Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

426 ARCHERY.
Archery, rope by armies in the field; nor does their use indeed In Scotland, also, little less attention, though apparent- Archery.
^ t v ' seem to have been at all convenient or extensively ly not with equal success, was shown to the encourage- v ^
practicable, for two principal reasons: in the first place, ment of the art. In both kingdoms it was provided that
slingers cannot advance in a compact body, on account the importers of merchandise should be obliged, along
of the space to be occupied by this weapon in its rota- with their articles of commerce, to import a certain pro-
tory motion ; in the next place, the weight of the stones portion of bows, bow-staves, and shafts for arrows. In
to be carried must necessarily impede the slingers greatly both every person was enjoined to hold himself provided
in their movements. The bow of the ancients, again, in bows and arrows, and was prescribed the frequent use
as represented in all their reliefs, was a mere toy com- of archery. In both a restraint w-as imposed uP°o the
pared with that of our ancestors; it was therefore chiefly exercise of other games and sports, lest they should inter-
used by the Parthians, whose attacks, like those of the fere with the use of the bow; for it was intended that
present Arabs, were desultory. As for the cross-bow, people should be made expert in the use of it as a mih-
it is of a most inconvenient form for carriage, even with tary weapon, by habituating them to the familiar exercise
the modern improvements ; and, in case of rain, could of it as an instrument of amusement. As there was no ma-
not easily be secured from the weather. After the first terial difference between the activity and bodily strengt
shot, moreover, it could not be recharged under a con- of the two people, it might be supposed that the English
siderable time, whilst the bolts were also heavy and and Scots wielded the bow with no unequal vigour and
cumbersome. The English long-bow, on the other hand, dexterity; but, from undoubted historical monuments, it
together with the quiver of arrows, was easily carried by appears that the former had the superiority, of which
the archer, as easily secured from the rain, and recharged one instance has been already nariated. By the regula-
almost instantaneously. It is not therefore extraordinary, tions prescribed in their statute-book for the practice of
that troops who solely used this most effectual weapon archery, we find that the English shot a very long bow,
should generally obtain the victory, even when opposed those who were arrived at their full growth and maturity
to much more numerous armies. being prohibited from shooting at any maik that was not
It may be urged, that these losses having been experi- distant upwards of 220 yards,
enced by our enemies, must have induced them to prac- In the use of the bow, great dexterity as well as strength
tise the same mode of warfare. But it is thought that seems to have been requisite. Though we hear of arrows
the long-bow was not commonly used even in England at Chevy Chase which were a yard long, yet it is by no
till the time of Edward III., when the victory at Cressy means to be supposed that the whole band made use of
sufficiently proclaimed the superiority of that weapon. It such, or could draw them to the head. The regulation of
required, however, so much training before the archer the Irish statute of Edward IV., viz. that the bow should
could be expert, that we must not be surprised if, soon not exceed the height of the man, is allowed by archers
afterwards, this military exercise was much neglected, as to have been well considered; and as the arrow should be
appears by the preambles of several ancient statutes, half the length of the bow, this would give an arrow of a
While the military tenures subsisted, the sovereign could yard in length to those only who were six feet high. A
only call upon his tenants during war, who therefore at- strong man of this size in the present times cannot easily-
tended with the weapons they had been used to, and draw above 27 inches, if the bow is of a proper strength
which required no previous practice. On the other hand, to do execution at a considerable distance. At the same
the English archers were obliged by acts of parliament, time it must be admitted, that as our ancestors vyeie ob-
even in&time of peace, to erect butts in every parish, and liged by some of the old statutes to begin shooting with
to shoot on every Sunday and holyday, after repairing per- the long-bow at the age of seven, they might have ac-
haps to these butts from a considerable distance ; while quired a greater sleight in this exercise than their descend-
the expense of at least a yew bow is represented as being ants, though the latter should be allowed to be of equal
a charge to which they were scarcely equal. The kings strength. £ • j j
and parliaments of this country having thus compelled As the shooting with the long-bow was first mtioduced
the inhabitants to such training, the English armies had, in England, and practised almost exclusively for y
it should seem, the same advantage over their enemies as two centuries, so it has occasioned a peculiar method of
the exclusive use of fire-arms would give us at present. drawing the arrow to the ear and not to the breast. 1 at
It appears, also, by what has been already stated, that this is contrary to the usage of the ancients is very dear
the long-bow continued to be in estimation for more than from their reliefs, and from the tradition of the Amazons
two centuries after gunpowder was introduced, which pro- cutting off one of their paps, as it occasioned an impedi-
bably arose from muskets being very cumbersome and un- ment to their shooting. I he Finsbury archer is there-
wieldy. It is well known that rapid movements are gene- fore represented in this attitude of drawing to the ear,
rally decisive of the campaign; and for such the archers both in the Bowman s Glory and in the silver badge
were particularly adapted, because, as they could not be given by Catharine to the Artillery Company,
annoyed at the same distance by the weapons of the As to the distance to which an arrow can be shot from
enemy, they had scarcely any occasion for armour. The a long-bow with the best elevation of 45 degrees, that
flower of ancient armies likewise was the cavalry, against must necessarily depend much both upon the strength
which the long-bow never failed to prevail; and hence and sleight of the archer; but in general the distance was
the great number of French nobility who were prisoners reckoned from eleven to twelve score yards. I he butts
at Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt; for being dismount- for exercise, as above noticed, were directed to be distant
ed, if not wounded, whilst they were also clad in heavy upwards of 220 yards. Ihere is indeed a tradition, that
armour, they could not make their escape. The same an attorney of Wigan in Lancashire, named Leigh, shot
reason accounts for the English obtaining these signal a mile in three flights; but the same tradition states that
victories with so inferior numbers; for the nobility and he placed himself in a very particular attitude, which
gentry thus becoming prisoners, the other parts of the cannot be used commonly in this exercise. According
French army made little or no resistance. No wonder, to Neade, an archer might shoot six arrows in the time
therefore, that in England the greatest anxiety was shown of charging and discharging one musket,
to promote the exercise of this most important weapon, The archers consider an arrow of from 20 to 24 drop
and that so many statutes were made for that purpose. weight to be the best for flight or hitting a mark at a con-