THE YEW, 73 



distinction of the Eng:lish yeoman, and it was his 

 boast tl\at none but an Eno-lislnnan could bend 

 that powertul weapon. It seems that there was a 

 pecuhar art in the English use of this bow; for our 

 archers did not employ all their muscular streni>;th in 

 drawiusj; the string- with the right hand, but thrust 

 the whole weight of the body into the horns of the 

 bow with the left. Chaucer describes his archer as 

 carrying^ " a mighty bowe ;" and the " cloth-yard 

 shaft," which was discharged from this engine, is 

 often mentioned by our old poets and chroniclers. 

 The command of Richard III. at the battle Avhich 

 was fatal to him, was this : 



" Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head." 



The bowmen were the chief reliance of the English 

 leaders in those bloody battles which attended our 

 unjust contests for the succession to the crown of 

 France. Some of these scenes are graphically de- 

 scribed by Froissart. 



In the account of the battle of Blanchetagne (the 

 passage of the Somme), just before Crecy, Froissart 

 says : " The Frenchmen defended so well the pas- 

 sage at the issuing out of the water, that they (the 

 English) had much to do. The Genoese did them 

 great trouble with their cross-bows. On the other 

 side, the archers of England shot so wholly together 

 that the Frenchmen were fain to give place to the 

 Englishmen*." 



At Crecy — " There were of the Genoese cross- 

 bows about a fifteen thousand, but they were so 

 weary of going a foot that day, a six leagues, armed 

 with their cross-bows, that they said to their con- 

 stables, ' We be not well ordered to fight this day, for 

 we be not in the case to do any great deeds of arms ; 



* Lord Berners' Froissart : Ed. 1812, Vol. i. chap. 127. 



H 



