212 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



his, like Izaak's to the angler, is the text book of the 

 Archer, and not less worthy of our grateful recollection. 

 To become a perfect Archer it is only necessary to read his 

 Toxophilus, and practice carefully his precepts. In the 

 course of that practice you will not fail to fall into some, 

 if not all, of those faults so " wittilye" described by him, 

 thus: " The discomodityes which ill custom hath graffed 

 in Archers, some shooteth his head foreward, as though he 

 would byte the markc; another stareth with his eyes, as 

 though they should fl3re out; another winketh with one 

 eye and looketh with the other; some maketh a face with 

 wrythinge their mouth; another byteth his lips, another 

 holdeth his neck awrye. In drawing, one will stand point- 

 ing his shafte at the mark a good while, and by and by he 

 will give him a whippe, and away or a man witte: another 

 draweth softly to the middle, and by and by it is gone, you 

 cannot know howe: another draweth his shafte low at the 

 breast, as though he would shoot at a roving mark, and 

 by and by, he lifteth his arm to the height: one maketh a 

 wrynchinge in his back, as though a man pinched him be- 

 hind: another coureth down, and layeth out his rumpe, as 

 though he would shoot at crowes; some draw too farre, 

 some too shorte, some too quicklye, some too slowlye, 

 some hold over longe, some let go over soone; and after- 

 wards when the shafte is gone, men have many faultes, 

 which evil custome has brought them to, and speciallye in 

 cryinge after the shafte, and speakinge wordes scarce 

 honest for such an honest pastime, and besydes those which 

 must needes have theyr tongue thus walkinge, other men 

 use other faultes. Some will give two or three strides for- 

 warde, daunsinge and hoppingc after his shafte, as long as 

 it flyeth as though he were a madde man, some which feare 

 to be too far gone, run backward, as it were to pull his 

 shafte backe, another forward when he feareth to be shorte 

 heavinge after his armes, as though he woulde hclpe his 

 shafte to flye, another wrythes, or runneth asyde, to pull 

 in his shafte straighte, one lifteth up his heele, and so hold- 

 eth his Ibote still as long as his shafte flyeth. And many 

 other faultes there be, which now come not to my remem- 

 brance. Thus, as you have hearde, many Archers with 

 marringe theyr face and countenance, with other parts of 

 theyr bodye, as it were men that should daunce antiques, 

 be farre from the comely part in shootynge, which he that 

 woulde be excellent must looke for. Of these faultes, I 

 have very manye myselfe, but I talke not of my shoot- 

 ynge. Now ymagen an Archer that is cleane without all 

 these faultes, and I am sure every man would be delighted 

 to see him shoote." 



I have ran on with this quotation longer than was my 

 intention, but it is too faithful a picture to be curtailed of 

 any of its fair proportions. My object is to give you a 



sketch of the only association that we know of, on this side 

 of the big water, for the practice of this ancient and honour- 

 able pastime; the wood craft of the merry Archers, cele- 

 brated alike, in the ballad and romance. 



Our association was commenced in the fall of 1S28, by ai 

 few gentlemen, whose sole knowledge was the recollection 

 of the hoop bow, and shingle arrows of boyhood, and the 

 clumsy feats of the half civilized Indians, who are occa- 

 sionally seen shooting for pennies on the pavements of our 

 cities, with miserable tools and worse skill. Our want of 

 knowledge led us into many errors, and gave us much 

 trouble; we blundered on taking hints from examinations 

 of the different instruments of warfare contained in the 

 cabinets of our museums, and from every source that could 

 furnish information. Our first practice meeting was ludic- 

 rous; let me describe it, if I can. At the head of the file to 

 which we were ranged, stood the long ^ with a bow about 

 IS inches long, from the N. W. coast of America, and a 

 Canton arrow three feet two inches long, with a whistling 

 head. Next to him, and scarcely reaching to his elbow, 

 was the neat, small figure of our worthy friend, the artist, 

 with a seven foot Malay bow, held in a horizontal position, 

 simply because he could not hold it in any other, while he 

 stood on the ground. Then came the (3 '^"^'•^^^ 3" arrow, 

 long after known in the club as the broom stick, being 

 made of a defunct brush handle, shaved down a little. My 

 turn comes next, a real Sandwich Islander, the crack bow 

 of the club at that time, which I managed most grotesquely, 

 holding it at an angle of forty-five degrees to the horizon. 

 The arrow was all the way from the Missouri, and now 

 reposes ingloriously in the top of a button wood, where it 

 went of its own accord; I give you my word that I aimed 

 it at a pasteboard target, some sixty feet off, on the same 

 level as ourselves. With such an equipment, and there is 

 not much exaggeration in the description, it is very remark- 

 able that v/e should have persevered, but the zeal of the 

 members, finally conquered every difficulty. You must 

 not suppose, for a moment, that we continued these puerile 

 proceedings, any longer than we could help; at a very 

 early period of the association, an order had been despatch- 

 ed to Mr. Thomas Waring, of London, the most celebrated 

 modern Boivyer, for an equipment of the best quality, and 

 full information on the subject, all of which was received 

 in due time; and consisted of a lemon wood bow, and spare 

 strings, a dozen arrows contained in a quiver, a belt, pouch, 

 grease box, and tassel, a splendid pair of targets, and finally, 

 Waring's "Treatise on Archery," accompanied hy a bill 

 as long as a woodcock's, of heavy charges, no inconside- 

 rable item of which was Uncle Sam's thirty-three and a 

 third per cent, duties. These articles were received on the 

 28th of March, 1829, from which time may be dated the 



