PROOFS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF ARCHERY.
There is little at the present day in England to afford any adequate idea of the high importance, the great skill, and the distinguished renown of the English archers. By names of places.Some few places still retain names which tell where the bowmen used to assemble for practice, as “Shooter’s Hill,” in Kent; “Newington Butts,” near London; and “St. Augustine’s Butts,” near Bristol. The Butts will be found applied to spots of land in the vicinity of schools, as for instance, the College School of Warwick.
The fields situated to the east of the playing-fields at Eton, and known by the name of “The Upper and Lower Shooting-fields,” were probably so named from the ancient exercise of archery on these grounds.
Armorial Bearings.
Many of the noble and county families of Great Britain and Ireland have the symbols of archery charged on their escutcheons; as, for instance, the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Grey de Wilton, the Earl of Aberdeen, the Earl of Besborough, the Earl of Portarlington, the Baronetal family of Hales, Sir Martin Bowes, and also on the arms of Sydney Sussex College, in Cambridge, and the seal of the Sheffield Grammar School.
Government brand.
The mark or brand used by the Government of the present day, to identify public property, is an arrow-head, commonly called “The King’s broad arrow.”
Surnames of families.
There are also existing families which have derived their surnames from the names of the different crafts formerly engaged in the manufacture of the bow and its accompaniments; as, for instance, the names of Bowyer, Fletcher, Stringer, Arrowsmith, Arrow, Bowman, Bowwater, &c.
National proverbs.
If reference be made to our language, there will be found many phrases and proverbial expressions drawn from or connected with archery; some suggesting forethought and caution, as “Always have two strings to your bow;” “Get the shaft-hand of your adversaries;” “Draw not thy bow before thy arrow be fixed;” “Kill two birds with one shaft.” To make an enemy’s machination recoil upon himself, they expressed by saying, “To outshoot a man in his own bow.” In reference to a vague foolish guess, they used to say, “He shoots wide of the mark;” and of unprofitable silly conversation, “A fool’s bolt is soon shot;” and as a proof of exaggeration, “He draws a long bow.” The unready and unskilful archer did not escape the censure and warning of his fellows, although he might be a great man and boast that he had “A famous bow, but it was up at the castle.” Of such they satirically used to remark, that “Many talked of Robin Hood, who never shot in his bow.” Our ancestors also expressed liberality of sentiment, and their opinion that merit belonged exclusively to no particular class or locality, by the following pithy expressions, “Many a good bow besides one in Chester,” and “An archer is known by his aim, and not by his arrows.” To these may be added, “Testimony is like the shot of a long-bow, which owes its efficacy to the force of the shooter; argument is like the shot of a cross-bow, equally forcible, whether discharged by a dwarf or a giant.”