THE YEW. 73 



distinction of the English yeoman, and it was his 

 boast that none but an Englishman could bend 

 that powerful weapon. It seems that there was a 

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

 archers did not employ all their muscular strength in 

 drawing 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 bo we;" 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 which 

 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 Blanchetacque (the 

 passage of the Somme), just before the battle of Crecy, 

 Froissart says: " The Frenchmen defended so well 

 the passage 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. 

 VOL. II. 7 



