The Theory and Practice of Archery Part 9

Returning to Star or Dial:--

+-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+ Score yards Yards +-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+ From Star or Dial to Westminster Hall 88 168 " Westminster Hall to Dial or Monument 84 164 " Dial or Monument to Star or Dial 99 189 " Star or Dial to Blackwell Hall 135 185 " Blackwell Hall to Old Speering 91 129 " Old Speering to Star or Dial 916 196 +-------------+-------+ Total yards 1031 +-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+

Returning to Blackwell Hall:--

+-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+ Score yards Yards +-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+ From Blackwell Hall to Dial or Monument 1016 216 " Dial or Monument to Lambeth 610 130 " Lambeth to Old Speering 108 208 +-------------+-------+ Total yards 554 +-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+

Returning to Lambeth:--

+-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+ Score yards Yards +-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+ From Lambeth to Day's Deed 814 174 " Day's Deed to Turk's Whale 912 192 " Turk's Whale to Absoly (longest) 135 265 " Absoly to Arnold 91 181 " Arnold to Blood House Bridge 714 154 +-------------+-------+ Total yards 966 +-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+

Returning to Day's Deed:--

+-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+ Score yards Yards +-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+ From Day's Deed to Absoly 911 191 " Absoly to Gard stone 915 195 +-------------+-------+ Total yards 386 +-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------+

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 b.u.t.ts, 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 b.u.t.ts.

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 compa.s.s, 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 amus.e.m.e.nt, but it is not now so easy to find grounds sufficiently open for the purpose. Where there is sufficient s.p.a.ce 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 b.u.t.ts or mounds of earth--was known as _p.r.i.c.k-shooting_, a small mark being fixed upon the b.u.t.t 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 p.r.i.c.k-shooting next became known as the _paper game_, when cardboard, and paper stretched on canvas, were placed on the b.u.t.ts. 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 b.u.t.t-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 b.u.t.t-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.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Possibly now the 'Castle' publichouse, 9 Finsbury Pavement.

[7] The 'Rosemary Branch' publichouse, 2 Shepperton Road, Islington, N., is perhaps too far off the line to be identical. The same may be said of Pitfield Street, Hoxton.

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 s.n.a.t.c.hed 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 pa.s.sed 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 vj_s._ viij_d._ the shotte xlvj_s._ viij_d._

'29 March.--Paied to George Gifford for so moche money he wanne of the Kinges Grace unto him at Totehill at shoting xij_s._ vj_d._

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

'3 June.--Paied to George Coton for so moche money by him wonne of the Kinges Grace at bettes in shoting vij_l._ ii_s._'

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 xx_l._ and vj_s._ viij_d._ 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 xij_s._ viij_d._'

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 death[8] 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 princ.i.p.all exercise to the preseruing of health how can I but prayse them who profess it thoroughly and maintain it n.o.bly, 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 n.o.ble 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.'