And follow shooting, often used at courts.
The "shooting," in the last line, means with the bow. It is to be observed, that the office of bow-bearer of Sherwood-forest was continued to the year 1633; but it appears to have been a mere sinecure. [299]
In the present day the use of the musket is become so general, that archery, though it continues to be partially practised, has little chance of recovering its former popularity.
XII.—EQUIPMENT FOR ARCHERY.
Roger Ascham, an author well versed in the subject of archery, who lived in the reign of queen Elizabeth, informs us, [300] that it was necessary for the archer to have a bracer, or close sleeve, to lace upon the left arm; it was also proper for this bracer to be made with materials sufficiently rigid to prevent any folds which might impede the bow-string when loosed from the hand; to this was to be added a shooting-glove, for the protection of the fingers. The bow, he tells us, ought to be made with well-seasoned wood, and formed with great exactness, tapering from the middle towards each end. Bows were sometimes made of Brazil, of elm, of ash, and of several other woods; but eugh, or yew, had the sanction, from general experience, of superiority. Respecting the bow-string, the author was not decided which to prefer; those made with good hemp, according to the common usage of the time in which he lived, or those manufactured with flax, or silk; he therefore thinks the choice ought to be left to the string-maker. There are, he tells us, three essential parts in the composition of the arrow, that is to say, the stele or wand, the feathers, and the head. The stele was not always made with the same species of wood, but varied as occasion required, to suit the different manners of shooting practised by the archers; he commends sound ash for military arrows, and preferred it to asp, which in his day was generally used for the arrows belonging to the army; but for pastime, he thought that none were better than those made of oak, hard-beam, or birch; but after all, says he, in this point I hold it best to trust to the recommendation of an honest fletcher. The feathers from the wing of a goose, and especially of a grey-goose, he thought were preferable to any others for the pluming of an arrow. Thus in the popular ballad of Chevy Chace, an English archer aimed his arrow at sir Hugh Mountgomerye, with such skill, that it hit him on the breast, and the poet elegantly says,
The grey-goose-winge that was thereon
In his hearts blood was wett.
The more ancient ballad upon this subject, given in the first volume of the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, reads, the "swane-feathers."
There was, it seems, but little difference between the two wings of one bird; but, according to the opinion of the best arrow-makers, the second feather was best in some cases and the pinion in others. It was necessary for an archer to have several arrows of one flight (I presume Ascham means of one shape, length, and weight), plumed with feathers from different wings, to suit the diversity of the winds. We are not from these directions to conclude, that the goose alone afforded the plumage for the arrows; the feathers of many other birds were used for the same purpose, and are mentioned in the metrical romances of the middle ages. An old ballad of Robin Hood says, that he and his followers had an hundred bows furnished with strings, and an hundred sheafs of goose arrows, with bright burnished heads; every arrow was an ell long, adorned with peacocks' feathers, and bound at the notching with white silk. [301]
With them they had an hundred bowes,