A gentleman ought never to draw a lady's bow, even with its appropriate arrow. It yields so easily to his pull, that he draws it unconsciously beyond its power.

He who draws a bow in a room, should have his back to the mirrors and windows, and to every thing liable to be injured by a splinter from a breaking bow. He should be still more mindful, not to draw when another person is standing before him: if a bow breaks, the pieces fly forward with great force to a considerable distance, and may seriously injure the bystander. The shooter himself is generally safe, as the pieces do not often fly towards his person :-sometimes however his head and hand share the consequences of his careless

ness.

Above all things, an archer should never lend his bow and it is therefore a standing rule among all the clubs, however welcome

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visiters may be, that no visiter shall be permitted to nock an arrow, or draw a bow,

In selecting his bow for practice, the archer should not be too anxious to save himself exertion. A weak bow, or one merely strong enough at first, is rarely a good one after a few months use. It is even, says old Ascham, as a soft spirited boy when he is young: an unrulye boye with right handlinge proveth oftenest of all a well ordered man.

CHAPTER III.

SPORTS OF ARCHERY.

TARGET SHOOTING. The target generally employed in this amusement is circular, about four feet in diameter, formed of painted canvass or oil-cloth, fastened on a bass of straw, which is wrought together into a flattened mat, resembling the texture of a beehive. It is supported by a frame of soft wood, made light, of the form given in Plate I. and so arranged as to present the smallest possible surface in the direction of the arrow.

The target is painted in concentric circles. The centre is gold, of the diameter of about nine inches and a half. This is surrounded by a red ring, four and three quarter inches

broad; and this again by a white, a black, and a light blue or outer white ring, each of the same width. The remaining space is painted dark green, and is called the petticoat

or curtain.

An arrow in the gold counts nine,—in the red, seven,—in the white, five,—in the black, three, in the blue, one,-in the curtain, nothing. An arrow on the edge of a circle, or not completely within it, according to the United Bowmen, counts as if it were entirely without it: a different rule is however admitted among many of the English archers.

Two targets are used. They are placed, facing each other, at the distance of eighty, a hundred, or a hundred and twenty yards. The ordinary range of the arrow flight, at the practice meetings of the United Bowmen, is a hundred measured yards.

The archers of the Scotch Guard, it is said,

are in the habit of shooting at the distance of a hundred and fifty yards; and it is well known that the old English archers were not permitted to practise at butts which were closer than two hundred and twenty yards. This however is a much greater range, than consists with accurate shooting; and if the information which we have received is to be relied

the body of the modern Scotch archery are more distinguished for the length, than for the certainty of their shots. Some among them have doubtless been known to place their shafts in a mark of thirty inches square, from a distance of two hundred yards; but such instances cannot be common. The willow wand, that Sir Walter Scott chooses for Robin Hood's mark in the sports at Ashby, was placed at but five score yards,—and even at that distance, his success is sufficiently incredible.

In his earlier practice, the young archer

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