324 Sir Ralph Payne-Gallivey^ Bart., [May 29, 



guard near him to fire at a French soldier who had, with impudent 

 gestures, approached the English lines. The guardsman rested his 

 piece on the wheel of a gun-carriage, took careful aim and killed the 

 man. The diarist writes that he witnessed this wonderful good shot, 

 which on being measured was found to be no less than 80 yards ! 



After a persistent stru.irgle against firearms, the long-bow, as a 

 weapon of warfare, was laid aside by our ancestors about 1580 to 

 1590. It was, however, employed in desultory fashion till about 1615, 

 and on a few occasions as late as 1620 to 1630, notably in the expe- 

 dition to the Island of the Rhe in 1627, and, for the last time in 

 regular warfare in our islands, by Montrose, in his defeat of the 

 Covenanters near Perth, in 1644. 



Its final appearance was probably in Scotland, as in a tribal dispute 

 between Mackintosh and Lochiel, in 1665, Lochiel had 300 of his 

 men armed with bows and arrows. 



I will conclude this subject by alluding to the yew-tree. It is a 

 common and incorrect supposition that the yew-tree was planted as 

 a wood from which to construct bows. The yew-tree of our islands 

 was most unsuitable for making bows from, as its wood is soft and 

 inelastic, and it has not the length of trunk or limb, or the clean 

 straight grain, of the foreign yew of warmer and drier climates, such 

 as those of Spain, Italy, and the south of France. Practically 

 speaking, the English long-bow was never made of English yew, or 

 of any other British wood. 



The English bow was imported from abroad in the form of a 

 rough stave, and this was afterwards shaped into a bow at home. 

 Statutes were enacted that obliged merchants trading to certain 

 foreign ports, to bring to England in their ships a stated number of 

 bow staves of yew with their merchandise. For instance, in the 

 reign of Edward IV., for every ton of goods, four bow-staves, and 

 for every l)utt of wine, ten staves, with a very heavy penalty foi* each 

 stave deficient in number. 



Why yews were so commonly planted in our churchyards is an 

 unsolved question. If it had been for the purpose of supplying 

 material for making bows they would have been planted in groves, 

 and not as single trees. Possibly the yew formed a shelter for open- 

 air ministration, as no doubt our detestable climate was as liable to 

 spoil social and other functions in the days of our ancestors as it is 

 now ! Or, perhaps, this tree was common to churchyards on account 

 of its well-known sanitary properties, or it may have been, as some 

 say, because its gloomy and evergreen foliage was regarded as an 

 emblem of death and resurrection. Whatever the reason may have 

 been, the yew was certainly not planted in English churchyards in 

 the interests of archery. 



The Oriental Reflex Composite Bow. — This is a weapon of wonder- 

 fully skilful structure, and, it may be said, mechanically perfect as a 

 bow, for not only could it be used with full effect from horse-back, 



