ANCIENT AND MIDDLE AGE SHOOTING 21 



army fight won the day, as the British archers won it for the 

 Black Prince, much to the disgust, as well as the defeat, of 

 the French knights. 



Until 1515, or thereabouts, when the wheel-lock was 

 invented, the gun could only be used with a match-lock of 

 kinds, and the circling pointer was very much in demand to 

 indicate the exact position of the covey. The sportsman trained 

 his hail-shot loaded gun on the spot and let it off. This form of 

 sport became possible almost as soon as gunpowder was invented, 

 but there is no record of it until much later, when it had become 

 so destructive to game as to be forbidden by edict. Then the 

 flint and steel lock was introduced, so that no sooner had the 

 circling dog come to perfection than he found his business gone, 

 for he was not wanted for the shooter of flying game, at a time 

 when the latter sat well enough not only for the bad marks- 

 man, but also for the net as well. 



There is a picture of a deer drive, dated 1644, in De 

 Espinar's book, where the sportsman has a heavy gun in a 

 movable rest, but what kind of boring and ignition were 

 employed is not to be discovered. It is possible, however, that 

 both rifling and the flint and steel were employed, for they 

 must have been very tame deer that would have remained in 

 one position long enough, in a drive, to have been done to 

 death by means of any device for quickening up the match- 

 lock. Indeed, the long-bow would have been much the more 

 deadly shooting instrument 



In modern times the long-bow has become a toy, but, even 

 as such, shows itself capable of more accuracy than the 

 musket had. That flying shots were not impossible with 

 either the long-bow or cross-bow has often been proved, and 

 there is one well-known instance where a swallow on the 

 wing was pierced by an arrow, and remained upon it about 

 half-way down the shaft. But when the arrow was a weapon 

 of war the minimum distance for practice for a man was 

 220 yards, and the flight of an arrow then was very far beyond 

 the powers of the toy bow now used in the pretty game of 

 archery. 



