THEODORE BUCKLEY.
TEST OF STRENGTH OF A BOW.
(Vol. iv., p. 56.)
Although unable to answer all the Queries of TOXOPHILUS, the subjoined information may possibly advantage him. His Queries of course have reference to the long bow, and not to the arbalest, or cross-bow. The length of this bow appears to have varied according to the height and strength of the bowman; for in the 12th year of the reign of Edward IV. an act was passed ordaining that every Englishman should be possessed of a bow of his own height. Bishop Latimer also, in one of his sermons, preached before Edward VI., and published in 1549, wherein he enforces the practice of archery, has the following passage:
"In my time my father taught me how to draw, how to lay my body in my bow, and not to draw with strength of arms, as other nations do, but with strength of body. I had my bows brought me according to my age and strength: as I increased in them, so my bows were made bigger and bigger."
The length of the full-sized bow appears to have been about six feet: the arrow, three.
The distance to which an arrow could be shot from the long bow of course depended, in a great measure, upon the quality and toughness of the wood, as well as upon the skill and strength of the archer; but I believe it will be found that the tougher and more unyielding the bow, the greater the strength required in bending it, and consequently the greater the force imparted to the arrow. The general distance to which an arrow could be shot from the long bow seems to have been from eleven to twelve score yards; although there are instances on record of individuals shooting from 400 to 500 yards.
The best bows used by our ancestors were made of yew, as it appears from a statute made in the thirty-third year of the reign of Henry VIII., by which it was enacted—
"That none under the age of seventeen should shoot with a bow of yew, except his parents were worth 10l. per annum in lands, or 40 marks in goods: and for every bow made of yew, the bowyer not inhabiting London or the suburbs should make four, and the inhabitant there two, bows of other wood."
These restrictions were doubtless owing to the great scarcity of yew. The other woods most in request were elm, witch-hazel, and ash. By the statute 8th of Elizabeth, cap 3., it was ordained that every bowyer residing in London should have always ready fifty bows of either of the before-mentioned woods. By this statute also the prices at which the bows were to be sold were regulated.
I believe the ancient bows were made of one piece; whether there is any advantage to be derived in having a bow of more than two pieces, I leave for some one better qualified than myself to determine.