210 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 99. 



the follo-witiij note to the Ode entitled " The Dying 

 Christian to his Soul : " — 



" This Ode was written in imitation of the fiimous 

 Sonnet of Hadrian to his departing Soul, l>ut as much 

 superior to his original in sense and sublimity as the 

 Christian religion is to the jjagan." 



This is confirmed by the correspondence of 

 Pope with Steele, vol.vii. pp.185. 188, 189, 190. 

 Letters 4. 7, 8, and 9. 



That Pope also derived some hints at least from 

 Flatman's Ode is, I think, certain, from tlie follow- 

 ing extract from a bookseller's catalogue of a few 

 years' date : 



" Flatman, Thos., Poems and Songs. Portrait 

 slightly damaged. 8vo., new, cf. gt, back, 8s. With 

 autograph of Alex. Pope. 



" MS. Note at p. 5,3. — ' This next piece, A TJimtplU 

 on Death, is remarkable as being the verses from which 

 Pope l)orrowed some of the thoughts in his Ode of 

 The Dying Christian to his Soul.'" 



F. B. Eelton. 



The question whether Flatman borrowed from 

 Pope or Pope from Flatman (the former seems 

 far more probable) may perhaps be decided by 

 the date of Flatman's composition, if that can 

 be ascertained. Pope's ode was composed in 

 November, 1712, as recorded in the interesting 

 series of letters in the correspondence between 

 Pope and Steele {Letters iv. to ix.) and in the 

 532nd number of the Spectator. From Steele's 

 letter it appears that the stanzas were comiiosed 

 for music: is any setting of them known, anterior 

 to that by Harwood, which has obtained such 

 universal popularity, in spile of its many unde- 

 niable errors in harmony? Is anything known of 

 this composer ? he certainly was not deficient 

 either in invention or taste, and must have written 

 other pieces worthy to be remembered. E. V. 



It seems probable that the cuincidonce between 

 the passages of Thomas Flatman and Pope, indi- 

 cated at p. 1.32., arises from both imitating the 

 alliteration of the original : 



" Animula, vagiila, hlandiila, 

 Ilospes, comcsquc corporis, 

 QujE nunc abibis in loca, 

 PaUidtila, rigida, ■undiilu? 

 Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos." 



Casaubon (Hixt. Aug. Script., t. i. p. 210. ed. 

 Lug. Eat.) has totally lost sight of this in his 



Greek translation. 



Theodore Buckley. 



TEST OF STRENGTH OF A BOW. 



(Vol. iv., p. 56.) 



Although unable to answer all the Queries of 

 ToxorHiMJS, the subjoined information may pos- 

 sibly advantage him. His Queries of course have 

 reference to the long bow, and not to the arbalest, 



or cross-bow. The length of this bow appears to 

 have varied according to the height and strength 

 of the bowman ; for in the 12th year of the reign 

 of Edward IV. an act was passed ordaining that 

 every Englishman shoidd be possessed of a bow of 

 his own height. Bishop Latimer also, in one of 

 his sermons, preached before Edward VI., and 

 published in 1549, wherein he enforces the practice 

 of archery, has the following passage : 



" In my time my father taught me how to draw, 

 how to lay my body in my bow, and not to draw with 

 strength of arms, as other nations do, but with strength 

 of body. I had my bows brought me according to my 

 age and strength : as I increased in them, so my bows 

 were made bigger and bigger." 



The length of the full-sized bow appears to have 

 been about six feet : the arrow, three. 



The distance to which an arrow could be shot 

 from the long bow of course depended, in a great 

 measvire, upon the quality and toughness of the 

 wood, as well as u])on the skill and strength of the 

 archer; but I believe it will be found that the 

 tougher and more unyielding the bow, the greater 

 the strength required in bending it, and conse- 

 quently the greater the force im])arted to the 

 arrow. The general distance to which an arrow 

 could be shot from the long bow seems to have 

 been from eleven to twelve score yards ; although 

 there are instances on record of individuals shoot- 

 ing from 400 to 500 yai'ds. 



The best bows used by our ancestors were made 

 of yew, as it appears from a statute made in the 

 thirty-third year of the reign of Henry VIII., by 

 which it was enacted — 



" That none under the ago of seventeen should shoot 

 with a bow of yew, except his parents were worth 101. 

 per annum in lands, or 40 marks in goods : and for 

 every boiv made of yew, the bowyer not inhabiting 

 London or the suburbs should make four, and the 

 inhabitant there two, bows of other wood." 



These restrictions were doubtless owing to the 

 great scarcity of yew. The other woods most in 

 request were, elm, witch-hazel, and ash. By the 

 statute 8th of Elizabeth, cap. 3., it was or- 

 dained that every bowyer residing in London 

 should h.ave always ready fifty bows of either of 

 the before-mentioned woods. By this statute also 

 the prices at which the bows were to be sold were 

 regulated. 



I believe the ancient bows were made of one 

 piece ; wiiether there is any advantage to be de- 

 rived in having a bow of more than two pieces, I 

 leave for some one better qualified than myself to 

 determine. 



As regards arrows, Ascham, in his ToaropA""*) 

 has enumerated fifteen sorts of wood of which 

 arrows were made in his time, viz. brasell, turkie- 

 wood, fustieke, sugercheste, hard-beam, byrche, 

 ash, oak, service-tree, alder, blackthorn, elder. 



