Text: Edgar Allan Poe (rejected), “A Chapter on Field Sports and Manly Pastimes [Part 06],” Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine (Philadelphia, PA), Vol. V, no. 1, July 1839, pp. 5:52-55

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SOME WORDS CONCERNING ITS ANTIQUITY — AN ACCOUNT OF ITS IMPORTANCE, AND HIGH ESTIMATION AMONG OUR BRITISH PROGENITORS — ITS MODERN REGULATIONS AS A PASTIME — ITS VARIOUS IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USE.

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THE use of the bow is of remote antiquity — its obvious simplicity of construction, as well as the purposes to which it is adapted, having rendered its employment almost universal from the very earliest periods of which we have any distinct account. But we do not wish to trouble our readers with a disquisition upon its ancient history. It was originally formed, no doubt, of the rough bough of a tree, but improvements would be almost immediately discovered. The simple branch would speedily be rendered more convenient by a little cutting, so as to make the curve regular on both sides of the centre. Homer tells us how the bow of Pandarus was fashioned —

He heard, and madly at the motion pleased,

His polished bow with hasty rashness seized.

‘Twas formed of horn, and smooth’d with artful toil;

A mountain goat resigned the shining spoil,

Who, pierced long since, beneath his arrows bled;

The stately quarry on the cliff lay dead,

And sixteen palms his brows’ large honors spread;

The workmen joined and shaped the bended horns,

And beaten gold each taper point adorns.

Herodotus says that the bows of the Ethiopians were four cubits, of not less than six feet long. The Grecian bow is said to have been of the figure of their own letter sigma. The Scythian bow was somewhat of the game form. The bows used by the Dad were made in a very beautiful curve. It has been supposed that the Romans introduced the bow into Britain, or at least very much improved thaw which they found in use among the natives, and in course of time it became the national weapon of the class of inhabitants called yeomen.

But the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes were certainly well acquainted with the use of the bow; a knowledge they derived at an early period from their progenitors. The Scandinavian Scalds, speaking in praise of the heroes of their country, frequently add to the rest of their acquirements a superiority of skill in handling the bow. It does not, however, appear that this skill was extended beyond the purpose of procuring food, or for pastime, either by the Saxons or by the Danes, in times anterior to the conquest.

Representations of the bow occur frequently in the Saxon MSS. The cat annexed, taken from a manuscript of the tenth century found in the Cotton Library, gives the figure of a Saxon bow and snow. The bow is curiously ornamented, having the head and tail of a serpent carved at the ends; and was probably ouch an one as was used by the nobility. In all there old Saxon bows we may bearer one thing remarkable, that is, the string not being made fast to the extremities, but permitted [page 53:] to play at some distance from them. How far this might be more or teal advantageous than the present method, we cannot presume to determine.

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It is well known that the Normans used the bow as a military weapon; and, under their government, the practice of archery was not only much improved, but generally diffused throughout the kingdom.

In the ages of chivalry the usage of the bow was considered m an essential part of the education of a young man who wished to make a figure in life. The heroes of romance are therefore usually praised for their skill in archery; and Chaucer, with propriety, says of sir Thopas, “He was a good archere.”

In the seventeenth century archery was much commended as an exercise becoming a gentleman to practice, and greatly conducive to health. The ladies also were feud of this amusement. It was usual, when they exercised the bow, for the beasts to be confined by very large enclosures, surrounded by the hunters, and driven in succession from the covers to the stands, where the fair sportswomen were placed; so that they might readily shoot at them, without the trouble and fatigue of rousing and pursuing them. It is said of Margaret, the daughter of Henry the Seventh, that when she was on her way towards Scotland, a hunting party was made for her amusement in Alnwick Park, where she killed a buck with an arrow. It is not specified whether the long-bow or the cross-bow was used by the princess upon this occasion; we are certain, that the ladies occasionally shot with both, for when queen Elizabeth visited lord Montecute at Cowdrey, in Sussex, on the Monday, “Her highness tooke horse, and rode into the park, at eight o’clock in the morning, where was a delicate bows prepared, under the which were her highness musicians placed; and a cross-bow, by a nympth, with a sweet song, was delivered into her hands, to shoots at the deers; about some thirty in number were put into a paddock, of which number she killed three or four, and the countess of Kildare one.”

The foregoing observations refer chiefly to the long-bow, so called, to distinguish it from the arborist, or cross-bow, which was not only much shorter than the former, but fastened also upon a stock, and discharged by the means of a catch or trigger, which probably gave rise to the lock upon the modern musket. We cannot pretend to determine at what period the cross-bow was first brought into England, but we believe not long before the commencement of the thirteenth century; at least, we never meet with any representation of such an engine prior to that period. On the continent, where probably it originated, its appearance might be somewhat earlier. Historians assure us, that Richard the First was wounded by an arrow from a bow of this kind, while he was reconnoitering the walls of the castle of Chalezun; which wound was the occasion of his death.

The courage, discipline, strength and skill, displayed by British bowmen, during a period of more than six centuries, are so much a matter of ordinary history that it is hardly necessary to enlarge upon them here. In all the expeditions of which they formed a part, they proved to their adverse. rim a terror and a scourge. Even the bare appearance of a body of English archers in the field, often led to a bloodless victory; and, as experience had proved that the best armor was no protection against their arrows, their bold and confident spirit often led them into very unequal contests.

Secured in their position by an ingenious mode of fortification, — the material, for which each Archer carried on his person, — the English bowmen laughed to scorn the fiercest charges of the steel-clad chivalry of the middle ages. Of all the European nations, none suffered more severely, or more frequently, from the effects of their archery than the French. Like the Italians, when invaded by the Huns, — another nation of formidable bowmen, — they composed a mass, expressly depreciating the calamities it inflicted upon them: — “Ab Anglicorum nos defende jaculis!” — “From the arrows of the English, defend us, O Lord !”

The ancient legislators, ever on the watch to encourage and enforce the practice of this art, once the sole guardian of the national independence, passed many judicious laws to prevent ita falling into Aimee. By these, a fine of one mark was levied on every master of a family who permitted any of his male inmates to be without a bow and three shafts, for the space of a month, The local authorities [page 54:] were required to superintend the erection of public butts, in the environs of every town and village. Many of their ancient positions are yet known, however different the Wee to which the ground where they once stood, is at present applied.

The nobility and spiritual persons were, by law, excepted; but men of every other rank and calling assembled, at these public shooting-grounds, to ply the sturdy yew and gallant gray goose wing. Thither the lordly baron sent hie feudal vassals; thither came the squire, the independent franklyn, the wealthy yeoman, the rude peasant, and the unwashed artizan. All loaned nue promiscuous multitude, of which the numbers, in populous districts, were so considerable that, after the fast meson, the grass never grew around these public marks.

The sabbaths and other holidays were appropriated, by the statute, for them exercises of archery. But our British progenitors, enthusiastically attached to their favorite weapon, rendered all penal enactments, for a series of ages, unnecessary. The intervals of labor were all devoted to the shooting-ground, and their bows and arrows accompanied them in every excursion.

The extreme range of a flight abaft, when discharged from one of their ancient bows, is Meted to have been four hundred yards, or nearly one quarter of a mile.† At about a fourth of this distance, the war arrow would penetrate any ordinary breast-plate, and slay man or horse at little short of two-thirds of it. To maintain and promote this strong and vigorous shooting, the statute of the 33d of Henry the Eighth forbade any man, above the age of four-and-twenty, to use the lighter kind of arrows, unless the butts were upwards of two hundred and twenty yards apart: After the pre-mulgation of this law, the strong and dexterous archers frequently increased the distance, of their own accord, to two hundred and forty yards. The practice is alluded to by Shitkepeere, wits, beyond all question, was riot only a bowman, but an accomplished one. A contempt for mediocrity is one of the characteristics of genius. The pursuits of his juvenile days — for we have all reed of big mem-light excursions to Charlecot Deer-Bark, — the law of the land, which permitted no youth of his age and rank to remain one month without a bow and shaft — are sufficient evidence; and, if more were wanting, we have it trader his own hand.

Burke once playfully observed — and the pointed sally is characteristic of that great man — that fox-hunting formed no unimportant balance of the British constitution. His meaning is sufficiently obvious. The chase, oy bringing the arbitoteacy into fennhar contact with thin gentry and middle ,clones of society, broke down the bar of exclusiveness, and led to a mantel interchange of goad offices, socially, and in many instances, politically advantageous to each.

“And surely” — says a very agreeable writer, and one evidently well conversant with the subject — “the praise of these excellent qualities belongs more especially to modern archery. No visitant of the splendid bow-meetings which each revolving summer recals into existence, throughout the sylvan glades of this romantic land, ever remained uninfluenced by the joyous hilarity, the delightful ease and freedom which light each countenance with smiles. There, where men of various ranks, and, grace á Dieu! women too assemble, to bear away —

The arrow with a golden head,

And shaft of silver white, —

the plumed hat and forest green place all upon a temporary equality. Superior adroitness alone confers distinction. The possessor of a ducal coronet, whose ill-aimed shaft flies wide of the mark, cheerfully yields precedence to the untitled bowman who has placed his within its broad circlet of gold.

Hail then to the free, frank, and joyous spirits which compose art assemblage of British bowmen ! No doubt but the circumstances under which the archer pursues his amusement, have considerable influence in producing this happy condition of mind. The balmy breezes of summer, — the charms of picturesque scenery, — the romance with which glorious tradition has invested his pursuits, — and the emulation engendered by the knowledge that most of his competitors boast a skill little inferior to his own, — keep the spirits in a state of agreeable excitement. He cannot be unconscious that he is the observed of all observers; for every attitude — whether it be the preliminary action of stringing the bow, or the final one by which an arrow is discharged against a distant mark, — displays unrivalled manliness and grace. His bow, arrows, belt, bracer and shooting-glove are, for the most part, exact counterparts of those used by England’s yeomanry, five centuries ago. Even the attire in which he shoots bears a general resemblance to the costume of the same warlike period. These things never fail to tinge imaginations at all excitable with a strong feeling of enthusiasm; and which the regulations of an archery fête are certainly not calculated to weaken. The contest takes place in the presence, and amidst the plaudits, of assembled hundreds.

Store of ladies, whose bright eyes

Rain influence and adjudge the prize,

are there; and from the hands of female beauty he received the reward of his dearly-earned triumph. [page 55:]

It is to the good sense and discernment of the ‘Woodmen of the Forest of Arden’ that we owe, in modern times, the introduction of the bow, as a suitable and healthful recreation for their fair countrywomen; — and it was fortunate that their individual position in society entitled them to dictate laws to fashion, under whose powerful auspices the practice of archery by females was introduced to the world.

Attended by a fair portion of the excitement peculiar to the chase, hut without its perils and its cruelty — requiring no excessive corporeal exertion — offering a combination of the moat graceful position. appropriate to every other exercise, — and invariably associated with refined and polished society, — archery, from that time, made rapid advances in public estimation, The British fair quickly emancipated themselves from the ancient tyranny of back-bones, embroidery frames, spinnets, harpsichords, and all the other foolery of their grandmothers,

In the geode green woode,

Among the lilie flower,

they sought that health and vivacity which pure sir and motive exertion can alone confer,

The ladies associated with the woodmen were, originally, restricted to their own immediate family connexions. Soon, however, the admissions became less exclusive, The prizes awarded by this society have always been distinguished for their splendor and variety. But the Aylesfords, the Mordaunts, the Adamses, the Molands, and the Bagots, of the last — with the Boultbees, the Parkers, the Greeleys, and the Wines, of the prevent, age — the fair victors who have won, or still ‘win and wear them’ — have displayed a skill in all respects worthy of their magnitude.

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Mrs. Crespigny’s public breakfasts were another interesting feature in the annals of female archery. Many a delightful morning’s lounge did these same breakfasts afford to such of the ‘fashionable world’ as had the good fortune to obtain cards of invitation. They were the most literal and practical illustrations of the utile dulci that I ever knew. The company shot ‘games,’ as they are called in the technicalities of archery. Eleven was the decisive number; and the arrows count wording to their positions in the target. A shot in the gold circle reckons as nine, — the red, seven, — the inner white, five, — the black, three, — the outer white, one. Fines of half-a-crown were paid by the bar s, do amount being appropriated to the support of a Sunday-school. The girls of the charity attended these archery meetings, attired in dresses of grass-green.

One hundred yards was the space between the targets. When the gentlemen had shot, they walked, in procession with the ladies, thirty paces forward; and the latter then discharged their arrows, at the unusual distance of seventy yards. Many will agree with me in thinking that these archery breakfasts might be judiciously revived, at the present day.”

(To be Continued.)

FOOTNOTES

[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 54:]

* Hints for a Justice of the Peace.

† Neade’s Double-armed Man. 4to., 1627.