ARCHERY. 
By the afliftance of the arrow alfo, we find from Hero¬ 
dotus, that a treacherous correfpondence was carried on 
at the ficge of Potidoea, between Artabazus, the Perlian 
general, and Timoxenus, whom he wifhed to betray the 
town into his power. The hi dorian tells us he is ignorant 
by what means the communication began ; but, that what¬ 
ever information was conveyed from one to the other, was 
written and affixed to an arrow, which, being fiiot to a par¬ 
ticular place, was there examined by the oppolite party, 
and an anfvver returned by the fame mode of conveyance. 
The invention of .quivers, we have reafon to believe, 
fpeedily followed that of the bow and arrow. We find in 
Genefis, that it was a concomitant of the bow at the time 
of Ifaac. “ Now therefore take, 1 pray thee, thy weapons, 
thy quiver, and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take 
, me fome venifon.” This pallage clearly points out the 
high antiquity of the inftrument in Alia; and there is no 
reafon to fuppofe that in other parts of the world its in¬ 
vention has been much pofierior to that of the bow. The 
quivers of the ancient Greeks, like thofe of many other 
nations, were made of (kins, or leather. They were of 
various forms and fizes: fometimes round, fometimes 
fquare, open at the top, or clofed with a lid ; and were 
ufually carried on the back, the upper end of the quiver 
juft riling above the right fiioulder. Sometimes indeed 
they were carried at the fide ; as may be feen in the Ar¬ 
chery-Plate I. Jig. 14. 
The coryto, or corytus, was a kind of cafe ufed by many 
nations to carry their bows in. It appears to have been 
made on the fame general principle as the quiver, and about 
the fame length, as it only admitted half the length of the 
bow. See the annexed Archery-Plate I. Jig. 12 and 13. It 
is remarkable, that in all the ancient figures of this bow- 
cafe, the bow is reprefented as put into it ftrung. 
The butts, or targets, at which archers were accuftomed 
to exercife their art and flcill, were originally lingle polls 
only ; afterwards they were made of faggots, or fheaves of 
ftraw, and were ufually placed at the diftance of a ftadium, 
or about 600 feet, from the place in which the (hooter 
flood. The butts formerly in life were generally of earth; 
but thofe of ftraw are at prefent more in fafiiion. The 
latter kind polfefs an advantage, as they can be moved 
with eafe to any diftance fixed upon. The manufacture 
of them is fimilar to that of the common draw bee-hives ; 
and they are ufually made about four feet and a half in 
diameter, that is, twice the length of the arrow. The 
front part is covered with cloth, painted in rings of diffe¬ 
rent colours, in order to mark the refpe£tive degrees of 
merit each archer is entitled to. 
The annexed Archery-Plate II. reprefents the different 
arrows and arrow-heads that have been in tife from the 
earlieft ages to the prefent time. The upper row confifls 
of arrows adapted to the common bow in different coun¬ 
tries ; the firll and laft are the combuftible arrows for¬ 
merly ufed by the Englifh ; and the fecond is the bird- 
bolt • the others were ufed both in war, and in the chace. 
The centre arrow, in the middle row, is the malleolus, or 
combuftible arrow belonging to the crofs-bow ; and the 
other four are quarrels, or arrows, adapted to the fame 
weapon. The three long arrows reprefented croffwife, are 
modern, being what are now nfed by the prefent Societies 
of Archers in this kingdom, and in many countries abroad. 
The four fmall ones reprefented croffwife, are the poifon- 
ed arrows of the Indians. The figures on each (ide repre- 
fent the various arrow-heads that have been from time to 
time in ufe ; and the three at the lower corners are the 
moft ancient, being made of flint. The three figures in 
the centre of the bottow row, are different kinds'of qui¬ 
vers, ufed in different countries. The middle one is the 
moft modern. 
We are not informed at what period the arbalift, or 
crofs-bow, was firft introduced to the world, but it is by 
fome faid to have derived its origin from the Cretans ; 
by others it is afcribed to the inhabitants of Sicily. Many 
varieties, on the large fcale, were ufed in the military ope. 
Vol. II. No. 57. 
rations of the Greeks and Romans; and that fome of thofe 
engines, called ballijla, were contrived on {his principle, 
appears from figures on the Trajan and Antonine pillars. 
Thefe, however, were exceedingly ftrong, and capable of 
emitting large javelins; but there were others of fmaller 
dimenfions, which anfwered the purpofe of the arbalift. 
Among the Englith, the firft mention of the crofs-bow 
teems to be in Speed; who quotes Johannes Pomarius. 
He lays of the Saxons, that their arms were long fpears, 
broad fvvords, and the crofs-bow. In the time of Henry II. 
we find feveral fadls fpoken of, which fliew the crofs-bow 
to have been very common in that reign. In 1172, the 
conqueft of Ireland was undertaken by the troops of this 
king; and feveral detachments were fent forth, in each of 
which archers are particularly mentioned. The party com¬ 
manded by Fitz-Stephens was firft landed in Ireland, and 
confided of thirty knights, fixty fquires, and three hun¬ 
dred archers. The Englilh armies drove all before them; 
and Rapin explains this circumftance by obferving, “ that 
it is almoft incredible, that the Irifii, who were exceedingly 
numerous, fiiould .fuller themfelves to be over-run by an 
handful of Englifhmen. The reafon is imputed to their 
great dread of the Englifh crofs-bow, the ufe of which, 
till then, was unknown to them.” Rapin, vol. i. p. 235. 
Little is faid of the inftrument in our hiftory from this 
period till about fixty years afterwards; when Richard I. 
was killed by an arrow from one of them, at the liege of 
Limoges, in Guienne. This fact is mentioned by almoft 
all our hiftorians. Speed fays, “ that, when Richard was 
at the liege of the caftle, an arbalifter (landing on the wall, 
and feeing his time, charged his Heel bow with a fquare 
arrow, or quarrel, making firft prayer to God that be would 
direct the (hot, and deliver the innocency of the belieged 
from oppreflion. Whereupon difcharging it, as the king 
was viewing the caftle, within the diftance of fuch an en¬ 
gine ; and the king (hearing the bow go oft), Hooping with 
his head, was mortally wounded in the left fiioulder.” 
It appears, that in England, crofs-bow-men were very 
common in the reign of Henry III. Matthew Paris fays 
they attended the army, and preceded the main body of 
it, at the diftance of a mile. It was made ufe of at the 
battle of Bofworth-field, in 1485 ; and there is an arba¬ 
lift in the Litchfield Mufeum, which was found on the 
place of battle. The fucceeding king, Henry VII. was 
more partial to the long-bow than the arbalift; and, in the 
nineteenth year of his reign, forbad the ufe of it. It is 
from this period, we may date the decline of the crofs-bow 
in this country, as in the following reigns it was but little 
in efteem. Henry VIII. made a law which tended very 
much to check the ufe of it. Stat. 33. c. 6. complains 
that divers murders had been perpetrated by means of 
crbfs-bows ; and that malicious and evil-minded perfons 
carried them ready bent and charged with quarrels, to the 
great annoyance of paffengers on the highways. The a£t 
therefore reltrains this cuftom, and ordains that thofe who 
are poffelTed of lands to the value of an hundred pounds 
per annum, fhall alone ufe the crofs-boiv ; and that they 
fhall not ride with them on the king’s highway, nor fhoot 
within a quarter of a mile of any city, or market-town, 
under a penalty for fo doing. 
In France, arbalifters feem to have been in ufe as early as 
the time of Louis le Gros. There is a paffage in Duchefne’s 
Hiftory of France, which mentions both archers fhooting by 
the hand, and crofs-bow-men. This inftrument, during the 
beginning of the reign of Philip the Auguft, was fo far 
difufed, as that not one was to be found among his troops. 
The reafon given for the difcontinuance of the arbalift, 
during the reign of Philip the Auguft, appears to be, that 
that weapon was prohibited by a canon of the fecond la- 
teran Council, holden in 1139, as “ hateful to God, and 
unfit to be made ufe of among Chriftians.” At the fiege 
of Turin, in 1536, P. Daniel fays, there was but one ar¬ 
balifter in the French army; but he was fo expert, that he 
killed more perfons than any of thofe ufing the harquebufs. 
Arbalifts were made on different principles, but the 
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