Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/394

372 ARCHERY the early part of his reign it was ordered that most of the sheriffs of England should each provide 500 white bows and 500 bundles of arrows for the then pending war with France. In the following year this order was reissued, with the difference that the sheriff of Gloucester should furnish 500 painted bows in addition. This king embodied a company of soldiers, whom he called the "Archers of the Guard." Edward III. also, in 1363, commanded the general practice of archery on Sundays and holidays by the people in lieu of the ordinary rural pastimes, which were forbidden on pain of imprisonment. In this reign the price of bows was regulated by Government ; a white bow was Is., a painted bow Is. Gd., a sheaf (24) of sharp arrows Is. 2d.,and a sheaf of blunt arrows Is. Richard II., in 1392, directed that none of his servants should ever be unfurnished with bows and arrows, and that they should avail themselves of every opportunity of practising archery. At the same date an Act of Parliament compelled all persons employed a.s servants to shoot with bows and arrows on Sundays and oth?r holidays. In the year 1402 the English archers won the battle of Homildon ; and in 1 403, at the battle of Shrewsbury, where Hotspur was slain, the most terrible havoc was created by the archers on both sides. In the reign of Richard III., it was enacted that for every ton of Malmsey or Tyne wine brought into England, ten good bow-staves should also be imported, under penalty of 1 3s. 4d. for every deficient stave ; and to encourage the im port of bow-staves, those above 6| feet long were freed from duty. For the manufacture of bows yew was generally preferred to all other woods, but to prevent a too rapid consumption of yew, bowyers were ordered to make four wych-hazel, ash, or elm bows, to one of yew ; and no person under 1 7 years of age, except those possessed of portable property worth 40 marks, or the sons of parents owning an estate of <10 per annum, was allowed to shoot with a yew bow, under penalty of 6s. 8d. for each offence. That distant counties might be properly supplied with bows and arrows, the king claimed and exercised the prerogative of sending, if necessary, all arrow-head, bow-string, and bow makers, not being freemen of the city of London, to any part of the realm that required the services of such artificers ; and neglect of an order to visit a place after the receipt of instructions to repair thereto, was punishable by. a fine of 40s. for every day the workman remained away. In the reign of Henry IV. it was enacted that all arrow heads should be well brased and hardened at the points with steel, and stamped with the name of the maker, under penalty of fine and imprisonment, and forfeiture of the arrows, &c., in default ; and by another statute passed in the same reign, it was enacted that persons from places whence bow-staves were derived, should import four bow- staves for every ton of merchandise taken on board, under penalty of 6s. Sd. for every bow-stave deficient. In this reign the highest price permitted for a yew bow was 3s. 4d. In the reign of Edward IV. it was enacted that every Englishman, and every Irishman living with an Englishman, .should have an English bow of his own height ; and also that in every township shooting butts should be set up, at which the inhabitants were commanded to practise on holi days, under the penalty of one halfpenny for each neglect. In the same reign the king, in preparing for a war with France, directed all sheriffs to procure a supply of bows and arrows for the service of the state. In 1405, it was made penal to use bad materials in the manufacture of bows and arrows. In 1417 the archers of the army of Henry V. won the battle of Agincourt. This king directed the sheriffs of counties to take six wing-feathers from every goose for the feathering of arrows. In 1478 archery was encouraged in Ireland by statute. In the year 1424 James I. of Scotland, who was himself an excellent bowman, revived the practice of archery among his subjects. Richard III. lent 1000 archers to the duke of Bretagne. The same troops afterwards fought at the battle of Bosworth. In 1485 Henry VII. instituted the yeomen of the guard, who were then all archers, and in the 19th year of his reign the use of the cross-bow was forbidden by Act of Parliament, because the long bow had been of so much greater benefit to the nation. In this reign archery occupied an important position in the fashionable pastimes of the kingdom, and iipon the occasion of the marriage of Henry with the Princess Elizabeth it formed a great feature among the nuptial festivities, the king himself joining in the shooting with heartiness and glee. Several Acts were passed in the reign of Henry VIII. for the encouragement and promotion of archery ; one ordered that butts should be erected and kept in repair in all townships, and that the inhabitants should practise shooting at them on holidays, The same Act directed that every able-bodied man, not being an ecclesiastic or a judge,, should practise shooting with the long bow ; and the guar dians and employers of youth were ordered to bring up the boys in their charge to the practice of archery, neglect being punishable by fine. In this reign the practice of archery was strongly advocated from the pulpit by Bishop Latimer; and so jealous were the English of rival nations- competing with them, that aliens were forbidden to use the long bow. The English victory at the battle of Flodden Field was due to the skill and courage of the archers. Edward VI. devoted much of his time to the practice of archery as an amusement, and his Journal, in which are many allusions to his successes and disappointments at matches, is still preserved in the British Museum. Archery continued to be an object of attention and solicitude with the Legislature during the reign of Elizabeth., and the price of bows was again regulated by statute ; also r bowyers were commanded to keep in hand always a suffi cient stock of bows. Charles I. issued commissions to prevent the enclosure of fields near London, so as to interrupt the necessary and profitable exercise of shooting, with bows and arrows," and also for the restoration of all shooting-marks that had been already removed. And the earl of Essex, at the beginning of the civil war, raided a company of archers for the defence of the king. In the time of Charles II. archery was a highly fashionable and; popular recreation with all classes of society, and the " Merrie Monarch " used frequently to take part with the- ladies and gentlemen of his court in toxophilite meetings. Queen Catherine also showed deep interest in the fascinating, pastime, and in the year 1676 she presented a silver badge to the "Marshal of the Fraternity of Archers." Both the king and queen frequently reviewed the numerous associa tions of archers then existent. In the spring of 1682 a. grand fete was given by the London Artillery Company at the Artillery Grounds, at which there were present upwards of 1000 archers, and it is said that the gala outshone anything of its kind that had previously been seen in England; but from that time until the beginning of the present century, the attractions of archery appear to have- been overlooked, and its practice neglected. In the EnylisJi Boivman, a small book published in the year 1801, we find the following reason given as the cause of its revival in London : "About the year 177C, Mr "Varing, who then lived with Sir Ashton Lever at Leicester House, and who may justly be styled ths father of modern archery, having, by continual business, contracted an oppression upon his chest (arising principally from sitting too closely at his desk and pressing his breast too much against it, and which the most eminent in the faculty had in vain endeavoured to remove), resolved to try the effects o"f the bow in affording relief.

He accordingly made it a regular exercise, and in a short time