Thrise Robin shot about
And alway he cleft the wand.
It is added, that to him was delivered the "goode arrowe, for best worthie was he."
CHAPTER II.
I. Slinging of Stones an ancient Art.—II. Known to the Saxons.—III. And the Normans.—IV. How practised of late Years.—V. Throwing of Weights and Stones with the Hand.—VI. By the Londoners.—VII. Casting of the Bar and Hammer.—VIII. Of Spears.—IX. Of Quoits.—X. Swinging of Dumb Bells.—XI. Foot Races.—XII. The Game of Base.—XIII. Wrestling much practised formerly.—XIV. Prizes for.—XV. How performed.—XVI. Swimming.—XVII. Sliding.—XVIII. Skating.—XIX. Rowing.—XX. Sailing.
I.—SLINGING OF STONES.
The art of slinging, or casting of stones with a sling, is of high antiquity, and probably antecedent to that of archery, though not so generally known nor so universally practised. The tribe of Benjamin among the Israelites is celebrated in holy writ for the excellency of its slingers. In the time of the judges there were seven hundred Benjamites who all of them used their left hands, and in the figurative language of the Scripture it is said, they "could sling stones at an hair-breadth and not miss," [336] that is, with exceedingly great precision. Again we are told, that when David fled to Ziklag, he was joined by a party of valiant men of the tribe of Benjamin, who could use both the right and the left in slinging of stones and shooting arrows out of a bow. [337] David himself was also an excellent marksman, as the destruction of Goliath by the means of his sling sufficiently testifies. It was, perhaps, an instrument much used by the shepherds in ancient times, to protect their flocks from the attacks of ferocious animals: if so, we shall not wonder that David, who kept his father's sheep, was so expert in the management of this weapon. [338] In Barclay's Eclogues an English shepherd boasts of his skill in using of the sling.