Their manners, utensils, and arms, seem to have had a near resemblance, A philo.fothic mind may have pleasure in contemplating the human character in + +thefo + +6 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +thefe feveral fages, and may endeavour to trace in the constitution of Man and the fitation of Countries, the imme- diate caufes which feem to influence the Mind and Habits of Mankind. A great deal has been afcribed to climate,* but it is neceffary to add the affiftance of other and more forcible caufes, to explain the origin, or rather the continuance of favage Life. Temperature affixes a much more permanent mark on the Figure and com- plexion of Men, than on the internal structure of the Mind; and while we view a particular flature and proportion of the body, in every different nation through- out the whole world, we fee difopofitions by no means fo provincial. There are passions which all uncivilized people poifefs + +* In tracing the Globe from the Pole to the Equa- tor, we obferve a gradation in the complexion nearly in proportion to the Latitude of the Country;— +Smith's Effay on the Variety of Complex, and Figures of Hum. Species : page 12. + +A page from a book with text discussing human anatomy and physiology. + +A R C H E R Y. +poffels in common, and there are others peculiar to civilized Nations. + +Men are represented in the most ancient histories, as leading a life little elevated above that of Brutes;--they spent their time in Hunting and Fishing, to procure subsistence;--they were very much detached, and even solitary. We read in Scripture* that Ishmael dwelt in the Wildernefs and became an Archer; from which I understand, he lived by Hunting, and killing animals with his Bow; at least it was his employment, whether for Food or Diversion is in no ways very material. The same kind of Life is mentioned by more recent Historians, as sub-fitting in the time they themselves lived. Herodotus makes mention of a people called Lyreæ, inhabiting a country far to + +* Gen. Chap. 21. V. 30. + +7 + +AN ESSAY ON + +the northward of the Palus Maeotis, +which people, he says, like others near them, live by Hunting: he describes their manner thus—" Having climbed a Tree, +"(of which there are great abundance in " that country) they there lie in wait, +" till fortune direct the path of some " animal in their way. Each Man has a +" dog and horse at a little distance from +" this ambush, which, in order to be +" more concealed are taught to lie upon +" their bellies on the ground. When the +" perfor in the Tree perceives his Game +" at hand, he shoots at it with an +" Arrow, and if he strike it, immediately +" mounting his Horse pursues it with his +" dog till taken.† + +Strabo makes mention of a people in Arabia, who practise the destruction of their prey in exactly the same man- +ner. + +† Herod. Lib. 4. + +A page from a historical text discussing hunting practices among certain peoples. + +A R C H E R Y. +9 + +ner. § Modern travellers have reported that the Chace is followed much in the same way at the present time, in Asia, Africa, and America. + +In the temperate and frigid Zones necessity will oblige Men to resort to this kind of Life, and give occasion to many stratagems for the purpose of drawing Animals into their power, as the productions of the earth, during the colder season of the year, could give no succour to the hungry inhabitant—It is true that the hunting of wild beasts was not always in order to procure food; for that, indeed, in warm climates, is abundantly poured forth by the vegetable world in fruits and herbs, which afford a nourishment. + +C ment, + +§ 4 δε νη μάδι ελάχιστον υπέρασμα κατόριστον, +τάξις χρησιμοποιήσαντες και αποκαλύπτοντες δίνοντα μέσω τους θηρεύς, τάξις το ζώον τροφή. + +Strabo. Lib. 16, pg. 771. + +See also Diod. Siculun, vol. 1, pg. 192-15. + +A page from a historical text discussing ancient hunting practices. + +39 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +ment, procured with far more ease than by the pursuit of animals ; but it was more generally followed for the sake of drefs, or ornament, ufes to which skins have been applied, from the highest antiquity to the present day, among all the different people of the Old and New World. We find, from Herodotus, that the Ethiopians covered themselves with the skins of Leopards and Lions : and he fays, the Scythians fewed together pieces of leather prepared from human skins, and clothed themselves with it: and likewise, that they sometimes ftripped the skin from the right hand of their vanquished enemies, and ufed it in ornamenting their quivers.* + +It + +* " ανδλο δε ανδρι ξύλον τας δέκα κάσμα μετρον μυθολογίας μυθικής ενώ καλύπτει των φρεγίτων χώρων δεξιά δεξιά οι ανδρείς και παρέχει την λαμπρότητα του αυτού φρεγίτου μυθικής ενώκας καλύπτουσα νεκρότητα." + +Herodotus, L. 4, P. 277. + +A R C H E R Y. +11 + +It is reasonable to suppose these skins, +when first applied as covering, under- +went no manual operation, but were re- +moved from the back of one brute to +that of another. Such clothing would +soon become exceedingly disagreeable, by +the skin getting hard and stiff, so that +the body of the person wearing it would +be rendered sore, by the constant exercise +hunting required. A method of prepar- +ing the skin would not remain long un- +fought for, and experiment would soon +suggest the way of preferring the flexi- +bility. Fat from animals has been used +in some countries, in order to do this; +and various other processes are found ef- +ficacious, in the different places where +this kind of garment is used. + +The preparation of skins, it is said, in- +troduced a very important and useful +discovery—I mean the art of forming the + +C 2 wool. + +18 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +wool, or fur, which was separated in the drafting, into a thread by plating, twifting, and, at length, spinning ---An art whose invention has a very early station in history, and appears to have existed, in some degree, in all places. The Scripture mentions it very early*, and the many fables of antiquity authenticate the supposition of its early origin. It is ascribed by the inhabitants of every ancient country to their founder. By the Greeks, Minerva is said to have first taught it,---and Arachne was turned into a Spider for challenging the Goddefs in that art. By a kind of weaving, also, very elegant veftments are fabricated from the bark of trees, leaves, and other vegetable productions, which must excite the wonder and admiration of every one who examines them. Captain Cooke has brought to this country specimens of the ingenuity. + +*Gen. Chap. 14. V. 73.* + +A page from a book with text on it. + +A R C H E R Y. +13 + +nuity, and the exquisite workmanship +fome of the more refined favages of the +Pacific Ocean are able to execute, with- +out the knowledge of the Metallurgic +art. + +While the intellectual powers of man, +however, remain little improved, the +arts cannot attain any considerable de- +gree of excellence; and hence it pro- +ceeds, that in uncultivated nations they +differ but little. People fituated in cir- +cumstances nearly similar, oppressed by +fimilar wants, and unallured by artificial +pleasures, continue customs and opinions, +in an unvaried course, through years and +centuries,—nor does the Tartar differ +from the Scythian, but in name. Every +one is an epitome of the whole hord, +and every day the picture of a life. + +This + +14 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +This is not peculiar to the rude inhabitants of Asia, travellers report the Arabs to live in a manner very similar to that of the Tartars. They dwell in tents, which, as occasion requires, are transported from place to place; and as their chief care is but to subfitt, they often move; and generally pursue that path where plenty invites. With these the old fable is strictly verified,-That life is a journey.* The depths of Africa are found to comprehend people of the same kind; and in America there are others who, in most particulars, resemble the Asiatic and African races. From Hudson's Bay northward to the Pole, the Eskimaux savages inhabit an immense, and almost boundless continent. Affo- ciating in small troops, and ranging through + +* "Infelium ier vita."—LUCRETI. +—Dignum vita tracti iter."—CLAUD. THEOD. PANG. + +A page from a book with text on it. + +A R C H E R Y. +15 + +through the forests, they preferve the fame manners, and the fame general cha- +racter of Arabs, but much inferior in understanding, and in the poffession of +the comforts of life. The Germans, as +described by Tacitus, differed little from +the people before mentioned. They had +no towns, but lived in small huts, distinct, +and in the depths of the forest, which at +that time overspread their country, and +subfitted by their bow in hunting.* + +The pastoral state seems to have fuc- +ceeded that of the hunter; for as some +animals were capable of being rendered +tame by difcipline and habit, this method + +of + +* Nullus Germanorum populus urbes habitari, +fatia rotum elf, ne pasti quidem infer fec junc- +tas foles. Colunt dicreti ac diversi, ut fona, +ut campus, ut nemus placuit." — Sola in +" Lapidis ipso. + +Tacit. Mor. Germ. Pp. 648 & 649. + +† The opinion of Lord Kains,—I believe.—See his +Sketches, + +A page from a historical text discussing the habits and characteristics of ancient peoples. + +15 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +of preserving food, by domestication, +would soon be adopted, as affording a +more certain resource than the chase. +Indeed, a numerous society of people +could not exist long unless a reservoir of +food was perpetually at hand, to assist in +catastrophe who foraged were unsuccessful. + +In the present time, the most barbarous +nations subsist, in some measure, by this +practice, particularly those which are +most populous; yet there are others +which still lead a life of hunting for prey, +as before described, not having the arts +of domestication in use, or those of agricul- +ture.* + +In this way did the first inhabitants of +the world exist; but after some ages, we find + +* It is said by Buffon, that at the time America +was discovered there was no part of that continent +in which the domestication of animals was prac- +tised, except in Peru and Mexico. + +A page from a book with text on it. + +A R C H E R Y. +17 + +find, a custom of eating even human flesh, to have obtained among many nations. What could tempt men to this practice, is not very obvious; but the original cause, in some instances, perhaps, might be necessity. Another cause has been assigned by some authors, who observe, that human sacrifices have been as common as the eating of human flesh; and they suppose these sacrifices might have induced men to have eaten of the flesh from the fire, as was common in other sacrifices. These practices, however strange they may appear, have polluted the altars of almost every people under the Sun, in some period or other of their history. In America, Asia and Africa they still exist; and the testimonies of the best historians will prove them to have been in Europe before the laws of civilized society were introduced. The Romans found a race of cannibals in a part of this island; they were + +D named + +A N E S S A Y O N + +named the Attacotti, and are said to have lived upon human flesh:—" When they " hunted the woods for prey, they at- " tacked the shepherd rather than the " flock, and curiously selected the most " delicate parts of both males and fe-" males, which they prepared for their " horrid repasts."* The Druids are said to have eaten human flesh, and to have sacrificed the prisoners taken in war, and performed the ceremony with brutish cruelty. + +Similar atrocities have been common among the Scythians, the Egyptians, Chinefe, Indians, Peruvians and Arabs, in the whole continent of America, and in Africa; and though authentic record is not to be found of all these people being in the perpetual practice of eating human flesh, yet they are, or were all accustomed to hu- +man + +* See Gibbon's History, Vol. *, pg. 530. + +A R C H E R Y. + +man sacrifices,+ In Scythia, we are told by Herodotus, every hundredth man from their prisoners of war was offered to their God, Mars. A number of piles of wood were erected, and on the top of each an old Scymer was fixed, as an emblem of the Deity, and to this the victim was sacrificed.—Among the Egyptians this practice was common for ages. + +In the Dict. Philosophique of Voltaire, we find, that that author had a conversation with some of the cannibals brought from the Mississippi. He asked D 2: + +a Lady, + +* Les Sibylles, les Egyptiens, les Chinois, les In- diens, les Phéniciens, les Persans, les Grecs, les Ro- mains, les Arabes, les Gaulois, les Romains, les Hé- tons, les Espagnols, les Négros & les Juifs ont en ancienncement la coutume d'immoler des hommes avec profusion : s'il n'est pas possible de prouver qu'ils ont été tous Anthropophages dans leur état d'abnértilic- ment, c'est que cet état a précédé les temps historiques, & par conséquent une nuit obscure a débordé aux yeux de la posterité une partie de ces atrocités. + +Rich. Phil., sur les Americans; Tom. I. pg. 348. + +A page from a book with text and illustrations. + +# AN ESSAY ON + +a Lady, one of them, if she had ever eaten men? and she answered him, " That it was better to eat a dead enemy, than let him be devoured by beasts - that the conquerors deserved a preference." + +From these few instances we may judge what were the customs which once overspread the different nations of the earth; customs which seem to mark the lowest point of human debasement, and add a deeper tinge to the bloody page of history. + +Among those people whose manners I have endeavoured to sketch, the Bow was the principal weapon in use; and if we pause a moment to consider the imperfection of that instrument, we shall have + +* See also Bib., Universelle, Vol. II. p. 384, where this horrid custom is instanced in a singularly flagrant manner.* + +Google logo + +A R C H E R Y. +have reason to think the want of more powerful military skill and arms, was one of the causes which, in some measure, operated in keeping mankind in that low state of civilization, they appear to have been in, during a long period of time. + +While all nations had nearly the same weapons, numbers would have the advantage over the few, and this originally was, and is now the case among savage hords. But experience would prove the great effect of order and discipline, and then the advantage in favour of a disorderly multitude, would be balanced by the skill and order of a smaller number. A continual inequality, and other accidental advantages, would keep men, under these circumstances, in frequent wars; and until experience had taught the use of military manoeuvres, the victory must have been sometimes on one side, + +52 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +fide, and sometimes on the other, as +numbers or fortune determined. + +Savages in early ages, we may suppose, +were not always at war, they had not +established armies, but fought when pro- +voked by their neighbours. This con- +duct produced frequent, but not incessant +battles, and, therefore, each party had an +equal advantage by the practice of war, +and neither would much excel the other +in that art, by their greater experience. +But in the course of a few ages, the fuc- +eefs which attended some armies, was +purfued with vigour, and the love of vic- +tory became a passion. It was the per- +petual attention to military affairs, added +to a continual habit of fighting, which +gave Alexander the vaft and irreftable +power he possessed, over thofe nations +who surrounded them, and who were +terrified at the grandeur of an arranged +multitude. + +A R C H E R Y. +-3 + +multitude. The small intefine depra- +dations and hoftilities, the latter had been +witnefs to, prefented no splendid appear- +ances, and they fled with precipitation at +the fight. The pleasure arifing from fre- +quent victories, would prove a sufficient +inducement to conquerors to proceed on +new campaigns, till at length the idea of +fixing a government, and defending it, +would be introduced to mankind. + +During these fenes of confufion, how +was it poffible for any spark of fciene to +kindle? It could not be, there was no +fociety at peace—Mr. Hume has faid, +" it is impoffible for the arts and fciences +to arife at firft among any people, un- +lefs that people enjoy the bleffing of a +" free government;" he might have faid +till " fecurity and cafe were eftablifhed." +—Where a country is inhabited by dif- +cordant tribes, no free government can +poffibly + +A page from a book with text discussing the importance of government and society. + +4 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +possibly exist, because none are secure in their possessions; and that security and ease, are favourable to the infant arts, may be concluded, in some degree, from the consideration, that in many of the Islands of the fourth seas, in which, by the construction of nature, mankind must be less liable to interruptions than on continents, the curious arts are brought to much higher perfection, than among any of the native inhabitants of America. On a continent, things must be essentially different. A numerous herd indeed could enjoy a kind of security, while it was surrounded only by others, smaller in number, and detached from each other. But granting they where at peace, the largest herd would be too narrow a sphere for the arts to arrive at any maturity in, as a similarity of life and necessities would confine the ingenuity to a small field + +A R C H E R Y. + +field of Invention. It was not, therefore, +till armies had fubdued, and prudence +secured large poffeffions, that the arts +flourifhed ; and this was effected, not by a +miriad of Archers, but by the regular and +experienced attack of difciplined troops, +poffeffing more improved arms. The +uncertain and fluctuating fate of the world +is well supported by the teftimony of hif- +tory. We fee one founding a city or fet- +tlement, and another subverting it as foon +as formed ; and this fate continued till, +as before obferved, fome powers, by their +fuperior force, were able to make their +poffeffions durable ; and at this period we +may date the introduction of the more ob- +vious arts.—During these confllicts, it was +unfortunate for thofe who fell, but it was +otherwife with thofe who survived, be- +caufe they were taught in a short time, +by the conqueror, the art of protecting +themselves from the attack of other + +E powers, + +38 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +powers, who before were their equals. +They would imitate the arrangement of +troops, and would introduce new arms, +which before they were ignorant of. + +Thus it is, that while a number of +hords or nations poffefs the fame arms, +and none more efficacious than the bow— +at the fame time having that felfish and +incurious mind, which oft favage na- +tions poffefs,—no large government can +be eftablished, or can the arts arise; +neither can there be a hope of it, till, by +war, (which is, to be sure, the moft ex- +peditious,) or commerce, an intercourse +be opened with nations more improved, +thereby, in procefs of time, impercep- +tibly acquiring improved manners.—But +the true caufes which have produced these +great events in the world are hidden; and, +like the true forces of all that knowledge +we derive from remote facts, are more and + +more + +A R C H E R Y. + +more concealed as time advances ; which, like the dark cloud that overcasts the evening, thuns up all beneath it in obscurity. + +The age in which undisciplined armies fought with the Bow, the Sword and Pike, occupies an extensive period from the beginning of things. But notwithstanding some additions which were made to the military armaments, no great improvements were made till the time of the Grecian warriors ; and the formation of the Macedonian Phalanx may be looked upon as the first grand era of Tactics.* This we see did not take place till the minds of men were much enlightened, and when an idea of order was regarded by the army as one of the + +E 2 moiit + +* See Diod. Sic. Pg. 83, No. 5. This arrangement was made by Philip, about the CV, Olympiad ; that is, 360 years before Christ. + +A page from a historical text discussing ancient warfare tactics. + +# AN ESSAY ON + +most important advantages. The dispo- +tion of troops prior to this was but +feldom regular, and sometimes the con- +fusion of a Northern torrent prevailed. + +The introduction of artillery marks +the last, and most extraordinary revolu- +tion in the history of war; and has for +ever erected a barrier, which will protect +civilized, from the incursions of barbarous +nations. + +CHAP. + +ARCHERY. + +CHAP. II. + +I HAVE intimated that the art of war has in every age had a near affinity with the state of civilization; and have, in the first part of this Essay, endeavoured to delineate the most prominent features of Savage life, and the tactics of uncivilized countries. I shall now proceed to shew the gradual improvement of arms, and the progresfs various nations have made in their construction, and the skill and dexterity they have shewn in using them, + +The period of time in which the Bow was invented is extremely uncertain; but it was undoubtedly one of the most ancient, + +A small circular symbol with a stylized "P" in the center. +**AN ESSAY ON** + +ancient, as well as the most universal of weapons used by men. Nature has given to every animal a peculiar method of protecting and defending itself from the faults and injuries of its enemies, and in most cases, among the lower animals it proves effectual. But as there are many different ranks of beasts superior in size, agility and strength, to man, it is by skill and ingenuity that he must subdue, if he dispute the dominion of the forest with them. + +Probably the earth was but a very short time inhabited before contention and battle arose, both between man and man, and man and beast. Clashing interests, without much to restrain the violence of passion, would soon make men resort to the use of arms. Those given by Nature came first into use, no doubt; put as the superior efficacy of sticks and stones + +1 + +ARCHERY. + +stones would not long remain unknown, +these would be employed to aid the +other. + +A little experience would teach the +advantage of a pointed weapon, rather +than a blunt one, and hence the in- +troduction of swords. These instru- +ments, I presume, were first made of +hard wood, pointed at the end, and ren- +dered keen on the edges, as is common +at this day in some parts of the world. +The Indians retained this method to a +period much later than this I am now +speaking of, and rendered their spears and +lances harder by fire: * indeed, the prac- +tice is still continued. But there is much +reason to believe, that the use of fire was +not known in some of the first ages of + +the + +* Hoppes de epique magiae, in quibus de iuregenis denuo +di ex sibi adhuc adhuc et epi diviis perpetuamurum re +nisci ferunt. + +Arrian Res. Ind. pg. 556. + +AN ESBAY ON + +the world; for there were some countries, which, till lately, were ignorant of the use of that element, and therefore the method of hardening instruments of this kind by heat, must be looked upon as an improvement which did not take place immediately. + +As we suppose the principal use of these weapons, at first, to be that of procuring food and clothing, it will be asked, how it was possible for a person, with no other affluence than a wooden sword, to accomplish the end propounded? I answer, That there are reasons which may induce us to think, that the cattle of the field were, in the early times of the world, tame, and almost without fear, as some of them appear at present, (though to be sure they are not in a state of Nature); and if so, the difficulty of killing them would be little. Some writers have + +A page from a historical text discussing the use of weapons and their impact on society. + +A R C H E R Y. +33 + +have supposed, that animals were origi- +nally wild, and fled the presence of man; +but that having been taken when young, +and used with gentleness, they became +tame, and were reduced to the discipline +of the shepherd. Others, as I have said, +maintain that all animals were primarily +tame and gregarious; and that they be- +came wild, in consequence of the pursuit +of hunters endeavouring to take them for +food. There are many curious facts re- +corded, which tend to shew how gentle +animals have been found in those parts of +the world, little, or not at all inhabited. +It is said by Kempler, that in the Philip- +pine Islands the birds are so tame as to +be taken in the hand. In the Falkland +Islands also, the geese may be knocked +down with sticks. In Arabia Felix, the +foxes shew no signs of fear; and in an +uninhabited island near Kamfkatka, they +fearlessly turn out of a man's way.* + +F It + +* See Sketches Hiftl Man, Vol. I. Chap.I. + +34 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +If the latter opinion be true, (and it is as probable as the former) we shall find no great difficulty in conceiving how a man armed with a wooden sword, might supply himself with food and raiment. But this could not continue long. Experience would in a short time teach the unsuspecting flock to avoid the sight of him they at first beheld with indifference; and the cries of distrusts, and the fight of a fellow-creature struggling in the hands of a man, would raise a dread through the whole, which soon would be increased to greater, and still greater degrees of fear. Recourse must then be had to miffive weapons; and from this period, whenever it may have been, we may date the use of Bows and Arrows. + +I am inclined to think mankind, before this era, must have toiled many an unfruitful hour amidst the woods in search of prey, + +A R C H E R Y. +35 + +prey, because the contrivance of this instrument appears to be complicated, and very unlikely to have been early invented.* If we reflect upon this circumstance, it will appear extraordinary how the idea of projecting a rod, in the manner a Bow projects the Arrow, first struck the mind of a savage. + +The inventions we find among those nations, who remain nearly in the state of nature, appear in no instance I can re-collect, to be the result of theory or d priori reasoning. Their devices are the efforts of very feeble reasoning, and are commonly deduced from some phæno- +F 2 menon + +* See Didot, Siculum. Lib. 3. p. 193. No. 25, and also Strabo. pg. 177. B. 16.—Where we find that the Arawakans, when unsuccessful in the chase, contented themselves with a meal of dry leather roasted. + +" ὅπου δέ εἰς τούτον μάθησεν τούς ἀργυρούς θυρεὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρικοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἀργυροῦντας ἔσωσεν ἀπὸ πόλεως Ἀμαζώνων, τα ξηρὰ δέκατα εἰς ἀδελφῶν συντρίβειν ἀργυροῦντα νῦν τούτον τρόφιμα." + +36 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +menon prefented to their view, among natural objects. + +In order to illustrate this observation, I shall give wing to my fancy. + +It is reasonable to think mankind would never have been tempted to venture on the sea, had not curiosity, or more probably the desire of food, been the motive. —A favage (ignorant of all navigation) we will imagine, fitting on the beach endea- vouring to take fish, perceives, that the further he throws his bait into the water, the greater his success. He his perfuaded therefore to walk in, and still finds his good luck to increafe, as he advances in the deep water. —Having proceeded to a considerable diftance, and as far as safety permits him, let us suppose he fees a large fragment of wood, which in some dif- tant country the wind has fevered from a tree, + +A page from a book with text about an essay on menon's view of natural objects. + +A R C H E R Y. +37 + +a tree, and the river and tide brought gently floating by his side. Curiosity, or caprice, induces him to take hold of it; and finding that he receives support, he raises himself upon it, and feels an unexpected pleasure in being carried with ease and safety to the shore. Pleased and satisfied with his adventure, he returns to his companions, who listen to his tale with surprise and admiration. He comes the next day to visit his usual fishing-place, and defying the situation he was so successful in before, looks for his favourite tree to carry him; but in vain:-the branch is floated to some distant place. Invention now awakes.-What must he do? 'Tis obvious. He falls the tree which overhades him, and rolls it to the water's edge;-he mounts it, and regains his former flotation. + +Thus might the knowledge of navigation be introduced into the world. A few experi- + +38 + +AN ESSAY ON + +experiments would improve it, -and the observing of shells swimming with their concave side uppermost, would lead to the idea of following the trunk, which first was used solid. The canoe, the long-boat, the man of war may have originated in this simple manner. + +My intention, in this flight picture, is to shew that the discoveries found among savage people, are but the copies of something Nature has thrown before their eyes. It is not to be supposed, a race of beings so unacquainted with the properties of matter, as the barbarous nations must have been originally, could make experiments in a theoretic manner: nor would it enter the mind uninformed by example, that a tree should swim, while the smallest stone should sink, in water. The more this idea is attended to, the more it will be found to support my opinion; and it will prove + +A R C H E R Y. +59 + +prove an amusing talk, for any one, to follow back the customs of uncivilized nations, to their proper origin in nature. + +Let us apply this reaoning to the pre- +fent point in view, and endeavoue to find out something among natural objects, +similar to the effect of the Bow. — I know of none ; and therefore it strikes me with astonishment whenever I reflect how early this instrument was known, and how universal it became in the most ancient times we have any record of.* But there is not so much difficulty in conceiving how it became general, as how it became in use; for, when once invented, the materials were at hand in every country to fabricate it. + +The ancients (who knew a cause for every thing) say, the Bow was introduced by + +* There are still a people in America unacquainted with this instrument.—Sir Robertson, Vol. II. p. 176. + +40 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +by Apollo to mankind.* Perfis, the fon of Perfeus, and Scythes, the fon of Jupiter, have the honour of the invention ascribed to them likewise. The latter is said to have intruded the nobility of in-fant Greece, and to have introduced it into that country. The founder of every nation has the merit of the discovery of the Bow ascribed to him by the inhabitants; which proves, that the true origin is not in the leaft known.† + +Neither the Greek historians or poets have given any fabulous account of the means + +* See Diod. Sic. Vol. I. pg. 390. +† Sagittas, ut alia placet, Perfeus Perfei filius primum inventit. Ex Pinoio—At Diodorus Apollini affignat. +Arcus infuper fagittandique fuiffe repertorem Apolli-nem ferunt. Verum Aratanbus, cuius testimonium Eu- +febium, * de Praparatione Evangelica,** libro nono, citat, +Molen omnium primum bellica instrumenta inveniile tradit, qui adhuc juvenes in Egypto (telle Jafefbo) pri- +mam gloriote expeditionem in Athisipes apparavent. +Plyd. Vergil. Lib. 2. Ch. 11. + +A stylized drawing of a bow and arrow. + +A R C H E R Y. + +means which led to the discovery of the Bow, as far as I remember; which seems to prove how little there is in nature to inspire the idea of such an effect. A Latin Poet, however, has formed a pretty fable to this purpose, and has embellished it with some beautiful fables. The discovery, he says, originated from the well-known tale of the Porcupine, who, when angry, projects his quills on those who provoke him. + +Stat corpore toto Silva minax, jaculique rigens in praesidio crepit Picturata leges * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * +* * * crebris propugnat jactibus ulit. +Interdum fugiens Parthorum more frequentem Vulnatur. Interdum, potius velut online caltris, Terrificus densis mucronem verbetra unda; Et confuguiens haftilibus aferat armos, + +Quid labor humanus tantum ratione fugaci Proficit? Eripiant rucibus Gortyna capria Cornus, subfetia eadem lenteferre cogunt Ignibus. Interdum, tauroin vifoere nervos, + +G Infruirur + +AN ESSAY ON + +Infructuus pinnia, ferroque armatur arundo. +Ecce brevia propriis manuier bellum telia, +Extensam nec querit opem, fort omnia fecum. +• • • • • • • • • • +• • • quidquid precul-appetit hoffem +Hinc reor inventum: morem hine traxit Cydonas +Bellandi, Pathofoque retro didicite ferire +Prima fugitifera pecudis documenta fecutos + +Clad. p. 236. + +It is impossible to look upon this as the true cause which gave rife to the Bow and Arrow, and the poet has illustrated it, as a thought, rather than as a truth. The effect of a quill projected from the back of a Porcupine, by an unseen muscular power, and the effect of a bow projecting an arrow by its expansive and elastic force, are extremely different in their nature; and the transition from the one to the other is so difficult, that we cannot imagine the latter to have been a copy of the former. The most decisive evidence against this supposition is, That the beft naturalifts, + +A page from a book with Latin text. + +A R C H E R Y. +43 + +naturalists confess this property ascribed to the Porcupine, to be fabulous, the ani- +mal possessing no such power at any time. + +Previous to the construction of the Bow, the knowledge of the elasticity of wood must have been acquired, (suppo- +fing the instrument not to be found out by chance) and the method of applying a string, which string must have been before in use. It is true, every twig would have pointed out the property of wood alluded to; but the question is, by what accident the string was first applied to the wood, and the arrow to the string. + +It is in vain to make conjectures on this subject; the early periods of the world are hidden in such dense obscurity, that we cannot form any plausible hypo- +thesis, to serve as an explanation. + +G 2 Let + +44 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +Let us, however, grant, that the Bow was soon introduced. It was known in the most distant times, and is uniformly mentioned as one of the most common, and most numerous of the weapons made use of, in the wars and conflicts related in the Mosaic History—in the battles described by Homer—and by the writers of succeeding ages in every country. + +--- + +**Of BOWS.** + +BOWS were first constructed probably from the rough and unformed boughs of trees; but gradual improvements would be added as men became more and more conversant with the knowledge of natural objects. The simple branch would soon be + +--- + +A R C H E R Y. + +be rendered more convenient by a little cutting, in order to make the curve regular on both sides the center. There is nothing mentioned in the Old Testament, that I recollected, with respect to the manner in which Bows were made. Homer, however, relates the method in which the Bow of Pandarus was fashioned. + +He heard, and madly at the motion pleased, +His polished Bow with hafty rathnefs fin'd; +'Twas form'd of horn, and smooth'd with artful toll, +A mountain goat refig'd the thining fpoil, +Who, pierc'd long finee, beneath his arrows bled, +The flately quarry on the cliffs lay dead, +And fifteen palma his brows large honours spread: +The workmen join'd and flap'd the bend'd horns, +And beaten gold each taper point adorne." + +Pope's Hom. B. iv. L. 135- + +We + +* The horns of the Gortynian Goat are often mentioned as Bows. +** " Alii Gortynia lentant +Carnas." +STAYTIS. +*** Nec Gortyniae calamus levis exit ab arcu." + +OVID MVT. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
46A N E S S A Y O N
We find, by Herodotus, that it was the custom of some nations to make Bows of reeds, or cane; the Bactriæ he says, used some of this kind; as did the Indiæ.
The practice of using reeds, or cane, in making Bows, is at this day common in some of the eastern countries, particularly Persia and India; and, I believe, it is the method used among some of the American savages also. But these are materials not well adapted to produce a very elastic and quick weapon; and unless made strong, and difficult to draw, would have but little effect in projecting the Arrow. Indeed, this is commonly the case with almost
† Tisn de xarajpum—
Herod. Lib. 7, p. 463.
† Indiæ hi quarto sibi indiæire adi Ætæa æmminatæ, tisæ hi ædipum viget, et hiæx æxipim.
Herod. p. 464.
+ +A R C H E R Y. +47 + +almost all the Bows made use of by fa- +vages, and those other nations who are +little acquainted with the use of tools. + +The most esteemed Bows of Persia, it +is said, are made by fastening two pieces, +one of horn, the other of wood, on each +other, by means of catgut, which is bound +tight around the two, from end to end, +by which means they are kept firm toge- +ther, and cannot fling when the Bow is +drawn. After this the Bow is covered +with the bark of a tree, which is exceed- +ingly tough and flexible, and upon this +smooth surface they paint various orna- +mental figures of branches, leaves, birds, +and other fanciful decorations, generally +intermixing gold and silver coloured pig- +ments among the rest. They then cover +the whole with a transparent varnish, +which protects it from wet and damp. + +In + +AN ESSAY ON + +In Perù alfo, Tartary, and in other parts of the eastern world, the horns of the Antelope are manufactured into Bows, many of which are very excellent weapons. They are generally much shorter than those used in this country, seldom exceeding four feet in length. The two pieces of which these instruments are made, are joined firmly in the center, and are usually ornamented with painting and guilding.—Fig. 4. Plate 1, represents a Persian Bow of this kind. + +The Otaheite Bows are very long, and conflict of one piece only; in the back part of which there is a groove, containing a pretty thick cord. The cord reaches the whole length, and is fattened very strongly at each end. This contrivance is found very serviceable in affixing the strength of the Bow, and acts in some measure as a spring. + +The + + +A series of illustrations depicting various shapes and forms. +1. A curved line with a pointed end. +2. A curved line with a hook-like end. +3. A curved line with a pointed end. +4. A curved line with a hook-like end. +5. A circular shape with a central point. +6. A curved line with a pointed end. +7. A curved line with a pointed end. +8. A curved line with a pointed end. +9. A curved line with a pointed end. +10. A curved line with a pointed end. + + +pl. + +Page 10 + +A R C H E R Y. 49 + +The Eskimaux, bordering on Hudson's Bay, in North America, make use of a Bow, acting on the same principle as that of Otaheite. The wood part is about four feet, or four and an half in length, about three quarters of an inch in thickness, and two or three inches in breadth, having the same dimensions throughout. At the distance of eight or nine inches from each end, there is an abrupt curve; and on the back of this instrument there are a number of strings made of the fines of deer, drawn tight, and flattened at the indented parts A and B, (Fig. 6, Plate 1). These strings act in the same manner as the cord on the Otaheite Bow, and increase the force of the projecting power very much. It is the custom of the fagavgs to soak these Bows in water before using, as it contracts the fines, and makes the instrument stronger. + +The curves at A. and B. are made by H means + +5° + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +means of thick pieces of horn, which are fastened to the wood on the outer side the Bow; the wood being first cracked and preflled into an angle. And as the horn is in a figure fitting into this angle, and is bound tight, it confines the wood part in the curves from moving, when the Bow is made use of. This Eskimaux weapon is a very extraordinary species of the Bow, and unlike all others. + +In Lapland, it is said by Scheffer, the Bows are composed of two pieces fixed together with glue, one of which is of birch, and the other of fir-tree; which, he says, on account of the resin it contains, is very proper for the making of Bows. They have a cafe likewise of birch, in order to prevent injuries from rain or snow. The Laplanders, in joining the two parts of their Bows, use a peculiar kind of glue, prepared from the skins of + +A R C H E R Y. +81 + +of fifth. These Bows, by the measure given by our author, appear to be extravagantly long.* + +The wood of the Palm tree was very much used of old for the purpose of Bow making, and seems to have been the most favourite material among many nations. + +Metalic Bows, of silver, gold, and brafs, are mentioned; but it is probable this should be esteemed as metaphorical, as they could not be made to answer the purpose of shooting with, in any tolerable degree. When gold and brafs Bows are spoken of, I should suppose these instruments were of a yellow colour only, resembling gold or brafs. This kind of H 2 diction + +* Leo Africanus says, The King of Timbuktu had 3000 horsemen, armed with a particular kind of Bow, made from the wild Fennel.* +See page 335, Leo Africa: Description of Africa, French translation, Fol. 126R. + +AN ESSAY ON + +diction is exceedingly common in all writings. We, in our days, have heard of people with **brazen-faces**. Not because such faces were actually made of brafs, or because they were yellow, but because they posified another property which that metal has in common with others. Bows of steel are mentioned in the book of Job, (Ch. xx. v. 24.) " The Bow of steel shall strike him through." But we are ignorant how they fashioned them.* + +The modern Bows used in England are made of several kinds of wood. Yew has been by far the longest in use, but it is not so much esteemed at present as some other kinds. The foreign woods, imported + +* Bows of steel tempered by skillful workmen have been tried in England, but it appears that the elasticity of metal is far more flow and fluggish than that of wood; and unifies the Bow is made strong, has but little projectile effect. Metallic Bows also are of much greater weight than others of the same power. + +A page from a historical text discussing bows and their materials. + +A R C H E R Y. +58 +imported into this country for the purpose of dying and cabinet making, are some of them very proper for the making of Bows, such as Putic, Roe-wood, &c., and there is a kind which bears the name of Cocoa-tree, which answers pretty well for making strong Bows. The modern Bows are constructed of two pieces, a body part, generally of elastic, often of brittle wood, and a thin strip of Ash, Elm, or Ickery, which is firmly fixed on the back of the other. This back not only prevents the body from splitting, but at the same time renders the Bow infinitely more difficult to draw. + +CHAP. + +I am not sure what you mean by "extract the text". Could you please provide more context or clarify your request? I'm happy to help with any other questions you may have about this document. + +ARCHERY. +35 + +CHAP. III. + +Of the Figure of the BOW. + +THE Bows of different nations pre- +serve a very near resemblance to each +other; it is evident from the principle +upon which they act, that this must be +the case. + +The first kind is the Apollo's Bow. It +is this we generally see in the hands of +the Grecian warriors, which are delineated +in sculpture, and on ancient medals. The +figure of it is certainly the most beau- +tiful and picturesque of any; and perhaps +it + +46 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +it is for this reason we see it so often re-presented by painters and sculptors. It is composed of three different parts. The two end pieces, which act as springs, and a third, into which the other two are fixed. This third piece being between the other, is the part by which the Bow is held, when made use of. The spring-ing parts are thick towards the middle, and taper from thence to the points where the string is fastened. These points were called *Kapern*, and were often of gold, or silver. The springs of the Bow are curved, not unlike the horns of some of the East-Indian Goats; and as we read that the horns of animals were sometimes used for these parts of the Bow, perhaps the natural figure gave a model for the Bows which were not made of horn. + +But I am inclined to think, that poets and painters have made these instruments more beautiful than any Bowyer ever attempted, + +A R C H E R Y. +57 +attempted, both in figure and all other attributes. + +Another species of this weapon is made of one regular curve, having no separation in the middle. We do not fee this kind often represented in the tablets of antiquity, although of the most natural figure, and of the most simple construction. The Bows which are at present in use, and which formerly were used in England, are of this fort I mention. Bows on both these principles are used in savage nations, but the latter is the more common. The Museums, and many private collections contain Bows of each fort, which were brought to this country by the several navigators who have visited the Pacific Ocean, and the remote parts of Asia and America. The instruments of this kind made by the inhabitants of +I Afia, + +88 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +Asia, very much resemble those of America, and are often of the same materials. + +The modern Bows made in three parts, are generally of elastic wood. The ends are composed of small pieces, tied together, and fixed in the handle, in the middle. Cane is often the substance employed; pieces of which are bound by a very strong kind of ligature, so as to compose very stiff, though not very elastic weapons. + +The other sorts, composed of one or two parts, which go the whole length without any break, are usually much longer than the former kind. I have seen one, made of dark-coloured clove-grained wood, having a piece of a different kind inserted in the back of it. This was done by means of a groove and dovetail, in the manner the flides of a common carpenter's + +A R C H E R Y. 89 + +carpenter's rule are fitted in. There was no binding on it, except at the ends, and it seemed to be made with great art, but it was not strong. I do not recollect to have heard what part of the world it came from. + +The Grecian Bow is said to have been made in the figure of the Sigma in their alphabet. * The Bow used by the Scythians will pass under the same character. And as the practice of Archery was introduced from Scythia into Greece, the Bows of each, perhaps, were not very different from those of the other. I have not been able to find any particular relation in what manner the Bows used by the I a Greeks, + +* La figure de l'arc est affin uniforme dans les monumens que nous reflent. Il est à deux courbures, en forte qui le milieu de l'arc par ob on l'empoignoit en tirant, et en ligne droite. L'arc des Grecs avoit la figure de Sigma. +Montf: Vol. II: pg. 68. + +A page from a book, likely a historical or literary text discussing archery and bows. + +60 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +Greeks were made, different from those of other nations. But by the figures on medals, and else-where, they do not appear (when strung) to have been very dissimilar to the Scythian, or Macedonian, though writers speak of a remarkable incurvation the latter had. + +*He went armed with a crooked Bow, after the " Macedonian (or Scythian) Fashion." + +And another Poet says:- + +(Minerva) aimed and shot with a Macedonian Bow, +" This crooked Bow the God-like Hercules, +Whole Arrows, when they flew, would always kill +" First used." + +In both these quotations the Scythian Bow is called crooked, because it was so in a degree greater, than the Bows of other countries. This incurvation is said to + +* See Pott's Archaeologia. + +A R C H E R Y. +6 + +to be so remarkable as to represent a femi- +circle, or half moon. Hence the Shep- +herd, in Athens, says Potter, being to +describe the letters in the name of The- +feus, and expressing each of them by some +apposite resemblance, compares the third +to the Scythian Bow, meaning not the +more modern character $x$, but the ancient +c., and bears the third place in onere.* + +I have confulted the plates in Mont- +faucon, in order to discover the difference +between the Grecian and Macedonian Bows; +but + +* The words in Athenaeus are these: + +γραφείς ἀποτελεῖν τὰ μυστικά πρόσωπα. + +Πολύβου καθώς Κρούστιος δια +ζημφήν το νέον πρόσωπον ἀποφυγεῖν. + +Exilium autem Viri doliti terram hanc litteram in nomine Thefei, quem eit vixit ita pinnaculum vesti- +porum Graecos, quemadmodum C latinum. Verum omnino eos errare exilium. Quamvis enim non igno- +rem ita hanc litteram expressam fuile olim, in anti- +quioribus tamen monumentis altera pingitur, hoc nemo modo $z$. + +Vogii Obs. ad Mclan. pg. 412. + +A page from a historical text discussing ancient Greek and Macedonian alphabets. + +68 + +AN ESSAY ON + +but there is nothing which points out a very great dissimilarity. Among the Romans, in a combat against the Sarmatians, plate 52, vol. iv. of this work, there are some figures drawing the Bow, which Bows are infinitely more curved than any of the Scythian I have seen. Indeed, all Bows eagerly drawn, nearly form semicircles. + +But let us see if a true and marked characteristic cannot be found. + +The figure of a modern Tartar Bow will, I think, enable us to point out what is intended by this peculiar incurvation, and render the matter intelligible. The figure I allude to is drawn in Plate 1, Fig. 5, and is nearly the appearance of an unfurled Tartar Bow. This has a remarkable incurvation backwards, and is extremely different from any other species of + +A R C H E R Y. +69 + +of Bow.* The ends, which in this re- +pretation are inflected, are drawn on +the opposite side, when strung; and in +that case the Bow does not appear very +different from others. This curve back- +wards is the circumstance, as I imagine, +which characterized the ancient Scythian +Bow. Hence we may conclude, that +when authors speak of the peculiarity be- +longing to this weapon, it is to be under- +stood of it, the figure it presents when +unstrung, and not its form as seen in the +hand of one shooting. + +The Bows ufed by the Daci, a people +formerly inhabiting that country, now +called Tranylvania, and with whom the +Romans had frequent contests, were made +in a very beautiful curve, and ornamented +at one end with the head of a Swan, and + +* The Bow from which the drawing is taken, is of +horn, and is very strong. + +A historical illustration of a bow and arrow. + +6 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +at the other with that of a Dragon; because these figures were the common ensigns used by that people in battle. (See Plate 1, Fig. 2.) + +There is a view of one of these Dacian weapons in the hand of a warrior, pictured among a contending group in Montfaucon. The lower part of the Bow is hidden by the interposition of another figure, but the upper end is distinct, and the Swan's head clearly visible upon it. The Saxons seem to have been in the practice of ornamenting one end of their Bows in this manner also. (See Plate 1, Figure 8, a Saxon Bow, from Strutt.) + +I shall take the form of the Roman Bow (See Plate 1, Fig. 1) from a statue given by Spon and Montfaucon. + +This statue represents a Master of Archery, and one who instructed in the art of managing the Bow. + +The + +A R C H E R Y. 65 + +The figure is represented without cloth- +ing to the waist, and resting the right +hand on the upper end of the Bow; the +lower end of which is on the ground. +This statue, when found, was placed on +a pedestal, bearing the following inscrip- +tion:— + +DM +T FLAVIO EXPEDITO +DOCTORI SAGITTAR: +FLAVIA EUPHROSINE +ET ATTICA FILLAE +PATRI. B.M. + +The Bow is a figure seldom to be seen +among the arms and trophies, struck on +Roman medals. The reason for which +is, perhaps, that it was esteemed unwor- +thy a place among the proper military +weapons, because not used by the regular +troops. The Sagittarii and Funditores +were auxiliary men, and were not held in +high estimation by the legions. + +K The + +66 +AN ESSAY ON + +The Amazonian Bow does not appear to have any very particular character different from the other Bows of three pieces; in general, however, it appears of stronger make; but perhaps this may be a compliment to those ladies from the sculptors. +Fig. 3, Plate 1, is a copy from one in the hand of an Amazonian woman, in Montfaucon. + +The modern Long-bow is well known, and is better understood from a figure than a description. The only difference in those formerly in use, and what are at present made is, that the ancient ones were sometimes of a single piece, but the modern ones have a thin piece of Ash joined, as I have already described. Plate 1, Fig. 7, is the modern Bow strung. +It may be seen, that in the middle there is a binding, in order to enable the Shooter to hold the instrument steady, and at the same + +A R C H E R Y. +67 +same time to prevent the hand being hurt; our old Archers had no such defence, but held their Bows well be- +friended with wax, in order to fix it in the hand. + +Bows, if we believe historians and sculptors, were much stronger formerly, in some countries, than they are made at present. The figures of these instruments on ancient fragments, are always much shorter than we imagine they ought to be. Some are fearlessly longer than a man's arm, and very few exceed that measure in any great degree. But the thickness of them is proportionately greater. We find, however, there were people who ufed Bows as long as those made in England at present. Arrian says, the Indian infantry held Bows whose length was equal to the height of him who bore it ; and this standard seems + +K 2 to + +68 + +AN ESSAY ON + +to have been approved by other nations. *The Irish statue of Edward IV. fays, +" That the Bow shall not exceed the height of a man; and that the Arrow shall be half the length of the Bow."† The Carducian Bow was three cubits long, the Arrows two.§ Herodotus fays, the Bow ufed by the Ethiopians was of Palm tree, not lefs than four cubits ; and they shot with extremely long Arrows. We cannot form any exact conjecture on the degree of power these instruments pooffeffed, as the length of a Bow has no influence in increafing the strength; rather the contrary. We muft conclude they were of prodigious force, however; and the account of Ze-nophon, whose soldiers felt the Arrows of + +*refers to "exigentis instrumentis" in De Rege; see note. +
divan. Rec. Ind. p. 541.
+† See Mr. Barrington's Elfay, Archaeologia, vol. viii. +§ The cubit was about a foot and an half of our meafure. + +A black and white illustration of a Roman soldier holding a bow and arrow. + +A R C I E R Y. 69 + +of the Carducians during the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks, corresponds with this opinion.—He says, "Here fell a brave man, Cleonymus, a Lacedemonian, who was wounded in the side by an Arrow, that made its way both through his shield and his buff coat." +—Again,—" Here fell Bafias, an Arcadian, whose head was quite shot through by an Arrow."* Many other instances of the vast force with which ancient Bows threw Arrows might be produced, but it is not necessary, as the fact is well allowed. + +Some + +* This strong shooting continued among the descendants of the Carducians till the time of M. Crofeu, whole soldiers, Plutarch says, were slaughtered by their Arrows in vast numbers, as no part of their armour could withstand the force of them. +See Hist. in M. Crofeu's Life. + +† We find, in the Bib. Orient. par D'Herbelot, +" that one Aresch, le meilleur Archer de son temps tire une Fleche, que fa marqué pour être reconnue, du haut de la Montagne de Damavend jusque sur les bords de l'oeuve Giron." I suppose this wonderful man was the Ealtira Robin Hood. + +A black-and-white illustration of a medieval scene with a man on horseback holding a bow and arrow. + +AN ESSAY ON + +Some descriptions we have of Bows made use of in foreign nations, appear to be very extraordinary; and I shall quote a passage from a traveller of disdained rank and judgment, which represents the practice of Archery in Persia, at the time the author made his residence there. " The young Persians," says he, " learn to shoot the Bow; the art of which consists in holding it firm, drawing, and letting go the firing smoothly. At first they practise with a weak Bow; and afterwards, by degrees, with those which are stronger. The persons who give instructions in this art, direct the young pupils to shoot with ease and agility, in every direction, before them, behind, on either side, elevated in the air, or low to the ground; in short, in every different posture." + +Some +* We are told, the Scythians could use the Bow in either hand with indifference. " Scythia autem adeo + +A R C H E R Y. +Some of their Bows are exceedingly strong; and the method they make use of to know their power, is by fastening them to a support driven into a wall, and suspending weights to the string at the point where the Arrow is placed, when going to shoot.† The strength require five hundred pounds weight, to draw them up to the Arrow's point.§ + +When adeo fugitamur huiusim fuit, ut deorsum finifera pariter jucundus, et vice in alterna in hoffis mittere, tabato differmeo calefent." +Alex. ad Alex. vol. ii. + +† We are told that Apollo, by observing the dif- +ferent tones given by the firing of his Bow, while trying its power by weights differed the notes of music, and constructed the Monochord which he formed in the fame figure as the Bow used by his sister Diana. + +§ Lord Bacon says, "The Turkish Bow gives a very forcible blow; informuch as it hath been known, that the Arrow hath pierced a steel target, or a piece of brass of two inches thick !!!!" +Sir Nat. Hist. Exp. 204. vol. iii. + +These seem marvellous facts; but should one dare to contradict such high authorities, it might do greater violence, perhaps, to good manners, than truth. + +78 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +When the pupils can manage a com- +mon Bow, they then have another given +them, which they make heavier and +heavier, by means of large iron rings +which are placed on the string. Some +of these Bows are an hundred weight. +The pupils draw, string and unstring +their Bows, while they leap and move +about: sometimes while they land on +one leg,—sometimes on their knees, or +while running about; which last action +makes a great and disagreeable noise by +the clinking of the iron rings. + +The instructors judge this exercise to +be well performed, when the left hand +extended at length, supports the Bow, +firm and strong, without shaking; and +the right draws the string, with the +thumb to the ear.—In order to prevent +the effects of the Bow-string, they wear +a circular ring, which projects an inch +within, + +A page from a book with text discussing bow exercises. + +A R C H E R Y. +73 + +within, and half an inch on the outside of the thumb. It is on this rest that the string hangs when it is drawn up in lhoooting; and it is made of horn, ivory, or jadde, which is a kind of green alabaaster. The king has some of these rings of a bone, coloured yellow and red, which grows, as it is said, like an hoop, on the head of a large bird in the island of Ceylon. + +When the young Archers understand how to manage the Bow well, their first exercise is to shoot into the air as high as they can. Afterwards they shoot point-blanc. The art of doing this is not only in hitting the mark, but it is necessary also that the Arrow go firm and steady. Lastly, they learn to shoot with very heavy shafts, and with great force.* + +L Such + +* Voyages de le Chevalier Chardin, Tom. II. + +74 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +Such is the Archery of the Periants, and such the prodigious strength of their Bows, which to us, who are unacquainted to see such efforts of human power, seem almost incredible; and perhaps by some may be esteemed among those stories of history which merit little credit. Travellers in all ages have been reproached with exaggeration; but in some cafes it would be well if their relations were judged by a train of reasoning, and not by the delusive criterion of apparent probability. But let us reflect a moment on the power of early habits, and training the body from infancy, to endure the toils of labour and fatigue; we shall then be induced to extend our conceptions of muscular force to a much greater scale than at first sight appeared reasonable. + +It is evident that in the military operations of the present day, personal valour and + +A R C H E R Y, 76 + +and bodily strength are by no means so necessary as formerly. The management of the mukket requires no great power—but when the sword and javelin were the instruments commonly in use, a strong man had greatly the advantage over a weak one, which is not now the case. This was the reason why bodily strength was esteemed and cultivated of old, among the soldiery. We do not, at this day, see so many instances of muscular power, because men are trained in the gentler exercises of modern tactics, rather than the harraffing fatigues of Campus Martius. + +If we consider the great weight of every part of the armour anciently in use, we shall be led to think, that under such an incumbrance, the wearer could have but very little command over the motions of his body,—but this was far L 2 from + +76 +AN ESSAY ON + +from being the cafe. Thofe helmets, +cuiraffes and thields, which to a modern +would prove infoportable, and which +would gall the firmefth to the quick, +were by the Roman veteran worn with +eafe through his long and toilfome cam- +paigns. A common fuit of armour, we +are told, weighed about fixty pounds ; +but fome far exceeded even that. Plu- +tarch, in his life of Demetrius, speaking +of one Alcimus, fays, he wore a fuit +which was fix score pounds ; but this +man was a giant in stature, and one of +the frongefl men in the world. Indeed, +we find from hiftory, that the ufual +armour of fome nations was of much +greater-weight than that ufed by the Ro- +mans; but I do not pretend to fay they +carried it with eafe and pleafure; on the +contrary, Tacitus ridicules the foldiers +of Gaul on that account. " They were +fo armed," fays he, " that they were +only + +A R C H E R Y. 79 + +only able just to move, without the power of doing injury to their enemies, or the possibility of being injured by them; and if they were thrown on the ground, remained there under the preasure of their arms, without the ability of rising.* But it was not so with the Romans: Cicero says, their arms were but as limbs, they were so accustomed to carry them.† The troops under Marius are said to have marched the distance + +* At the battle of Formova, under Charles VIII, there were a number of Italian knights, who, though overthrown, could not be killed, on account of the thicknefs and strength of their arms; till broke up, like huge lobsters, by the fervants and followers of the army, with large wood-cutters' axes, each man's arms having three or four men employed about him. + +See Philip de Comines, B. 8., C. 6. +and Grof, Vol. I, pg. 106. + +† See Montagne's Effays, Tom. II, pg. 170; and Cicero Tufcul. Lib. II, pg. 157. " Nam feutum, gladium, gaieam in onere nostris milites non plus numerant, quam humeros, Lectoris manus: arma enim, membra militis cife dicunt." + +A historical scene depicting a battle. + +AN ESSAY ON + +tance of five leagues in five hours, and sometimes fix, under the weight of sixty pounds of arms each. + +This docility in sustaining burthens was unquestionably owing to the constant habit, and unremitted attention paid to the military discipline. Twice a-day the legions were drawn out, and performed their long and compleat exercices; nor was age, or knowledge allowed to excufe the veterans from their daily repetition of what they had completely learned.§ In the midst of peace, the Roman troops familiarified themselves with the practise of war, and engaged with vigour and animation.† + +What + +§ It may be observed, that the arms used in exercising were double the weight of those used in action. +† See Gib. Hist. Vol. I. pg. 14. + +A R C H E R Y. +79 + +What we have here remarked will in every part apply with exactness to the practice of Archery. An early beginning, and constant use will make a nervous arm, and increase the muscular power to a degree not to be limited. + +It was on this principle the military exercises in Peria were instituted; and they appear to have been even more severe than those of the Roman legions, and therefore we may suppose, that the difficulty of shooting strong bows was as much diminished, in the one case, as that of sustaining heavy armour, in the other. + +The Cretans, who have been highly celebrated for their skill and power in the management of the Bow, were kept with the strictest care to the perpetual practice + +AN ESSAY ON +prætific of Archery; * and there is reason to think all those nations and people who have rendered themselves expert in this art, have adopted the same mode of education. +* Arcu quoque & fagittis plenumque Cretenfibus et Cydonis exaltifima curit milites influebatur, licet apud Graecos palatia. +Alex. ab. Alex. Vol. I. pg. 131. + +In America, according to Gumilla, the boys are not suffered to eat their virginals till they have first hit them with an Arrow from a distance.—* Les Indiennes exercent aussi leurs enfants à tirer la flèche, ne leur donnant jamais à manger qu'elle n'ayent attrapé d'une certaine distance la viande où la fruit dont ils ont envie, avec la pointe de cette arme." +Gumilla, Vol. II. pg. 83. +See also Charleville, Vol. II. pg. 36. + +CHAP. + +ARCHERY. + +CHAP. IV. + +HAVING sufficiently described the figure, and degree of power which the Bow has had in historical ages, I shall now lay a few words with respect to the different ways of managing that instrument, and point out the several attitudes and postures which have been adopted and practised by various nations for that purpose. + +Method, in some instances, is well known to effect what greater force can-not; and there is nothing in which this observation can be exemplified more strongly, than in shooting the Bow. +M Every + +AN ESSAY ON + +Every person who understands the nature of Archery, will see the truth of this affliction. A simple experiment will prove it, in a very satisfactory manner. + +Let an Archer, who in shooting has learned to draw the Arrow to the eye or ear, draw it to his breast, and he will find, that the Bow he in the former case could draw with ease, will, in the latter, appear infinitely stronger. Mr. Barrington lays, " That several years ago there was a man named Topham, who exhibited most surprising feats of strength, and who happened to be at a public-house at Ilington, to which the Finbury Archers reported 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 bett, with the greatest + +A R C H E R Y. +83 +greatest confidence of winning; but bringing the Arrow to his breast, instead of his ear, he was great'y mortified by paying the wager, after many fruitless efforts.* + +Notwithstanding the evident disadvantage of drawing to the breast, rather than the ear, yet it seems to have been the most general practice in early periods. We know one nation is said to have derived its name from that circumstance. + +M 2 This + +* See Effay, pg. 64. Archeologia. +† Virgines in cundem ipsa moram, non oisio, neque tamificio; fod arma, equi, ventionibus exercebant, +‡ infans infantum dexterioribus mammis, ne fagitarum jactus impediretur: unde Amazonas dicitur fint. +Jufin, Ch. IV. Lib. II. and +Diod. Saccius, Vol. I. pg. 158. + +The derivation of Amazon, from a *pædus*, is by no means agreed upon. This nation is said to have been a kind of numnery, wherein a society of women lived without intercourse with other flates, or with men; +and + +84 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +This method of drawing to the breast was continued in life for many ages; and it was esteemed a great improvement when the Roman auxiliaries were in- +fructed + +and hence the word has admitted another origin, **anæ- +for**, living together, in reference to their feculence. +That a society of women should exist alone, is impos- +sible ; but the fact is, that the women undertook the ac- +tive labours, whilst the men subsisted on those usually +performed by women. The ancient Egyptians accord- +ing to Herodotus had no wife to bear children ; and we need not pafs our own thore to see women en- +gaged in all the toils and labours of agriculture, as +well as those of domestic employments, while the men remain idle at home. + +This circumstance appears to me more unusual than +unnatural ; for it cannot avoid being of opinion, that +in a state of nature, the sexes differ but little in bodily +power. It is so with other animals. The appearances +to political society will argue nothing contrary to this +supposition. In every country, however, founded by +the force of custom, exhibit the abstinence of the cultivated +faculties of the human frame. It is with equal pro- +priety that it might be urged, the intellectual facul- +ties of the one sex are inferior to those of the +other; but there are few at the present day who do +not perceive, that it is an untruth, though fashionable +education, which enervates the mental abilities of +women, and not the hand of nature. Strength and +knowledge are in a great degree artificial, + +A page from a book with text on it. + +A R C H E R Y. +86 + +structed to draw the right hand to the ear. We read in Procopius, when de- +scribing the Archers in the Roman army, +" That they ride with eafe, and shoot their Arrows in every direction,-to the right, the left, behind, or in the front, while in full speed;-and as they draw the Bow-firing to the right ear, they drive their Arrows with such rapidity, that it is certain death to him on whom they fall; nor can the floutefl shield or helmet refift the violence of the stroke."* + +On all the medals and baffo-relifivs which are copied by the moderns, the figures are represented as drawing the hand to the breaf. There are fome who may recollect the attitude which Cupid is generally pictured in when fhooting, to be the fame we now mention; and he was a celebrated Archer, + +But + +* Procopius, pg. 7.-Fol. + +# AN ESSAY ON + +But of the different methods that have been described in history, by which Archery has been practised, that in use among the Ethiopians, and a few other nations, is undoubtedly the most extraordinary. We read, that these people, instead of holding their Bow in the left hand, as is the usual custom, drew it by the assistance of their feet. The fact is recorded by Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo: the latter of whom informs us of a curious expedient of this peder- trial Archery, used by the Ethiopians in hunting Elephants. They employ, in shooting their strong Bows, three persons; two of whom support the Bow by pressing their feet against it; while a third is + +* - κατορθωμένοι δε αυτός οι πλησίον αποδίδουσι και προσφέρονται, εις δε δεσμών αποδίδονται. ἵνα τῇ ἐκάστῳ τῶν τριών πλήσιον μὲ τὰς πόδιας ἀποδίδουσιν. + +Diod. Sic. Lib. 3a. + +A R C H E R Y. +is engaged in drawing the string and directing the Arrow. + +Arrian reports, that the Indians (shoe) their Bows by the affiance of their left foot, being enabled, by this means, to draw the string very far backwards. + +Zenophon, speaking of the Carducians, says, "They had Bows which were three cubits long, and Arrows of two cubits. + +Sirab, Arab. Lib. 16-78. 773. +Alii tutore generi, fec magis fallaci, intentos ingen- +tes arcus defugit humi longus. Hos praecipui viribus juvenes continent: aliis connixi pari conatu conten- +dunt, ac prateruntius fugitamur venabula inguent, +mox fanguisia vetigia foquuntur. + +Pim. Lib. 8. ch. 8. pg. 439- + +— kai róto kata éoi vós Sóter, και τη μαίν τη +ἀποτρέπει ἀνεστάλλειν, τών καταξίων, τών μους, λόι μύρον +δέκαν αὐγωγέστες. + +Arrian. Res. Ind. pg. 541. + +AN ESSAY ON + +cubits. When they made use of these weapons, they placed their left foot on the bottom of the Bow, and by that method they drove their Arrows with great violence, piercing through the shields and corilets of his men; and as the Arrows were extremely large, were used by them as javelins.* + +It is recorded of the Arabians, that they used their Bows in the manner above alluded to, by the help of the foot. + +The + +* Eumae di tae upea, eumae teuusse, pueu tu upeu te upeu tu upeu peu peu peu peu. + +Zamgham. Expod. Cyri, p. 328. Di. + +† —— si de Aqabim apertum uadum tam alaeum adhucque, et Bactria adhucque choriunm, atque tam uquem ut quid— + +proponens est tam uquem, nonnum ut quid— + +Suidas—Aqabim. + +And also from this passage we learn that the Arabians were Agatharchides—into Geography. Scripta minores. Oxon. 1698. 8vo. + +A page from a historical text discussing the use of bows by Arabians. + +A R C H E R Y. +86 + +The reader will perceive that the passages I have quoted in the notes are extremely indistinct and obscure; more particularly that from Arrian, from Zenophon, and from Suidas. Suidas, indeed, seems to intimate that the Arabians drew the Bow with their feet applied to the string, instead of their hands; but certainly the passage is corrupt, as the fact is impossible. Nor can I explain the sense of these several authors, unless it be understood, that one foot was made use of as a rest for the middle part of the Bow, while the string was drawn back by the hands. This appears to agree well with the expression in Arrian, "τοῦ διαφορος;" and I have not the least doubt, but that this was originally intended by the historians, though the different mutilated texts convey the idea in a very concealed manner, as they now stand. + +N If + +90 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +If we have recourse to the commenta- +tors on these passages, we shall find no +ray of light thrown upon them, by which +the fenfe becomes more conspicuous; +for they, being men more conversant +with books than Bows, have glided over +these parts without appearing to see the +impropriety of them.† + +Mr. Barrington, in his Effay, inferred +in the Archaeologia, relates a tradition, +that one Leigh, an attorney, at Wigan, +in Lancashire, shot an Arrow a mile at +three flights. He is reported to have +fat on a stool, the middle part of his Bow +being + +† The passage I have quoted above from Diodorus Siculus, is thus explained by the notes—"Ut baturant enim barbari illi arcubus terminum fere cubitornum; quos ut intenderentur, hunc collocatum, pedeque admotum finifiro; nervum fummi viribus adducebant." If the reader be an Archer, I will ask him, How far he ima- +gines a Bow would carry, if placed in the situation +here named? In my opinion, the Bow would fly as +far as the Arrow, but in an opposite direction! + +A historical illustration showing a man shooting an arrow from a stool. + +A R C H E R Y. +being fastened to his one foot, to have elevated that five and forty degrees, and to have drawn the string with his two hands applied to it. + +I cannot avoid being of opinion, that this fact fully illustrates those before-mentioned; and conceive, that the real method practiced by the nations before-named, was exactly on the principle of this curious experiment. + +In the time of Henry VIII, a droll circumfance happened, which, if I understand the affair rightly, has some relation to this pedetrial Archery. I allude to this passage in Hollinshead, viz. " Now at his returning, (Henry VIII.) many hearing of his going a Maying, were desirous of seeing him shoot; for at that time his Grace shot as strong, and as great a length as any of his guard. There N 2 came + +AN ESSAY ON + +came to his Grace a certain man, with Bow and Arrow, and defied his Grace to take the muffer of him, and to fee him shoot. The man put one foot in his bofom, and fo did shoot, and shot a very good shot. Whereof not only his Grace, but all others greatly marvelled. +So the King gave him a reward for fo doing. Which perfon afterwards, of the people and the court, was called, Foot-in-bofom.* + +How a man could shoot, or, indeed, how a man could put one foot into his bofom, I am at a los to conceive. More probably this Archer muft have put his knee into his bofom, and have fhot his Bow by pfeffing it with his foot, which would in this cafe project forwards. + +The + +* Hollinhead, vol. iii. pg. 806. + +A R C H E R Y. +98 + +The obscurity in which all the facts relating to pedeftral Archery is enve- +loped, induced me to try a few experi- +ments, and to my surprize found the +poifure lefs inconvenient than may be +imagined. If a perfon fit, and elevate +the left leg, turning the toe a little in- +wards, and place the middle of the Bow +againft his foot, at the fame time preffing +it with the left hand clofe to the fhoe, to +prevent it flipping, he will be able to +draw a very strong Bow without much +difficulty ; and I have no doubt, but that +by practife the art of aiming with tole- +rable exactnefs might be acquired. This +circumfiance affords me an additional +reason to fuppofe the Ethiopians, Arabs, +&c. fhot in this poifure, as I have before +intimated. I cannot, however, recom- +mend this attitude to the Paniuti ! + +We + +AN ESSAY ON + +We find, that anciently there -with five different ways made use of by the Archers of various countries in drawing the Bow, viz. 1st. **nec nus** (by the breast.) 2d. **nec nus** (by the right ear.) 3d. **nec nus** (by the shoulder.) 4th. **Ab Inguine**, which is said to be familiar to the Parthians. + +* Illi vergatia jaculantur ab inguine bracis.* +Proper. Lib IV. 22. 2. +* Vulnera feri Parthi dupentia ab inguine ferrum.* +Periha. Sat. V.* + +5th. is the method wherein the foot is used instead of the hand. + +It is impossible to give a written description in what manner the body should be held, while shooting in the common way, + +* This fourth article rests on a very questionable basis, as the lines are disputed by the critics ; it is intelligible with great difficulty in every sense. +94 + +† See Am. Marcel, pge. 300. + +17 +ARCHERY. +95 + +way, as it varies in almost every instance. +It is much lefs difficult to direct what attitudes should be avoided. For there are many more ways of doing wrong than right. Afcham has delineated the several awkward and indelegant positions in which the Archers in his time shot; and as it would be impossible for me to paint them in my own language so well as he has done, I shall copy the passage. + +"All the difcommodityes which ill custom has graffed in Archers, can neither be quickly pulled out, nor yet foon reckoned by me, there be fo many. Some shooteth his head forwarde, as though he would byte the marke; ano ther flareth with his eyes, as though they should flye out; another winketh with one eye, and loketh with the other; some make a face with wrything thyr mouth and countenance fo, as tho' they + +AN ESSAY ON + +they were doing you wotte what; another bleareth oute his tongue; another byteth his lippes; another holdeth his necke awyze. +In drawinge, fom fet fuch a compaffe, as though they would turne about, and bleffe all the field; other heave thyr hand now up now downe, that a man cannot dicerne wherat they would hoote: another waggett the upper end of his Bow one way, the ne- ther end another way. Another will stand pointing his shaft at the marke a good while, and by and by, he will geve him a whippe, and away, or a man witte. Another maketh fuch a wrefflinge with his gere, as though he were able to hoote no more as long as he lived. Another draweth foftlye to the middles, and by and by it is gone you cannot know howe. Another draweth his shaft low at the breaf, as though he would shoote at a rowing marke, and by and + +by + +A R C H E R Y. +57 + +by he lifeth his arme up pricke heyght. +Another maketh a wrynching with his back, as though a man pinched him behinde. Another coureth downe, and layeth out his buttockes, as thought he would shoote at crowes. Another fet-teth forward his left legge, and draweth back with heade and shoulders, as though he pulled at a rope, or elfe were afrayd of the marke. Another draweth his shaft well, until within two fingers of the heade, and then he flayeth a little, to loke at his marke, and, that done, pullith it up to the head, and lowfeth: which waye, although some excellent fhooters do ufe, yet flurelye it is a fault, and good memnes faults are not to be followed. Some draw to farre, some to short, some to flowlye, some to quicklye, some hold over long, some let go over fone. Some fette theyr shaft on the grounde, and + +O fetcheth + +8 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +fetcheth him upwarde; another pointeth up towards the fkye, and fo bringeth him downwards. Ones I faw a man which ufed a bracer on his cheke, or else he had scratched all the skinne of the one side of his face with his draw-ing-hande. Another I faw, which, at every fhotte, after the loofe, lifted up his right legge fo far, that he was ever in jeopardy of faulinge. Some flampe forwarde, and some leape backward. +All these faults be eyster in the draw-ing, or at the loofe; with many mo, which you may easily perceyve, and fo go about to avoide them. Now, after-ward, when the shaft is gone, men have many faults, which evil cutthome hath brought them to; and especially in cryinge after the shaft, and speaking words scarce honeft for such an honeft paftime." + +The + +ARCHERY. +It is unnecessary for me to repeat, that these faults should be avoided in learning to shoot, as they not only are extremely ungraceful, but likewise increase the difficulty of drawing the Bow + +O 2 CHAP. + +. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +ARCHERY. + +CHAP. V. + +Of the BOW-STRING. + +THE String is one of the most mate- +rial parts of the Archer's apparatus, as +the safety of the Bow, in a great mea- +ture, depends on the firmness of it. +The universal concussion and jar, which +the fracture of the Bow-string causes in +the Bow, never fails, either at the mo- +ment, to flatter it in pieces, or to raise +splinters, which, getting more and more +deep into the wood, as the Bow is used, +at length entirely spoil and ruin the in- +strument. The Bows which (as it is +termed) + +508 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +termed) "follow the String;" that is, +which bend a little inwards, are less +liable to injury from the breaking of a +String, than those which are in a straight +position, or which bend backwards; and +it is for this reason some Archers prefer +the Bows of this former description. + +The Bow-flings mentioned by ancient +writers, seem to have been made from +leather, or thongs cut from fresh hides +taken from Bulls, and other kinds of +animals. The phrase, **mga boma** is very +common in Homer. + +Strings were also composed from the +finews of beasts; and on that account +are termed, "Nervus,"—"mga." It was +customary, for this purpose, to select +the finews of several of those kinds of +animals, remarkable for their strength +or activity; such as Bulls, Lions, Stags, +&c., + +A page from a book with text and a small illustration. + +A R C H E R Y. +103 + +&c. and from those particular parts of each animal in which their respective strength was conceived to lie. From Bulls, the sinews about the back and shoulders were collected; and from Stags, they took those of the legs. Large, as well as small ropes were formed of these materials, which proved of very great use, when applied to the military weapons, and the greater fixed engines. + +Catgut, prepared from the intestines of animals, has been made serviceable for the purpose we are now speaking of, and continues to be used at present in the eastern countries. Many of the Bow-strings of this fort, are composed of a number of small cords, going the whole length, being bound in two or three places with silk, in order to keep them together. Experience has taught the Archers, that a number of small cords thus + +504 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +thus accumulated in one, proves much stronger than a fingle one of the fame external dimensions. Thefe kinds are, however, fometimes ufed at prefent, but it is probable they were more in requeft formerly. As this fort is fimilar in com- pofition to the ftrings on the lyre, or harp, it is more fonorous than any other species. The Scythians, ufing this kind, perhaps, are faid to have amused them- selves at feafts, by founding their Bow- ftrings, and felt an extraordinary pleasure in thus having their military thoughts awakened. + +The natives of America, as well as Asia, have had the method of making Bow-ftrings from the fines of animals, and from the inteflines. The Eskimaux Strings appear principally of the former kind. + +Hair + +A R C H E R Y. +905 + +Hair from the tails of Horfes was formerly manufactured into Bow-strings, and appears to have been not an uncommon material for the purpose. The word, **arros**, which signifies that species of string, frequently occurs in Homer, and from thence we may infer the antiquity of the practice. This kind is taken notice of likewise by Ovid, in the following lines :— + +*At femel intenut sero levis arcus quinque* +*Vincula femper habens irefoluta manet.* + +Epigr. z. L. 11 + +We learn, that on pressing emergences, even the hair from the heads of women has been formed into Bow-strings ; and a temple in Rome was dedicated to Venus the Bald, on an occasion of this kind. " Præterundum ne quidem illud eft, quod tanta fide Aquilei-enfes contra Maximum pro Senatu fue-" P rant, + +A black and white illustration of a Roman temple with a statue of Venus the Bald. + +AN ESSAY ON + +rant, ut funes de capillis mulierum facerent, quum deeffent nervi ad fugitas emittendas quod aliquando Romae dici- +tur factum. Unde in honorem Matro- +narum templum Veneri calva, Senatus dicavit." + +Jul. Capitolinus, in Maximino. + +From an expression in Pliny, we may imagine the Orientals made use of the hair of the Camel formerly in making Strings, "Camelino arcus intendere Orientis populi fidissimum."—See Pliny, +B. 11-49—Vol I. pg. 642. + +The most general material of which Strings are now made in England, is hemp; of which the Italian answers the best; and this subfiance possesses many advantages over all other forts. Catgut is too much under the influence of heat and moisture, to prove at all times of a proper + +A page from a historical or literary text, with text in Latin and English. + +A R C I I E R Y. +107 + +proper tension; but hemp and flax have not this inconvenient and disadvantageous quality belonging to them. + +An old phrase f.ys, "It is good to have two Strings to your Bow;" and it appears to have originated from an ancient custom. A passage in Acham teaches us it was practised in his day; and there is reason to think it had a much earlier existence. "In warre," fays he, "if a Stringe breake, the man is loft, and is no man; for his weapon is gone;-and although he have two Strings put on at once, yet he shall have small leisure and leffe roome to bend his Bowe; therefore, God send us good stringers, both for warre and peace!" + +A law of Charlemagne, made in the year 813, seems to express the same custom:-" Et ipse comes pravident quo- + +P a m do + +108 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +modo fint parati (milites)——aut arcum cum duabus cordis."* I confess that there is another sense in this passage, different from that I put upon it; but as the custom evidently existed in ages posterior to the reign of Charlemagne, it might have originated as early as that reign. + +I have an additional testimony, which appears to give weight to my conjecture on this head; and which shews this custom prevailed in the beginning of the thirteenth century. I allude to the figure delineated in Plate 2, Figure 13. + +This was taken from a feal sent on a letter from Sir James Pringle, to Mr. Waring, of Leiceter House, who fa-voured me with a copy. The letter accompanying the impression contained + +* See Capit. Reg. Franc. a S. Baluzius, pg. 509. + +A figure depicting a knight in armor with a shield and a sword. + +A R C H E R Y. +109 + +the following description :— " I feal this letter with a ring, a very curious antique, —a prefont to me, as Prefident of the Council of the Royal Company of Archers, from Mr. Gray, our Secretary. Which ring was found about a month ago, near or upon the field of the famous battle of Bannockburn, several hundred years ago."† This letter was dated, Edinburgh, Feb. 21, 1791. + +The Bow represented in the hands of this Archer, seems to have two strings attached to it ; one of which only is drawn up with the Arrow, while the other remains unemployed; and I presume this muft have been the method of using the Bows, thus doubly strung. + +In the East Indies, the natives ufe a particular fort of String, by means of which + +† This battle was fought in the reign of Edward II. + +210 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +which they shoot balls of clay, which are rendered hard. The construction of it is very similar to that generally applied to the modern Crofs-bow, when used to discharge leaden bullets. It is made double, and near the ends the two pieces are bound together; but as it is necessary, in order to make a place for the ball, that these strings should be separated in the middle, there is a small piece of cane, or wood, placed between them, at each end, to keep them at a little distance apart. The ball is placed in a cloth focket, flattened rather above the centre of the string; and when the bow is used, the shooter takes hold of the cloth focket, and preffes the ball within, by means of his finger and thumb, at the fame time drawing up the string in the usual manner. On looing, the ball is carried by the focket, and projected from it in the way the Crofs-bow acts. The String + +A R C H E R Y. + +String is fixed on the Bow so as to drive the ball clear of the wood part, and of the hand, for if it threw it directly forwards, it would endanger both. It is said, the Indians are very expert in managing this contrivance, and are able to hit birds, and other moving objects. + +Afcham mentions, that they formerly made use of two Strings in England, the large, thick String; and a fort much smaller. "The one," says he, "is safe for the Bow, but does not shoot strong; while the other is infinitely preferable in long distances, but at the same time does not direct the Arrow so true, and is sooner broken. + +I am not acquainted with the several ways which were practised by the ancients in stringing their Bows; it was usual, however, I think, to hold the Bow in the + +A page from a book with text about archery. + +ARCHERY. +110 + +the left hand by the middle, and to prefs on the upper end with the right, at the fame time flipping the String into its place, while the lower end of the weapon rested against the knee of the left leg. + +There is a figure very distinctly drawn on a medal in Dr. Hunter's Muicum, which represents an Archer stringing his Bow, exactly in the position I now speak of, and which is copied, Plate 2, Figure 11. It is a Cretan coin. + +Ovid, speaking of Cupid going to shoot and preparing his Bow, says, + +* "Lumavit que gens fimosum fortiter arcum." + +EL. 1. Lib. 1. Lm. 23. + +There is a figure in this poifture drawn in Plate 24, Vol. III. of the Muicn Ca-pitolino. And another, Pl. 21, Vol. II. of + +A black-and-white illustration of an archer drawing a bow. + +ARCHERY. +of the—" Antiche Statue Greche e Romane che nell' antifala della Libreria di San Marco, e in altri luoghi pubblici di Venezia si trovano." +Fol. Two Vols. Venez. 1743. + +Q CHAP. + +Small bird flying to the left. + +A grayscale image showing various irregular shapes and spots on a light background. + +3 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +a +b +c +d +e +f +g +h +i +j + +ARCHERY. +15 + +CHAP. VI. + +Of ARROWS. + +THE figure of the Arrow has undergone less variation than that of the Bow. As curved lines admit of more variety than straight ones. The Scythian, Indian, and Dacian Bows, have each their characteristic forms, but the head, or the feathers of an Arrow, are the only parts which can be varied materially. + +The substances from which Arrows have been fabricated, have differed in almost every country. They were frequently made of reeds, as we may infer + +Q 2 from + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +from the Latin word *Arundo*, signifying both an Arrow and a reed.* + +Pliny informs us, that this subfance was in the higheft requift for the purpofe we mention, and the Calamus, another fpecies of reed, fays he, hath over-come half the nations of the world, in battle.$$ + +The + +*It is oberved by one of the great Metaphycifians of the prefent day, that the language of mankind may furnifh good evidence of opinions, (and manners he might have added) which have been early and univer-fally entertained; and that forms contrived for expref- fing truth, may remain in life after the opinions (and customs) which gave rife to them, have been greatly changed.--Effay on Alter Puerci. p. 18. + +Mr. Gibbon also, in Note 30, Chap. 1. fays,- + +"There is room for a very interling work, which fhould lay open the connexion between the lan-guages and manners of nations." + +Calamis Oriensis populi bella conficunti: cala-mis fpicula addunt irrevocabili hamo noxia. Mortem accelerent pinna addita calamis. Fitque et ex ipfo telum aliud fraflo in vulneribus. His armis Solem ipium obumbrant. Propter hoc maxime ferenos dies optant; + +Google logo + +A R C H E R Y. +137 + +The tree called *Cornus*, was formerly much celebrated for Arrow-making, and alfo for the purpofe of Bows,† as was the Palm-tree. But the Calamus, and particularly a fort growing anciently in a river called the Rhine,‡ was valued for its weight, and the fteadnefs with which it refifted the currents of wind in flying. +—The ancient Scythians ufed Fir-tree, or Deal, as Strabo relates.‡ + +The optant: odere ventos & imbris, qui inter illos pascem edic coguntur. Ac 6 quis. Ethiopis, Egyptum, Arabia, India, Scythia, Bactros, Sarmatarum tot gentes & Ori- entis, omniaque Parthorum regna diligentius computent, aqua ferme pars hominum in toto mundo calamis fupero- rata degit. + +Plin. Lib. 16, Sec. 65. +† — " Apta fretis abies, bellis accommoda cornus." + +Claudian. + +‡ This river was not the great Rhine of Germany, but a smaller one of that name, rising in the Appe- nines, and flowing near Bononia; and is therefore called by Fliny, in the above passage, " Rheno Bono- nienh amne." + +† — ex: *Guis Dattine xj* fefor the *morte Zavdax.* +dealeb, pg. 510. + +118 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +The modern Arrows from India, are made of cane, which being of a species very stiff, and at the same time of little weight, they fly with uncommon velocity from the Bow, and are capable of withstanding a severe blow from objects which oppose their motion. + +The inhabitants of Guiana use cane for the making of Arrows, and affix an head of firm and sharp wood to them. We are told by Bancroft, that these people use Bows about five feet in length, and Arrows of about four feet, which are partly of a cane without knots. This cane part is usually about a yard long, and in the end of it is fixed a piece of hard wood, about twelve inches. This wood sometimes has a large globular head; but if the Arrow be intended to kill, the wood part is either formed into a sharp point, bearded with notches, or + +A page from a book with text on it. + +A R C H E R Y. +is armed with a piece of iron ; which metal they ufe fince the Europeans have vifited the country.* + +I have in my poftficion fome of the kind here fpoken of ; and although they are of fuch prodigious length, (fome being more than five feet) they are never-thelefs extremely light. I had the curi- oity to weigh one of the canes, without the head part, it measured four feet long, and was half an inch in diameter through-out, when it appeared to be only three quarters of an ounce in weight. + +Afcham has enumerated fifteen forts of wood, of which Arrows were made in England at the time he lived, viz. +Brazell, + +* The Arrows ufed by the inhabitants of Tunna illand, are made of reeds, pointed with hard wood; fome of them are banded; and thofe for killing birds have two, three, or oftentimes four points. +Cox's Voyages, 1772—1775, p. 11, p. 8n. + +130 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +" Brazell, Turkie-woode, Fusticke, Su- +gerchefte, Hardbeame, Byrche, Afhe, +Oake, Servistree, Aulder, Blackthorne, +Beche, Elder, Afpe, Salow." Of these, +Afpe and Afh were preferred to the rest; +the one for target shooting, the other for war. + +A simple flick, without any alteration than pointing, was perhaps the first kind of Arrow ufed by mankind.† The hard wood found in some climates was well calculated for the purpose, as it was capable of retaining its point, tho' forced with violence against the firmest bodies. +But the use of stones appears to be one of the first inventions with respect to point- +ing, and there are many curious circum- +stances relating to this practice. The +claif + +† The Lycian Arrows, according to the description of Herodotus, appear to have been nearly of this kind, +as they were not guided by feathers. See Herodotus, +Lib. 7. pg. 470 :—" καὶ ἀνεπαρκίας ἀποφέρονται." + +A black-and-white illustration of a man holding a bow and arrow. + +A R C H E R Y. +122 + +clafs of these substances principally made use of in all nations, was the Sileccous— +as common Flint, Jasper, Agate, &c. + +There are the best reasons for ima- +gining that these Arrow-heads were in +use from the highest antiquity, as there +is scarcely any country in which they +have not been found buried in the earth. +They are not uncommon in Scotland, +England, and Ireland. America pro- +duces them in all its parts; and what is +extraordinary, I have heard from natives, +that James River, in Virginia, often +throws them on its banks, during the +overflowing of the waters. If this fact +be true, (but I cannot vouch for it +myself) it is not a bad proof, of the an- +tiquity of the use of stone points, and +the long time America has been peopled; +for we must admit many ages for acci- +dent to have accumulated so great a num- + +R ber + +AN ESSAY ON + +ber in the space James River occupies, +even allowing the natives to kill beasts +and birds, or fish from the banks, which +is not their practice. + +Herodotus tells us, the Ethiopians +pointed their Arrows with a stone used to +engrave feals with.* + +Thefe stone-heads have been formerly +called Ceraunius, and are reported by Pliny +to have fallen from Heaven in storms of +thunder. Others have clasfed them as +cryfallizations, and arranged them among +the natural productions of the earth. +But they were in fact, the heads applied +to Arrows, in the early ages of the +world, and bear the most evident marks +of manufacture and art. They seem to +have been formed by hammering and +rubbing. + +Those + +* See Herodotus, pg. 464. + +A R C H E R Y. +14 + +Tho'fe which are found in Ireland and Scotland are generally of a mixed brown-coloured flint. Though there are some in Perthshire red, which appear to have been the heads of very small Arrows. In Ireland, some of them are made of a flint, almost as pelucid as an onyx, and nearly of the same colour. Very small Arrow-heads are found in Barbados, made of a fiffile talky flone. Instruments and weapons, such as axes, chifels, arrow-heads, the points of darts, and lances, have been found of the fame materials. Dampier formerly, and Cooke lately, discovered people who were in the practice of using these stone tools and weapons with the Spaniards, at their first defeat upon America, found no other in use among the natives of the continent, and the islands adjacent; for although the Americans had iron ore in abundance; see Chambers's Dictionary. + +A page from a book with text about arrowheads and flints. + +324 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +abundance, they were ignorant of its use till taught by the Spaniards. + +It is remarkable that these weapons are made with greater regularity than we might reasonably expect, considering the imperfections of the instruments which must have figured them. They are many of them formed in a manner very difficult to make without breaking, for the part is often long, and very thin. They are exceedingly sharp, and the edges frequently indented like the teeth of a saw. The Arrow-heads likewise, though found in countries the most remote from each other, are still nearly alike in figure. Those found in the parts bordering on the strait of Magellan are said, by Dr. Woodward, to resemble those of this island. He adds his reasons,—" That different men having in view the same design, conducting their thoughts in a regular + +A page from a book, with text discussing the construction and characteristics of arrowheads. + +A R C H E R Y. +regular manner, may come, in the pur- +fuit, to the fame conclusion; and, as in +this cafe, hit on the fame shape for a +weapon of such design. But it is much +more likely, that they came all from the +fame origin, and that the firft module +was brought from Babel, to the various +countries whither the feveral colonies, +fent thence, made their migrations.* (In Plate 2, N° 4, 5, and 6, are three +of these heads.) + +The horns of animals have been em- +ployed for the pointing of weapons in +ancient times; and as wild beasts wore +no armour, and favage nations little co- +vering, arms of this kind would be +found efficacious, in the hand of the +hunter, or warrior. Indeed, it is not +an + +* See Woodward's Letters on Poils. Let. m. to Sir John Hipkyns, pg. 43. + +A page from a book with text discussing archery and animal horns. + +146 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +an uncommon practice at this day, among those nations ignorant in metals. + +We cannot imagine the instruments of war, before the discovery of fire, could have been pointed with metal; but the moment the art of separating that substance from the ore was known, metallic weapons would no doubt be fabricated, and introduced in battle. Arrows which usually had been pointed with horn, bone, or flint, would be covered with more permanent materials. Copper, and what was called braffs, seem to have been first discovered by mankind, and accordingly these metals appear to have been first in use. Arrows and javelins were commonly + +† Lord Bacon has observed what seems very extraordinary. † That an Arrow without an iron point will penetrate to the depth even of eight inches into a piece of wood, when shot from a Turkish Bow; while another Arrow, having an iron point, will not penetrate near so deep.‡ See E.y.t. Soliary 704. Not. High. + +A historical illustration showing a scene of battle with arrows and javelins. + +A R C H E R Y. +17 +monly headed with brafs, or copper, in the time of Homer, as appears from many passages in the Iliad.§ Herodotus mentions a wonderful brafs cup, made from the heads of Arrows. He fays, a King, named Ariantas, defiring to number the people of Scythia, commanded that each perfon in his dominions fhould bring the head of an Arrow to him, under pain of death, in cafe any one neglected. From the heads which were collected, a cup was made, capable of holding fix hun dred hogheads; and the thickness of the fides of it was equal to fix digits.† + +The folders of Greece and Rome had not only their fpars, javelins and arrows pointed with brafs, but alfo their whole armour confifted of that metal. Livy fays, + +§ Iliad, B. 4, L. 527—B. 13, L. 607. + +‡ Herodotus, pg. 385. + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +fays, the shield, the bufgin, the helmet, +were all of brafs, among the Roman +Legions.|| + +The ancients are reported to have been +in poffeffion of a method of indurating +brafs, but the procefs is not at this day +known. The points of spears, and the +other weapons, which are not unfrequent- +ly found in feveral parts of Europe, are +proved to contain an alloy very different +from that made ufe of in the prefent day. +Some experiments made by Mr. Dize, +and inferted in the "Journal de Phy- +fique" for April, 1790, have fhewn that +the brafs of the Greeks and Romans was +compofed of copper, with a mixture of +tin, instead of zinc; and he fuppofes +that it was owing to this circumftance +that they were rendered fo hard. But I + +am + +[ Clypium ocrum, loria, omnia ex ore, haat +egmina corporis effent. Lib. i.] + +A page from a historical text discussing ancient metalworking techniques. + +A R C H E R Y. +119 + +um inclined to think that there was a subsequent process, to complete the tempering. Mixtures of copper with tin, are manufactured in the present times, and are particularly applied to the casting of artillery, and bells; for which last purpose the copper is to the tin, in the proportion of ten parts to one. Copper, by these alloys, is rendered hard, but brittle, as is the case with an addition of zinc. + +We may conjecture, therefore, that if the ancient brass was in fact so hard as it is represented to have been, that a tem- per was given by some processes used after the metal was composed, and that it was not owing to the mixture alone. Virgil tells us, the shield made by Vulcan for Æneas, at the request of Venus, and which the goddess presented to that hero herself, was made of brass, and was hardened by plunging into water; but perhaps this idea might arise only from + +S +the + +130 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +the making of steel from iron, and not +from a common method ufed to prepare +bras. + +*Ingentem clypeum informant, umum omnia contra* +*Tela Latinorum ; feptenique orbibus orbis* +*Impediment. Alii venefia follius auras* +*Accijunt redduntque : aliis fleridita tingunt* +*Era lacu.* + +*Annal. B. 447.* + +I need not fay, that latterly, iron has +been in general ufe for the heading of +Arrows; but it may prove a more extra- +ordinary piece of information if I fay, +that they have been pointed with gold +and filver, and thus ufed in battle, even +in Europe.* + +The figure of the Arrow-head has +been very fimilar in all countries,-at +leat thofe made for the purpofe of war. +They + +*See Nictetus, Annal. pg. 66, A. Fol. Paris.* + +A R C H E R Y. +136 + +They are represented sometimes barbed, +sometimes plain and long. They are +often flat, and nearly resembling the +leaves of some vegetables. (Plate 2, +Figures 1, 2, and 3, are taken from +ancient Arrow-heads.) N-1 and 2 were +to be fixed to the wood-part by a small +ferrule; but N-3 is a triangular solid +pyramid, and the upper point was driven +into the end of the wood, in the same +manner in which files and chisels are +fastened to their handles. + +These barbed forts are spoken of by +Ovid, in the following verse:— + +"Et manus hamatis utraque eff armata fugitias." + +The heads of these Arrows were seldom more than an inch, or an inch and an half long; but the unbarbed were longer.* + +S 2 The + +* There is a strange error in Gronovius, with respect to Arrow-heads. He tells us, that sometimes they + +138 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +The Emperor Commodus is said to have ufed hafts, the heads of which were fashioned like an half moon:—but we have occasion in another place to speak of thefe. + +In more recent times, we are informed, there were great variety of Arrow-heads ufed in war. But as figures will be bet- +ter + +they were three or four inches long; and quotes his authority from Statius. Their are the words— + +"Aliquando dubos, tribus, imo quator unci arma- +batur; ut legere spud Statium, + +"Alfera tergeminis acies fe condidit unciis." + +But this line in Statius has no reference to the use of Arrow-heads, very much otherwise, as the context fhows— + +*Prima Tanagraum turbavit arundo Chorumb* +*Extremo galce, primoque in margine parmo* +*Anguilla tramiffa via. Stat faucibus unda* +*Sanguinis, & facri facies rubet igne veneni.* +*Somnus Eurylion, cui luminis orbe faufihi* +*Alfera tergeminis acies fe condidit unciis.* +*Ille trahens oculo," &c.* + +Statius Theaid. Lib. 9, L. 7 + +A R C H E R Y. +138 + +ter underfoot than any verbal description, I shall refer the reader to the third Plate, which contains a variety of Arrows chiefly in use from the tenth to the fourteenth century. It will be observed, that some of these Arrows had the head fitted into the wood, and others had the wood fitted into the head. Some of them had their heads but lightly fixed on, or rather, had separate pieces of iron which applied to the Arrow, in order that, when a wound was given, the shaft alone should be drawn back, leaving the head buried in the flesh; and to render this more effectual, the iron was curved, or barbed, in various methods. (Plate 3, Figure A and B represent Arrows; and $a$ and $b$ the heads to be applied.) + +The Turkish Arrows in the fifteenth century are reported, by Villamont, to have + +A historical illustration showing various types of arrows. + +204 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +have been headed half a foot in length, +and barbed. + +The Arrows used in the shaft at present, +are armed with a flat barbed iron point, +about an inch in length, which is fixed +on to the cane by a short ferrule. Some- +times the heads are made in an acute +pyramid, about one inch and an half +long. + +The common shooting Arrows in +England, as they are not designed to in- +flict death, are not very sharply pointed. +The fides of the shaft converge to an +obtuse point, at the distance of an inch. + +The + +† Villamont, Voyages du. Liv. 2, pg. 213- + +A B +773 + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
AB
12
34
+ +--- + +A R C H E R Y. +95 + +The WHISTLING ARROW. + +THERE is a kind of Arrow which, from the construction of its head, is called the Whistling Arrow. There are two methods in which the heads are made. The one is by having a ball of horn perforated with holes at the end, and flattened to the Arrow, by the wood paffing through it, and fitting tight. But this is not the most definable kind; for as the perforations are liable to become choked up, by the Arrow falling to the ground, the head must be taken off whenever the holes are thus filled; and as the horn ball does not adhere very firmly, if the Arrow penetrate the earth to any depth, it is difficult + +186 +A N E S S A Y O N + +ficult to draw it back without loosing the head. Another fort, which are ufually larger, and which have a deeper tone, are made with a few in the middle of the ball; by which means all the inconveniences attending the smaller kind are removed, as the ball is in the latter case glued firmly to the body of the Arrow, and may be drawn from the ground without danger of separating. + +It is suppoed these Arrows were formerly applied to some military uses, and particularly giving signals in the night. The Chinefe, I have been told, have ufed them for this purpose in time imme-morial. + +How long these Arrows have been known in England is uncertain; but I have found no passage referring to them earlier than the time of Henry VIII. +In + +A R C H E R Y. +157 + +In Hollinhead we read, " That in the year 1515, the court lying at Greenwich, the King and Queen, accompanied with many lords and ladies, rode to the high-ground of Shooter's-hill to take the open air; and as they passed by the way they espied a company of tall Yemen, clothed in green hoods, and Bows and Arrows, to the number of two hundred. Then one of them, which called himself Robin Hood, came to the King, deferring him to fee his men shot, and the King was content. Then he whistled, and all the two hundred shot, and looed at once; and then he whistled again, and they likewise shot again. Their Arrows whistled by craft of their head, so that the noise was strange and great, and much pleased the King and Queen, and all the company. All these Archers were of the King's guard, and had thus apparelled themselves to make falce to the King." + +T From +* See Hollinhead's Chron., Vol. III. pg. 836. + +A page from a historical text discussing Robin Hood's visit to King Henry VI. + +138 +AN ESSAY ON + +From the manner in which this story is told, we may be led to think the Whiffling Arrow to have been a new thing in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and perhaps just introduced, otherwise the exhibition would have scarcely been worth performing before the King and his company. + +THERE are contrivances by which small-shot and balls are discharged from the Bow, and by the assistance of a species of Arrow, (if we may venture to term it so) which is fixed on the Bow-string, by means of a perforation through one end, into which the String is passed. At the head of this rod is a tin ferrule, about there or four inches in length, and into which the shot is placed. It is usual to have a string on purpose for this kind + +A R C H E R Y. +35 + +kind of shooting, well wrapped in the middle with silk ; and the Arrows flipped on, that the whole may be removed from the Bow at pleasure. When an apparatus thus fitted up, is discharged, the Arrow communicating the force imparted upon it by the String, to the shot, projects them with a velocity in proportion to the strength of the Bow made use of ; but as the weight of the charge and the Arrow tend in a great degree to diminish the velocity of the body emitted, we must conceive the effect much less powerful, than that of an Arrow shot from the same Bow. + +In discharging balls, the same apparatus is made use of, except that instead of a tin ferrule, as in the former case, the Arrow has a weak spring on each side of the head, placed so as to press gently on the ball. + +T 2 One + +40 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +One invention on this principle is very extraordinary, and which I cannot omit to mention, though it appears more curious than useful. + +The Bow is to be fitted up as in the preceding cafes, and the Arrow as that used for discharging shot, only that this muft have four tin ferrules about an inch long each, instead of a fingle one. These are to be placed nearly parrellel, but entirely fo, as they are intended to make the charge diverge. A light filk net about four feet square, is to be prepared, having a fmall leaden bullet fixed on each corner: these bullets are to be put fingly into each of the four tin ferrules, and in this flate the whole may be carried into the field for ufe. On difcharging the Bow, the balls are thrown out with violence, carrying the net with them, + +and + +ARCHERY. +and at the same time expanding it; and +should it be directed properly towards a +partridge, or any other bird on the wing, +the net will not fail to entangle and bring +it to the ground. + +CHAP. + +--- + +A R C H E R Y. +19 + +C H A P. VII. + +Of POISONED ARROWS. + +A MONG the various appendages which have been attached to the Arrow, the most formidable seems to be that of poison. We are told that a fluid is prepared, and loaded with such powerful infection, that the animal fysfem thins under its effects, almost instantaneously, if it be once introduced deeper than the skin. + +The vegetable and mineral poison we are acquainted with in Europe, if administered in small portions, require time to operate, and feldom produce immediate death. + +AN ESSAY ON + +death. But we shall find that in other parts of the world, nature has infused into the cells of some vegetables, fo dead- ly a venom, that not even the wound of the most virulent serpent can equal. + +Mankind probably fell victims to this poisonous juice at its first discovery; but the first use to which it was applied seems to have been the envenoming of Arrows, which were directed against wild beasts. For this purpose it was a very valuable acquisition, as the wound of an Arrow alone would seldom prove instantly mortal. + +The use of poisoned arms is of high antiquity; they were common in the time of Alexander, as Justin records.* + +Virgil, +* Cum venisset ad urbem Ambulgeri regis, oppidam vittum ferro audiientes, fugitasse veneno armant, atque +ita genuino mortis vulnere hotham a maris fummoven- +ta, plurimos interficiunt. +Justin, Lib. 13, Chap. o. + +A page from a historical text, possibly a Latin work by Virgil or Justinian. + +A R C H E R Y. +345 + +Virgil, in the 9th Ænead, celebrates Amycus for this art: + +" Inde ferarum +Vallatorem Amycum, quo non felicior alter +Ungere tela manu, ferrumque armare veneno. + +Æneid. g. 771. + +The Gauls, we find by Pliny, shot poi- +foned Arrows in hunting Stages, and +which were made from a tree called +Limeum.$ + +The poison with which part of the +inhabitants of America arm their darts, +is said by some to be prepared from a +tree called Mancanilla—they add, that it +is death to those who take in the effluvia +of it by inspiration, and for that reason +the old people and criminals are sent to +gather + +$ Limeum herba appellatur & Galilis, qua fagitas +in venena tingunt medicamento, quod venenum cer- +varium vocant. + +Plin. B. 87, Chap. 11, pg. 433. Vol. II. + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +gather the juice, protecting their nose and mouth as well as they can; but this is looked upon as a fable. + +By others it is said, the poison applied to arms is gotten from a serpent, which, when irritated, vomits a noxious liquor; and if the point of an Arrow be tainted with it, the wound inflicted by that weapon will prove instantly mortal. + +But from whatever things these venomous ingredients are procured, it is certain the effects are often violent and dreadful. The savages in America pretend, that by compounding the liquor, into which they dip their Arrows, with a greater or less + +* * * ++ A similar story is told of a tree, in the island of Java, called the Upas, and of another in Makatia, which Gumilla mentions. +See Vol. III, pg. 16. Hift. de l'Orneque. +† See Viaggi da Ramulio, Vol. III, pg. 155—E.—Fol. + +A page from a book with text and illustrations. + +A R C H E R Y. +17 + +-For portion of the poisoning quality, they can cause immediate death from a wound, or protract the effect to a few days, a week, or a fortnight. + +The real advantage derived from the use of poisoned Arrows in war, seems so trivial, that we may doubt whether victory was ever apparently aided by the effects of those weapons. And although Alexander and Cortes, as well as many warriors, have been exposed to these doubly-armed instruments of death, we do not find they have ever attested the double efficacy of them.* + +The natives of the east, and in America, who practise the poisoning of Arrows, employ those instruments in the hunting + +U 2 +of + +* It must be observed, that the use of poisoned Arrows is principally confined to the chase, and is introduced upon emergencies only in battle, among the Americans. — See Condamine, Voyage, pg. 306, + +and + +148 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +of wild beasts. But the Arrow they use is of a very different construction from those which are usually shot from the Bow. They are simple sticks of hard wood, poisoned at the end, and are so light as to be blown through a tube, in the manner we often see boys blowing peas, or other substances, in this country. + +I find the following circumstantial account of this affair in the History of Guiana, by Bancroft. The author says, + +"The poisoned Arrows are made of splinters of the hard and solid outer substance of the Cokarito tree, and are usually + +and Bancroft's History of Guiana, pg. 306.--There is, however, an influence of the Americans having used these Arrows with great success, related in the "Viaggi di Ramusio," Vol. III, pg. 24-A., Valco Numea, with 300 men, attacked a party of Indians, who immediately turned about, discharged a flight of poisoned Arrows on them, and at the first shot killed 107 of the 300 who had invaded their country." + +A page from a historical text discussing the use of poisoned arrows by indigenous peoples. + +A R C H E R Y. +49 +ally about twelve inches in length, not larger in bulk than a large common knitting-needle. One end of the Arrow is formed into a sharp point, and envenomed in the poison of Woorara; round the other end is wound a roll of cotton, adapted to the cavity of the reed through which the Arrow is to be blown. The Arrow, thus decked and armed for destrucion, is inferred in the hollow straight reed, several feet in length, which being directed towards the object, the Arrow is by a fingle blast of air from the lungs protruded through the cavity of the reed, and flies with great swiftness and unerring certainty, the difance of thirty or forty yards, conveying speedy and inevitable death to the animal from whom it draws blood. Blowing the Arrows is the principal exercife of the Indians from their childhood, and by long ufe and habitude, they acquire a degree of dexterity. + +AN ESSAY ON +terity and exactness, which is inimitable by an European, and almost incredible." + +The fame is practised in the East al- +most universally. The inhabitants of +Makaffar, particularly, are accustomed +to poison their arms. The brother of +Mr. Tavernier, (the celebrated French +traveller) while in India, had a remarka- +ble proof of the activity of this poison +exhibited to him. + +An Englishman residing in Makaffar +had in a rage, killed a subject of the +king of that island, but his offence was +pardoned. In consequence of which the +other English, French, and Dutch in- +habitants of the island, fearing lest the +resentment of the natives might be ex- +ercised against them, requested the king +that the person guilty of the charge, +should suffer for what he had done, that + +no + +A R C H E R Y. + +no future revenge might be meditated by his subjects, against the Europeans, as was sometimes the case. The king con- +fented, and as he wished the criminal to suffer as little pain as possible, he said he himself would inflict the stroke by a poi- +tioned Arrow. He defined the brother of Mr. Tavernier, (for he was very inti- +mate with the king) to attend him to the execution. When the man was brought, +the king asked him what part he should wound, upon which he named the great toe of the right foot. The king then took an Arrow, properly poisoned, and adapted it to the tube, and blew it with incredible exactness to the point. Two European surgeons on the spot, immedi- +ately exerted their skill, but though they amputated the part far below the wound, +with quick dispatch, the man died in their hands. + +All + +75 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +All the kings of the eastern countries collect this poison to tinge their Arrows, and keep them ready for use during a long time. The king of Achen made a pre- sent of a dozen of these Arrows to a Mr. Coke, envoy at Bavaria, with whom Mr. Tavernier was well acquainted. One day when these gentlemen were together, they had the curiosity to try whether those weapons retained their virulence or not, as they had been kept several years unused. They shot some of them at squirrels and other animals, all of which dropt the moment they were wounded, a circumstance which sufficiently proved, not only the violence, but also the permanence of this terrible poison.* + +I cannot authenticate the violent effects of poisons applied to Arrows better, than by producing the result of some experiments + +* See Voyages de Tavernier, Vol. II. + +A page from a book, likely a historical or scientific text discussing the effects of certain poisons on arrows. + +A R C H E R Y. +135 + +ments which were made on the poifons of Lamas and Ticunas, brought to France by Mr. de la Condamine, from South America.† + +This gentleman gave a part to Mr. He- +riffant, who wished to ascertain whether the reports concerning the violent effects of these species of poison, were true or false. He accordingly began to prepare the poison in the way Mr. de la Conda- +mine informed him the Americans did, +but in his proceedings he met with two accidents, either of which might have coft him his life. + +He understood that the proper method was to dissolve the poisonous substance he received, in water, and to evaporate X the + +† Mr. De la Condamine informs us of a few expe- +riments he tried on poisoned Arrows, during his re- +sidence at Cayenne, which he has inferred in the narrative of his voyage to the Amazon river, pg. 202. + +X + +54 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +the solution till it become thick, and dark-coloured.† He began the process, but the fumes almost deprived him of his senses, and had he not taken a large quantity of sugar dissolved in wine, which was prescribed as an antidote, he might have fallen suffocated, and lifeless on the floor of his room.§ + +He, however, effected the process completely at another time, and corked the liquid + +† In the preparation of this poison, it is said, the care of the boiling is entrusted to a criminal; and at the time the poison becomes suffused by the fumes, it is concluded to be sufficiently boiled.—(See Bannez, p. 190.)—Alfo Guinla, Vol. III., pg. 12.) + +But the Experiments of the Abbé Fontana on this kind of poison, prove the vapour to be innocuous to the lungs. This author concludes the relation of his experiments in these words—" Da tutte quelle esperienze deduce che i vapori de' fumi del veleno Ameri-cano, sono innocenti, o che fi futino, o che fi rei-perino." + +Trattato del Veleno, Vol. III., pg. 28. + +§ The fumes of a charcoal fire would have this effect, independent of any other cause. + +A R C H E R Y. +155 + +liquid in a small bottle, and locked it up. +But wishing to begin his intended course +of experiments, he one day took the phial +containing the poison, into his hand, +when in a moment the cork flew to the +ceiling of the chamber, and the liquor +ran streaming over his hand. In this +second dilemma he confin'd himself +to an inevitable and speedy death. How- +ever, as there was no wound or puncture +on his skin, by which the poison could +penetrate to the blood, wafhing effectu- +ally removed the danger. + +Having escaped these misfortunes, he +began his experiments on the 6th of +June, 1748. + +X 2 He + +I Bancroft fays, in his Hiftory of Guiana, that in +trying experiments with poison, he had a drop acci- +dentially thrown into his eye, but by wafhing he pre- +vented any very bad effects, though he felt pain for +some time afterwards. Fg. 393. + +456 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +He made a little wound about three lines* in length, in the hinder leg of a Rabbit, and put a bit of cotton moistened in the poison of Ticunas to the place; the creature died suddenly in his hand, without giving any sign of pain, before he had time to put a bandage on, as he intended. + +This experiment was repeated the same day, on seven different animals, all of which died in less than a minute. + +June 7.—He dipped the point of a lancet into the poison, and pricked some Cats with the instrument, all of which died in less than three minutes. + +June 8.—He made an incision with a lancet, between the ears of a Cat, and with a pencil, put into it a drop of the poison of Ticunas, mixed with that of Lamia. + +*A line is one-twelfth of an inch.* + +A page from a book with text and illustrations. + +A R C H E R Y. +137 + +Lamas; in an instant the creature died in his hands. + +June 9.--He tried experiments in the same manner on fish, reptiles and insects, none of which were affected by the poison. + +There are many more experiments of the fame kind mentioned by Mr. Herifant, but these will clearly shew the accounts we have often read not to be fabulous. This gentleman observes also, that the animals which have been killed by the means here spoken of, are not in the least unfit for use; they may be eaten without any ill consequences. "In effect," says he, "I have eaten Rabbits which I had killed with poison, and afterwards made several other persons eat them." + +A page from a book, likely a historical or scientific text, discussing experiments involving poisons and their effects on various creatures. + +158 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +them, and not one of us perceived the smallest indisposition.* + +I could scarcely read the account of these experiments without great pain, in seeing such a number of harmless creatures sacrificed to ufelefs curiosity; ufelefs, because a few trials would have established the fact as firmly as a great number; and as there seemed no material difference in the operation of the poison in his numerous experiments, it is furprizing how a man could delight in taking away the life of so many animals. There is one thing, perhaps, that might be urged,—they felt no pain, he fays; but if the defcription of the circumftances which attended thofe who survived the wound + +* Gumilla relates, that the nations on the banks of the Orononoko, eat the Monkies they kill by poisoned Arrows. + +See Vol. III. pg. 7. Hg. de l'Ornonoque. + +Dr. John Hunter's Remarks + +A R C H E R Y. +159 + +wound a little time, be true, it is evident they felt extreme pain.† + +I perceive, in the course of the experiments he makes mention of, the following catalogue:—Six Horfes, one Bear, one Eagle, one Hawk, two Wolves, one Pig, one Lamb, thirteen Rabits, fifteen Dogs, nine Cats; and of Rats, Mice, Pole-cats and Guinea-pigs, a great number. These were poisoned to ascertain the fact; but had the gentleman poffef-fed lefs curiosity, and more compassion, + +† It is reported, that wounds made by Arrows, tinged with some kinds of poison, used by the inhabitants of Brazil, which are not inflamable mortal, prove extremely tormenting; and the effects are so violent, that those who are wounded appear to be almost driven to distraction with the pain.—Quelch tirano la lor freeze con una herba coltella fè pelifera & velenofa, che non vi ha remedia alcuno: et quelli che ne ven-gono feriti, muoiono arrabbiati, & fanno molti motivi & fi mordono le loro proprie mani & cani, &c." + +Ranfio, Vol. III. pg. 82. + +160 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +he might have established his facts with equal firmness. + +It would be happy if a remedy to the effects of poison were known, which could be acknowledged effectual; but although every country, and every age, has produced to the world a specific in the case of poison, yet still there is great uncertainty in many of the prescribed cures, and in others manifest fallacy. + +Pliny has enumerated several vegetable and mineral substances which were used, in order to counteract the effects of different poisons made use of in his day. But as it is impossible to understand what he intends, in some of his descriptions, and as others are nothing less than foolish charms and nostrums, we must esteem his information as adding nothing to our knowledge. + +§ See Phil. Trans. Vol. 47. + +A blank page. + +A R C H E R Y. +164 + +Knowledge on this part of the subject, +The ancients, as far as I can discover, +were in possession of nothing which can +be called an effectual remedy. For though +there are many instances recorded, of +people having made use of antidotes, +there are an infinity of examples, in +which those antidotes have proved use- +less and ineffectual. Indeed, the accounts +of those who are said to have been healed +by the effects of a counter-poison, are ex- +pressed in such equivocal and inaccurate +language, that we are still left in ignorance +as to the thing in question. Generally, +the fact alone is mentioned without any +explanation; and some are content to +place confidence in the affection, without +further inquiry. Justin, for instance, +says, that Alexander, in besieging a town, +had a great number of his soldiers +wounded by the poisoned Arrows of +the enemy. Among others, Ptolemy + +Y was + +A N E S S A Y O N + +was struck by one of these darts. Alexander was exceedingly concerned for the misfortune which had befell his friend, and ordered a decoction of herbs to be administered to him. The potion was accordingly given, and had an immediate effect in removing the impending danger. The fame medicine speedily relieved the greater part of those who had been wounded, has it had done Ptolemy.* + +But this fact will enable us to form no conclusion. The arrows by which the wounds were inflicted, might not have all been poisoned; and if those persons who were hurt by the supposed poisoned weapons, shewed any peculiar symptoms, + +* Cum inter multos vulneratus etiam Ptolemaeus effecit, moriturumque jamquam videturur, per quidem regi monstrata in remedia veneni herbae eis, qua in potu accepta, flamin perihius liberatus effit, majorque pars exercitus hoc remedio fervens. + +Juf. Lib. 12, Ca. 10. + +A R C H I E V. 168 + +symptoms, different from others, wound- +ed by untainted arrows, it might have +been occasioned by the imagination, and +the dread of having suffered by poison. +In fact, as we are ignorant of all concor- +mitant circumstances, and as correspond- +ing examples are equally vague ; our +knowledge on this head must remain +exceedingly uncertain. + +But let us now endeavour to find out +the opinions of more modern historians +and physicians. + +Men exposed to particular dangers, are +generally more skilful in protecting them- +selves, than those, who are unacquainted +with similar difficulties ; and accordingly +travellers report, that the natives of Ameri- +ca, and the East, have all of them, +either real or pretended, antidotes for the +cure of the attacks of poison. + +Y 2 The + +164 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +The most efficacious and valuable forts are usually kept secret from the vulgar, and from foreigners, and are in the pos- session of the kings and chiefs. Some of these esteemed remedies are however mentioned, a few of which I shall take notice of. + +The inhabitants bordering on the river of the Amazonas, in which country Mr. Condamine travelled, use sugar or the sugar cane, and regard it a grand and universal specific; but this opinion does not correspond with that, formed from experiments, made in Europe.† + +Preparations of Tobacco are found fallible, though they have been eagerly recommended by many savage nations.§ + +† See Condamine, Voyages, and Bancroft's Hist. of Guiana, pg. 397. + +§ Les premiers Espagnols qui voulaient foumetter les Caraïbes, ayant souvent renoncé les effets de ces traits, + +A R C H E R Y. +Sea-falt, or sea-water has been esteemed a remedy by some; and it is reported this was discovered to be a remedy by a boy who washed his wounded hand in the sea, and by that means cured the part. + +The facts related of the healing of wounds by the application of human faliva, appear better authenticated, and seem to show its beneficial effects in particular instances. + +Some of the experiments on the poison of Ticunas made by Fontana shew that the noxious quality was in a final degree checked + +traits, eurent recours à une infinie de contre-poisons, +& s'imaginent enfin d'en avoir trouvé un, dans les feuilles du tabac. Cette découverte fut annoncée en Espagne avec tant d'éclat que Philippe II, fit faire des expériences en la présence fur des chiens, dont on frotta les plâtes avec du tabac broyé, mais l'illusion ne dura pas, & en s'appuyant bientôt que ce principe (po- +cifique n'enfuirait pas infallible. + +Rech. fur les Amér. + +165 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +checked by the operation of the mineral acids, except by the nitrous, which had no good effects. Alkaline salt produced no change, and the only way by which the animal frame was protected, was by cutting the wounded part out inflammatively. + +The practice of shooting poisoned Arrows decreases rapidly; and as the use of fire-arms has penetrated to the depths of the Asiatic and African continents, Archery may, perhaps, in the space of a short period, be almost laid aside among those nations who maintain an intercourse by trade and commerce with Mahometan or Christian states. + +I shall close this chapter with a short account of the wonderful effects ascribed to + +† See Trattato del Vetrono. Fontana. pg. 45-49, Vol. 2. + +A page from a book, likely a historical or scientific text discussing the effects of various substances on living organisms. + +ARCHERY. + +to the Dictamnus, an herb, growing prin- +cipally in the island of Crete, and which +many authors celebrate for the quality it +possessed in relieving animals wounded +by Arrows. + +As early as the days of Aristotle, it is +recorded, that the Cretan Goats, when +they perceived themselves struck by an +Arrow, went immediately in search of +this vegetable, and behold! no sooner +did they eat of it, but the Arrow, (the +inutus et in cute) fell from the wound, and +they recovered! + +This story of the Dictamnus is told +by Aristotle himself;* and Pliny could +certainly + +* - as in Crete arum, eras rufidum, Creton re +Dictamnon, to eat. govenum, eras pug. govenum, ideo +exhaurire re dictamnon + +dehisc. de mirabil. exculpita. + +168 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +certainly not overlook a vegetable endowed with such powers. + +Cicero has mentioned it; as also have Virgil§ and Ælian, in his history. + +† Dictamnum herbam extrahendis fraginitis cervi monftraveri, pecculi eo telo, pafuque ejus herba ejecite. +Pliny, Lib. 8, Ch. 27. + +‡ Capras autem in Creta feras, cùm efient conffixa venenatis fagitis, herbam quarere que Dictamnum vocaretur; quam cum guftavilent, fagitas excidere licunt è corpore. +Cicero, Nat. Daurum, Lib. 2. + +§ Aeneid 11. V. 412, et feg. + +† Ælian var. hift. Lib. 1, Ch. 10. + +CHAP. + +ARCHERY. +60 + +CHAP. VIII. + +I SHALL now speak of some other uses to which the Arrow has been applied, distinct from that of a warlike instru- ment; and first of + +Divination by the Arrow. + +The art of divination, which was once so common among the nations of the earth, seems to have exitated, partly by the aid of credulity, and partly by artifice. Men inpower have by this means spoken their own will, under the mask of that of Heaven, and have led the vulgar into schemes and actions, which, without this assistance, their own authority was un- + +Z able + +170 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +able to effect. Hope, fear, and curiosity, three strong moving principles of the human heart, were the pallions on which this practise was founded, while imitation cherished, and craft led it forward. + +Divination has obtained almost universally and some of the most interesting events which have attracted the attention of mankind, have depended on the determination of the most insignificant circumstances. By the fall of an Arrow—by the flinging of a flume—even by the poith of a man's thumb-nail,—have nations been induced to raise war, and to involve thousands in misery and blood—Such obedience was there, to the will of rulers and of fate! + +Arrows + +*—ut alpiceret folent in ungue pollicis manus.* + +Graecus. Vol. VII.—27. + +A R C H E R Y. 171 + +Arrows have been in use among all people for the purpose of declaring Oracles, and even continue to at this day among some of the eastern nations. We find in Scripture, that it was practised by the kings of Palestine and the surrounding countries; and records of every kind establish the antiquity of the custom. + +One species of divination, and which appears very common, was that of putting a number of Arrows with inscriptions on them into a quiver, and after they had been mixed together by flaking, that which was first drawn, determined the fate of the affair in question. For this kind of augury, the ancient Arabs sometimes made use of seven Arrows, but in general, three were sufficient. These Arrows were not of the common make; they were without feathers, and were kept in the temple of some idol, + +Z 2 before + +AN ESSAY ON +before whom the omens were usually drawn. + +When three Arrows were used, there were inscriptions placed on two of them, the third was left blank. On the first was written,—" Command me Lord;"— on the second,—" Forbid me Lord."— Thefe two with the blank one were fha- ken together in a quiver, when any thing of importance was in queffion, and if the firft mentioned Arrow was drawn, it was eftemed a favourable omen—if the fecond was drawn, it was an inauspicious one ; but if the blank one, the three were again shaken, and the ceremony repeated, till the event was either favourably or unfavourably determined.† + +A similar kind of divination was prac- +tified by the Chaldeans. They incribed +the + +† See Univ. Hist. Vol. I. pg. 360. + +ARCHERY. +173 + +the names of those countries and cities, +which they were about to make war against, on Arrows; and after having mixed them together, the name borne on the first drawn, was the country or city to be first attacked. + +There was also a very mysterious custom in general use, which consisted of drawing omens from the appearance of the bright points of Arrows, by the inspection + +† Erat mos regum Chaldaeorum, ut in bellum exituri, sagittas magico ritu Astrologorum opera conficerent, urbium et gentium nomina, quos evadere voluerant infiererent, hinc commissa invicem caco manusum affumpta, quamqueurque sagittam capi fecerent, illius genitum vel urbem, primo armis capi fecerent. + +Gra. Ant. Gr. Vol. VII.—57. + +And again— + +Stabit, inquit Hieron, in ipso compto, & ritu gentis fua oraculum confulerit, ut mittat sagittas fias in phare- +tram, & communicet eas incriptas, five fignatas nomi- +nibus, ut videat cujus fagitta exeat, et quam primus debeat expugnare civitatem. + +Grae. Vol. VII. ibid. + +574 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +Spection of which, the magician or priest discovered the intentions of fate. We find in scripture, that this was in ufe among the Babylonians in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. In Ezekiel, ch. xxii. +v. 21, we read, that " the King of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to ufc divina- +tion: he made his Arrows bright,—he consulted with images."* + +The Persians made ufe of Arrows for another purpose. By their affiance they numbered their troops, and discovered who had fallen in battle. When they undertook a campaign, each man placed an Arrow, with his name inscribed on it. + +* Quale vero fuerit apud Babylonios divinationis genus, variant Interpretes, Quidam purant terfífie Babylonios, fugitas, vel ferrum telorum, ut fpande- +ment, in coquefpandure, tanquam in fp.culo, cogno- +vile divinatoris. +Grom. Ed. VII. + +A black and white illustration of a man holding a bow and arrow. + +A R C H E R Y. +75 + +it, in a chest, or box, prepared to receive them; if after the battle, therefore, the king wished to be informed who were killed, he gave orders that each man should take the Arrow having his name upon it, from the chest, or box; and when all were drawn belonging to the survivors, those which remained shewed who were absent, or dead.† + +A stratagem of war, very much in use when the towers and walls of cities consisted chiefly of wood, was effected by means of the Arrow. + +Befiegers, unable to force a breach, or tap a wall, had recourse to fire, which they directed against all those parts which were combustible. + +The +† Apud Perus invulnus nus, ut percutitur in bellum, in cattam ante ergis tribunali, finguli lingulas fugitas insuit. Nus, non reverti, quidque repente flammea ex semelibus illorum qui prosto cedentem numenum internoscentem. + +Alex. ab Alex. Vid. I. p. 149. + +176 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +The besieged, on the other hand, +aimed their attention against the machines +and engines of wood, which fire could +more speedily reduce than force. + +In order to begin a conflagration, the +fire was attached to the body of Arrows; +and this was done by several different +ways. Sometimes cotton, tow, or the +like substance, previously mixed with +pitch, rosin, oil, or naptha, was wrapped +on the end of an Arrow, in the form of +a ball; which ball, when in ufe, was +fired, and the Arrow directed towards +the wooden towers and engines of the +enemy; where sticking firmly, commu- +nicated a flame to every part near it. +This was ufed with great fucces in naval +expeditions. + +Pliny + +§ Oleo incendiario, fluppa, fulphure, bitumene +obvolutae, et ardenties fugitae, per halidas in hofficarum +navium alveos infiguntur, &c. + +*Fqat.* §g. 117. + +A R C H E R Y. +177 + +Pliny mentions a fort of bitumenous substance, procured from a marsh, which was used with great advantage in the defence of towns; for when fixed to Arrows, and enflamed, it fluck to the engines, and even to the bodies of the enemy, with great force; and it was almost as easy to destroy an army by fire as by sword; for the flame raged with such violence, that water was unable to effect its extinction—it rather served to encrease the fury of it.† Indeed, several of these preparations appear to be almost unextinguishable; and the only method which seems to have proved efficacious, was that of covering the flame with earth.‡ + +Some experienced artists had a custom of exposing oil to the action of the air, till A a it + +† Pliny, B. 2. Ch. 104. +‡ See Am. Mar. & Plin. B. 4. + +128 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +it became thick, like naptha, and in that state they anointed their darts with it, several successive times, as the different coats became dry and hard. When a sufficient quantity had been put on, the Arrow was ready for use, and wanted only the contact of fire to render it doubly formidable. + +Ammianus Marcellinus describes another kind of fiery Arrow called the Mal- leola. It was constructed, he says, of cane, or reed, and at the part where the head joined to the body, there was a piece of iron open-work communicating with the middle of the Arrow, which was made hollow, and the cavity filled with combustible materials. When these Arrows were used, the substance within was enflamed, and after being shot, sticking to the object, burned with great rapidity whatever came in its way.* + +It + +* Am. Mar. Lib. 23. Ch. 4. PG. 577. + +A R C H E R Y. 179 + +It was usual in the management of these Arrows, to use a Bow much lower frung than in other cases, left the velocity of the motion should extinguish the burning matter. + +The custom of shooting fiery Arrows seems to have been in practice among many of the early nations of the Earth: one instance occurs, (not to mention more) wherein Xerxes made use of it against the Athenians, as related by Herodotus. + +The Falarica was another kind of Malleolus, usually constructed on a very large scale, and shot from the powerful engines. Livy describes this instrument as a long spear, to which tow and pitch were affixed at the head.† + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A a 2The
† Falarica erat Saguntinis, mittile telum haftilob-longo, et cetera terebi, praeterea quod ad extremum, unde ferrum exflabat, id, fictum in pilo, quadratum fluppa circumligabant, Imebantque pie. Ferrum autem tres in longum habebat pedes, ut cum armis transfigere corpus pollet, &c.
Livy. Hist. L. 21. 8.
+ +180 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +The savages of America also practised the shooting of fire affixed to Arrows; and I by accident, in turning over the leaves of Purchafe's Pilgrimage carelessly, met with the following piece of that author's wit, which is to the purpose. +He says, " The Indians of Carendies, Zeecheuir, and Tiembus, affayeded the town of Good-aires, and turned it into good-fires, by shooting Arrows fired at the end into it." + +Fiery Arrows were used by the English formerly. They are taken notice of by Math. Paris; and were much esteemed in naval engagements, as well as sieges. +We are informed, an Archer could shoot an ounce weight of combustible matter attached to the point of an Arrow, twelve-score yards. + +In + +Millimus ignitum super eos (picula ignita). +M., Paris, + +A R C H E R Y. +84 + +In fea fights alfo, the ancient English shot glafs phials filled with quicklime, in order to blind the eyes and disorder the enemy.† The reader may fee, in Pl. 4, Fig. 4, the form of the bottle of lime, copied from Strutt; and the other figures represent different forts of the Malleolus. + +More modern warriors have found this stratagem to answar, even after cannon and artillery have been ineffectual. A remarkable instance of this kind happened when Charles XII, King of Sweden, with about sixty of his followers, refitted the whole Turkish and Tartar army, near Bender. + +Charles, driven from his intrenchments, was under the necessity of seeking refuge in a house near at hand; which, however, + +† Et philas plenas calec, arcubus per parva haftilia ad modum fugittarum super hoffes jacentes, +Mai. Paris. + +AN ESSAY ON + +however, he faw occupied by the enemy. +He entered with a few of his attendants, +sword in hand, and every Turk either +leaped out at the window in hopes of +faving himself, or was killed on the spot. + +After getting poffeffion of this ambuf- +cade, by killing or driving about two +hundred out of it, and which was very +foon accomplished, the king withiood +the enemy bravely, and laid a great +number lifelef by his mugquery, from +the windows. The houfe was stormed +by cannon; but happily the walls were +fo substantial and firm, that the flone +bullets flew to pieces by thriking against +them; and the repulfe would have been +compleat, had not the Turks flot Arrows +with fire on them, into the roof, the +windows and the door of their fortrefs. +An attack which fubdued even the Iron +King of Sweden !* + +* See Voltaire's Hill, Charles XII. + +By + +A R C H E R Y. 183 + +By the affiance of the Arrow also, we find from Herodotus, that a treache- +rous correspondence was carried on at +the siege of Potidea, between Artabazus, +the Persian general, and Timoxenus, who +he wished to betray the town into his +power. The historian tells us he is +ignorant by what means the communi- +cation began; but that whatever infor- +mation was conveyed from one to the +other, was written and affixed to an +Arrow, which being flot to a particular +place, was there examined by the oppo- +site party, and an answer returned by +the fame conveyance. + +It is not very clear by what method +these letters were fixed to the body of +the Arrow: they appear to have been +wrapped on below the notch, and are +said to have acted as wings. But per- +haps + +† Herodotus, pg. 574. + +14 +A N E S S A Y O N + +haps the end of the Arrow might have +been slit down a few inches, and the +little scrolls inferted into it, in such +manner that part should project on each +side; they would then guide the Arrow +in its passage as feathers. Children often +feather their Arrows in this manner. + +C H A P. + +A diagram showing various arrows and a bow and arrow. The top row shows three arrows labeled 1, 2, and 3. The middle row shows a single arrow labeled 4. The bottom row shows a bow and arrow with labels A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z. The left side shows a circular object with labels 5 and 6. The right side shows a leafy object with label 7. +9 + +A blank page with a few small black dots scattered across. + +A R C H E R Y. +185 + +C H A P. IX. + +Of Q U I V E R S.* + +ALL thofe nations who have made ufe of the Bow, have found it neceffary to adopt fome method of carrying their Arrows, without engaging the immediate attention of their hands. The Quiver, therefore, has been in general ufe; and we have reafon to believe its invention speedily followed that of the Bow and Arrow. We find in Genefis, that it was a concomitant of the Bow at the B b time + +† Pharetra. Sagittarium theca. Sic difit, quod fit quidque, i. e. alimentum & tegmen vulnerantium, Suidae. + +46 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +time of Isaac. "Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy Quiver and thy Bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison." This passage clearly points out the high antiquity of the instrument in Asia; and there is no reason to suppose that in the other parts of the world its invention has been much posterior to that of the Bow. We are ignorant of the form, construction and materials of which Quivers were made in the time spoken of by Moses; but the bark of trees, or the skins of animals, seem to be the things most likely to have been adopted for that purpose. Those found among fagavies at this day, are for the most part formed from the materials I mention. Some of them are ornamented with elegant and curious workmanship, usually composed of the teeth of wild beasts, or fish, and intermixed with shells, or feathers. + +The + +A R C H E R Y. +57 + +The Quivers of the ancient Greeks, like those of many other nations, were made of skins, or leather. They were of various forms and sizes. Sometimes round, sometimes square, open at the top, or closed with a lid; each of which kind may be perceived among figures of the Grecian warriors.* This part of the warlike drefs was carried usually on the back, the upper end of the Quiver just rising above the right shoulder. It is for this reason Diana and Apollo are represented as carrying their Arrows in this manner. There is a figure from the Justiniani Gallery, and two from that of Verailles, copied in the forty-second Plate, Vol. I. of the Ant. Expt. of *Montfaucon, all of which are beautifully arrayed in the manner spoken of. These Quivers are all pictured without any covering to them; but we find from B b 2 Homer, +* See Pl. s, Fig. 7, 9, and on the Medal, Fig. 12. + +A black-and-white illustration of a figure holding a quiver. + +A N E S S A Y O N + +Homer, that the Greeks sometimes had a lid to protect their Arrows. + +By some the Quiver was used, not only as a case to convey their Arrows in, but also as a kind of **Rogary**, by which the events of every day were registered. +On retiring to rest, the Scythian threw a small stone into a Quiver placed near his couch, and if he had spent the day in comfort and to his satisfaction, he chose a white pebble; but if in trouble, a black one; at death, the Quiver was revered and the stones counted, and the person was esteemed to have spent an happy or unhappy life, in proportion as + +the + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * +Non spicula pofcit +* 18e labor; manent clauiis nunc fieca phartrin.* + +De Con. Stiick. Lib. 3. L. 268. + +48 + +A R C H E R Y. 189 + +the number of the white or black stones predominated.§ + +Some of the Ethiopians are reported to have made use of no Quiver, but car- +ried their Arrows fluck round their heads like Radii—as whimsical and inconve- +nient a method as they could have chosen, if it was really their custom.* + +The Quiver is said to have been made by some nations from the fkin of a large Serpent.+ The + +§ Suidas.—Anexo vipea—and alfo, Tav. no vii figgerun. +* See Lucian, ch. 28, pg. 503. De Saltat, and Claudian alfo, De Cons. Hon. Aug. Paneg. line 21, +† Ignavas Meroci tractis de crinis fatitas. +Again— +‡ Venerat & parvis redimitus Nuba fugitiva.* +Pg. 327. + +Utuntur ergo Aëthiopius capitis pro pharetra quod feri potuit vita quadam distemperat latusculo de fora- +misibus quibusdam infirmo, quibus fagitar ut vaginæ induturur qua parte habent fipcula, eminent pinnae & formant corona radiatam.—Cofner ad Claudiam. +† Serpentum gefiant patulis pro caffide rixus, +Splendent vigipera leuqrota pelle pharetrae. +Claud. De Land. Stil. L. 263. + +A stylized drawing of a serpent with a human head. + +# A N E S S A Y O N + +The Normans not only conveyed their Arrows by the Quiver, but used it also as a drum, to affix the clamour they usually raised at the opening of a battle.* + +The Coryto, or Corytus, was another kind of cafe used by many nations, in order to carry their Bows in. It appears to have been made on the fame general principal as the Quiver, and I judge it to be about the same length, because in every representation, it appears to admit half the length of the Bow. + +I have not been able to find any verbal description of this part of the ancient Archer's drefs, nor have I ever seen one of the more modern ones. + +In a figure of Tamerlane riding, which is drawn in pg. 15 Chron. Turcicorum, + +* Deinde perfrepentibus fecundum merem pharetria, clamor in caelum tollitar, pugna committitur. +Hij., Nom. Pg. 13. Paris 1619. Ed. + +the + +A R C H E R Y. 19 + +the method of carrying the Corytos, with the Bow in it, when on horseback, is shewn.—It is seen on a medal belonging to Mr. L'Abbé de Fontenay, copied by Montfaucon, Pl. 25, T. 4., and in the plate at pg. 157, of Suetonius, published by Piticius, in quarto.—There are several of them likewise on the medals in Dr. Hunter's Museum.—See Hunter's coins by Combe, Pl. 3, F. 20. LI. 26, &c. + +It is remarkable that in all the figures of this Bow-cafe, the Bow is represented as put into it strung. + +§ Among poetical liberties we often see that the Latin word Coryta, or Corytos, is made use of as synonymous with Phaerata, as in this passage from Statius, + +Coryta tellis +*78th. g—79th.* + +And also— + +*Trax leva fonat arcus, & alpera plumis* +*Terga, Cydonia Corytos arundine pulsat.* +*78th. L. 4—68.* + +The same use of the word occurs in Virgil, *Aeneid X.*, L. 169; and Ovid, *Trist. Lib. V.* El. 71, L. 15. But not- + +198 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +notwithstanding these passages, and many more of the same signification, the critics uniformly say the Coryno was the cale of the Bow, and not the Quiver — See the note on the above passage in Virgil, *Enod* X. L. 169, in the Malvicia Edition, Two Volumes Quarto, 1717. +" Coryn, proprii sunt arcum theae dicuntur tament etiam fagitarum, quas & phartras vocamus."—And alfo *Vollius* Lex. + +C H A P. + +ARCHERY. +178 + +CHAP. X. + +Of TARGETS. + +AT the time when wars were almost perpetual, and the hunting of wild beasts necessary, Archers could seldom be at a loss for living objects against which to direct their Arrows; but as these opportunities, in the progress of civilization, became less and less frequent, men had then recourse to stationary Targets, at which to try their skill, and exercise their art. + +The heroic games instituted of old, tended effectually to preserve and cherish + +C c in + +194 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +in peace, those accomplishments neces- +fary in war; and the Palm, held out to +the victorious in these combats, excited +and spread that emulation and pride, from +which all great efforts originate. Hence +the Arena has ever been esteemed the +school of valour and of martial virtues. + +Archery, it must be confessed, did not +hold any conspicuous place among these +exhibitions, at least rarely. I know not, +indeed, of any instance among the Greeks, +though among the Romans there are +several. + +It does not appear, I believe, from any +express affirion, that the ancient Greeks +had any particular places set aside for the +life of Archers; we may infer, however, +that such existed, from hints to be found +in the classic writers. + +The + +A R C H E R V. +198 + +The guard of Athens consisted chiefly of Archers, as did originally the Artillery Company of London; and it is not unreasonable to suppose, there may have been a *Fenbury* in Greece, as well as in England.* + +Xenophon clearly mentions the ancient Butts;† and a line in *Echylus* intimates that Archers were accustomed to shoot at them.‡ + +C c 2 The + +* Sagittarii, ministri publici, custodes urbis, numero mille, qui prorsus, quidem, in medio foro, faltia illic tabernaculis, habitabant. + +B. 990, Vol. IV. Group. Antp. + +† —— nis ype vobum iun, pse (a Kup) ad *exercitium* +**apertum perpetuam** nis, add ex exercito *Bastian* *tabernaculis*. + +Cyr. Agr. Lib. I. P. 33. L. + +In the same book we find that boys practised at the virtuals they were to eat. I have observed (page 80), this was a custom in America, + +‡ Echylus, uti tabernae adhuc erant. + +A/6h. Ag. V. 637. + +A page from a historical text discussing the use of archery by Athenians and its origins. + +196 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +The Persians of old practised at Shields formed of raw hides, or some-times of solid wood, which their Arrows pierced without difficulty. + +With respect to the Roman manners, Vegetius tells us that there were places in which the Archers and slingers exercised, and where Butts were erected for the soldiers to aim at. + +These Butts, or Targets, were sometimes fine-le pofts only, sometimes they were made of fagots, or sheaves of straw, and were usually placed at the diftance of a fadium, (or about fix hundred feet) from the place in which the Shooter flood. + +These + +I See Brittonius de Reg. Perfumum, pg. 636. +§ Sagittarius vero, vel fundatorum, copia, hoc ef, +fruticum vel firnium facio, pro fingo ponentant: +Ha ut fecentur pedes rem venere præ figurem ut fagitile, +vel certe lapidibus ex futubalo definitas, fingum fingua tangentem. + +*Pegas.* Ch. xg. B. s. + +A R C H E R Y. +287 + +These exercises were regulated by particular laws, and under the inspection of matters.* One law was similar to a privilege granted by Henry VIII. to the Finbury Archers; I mean, an indemnification from the charge of murder, if any person shooting, should kill another passing between him and the Butt. This was enjoyed by the Roman Archers and flingers; but the Aquilian law denied the fame to those who used the other weapons, such as the pilum, javelin, or plumbatum.† + +The most extraordinary circumstance with respect to the objects at which Archers directed their Arrows, occurs in en + +* See Vegetius Lib. 1, Ch. 15. + +† — Si in eo campo, qui exercitioni militibus depus- tatus erat, aliquem iudicem interemptive tranfeuntem, adionem legis Acquiliae fuille denegatum: at contra qua data opera in eum Jaculati forent, Aquilia tenedatur. +Vigot p. 90. + +188 + +AN ESSAY ON + +an old French law. I am inclined to think, that it was a custom to drefs per-fons over with a number of shields, and to shoot at them thus clad, as Targets. In order to prevent this, Dacobert instituted a law, in the year 630, inflicting a penalty of forty thillings for each offence. + +The Butts formerly in ufe in this king-dom, were generally of earth; but those of straw are at prefent more in fashion. The latter kind poffefs an advantage, as they can be moved with cafe to any diftance fixed upon. The manufacture of them is fimilar to that of the common Straw Bee-hives; and they are usually made about four feet and an half in diameter, that + +is, + +§ Si quis liberum hofili manu cinxerit, quod Aeri- neta vocant, id elfi, cum quadraginta duobus clypeis, et legatum in curtum projeccerit, aut quadraginta te-lorum genus, cum quadratina folida componat. +Caput. Reg. Franc. Balazusi, pg. 109. + +A page from a historical text discussing ancient laws and customs. + +A R C H E R Y. + +is, twice the length of the Arrow. The front part is covered with cloth, painted in rings of different colours, in order to mark the respective degrees of merit each Arrow is entitled to. The way in which this is done, in common, is to divide the length of the Arrow into five equal parts, and taking these divisions, as the radii of the different circles. The fifth part of twenty-seven inches, which is the length of the Arrow, is five inches 4-tenths; therefore if one foot of a pair of compasses be placed in the center of the Target, and a circle described with the distance five inches 4-tenths, the first circle will be ten inches 3-fourths diameter. If the foot be extended five inches 4-tenths further, the next will be twenty-one inches 1-half, and so on with the rest. When all the circles are described, that part inclosed within the circumference of the first circle, nearest + +the + +205 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +the center, is usually covered with gold or silver leaf. Between the first and second circle is often a red colour, and the others varied with white, green, &c., according to the taste of the person who makes them. The surface of these coloured rings may be again subdivided into equal parts, by concentric circles at proper distances from each other. The Target, thus prepared, is fixed on a frame of wood, contrived that it may be elevated or depressed to any angle of the horizon, as the intended shots are more or less remote. + +The Butts used by the Archers at Edinburgh are made on a very different principle; I mean those intended for short lengths. They are of straw, laid end-ways, and pressed hard with a screw; after which, the front is cut with a knife, in the manner hay is trussed. These are covered + +A historical illustration of a target and butts. + +A R C H E R Y. +covered with a little building, to protect the straw from injury, and the shooter from the rays of the sun, while drawing his Bow. + +Some time since, a thought struck me, that it would be possible to contrive a method of discharging a common gun, by connecting the Target (I mean by the Target, the mark shot at in small distances) in such manner that every time the Arrow pierced it, a discharge might take place. Accordingly, I contrived and made an apparatus, which fully answered what was intended. Since my invention, (as I esteemed it,) I understand there are Targets somewhat on the same plan used in Surrey; but I have never heard or seen in what manner the machinery is made. What I first used was a simple gun placed behind the Butt; to the trigger of which was fastened a D d weight, + +A page from a book with text about shooting and targets. + +605 +A N E S S A Y O N + +weight, by a string about a foot long. +This weight could be put upon a little +bracket, under which a bit of wood sup- +ported it. From the Target in front +was a wooden rod, moving in a tube +through the Butt, and placed in such a +position, that the end came exactly to +the foot of the bit of wood supporting +the bracket, having the lead weight on +it. When the effect was to be produced, +the gun was loaded, and cocked. The +weight was placed on the bracket, with +the support under it. Thus situated, +when the Arrow struck the Target, and +forced the rod a little backwards, the +support was displaced, the bracket fell, +and dislodged the weight, which falling, +plucked the trigger of the gun, and fired +it. The only difficulty I found was in +making the Target, and fixing it to the +rod which passed through the Butt. The +most substantial way, however, appeared +to + +A R C H E R Y. +103 + +to be that of having a piece of cork cut round, and about three inches in diameter. This was fixed in a tin box, to the bottom of which was a ferrule, wherein the end of the rod was inserted. Cork is the best substitute for the above purpose; because, when the Arrow strikes it, it enters, and may be pulled back without injury: but there is nothing else I know of, which can be substituted, that will not either break the Arrow, or be broken by it. On the front of the cork, a piece of pasteboard may be fixed, to render the mark more conspicuous; and three inches appears a proper size for the Target, in shooting the distance of thirty yards. + +D d 2 CHAP. + +. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +ARCHERY. + +CHAP. XI. + +On the English Long-Bow. + +AS the English Long-bow formerly held so distinguished a rank among the military weapons of Europe, and as many of the most important battles and conquests were obtained by the aid of English Archers ; it is necessary for me to infti, at some length, on the history of the Bow in this island ; were it only in compliment to the fame of our an- ceftors. + +Whether the eulogies which have been fo liberally paffed on the English Archers, by + +26 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +by English writers, be perfectly just, and whether they really were more expert in the practice of this branch of war than many of the ancient nations, I think may be disputed. The perpetual attention paid to injure youth to the practice of the Bow, by many warlike people of antiquity, was, I conceive, a much more severe discipline, than that of this country. Perhaps, indeed, our Archers might derive a superiority from their Bows being constructed on better principles, being more skilfully made, and of better materials than those used in other countries. + +But leaving this point undisputed, I shall now endeavour to trace the Bow, in this island, during the early periods in which it seems to have been known; continuing the history through the several successive ages and reigns, till the period in + +A page from a historical text discussing archery practices. + +A R C H E R Y. +207 + +in which that instrument was discon- +tinued, as a military weapon, in the +English army. + +Having had an opportunity of consult- +ing a fine collection of chronicle-writers, +and historians, I have been induced to +spare no pains in the investigation of this +part of my subject. A tedious research +has enabled me, however, to collect +only a few solitary facts with respect to +Archery in this kingdom, before the +time of the Norman invasion: but these +few facts, I think, will prove sufficient +evidence from which to judge of the +flate of the Bow in the early ages. + +I have been much surprized to find, +that some of our historians, and particu- +larly the more modern ones, have repre- +sented the English at the Battle of Haft- +ings, as entirely ignorant of the effect of +Archery; + +A page from a historical text discussing archery. + +
An Essay on
+Archery; and speak of the astonishment with which the troops were seized, in finding death inflicted on them, whilst the enemy was far at a distance. Speed observes, that the first discharge of Arrows from the Norman army, "was a kind of fight both strange and terrible unto the English, who supposed their enemy had beene already even in the middlest amongst them." Echard expresseth the same sentiment in his account of the battle with William. "The fight," he says, "began with great fury, order and equal bravery on both sides; in which the English were feebly gaul'd by the thick flowers of Arrows from the Norman Long-bows, before the battle joined; which was a weapon then unuited in England, and thereby the more surprizing, the wounds coming from enemies so far distant, and not suddenly to be re-venged." + +Hume + +A R C H E R Y. +809 + +Hume mentions nothing of this extraordinary surprize among the English troops, neither do Mat. Paris, nor many others. Sir J. Hayward says, the use of the Bow was first brought into the land by the Normans, and that afterwards the English being trained to the practice of it, became the best shooters in the world.* + +That the English could be ignorant of the Bow at the Conquest, appears inconceivable, as both the Saxons and Danes made use of it in battle against the inhabitants of this country, for many centuries previous to that time. It is true, there is no mention made of Archers among the troops of Harold, but it does not follow that they were ignorant of the effect of Archery, or that the Bow was not then used in England. + +E e At + +* See History of the Norman Kings. + +510 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +At what time this instrument was first brought into the island, is uncertain; the history of our country extends with accuracy to few ages back, that it is impossible to ascertain the true era in which the Bow was introduced. + +It is pretty certain, however, that the inhabitants of Britain, did not make use of this weapon in battle, at the time Julius Caesar first visited this country, as it is not enumerated among the arms of the natives, in the minute description of them, given by that author. + +The Romans, it is probable, introduced the Bow as a military weapon into Britain, as Archers often formed a great part of their auxiliary troops. The battles between the Romans and our countrymen, as described by Caesar, do not, however, appear to have been carried + +A R C H E R Y. +811 + +ried on by the assistance of it. But from the second book of the Commentaries, we find, that Caesar had both Numidian and Cretan Archers in his army, when he encountered the Belgæ, in Gaul;* and it is reasonable to suppose, that he also made use of them among his troops, when in Britain, about two years afterwards. + +During the reigns which succeeded that of Julius Caesar, and when the Romans had settled themselves on this island, Archers are frequently made mention of as part of their troops†, and it is probable, that the reinforcements often sent to the army in Britain, included many Archers, +E e 2 +as + +* Numidians & Cretans, fugitivus, & funditores Balcanes, fabulata oppidani mittite. +B. H. Ch. 8. See also Ch. 11 and 13. +† — κατ' απρός τά διάφορα των Συρδίων α' τύχον των Ρώμαιων δεσπουνίζοντες. +Dion Cassius—Xero. pg. 706, C. + +AN ESSAY ON + +as they would be employed with ad- +vantage against a people, to whom the +ufe of the Bow was not familiar. + +We may therefore conclude, from the +authority of Hiftory, that the Romans +introduced the Bow into this country; +and that they continued it in ufe to their +final departure, about the year four hun- +dred and forty eight.‡ + +In North Britain, the Bow appears to +have been known at leat as early, as it +was in the South; the works of Boethius +and other hiftorians of that country feem +thus to intimate. + +If the poems of Oflian may be brought +as evidence with refpect to the flate of +Archery in later times, we may perceive +that they uniformly represent the Bow, +as an attendant on the warrior and hunter. +We + +‡ See Hume's Hift. Vol. I. pg. 13. + +A R C H E R Y. +We learn alfo from some passages in these poems, that the Yew tree was then employed to form these weapons; "Go to thy cave my love till our battle cease on the field. Son of Leith, bring the Bows of our fathers! The founding quiver of Morni! Let our three warriors bend the Yew."§ + +Immediately on the Britons finding themselves defeated by the Romans, they fought affiance from the Saxons, against their enemies the Scots; who hastening to their relief, entered this island with an army, about the year four hundred and forty nine. These people are said to have used both the long and cross Bows, and we may therefore be led to conclude, that Archery was still cherished in this country by the new invaders. + +During § Vol. I. p. 130. See alfo pgs. 156, 383, - and Vol. II. 115. Othian is supposed to have lived about three centuries after Caesar. + +A black and white illustration of a medieval scene with soldiers and horses. + +14 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +During the Saxon Heptarchy, we find that Offrid, the son of Edwin, king of Northumbria, was killed by an Arrow, in a battle between the troops of that king and the united army of Mercians and Welsh, which was fought, about the year fix hundred and thirty three, near Hatfield in the West riding of Yorkshire. But except this fact, little relating to the Bow appears in our annals of the Saxons. + +The Danes, as they arrived at a later period than the Saxons, come next under our review. These warlike people were accustomed to the use of Archery in battle, and we find it often noticed in this period, by our early chronicle writers. About the year eight hundred and seventy, they became very formidable, and committed great depredations on the inhabitants of East Anglia. In one of their battles with the + +A historical illustration showing a battle scene. + +A R C H E R Y. +25 + +the East Angles, they overcame their ene- +mies, and took prisoner Edmund, king +of that part of the island, whom, after +inflicting with many indignities, they +bound to a flake, for the Danish Archers +and Javelinmen to aim at; putting him +to death by that cruel and ignominious +expedient.* + +During the reign of Alfred, it seems +probable, that Archery was much in use, +both in the army of the Danes,+ and in +that + +* Regem etiam iudium provincia (Erbangia) faci- +tumimum Edmundus captum per adiudic., & ad quen- +dum diphism aligentum, tuncquam fugitam ad aggitam, +barbari, & sedelimini nihil nisi, & legimus aggitam +fint, horrendaque crudelitate perfidiente, pro ede +Chirilli, &c. + +Inquit: H.I.A. pg. 494. +Anglic. Rec. Script. Psyc. Bodem. + +† Parro Christiani pro pascuente fua in unus con- +cum congubati, contra fugitariam (Danorum) impe- +tum durifimam teftudinem etypeorum—pretendeb- +bant. + +Cumque fic invideo—ac adversariorum fugitariam +tela fua in vacum perfidientem. + +Dan. 870.—Chron. 7. Abbotis. +de. Pat. de Borge. Pg. 17. + +26 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +that of Alfred. I am inclined to this opinion from a passage in Afferius, who relates a curious anecdote concerning our good king. Alfred took refuge from the perfection of the Danes, at a poor cottage, where he refied unknown to his benefactors, who little imagined their roof protected a royal guelt. It happened one day, lays that writer, as the king sat by the fire preparing his Bow, Arrows, and his other warlike instruments, that the farmer's wife had placed some bread cakes upon the hearth to bake, supposing he would take care to turn them as they occasionally required. He, however, neglected to do so; and the poor woman enraged to see her cakes scorching by the heat, ran in haste to fave them, and saying to the stranger, "Thou fellow! (as Speed translates it) dost thou fee the bread burne before thy face, and will not turn it? and yet art thou glad to cate it before it be half + +A R C H E R Y. +half baked†‡ Bows and Arrows are here called warlike instruments, and we may with reason presume, therefore, that they were used among the other weapons in battle. Polydore Vergil confirms this supposition; for speaking of the troops of Ethelred, of which, part were commanded by his brother Alfred, he says, a great number of Archers were placed in the right wing of the army.|| + +F f From +† Constat autem die quodam, ut rufica, uxor, videlicet illius vaccari, pararet ad coquendum panes. Et ille rex fedes lic circa focum preparavit tibi arcem & sagittas, & alia bollicona instrumenta. Cum vero panes ad ignem poltis ardentes alpex illa infelix mulier ferrinam currit, & amovit eos, increpans regem invictum et dicens : Deus homo !|| +**Uerre quos cernit panes, gyrate moraia,** **Cum nimium guadus hos manducare calentes?** Affer. Alfredi rebus iogis. pp. 9. + +I —— in dextro vero cornu, alterna parte equitum cum bene magno fagitiorium numero, et pedium flore locavit ubi ipse (Ethelred) erat. +Polyd. Verg. Hist. Angl. pp. 93-56 + +218 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +From this time till the era of the Norman invasion, little occurs with respect to Archery; but it is well known how successfully it was introduced by William, at the battle of Hastings. + +Bows and Arrows, are spoken of at this fight, by all our historians: and the cataf-trophe of the battle fully proves the advantage which the invaders derived from these weapons. Many of our early writers, neglect to particularize the kind of Bow made use of by the Norman army, but John Rofes, expressly fays, the Long-bow was used.* Mr. Barrington is of opinion, that the Crofs-bow was the instrument principally employed in the army of William, and the paffages which have occurred to my observation, seem to prove + +the + +* Ipe (Willielmus) ufum longorum arcuum & legit- tarum in Angliam primus inducerebant, cum eis Angliam conquaflione vincentia. +Chron. J. Roß, pg. 109. + +A page from a historical text discussing bows and arrows during the Norman invasion. + +A R C H E R Y. +519 + +the truth of his conjecture. From Sir John Hayward's account of William, it seems almost certain, that he himself ufed the Crofs-bow ; but this part of my subiect will be more properly deferred, till I treat on that weapon. + +No circumstance worthy of observation occurs in our history, from the conquest till the time of Henry the Second, in whose reign, Archery feems to have been firft carried into Ireland, by the troops of that king. Lord Lyttleton, in his history of the life of Henry, fays, " it is strange that the Irish, who had much intercourie with the Welsh before Henry the Second's time, fhould not have learnt from that nation, who greatly excelled in Archery, that Arrows were better weapons to annoy an enemy with than ftones, thrown by the hand without the help of flings, + +F f 2 which + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +which, unless at a small distance, could have little or no effect." The same author observes, *that* "from many instances, in the course of these wars, (the wars of Henry with the Irish) it appears, that the English conquests in Ireland, were principally owing to the use of the Long bow in battle, which the Irish infantry wanted : And therefore Giralduus Cam- brinus, in his chapter entitled, *Quaeter Hibernica gens fit expugnanda*, advises, that in all engagements with that people, Archers should be intermingled with the heavy-armed troops." + +To + +* Vol. 6. Pg. 398. + +4 These are his words—"In Hibernicis autem con- fidibus & hoc fummosperé curandum, ut tempore fugi- tarii militarius turmae maximi adiiciantur; quatenus & lapidum (quorum idibus graves & armatos cominuus apperebant) folent, et indiennes agilitatis beneficio, cre- bria accedere viciubus et abicelerare) e diverso eminus fugitio injuria propulferet." + +A page from a historical text discussing military tactics and the role of archers in Irish warfare. + +A R C H E R Y. +To shew how worthy of imitation the Welsh were, at the time of Henry II. in the use of the Bow; I shall relate a few exploits performed by their Archers, as they are reported by Giraldus Cambrensis. + +There is a particular tribe in Wales, says this ancient writer, named the Venta; a people brave and warlike, and who far excel the other inhabitants of that country in the practice of Archery. In support of this laft affection, the following instance is recorded. During a fiege, it happened, that two soldiers running in haft towards a tower, situated at a little diftance from them, were attacked with a number of Arrows from the Welsh; which being flot with prodigious violence, some penetrated through the oak doors of a portal, although they were the breadth of four fingers in thickness. The heads + +A page from a book, possibly a historical text on archery. + +AN ESSAY ON + +heads of these Arrows were afterwards driven out, and preferred, in order to continue the remembrance of such extraordinary force in shooting with the bow. + +It happened also in a battle, at the time of William de Breufa (as he himself relates) that a Welshman having directed an Arrow at an horse-follower of his, who was clad in armour and had his leather coat under it; the Arrow, besides piercing the man through the hip, struck also through the faddle and mortally wounded the horse on which he sat. Another Welsh follower, having shot an Arrow at one of his horsemen, who was covered with strong armour in the same manner as the before mentioned perfon, the shaft penetrated through his hip and fixed in the faddle: but what is most remarkable, is, that as the horfeman drew his bridle aside in order to turn round, he received ano- + +ther + +A R C H E V Y. 223 + +ther Arrow in his hip on the opposite side, +which passing through it, he was firmly +fastened to the saddle on both sides. + +Nothing + +f. The curious passage from which the above cir- +cumstances are taken, Banda thus in the original: +" Hoc autem mibi notabile videtur, quod gena +hac, que Venus gena vocatur, et Martia confidibilia +utilitissima, et fidentissima opera laudatissima, & arte fa- +gittandi praes ceteria Cambria finibus indutissima re- +peritur. Ad hujus autem affectionis ultime certitudi- +ne exemplum proponere non pigeat. In extrema Caflia +praedicti exegustatione nostris diebus perpetuata, mili- +tibus dubius in turrim cumulato terrarum aggrege fitam +per pontem transfigentibus, Wallefies ipso s à tergo +percurrent, fugitias atque minime portam turris illice- +am, palmae ferre fipidiantis transfigenturant, ad tan- +torium idumque adhuc per ferrum ferro fugitias in porta ferro repellendo referiatas. Accidit & tempore +Gulielmi de Breuda (ipso tellante) quandam militem +fuum it confidita contra Wallefes a quadam piorum +per medium coxam cum panno lorica occiali ferro +utrinque velitam fugita periculum effe, eadem quoque +fagita per partem illam folia, qua alva vocatur, ufaque +ad ipsum aquam ballestas transeptarentur. Alio quoque +fagita unalis altera coxam ferro repellendo utrinque +munitum est. Quod autem Iunius in illis tellis fugitias. +Et cum miles ille locus equum in gyrum fleeteret: alio +fagitam codem contorquente, in opposita coxa fimitem +&um fulcepsit, equo ab utraque parte firmeri affluxit." + +Linarus, Cambria. Gir. Camb. Pgs. 835-30. + +34 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +Nothing particularly applicable to the Long-bow (for I do not mean that Archery remains unnoticed) is to be found in our early historians, during the reigns immediately following, till that of Edward III., in whose time this weapon is supposed to have been much in use.* Mr. Barrington entertains this opinion very reasonably, from circumstances which occurred at the battle of Crecy. The Arbalets in the hands of the Gepoefe, were all exposed to a violent storm, which happened just before the battle commenced. This storm falling on the strings of their Bows, relaxed them so far, as to render them incapable of proper service; while on the other hand, the English Bows were kept in their cafes during the rain and were not injured. From hence Mr. Barrington concludes, the English used the Long-bow + +* I have not mentioned the death of William II., as it is uncertain whether the Long-bow or Arbalet discharged the Arrow which proved fatal to him. + +A page from a historical text discussing the Longbow and its use. + +A R C H E R Y. +326 + +bow, as that instrument was usually provided with a cafe, but the Crois-bow, being of so inconvenient a shape, could not be provided with such covering. Indeed this latter kind of Bow, is not said to have been even furnished with a cover, as far as I have been able to find. + +The Battle of Crécy, as well as that of Poitiers, (where the Archers poured forth their Quivers in such bloody victories,) intimates the Bow to have been highly cultivated by the English at those times; but it was found necessary by Edward to enforce the practice of Archery during the peace which followed, as the soldiers rather attended to other amusements, than Archery. + +During the reign of Richard II. little is recorded with respect to the Bow. + +G g We + +*—"innumera laxarunt caede pharetrat." + +# AN ESSAY ON + +We find, however, from Hollinhead, that a number of Archers were sent at the request of the Genoese, to assist them against the Saracens on the coast of Bar- +bary; and that they performed some meritorious exploits with their Long- +bow.† + +From a passage in Stow, we find Richard II. to have had a very numerous guard of Archers; for in the year 1397, +as one day the members were leaving the Parliament Houfe, " a great stir was made as was usual; whereupon the King's Archers, in number four thousand, compassed the Parliament-houfe, thinking there had been some broil, or fighting, with their Bows bent, their Arrows notched, and drawing, ready to shoot, to the terror of all that were there: but the King coming pacified them."‡ + +The +† Hollinhead, Chron. Vol. III. pg. 478. +‡ Stow, pg. 316. + +A page from a historical text discussing archery and military tactics. + +A R C H E R Y. +527 + +The most memorable circumstance with respect to the Bow, which occurred in the reign of Henry IV. was the victory gained over the Scots near Halidowne-hill, in the year 1402; " where," in the words of an old historian, " the Lord Percies Archers did withall deliver their deadly Arrows so lively, so courageously, so grievously, that they ranne through the men of armes, bored the helmets, pierced their very swords, beat their lances to the earth, and easily shot those who were more lightly armed, through and through."$ + +The battle of Agincourt, which happened in the year 1415, under Henry V. is the next signal victory attributed to the + +G g z English + +§ As a contrast to this barbarous, though energetic passage, I will quote the description of a furious Arrow, from Lucan. + +" Haud umum contenta latus tranfire, quicquid: +" Sed pandens perque arma viam, perque olla, relifita +" Morte, fugit: superefto ido poll volvitur curia." + +Pius/date, 238. 3. + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +English Archers, who destroyed a great number of the French cavalry, by their yard-long Arrows. This, indeed, seems the last very important action in which Archery is much spoken of, and although the use of it was continued through several succeeding reigns, it at length seems to have been cultivated more as an amusement, than for real military service. + +The + +*It is said, that James I. of Scotland, during his long confinement in England, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, was so struck with the spirit and gallantry of the English Archers, that on returning to his own country, he established Royal Companies of Bowmen in different parts of his dominions. The art of shooting with the Bow, is at present regularly practised, by numerous Societies; and the Peipings is annually celebrated at Kilwinning, in the west of Scotland, by the gentlemen of the neighbourhood. The Peipinge (or Peipogy, a mark formed like a parrot) is projected two or three yards from the bow-string of the bow; and they shoot at it perpendicularly, refiling their left foot on the bafe of the tower. The Royal Company of Archers at Edinburgh, consists of the principal nobility and gentry of that kingdom, to the number of eight or nine hundred members. Maillard, in his history of Edinburgh, informs us, that this Society was founded about the year 1670; and that it was erected into a + +404 + +A R C H E R Y. +The amusement was extremely fashionable in the time of Henry VIII. and Hol- +linhead reports, that that prince shot as well as any of his guard. + +Edward VI is said, by Mr. Barrington, +to have been fond of the exercise of Ar- +chery.‡ + +Charles I. appears to have amused him- +self in this way also, and is represented in +the frontispiece of Markham's Art of +Archery, +corporation by Letters Patent from Queen Anne, dated the 31st of December, 1719. As the articles by which the Society is regulated are too long to be inserted in this place, I shall extract the whole account from Maillard's history, in the Appendix, to which I refer the reader. If we may judge from the sentiments of a poet, who has written on this subject with great spirit in the beginning of the present century, I allude to Allan Ramsay's works; among which there are several poems addressed to the Archers of Edinburgh, and which celebrate their skill. Among others, the Duke of Hamilton receives a few lines on his having shot an Elk in the neck. + +† Mr. B. refers to that Prince's manuscript journal, +in the British Museum. + +29 + +50 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +Archery, (1634) in the attitude and drefs of a Bowman. + +During the reigns of Charles II. and James II. the amufement was continued, and the former fometimes attended at exhibitions of shooting. The Artillery Company, or Finbury Archers, have furvived even to the prefent time, but ex- cept in that fociety, the Bow, till within thefe ten years, was very little known in the kingdom. At prefent, indeed Arche- ry gains favour, and many companies are formed, for the practice of that amufe- ment. + +The + ++ Of thefe Societies, I believe the following are the principal: viz. +The Hon. Arti. Comp. +Royal Edinburgh +Toxophilite +Woodmen of Arden +Royal Kentifh Bowmen +Royal Britifh Bowmen +Robin Hood Bowmen +Loyal Archers +Yorkifhire Archers +Hainault Forefiers + +Southampton Archers +Bowmen of Chiviot Chafe +Kentifh Rangers +Woodmen of Hornfey +Surry Bowmen +Bowmen of the Border +Merifian Bowmen +Broughton Archers +Staffordhire Bowmen +Trent Archers + +A R C H E R Y. +30 + +The exact time in which the Bow became diffused in war by the English army, perhaps, cannot be fixed. P. Daniel mentions that Arrows were shot by the English at the Isle of Rhé, in 1627.* Mr. Grofe informs us, that in 1643, the Earl of Essex issued a precept "for stirring up all well-affected people by benevolence, towards the ruining of a company of Archers for the service of the King (Charles I.) and the Parliament." And in a pamphlet, says the same author, which was printed anno 1664, giving an account of theuccels of the Marquis of Montrose against the Scots, bowmen are repeatedly mentioned. One Neade, in the reign of Charles I. obtained a commission under the Great Seal, wherein he and his son, were empowered to teach the combined management of the pike. + +and + +* P. Daniel, Vol. I. Pg. 457. + +AN ESSAY ON + +and Bow, a book entitled "The double armed man," showing the proper exercise and attitudes, was written and published by William Neade, about the year 1625. +It contains nothing of consequence relating to Archery, but we may judge that art was not laid aside at this period. + +Having related what history affords with respect to our ancient Archery, I shall now take a view of the statutes which have been formed for the regulation and encouragement of this art. Mr. Barrington has already traversed this path, and it is necessary for me to say, that his Effigy has greatly facilitated the composition of this part of my subject. + +Very soon after the Conquest, we find Archery to have been much cultivated, +and + +† See Grofe's Hist.of Army, Vol. I. + +A R C H E R Y. +53 + +and large numbers of Archers brought into the field. Even as early as the beginning of the twelfth century, a law was instituted with respect to the practice of Archery, which freed from the charge of murder, any one who in practising with Arrows or Darts, should kill a per- +son standing near.† This I believe is the first regulation to be found in our annals, and it appears to have been overlooked by Mr. Barrington, and Mr. Grofe. + +Till the time of Edward III. no law seems to have paffed with respect to Archery. This prince, however, found it neccary to enjoin the practice of the Bow, by two mandates during his reign; and in the reign of Richard II. an act was made to compel all servants to shoot on Sundays and Holidays. + +H h The +† "Si quis ludo fagittandi, vel alciujus exercitii ja- +culo, vel hujufmodi cafa aliquem occidat, reddat cum." +*Law* of *Henry I*, Ch. 88. Camb. 1644. Fd. + +A black and white illustration of a medieval scene with archers shooting arrows. + +34 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +The 7. Henry IV. complain of the negligence of the arrow-smiths, and ordains that the heads of Arrows shall in future be well boiled and brazed, and hardened at the points with steel; under the pain of the forfeiture of all such heads otherwise manufactured, and imprisonment to the makers: All Arrow heads to be marked with the maker's name. + +Henry V. ordered the Sheriffs of several counties, to procure feathers from the wings of geefe, picking fix from each goofe. + +In the time of Edward IV. an act passed, ordaining every Englishman to have a Bow of his own height, and during the fame reign, Butts were ordered to be put up in every township, for the inhabitants to shoot at, on feaft days, and if + +A R C H E R Y. +536 + +if any neglected, the penalty of one half- +penny was incurred. + +The 1. Richard III. 11. complains that by the feditious confederacy of Lom- +bards using divers ports of this realm, +the Bowftaves were raifed to an outra- +geous price, that is to say, to eight pounds +an hundred, were they were wont to be +fold at forty thillings. This act there- +fore, provides that ten Bowftaves shall be +imported with every butt of Malmey or +Tyre wines, brought by the merchants +trading from Venice, into this land, +under a penalty of thirteen shillings and +four-pence, for every butt of the said +wines, in cafe of neglect. + +The 3. Henry VIII. 3. orders all men +under the age of forty, to have Bows and +Arrows, and to ufe shooting, some cer- +tain perfons only excepted. + +H h a The + +26 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +The 33d. Henry VIII. 9. is a statute principally referring to Archery. It opens with a complaint on account of the decay of this art. It ordains that all men under sixty (except spiritual men, * Juftices, &c.*.) shall + +* Spiritual men seem to have been as fond of Archery formerly as any other perfole. Ashew teaches us that the bishops profited Archery in his time, and we find the following account of a bishop shooting at Utrecht. + +* L'Evêque leur montrait exemple, & après avoir confidé la fite par une procédure, il fe méloto parmi les tireurs, & devenoit Bas de l'âtre, faifant voir qu'ul les furpafiont autant en arifeffe qu'en dignité. + +Bib. *Univerfælæ.* + +Another curious passage from Bishop Latimer's fifth sermon, will then how great an advocate for Archery he was, even in the pulpit. The Refhuter preaching before the King, in his sermon con- +demning the vices of the age, he thus introduces the subjeft of Archery—*The arte of thyngye hath ben in tymes paff much effemned in this realm, it is a gyft of God, that he hath given us to excel all other naciona wychall. It hath bene Goddes inftrumente, whereby he hath gyven us manye victories agaynffe oure ene- +myes, But nowe we have taken up harynge in townes, +infeede of thyngye in the fyelde. A wonderou +thynge, that so excellente a gyft of God fhoulde be fo lytige + +A page from a book with text and some illustrations. + +A R C H E R Y. +37 + +thall ufe hooting with the Long-bow, +and thall have a Bow and Arrows ready +continually in their houfe. And that +every perfon having a man-child, or men- +children in his houfe, thall provide a +Bow and two shafts for every fuch man- +child being feven years old and upwards, +till of the age of thirteen, in order to pro- +mote hooting. And if the-young men +be fervants, the expence of the articles +thall be abated in their wages. When + +of +littie effeemed. I defire you, my Lords, even as +you love honoure, and glorye of God, and intende to +remove his indignation, let there be feent fourtei home +proclamation, fome harpe proclamation, to the Jublica +of Peace; that they may be taught to love one another be no +Juficra; ther be many good afles made for thyh matter +already. Charge them upon their allegiance, that thyh +fingular benefit of God may be praffed; and that it +be not turned into bollyng and glofying, and horing, +wythin the towne; for they be negligent in execu- +tying thee lawses of thyngye. In my tyme, my poore +father was diligent to teach me to fluue, as to learne +any other thynge; and fo I thinke other mneny dyd +thyh children. He taught me howe to drawe, howe +to lay my bodye in my Bowe, and not to drawe with +strength of arme, as other nations doy, but with strength + +238 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +of the age of seventeen years, the young men are to provide a Bow and four Arrows for themfelves, and ufe floating; and if a mafter or father permit his fervants or children, being seventeen years of age, to lack a Bow and Arrows for the space of a month, the faid mafter or father shall forfeit fix and eight-pence for every offence. Alfo every fervant upwards of seventeen and under fixty years of age, fhall pay fix and eight-pence if he be without a Bow and four Arrows for one month. + +It + +strength of bodies. I had my Bowes bought me ac-cording to my age and strength, as I mentioned in them; fo my Bowes were made bigger and bigger: for men fhall never flate well, excepte they be brought up in it. It is a goodly arte, a holefone kynde of exerciice, and much commended in philofie. Marcellus Sicinius, in his boke de triplici vita (it is a great white line) I red hym to be taught by the bowe, which thyne hinde of exerciice, and faith, that it werfleth agenfie manye kyndes of difeafes. In the reverence of God, let it be continued. Let a proclamacion go forth, charging the Juftices of Peace, that they fee fuch adzes and flates kept, as were made for thyne purpofe." + +Lolimer's Sermon, Black Letter, 1549, 127 + +A R C H E R Y. +39 + +It is also enacted, that no perfon under the age of twenty-four, shall shoot at a standing mark, except it be a rover, where he may change his ground every shot, under a penalty of four-pence each shot. And no other perfon above twenty-four, shall shoot at any mark of eleven score yards, or under, with any prick shaft, or flight Arrow, under pain of fix shillings and eight-pence every shot. + +No perfon under seventeen shall ufe a Yew Bow, under a penalty of fix shillings and eight-pence, unlefs he have lands of the value of ten pounds yearly, or have moveables of the value of forty marks. + +The inhabitants of every city, town and place, are ordered by this act to erect Butts, and ufe shooting on holidays, and at every other convenient time. + +On + +40 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +On account of the greater price and excellence of Yew, it is enacted by this law, that Bowyers shall make four Bows of ordinary wood, as Elm, Ash, Wych, Hazel, &c. for every one of Yew; and on neglect they shall incur a penalty of three shillings and four-pence for every such Bow deficient. + +All artificers of Bows, Arrows, &c. are by this statute obliged, on the command of the King, Lord Chancellor, &c. to go from London to inhabit any town destitute of such artificers, where they may be ordered, on the penalty of forty shillings a-day during their abode, after receiving proper notice. + +Aliens are prohibited from shooting without the King's licence; and may not transport Bows into foreign countries. + +Henry VIII. + +A R C H E R Y. +24 + +Henry VIII. besides making laws in favour of Archery, in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, instituted a society for the practice of shooting, under a charter, in the name of the Fraternity of St. George. This King was also very fond of the amusement, and sometimes attended to see the Archers. It is said, that one day having fixed a meeting of them at Windsor, a person of the name of Barlow far out-shot the rest; which pleased the King so much, that he told Barlow he should be called the Duke of Shoreditch, being an inhabitant of that place. This dignity was long preferred by the Captain of the London Archers, who used to summon the officers of his several divisions, by the titles of Marquises of Barlow, Clerkenwell, Ilington, Hoxton, —Earl of Pancrads, &c. + +The king granted also to this fraternity a privilege, that if any of the members I i shooting + +34 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +shooting at a known and accustomed Butt, having first pronounced the word PAST, (or hand fait) should happen to kill any perfon passing between the Shooter and the Butt, he shou'd not suf-fer, or be imprifoned.+ + +There are other flatutes which are calculated to fix the price of Bows, the regulations in which are the following. + +During the reign of Edward III. a painted Bow fold for one and fix-pence, and a white or unpainted one for a thil-ling. By 24. Edward IV. 4. Bows of Yew were to be fold for three and four-pence. +By 33. Henry VIII. 9. no Bowyer was to fell to a perfon between feven and fourteen years of age, any Bow for more than one thilling, and was to have Bows of all + ++ This was copied from the Roman Law, both by Henry I. and Henry VIII. + +A page from a historical text discussing archery laws. + +A R C H E R Y. +43 + +all prices, from fix-pence a piece to a thilling, for persons of that age. And no Bowyer was to sell any Elk-yew Bow, for more than three thillings and four-pence. + +By 8. Eliz. 10. Bows of foreign Yew were to be fold at the price of fix thillings and eight-pence. A second fort at three thillings and four-pence, and a third kind at two thillings. + +Arrows in the time of Edward III. were fold at one thilling and two-pence per sheaf, (each sheaf confitting of twenty four) if they had sharpened points, but if blunt headed, they were only one thilling per sheaf. The iron from which the belt points were made, is said to have been that of anchor flocks. + +1 i 2 +From + +24 +AN ESSAY ON + +From several statutes which have been made for the encouragement and enforcement of the practice of Archery, as well as from the complaints of our old historians of the negligence of people in excising it, it is reasonable to suppose that Archers were not then so expert as in more early periods. I should imagine from the victories in the time of Edward III, and from the encomiums paffed on the Bowmanen of thofe days, that Archery in that reign, was in its higheft perfection. We are taught to believe, that the battle of Crecy, was the chief dawre of the Long-bow, but it does not add to the honour of our Archers, when we hear that all the Bow-strings of the Genoefe Arbalefters, were fpoiled by rain before the battle commenced. However, the fkill of king Edward's bowmen is undoubted, as there were other victories besides that of Crecy, in which the Archers + +A R C H E R Y. +945 + +Archers sufficiently proved their excel- +lence. Hollinhead, who wrote in the +sixteenth century, laments the decay of +Archery in his time, and praises Ed- +ward's bowmen in the following curious +manner. "In times past," says he, "the +chief force of England confided in their +Long-bows. But now we have in a +manner generally given over that kind of +artillery, and for Long-bows indeed, do +practic to shoot compass for our pastime. +Cutes, the Frenchman, and Rutters, de- +riding our new Archery in respect to their +crotters, will not let in open skirmish, if +any leisure serve to turn up their tails +and cry, *foote Englishe* ; and all be- +cause our strong shooting is decayed, +and laid in bed. But if some of our +Englishe now lived, that ferved King +Edward III. the breech of such a varlet +should have been nailed to his bum with + +an + +746 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +an Arrow, and another feathered in his bowels." &c.* + +Having traced the Bow in England to the period in which it almost ceased to be a military weapon in our army, I shall now digress a moment to view the state of Archery in France. + +The Bow has not always been a warlike weapon in France. Procopius says, that in the expedition of the Franks under Theodbert (A. D. 538) the troops were armed with a sword, shield, and hatchet, or rather battle-axe; they had neither Bow nor Lance. This is likewise observed by Gibbon, who I presume derived his information from the same source, though there is no reference to his authority at this part.† There are passages, + +* Hollinshed, Chron. Vol. I.—158. +† See Hill, Roman Empire, Vol. IV, Pg 199. 4to Edit. + +A page from a book with text and some illustrations. + +A R C H E R Y. 47 + +passages, however, in the Salic Law, +quoted by Father Daniel, which seem to +disagree with the words of Procopius. +In chapter xx. *de vulneribus*, it ordains a +penalty of sixty-two pence in gold, to +be required from any one who should +wound another with a poisoned Arrow.[] And in chapter xxxii. (*de debilitati- +bus*) it affirms a pecuniary fine for any +one, who should main the second finger +of another, used in drawing the Bow.$$ +But notwithstanding these passages in- +volve the idea of the existence of Archery, +yet it is supposed the Bow was an in- +strument of the chase, not of war; and +P. Daniel remarks, that it was some- +times used in sieges, and in entrench- +ments, but not in the field of battle. + +In + +§ Si quis alterum de fugita toxicata percutere vo- +luerit, &c. + +§ Si fecundum digium quo fugittatur, excusserit, &c. + +A N E S S A Y O N + +In the end of the fifth century, how- +ever, Archery appears to have been used; and a law of Charlemagne, made in the ninth century, directs that those armed with clubs, should discontinue them, and shoot the Bow. + +During the intermediate reigns to that of Lewis XI. Archers were employed in the French armies; but about the year 1480, this king diminished that part of his troops, and in their place procured Swifs infantry.* + +Archers, however, seem to have been again in use among the French armies, during the succeeding reign of Charles VIII. as Philip de Comines makes mention + +† Daniel, Pp. 24. Vol. I. +‡ Quid nullus in hoste baculum habeat fecit arcum, +Capit. Rig. Franc.—Balacius, Pp. 310. +* Daniel, Vol. I, Pp. 252. + +A page from a historical text discussing archery. + +A R C H E R Y. 249 + +mention of them at the battle of Formova, +(or Fourne) at which there were many +Scotch Archers.† + +During the time of Francis I. the Bow +seems to have been almost entirely disused. +P. Daniel says, that in the year 1522, +there was but one Arbalefter in the +army, at the fight of Bico ; but this one +Archer was so expert, that an officer +named Jean de Cardonne, having opened +the vizor of his helmet to take breath, +this man struck him in the unguarded +part with his Arrow and killed him.‡ + +Though the Bow was not used in this +expedition, it was still practised by the +inhabitants of Gafcony ; and in the +reign of Francis I. was fully introduced +in battle.§ + +K k Fire- +† See Mem. P. de Comines, B. 8. Ch. 6. +† Daniel, Vol. I.—427. +§ Daniel, Vol. I. 456. + +A page from a historical text discussing archery. + +30 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +Fire-arms after this time became more general, and in a short period altogether excluded the Bow and Arbaleft, as war-like instruments. + +The name of Archers, however, was continued to those in particular offices for some years, and even to the present day the ministers of executive justice, retain the title. + +The decay of the use of the Bow, in our country, so much regretted by English writers, was attributed to two causes; first the fascination of several games and diversions to which the yeomanry were partial; and secondly, the introduction of fire-arms. + +We cannot wonder that the unvaried use of the Bow, should in the course of time become irksome; and it is reasonable to + +A R C H E R Y. +51 +to suppose, that soldiers tired with war, +would feel greater pleasure in trivial +amusements, if new, than in the familiar +practice of Archery. The natural love +of variety would soon operate, fo as to +make compulsive laws necessary. + +With respect to the second cause, the +introduction of artillery; it was slow, +but at length efficacious in subverting the +use of the Bow in battle. + +It long remained a doubt which was +the most advantageous weapon, the +Mufket or Bow. The doubt continued +more than two centuries after the use of +artillery in action, and even in the time +of Elizabeth, the preference was by +many, given to the Bow. + +Sir John Hayward, in his life of the +Norman kings, (printed 1613) after +K k 2 speaking + +30 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +Speaking of the effects of Archery at the battle of Hastings, compares the advantages of fire-arms, with those of the Bow and affirms four reasons for deciding in favour of the latter. "First," says he, + +"for that in a reasonable distance, it is of greater, both certainty and force. Secondly, for that it dischargeth faster." + +Thirdly, for that more men may discharge therewith at once; for only the first ranke dischargeth the piece, neither hurt they any, but those that are in front; but with the Bow, ten or twelve ranks may discharge together, and will annoy so many ranks of the enemies. Lastly, for that the Arrow doeth strike more parts of the body; for in that it hurteth by descent; (and not only point blanke like + +[Mr. Grofe informs us, an Archer could formerly shoot fix Arrows in the time necessary to charge and discharge a musket. And I have heard a gentleman say, he himself could shoot twelve Arrows into a circle not larger than the circumference of a man's hat, at the distance of forty yards, in a minute.] + +A R C H E R Y. +258 + +like the bullet) there is no part of the body but it may strike; from the crown of the head, even to the nailing of the foot to the ground. Hereupon it follow-eth, that the Arrows falling so thick as hail upon the bodies of men, as lefs fearful of their fleth, fo, more fenderly armed than in former times, muft necef-farily worke moft difaffrous effects." + +An old writer (quoted by Dr. Johnfon) says, + +The white faith of hilt'ry cannot fheu, +That e'er a mufket yet could beat the Bow. +Allyn's Henry VII.* + +If we consider the unfkillful contrivance of the mufket, at the time Archery was in ufe in war, we fhall not be furprized that the Bow remained in favour fo long; indeed, + +* We may remark, that at the victory of Crecy, no part of the honour or advantage is attributed to the artillery used by Edward. + +A page from a historical text discussing archery and its effectiveness compared to firearms. + +56 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +indeed in the prefent day, although fire- +arms are much improved, there is reaon to finpoffe the Bow would be of great +fervice on many occafions, and particu- +larly againft cavalry. + +Sir John Hayward obferves, that " a horfeftroke with a bullet, if the wound be +not mortal, may performe good fervice ; but if an Arrow be faflened in the flesh, +the continual flirring thereof, occasioned by the motion of himfelfe, will enforce +him to caff off all command, and either +bear down or diforder thofe that are neere."† + +He proceeds to add, " that fome +thought the cracke of the peice, ftrikes +terreur + +† Virgil thus describes a wounded horfe--- +---ferrumque lub aure retiquit, +Quo fonipes idu furit arduus, altaque jaflat +Valerius impatiens, arrecto pettura crura : +Volvitur ille exculcis humis. +Liv. 11.—637. + +A R C H E R Y. +255 + +terror into the enemy. But ufe, fays he, +will extinguifh these terrous. And if +it be true, which all men of action doe +hold, that the eye in all battailes is firft +overcome, then againft men equally ac- +customed to both, the fight of a thrower +of Arrows is more available to victory +then the cracke of the piece.† + +AS the Arrow must necessarily be ele- +vated in shooting to a diftance, Archers +may be placed in almoft any poftion, +with refpect to the other parts of the +army; and accordingly we find, that in +both ancient and modern tactics, they +have been placed in the rear, as well as + +† In ancient battles, when myriads of Archers were +introduced, the appearance of a discharge of Arrows +from the whole army, mull have been inconceivably +awful. How frequent do we meet with such expres- +fions as thefe—excluere diem tellis—grandine ferris— +&c. There is a well known reply of Dionysius, to +a per- + +256 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +the front. Indeed contingent circum- +stances, such as the face of a country, +whether woody or open, whether moun- +tainous or plain, would require a varied +distribution of the lines of an army. + +Archers usually occupied the front, +and retired between the ranks of the +heavy- + +a person who informed him at the battle of Thermo- +pyle, that the Persian army was so numerous, as to +obfuscate the light of the sun with their Arrows, " we +shall then fight in the shade, said he, and not exposed +to the heat." + +*Hind.* p. 32 + +We may judge also, of the immense number of +Arrows expended in an engagement, from a circum- +stance mentioned in the Anabasis of Xenophon. The +troops under the command of Clearchus, who were di- +vided from the other part of the army, in that battle +which proved fatal to Cyrus, having left both their pro- +visions, by the enemy, and leaving their camp, were +obliged to travel on foot and alight into the bag- +gage waggon. These animals they roasted by fires +made of the Persian Arrows, and arms, which they +found in prodigious numbers on the field of battle, +near to the place where the camp lay. + +*Xenophon.* p. 33. A. + +A R C H E R Y. 257 + +heavy-armed men, as the battle joined. +It was not uncommon to place them in lines, behind those of the infantry, as they could act over the heads of the preceding ranks; + for the fame reason they sometimes fought behind the cavalry; but when the enemy approached, it was necessary for the horsemen to incline forwards, and cover themselves with their shields.† The Emperor Leo very much disapproves of this latter method of placing Archers, as from their situation the Arrows being directed high, "they fell on the enemy," he says, "in a position which was without effect." It is not obvious, however, why the Arrows elevated high, should fall without effect, as the experience of ages has proved the value of distant Archery. + +L I Matthew + +† Zenophon Cyrop.—pg. 167. C.—and 268. E. +‡ Leo's Tabulae.—pg. 93. + +38 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +Matthew Paris and Hoveden mention, +that the English Archers were mixed +with the cavalry, in the time of king +Stephen. + +At the battle of Crécy, our Archers +are said to have been placed in triangles +behind the ranks; and at Poitiers they +were in the wings, drawn up in the fame +figure, "ranger en berfe."--See P. Daniel. + +The real advantage of Archers in war, +appears, during early periods, to have been +inconsiderable ; they seem to be held in +low estimation by Homer, and are repre- +sented as lurking behind potts and trees, +in order to shoot; or under the protection +of some shield, held over them by the +hand of a by-flander, thus fighting in +ambush, like affaiias, rather than as +folders. At this period indeed, the +Archers were armed only with the Bow, +without + +A page from a historical text discussing medieval archery. + +A R C H E R Y. +129 + +without sword or shield; it would have been raffinés therefore, for them to have entered the battle with a weapon calculated only for distant combat; and this may in some degree, plead an excufe for their seeking shelter.* + +The fame idea with respect to Archers, was preferred for many centuries. The Acheans, we are told by Polybius, deemed the Bow an infidious weapon; and as they disdained to gain battles, and to extend territories by unjust practices, defeating conquest bought by artifice, they resolved with the Peloponnesians, that Archery should not be ued among their troops; eftheming the manly clofe en- +L I 2 counter, +* II. Lib. 13. L. 714. The Locrian Archers had not sword, shield, or javelin. +** On pug iugum equum xerarunt: ewellematur, +*** Oul' exum artilia rerum: am patuere loca** +*** AAA' exa regnare.*** + +See also Procopius, pg. 6.--Fol. Paris. + +560 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +counter, as the only honourable means of victory.† + +† See Polybius, Lib. 13. + +Euripides puts the following words in difpraize of the Bow, into the mouth of Lycaon, who he repre- +fents fighting the fears of Heracles. +* * * +He, with no merit, held +The fame of daring courage, that with beafts +He fought, in nought beldes his prowefes prov'd: +His left hand never knew to raile the field, +Never advanc'd he nigh the spear, but held +The Bow, a coward's weapon, and to flight +Was always prompt; no proof of manhood, none +Of daring courage is the Bow;" +Amphitryon then makes answer: +* * * +The man array'd in arms +Is to his arms a flave, and flationed nigh +Weak hearted daftards, through their cowardice +He perifhes; or thofe he break his fpear, +What hath he to protect him from the carnage, +His valour thus defiarf? But he that graps +The fkillful-aiming Bow, hath in his hand +One thing which much as itells him, when he fendes +A blow at Amphitryon, the felf of others, +Himfelf from death defending; and, his fland + Held diftant, pours his vengeance on his foes, +Who fall by unfem wounds, himfelf focure, +Nor to their arms expof'd: for in the fight +This is the work of wifdom to annoy +The enemies, fecure from their attack." +Heracles, All I. +I have copied the translation of Potter. + +A black and white illustration of a battle scene between Heracles and Amphitryon. + +A R C H E R Y. +56a + +The Archers of later times, were more favourably regarded, and as they were armed with a shield, a sword, and javelins, as well as the Bow, they were not afraid to venture into the midst of the battle. + +Vegetius complains, that the Roman Archers had in his time, laid aside their armour, and were flain like cattle by the Arrows of the Goths. + +Leo, in his tactics, directs that every Archer shall be clothed in an entire coat of mail, shall have a polished iron helmet, + +† The Archers furnished with swords and targets, when they approached the lines of the enemy, flung their Bow behind them, and drew their swords. The Sarmates (according to Tacitus) threw their Arrows as they advanced, and prefixed their harpes rapidly, till they came near enough to engage with their other weapons, at which time they threw the Bow aside. "Sarmate omillo arcu, quod brevis valent continis gladiisque rucenti: modo equitari pralli more, fronia et tergi vices." Tacitus, Annal. Lib. 6. 33. + +A historical illustration showing Roman archers in full gear. + +56a +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +met, ornamented on the top with a crest; +a Bow rather above, than beneath the power of the fletcher, having its cale large and proper. Plenty of bowstrings, and a Quiver with a lid, containing thirty or forty Arrows, a javelin and a sword suspended to a belt, and also a dagger. + +The English had formerly Archers both on foot, and mounted on horfe; but the latter do not appear to have been very generally introduced in war, before the fourteenth century.§ Lord Lyttleton says, "I read of no Archers on horfe-back in the age of Henry II. unless they were comprehended under the term *serviente*, some of which were light horfe- + +§ "Archers were drawn from the yeomanry, and formed to have ferved on foot, as attendants on the vaifals who held by knight's fervice, and at their charge; or, sometimes, under the pay, and at the charge of the King." Lyttleton's Henry II. Vol. III. p. 90. + +A historical illustration showing a mounted archer with a bow and quiver. + +A R C H E R Y. +26 +horfe-men: but in the time of Edward III, +mention is made, in a roll of par- +liament, of two hundred Archers on +horfeback; and in the seventh year of +Richard II, the bishop of Norwich, +offered to serve the king abroad with +three thousand men at arms, and two +thousand five hundred Archers, well +bofed and appointed. And when Lionel +Earl of Clarence (son of Edward III.) +went with an army into Ireland, he +carried with him thither many Archers +on horfeback, whose pay was fix-pence +a man per diem, 'fquires in the fame +army, being rated at one thilling a man +per diem, the knights at two thillings, +and the baronets at four thillings. There +were likewise some Archers at four-pence +per diem, who, I presume, ferved on foot. +The Earl of Ormonde had under him, +besides his knights and 'fquires, twenty +bablers armed, and twenty not armed; +the + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +the pay of the former being fix-pence +a piece per diem, and of the latter four- +pence. These hobblers were Irish horse- +men, so called because they served on +hobbles.* + +Montfaucon in his work, entitled, +"Les Monumens de la Monarchie," Pl. 30, +Vol. IV. has given a representation of +the meeting of Henry VIII. and Francis I. +on the "field of the club of gold," be- +tween Guînes and Ardes, in France.† +The kings are on horseback, followed +by their respective attendants ; and those +of Henry are principally Archers mounted +on horses, carrying their Long-bows +with them. + +I have not discovered, that the drefs of +the horse Archers, differed in any ma- +terial + +*See Lyttleton's History Henry II., Vol. III. pg. 220. + +† If the Reader wish to see an account of this superb affair, he will find it described in Robertson's +Charles V., Vol. II. + +A historical illustration showing two kings on horseback, with attendants and archers. + +A R C H E R Y. +$6g$ + +terial point, from that worn by the foot. +The latter were well fortified from the +attack of swords, or Arrows, by the +strength of their defensive apparel. Their +limbs were guarded by a coat of mail, +in which they moved at liberty, and in +which they drew their Bow without +restraint. They wore an helmet or +kulk-cap fitting close to their head, and +had body-armour. + +Befides the Bow, they were armed +with a Target and sword, which, while +they were engaging with Arrows, was +suspended on the left side. They carried +a Quiver containing twenty-four Arrows, +sometimes on the back, and sometimes +on the right side; but the Arrows used +in action, were held under a belt, to +which the sword was hung.$\S$ Eight of + +M m these + +$\S$ See the Frontispiece. + +166 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +these Arrows were generally lighter than the reft, and were used to annoy the enemy at a great distance. We may well say, at a great distance, for an ancient Bow, we are told by Mr. Grofe, (who quotes Nead) would throw one of these four hundred yards. + +Our Archers formerly, also, carried a leaden maul, with which the wounded were finally difpatched. This instru- +ment + +I The force of Arrows is well inflanced by a fact recorded in the Journal of Edward VI, which Mr. Grofe quotes from Burnet's History of the Reformation. An hundred Archers belonging to the King's guard at an inch board, firing two Arrows each, and afterwards another two Arrows through the Arrows pierced through this, and into another board placed behind it, although the wood was extremely solid and firm. + +An ancient Bow, says P. Daniel, Vol. II. 605, would carry further than a Yard, and to the distance of 600 paces. If he means common military paces, each of which may consist of two feet, or rather more, the distance of the range may be let down as full 300 yards. + +A R C H E R Y. 267 + +ment was known among the English and Scotch, as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, and continued to be used by them till the middle of the sixteenth. This weapon was sometimes twenty-five pounds in weight, and had an iron hoop on each end, to prevent the lead indenting on the edges. Its handle was five feet long, and it was usually carried on the back. + +It is something extraordinary, that the Laplanders have represented their great God Thor, with a Bow in one hand and a Mallet, or Maul, in the other. They say this God wounds the evil Daemons with his Bow, and then dathes out their brains with the Maul.* + +Besides the defensive armour worn by each individual, there was an expedient + +M m 2 by + +* Sheffer's History of Lapland. + +358 +AN ESSAY ON + +by which the troops were often protected from the effects of Archery. One of the most beautiful, as well as useful manoeuvres, in the ancient discipline, was calculated to ward off the missile weapons. +The Teftude, was in use among the Greeks, the Romans, the English, and others; and was often executed with wonderful address. According to Potter, it was formed " when the soldiers, drawn up close together, and the hindermost ranks bowing themselves, placed their Targets above their heads ; as if we sup- pose the first rank to stand erect, the rest to floor lower and lower by degrees, till the last rank kneeled upon the ground; the men in front and on the sides holding their Targets before their bodies, the rest covering the heads of those that were placed before them; so that the whole body resembled a pent house, or roof covered with tile, down which the ene- +my's + +A R C H E R Y. 569 + +my's miffive weapons easily glided with- +out prejudice to the soldiers beneath."† + +The formation of the Teftudo is often mentioned by our old Chronicle writers, and seems to have been much ufed in this kingdom in early times, against the force of Arrows and Javelins.§ + +Our ancient Archers, as well as those of France, were accustomed, at the be- +sieging + +† "M. Antoninus adverfus Parthos, qui infinita multitudine fugitatarum exercitum ejus obruchat, fab- +fidere ludi, et tentudam facere jutum, fapta quam transmittit fugitata fine milium nona exhaesuit eis +hufia." Fontini Strategemata, pg. 139. + +According to the difpofition of the Macedonian Phalanx, the men were drawn up in columns fifteen deep. Polybius tells us, that the five foremost ranks only, pretened their pikes, of fourteen cubits in length, to the front; while the remainder of those in the rear, inclining their pikes a little, over the shoulders of the ranks before them, defended the men beneath, from the miffive weapons of the enemy. + +See Polybius, Lib. 17, pg. 26. + +§ See the Quotation from J. de Burga. Pg. 214. + +A historical illustration showing a phalanx formation. + +White background with no visible content. + +A R C H E R Y. +271 + +themelves from the approach of the cavalry. Each Bowman carried with him one, and sometimes two large flakes, sharpened at each end. These were placed in the earth before the lines, presenting their points on a level with the the breaths of the horoes, and opposing their pursuit. + +The + +† Grofe, Vol. I. 149. + +We find also the following passage in P. Jovius, reflecting the ancient English Archery —— Apud Anglos in ligitis unica ipsa et principia gloria, crebris victoriarum proventibus, partea. Eae minime digno exaltare est, quia, si non habuerint hanc terva, ingentibus lignis aculeis intergerunt: tanta vi arteque, ut ad primos praefertim idus, equamum thoracem aut loricam facile penetrent. His è Romana disciplina mos est, valium gellare, et dimenio fiatio protinum, ubi holis fuerit in congelu, in orbeb fe munire. Palus enim ierisuris stirnique ferrea culpide praecutus in hoftem vertunt. In medio autem et ferebus annulis, quo perpetua fapie rette vincitorum. Circumvallati in bane monte, et in altis collis, cum cernantur manus et divaricant cruribus, parifique lacertis, fugitas excutiunt. Interna autem finillis brachii offca tabella contingunt, ne manice rugis recurrentes nervi impetus elidatur. + +P. Jov. Brytan. Descrips. Pg. 21. + +Inter Bala Script. Anz. + +A page from a historical text discussing archery techniques. + +72 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +The principal ufs for which Archers were valued in battle, have been divided under the eight following heads, viz. + +1.—To begin the fight at a distance. +2.—To provoke the enemy, to harrafs and draw him out of his advantageous poft. +3.—To wound the enemy at a distance. +4.—To diforder the enemy as he makes his approach. +5.—To gall the horfe. +6.—To cope with, and hinder efforts of the light armed troops of their antago- +nifts. +7.—To scout and discover ambufhes, as well as to lie in ambufh themselves. +8.—In making speedy and sudden at- +tempts in time of battle.|| + +We find from Arrian and other writers on tactics, that in ancient battles, the flingers, + +I Strutt, Vol. II. + +A R C H E R Y. +573 + +flingers, a part of the auxiliary troops, directed their weapons against the wooden and small arms of the enemy, but that the principal use of the Archers was in annoying the cavalry. This part of an enemy's army, not only prefenced a number of large objects to aim at, but it has sometimes happened alfo, that a fingle flight of Arrows+ has turned all into disorder and confusion. The horfes and their riders were always in compleat armour, and a discharge of Arrows some- +N n times + ++ The effect produced on the eye by a number of Arrows paffing through the air from one army to another, is a circumstance which, by no Poet who has fang of war, could be paffed unnoticed. One might fill pages from every language with beautiful allusions to this fubjedt. + +The appearance of an Arrow on the wing, viewed on the fide, is fingularly interlinging. Its fteady move- +ment—the curve it defcribes—it's affcending and de- +feending motion—it's velocity, &c. are all fources of beauty which never fail to excite agreeable feelings in the mind, and even lead us to attribute active powers, for a moment, to the thafa. Weaknefs and frength are + +74 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +times darkened the sky by their numbers; +we must conceive therefore the immense and sudden noise thereof must occasion in falling on the metallic coverings which opposed them. + +The opening of a battle, accompanied with every horrid noise which could be contrived; the sound of mithive weapons and the cries of the wounded, has thus excited so much terror among the horses, as effectually to overcome the discipline and + +are well expiated by the Arrow which arrives short, or which passes far over the Target; and the different degrees of swiftness perceptible in Arrows, from bows of various kinds, are but different ideas of bodily vigour and energy, in various degrees of strength. This is not fantastic—it is thus we feel pleasure from the objects in nature which surround us. Vegetables speak the language of the passions well. Does not the florum make every hedge enraged; and have we not the weeping willows? We give these mental affections. + +§ Intendant acres arcus, amantaque torquent. +Serratur omne folum tela, tum fcuta cavacque Dant fonitum fictu galea; pugna alpera fugit. + +A page from a Latin text, possibly a classical work or essay. + +A R C H E R Y. +875 + +and render the whole squadron confused. +In Livy, we read that the Cretan Archers completely routed the army of Antiochus, and turned his cavalry into flight by a storm of Arrows. + +The elephants and camels which were by some nations introduced in battle, proved admirable marks for the skill of the Archers, and if their Arrows chanced to turn these animals into disorder, both the bafe and superstructure were usually overthrown. + +We shall not wonder at the relations we hear of the furious and frantic acts these animals have committed, if we consider the excruciating pain a well directed Arrow must produce. They were indeed well protected with armour + +N n 2 on + +I See an account of the wound Zifca received by an Arrow, in Gilpin's Lives of the Reformers. Pp. 306. + +576 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +on the front, but the hinder parts were more exposed; and when their heads were by any means turned from the enemy, the Arrows and Javelins being directed under their tails, inflicted mortal wounds with the severest pain.* + +Animals, however, are now no longer the objects of Archery, and as the use of fire-arms has expelled the Bow from the field, we may hope in future, to have no reaon of lamenting its cruelties. + +Before I clofe this chapter, I cannot forbear faying a few words with respect to modern Archery, confidered as an amufement.† + +The +* "Sub caudis qua maximè molli cute vulnera accipitut, fodiciant."— Vegetius Pg. 356. +† Among the amufements in which the Bow has borne a part, we fhall find none more extraordinary than + +A R C H E R Y. +577 + +The value of agreeable amusements must be felt by all people, as the most important than the following; an account of which is recorded in Plot's History of Staffordshire— + +"At Abbot, or now rather Pagets Bremley, they had also within memory, a sort of sport, which they celebrated at Christmas, (in New-year, or Twelfth-day,) call'd the Holy-burgh Dance, a peron that was carried on by the Towns People, who began with a staff of thin boards, and in his hand a Bow and Arrow, which passing through a hole in the bow, and flapping upon a fender it had in it, he made a jingling noise as he drew it out and fire', keeping time with the music: with this man danced fix others, carrying on their shoulders as many Ron-dec's heads, three of them painted white, and three red, with the Arms of the chief families(viz. of Paget, Bower and Wall), to whom the reverend prebendary of the town chiefly attended on the palm of those who danced; and they danced the Hare, and other Country Dances. To this Holy-burgh Dance, there also belonged a pot, which was kept by turna, by four or five of the chief of the town, whom they called Reeves, who provided cakes and ale to put in this pot: all people who had any kindnesf for the good intent of the institution of the sport, giving hence a piece for themselves and families; and so foreigners too, that came to see the dance. The Reeves, under the charge of the cakes and ale being defrayed, they not only repaired their Church, but kept their Poor too: which charges are not now perhaps so cheerfully borne." + +Plot's History of Staffordshire, p. 430. + +White background with no visible content. + +A R C H E R Y. 79 + +his chafe, perceives that he must crown his toils with an inanimate ride of forty miles to his bed. Archery is attended with no cruelty. It sheds no innocent blood, nor does it torture harmless ani- +mals; charges which lie heavy against some other amusements. + +It has been said a reward was formerly offered to him who could invent a new pleasure.† Had such a reward been held forth by the ladies of the present day, he who introduced Archery as a female exercise, would have deservedly gained the prize. It is unfortunate that there are few diversions in the open air, in which women can join with satisfaction; and as their sedentary life renders motion neces- +† Xerxes opum Regarum oftentatione eximia, ea uique luxuria gaudebat, ut edido premium ei propone- +ret qui novum voluptatum genus repertiret. +Ved. Max. L. g. Ch. 13. +See n16 Briffius de reg. Persa 148. + +AN ESSAY ON + +necessary to health, it is to be lamented that such suitable amusements have been wanting to invite them. Archery, has, however, contributed admirably to supply this defect, and in a manner the most desirable that could be wished. + +But I do not intend to finge the praises of this elegant art in their full extent. Fashion now introduces it to the world, and with far greater success than that which may probably attend my reasoning and feeble panegyrics. I subjoin a wish, however, that this fashion may be universally cultivated and approved; and may we fee the time when (with Statius) it can be said, + +" Pudor eft nefire fugitas."§ + +§ It is a reproach to be unfaithful with the Bow, + +CHAP. + +ARCHERY. +CHAP. XII. + +On the ARBALEST. + +IN my research with regard to the Long-bow, many facts and observations relating to the Arbaleft, unavoidably occurred to my notice; and as that weapon was formerly fo generally employed in Europe, for several centuries, I have been induced to admit a short account of it, among those things having a connection with Archery, which it was intended this Effay should illustrate. + +We are not informed at what period the Crofs-bow was first introduced to the world, but it is by some said to + +O o have + +A N E S S A Y O N + +have derived its origin from the Cretans; +by others it is attributed to the inhabitants +of Sicily. Many varieties, on the large +scale, were used in the military operations +of the Greeks and Romans; and that some +of those engines, called Ballista, were +contrived on this principle, appears from +figures on the Trajan and Antonine +pillars. These, however, were exceed- +ingly strong, and capable of emitting +large javelins; but there were others of +finer dimensions, which answered the +purpose of the Arbalest. + +Authors disagree, in describing that +engine called the Scorpion. Ammianus +Marcellinus mentions, that it was the +same as the Onager, an instrument used +to project stones. Vitruvius contradicts +this + +* As little historical extravagances are sometimes useful in enlivening a dull page, I shall here mention a few facts which are recorded concerning the vast power of these military engines, the Scorpion, Onager and + +A R C H E R Y. +83 + +this affection, and fays, that it was smaller, +and could be managed by a fingle perfon alone; and Iodorus describes it as a par- +ticular kind of Arrow.† But, however true thefe affections may be, we find that Vegetius expressly fays it was the fame as the common Crofs-bow.‡ + +O o 2 This + +and Ballifta. Ammianus Marcellinus reports, that a man was ftruck by a flone from a Scorpius, and was fo completely flivered to atoms, that no part of his whole body could be any where perceived. — Ado ne fejus quidem tatus corporis inferiorem. — See p. g. 314. + +Jodphus has fill more marvellous tales. A man, he tells us, flanding near him on the wall of a town which was built upon high ground, was ftruck by a flone, which flew with it to the diftance of three fluidia. And a pregnant woman was walking before the door of her house, a flone from a Ballifta having ftruck her, it tore the infant from her body, and carried it (fquallating) the space of half a fluidia. + +Jodph. Hfp. Vol. II. pg. 1720. Oxf. Edit. +† Stewechii, Com. ad Veget. + +† "Scorpioines dicebant, quas nunc mamba- +tiflas vocant." + +Vegt. L. 4. Ch. 22. & 23. + +Crofs-bows are called "Scorpions mane" in more modern works.—See Focletia. Hill. Genunfium, +pg. 532.—E. in the collection of Gravius and Burman. Vol. I. + +A black-and-white illustration of a man being struck by a flone from a Scorpius. + +284 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +This instrument is not omitted by Montfacon. In Pl. 79. Vol. IV. there is a repretation of one which is called by Heron (a great engineer) **xuqeslaanor the band Ballista**, and is similar to the ancient Crofs-bow. It is drawn as if compofed of two pieces, the ftock and the Bow. +In the middle of the ftock, which is a piece of wood, about three times as broad as thick, there is a grove, whose fides are elevated somewhat above the surface of the ftock. In this grove, the Arrow is placed ; and the Bow is fixed at the end of it in fuch a poftion, that the firing sweeps the whole length in difcharging, and catches the Arrow which is placed in it, as thofe modern ones do which fhoot bolts. This kind is properly the Scorpion, and differs in confttruction from the modern Crofs-bow, in the parts from whence the firing is fet at liberty; which will be hereafter fhewed. + +The + +A R C H E R Y. +83 + +The Ballista, or Arcuballista, is said to have been introduced among the Roman weapons, about the time of Constantine, or rather before; but it remained among the arms of the auxiliaries, and seems to have been little esteemed by the regular troops. + +Among the English, the first mention of the Crofs-bow, that I have observed, is in Speed; who quotes Johannes Pomarius.* He says of the Saxons, that their arms were long spears, broad fwords, and the Crofs-bow.† This weapon, however, does not appear to have been very much in use, till some years + +§ Circum feculum Confanini, aut paulo ante, videtur in militiam recepti. +Pitij's Lex. + +* Johannes Pomarius wrote the Saxon History in the German language.--See Freynoy, Vol. XL. +† Speed, pg. 287. + +A page from a historical text discussing ancient weapons. + +White background with no visible content. + +A R C H E R Y. +87 + +In order to understand this sentence clearly, it will be necessary to say a few words on the construction of Crofs-bows. + +These instruments being of wood, horn, or steel, were of various degrees of power; the weaker ones were bent by the hands alone; but to draw the larger and more powerful, there was a kind of stirrup affixed, into which one foot, and sometimes both feet were placed, in order to affix in moving the string. P. Daniel quotes a line from Britton, which shews that the feet were used in the manner spoken of.§ + +We have only to conceive, therefore, that William had a Crofs-bow of this kind; and that he could, even on horseback, bend this strong weapon, with his foot placed in the stirrup affixed to it. + +An +§ = Balliuta duplici tenfa pede mifa fatiga." + +188 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +An expression made use of by our old historian, Thoms, seems to imply the use of the Arbalist among the troops, at the battle of Haftings. He says, the Normans entered the field with drawn Bows, "arcibus tenus." It is well known that Arbalists frequently carried their weapons with the string drawn, and the Arrow placed ready to shoot; and indeed it became necessary in more recent times to make a law prohibiting persons from travelling on the highways with loaded Crofs-bows, as passengers were much annoyed by the danger of an accidental discharge. The expression, therefore, "with drawn Bow," applies with propriety to the Arbalist, and cannot be interpreted of the Long-bow. + +I have + +† See Thoms, pg. 157.—Anglic. Script. Poet Bedam. + +‡ The custom of using the foot in stringing the Arbalist, may have been very ancient; perhaps, if we judge + +A R C H E R Y. +29 + +I have not been able to discover the least hint, which enables us to judge of the kind of Bow from which the Arrow issued, that gave the fatal wound to William Rufus, while hunting on New Forest. + +In the time of Henry II. we find several facts spoken of, which shew the Crofs-bow to have been very common in that reign. In 1172, the conquest of Ireland was undertaken by the troops of this king; and several detachments were sent forth, in each of which Archers are particularly mentioned. The party commanded by Fitz-Stephens was first landed + +judge from a circumstance mentioned by Plutarch:— + +"In Burgundia nostrum agro Alexandri proprie Arme- +num reperte: fuit haud its pridem due iucundae, five +figilla argentea, unum militis quasi legionarii, pari +certe habitu, veterani, barbatii, & vulna retorido, ha- +jufmodi Arachniflam ad pedem tendere consueta: alterum +juvenis imberbis, in linea militaris monolore, & arcum +tendentia. In urna vitrea sub terra inventa funta" + +P p + +90 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +landed in Ireland, and consisted of thirty knights, sixty 'fquires, and three hundred Archers.* The English armies drove all before them; and Rapin explains this circumstance by observing, " that it is almost incredible, that the Irish, who were exceedingly numerous, should suffer themselves to be overrun by an handful of Englishmen. The reason is imputed to their great dread of the English Crossbow, the use of which, till then, was unknown to them."† + +Little is said of the instrument in our history from this period till about sixty years afterwards; when Richard I. was killed by an Arrow from one of them, at the siege of Chaluz. + +This + +* Hume, Ch. 9. +† Rapin, Vol. I, pg. 235. + +We have before observed, (pg. 219) that Archery was first made known to the Irish in Henry the Second's invasions. + +A historical illustration showing a battle scene with archers and knights. + +A R C H E R Y. +291 + +This fact is mentioned by almost all our historians. Speed says, " that when Richard was at the siege of this castle, an Arbalefter standing on the wall, and seeing his time, charged his steel Bow with a square Arrow, or Quarrel, making first prayer to God that he would direct the shot, and deliver the innocency of the besieged from oppression. Whereupon discharging it, as the king was viewing the castle, within the distance of such an engine; and the king, (upon hearing the Bow go off) stooping with his head, was mortally wounded in the left shoulder."§ + +When the king lay ill of his wound, says the same author, he defied the person who had shot him to be sent for. Bertram Gurdan, or Bertram de Gurdom, for that was his name, was accordingly brought +4 +Speed, pg. 481. + +P p 2 + +593 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +brought before him; and being asked by Richard, What could induce him to do so unprovoked an injury? Bertram replied, "Thou haft killed with thy own hand, my father and my two brothers, and now thou wifheft to kill me, therefore take thy revenge, whatever it be." Richard, however, did not shew any resentment against Bertram on this occasion, but behaved in a manner some-what heroical. He pardoned his offence, fet him at liberty, and made him a pre.sent of an hundred thillings sterling. But as soon as the king was dead, one Markadey, an officer in the king's confidence, apprehended him again, and put him to death in a most cruel manner. + +It + +* See Ang. Script. Poff. Bedam.—Hoveden, pg. 450. +—Stow, pg. 316.—Grafton, pg. 167.* + +In Camden are these lines on the death of Richard : + +" Ibius in morte perimis Formica Leonem +Proh dolor! in tante funere mundus obit." + +A page from a historical manuscript. +Anne of Ireland. + +A R C H E R Y. +53 + +It is well known that Richard was expert in the management of the Cross-bow, and that he killed many persons with his own hand. Brompton, when speaking of the king's death, seems to rejoice that he met with fo defered a fate.|| + +It appears, that in England, Cross-bow-men were very common in the reign of Henry III. Matthew Paris says they attended the army, and generally preceded the main body of it, at the distance of a mile.** + +I per- +|| +II " Ipse (Richardus) liquidem hoc sagittahabit, quod arcuballarum dictur, jambidem opium, in ufum, ut dicitur, revocaret, unde in eo perita plures manus propria permitit, quo et ipse polonum in terra propria imprermentius, et inopinato intentio, neque enim lex uilla acquire effit, +" Quam necia artifices ante perite fua." +Brompt. pg. 1278. + +* Balliarii quoque, corum exercitum tempore prel- bant uno feri militari. +Mat. Paris, V.4. I. pg. 295. Anno 1217. + +And + +White background with no visible content. + +White background with no visible content. + +156 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +called the Fraternity of St. George, to encourage the practice of the Arbaleft and Long-bow ; but the Arbaleft appears to have been very little used : that king also, made a law which tended very much to check the use of it. Stat. 33. Ch. 6. +complains that divers murders had been perpetrated by means of Crofs-bows ; +and that malicious and evil-minded persons carried them ready bent and charged with Quarrels, to the great annoyance of passengers on the high-ways. +The act therefore refrains this custom, and ordains that those who are possessed of lands to the value of an hundred pounds per annum, shall alone use the Crofs-bow ; and that they shall not ride with them on the king's high-way, nor shoot within a quarter of a mile of any city, or market town, under a penalty for so doing. + +The + +A R C H E R Y. +897 + +The 25. Hen. VIII. Ch. 17. is nearly to the fame effect as the preceding, and there are several others of the fame import, made in this king's reign ; after which period, few or no laws have taken notice of the Arbaleft. + +In France, Arbalecters seem to have been in use as early as the time of Louis le Gros. There is a passage in Duchefne's History of France, which mentions both Archers shooting by the hand, and Cross-bow-men.* + +This instrument, during the beginning of the reign of Philip the August, was so far diffused, that not one was to be found among his troops. P. Daniel quotes the following passage from William Britton, who wrote his Philip- +Q_q +pics, +* * Cum magna Militari, fagittaria mams & Ballif- +taria, obvialet."—Vol. IV. p5. 83. + +A page from a historical text discussing the use of crossbows and arbalests in medieval Europe. + +398 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +pics in the end of the twelfth century, +and who speaking of the age of this king, +has these words :— + +" Francigenus noffris illis ignota dicibus +Res erat omnino quid Balifarius arcus +Quid Balifaria fort, nec habebat in agmine toto +Res quemquam foiret armis qui talibus uti." + +The reason given for the discontinuance of the Arbalest, during the time of Philip the August, appears to be, that that weapon was prohibited, by a Canon of the second Lateran Council, holden in 1139, as hateful to God, and unfit to be made use of among Christians.† But although the Canon was strictly oberved for some years, + +† " Artem illam mortiferam & Deo odibilem Balif- +tariorum & Sagittariorum advertere Christianos & +Catholicos exerceri de externo sub anathematem pro- +hibendum."— Can. 30. + +And alfo, 4th Lateran Council, Can. 18.— Nullis +quoque clericius rotaria aut Balifaria aut hujufmodi +viae fangueni preponatur." This may allude to the +the larger engines, but I do not imagine it does, in +this case. + +A historical document page with Latin text. + +A R C H E R Y. +195 + +years, and until the commencement of the reign of Philip ; it was neverthelesfs, foon after, revived among warlike instru- ments by that king ; and he is fuppoed to have taken example from the conduct and advice of our Richard I. who brought the weapon into great repute during his expeditions on the Continent, in the time of Philip, with whom he was in- timate.§ + +At the fiege of Turin, in 1536, P. Daniel fays there was but one Arba- lefter in the French army ; but he was fo expert that he killed more perfons than any of thofe ufing the Harquebufs. + +Q q 2 The +§ Britton fays, Richard revived the Arbalét in France : the Poet introduces Aropon, one of the Def- tinies, as decreeting the King's death by that weapon. +" Hic volo, non aliis Richardum morte periere; +Ut qui Francigenis Balliis primitus ufum +Tradidit, ipse fui rem primitus experiatur ; +Quamque alias docuit, in fe vim femina artis." + +Philip. Lib. 7. + +308 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +The fame the Genoef have acquired by their skilful management of the Crofs-bow, induced me to feach the hiftories of that flate, in order to difcover the period in which it became fo much in favour among them. Thefe people are celebrated very early, for their ingenuity in contriving warlike engines, and for their matchlefs skill in managing them. +The fuccesf which attended the Chrifti-ans, at the fiege of Jerufalem, in 1100, is attributed principally to the mechanical talents of the Genoef; but although a variety of arms and engines of war, fuch as battering-rams, towers of wood to mount the walls of cities, ballifms, &c, are enumerated by fome Italian writers, I have not, however, difcovered that the Arbleaf is any where exprefly named. But it is reafonable to fuppofe this instru-ment was then in ufe among them, as they + +A R C H E R Y. +394 + +they are said to have had all kinds of +massive weapons.* + +In the beginning of the thirteenth and +until the middle of the fifteenth century, +Cross-bow-men are uniformly made +mention of among the Genoese troops. +From Jufiniano we learn, that in the +year 1225, twenty Arbalisters mounted +on horseback, and one hundred on foot, +having Bows of horn, were then employ- +ed in the army of the State.|| Five hundred +were sent against the Milanese, in 1245, +and these unfortunate men being placed +in + +* Taffo, in his "Girofalemme Liberata," makes +mention of the Arbalete, and Quarrelle, which were +the Arrows used for that kind of Bow—- + +"Quinci le trombe, e le Balfrre, e gli archi." + +Cant. 20.—33. + +See also Cant. 20.—63.—13.—15., &c. + +|| "Veni Ballefrieri a cavallo & cento Ballefrieri +a piede con le Ballifre di corso." + +Annali di Genova, pg. 73.* + +A page from a historical text discussing medieval crossbowmen and their equipment. + +302 + +AN ESSAY ON + +in the front of the lines, were taken prisoners by the enemy; who, to revenge the havoc done by their Bows, cruelly punished each with the loss of an eye, and the amputation of an arm; after which they were liberated and sent back to their native country, where they received a pension from their fellow citizens. + +The greatest number of these troops which appears to have been ever introduced into the field, was at the battle of Crecy, in 1346, in which engagement the foremost rank of the French army was composed of fifteen thousand Genoese Crossbow-men. + +For the space of more than a century, no anecdote worthy of notice occurs, + +till + +† Foglieta, Vol. I. pg. 357.—Thefaur. Hill. Ist. Gravini & Burmanni. +‡ Hume, Vol. II. pg. 439. + +A page from a book with text and some illustrations. + +A R C H E R Y. +303 + +till the period in which the Byzantine court was finally subverted by the Turks, in 1453, at which time three hundred Arbalétriers, among a number of other armed men, were sent from Genoa to assist the besieged. + +I shall here clothe my account:—And although I have with some diligence looked over the histories of the Republic, and the works relating to Genoa, which are inferred in the collections of Muratori, Gravius and Burman, I have not been able to discover either the time in which the Crofs-bow was introduced into the Italian armies, or the period of its entire banishment; the two principal eras, the most valuable to record. + +Arbalétriers were made on different principles, but the more modern form was that represented Fig. 5. Pl. 4. and which + +is + +3-4 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +is copied from a very old book on French tactics. + +In the middle of the Bow-stock at A. was inferred a small round piece of iron, Fig. 6. It was on this nut (as they termed it) that the string was held when they charged the Bow. This nut was fixed in the stock by a screw passing through its center, and on which it freely turned. +The notch L. arose above the surface of the stock on its upper side, and the string was received into it when drawn up. +B. Fig. 5. represents a trigger, the end of which was inferred into the notch G. Fig. 6. and prevented it from moving while the nut held the string; but on being pressed (as it turned on a pin) the end was displaced from the notch, and the nut turned round by the force of the string, which it set at liberty and projected the Arrow. + +The + +A R C H E R Y. +The Scorpion was made in a very different method, but as it was a complex instrument, a verbal description would be but indistinct. I shall refer those, therefore, who have a desire to examine its construction, to Mr. Grofe's History of the Army, Vol. II. Pg. 286, where the parts are all delineated separately, and also to Montfaucon, Antiqu. Expliq. Vol. IV. Pl. 79-† + +R r The + +† There are some other kinds mentioned; concerning the peculiar figures of which I am not entirely clear. +" Baliste a pédoribus." Reflexe Baliste, quibus ille muschette proprie deputatur, sunt Balistes, que Baliste a pédoribus nuncupantur." +" Arbalète à tour." Parce qu'elle était bandée avec un tour. + +Vous peufitez les mageoteux +Voir par defus les carneaux; +Et aux Archères tout autour +Sont les Arhalotes à tour. + +Aux Cafetiers. Les Origines de la Langue François. Paris, Folio 1694. + +306 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +The Arrows shot from Crofs-bows were called Quarrels, or Bolts.* They were usually headed with a large square pyramid of iron, but had sometimes other forms given to them : See Pl. 3, in which the figures on the lower parts of the plate, are of Arrows for the use of the Crofs-bow. There, as well as those for Long-bows, had heads which fitted on to them occasionally, and which, when carried into the flesh, remained there. Figures 1 and 3, are the shafts of Arrows; and Figures 2 and 4, the heads to be applied to them. + +Instead of feathers, the Quarrels were sometimes trimmed with plates of brass, or iron. + +One + +* Parce que le fer en était quarré."—P. Daniel. +--- +Quadratum cuspidis una +Pendit arundo. + +A R C H E R Y. +307 + +One species of Quarrel, which was called in French the *Vireton*, from its spinning round as it paffed through the air, was made as our common Arrows are at prefent,—with the feathers fet on a little curved; but it is probable that that method of placing the feathers was not in general ufed in the fifteenth century, the period in which the *Vireton* is moft fpoken of, or a particular name would have been unnecceffary. + +An English phrafe, (as Mr. Barrington obferves) originated from the ufe of the Bolt.—I have flot my Bolt, is a faying which intimates an attempt having been made in fome way. An example of this expreffion occurs in Langtoft's Chroni- cles, where an Effay on Stonehenge is entitled, " A Fool's Bolt foon flot at Stonge." + +R r 2 It + +§ Oxford Edition, Orlavo, 1785. + +63 + +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +It was customary among those who practised with the Cross-bow to have a mark, which they called a Poppingay, formed like a Parrot, as we may suppose, and which was suspended in the air. Stow in his "Survey of London," says, the Cross-bow makers rented Tazel-Clofe, a place near Moorfields, for the purpose of exercising themselves with that weapon, at the Poppingay.† The practice has been very ancient in France, and appears from P. Daniel, to have been instituted as early as the reign of Philip I.* The Cross-bow, as it is capable of being managed with greater accuracy than the Long-bow, has been in all times used in the chase; and even long after the construction of the musket was highly improved, the silent discharge of the Arbaleft, + +† Stow's Survey, pg. 175. +* Hilt, de la Milice, Vol. I. Pg. 879. + +A page from a historical text discussing the use of crossbows and arbalets. + +A R C H E R Y. +89 + +Arbaleft, rendered it more valuable in the pursuit of timorous animals, than any other weapon. It was formerly, and perhaps is at present in use, for the purpose of killing deer; and gentlemen often amuse themselves by shooting bullets at rooks and rabbits, which some can strike with wonderful dexterity. For killing birds, + +II Anciendy, when the forelle were preferred for the sake of hunting, an inferior officer belonging to those districts, was called "The Bow-bearer." The appointment is now fallen into difife; but the following form of the oath taken by that officer, will explain the duty with which he was entrusted. + +"I will be true man so the Master of this Forell, and to his Lieutenant; and in their absence I shall truly over-fee, and true inquisition make, as well of sworn men, as unsworn, in every Bailivich, both in the North-bail and South-bail of this Forell; and of all manner of persons who shall come to my callation, I shall truly attack, or caule to be attacked, in the next Court of Attachment, there to be present, without any concealment had to my knowledge. + +SO HELP ME GOD." + +† No circumstance which has fallen under my observation, illustrates so well, the accuracy with which the Crufs-bow was formerly shot, as the following passage + +310 + +AN ESSAY ON birds, there was a particular kind of Arrow, having a ball of wood at the end of it, and which was named the "Bird-bolt." This Arrow had often, besides the ball, an iron point which projected before it, and with which the smaller animals were transfixed. + +At present the Crofs-bow is but little in use in England, but there are many places on the Continent, in which societies practice with it. + +C H A P. + +passage in Wood's Bowman's Glory, " On March the 21st, anno 1661, four hundred Archers, with their Bows and Arrows, made a splendid and glorious show in Hyde-Park, with flying colours, and Crofs-bows to guard them. Sir Gilbert Talbot, Bart, was their Colonel; Sir Edward Hungerford, Knight of the Bath, their Lieutenant Colonel; Mr. Donne was their Major. Great was the appearance both of the nobility, gentry, and commonalty. Several of the Archers that near twenty score yards, within the compass of a hat, with their Crofs-bows and arrows, shot at the appointment of the spectators, hit the mark. There were three flowers of Whifling-arrows. So great was the delight, and so pleasing the exercise, that three regiments of foot laid down their arms to come to see it." + +Bowman's Glory, pg. 73a + +A R C H E R Y. +216 + +C H A P. XIII. + +--- + +OF SKILFUL ARCHERS. + +I Shall now lay before my readers some of the exploits of those heroes, who have individually signalized themselves as Archers. + +Nations, as well as men, have been famous in antiquity, for their skill in the management of the Bow. The Cretan Archers, were early employed by the Greeks, and were extremely valued by that people. The Persians were + +A N E S S A Y O N + +were celebrated in all ancient histories, +and appear to have been very expert; +truffing as much to their Arrows, as +their fwords. The Parthians were re- +markable for their dexterity in shooting +behind them, on an enemy preffing +upon the rear, and whilst their horfes +were in full speed.* This art, however, +was by no means peculiar to the Par- +thians, as the Scythians§ and Sarmatians +are reported to have shot in the fame +attitude. The inhabitants of India, and +thofe bordering on that country, were +all + +* "Parthi miflibus telis, aut fugitius affiftunt, cits +cohobitibus nunc occurrantia, nunc terga dantae, fimu- +lata fuga,"—And Virgil alfo, +" Fidentemque fuga Parthum, verifie fugitias." + +§ The more modern Scythians, or Tartars, are faid +to be very adroit on horfeback.—Men of that coun- +try ben alle gode Archeres, and thooften righte welle, +bothe men and women, als wel on horsbak, prykinge, +as on foce, renninge." + +Mauvile's Trav. pg. 301. + +A R C H E R Y. +all characterized of old, as skilful Archers.† + +We must not enumerate the Greeks or Romans, among those nations excelling in Archery, as they preferred the clofe attack ; disdainning the Bow, as tedious and uncertain. The Roman, inflamed with the hopes of signalizing himself by acts of perfonal bravery, flood with im-patience while the enemy were beyond his grasp. Nor could he but defpife that diftant encounter, wherein the skill of every one was completely obfured. +He chofe the clofer combat. His javelin flew with unerring aim. His sword struck irreftifable ; while his firm, though battered + +† What Horace fays of a particular people in the East, may be applied to all, as the use of the Bow was established in the highest antiquity among thofe nations : + +" Deum fugitam tendere Sericae +" Arcu paterne." + +34 +**AN ESSAY ON** + +battered shield, glanced every well-directed weapon aside. This was the school wherein the Roman loved to study, and which taught him to view the Archer with contempt. + +Although the Legions of the Roman flate were unaccustomed to the use of the Bow; Archery was nevertheless cultivated by many private individuals. The Circus was often the scene where feats of this kind were exhibited; and even Emperors themselves were actors. Domitian and Commodus, have been particularly celebrated for their matchless excellence in managing the Bow; but at the same time we admire the skill of these performers, we must allow, how little in + +† Romanis ipsis ab antiquo vic fuerunt fugitam. +Sed poft Punicum bellum fecundum creberrima in Romanis civibus fugitarii, fed auxiliaris, non cives. + +Lipfus. + +A R C H E R Y. +35 + +in character he must appear, who acts the Archer in the Imperial purple. + +It is reported of Domitian, that he would often place boys in the Circus at some distance from him, and as they held out their hands, and separated their fingers, he would shoot an Arrow through either space, without injury to the hand of him who aimed target.* + +The feats recorded of Commodus, are numerous; and he appears to have been one of the most expert Archers history has made mention of. + +S s a It + +* Suetonius. Vita Domitian. +The reader will, I hope, excuse the expression, +* aimed Target,* when he recollects some of the characters in "The Midsummer Night's Dream:"—Moon- +fame,—Lion,—and a Wall. + +"In this same interlude it doth befall, +* That I, one Sweet by name, prevent a soul." + +All V. Scene 2. + +3:6 +AN ESSAY ON + +It is said by Herodian,† that his hand was unerring both with the Javelin and with the Bow; and that the most experienced Parthian Archers, yielded to his superior skill.§ He would kill all kinds of animals in the Amphitheatre by way of exercise, and to shew the steadiness of his arm. But it is observed, that he, in these cases, generally preferred to shew his art, rather than his courage; as he secured himself on a place elevated beyond the reach of any attack which might have happened from his opponents. +Stags, Lions, Panthers, and all species of beasts, fell without number by his hand; nor was a second Arrow necessary, for every wound proved mortal. He would strike an animal in any particular point +† Lib. 1.—§g. +‡ "felix arcus, certique petitor" +"Valerius, et iudium mentiri neficus idem." +Claud. 4. Cens. Hec. 54 + +A R C H E R Y. 317 + +point he wifhed with the greatesf accuracy, in the head, or in the heart. A Panther was fometimes let loofo into the Circus, where a criminal was placed; and juft as the animal was going to feize the culprit, he would drive an Arrow fo opportunely, that the man fhould ecape unhurt. An hundred Lions have been introduced at the fame time upon the Arena, and with an hundred shafts he would lay them lifelesfs. He caufed Arrows to be made with heads curved in a femicircular figure, and with thefe he could cut off the neck of an Oftrich running in full speed. + +This feat is, perhaps, the moft difficult of the whole number, the Oftrich being extremely swift of foot, and having a neck of very fmall magnitude. Herodian obferves alfo, that when the Emperor amputated the head of one of thefe animals, + +the + +AN ESSAY ON + +The stroke fevered the parts so infantaneously, that the body sometimes proceeded several paces, as if still living; the motion not being immediately checked. + +Constantius was much skilful in the practice of Archery, and is said to have studied that art in his youth, under the direction of a preceptor.* + +Both the Emperor Julian† and Gratian are characterized as expert Archers. The latter + +* Neque veromanipulares folum milites, fed principes et jam juvenumia, feu Imperatorum liberos, eundem quique artem, prout de Constantio dictur fab Dacio- +ribus fugitias didicite, docebit in ejudem Impera- +toris et pro Constantio laudatione, Libanius. +See Cyriak aduers. *Jul. pg. 109. + +This Emperor is said by others to be—* mirum artifex in fugitias —deinandi fugitas mire promptus,* &c. + +See Sjachom Ofl. ad Orat. *Jul. pg. 114. + +† —Maximeque perite dirigendi fugitas. Ap. Mar. +L. 21. Ch. 16. et Spanh. ubi supra—*———te +mucilam, ad fugias accurre, cui falm amare fugias.* Thespi were his exercises. + +A R C H E R Y. +319 + +latter propofed to himfelf the actions of Commodus as examples, and like him, frequently exhibited to the public, the adroitnefs with which he could kill ani- +mals, running together in an enclofed place, by his Arrows || + +An anecdote recorded of a perfon, whole name was After, has immor- +talized him as one of the most expert of Archers. He poffeffed fuch flkill with his Bow, that as he faw Philip of Macedon among his troops, he wrote upon an Arrow which he intended to shoot at that King—" After fend Philip a deadly Arrow;" and having discharged it, ftuck the right eye of Philip; but although the wound was not mortal, it deprived him of fight on that tide-§ + +A very +§ Ammianus Marcellanus, Lib. 31, Ch. 10, pg. 494. +§ Philippus Olynthum & Methonem oppugnaturum dum traieare Sandanum Suvign vi contendanti, fugita alia + +310 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +A very extraordinary, and perhaps in war one of the most useful Archers, is spoken of by Zofimus, in his account of the battle between Constantius and Magentius, at Murfa. This soldier, whose name was Menelaus, possessed the art of shooting three Arrows from his Bow at one discharge, and with them could strike three different persons. +By this skilful expedient, says the historian, he killed a great number of those who opposed him; and the enemy, it might almost be said, were defeated by a single Archer. Unfortunately, however, this valuable man at last fell by the hand of Romulus, a general of the army of + +idem ehi ab Aftere Olynthio qui et dixit, +" After lethale Philippo mitti fipculum." + +Philippus retro ad fuas natando evavit, amillo ex eo vulnere oculo. + +Plutarch. Parrot. pg. 307. Vol. II. Fol. Par. 1624. +Sui Jufian alfo, Lib. 7. Ch. 6. + +A black-and-white illustration of a historical scene featuring two men in armor facing each other, with one being shot in the eye. + +A R C H E R Y. +384 + +of Magentius, whom he had first wounded by an Arrow.‡ + +The story of William Tell is perfectly known, and in the mouth of every one; I need not therefore celebrate his skill, by giving an account of the exploit he is said to have performed with his Bow. + +Quintus Curtius relates, that Befius having been condemned to death, and crucified, for the murder of Darius, his body was ordered to be guarded while on the crofs, left the birds should moleft it. The office was committed to one Catenus, who was fo excellent an Archer, that he could hit thofe animals with his Arrows.* T t It + +† See Zosimus, Lib. 2. pg. 135, Oxf. Edit. Oclavo. +* Ut Alexander Ozathem fratrem Darin, quem inter corporis maledicis habebat, propter jufti acce- +dere; tradidit Befium ei, ut crux adferiret. Aditus auribus narbarique, fugitio, ut regem narbari; adfen- +sarentque coram, ut me audat quidem contingentur. Ozathres cetera + +A historical scene showing Alexander the Great and Befius. + +AN ESSAY ON + +It appears probable that birds formerly were often killed by Arrows, as the circumstance is hinted by several authors. +Diodorus Siculus, indeed, tells us, that some of the Ethiopian nations were so adroit, that they sublifed entirely on the birds they shot with their Bow.† We must +eterna fibi cura fore pollutici. Aves non ab alio quam a Catone probae prohibere adjici: eximium ejus artem cupietae offendere. Namque ados certo ida delirata feriachit, ut aves quoque excipiente. Nam eti fortiant fugitamendi tam celebre ufa minus admisibiles videri hoc +are poifit; tamen ingens vienibus miraculum, mag- +moque honori Cateni fuit. + +Q. Curt. Lih. 7. Ch. 5-6. + +A law made in France in the reign of Dacobert, anno 820, inflicted a penalty on Archers, who, thooting at birds which came to devour the dead after a battle, wounded the body on which they fat. — Et il ut feme contingat, aquile vel eterna aves cadaver repentinum, et super ad lacernandum confiderantur, et ali- +quis fugitamem ejecerit, & cadaver venit mortus, et reper- +tum fuerit, cum dandentem esse componant. + +Capta. Reg. Franc. pg. 136. + +† — de obieciis fumus cui tali tribuunt: inductuiter tua +natura, nescius uobus refunet. De quo tui curant adnus +amansurum. + +Lih. 3. Vol. I. pg. 179. + +A R C H E R Y. +378 + +must underland, I imagine, in the above passages, that the birds which the Archers are said to have killed, were flying; though that is not expressly mentioned. If they were fitting still, and were large birds, the difficulty of hitting them at a short distance would not be so great as may be supposed. Savages in America, and India, are said often to kill birds; and it is common to see on cabinets from the East, figures of men shooting Arrows at them. + +Some very ancient and rude pieces of sculpture, which are copied by Strasburg, in his History of Siberia, (Pl. 3 and 4,) represent Archers riding on horseback, who are aiming at birds flying in many directions, low to the ground, and perpendicularly over their heads. The plates, in the voyages of Ramusio, + +T t 2 con- + +34 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +contain several figures shooting at birds which are perching on trees. + +Among the feats which have been recorded of Hercules, that of his killing the flymphalic birds (or swans) with his Bow, must not be omitted. This is often figured on gems and other antique pieces of sculpture.—See Taffie's Gems, No. 5750; and Spenfe's Polymetis, Pl. 18. Fig. 5$ + +The Caribbees seem to have possessed an art in shooting their Arrows, peculiar to themselves, as appears from a circumstance which occurred to Columbus, in his second voyage. " A canoe belonging to these people, having accidentally fallen in with the fleet under his command, a vessel with a few men was sent towards it, + +§ " &ripedem filiva cervam Styphalidas afris +" Abfultit i" + +Marial. + +A R C H E R Y. +385 + +it, while the other ships surrounded it in order to cut off a communication with the shore. When the perfons in the canoe saw it was impossible for them to escape, they fought with great resolution and wounded many of the Spaniards, although they had Targets and other kind of armour; and even when the canoe was overfet, it was with difficulty the people were taken, as they continued to defend themselves and to ufe their Bows with great dexterity while swimming in the sea."† + +From the accounts we have of the Persians, they appear to be astonishingly expert in the art of shooting the Bow; and if we believe the relations of those who have travelled in the East, (and these relations are uniform) they certainly are to be placed in the first rank of Archers. + +† Robertson's History. + +96 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +Archers. Chardin fays, that the Per- +fians in their exercifes fhoot the Bow +with incredible accuracy; fo accurate, +that they will drive an Arrow into the +fame hole, many times fucceftively. The +Butts they ufe are made of sand, beaten +hard into a wooden frame, the surface +of which is rendered smooth before +the Archers begin to practice. An +Arrow fhot fhrong againft one of thefe +Targets, will ufually penetrate pretty +deep, perhaps half its length; and the +excellence of an Archer is the greater, +in proportion as the number of fhots +required to drive an Arrow over head in +the hole, made by the firft fhot, dimi- +nifhes. This feat is what they generally +propofe to themselves, and it not unfre- +quently happens, that they accomplifh +their end. + +In Perfa alfo, they excel in fhooting +the Bow while on horfeback; a species +of. + +A historical illustration of archery practice. + +A R C H E R Y. 37 + +of Archery we in this country are entire- +ly ignorant of. The author above quoted +(Chardin) describes the method of prac- +tising this art, as extremely curious. + +A mark is placed on the top of a mast +about fix and twenty feet from the ground. +The horfeman who is prepared to shoot, +rides on full speed towards the mark, +and having paffed it, his Bow being +ready drawn, turns round and discharges +his Arrow backwards. Sometimes they +shoot to the right hand, and sometimes +to the left, according to the direction in +which they guide their horfe, in respect +to the mark they propofe to aim at. + +Our traveller speaks of this game as +common in all the villages of Perfia. +The nobility and the kings are fond of +it, and often practice. He fays, that +Sephy, the grandfather of the king who +occu- + +38 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +occupied the throne, at the time he made his tour, excelled in this sport; and would usually strike the Target, if not with the first Arrow, with the second he never erred. + +Mr. Tavernier had an opportunity of being present at a review of the Persian cavalry, during his residence in the East, in the year 1654. His account of the exhibition is curious, and will also enable us to judge of the degree of excellence, to which Archery was brought in that nation. + +"The + +This diversion was formerly in use among the Turks, as we find the following account given by Bubuquius—" Moi eft antiquus gentis jam a Parthia deduxus, ut in equo fugam simulantes haecem temere fabentem fugitam feriant: quod ut facient expedientes ita consequuntur: Summum altifime pericula, live mali in pleno erecti partem avem globos indant, quem ad malum ab celeritate non possunt pervenire. Quod si nihil prætervebif font, repente converti refupinatique equo curum perficiente, fugitant in globum illum mittunt: cuius sei frequenti ufo efficienti, ut nullo negotio arcu im fuga verfo haecem incautum fugant." + +Bubuq. pg. 200. + +A R C H E R Y. +89 + +"The King," he says, "accompanied by his principal officers, stood on a portal to one of the royal gardens; from whence they viewed the most expert and best-looking of the troops, who were ordered to ride fainly before the place where the King was stationed. The horsemen rode full speed; and as they passed, each man shot an Arrow into a turf Butt, prepared for the occasion, in fight of the king and the officers. When the review clofed, the person wholef Arrow flood neareft the center, was pro-mifed an increase of pay." + +"I was at Cafbin," says Mr. Ta-vernier, "at the time; and remember one horfeman, who, riding in his turn, when he came before the portal, stopped his horfe, and walked over the plain, contrary to the orders of the general. When he came opposite the Butt, he re- + +U u fufed + +330 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +fufed to fhoot his Arrow, and only railed his arms in the attitude of drawing the Bow. This horfeman was unfortunate-ly of a very forbidding meim, and the King, enraged to fee his difcipline fo groffly difegarded, and by one he judged incapable of any excellence, gave imme-diate orders for him to be difmissed the fervice. His weapons and horfe were taken from him on the fpot; and the King's directions would have been fully executed, had not one of the generals pleaded his caufe. It was represented to the King, that the cavalier, though fo ill-looking, was one of the beft soldiers in the whole army;-that he had fully proved his fkill and courage in the fieges of Erivan and Candahar;-and that his father was among thofe who maintained the attack of Bagdad three times. Having heard this character, the King, at the request of the officers, commanded the horfe + +A R C H E R Y. +331 + +horse and arms to be reflored to the cavaliier, and he was ordered to take his turn in the review. He accordingly rode into the prefence of the king, and turning his horse first to right, then to left, in some agitation, cried out, " Where would the King have me to shoot ?" On which one of the generals answered, " At the Target where the other horsemen have shot." +The cavalier thaking his head, said with a smile, " Muft I direct my Arrows against a turf? I would rather point them at the enemies of my country; then would I with more pleasure shoot three Quivers full, than a single Arrow at this turf." He then, with great dignity, drew two Arrows from his Quiver, and holding one of them between his teeth, fitted the other into his Bow; when forcing his horse vigorously across the plain, till he had puffed the Butt, he in the Parthian attitude, drove an Arrow U u 2 into + +338 + +AN ESSAY ON + +into the center of the Target. Turning about, he in the same manner shot his second Arrow precisely into the hole from whence his first Arrow had been drawn. + +"The general who had before pleaded for the cavalier, now approached the king, and hoped the adroitneifs of that folder had satisfied the expectation he had raised. At the same time seeing the cavalier at hand, and prefenting him to the King, his Majesty not only expreffed admiration at his great skill, but ordered five times the propofed reward to be given him." + +The Turks are faid to have been formerly very dexterous in the manage- +ment of the Bow, though at prefent that instrument is little ufed among them. An old writer, who refided in Constantinople at + +A R C H E R Y. +333 + +at a time when Archery was cultivated, +speaks highly of the feats of these people. + +Boys at the age of eight years, or even +seven, began to practise with the Bow, +in order to render their arms strong and +steady; and by the time they arrived at +manhood, they could shoot with so +much accuracy, as to drive an Arrow +into the eye of a man, or could hit any +part equally small. They could, during +their practice, shoot several Arrows into +a mark not larger than a die, from the +distance of ten yards. + +Once a year, says the author alluded to, +on a particular day the Archers were used +to meet on a plain, in order to try their +skill in shooting to a distance; and the +spot where the most remote Arrow fell, +was always marked by a large stone, +fixed + +234 +**A N E S S A Y O N** + +fixed up by way of commemoration. +This custom had subsisted many years, +and there were a great number of these stones to be seen at different distances on the plain.* What is extraordinary in this custom is, that the Archers did not shoot their Bows standing in the usual position, but every one fat crofs-legged, in the manner common to the Turks. + +It must be observed, that the Bows used anciently by the Eastern nations, were much shorter than those made at this time in England; for which reason a man sitting on the ground would feel no inconvenience from the lower end of the Bow striking the earth in shooting, which would have been the case had those instru- + +* Stuart mentions a random shot with an Arrow, of Haffan Age, governor of Athens, which he measured and found to be 1750 English feet, or 384 yards. See Athenian Antiq. Vol. I.* + +A historical illustration showing archers shooting from a seated position. + +A R C H E R Y. +335 + +instruments been formerly as long as the modern ones.§ + +Hitherto I have celebrated the heroes of prose, I shall now end the whole -with mentioning a few heroes of poetry. + +It would be an endless task to relate all the exploits of the Bow which have been + +§ "Ex his aliquot foletmi Paechia "(nam et ipi fum habent paeha) in magna super Peram planicie conveniunt, ubi aqua fronte humi confidentes cru- +ribus ita compositis ut fartorum apud nos confustudo eit (ea eft enim propria Turcarum fefio) à precatione orbi (ita fua omnia Turce aufficientur) inter fe quia longius fugitam mittat contendunt. Agitur ea res magna modetia & fidemio, quamvis adlante ipfeta- +torum multitudine. Arcus habent ad eam rem brevid- +fimos, coque rigidores, nec ulli nis exercitatiimno flexibiles: fed et peculares in eum idem fugitam habent. Videtur iuvenis qui in hac facie faceret, quod idemus abfergere, prosumtum proponitur; fed mullo maximum gloria. Quantum vero fatium fuis fugitis transmititant, credito difficile. Locus quo adadæ eft ejus fugitas, qui eo anno longissime jactatus eft, lapide figiturat. +Eorum lapidum jam a prifca temporibus plura extant, alia qui hodie ponuntur, multa paefbia remotiores, quos + +336 + +A N E S S A Y O N + +been recorded in fiction. It will be suf- +ficient for me to select two instances, the +most perfect of their kind. The first I +refer to, is the story which is told of +Ulysses, in the twenty-fifth book of the +Odysey. The poet feigns, that Penelope, +wearyed by the solicitations of her suitors +during the absence of Ulysses at the +Trojan war, at length forms a resolution +to determine which of the lovers shall +receive + +quos majorum fuorum metas fuiffe perufum habent: +adquorum robur & jaculandi ficeniam ipi fe adipire +non pofe, fataturna. In diversis vero urbis Confan- +tinopolis vicis & quadrivis hijumodi ludi funt, quo +non modo puer & adolescente, fed et proverbia +etatis homines congregatur. Scopu praefit aliqui, +ad quem ejus turdi cura pertinet, qui quidem aggre- +num aqua regis, exaratorum amicorum ad fugitir (quae +huius situs) ut in quaestione figi in alia sententia. +Qui quidem copii cultus affide affiniter terra cattolica +mundatique fugitias jaculandibus replet. Quo nomine +a fingula certa donator flupe, qui ei quaelius cf. Scopi +frons obliui filiudinem referit, ex quo forte ufur- +patum et Graecis proverbium, ut cum tota copio aber- +rare aliquem beneficire volant, eum jactari contra +jamiam, dicant." + +Bibl. Pan. Opera. Ep. 3. + +A page from a Latin text book with a small illustration of a ship on the left margin. + +A R C H E R Y. 337 + +receive her hand. She produces a Bow which had been left with her by her husband, and thus declares her proposal: + +Who fift Ulyffes' wondrous Bow shall bend, +And thro' twelve ringlets the fleet Arrow fend, +Him will I follow, and fortake my home, +For him forfate this love, this wealthy dome, +Graceful the field, and bade Eumaeus then, +The rival peers the rings and the Bow." + +Pope. + +Just as they had agreed to defy by this expedient, Ulyffes disguised in the drefs of a shepherd, returns from Troy. After several of the lovers had tried unsuccessfully, even to bend the Bow; and after some alteration concerning the propriety of allowing a man of so mean an appearance, to have any chance of gaining the prize; Ulyffes takes the Bow— + +And fitting as he was, the chord he drew, +Thro' ev'y ringlet levelling his view; +Then nooch'd the shaft, released, and gave it wing: +The whizzing Arrow vanish'd from the string. +Sung on direct, and thredded evry ring. +The solid gate im fury fearcely bounds; +"Pierced thro' and thro', the folid gate refounds." + +X X +Ulyffes + +358 + +**AN ESSAY ON** + +Ulyfles having gained this prize, díclofes himself, and immediately puts to death thofe fuitors to Penelope, who had taken advantage of his abfence. + +I give the outline of this beautiful scene with all brevity, hoping the reader will be excited to perufe the whole account in the Odyssey itself. + +The fecond passage I intend to produce, is from the twenty-third book of the Iliad.* Homer is describing the funeral games instituted by Achilles, in honour of Patroclus; among which a contest of the Bow is introduced. + +* Thofe who in fkillful Archery contend, +** He next invites the twanging Bow to bend: +*** And twice ten axes falls amidth the round, +*** (Ten double-edged, and ten that fingly wound.) +*** The mail, which late a firth-rate galley bore, +*** The hero fixes in the fandy thore: + +* To +*** +* Virgil has copied this Arching fcene, with a little variation, +in *Aeneid 5 L. 485.* + +A page from a book, possibly a historical or literary text, with text and some illustrations. + +A R C H E R Y. +379 + +" To the tall top a milk-white Dove they tyre, +The trembling mark at which their Arrows fly. +Whole weapon strikes you! fluttering bird, flail bear +These two-edged axes, terrible in war; +The fingle he, whole that divides the cord. +He said: I experienced Massion took the word: +And belligent Tector: In the helm they threw; +Their last infidel, and forth the latter flew. +Swift from the String the founding Arrow flies; +But that one unhilt! No graceful faction! +No flitting falcon! The God of Heaven thou vow, +To Paganus, Patron of the Shaft and Bow. +For this, thy well-aimed Arrow turn'd aside, +Err'd from the Dove, yet cut the cord that ty'd: +A-down the main-mall fell the parting fying, +And the free bird to Heaven's displays her wings; +Seas, shores and skies with loud applause resound, +And Massion eager meditates the wound. +He takes the Bow, directs the flail aloft, +And follows with his voice the flying Dove, +Implies the God to speed it th'or! the skies, +With words of flattering Lamba, and grateful sacrifice, +The Dove, in airy circles as the wheels, +Amid the cloud the piercing Arrow feels: +"Quite th'or and th'or," the point its passage found, +And at his feet fell bloody to the ground. +The wounded bird, 'er yet the breath her lath, +With flagging wings alighted on the mall, +A moment still and gently passed away there, +Then sudden down she let her life in air, +From the piaec crowd new peals of thunder rife, +And to the ships brave Massion bears the prize." + +Pope's Homer. + +APPEN- + +. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +A P P E N D I X. + +IN the note, page 90, it is said, that in order to shoot their Bows, the Archers placed them on the ground. The fame is afferred of the Indians, in the quotation from Arrian, at page 87, of this Essay. + +The parts here referred to, are extremely obscure as they stand at present; but a passage from Quintus Curtius, which I by an oversight have omitted in its proper place, in a great measure explains them. The historian says, + +"The Indians shoot their Bows with more labour than effect, because their Arrows, the force of which is principally on account of their lightness, are on the other hand of an unwieldy load." "Quippe telum, cuius in levitate vis omnis ef, indabilis pondere operatur." + +Lib. 8. Ch. 9. Having mentioned these large Arrows, he in another place tells us, + +that + +342 + +**APPENDIX.** + +"that on account of their weight, the Archer is obliged to rest his Bow upon the ground, while he adapts the Arrow to the String, and before he lifts it up to shoot--nec sagittarium quidem ultus erat barbaris ufer: quippe longas & progravos, nisi prior in terra statuunt arcum baud fatis apte & commede impomant.--Lub. 8. Ch. 14." This is very different from shooting the Bow by placing it on the ground, as the before-mentioned authors intimate. + +Of the ROYAL COMPANY of ARCHERS, in EDINBURGH. See pg. 229. + +THE practice of Archery being greatly decayed in Scotland, divers gentlemen, in the year 1676, associated themselves to restore the fame, and to obtain Letters Patent to erect a Company for that purpose: preparatory to which they drew up certain articles of the following tenor for their better regulation: + +I. That a council, consisting of seven members of the society, be annually chosen, one thereof + +APPENDIX. 343 + +whereof to be prefident, who shall make rules and constitutions for the government of the company. + +II. The said council shall appoint three of the most expert Archers to hear and determine all disputes and differences which may happen to arise amongst the several members concerning Archery. + +III. That the council constitute a treasurer, fiscal, clerk and beadle, and to provide books for recording the transactions of the society. + +IV. That none be suffered to practise the art of Archery within the city or suburbs of Edinburgh, but freemen of the company; and each person, before his admission, to undergo a trial, in respect to his knowledge in Archery; and if approved, by the judges appointed for such trial, shall be admitted into the freedom of the company, by a proper instrument under the seal of the society. + +V. That certain persons be appointed by the company to instruct the inexperienced who desire to become members of the society, till they + +344 +APPENDIX. + +they be qualified to undergo a trial, preparatory to their admittance. + +V. I. That each person, at his being admitted a member of the society, to give a discretionary sum of money, according to his quality, for the use of the company; and that all pecuniary mulcts and amerciaments be paid to the treasurer, for the use of the society. + +V. II. That public Butts be erected, either at the company's expense, or by donation from the town council, for the use of the society, which strangers shall likewise have the use of without fee or reward. + +V. III. That a prize be provided at the expense of the company, (if one be not given by way of a preent) to be yearly thot for, to be prepared at the will and pleasure of the town council, whether a flivern Arrow, cup, or other piece of plate, and the solemnity to be observed after the winning the said prize, to be in the said council's option. + +IX. That the company, or as many of them as shall be summoned by the council to thoor, either at Butts or Rovers, for an extraordinary, + +A page from a historical document discussing rules and regulations for a society. + +APPENDIX. 345 + +extraordinary, or any public occasion, shall be sure to attend, no excuse to be admitted for abstinence, but sickness, or other lawful impediment. + +X. That the company have proper officers, with colours and drums, under proper regulations, with all necessary accoutrements, and to be muzzled once a year, with the society's arms, or a symbol in their hats or bonnets, and to perform such exercises as the council shall please to order. + +The above constitutions were not only confirmed by the Privy Council on the 6th of March, anno 1677; but the commissioner of the king's treasury, at the recommendation of the said Privy Council, gave the company the sum of twenty pounds Sterling to purchase the first prize to be flot for. + +The company being by letters patent from Queen Anne, of the 31st December, in the year 1713, erected into a corporation by the title and title of The Royal Company of Archers applied to the Common Council of Edinburgh, for a piece of waste ground on the western side of the parliament close near Beth's Wynd, to Y y erect + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A P P E N D I X.345
traordinary, or any public occasion, shall be
sure to attend, no excuse to be admitted for
abstinence, but sickness, or other lawful impe-
diment.
X. That the company have proper officers,
with colours and drums, under proper regu-
lations, with all necessary accoutrements,
and to be muzzled once a year, with the soci-
tety's arms, or a symbol in their hats or bonnets,
and to perform such exercises as the council
shall please to order.
The above constitutions were not only con-
firmed by the Privy Council on the 6th of
March, anno 1677; but the commissioner of
the king's treasury, at the recommendation of
the said Privy Council, gave the company the
sum of twenty pounds Sterling to purchase the
first prize to be flot for.
The company being by letters patent from
Queen Anne, of the 31st December, in the
year 1713, erected into a corporation by the
title and title of The Royal Company of Archers
applied to the Common Council of Edinburgh,
for a piece of waste ground on the western side
of the parliament close near Beth's Wynd,
to Y y erect
+ +346 +APPENDIX + +erect Butts on. The said council, willing to encourage this laudable undertaking, not only granted their request, but, as a further encouragement in the year 1719, gave them the silver Arrow belonging to the city, to be annually shot for; and on the 20th of May, anno 1726, confirmed the same with additions of the following tenor. + +I. That the said silver Arrow be shot for at Rovers, in the Links of Leith, on the second Monday of the month of July yearly, at ten of the clock in the forenoon, if good weather; if not, to be shot for on the fifth fair Monday following. + +11. That notice be given on the last Monday of June, and first Monday of July, of the yearly shooting for the city's Arrow, by beat of drum throughout Edinburgh. + +111. That none be admitted to shoot for the said Arrow, but the members of the company, who are ready and willing to admit all qualified persons into the freedom of their company. + +IV. That a spot of ground of at least thirty ells square, round each mark be set up for security of the spectators, and the Archer's Arrows; + +A page from a historical document. + +A P P E N D I X. 347 + +Arrows; and that none but the members of the company prefeue to enter the fame during the time of shooting, under the penalty of four pounds Scotch money. + +V. He that wins the Arrow shall keep it in his poftion till the firft Monday of the follow ing month of April, on his giving security to return it to the treasurer of the company, with his badge affixed thereto. + +VI. That on returning the faid Arrow to the treasurer by the Winter, the dean of Gild to pay him the fum of five pounds Sterling as the prize, in lieu thereof. + +VII. That a register be kept of the times the Arrow was thot for, by whom won, the names and numbers of the Archers, who thot for it, with thofe of the badges or symbols appended thereto. + +This Royal Company of Archers, confifting of the prime nobility, gentry, and other perfons of diftinfion, on the yearly day of fhooting, are richly apparcled in the Highland drefs; and in their march through the city, form a very pompous proceffion, which not only at trafts perfons of note from the diftant parts of Scotland + +348 + +A P P E N D I X. + +Scodland to behold the fame, but many perfons of distinction from the Northern parts of Eng- land resort hither on that occafion. +**Maund's Hift. of Edinburgh, Pg. 329, Fol.** + +Page 241. The following account of Barlow being created Duke of Shoreditch, is given in the "Beaman's Glory". + +" This noble king (Henry VIII.) at another time keeping a Princely Court at Windsor, caufed fundry matches to be made concerning shooting in the Long-bow; and to which came many principal Archers, who being in game, and the up shot given, as all men thought, there was one Barlo yet remaining to shoot, being one of the king's guard; to whom the king very graciously said,—" Win them all and thou shalt be Duke over all Archers." This Barlo drew his Bow, and shooting won the beft. Whereat the king greatly rejoiced, com-mending him for his good Archery; and for that this Barlo did dwell in Shoreditch, the king named him Duke of Shoreditch." + +Beaman's Glory, Pg. 41. + +THE END. + +A scanned page with visible wear and tear, including creases and a large stain at the bottom. + +10 +11 +12 +13 +14 +15 +16 +17 +18 +19 +20 +21 +22 +23 +24 +25 +26 +27 +28 +29 +30 +31 +32 +33 +34 +35 +36 +37 +38 +39 +40 +41 +42 +43 +44 +45 +46 +47 +48 +49 +50 + +This is the first page of the document. + +The text on this page appears to be handwritten or typed, but it is not entirely legible due to wear and tear. The content seems to be related to some form of documentation or record-keeping, possibly legal or administrative in nature. The handwriting is somewhat faded and difficult to read, making it challenging to discern specific details. + +The top portion of the page contains what looks like a header or title, followed by several lines of text that appear to be instructions or guidelines. Below this, there is a section that seems to list items or categories, each accompanied by a number. This could indicate a table of contents or a list of items being referenced. + +The bottom portion of the page shows more text, which might be continuation of the previous content or additional information. The handwriting here is also faded and less distinct. + +Overall, the document appears to be an old, worn piece of paper containing structured information, likely intended for official use or record-keeping purposes. + +E R R A T A. + +Page. Line. +7. 4. in Note, for Boyle-read-Boyle +12. 3. for them-read-him +28. 20. for them-read-him +34. 17. for where read-where +46. 15. for of note-read-manner +48. 11. for guiding-read-gilding +59. 3. of note-for gut-read-gut +67. 3. for eight-read-eighth +109. 2. for eight-read-eighth century +124. 9. end of the line added-Applied +143. 10. for pujus-read-pujus + +131. 10. for principal-read-principle, and after +190. 9. for principal-read-principle, and after +the paragraph, see Fig. 8, Fig. 7. +21 +217. 21. First line of last note-read-letra +236. 1. add a period instead of comma at Bow, +249. 17. for Bill-read-fortnight; and add at the end of next line,-by them. +305. -B- of note-read-manner. + +there was one Barle yet remaining to shoot, being one of the king's guard; to whom the king very graciously said,-" Win them all and thou shalt be Duke over all Archers." This Barle drew his Bow, and shooting won the best, Whereas the king greatly rejoiced, com-mending him for his good Archery; and for that this Barle did dwell in Shoreditch, the king named him Duke of Shoreditch." + +Bowman's Chry., Pg.-41. + +THE END, + +. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +A blank page with a faint, diagonal line pattern. + +A blank page with a faint grid pattern. + +. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +A blank page with a faint vertical line on the left side. + +A close-up photograph of a textured surface with a diagonal line running from the top left to the bottom right. The texture appears rough and uneven, with some dark spots and streaks visible. + +Image of a blank page with some smudges and a small square on the right side. + +White background with no visible content. \ No newline at end of file