A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



tice," a penalty of 40*. a day was imposed 

 .on every person who 



shall for his gain, lucre, or living keep any common 

 house, alley, or place of bowling, coiling, clough, 

 eagles, half-bowls, tennis, dicing tables, or card- 

 ing, or any other game prohibited by any statute 

 heretofore made or any unlawful new game.* 



These stringent regulations are intelligible 

 enough in an age when England, like other 

 nations, had always to be fully prepared for 

 war, since, as is pointed out by Colonel 

 Walrond, fully two centuries elapsed after 

 the introduction of hand fire-arms before the 

 bow was finally ousted from its position as 

 the chief weapon of the English soldiers. 7 

 This, probably, is equally true as regards the 

 bow for the purposes of sport, and supports 

 the view taken by the same authority that the 

 popularity of archery as a sport by no means 

 commenced when the use of the bow in war 

 ceased, but was, on the contrary, greatest 

 when it was most formidable as a military 

 weapon. 8 



We find Sir T. Elyot describing archery 

 in The Governour, published in 153!) 

 as ' the principall of all other exercises,' and 

 after praising the long bow as a military 

 weapon, stating that ' there is both profile 

 and pleasure above any other artillery ' in its 

 ' seconde utilitie . . . which is killyng of 

 deere, wilde foule, and other game.' 9 Toxo- 

 philus, a work of Roger Ascham, published 

 fourteen years later and presented to Henry 

 VIII in 1545, is equally eulogistic of its 

 merits. Henry, who is stated by Sir Thomas 

 Elyot to have been an excellent shot, 10 was, 

 like his predecessors, Henry V and Henry 

 VII, very fond of archery, as were also Queen 



5a Football had already been condemned on this 

 account by Edw. Ill in 1349. James I in a dis- 

 course to Prince Henry on manly accomplishments 

 described it as ' meeter for lameing than for making 

 able.' 6 33 Hen. VIII, cap. 9. 



7 C. J. Longman and Col. H. Walrond, Archery 

 (Badminton Library), 1378. Down to ihe end 

 of the sixteenth cenlury ihe conlesl was, he ihinks, 

 fairly equal. 



8 Archery (Badminton Library), 161. It may 

 be noted in confirmation of this view that Ed- 

 mund Yorke, when directed by Queen Elizabeth 

 in 1588 to organize the defences of the City, after 

 specifying the number of halberdiers, pikemen, 

 musketeers, and arquebusiers required, adds that 

 no archers were to be included, because ' on an 

 alarm the multitude will come armed with such 

 weapons ' and ' there would be no use in teaching 

 art what is known by nature ' ; Stow, Surv. of Land. 

 (ed. Slrype), ii, bk. v, 453. 



' The Governour, 291, 303-5. 

 10 Ibid. 297, nole b. 



Elizabeth and Charles II ; n and archery was 

 common in all our early public schools. 



At Harrow its practice was encouraged by 

 a bequest establishing annual contests for 

 shooting for a silver arrow, which were con- 

 tinued till 1771, when they were terminated, 

 in spite of vigorous protests, by Dr. Heath. 11 * 

 The extent to which archery was practised 

 by the citizens of London in ihe sixleenth 

 century is shown by the recital, in a true bill 

 found against John Draney, ' citizen and 

 clothier of London, on 20 January, 1560-1,' 

 for having inclosed ' a certain open field called 

 Stebenhylhe Close;' that they had from time 

 immemorial been accustomed, ' without hind- 

 rance from any person,' to shoot with bows 

 in the common lands or ' feylds ' of ' Steben- 

 hythe' (Stepney), ' Ratclyff,' ' Mylende,' 

 'Bethnall Grene,' ' Spittlefeylds,' ' More- 

 feylds,' ' Fynesbury,' and ' Hoggesden ;' la and 

 evidence of similar rights in other parts of 

 Middlesex is contained in the records of 

 inquests held on deaths accidentally caused by 

 shooting at Hampton, 13 South Mimms, 14 

 Stepney (two), 16 Matfelon (Whitechapel), 16 

 and Hendon. 17 Though Shoreditch is not 

 included among the parishes above stated to 

 have possessed common fields its inhabitants 

 must have been keen archers, for one of 

 them was playfully dubbed 'Duke of Shore- 

 ditch' by Henry VIII on account of the skill 

 he displayed in a great shooting match at 

 Windsor. At a similar display held at 

 Smithfield during the reign of Elizabeth the 

 same tide was assumed by the captain of the 

 archers, while other competitors grandilo- 

 quently styled themselves Dukes of Clerken- 

 well, Islington, Hoxton, and Shadwell, and 

 Earl of St. Pancras. 18 Stow tells us in his 

 Survey that in 1498 'all the gardens which 

 had continued time of mind without Moor- 

 gate, to wit, about and beyond the Lordship 

 of Fensbary (Finsbury) were destroyed, and 

 of them was made a plain field for archers 

 to shoot in ; ' 19 while before his time the 



" Archery (Badminton Library), 161-2. 



IU Ibid. 165-6. 



" M idd. County Rec. i, 8. Both James I and 

 Charles II issued commissions to check such in- 

 closures ; Stow, Surv. (ed. Strype), i, bk. i, 250. 



13 (26 Aug. 1 1 Eliz.) Midd. County Rec. i, 64. 



14 (i Aug. 3 Eliz.) Ibid. 1,40. 



15 (19 Sept. 8 Eliz. and 4 Sept. 21 Eliz.) Ibid, 

 i, 57, 1 1 8. 16 (26 Sept. 8 Eliz.) Ibid, i, 58. 



17 (12 Oct. 3 Eliz.) Ibid, i, 41. 



18 Stow, Surv. (ed. Strype), i, bk. ix, 250. 



" Ibid. bk. ii, 96, ii ; bk. v, 437. In 1628 

 there were 1 64 marks in Finsbury Fields, which 

 had dwindled to twenty-one and three butts in 

 1737. Archery (Badminton Library), 167. 



284 



