The theory and practice of archery

CHAPTER X.
OF HOLDING AND LOOSING

Holding.

By holding is meant keeping the arrow fully drawn before it is loosed. Ascham has made this his fourth point of archery; and but little can be added to what he has said on the subject. 'Holding,' he says, 'must not be longe, for it bothe putteth a bowe in ieopardy, and also marreth a man's shoote; it must be so lytle yat it may be perceyued better in a man's mynde when it is done, than scene with a man's eyes when it is in doyng.' This represents so exactly what holding, at its best, should be, that it needs only be added that this almost imperceptible pause before the act of loosing serves to steady the arm and perfect the aim, and is a great assistance to the obtaining of a certain and even loose. It is therefore, in company with the other points of archery, most necessary to be cultivated if successful hitting is to be the result. But let no archer think to arrive at this perfection of holding by grasping his bow as tight as he possibly can from first to last. The grasp should be gradually tightened as the strain of the draw is increased; otherwise too much toil is given to the bow-hand, and it will fail in the loose. One very successful shot had so many faults that his success was always a surprise; yet he had this invariable virtue, that, though it was obvious that he held his bow quite loosely during the draw, at the final pause his grasp was visibly tightened most firmly.

Mention should not be omitted of the sadly false conception many archers have of holding when fully drawn. This they exhibit by constantly letting the arrow creep out whilst they appear to be taking aim, as though they were quite incapable of checking its impatience to be off. This is a most dangerous fault, and must be most carefully guarded against.

Loosing.

After the bow has been drawn up to its proper extent, and the aim correctly taken, there still remains one more point which the archer must achieve successfully before he can ensure the correct and desired flight of his arrow to its mark; and this is the point of loosing, which term is applied to the act of quitting or freeing the string from the fingers of the right hand which retain it. It is the last of Ascham's famous 'Quintette,' wherein, though he does not say much, yet what he does say is so much to the point that it may well be quoted. 'It must be so quycke and hard yet it be wyth oute all guides, so softe and gentle that the shafte flye not as it were sente out of a bow case. The meane betwixt bothe, whyche is the perfyte lowsynge, is not so hard to be folowed in shootynge as it is to be descrybed in the teachyng. For cleane lowsynge you must take hede of hyttynge anythynge aboute you. And for the same purpose Leo the Emperour would haue al archers in war to haue both theyr heades pouled and there berdes shauen, lest the heare of theyr heades should stop the syght of the eye, the heere of theyr berdes hinder the course of the strynge.'

This loosing is the archer's crowning difficulty; for no matter how correct and perfect may be all the rest of his performance, the result will infallibly prove a failure, and end in disappointment, unless the loose also be successfully mastered. Upon this the flight of the arrow mainly depends, and to how great an extent this may be affected by it may be gathered from the fact that the same bow with a like weight of arrow and length of pull will cast many yards further in the hands of one man than it will in those of another, owing solely and entirely to the different manner in which the string shall have been quitted.

No arguments are necessary to prove how delicate an operation it is in archery to loose well, and to accomplish, with the evenness, smoothness, and unvarying similarity necessary for accurate hitting, the consummating effort, including as it does on the one side of an instant the greatest exertion of muscles that on the other side of that instant are in perfect repose. But considerable misapprehension exists amongst archers as to what is a good loose, it being often thought that if an extreme sharpness of flight be communicated to the arrow, it is conclusive evidence as to the goodness of the loose, without reference to the consideration that this extreme sharpness of loose seldom produces steadily successful hitting at any distance, and still less frequently is effective at all the distances. A thoroughly good loose cannot exist unless accuracy of hitting as well as keenness of flight be the combined result; and if the two cannot be obtained together, a slower flight with accuracy rises immeasurably superior to the rapid flight with uncertainty.

The flight of an arrow keenly loosed is as fair to view as that of any bird, whilst the flight of an arrow that is badly loosed is as uninteresting as the staggerings of a drunken man. This is quite apart from the consideration of hitting the object aimed at; but when the question resolves itself into this practical form—'Is it possible for the same mode of loosing to give the utmost rapidity of flight and at the same time certainty of line and elevation?'—the consensus of experience should be in the negative. There is no denying that a few successive arrows may be shot accurately in this way, but during any prolonged period the inaccuracy of flight is sure to be such as to render the average shooting inferior. The difficulty, amounting almost to an impossibility, of obtaining a loose which shall combine great sharpness and accuracy of flight at the same time arises from the fact that such a loose requires, to obtain that sharpness, that the fingers of the right hand be snatched away from the string with such suddenness and rapidity as to compromise the second quality of accuracy—such a sudden jerk of the string endangering the steadiness of the left arm at the final moment, and, by its unavoidable irregularity, not only having a tendency to drag the string and consequently the arrow out of the proper line of flight, but also simultaneously to vary the elevation. Excepting for long-distance shooting, then, a very sharp loose cannot be recommended; nevertheless, in case he may be at any time engaged therein, the archer perfect at all points should have it under his command.

The different looses may now be divided into the slashing loose, which may degenerate into the snatch or may be improved into the steady continuous loose. The chief contrast to this is the dead loose, which in strong hands is very useful. This consists of the simple opening of the fingers for the escape of the string, and is liable to degenerate into the creeping loose, which need not be further referred to except for the purpose of again urging its avoidance. Another loose, which may be called an active loose, is an appreciable improvement upon the dead loose in that the fingers at the loosing instant are withdrawn from the string, though without any further draw, and will be found, after the escape of the string, to have resumed their previous position—i.e. curled up instead of being sprawled out straight as is the case in the dead loose. The only remaining loose may be called the lively loose, and consists of a short and quick additional draw, after the aim has been taken, of say from half an inch to three inches, and finished with an active loose, and care must be taken to prevent the degeneration of this into a snatch.

Before the final treatment of the loose be entered upon, it will be useful to consider how the different sorts of shooting-gloves and finger-tips affect this intricate operation. Doubtless in the times when the English archer was in such high repute in battle, the only loose suitable to the old glove was the slash, as the only method of quitting the string, which, with the strongest bow each individual could use, must, for the longest pull on such bow, have been gripped as close as possible to the inside of the knuckles of the last joints of the two or three fingers used. No other loose could be employed with any chance of obtaining full results from the work done, and it is evident from the Acts of Parliament on the subject that in the archer's drill none but long-distance shooting was countenanced. The comparatively modern finger-tips or thimbles connected by straps at the back of the hand and buckled on round the wrist must have been used with the same slashing sort of loose. But, with the old tab made of horse-butt leather, and all the different neatly-fitting tips with catches that have been invented long since the commencement of the public meetings at which York Rounds are shot, a much steadier and quieter loose may be obtained without wasting any of the work done; but, it must be admitted, with the general result that there is some slight decrease in the average strength of the bows that are used now. Moreover, it has been found that in the closely-contested matches of the present times the slashing sort of loose stands at a positive disadvantage at the shorter ranges.

With the glove and tab and tips without catches the best loose may be obtained with the fingers extended as far as is compatible with the retention of the string; and, by applying the fingers almost diagonally to the string, a very firm grip is secured combined with much facility of liberation (fig. 46, p. 128). With the help of catches on the tips the string can be taught to rest at any intermediate point on the last joint or third phalanx of either of the fingers—it will be found more convenient here to use the word phalanx for each part of the finger, each finger having three phalanges, first, second, and third—and the most entirely different hold on the string to the one previously described is that where the fingers are almost completely curled up (fig. 45); with an active or lively loose the string may be very sharply quitted with this hold, but it is more liable to strain the fingers, unless the bow be weak, and the high-set catch, though more popular twenty years ago, is now very little used. With a strong common glove and all four fingers on the string, this extreme position has been known to contribute to first-rate scores at all the distances, and it is probably the necessary position when four fingers are used.

The intermediate position between these two extremes will probably be found the best, and this may be thus described.

The third phalanx of the middle finger should be as nearly as possible at right angles with the line of the drawn-up arrow.

The second phalanx will make an obtuse angle with the third, and the first about the same obtuse angle with the second; and these obtuse angles will vary in individual instances according to the stiffness or suppleness of the finger-joints.

The back of the hand will incline slightly away from the line through the forearm, so that the line from the elbow through the wrist may be quite straight with the same line continued through the wrist to the position of the string on the fingers at A. The positions of the phalanges of the first and third fingers will vary from those of the second finger, as shown in fig. 44.

This position of the string across the fingers should be neither too near to nor too far from the tips, as too great a grip necessitates a drag or a jerk to free the fingers, besides exposing more surface to the friction of the string in passing over it; whilst an insufficient hold of the string weakens the shooter's command over it, and renders the giving way of the finger a constant occurrence. It is therefore recommended that the string be placed as nearly as possible midway between the tips and first joints of the fingers.

Now a good loose may be described as possessing the characteristic that the fingers do not go forward one hair's breadth with the string, but their action is, as it were, a continuance of the draw rather than an independent movement, yet accompanied with just enough additional muscular action in a direction away from the bow and simultaneous expansion of the last joints of the fingers at the final instant of quitting the string as to admit of its instantaneous freedom from all and each of them at the same identical moment of time; for should one finger linger on the string but the minutest moment longer than its fellows, or should all or any of them follow forward with the string in the slightest degree, the loose will be faulty and the shot a probable failure. So slight, however, is this muscular movement that, though a distinct and appreciable fact to the mind of the shooter, it is hardly if at all perceptible to the lookers-on, as in a good loose the fingers should instantly recover their holding position, but will be at a slight though appreciable distance further from the bow consequent upon the combined effect of the removal of the pulling weight of the bow and the loosing effort. A passage out of Mr. Townsend's article, 'How should the String be Loosed,' in the 'Archer's Register for 1866-7,' may here be quoted. 'The string of the bow having been pulled to the fullest extent intended, and the pause having been felt or made, next comes the loose; and, as this must be effected by an opening of the fingers, the tendency of the string would be to run forward, if ever so little, during the opening; and, as the whole spring [cast] of the bow is not given to the string [and arrow] until it is altogether freed from the fingers, so, to prevent [the] loss of power, the pulling hand and arm are drawn so much further back, as the opening of the fingers would allow the string to run forward before it is altogether released. Thus the string in reality remains stationary or nearly so [quite so] during the loose; and the fingers are freed without going one hair's breadth forward with the string.'

As an assistance towards this instantaneous recovery of the loosing fingers, some archers wore silver rings round the first phalanges of their three fingers, and these rings were connected by india-rubber straps with the finger-tips, thus compelling the first and third phalanges to approximate, as described in the Mason tips.

Mr. Townsend's 'india-rubber practising apparatus' has not been seen for many years, though of great assistance in experiments and in correcting faults and general improvement of drawing and loosing.

Some archers use only the first and second fingers, and the loose thus obtained possesses the advantage that the string when quitting the fingers has less surface in contact with it.

Mr. Ford's own latest loose was from the first and third fingers, with the second finger packed upon the back of the first finger for its support; and he has been heard to declare that this arrangement of the fingers gives the best loose possible, as already described.

One of the commonest faults at the present day is the habit of making the third finger do more than its fair share of work. Evidence of this failing may be found in the fact that blisters are far more common on the third finger than on either of the others, and a frequent result is that the muscles of the third finger get strained and even partially torn from their attachments. This is one of the most frequent causes of the breakdown of archers who practise much. This may be avoided and the loose much improved by turning the backs of the fingers while drawing slightly upwards, and inwards, and thus exerting more pressure with the forefinger. An example of what is meant may be seen in the picture (opp. p. 122) of Major Fisher, whose loose is remarkably good. Here it will be seen that the line of the knuckles is not perpendicular, but slopes outwards and downwards from the knuckle of the forefinger to that of the fourth.

The utility of catches on the finger-tips has already been explained in a previous chapter, but may be further mentioned in connection with the loose as contributing by an invariable hold on the string to a constant repetition of exactly the same loose.

Especial care must be taken that, whilst loosing, the left arm must maintain its position firmly and unwaveringly, and must not give way at the final moment in the slightest degree in the direction towards the right hand, as arrows constantly dropping short are the certain consequence of any such shrinking of the bow-arm—the same injurious effect being produced on their flight as when the fingers of the right hand are allowed to go forward with the string. This yielding of the left arm is of more constant occurrence than archers will generally admit, and is the cause of many an arrow, otherwise correctly treated, missing its mark. This failing is not unfrequently the result of too much practice. All must be firm to the last, and the attention of the shooter should never be relaxed for a single instant until the arrow has actually left the bow. But, though this firmness be necessary for the shooting of an arrow it is not necessary, however satisfactory the result or good the attitude, to remain for some seconds in rivalry with the Apollo Belvedere; the bow-arm should, if possible, be instantly and quietly moved to the left whilst the next arrow is procured from the quiver or whilst the shooting station is given up to the next in order; and this leftward motion of the left arm will correct the very general tendency there is to throw the upper horn of the bow to the right and downwards convulsively, which is a very frequent and unsightly antic. Many of the other objectionable antics already referred to are brought to perfection at this instant, and should also be most carefully avoided.

CHAPTER XI.
OF DISTANCE SHOOTING, AND DIFFERENT ROUNDS

The attention may now be turned to the results obtained by the use of the bow and arrow.

The best notion of the old practice of archery may be gained from a review of the ancient butts or shooting-fields of our ancestors. These shooting-grounds were evidently attached to every town (if not also village) in the kingdom, as may be gathered from the universal survival of the local name of Butts. There is extant 'A plan of all the marks belonging to the Honourable Artillery Company in the fields near Finsbury, with the true distance as they stood, Anno 1737, for the use of long-bows, cross-bows, hand guns, and artillery.' These marks all have different appellations, and there is but one single instance of a repetition of the same distance between one of these marks and the other.

The ground on which these marks were situated appears to extend from a mark called Castle6 to Islington Common, and there were two sets of actual butts at the Islington end. The distance between the one pair of these butts is given as six score and ten yards—i.e. 130 yards. The distance between the other pair is not given in the plan, but it appears to be less than half of the other, and is probably about sixty yards. The whole length of these shooting-fields appears to be about one mile on the plan; and this is about the actual distance between the Artillery Ground and the 'Angel,' Islington. The longest distance between any of the two marks is thirteen score and five yards—i.e. 265 yards—between Turk's Whale and Absoly. Here follow the names of the marks; and these may possibly be still traced in the neighbourhood in some instances. The distances are also given.

The start is made from 'Castle.'

At 'Nevil's House' there appears to be a break in the marks, but they are taken up again at the 'Levant.'

Here there is another break.

To continue the round of the marks on the return journey without going over the same distance twice, return to Pitfield.

Returning to Star or Dial:—

Returning to Blackwell Hall:—

Returning to Lambeth:—

Returning to Day's Deed:—

The sum of all these distances amounts to about 4-1/2 miles, being actually 4 miles and 804 yards. There is a pathway extending the whole distance from Blood House Bridge to Islington Common. There are boggy places set down as lying between Turk's Whale and Absoly, and Turk's Whale and Day's Deed. There is also a bog located between the two nearest butts, which must have been inconvenient; also a pond on one side, and another bog on the other side of them.

Two other measurements are given—namely, fifteen score and eight yards, or 308 yards, for the length of a garden wall lying some yards to the right of the White Hall and Pitfield marks; and sixteen score and two yards, or 322 yards, in the same neighbourhood, close by the pathway, and indicating about the distance between Star or Dial and Edw. Gold.

The widest part of these shooting-fields seems to be at about this same part—viz. from White Hall to Scarlet 242 yards, and on to Jehu 82 yards, a total width of 324 yards; and the narrowest part extends from Nevil's House to Islington Common, in which narrow part are both the sets of butts.

There appear to be some eight or ten fields included in the plan, with hedges indicated, but there is no appearance of either a road or a pathway crossing them.

These marks, giving a great variety of distances, from the shortest of 73 yards between Turk's Whale and Lambeth to the longest of 265 already particularised, seem admirably calculated for the training of the old English archer and the teaching him readily to calculate the various distances at any time between himself and his enemy; and it is worthy of observation that all these distances are well within the belief of modern archers as such distances as—bearing in mind that there is no evidence of general deterioration—our ancestors could easily compass, seeing that there are well-authenticated instances of lengths somewhat beyond 300 yards having been attained in modern times without any lengthened special training.

In these fields no doubt was seen the clout shooting, which is still kept up by the Woodmen of Arden, at Meriden in Warwickshire, and by the archers of the Scottish Bodyguard at Edinburgh.

This style of shooting is so called from the aim having been taken at any white mark (cloth, etc.), placed at a fixed distance; but the clout in use now is a white target with a black centre, set slantwise on the ground. The distances vary from 180 to 240 yards, and this latter distance may be taken as about the extreme range of this style of shooting in olden times; as Shakespeare mentions (2 Henry IV. iii. 2) that 'old Double,' who 'drew a good bow,' and 'shot a fine shoot,' 'would have clapped i' the clout at twelve score, and carried you a forehand shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half, that it would have done a man's heart good to see.' As the clout is but rarely hit, the arrow nearest to it at each end, if within three bows' lengths (about eighteen feet) of it, counts as in bowls and quoits.

When the Grand National Archery Meeting was held at Edinburgh in 1850, some of this shooting was introduced, with the result that, out of 2,268 shots at 180 yards, there were 10 hits, and out of 888 shots at 200 yards there were 5 hits.

At the meetings at Meriden stands a marker right in front of this clout, whose duty it is to signal back to each archer, when he has shot, whether his arrow fall short, or go too far, or wide, and—to avoid being hit himself.

The ordinary target arrows may be used in this practice up to the distance of 200 yards, but beyond this distance much stronger bows or flight arrows must be employed.

In these fields, too, would be kept up the practice of roving, or taking, as the object to be aimed at, not these or any known mark, but some stray or accidental mark. This practice must have been valuable in olden times in testing the knowledge of distances acquired at the different fixed marks, and it would still be interesting as an amusement, but it is not now so easy to find grounds sufficiently open for the purpose. Where there is sufficient space for golf links, roving might still be practised, and already the golfer's ball and the archer's arrow have been matched together between hole and hole.

Of flight-shooting, or shooting with flight or light arrows, it may be said that such practice was probably in vogue in old times for the purpose of annoying the enemy whilst at a distance, or in such a ruse as is described by Hall in his account of the battle of Towton in 1461, when 'The Lord Fawconbridge, which led the forward of King Edwardes battail, beinge a man of great Polyce, and of much experience in Marciall feates, caused every archer under his standard to shoot one flight (which before he caused them to provyde), and then made them to stand still. The Northern men, felyng the shoot, but by reason of the snow not wel vewyng the distaunce betwene them and their enemies, like hardy men shot their schefe arrowes as fast as they might, but al their shot was lost and their labor vayn, for thei came not nere the Southern men by xl. tailors' yerdes.'

Flight-shooting has also been used in experiments to determine the extreme casts of different weights and kinds of bows, and the greatest range attainable by the power and skill of individual archers. As a result of such experiments, it may be stated that very few archers can cover more, or even as much as, 300 yards. To attain this range, a bow of at least sixty-two or sixty-three pounds must not only be used but thoroughly mastered, not merely as regards the drawing, but in respect of quickness and sharpness of loose also.

The only remaining style of shooting in vogue in old times—that at the butts or mounds of earth—was known as prick-shooting, a small mark being fixed upon the butt and shot at from various distances. This style of shooting was probably popular even then, as many of the Acts of Parliament are levelled against it, on account of its interfering with the more robust practice of the long distances necessary for the purpose of war. This prick-shooting next became known as the paper game, when cardboard, and paper stretched on canvas, were placed on the butts. It is not very clear when such targets as are now in use came into fashion, with their gaudy heraldic faces. The distances employed for this butt-shooting appear to have been differently calculated from the lengths in the longer-distance shooting, an obsolete measure of 7-1/2 yards, known as an archer's rood, having been employed; and the butt-shooting in vogue at the revival of archery in 1781 was at the distances of 4, 8, 12, and 16 roods, or 30, 60, 90, and 120 yards; and the modern distances of 60 yards, 80 yards, and 100 yards do not seem to have come into use until they were mentioned towards the end of the last century as Princes' lengths at the annual contests held in the grounds of the Royal Toxophilite Society, for the possession of the silver bugles presented by their patron, George IV., then Prince of Wales.

About the date of the Introduction of the York Round in 1844, two other rounds were in use amongst archers and in archery clubs. These were the St. Leonard's Round, which first consisted of 75 arrows at 60 yards only, but afterwards of 36 arrows at 80 yards, and 39 arrows at 60 yards; and the St. George's Round, consisting of 36 arrows at each of the distances of 100 yards, 80 yards, and 60 yards, the round of the St. George's Archers, who occupied grounds in St. John's Wood, near London.

The York Round, having been now firmly established for more than forty years as the round appointed to be shot at all the public archery meetings, has become the acknowledged test of excellence in bow practice, and all other rounds have dropped out of use with the exception of the round known as the National Round, which is practised by ladies at the public meetings, and consists of 48 arrows at 60 yards and 24 arrows at 50 yards; and of 48 arrows at 80 yards and 24 arrows at 60 yards, as practised by gentlemen at meetings where the 100 yards shooting is omitted.

CHAPTER XII.
ARCHERY SOCIETIES, 'RECORDS,' ETC.

Prince Arthur, the elder brother of King Henry VIII., enjoys the reputation of having been an expert archer, and it is believed that in his honour a good shot was named after him; but as he was born in 1486 and died in 1502, his skill in the craft cannot have had time to arrive at maturity, though even in modern times a stripling has occasionally snatched the palm of success from the more mature experts.

That King Henry VIII. took a deep interest in archery as necessary for the safety and glory of his kingdom is quite certain, and the various Acts of Parliament passed in the course of his reign (3 Henry VIII. ch. 3, 4, 13; 6 Henry VIII. ch. 2, 11, 13; 14 & 15 Henry VIII. ch. 7; 25 Henry VIII. ch. 17; and 33 Henry VIII. 6 & 9) sufficiently prove his determination to stimulate the more frequent use of the long bow. But, apart from his public encouragement of archery, he took personal interest in it himself, and, being a famous athlete, he was no doubt as successful with his bow as his natural impatience would allow. The following extracts from the accounts of his privy purse for the year 1531, when he was forty-one years of age, may be taken as the nearest approach to his actual scores that can be reached. The late Lord Dudley's score at 60 yards, when shooting with one of the best shots at that distance, at one guinea per arrow, must have shown an equally unfavourable balance:—

'20 March.—Paied to George Coton for vij shottes loste by the Kinges Grace unto him at Totehill at vjs. viijd. the shotte xlvjs. viijd.

'29 March.—Paied to George Gifford for so moche money he wanne of the Kinges Grace unto him at Totehill at shoting xijs. vjd.

'13 May.—Paied to George Coton for that he wanne of the Kinges Grace at the Roundes the laste day of April iijl.

'3 June.—Paied to George Coton for so moche money by him wonne of the Kinges Grace at bettes in shoting vijl. iis.'

And again on the last day of June there were 'paied to the iii Cotons for three settes which the King had lost to them in Greenwich Park xxl. and vjs. viijd. more to one of them for one up shotte.'

This George Coton (Cotton) is probably the same person who was governor to the Duke of Richmond, the King's natural son.

On January 31, 1531, 'paied to Byrde Yoeman of the Kinges bowes for making the Roundes at Totehill by the Kinges commandment xijs. viijd.'

The musters, or what we should now call reviews, were at this time held in the Tothill Fields.

Sir W. Cavendish, the historian of Cardinal Wolsey, thus speaks of his interview with the King in 1530, when he was the bearer of the news of the death8 of Wolsey to the King, then staying at Hampton Court. (See Cavendish's 'Wolsey,' 1827, p. 396.)

'Upon the morrow (of St. Nicholas Eve, 1530) I was sent for by the King to come to his grace; and being in Master Kingston's chamber in the Court (Hampton Court), had knowledge thereof, and repairing to the King, found him shooting at the rounds in the park, on the backside of the garden.

'And perceiving him occupied in shooting, thought it not my duty to trouble him: but leaned to a tree, intending to stand there, and to attend his gracious pleasure. Being in a great study, at last the King came suddenly behind me, where I stood, and clapped his hand upon my shoulder; and, when I perceived him, I fell upon my knee. To whom he said, calling me by name, "I will," quoth he, "make an end of my game, and then will I talk with you," and so he departed to his mark, whereat the game was ended.

'Then the King delivered his bow unto the yeoman of his bows, and went his way inward to the palace, whom I followed.'

Sir Thos. Elyot, the first edition of whose book, the 'Governour,' was printed in 1531, devoted chapter xxvii. to the praise of the long bow, and was the earliest writer on the subject of archery, unless the unknown author of the 'Book of King Modus,' which is said by Hansard ('Book of Archery,' 1840, p. 210) to be 'preserved in the royal library at Paris,' wrote about two centuries and a half before the 'Toxophilus,' by Roger Ascham, was printed in 1545.

Neither Elyot nor Ascham makes any mention of the societies of archers known as the Fraternities of St. George and of Prince Arthur, but something of the kind is plainly indicated by Richard Mulcaster in his book, the 'Positions,' published in 1581, where he quaintly says, 'This exercise' (archery) 'I do like best generally of any rounde stirring without the dores, upon the causes before alleaged: which, if I did not that worthy man our late learned countriman Maister Askam, would be halfe angrie with me though he were of milde disposition, who both for the trayning of the Archer to his bowe and the scholler to his booke, hath showed himselfe a cunning archer and a skilful maister.

'In the middest of so many earnest matters I may be allowed to intermingle one which hath a relice of mirthe: for in praysing of Archerie as a principall exercise to the preseruing of health how can I but prayse them who profess it thoroughly and maintain it nobly, the friendly and franke fellowship of Prince Arthur's knights in and about the Citie of London which of late yeares have so reuiued the exercise, so countenaunced the artificers, so inflamed emulation, as in themselues for friendly meting, in workmen for good gayning, in companies for earnest comparing, it is almost growne to an orderly discipline, to cherishe louing society, to enriche labouring pouerty, to maintaine honest actiuitie, which their so encouraging the under trauellours, and so increasing the healthfull traine, if I had sacred to silence would not my good friend in the Citie, Maister Heugh Offley, and the same my noble fellow in that order, Syr Launcelot, at our next meeting haue giuen me a sowre nodde, being the chief furtherer of the fact, which I commend, and the famousest knight of the fellowship, which I am of? Nay, would not even Prince Arthur himself, Maister Thomas Smith, and the whole table of those wel known knights, and most actiue Archers haue layd in their challeng against their fellow knight, if, speaking of their pastime, I should haue spared their names? Whereunto I am easily led bycause the exercise deseruing suche prayse, they that loue so prayseworthy a thing, neither can themselues, neither ought at my hande to be hudled up in silence.'

In 'the Auncient order Societie and unitie laudable of Prince Arthure and his Knightly Armory of the Round Table London, 1583,' Richard Robinson says, 'King Henry VIII. not onely ... proceeded with what his Father had begun,' by keeping up a body guard of archers, 'but also added greater dignity ... by his gracious charter confirmed unto the worshipful citizens (of London) ... this your now famous Order of Knights of Prince Arthure's Round Table or Society.'

But when the practice of archery was enforced by Act of Parliament, and there were shooting butts and fields at hand almost everywhere for the use of those who took a genuine interest in the exercise, there could be but little reason for the introduction of archery societies and clubs. The meetings for the exhibition of skill would be the regular musters.

How different the position of archery would have been if, instead of clamouring for and getting passed irksome Acts of Parliament, compelling all to shoot, archers, bowmakers, fletchers and others had started a National Long-Bow Association with State sanction and encouragement for the promotion of this exercise and the reward of the most successful shots!

As in early times there were great musters or reviews of companies of archers, of whom the sole actual survivor is the Royal Body-Guard of Scotland (the Archers Company of the Honourable Artillery Company, itself originally a body of archers, was revived late in the last century, and is now represented by the Royal Toxophilite Society) for military display; and local festivities, and wardmotes, as still maintained by the Woodmen of Arden (revived in 1785) and the Scorton Arrow Meetings (dating back to 1673), for the glorification of the best local shots; and the daily use of the long-bow for exercise and sport, i.e. killing of game; so now there are the meetings of the Grand National Archery Society, established for the peaceable purpose of annually rewarding the champion and championess and other illustrious archers, as hereafter set out in the full account of these meetings, and also the local public meetings of similar character also given; and in addition to these there are the meetings of the numerous archery societies and clubs in different localities, and the constant private practice either at home or on club grounds.

Nothing is now to be gained by insisting upon the marked inferiority of the 'incomparable archers' who flourished towards the close of the eighteenth and in the first half of the present centuries, as compared with the many strong and accurate shots who have displayed their skill since the establishment of the Grand National Archery Meetings. Mr. H. A. Ford seems to have been unable to find any records of shooting at 100 yards where more than one-half of the shots were hits, though he says (p. 112), 'I have seen a letter as late as 1845, from good old Mr. Roberts' (the author of the 'English Bowman,' 1801), 'who was well acquainted with the powers of all the best archers of the preceding half-century, in which he states "he never knew but one man that could accomplish it."' This one man was probably Mr. Augustus L. Marsh, Royal Toxophilite Society, who owned, and was able to use, the magnificent self-yew bow of 85 lbs. now in the possession of Mr. Buchanan, of 215 Piccadilly, as may be seen from the following records of his best scores in 1837:—

These would be considered even respectable performances now when hits in the petticoat count, and all hits between the colours count in that of higher value, also when three arrows are shot consecutively, instead of two separately, at each end. Competitive examinations had not then been brought to their more recent perfection, and standards of excellence in athletics were as yet unrecorded. Professor John Wilson's ('Christopher North') wonderful long jump remained as unsurpassable as the 'Douglas cast,' unless it were, perhaps, beaten or preceded by the deeds of the wondrous athlete who could clear a full-sized billiard-table lengthwise, though in his first attempt to do so he failed through knocking the back of his head against the far side of the table.

Mr. Frederick Townsend, in 1865, made the best 'record' of shooting at 100 yards, at a wardmote of the Woodmen of Arden, when all the old customs just referred to were still, as now, in vogue, his score being 322 from 80 hits out of 150 shots.

There is now left for consideration the subject of 'record,' or standard of highest excellence at the public meetings, and it appears that Mr. A. P. Moore's performance at Derby in 1849 of 747, when, however, Mr. H. A. Ford became champion by the points, was the earliest notable score. Mr. H. A. Ford improved upon this in the next year at Edinburgh by scoring 899, and in 1854, at Shrewsbury, he made an advance to 1,074. In 1857, at Cheltenham, he took the record on to 1,251 score with 245 hits, and there it now remains.

The first eminent score by a championess was 634, made by Miss H. Chetwynd at Cheltenham, also in 1857. Mrs. Horniblow took the record on to 660 at Worcester in 1862, Miss Betham next advanced it, at the Alexandra Park Meeting in 1864, to 693. At Bath, in 1870, Mrs. Horniblow took it further to 700, and also still further to 764, with 142 hits, in 1873 at Leamington, and at that point it now remains, though very closely approached by Miss Legh's score of 763 at Sutton Coldfield in 1881.

Miss Legh's still better score of 840, with all the 144 hits, was made at the Grand Western Meeting at Bath in 1881; and Mrs. Piers F. Legh outstripped this 'record' by scoring 864 with 142 hits at the Leamington and Midland meeting in 1885; 33 of the hits on this occasion were golds.

The best 'record' of target practice at 120 yards is to be found amongst the doings of the Royal Toxophilites. Mr. H. O'H. Moore, in 1872, on the Norton prize-day, shooting 144 arrows, scored 213 with 43 hits, and Mr. G. E. S. Fryer, on the similar occasion in 1873, scored 273 with 67 hits.

In the shooting at 100 yards of the same society, on the Crunden day in 1854, shooting 144 arrows, Mr. H. A. Ford scored 362 with 88 hits. This score remained unbeaten, though surpassed in hits by Mr. G. E. S. Fryer in 1873 (361 score, 91 hits), until it was fairly outstripped by Mr. C. E. Nesham, who scored 478 with 104 hits in 1883. He also made 435 score with 95 hits in 1886.

In 1866 Mr. T. Dawson, Royal Toxophilite Society, presented a challenge medal for the reward of excellence in shooting at 80 yards, 144 arrows being shot, and in the first year this medal was taken by Mr. T. Boulton with 501 score from 113 hits. This record he took on further in 1875, with 591 score from 125 hits. This has been nearly approached only by Mr. C. E. Nesham in 1886, with 576 score from 124 hits.

The record for the 60 yards (144 arrows being shot) medal, presented by the same gentleman in 1866, was also started in that same year by Mr. T. Boulton, with 824 score from 142 hits. This record was surpassed by Mr. W. Rimington in 1872, his score being 840 from the same number of hits.

A good record for best shooting at 100 yards at the annual West Berks meeting, when 216 arrows are shot at that distance, was first reached by Major C. H. Fisher in 1871, when he made 140 hits with 556 score. In 1877 he carried the record on to 572 score with 136 hits. Mr. C. H. Everett made a still further advance with 155 hits and 633 score in 1880; and in 1881 Mr. H. H. Palairet made 153 with 623 score.

To Mrs. Butt (then Miss S. Dawson) still belongs the best 'record' for the 'Ladies' Day' of the Royal Toxophilite Society, the largest annual gathering of ladies, when the single National Round of 48 arrows at 60 and 24 arrows at 50 yards is shot. She made 70 hits with 406 score in 1867; in 1875 she scored 401 with 69 hits; and in 1885 Mrs. P. F. Legh made 70 hits with 400 score.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE PUBLIC ARCHERY MEETINGS AND THE DOUBLE YORK AND OTHER ROUNDS.

In 1791, ten years after the revival of archery by the establishment of the Royal Toxophilite Society, a public meeting of all the Archery Societies, which had already become very numerous in the United Kingdom, was held on Blackheath, and this meeting was followed by other similar meetings in 1792 and 1793. Here ended this series of National Archery Meetings, and in the early part of the present century the use of the bow appears to have languished.

The records of the Scorton Arrow Meetings go back, in an almost uninterrupted succession of annual meetings, to the year 1673. These meetings, though originally confined to a limited locality—'six miles from Eriholme-upon-Tees,' near Richmond, in Yorkshire—were open to all comers. In 1842 and 1843 these meetings were held at Thirsk, in Yorkshire, and to those present thereat the establishment of an annual Grand National Archery Meeting is certainly owing.

The first Grand National Archery Meeting was held at York on August 1 and 2, 1844, the Scorton Arrow Meeting having been again held at Thirsk on July 30 in the same year. It was originally intended that the meeting should occupy one day only, but the weather proved so unfavourable on the first day that the Round had to be finished on the second day. To the enterprising archers of Yorkshire is also due the invention of the York Round, which has since become the almost universally acknowledged test of the comparative excellence of all archers. This Round—which is now always shot on each of the two days of a public archery meeting—consisting of six dozen arrows at 100 yards, four dozen arrows at 80 yards, and two dozen arrows at 60 yards, was so arranged in the belief that about the same scores would then be made at each distance; and this has been proved tolerably correct as regards the average of archers, though not so as regards Mr. H. A. Ford, Major C. H. Fisher, Mr. H. H. Palairet, Mr. C. E. Nesham, and some others, when shooting in their best form, as it would be clearly impossible for them to score, in four dozen arrows at 60 yards, the 495 which Mr. H. A. Ford made in twelve dozen arrows at 100 yards at Cheltenham in 1857, or the 466 which he made on the same occasion in eight dozen arrows at 80 yards. Efforts have occasionally been made to reduce the quantity of shooting at 100 yards, for the benefit of those who look upon 80 yards as a long distance; and it has also been suggested that a few arrows might be taken from 80 yards and added to 60 yards; but it is generally acknowledged that the York Round cannot well be mended.

The Ladies' National Round of four dozen arrows at 60 yards, and two dozen arrows at 50 yards, shot on each of two days, did not become the established Round until 1851, and then the only reason of its adoption was that it corresponded in quantities with the shooting of the gentlemen at 80 yards and 60 yards.

In the year after the Third Leamington Grand National Archery Meeting—i.e. in 1854—the Leamington Meeting was started, and has ever since been an annual institution, except in those years when the Grand National Meeting has been again held at Leamington.

The first Crystal Palace Archery Meeting was held in 1859, and has since been repeated annually.

The Grand Western Archery Meeting was started at Taunton in 1861, and has been repeated annually at different places, except in 1865, when the Grand National Meeting was held at Clifton, and in 1867, when no Grand Western Archery Meeting was held. In 1886 this meeting was combined with the Grand National Archery Meeting when held at Bath.

Occasionally an extra public meeting has occurred—as at Aston Park, Birmingham, in 1858 and in 1868; at the Alexandra Park, Muswell Hill, in 1863, and again in 1873 and 1882; also at Hastings, in 1867.

The first of a series of Grand Northern Meetings was established in 1879. This meeting has since been repeated annually.

In 1881 the Royal Toxophilite Society, in celebration of their centenary, gave a Double York Round meeting, which, though not strictly speaking a public meeting, was so well attended that it cannot be omitted from the records of the York Round. This meeting has also been repeated annually ever since 1881.

Almost the largest attendance of gentlemen at a public Archery Meeting consisted of one hundred and ten at York in 1845, when there were only eleven ladies shooting. At Cheltenham, in 1856, there were seventy-two ladies and one hundred and twelve gentlemen shooting. The best attended meeting was in 1860, at Bath, when there were one hundred and nine gentlemen and ninety-nine ladies. This was just before the beginning of the Grand Western Meetings, and there was a full meeting of ninety gentlemen and ninety-three ladies in 1865, in which year no Grand Western Meeting was held.

With the exception of the Seventh Grand National Archery Meeting, which was held in Edinburgh in 1850, all the Grand National Archery Meetings have occurred in England.

Two Double York Round Scottish National Meetings were held in Scotland in the years 1865 and 1866; but they were not largely attended.

In Ireland, in the course of the years 1862 to 1866, Irish National and other public meetings were held, mostly in the grounds of the Dublin Exhibition; but though the Double York Round was shot, and some good shooting was done by the Irish and also by English visitors, the meetings were mostly small, and there seems but little probability of their revival.

A few words should be said about the scoring at public meetings. The original plan was for the Captain at each target to mark, with a pricker made on purpose, the hits made by each shooter in a space representing each of the colours of the target—gold, red, blue, black, and white. In 1872 an improved plan was adopted of keeping a proper space for the hits made at each end, in which is entered each hit in the figure representing its value, as 9, 7, 5, 3, or 1. When no hit is made at any end, this fact should also be recorded; and thus the progress of the shooting is always kept accurately noted, and the possibility of mistakes in the scores is very much diminished.

Mr. H. A. Ford often mentions the St. George and St. Leonard's Rounds—the former being three dozen arrows at each of the distances of 100, 80, and 60 yards, and the latter (originally 75 arrows at 60 yards only) being three dozen arrows at 80 yards, and three dozen and three at 60 yards. The practice of these Rounds has now entirely disappeared from amongst archers.

During the whole of the period from 1844 to 1886 inclusive the appointed Round has been completed (except at the Leamington Meeting in 1862, when the weather rendered it quite impossible); and this says a great deal for the steadfastness of archers, as they have frequently had to submit to the ill-treatment of pitiless downpourings of rain and arrow-breaking storms of wind in order to get the Round finished.

No approach has been made to Mr. H. A. Ford's best public score of 1,251, made at Cheltenham in 1857, or to his second best record of 1,162 at Leamington in 1856; but his other scores of over 1,000 are easily counted—namely, 1,076 at Exeter in 1858, 1,014 at Leamington in 1861, 1,037 at Brighton in 1867, 1,087 at Leamington in 1868, and 1,032 at Leamington in 1869. Major C. H. Fisher made 1,060 at Sherborne in 1872. Mr. Palairet made 1,025 at the Crystal Palace in 1882, and 1,062 in the Regent's Park in 1881. Mr. C. E. Nesham made 1,010 in the Regent's Park in 1883, and 1022 at Bath in 1886. No other archers have reached 1,000 at a public match.

Miss Legh's score at Bath in 1881 of 840, when she made all the 144 hits, stood foremost amongst ladies' achievements until it was beaten by Mrs. Legh's score of 864 with 142 hits at Leamington in 1885. Miss Legh in 1882, at the Crystal Palace, scored 792, and in 1885 809 with 143 hits. Mrs. Butt's score of 785 at Leamington in 1870 ranks next. Then come Mrs. Horniblow's scores of 768 at Leamington in 1871, and of 764—also at Leamington—in 1872. Mrs. Piers F. Legh scored 763 at Sutton Coldfield in 1881. Mrs. V. Forbes scored 752 at the Crystal Palace in 1870. Mrs. Marshall scored 744 at the Crystal Palace in 1884. Miss Betham's best score was 743 at Leamington in 1867. Mrs. P. Pinckney scored 729 at the Crystal Palace in 1873; and Mrs. Pond scored 700 in 1874, also at the Crystal Palace. No other ladies appear to have made as much as 700.

Other scores of 700 and upwards have been—

The summary of Public Meetings is—

When attention is turned towards the meetings at which most gentlemen have made more than 600, and most ladies have made over 500, it is found that in 1860, at Bath, seventeen gentlemen reached or passed the score of 600, but at the same time only two ladies passed 500. This still remains the largest meeting which has yet been held, two hundred and eight shooters having been present. At the Alexandra Park Meeting in 1864, sixteen gentlemen and six ladies attained the same amount of excellence. At Brighton, in 1867, seventeen gentlemen and seven ladies passed the same levels. But, in 1882, at the Crystal Palace, the corresponding numbers were ten gentlemen and nineteen ladies, and at Leamington in the same year, fourteen gentlemen and sixteen ladies; whilst in 1883, at Cheltenham, nineteen gentlemen passed 600 and fourteen ladies passed 500, though the shooters competing at this meeting were only one hundred and thirty-one. At Windsor in 1884, thirteen ladies scored more than 500, and twelve gentlemen more than 600. This shows clearly that, although the number of attendances has diminished since the extraordinary start given to archery by Mr. H. A. Ford's book (and this is possibly due to the multiplication of public matches), yet the average of excellence, particularly amongst the ladies, has made considerable progress. This is a most encouraging symptom for the future of archery.

The First Grand National Archery Meeting was held on August 1 and 2, 1844, at Knavesmire, near York.

Sixty-five gentlemen shot, and no ladies appeared at the targets.

The single York Round (72 arrows at 100 yards, 48 arrows at 80 yards, and 24 arrows at 60 yards) was shot first on this occasion.