HINTS TO ARCHERS, 



BY CAPTAIN CRAM, H. P. ROYAL HORSE MARINES. 



With loynes in canvas bow-case tied, 

 Where arrows stick in mickle pride ; 

 JLike ghats of Adam Bell and Cly mme 

 Sol sets for fear they'll shoot at him. 



SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT. 





I AM an enthusiastic admirer of the long-bow, that " noble weapon 

 of renown." I have made myself acquainted with its history, from 

 the day it was first invented by Apollo to the present time. I have 

 studied minutely the great Ascham's " Five Points of Archery" 

 I have practised standing, nooking, drawing, holding, and loosing ; 

 and written practical observations on each movement. I can tell you 

 all about the TARGET, the BRACER, QUIVER, BELT, POUCH, TASSEL 

 and GREASE-BOX ; I have attentively read, nay, even learned by 

 heart, Ascham's " Toxophilus," Strutt's " Sports and Pastimes," 

 Moseley's " Essays on Archery,' 7 Roberts' " English Bowman," 

 Barrington's tract in| the " Archaeologia ;" besides every writer of 

 antiquity that has treated, ever so remotely, on the long-bow. The 

 result of my studies will be apparent in the following pages it will 

 be seen that I am no contemptible shot. 



Great glory is due to the ladies for their unceasing endeavours to 

 revive this truly manly pastime ; much reason have they long had to 

 complain of being debarred from the exhilarating sports of the field ; 

 such disgusting monopoly will soon be at an end ; for by the practice 

 of archery they will gradually acquire such strength of limb, such 

 power of form, such robustness of constitution, that at no distant 

 time they will be able to back a horse, and hallo a hound with any of 

 the boasted Nimrods of the North. We shall then have the benefit 

 of their patronage, of the much-neglected Prize Ring, and the Racket 

 Court, and it may eventually lead to advantageous changes in their 

 social condition, and a freedom from vexatious restraints ; in fact, 

 there is no knowing what the long-bow will do for them. Some dis- 

 advantages may possibly ensue from the first practice of a long-dis- 

 used art; but they are trifling, and I beg to remark to any lugubriously- 

 minded poet, who may peradventure be wandering among the green 

 lanes, heedless of the twanging with which the kingdom is resounding, 

 and should suddenly find himself stuck through the midriff, by some 

 unfair hand, let him on no account blaspheme the art, but die quietly 

 like a good poet ; for be it known that our good King Henry VIII., 

 of glorious memory, being a great patron of the art, provided for such 

 contingencies, by declaring the archer after the usual cry of " stand 

 fast !" free from blame or penal visitation, by whose stray shaft 

 any unconscious vagabond might be stricken. This is a consoling 

 fact, and ought to be known to all our fair sportswomen, that they 

 may shoot freely. The tyro must on no account limit her range from 

 any apprehension ; she may take the word of one less veracious than 

 a Cram, that she is in no danger. 



The long-bow is a weapon of the very earliest antiquity ; it is sup- 

 posed to have been introduced into Englnnd by the Cretan auxiliaries 



