of archers through London, as follows: "First
came two ensigns before the marshal of the field,
the marshal (himself) being clad in green velvet
and satinn, with a trunchion in his hand: then
followed him forty foresters, apparalled all in
green, every one bearing a bow and four shafts
by their side, with horns at their backs, which
they winded as they went along, &c. Next five
swatiruters, strangely apparalled, with green
hose down to the small of their legs, with
strange caps agreeable, bearing on their necks
long swords, which seemed very stearn in
countenance. These five green men were
prepared by Mr. Wood, who, being continual ranger,
did both express his name and beautifie the
show. His badge also bare a fair shield, upon
which stood this sentence, 'More ways than
one to the Wood.'" The beau thus attired
lived until he was eighty-two, and his funeral
was attended with archers' honours; the
regiment of which he was captain was present,
and three flights of whistling arrows — having a
pile of horn, and which in their passage through
the air produced a loud whistling noise—being
discharged over his grave.

Health and long life were thought to attend
on the practice of the art. Latimer, in one of
his sermons, gives judgment in favour of this
opinion. "In my time," says he, "my poor
father was as delighted to teach me to shoot as to
learn any other thing, and so, I think, other men
did their children; he taught me how to draw,
how to lay my body and my bow, and not to draw
with strength of arm as other nations do, but
with strength of body. I had my bow brought
me according to my age and strength: as I
increased in them, so my bows were made bigger
and bigger, for men shall never shoot well
except they be brought up to it. It is a goodly
art, a wholesome kind of exercise, and much
commended as physic."

It was the law of the land, in the reign
of Edward the Fourth, that every Englishman,
whatever his station, the clergy and judges
alone excepted, should own a bow his own
height, and kept always ready for use, and also
provide for his sons' practising the art from the
age of seven. Butts were ordered to be erected
in every township, where the inhabitants were
to shoot up and down, every Sunday and feast-
day, under the penalty of one halfpenny. Thus
we have Newington Butts in London, St.
Augustine's Butts at Bristol; and many
unenclosed meadows in the vicinity of our smaller
provincial towns still retain the appellation of
the "Butt Fields." Thither the lordly baron
sent his feudal vassals; thither came the squire,
the independent franklyn, the wealthy yeoman,
the rude peasant, the unwashed artisan. All
formed one gathering, of which, in populous
districts, the numbers were so considerable that,
after the first season, the grass seldom grew
around these public marks. The art, however,
declined before the rein of Henry the Seventh;
who found it necessary to forbid the use of the
cross-bow, which was growing into favour, and
threatening to supersede its old conqueror, and
his successor fined its owner ten pounds.
Nevertheless, the art lacked no encouragement,
for not only was Henry the Eighth fond of the
exercise, but his brother Arthur was even famous
for his skill. At a celebrated shooting-match
which was contested at Windsor, the bluff
monarch conferred on several persons who
distinguished themselves with the long bow titles
after the places they came from. Thus there
were the Duke of Shoreditch, and the
Marquises of Islington, Hoxton, Shacklewell. In
1583, a grand shooting-match was held under
the direction of the "Duke of Shoreditch, who
was captain of the London archers," assisted by
his several officers, the marquises aforesaid.
Charles the First appointed two special
constables to enforce the practice of archery.
During the civil war the art died out. It is
true that Charles the Second had his keeper
of the bows, but the office was a sinecure. Yet,
in 1682, there was a most magnificent cavalcade,
at which Charles the Second was present, and
which was succeeded by an entertainment given
by the Finsbury archers, on which occasion the
old titles of Duke of Shoreditch, Marquis of
Islington, and other places, were bestowed upon
the most worthy. There is a mock heroic poem
by Sir William D'Avenant referring to these
Finsbury sports, and to the shooting-matches
between the attorneys and proctors. Take a
citation:

     Each with solemn oath agree
     To meet in fields of Finsburie,
     With loynes in canvas bow case tyde,
     Where arrowes stick with mickle pride,
     With hats pin'd up and bow in hand,
     All day most fiercely there they stand,
     Like ghosts of Adam Bell and Clymme,
     Sol sets for fear they'll shoot at him.

There were also the Clerkenwell archers, who
patronised the Sir John Oldcastle Tavern in
Coldbath-fields, in the eighteenth century.

Even at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, there were some persons sufficiently
enthusiastic to propose a jubilee in honour of Roger
Ascham, the famous tutor of Queen Elizabeth,
who wrote a treatise on Archery. The scheme
was proposed by a metropolitan society of
archers; and it was to have been carried out
in a manner similar to the Shakespeare jubilee
celebrated by Garrick at Stratford-on-Avon.
The idea was abandoned because the place of
Ascham's birth could not be ascertained. Bow
meetings were then, and for some time after,
frequent in summer.

There was, about thirty or forty years since,
a society called "The Woodmen of the Forest
of Arden," the members of which are credited
with having first introduced our fair country-
women to the practice of the bow, as a suitable and
healthful recreation. The beaux of the day—
men of fashion and position — they were enabled
to dictate and set an example since followed.
Female archery became common, and public
breakfasts furnished abundant opportunity.
At these the company shot what are technically
called "games," eleven being the decisive