ARCHERY. 
rus Siculus, indeed, tells us, that fume of the Ethiopian 
nations were fo adroit, that they fubfifted entirely on the 
birds they (hot with their bow. Some very ancient and 
rude pieces of fculpture, which are copied by Stralenburg, 
in his Hiftory of Siberia, reprefent archers riding on horfe- 
back, who are aiming at birds flying in many directions, 
low to the ground, and perpendicularly over their heads. 
From the accounts we have of the Perfians, they appear 
to be aftonifliingly expert in the art of fhooting the bow ; 
and, if we believe the relations of thofe who have travelled 
in the eaft, (and thefe relations are uniform,) they cer¬ 
tainly are to be placed in the fir ft rank of archers. Chardin 
fays, that the Perfians, in their exercifes, (hoot the bow 
with incredible accuracy ; fo accurate, that they will drive 
an arrow into the fame hole many times fucceflively. The 
butts they ufe are made of land, beaten hard into a wooden 
frame, the furface of which is rendered fmooth before the 
archers begin to praCtile. An arrow (hot ftrong againft 
one of thefe targets, will ufually penetrate pretty deep, 
perhaps half its length ; and the excellence of an archer is 
the greater, in proportion as the number of lliots required 
to drive an arrow over head in the hole, made by the firft 
fliot, dintinifhes. This feat is what they generally pro- 
pofe to themfelves; and it not unfrequently happens that 
they accomplifh their end. 
In Perlia alfo they excel in (hooting with the bow while 
on horfeback; a fpecies of archery wt in this country are 
entirely ignorant of. Chardin deferibes the method of 
praCtifing this art, as extremely curious. A mark is 
placed on the top of a mart about twenty-fix feet from the 
ground ; the horfeman, who is prepared to (hoot, rides on 
full fpeed towards the mark, and, having palled it, his 
bow being ready drawn, turns round and difeharges his 
arrow backwards. Sometimes they Gioot to the right hand, 
and (ometimes to the left, according to the direction in 
which they guide their horfes, inrefpeCt to the mark they 
propofe to aim at. Chardin (peaks of this game as com¬ 
mon in all the villages of Perfia. The nobility and the 
kings are fond of it, and often praCtife it. He fays, that 
Sephy, the grandfather of the king who occupied the 
throne at the"time he made his tour, excelled in this fport, 
and would ufually ftrike the target; if not with the firft 
arrow, with the fecond he never erred. 
Mr. Tavernier had an opportunity of being prefent at a 
review of 'he Perlian cavalry, during his refidence in the 
eaft, in the year 1654. His account of the-exhibition is 
curious, and will alfo enable us to judge of the degree of 
excellence to which archery was brought in that nation. 
“ The king," he fays, “ accompanied by his principal 
officers, flood on a portal to one of the royal gardens, from 
whence they viewed the molt expert and beft-looking of 
the troops, who were ordered to ride fingly before the 
place where the king was ftationed. The horfemen rode 
full fpeed ; and, as they paifed, each man (hot an arrow 
into a turf butt, prepared for the occafion, in fight of the 
king and the officers. When the review clofed, the per- 
fon whofe arrow ftood neareft the centre, was promifed an 
increafe of pay.” “ I was at Cafbin,” fays Mr. Tavernier, 
“ at the time ; and remember one horfeman, who, riding 
in his turn, when he came before the portal flopped his 
horfe, and walked over the plain, contrary to the orders 
of the general. When he came opposite the butt, he re- 
fufed to (hoot his arrow, and only railed his arms in the 
attitude of drawing the bow. This horfeman was unfor¬ 
tunately of a very forbidding mein ; and the king, enraged 
to fee his dj’fcipline fo grofsly difregarded, and by one he 
judged incapable of any excellence, gave immediate or¬ 
ders for hint to be di('miffed the fervice. His weapons and 
horfe were taken from him on the fpot; and the king’s 
directions would have been fully executed, had not one of 
the generals pleaded his caufe. It was represented to the 
king, that the cavalier, though fo ill-looking, was one of 
the bdt foldiers in the whole army ; that lie had fully 
proved his (kill and courage in the lieges of Erivan and 
Candahar; and that his father was among thofe who main¬ 
tained the attack of Bagdad three times. Having heard 
this character, the king, at the requeft of the officers, 
commanded the horfe and arms to be reflored to the cava¬ 
lier, and he was ordered to take his turn in the review. 
He accordingly rode into the prefence of the king, and 
turning his horfe firft to right, then to left, in fonte agita¬ 
tion, cried out, “Where would the king have me flioot ?” 
On which one of the ■ generals anfwered, “ At the target 
where the other horfemen have fliot.” The cavalier, (ba¬ 
king his head, faid with a fmile, “ Muff I diced! my ar¬ 
rows againft a turf ? I would rather point them at the ene¬ 
mies of my country; then would I with more pleafure 
(hoot three quivers full, than a (ingle arrow at this turf.” 
He then, with great dignity, drew two arrows from his 
quiver ; and, holding one of them between his teeth, fitted 
the other into his bow : when forcing his horfe vigoroufly 
acrofs the plain till lie had paifed the butt, he, in the Par¬ 
thian attitude, drove an arrow into the centre of the tar¬ 
get; turning about, lie in the fame manner fliot his fecond 
arrow precisely into the hole from whence his firft arrow 
had been drawn. The general who had before pleaded 
for the cavalier, now approached the,king, and hoped the 
adroitnefs of that foldier had fatisfied the expectation tie 
had railed. At the fame time feeing the cavalier at hand, 
and prefenting him to the king, his majefty not only ex- 
preffed admiration at his great (kill, but ordered five times 
the-'propofed reward to be given him.” 
The Turks are faid to have been formerly very dexter¬ 
ous in the management of tire bow, though at prefent that 
infirument is little tiled among them. An old writer, who 
refided in Conftantinople at a time when archery was cul¬ 
tivated, (peaks highly of the feats of thefe people. Boys 
at the age of eight years, or even feven, begin to praCtife 
with the bow, in order to render their arms ftrong and 
fteady ; and, by the time they arrived at manhood, they 
couldaflioot with fo much accuracy, as to drive an arrow 
into the eye of a man, or could hit any part equally (mail. 
They could, during their practice, (hoot feveral arrows 
into a mark not larger than a die, from the diftance of 
ten yards. 
It would be an endlefs talk to relate all the exploits of 
the bow which have been celebrated by the poets ; we 
filial 1 neverthelefs mention one, which is the (lory told of 
Ulyfifes, in the twenty-firft book of the Odyffey. The 
poet feigns, that Penelope, wearied by the felicitations of 
her luitors during the abfenee of Ulyftes at the Trojan 
war, at length forms a refolution to determine which of 
the lovers fill a J 1 receive her hand. She produces a bow 
which had been left with her by her hufband, and thus 
declares her propofal : 
Who firft Ulyftes’ wond’rous bow (hall bend, 
And through twelve ringlets the fleet arrow fend, 
Him will 1 follow, and forfake my home, 
For him forfake this lov’d, this wealthy, dome. 
Graceful (lie laid, and bade Eumaeus fliovv 
The rival peers the ringlets and the bow. Pope. 
Juft as they had agreed to decide by this expedient, 
Ulyftes, difguifed in the drefs of a fliepherd, returns from 
Troy. After feveral of the lovers had tried unfucceff- 
fully, and after feme altercation concerning the propriety 
of allowing a man of fo mean an appearance to have any 
chance of gaining the prize, Ulyftes takes the bow. 
And, fitting as lie was, the cord lie drew, 
Through ev’ry ringlet levelling his view ; 
Then notch’d the (haft, releas’d, and gave it wing: "J 
The whizzing arrow vanifh’d from the firing, )> 
Sung on direct, and thredded ev’ry ring. J 
The felid gate its fury fcarcely bounds; 
Pierc’d through and through, the felid gate refounds. Id. 
Ulyffies, having gained the prize, dlfclofes himfelf, and 
immediately puts to death thofe fuitors to Penelope who 
had taken advantage of his abfenee. 
Whether the eulogies which have been fo liberally be¬ 
llowed on the Engliffi archers by different writers be per¬ 
fectly 
