5 8 'ARCH 
nacions withal. It hath bene Goddes inftrumente where¬ 
by he hath gyven us manye victories agaynefte our ene- 
myes. But nowe we have taken up horynge in townes, 
inffeede of fhutynge in the fyeldes. A wonderous thynge, 
th^at fo excelente a gyft of God fhoulde be fo lyttle efteem- 
ed. 1 defire you, my lordes, even as you love honoure, 
and glorye of God, and intende to remove his indignacion, 
let there be fent furth fome proclimacion, fome fharpe 
proclimacion, to the juftices of peace, for they do not thyr 
dutye. Juftices now be no juftices ; ther be many good 
adtes made for thys matter already. Charge them upon 
their allegiance, that this Angular benefit of God may be 
p radii led ; and that it be not turned into bollyng, and 
gioflyng, and boring, wythin the townes; for they be neg- 
ligente in executying thefe lavves of flnitynge. In my tyme, 
my poore father was as diligent to teach me to fhute, as 
to learne any other thynge; and fo I thinke other menne 
dyd thyr children. He taught me howe to drawe, howe 
to lay my bodye in my bowe, and not to drawe wyth 
ftrength of armes, as other nacions do, but with ftrength 
of bodye. 1 had my bowes bought me according to my 
age and ftrength ; as I encreafed in them, fo my bowes 
were made bigger and bigger : for men (hall never fhute 
well, excepte they be brought up in it. It is a goodly 
arte, a holefome kynde of exercife, and much commended 
in phiiike. Marcilius Sicinus, in hys boke de trip/ici vita 
(it is a greate while fins 1 red hym nowe); but 1 remem¬ 
ber he commendeth thys kinde of exercife, and fayth, that 
it wreftleth agaynfte many kyndes of difeafes. In the re¬ 
verence of God, let it be continued. Let a proclamacion 
go furth, charging the juftices of peace, that they fee fuch 
adtes and ftatutes kept, as were made for thys purpofe.” 
Latimer’s Sermons, black letter, 1549, iimo. 
Henry VIII. beiides making laws in favour of archery, 
inftituted a fociety, in 1537, for the praCtice of (hooting, 
under a charter, in the name of the Fraternity of St.George. 
This fraternity is now the Artillery Company of London. 
It is faid, that the king fixed a meeting of them at Wind- 
for, when a perfon of the name of Barlow far out-ftiot the 
reft; which pleafed the king fo much, that he told Bar- 
low he would make him duke of Shoreditch, he being an 
inhabitant of that place. This dignity was conferred, and 
long preferved by the commander of the London Archers, 
who ufed to fummon the officers of his feveral divifions, 
by the titles marquiffes of Barlow, Clerkenwell, Iflington, 
Hoxton, earl of Pancrafs, &c. On another occalion the 
king met them, attended by the queen and his whole court, 
on Shooter’s-hill; which probably took its name from their 
affembling upon it to fnoot at marks. The king granted 
alfo to this company a privilege, that if any of the mem¬ 
bers (hooting at a known and accuftomed butt, having firft 
pronounced the word fajl, (or (land faft,) Ihould happen 
to kill anv perfon paftiug between the (hooter and the butt, 
he ftiould not buffer, or be imprifoned. After this time, 
we do not find any (latute to regulate the ufe of the bow 
in England. 
In France, the bow has not always been a warlike wea¬ 
pon. Procopius fays, that in the expedition of the Franks 
under Theodebert, A. D. 538, the troops were armed with 
a fword, Afield, and hatchet, or rather battle-axe ; they 
had neither bow nor lance. This is likewife oblerved by 
Mr. Gibbon. In the end of the lixth century, however, 
archery appears to have been ufed ; and a law of Charle¬ 
magne, made in the ninth century, directs, that thofe 
armed with clubs, ftiould difeontinue them, and (hoot the 
bow. During the intermediate reigns to that of Lewis XI. 
archers were employed in the French armies; but about 
tiie year 1480, this king difmiffed that part of his troops, 
and in their place procured Swifs infantry. Archers, how¬ 
ever, feem to have been again in ufe among the French 
during the fucceeding reign of Charles VIII. as Philip de 
Confines makes mention of them at the battle of Fornova, 
(or Fournue,) at which there were many Scotch archers. 
During the time of Francis I. the bow feems to have been 
greatly out of ufe in that country. P. Daniel fays, that, 
E R Y. 
in the year 1522, there was but one arbalifterin the army, 
in the fight at Bico; but this one archer was fo expert, 
that an officer, named Jean de Cardonne, having opened 
the vizor of his helmet to take breath, this man ftruck 
him in the unguarded part with his arrow, and killed him. 
Fire-arms after this time became more general, and in a 
fiiort period altogether excluded the bow and arbalift as 
warlike inftruments. The name of archers, however, was 
continued in France to thofe in particular offices for fome 
years, and even to the prelent day the minifters of execu 
tive juftice retain the title. 
I11 war, archers ulually occupied the front, and retired 
between the ranks of the heavy-armed men, as the battle 
joined. It was not uncommon to place them in lines be¬ 
hind thofe of the infantry, as they could aft over the heads 
o( the preceding ranks; for the fame reafon they fome- 
times fought behind the cavalry ; but, when the enemy 
approached, it was necell'ary for the horfemen to incline 
forwards, and cover themfelves with their ftfields. At 
the battle of Creify, our archers are faid to have been 
placed in triangles behind the ranks ; and at Poidliers they 
were in the wings, drawn up in the fame figure, “ rangez 
cn herje.” In ancient battles, when myriads of archers 
were introduced into the field, the appearance of a difi- 
charge of arrows from the whole army' muft have been 
inconceivably awful. How frequently do we meet with 
fuch exprellions as thefe : exclucere diem telisj grandineferri, 
See. There is a noble reply of Dioneces, to a perfon who 
iniormed him, at the battle of Thermopylae, that the Per- 
(ian army was fo numerous, as to obfeure the light of the 
fun with their arrows ; “ we (hall then fight in the (hade,” 
faid he, “and not be expofed to the heat.” Herod, p.522. 
There was, however, an excellent expedient, by which 
the troops w’ere often protected from the effects of arrows. 
One of the raoft beautiful as well as ufeful manoeuvres, 
in the ancient dilcipline, was calculated to ward oft' thefe 
miflive weapons. It was called tejludo, in ufe among the 
Greeks, the Romans, the Englifh, and others; and was 
often executed with wonderful addrefs. According to 
Potter, it was formed “ when the foldiers, drawn tip dole 
together, and the hindermoft ranks bowing themfelves, 
placed their targets above their heads ; as if we i'uppofe 
the firft rank to (land ereft, the reft to (loop lower and 
lower by degrees, till the laft rank kneeled upon the 
ground ; the men in front and on the fides holding their 
targets before their bodies, the reft covering the heads of 
thofe that were placed before them; fo that the whole 
body refembled a pent-houfe, or roof covered with tile, 
down which the enemy’s mifiive weapons eafily glided, 
without prejudice to the foldiers beneath.” Befides this 
expedient, the old Englifh archers had a method of pro¬ 
tecting themfelves from the approach of the cavalry. Each 
bowman carried with him one, and fometimes two, large 
(takes, (harpened at each end. Thefe w’ere placed in the 
earth before the lines, prefenting their points on a level 
with the breads of the horfes, and oppoling their purfuit. 
The principal ufes for which archers were valued in 
battle, have been divided under the following heads, viz. 
To begin the fight at a diftance. To provoke the enemy, 
to harafs and draw him out of his advantageous poft. To 
wound the enemy at a diftance. To diforder the enemy 
as he makes his approach. To gall the horfes. To cope 
with, and hinder efforts of the light-armed troops of their 
antagonifts. To fcout and dilcover ambufhes, as well as 
to lie in ambufli themfelves. To make fpeedy and fudden 
attempts in time of battle. The efteCt produced on the 
eye by a number of arrows palling through the air from 
one army to another, is a circumftance which, by no poet 
who has lung of war, could be paffed over unnoticed. 
One might fill pages from every language with beautiful 
allufions to this fubjeCt. The appearance of an arrow on 
the wing, viewed on the fide, is (ingularly interefting. Its 
fteady movement, the curve it deferibes, its afeending and 
defeending motion, its velocity, &c. are all fources of 
beauty which never fail to excite agreeable feelings in the 
mind, 
