Part 6 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 39.--WRONG POSITION.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 38.--RIGHT POSITION.]
It will be observed in the three figures giving the correct and wrong positions of the hand on the bow-handle, that the upper part of the bow hand, including the whole of the thumb and first finger, is above the upper line of the wrist (line AB), whilst the fulcrum, or working centre of the bow, is also above that line, or even in such bows as have their centres in the middle of the handle but little below that line. It is pretty clear that if the hand had been originally constructed solely with a view to its application to the bow, or even as a weapon in the n.o.ble art of self-defence, it might have been constructed so as to be a more evenly-balanced hammer at the end of its handle, the arm, than it is at present. Possibly its narrow escape from being another foot has interfered with its proper development from an archer's point of view.
However this may be, it would be better, as a mechanical contrivance, for drawing a bow, if the strain applied by the loosing hand could pa.s.s directly along the line through the centre of the arm, with centre or fulcrum of the bow in the same line--i.e. in line _a b_ (fig. 38).
The nearest approach to this condition of a perfect archer's hand was possessed by Mr. G. Edwards, the first archer to displace Mr. H. A. Ford from the position of Champion, in 1860, who, though he may never have made the extraordinary scores credited to Mr. Ford, was an excellent shot, and, when at his best, had the steadiest bow-arm and the firmest grip ever seen on a bow. Through a gun accident, he lost entirely his left thumb, and held his bow with his four fingers, pressing it against a leather pad inserted between the bow and his wrist, much in the position the thumb would occupy if it could be placed downwards across the palm of the hand. This altered formation s.h.i.+fted the position of his arm so that the line through the fulcrum of the bow was well below the upper line of his wrist.
Some archers acquire the habit of extending the thumb upwards along the belly of the bow. This method of grasping the bow tends to weaken and unsteady the drawing power, but as a point of drill for the acquisition of such a grasp of the bow with the fingers, before the thumb is placed in position to a.s.sist, as will enable the archer to clear his armguard, its trial is strongly recommended. A steadier hold of the bow is in the end obtained by keeping the upper part of the thumb off the bow, so that the hold is between the root of the thumb and the fingers. As the first finger is often used to a.s.sist in adjusting the position of the arrow on the bow, care must be taken to replace it at the commencement of the draw. Unless the bow be held firmly between the four fingers and the thumb and heel of the hand, at the loose and recoil an unpleasant jar will be felt, with the further ill-consequence of blisters, &c. The position of the bow should be straight across the palm of the hand, so that the fingers when closed in position to hold it lie as nearly as possible at right angles to the axis of the bow.
A lateral projection on the left side of the handle of the bow is sometimes added, if the archer's hand be hollow, and this contrivance a.s.sists the bowstring to avoid the armguard.
Before the consideration of the final position of the bow at the loose, as to whether it should be vertical or oblique, a glance must be taken at the horizontal position which should be adopted by all those who disbelieve in the possibility of aiming with bow and arrow whilst the arrow is discharged from the side of the bow, because in that position the arrow cannot be thrown to the left of the mark aimed at. This position is so cramped and awkward as to be practically useless for shooting at a horizontal aim, when a full-length arrow cannot be drawn up, as the string comes too soon in contact with the left side. Yet archers have been known to make successful scores in this style, using weak bows and light arrows.
The vertical position of the bow (but not as sometimes adopted, when the bow is thus set up at the end of a horizontal arm to be hauled at until the beginner's arrow is discharged) is an a.s.sistance in clearing the bowstring from the chest when a full-length arrow is fully drawn; and a tendency towards this position at the instant of loose will correct the curious habit many archers acquire of throwing the upper limb of the bow down and the lower limb up after the loose, as if part of the loosing or drawing action had been a mutually antagonistic screw between the holding and loosing hands.
The chief advantage of the oblique position is that the arrow is not so likely to be blown away from its contact with the bow by a high wind from the bow side.
FOOTNOTE:
[2] It should seem possible that Roger Ascham's condemnation of this style may be insincere, as he speaks of it as 'the waye of summe excellent shoters,' and further as good 'mennes faultes.' May it not be hoped that he refers to this as his own style when he says (see further on) 'of these faultes I have verye manye myself,' modestly cla.s.sing his own excellence as possibly faulty. See Mulcaster, who says he (R. A.) 'hath showed himself a cunning Archer,' but this refers to his capacity for 'trayning the Archer to his bowe.'
CHAPTER VIII.
_DRAWING_
Ascham seems to be right in declaring that 'Drawyne _well_ is the best parte of shootyng'; and, as it is in the course of this part of the act of shooting that all the ridiculous antics already quoted may be exhibited, and without drawing well it is almost impossible to _take aim_ or _loose_ with any chance of success, every archer must pay the utmost attention to the acquisition of the best and easiest method of drawing. Yet it is not pretended that there is but one best method of drawing.
Here two things have to be previously considered, namely, the strength of the bow to be used, and the length of the arrow, or rather how much of its length must be drawn up. First, as regards the strength of bow to be used, it should be observed that when, in modern times, the practice of shooting isolated arrows was discontinued in favour of three arrows shot by each archer consecutively at each end throughout a York Round, the possibility of making the delivery of each arrow a supreme effort became impossible, and the more frequent repet.i.tion of an effort, which, though considerable (as it should always be), is not quite a _tour de force_, is now accepted as more likely to exhibit grace in the execution and accuracy in the result, with the natural consequence that the average strength of bows now in use is scarcely so great as it used to be; though it must not be lost sight of that bows now are more accurately weighed, than they were before the invention of the York and National Rounds; and also that now a large proportion of archers pull their arrows well up, hold, and aim with them, whereas none did so in the old times when no archer had so much as dreamed that it was possible to take an aim with bows and arrows. Yet still at any public archery meeting it is easy to observe, in one or other of the many varieties of style of drawing represented, the germs of all possible contortions; but in nearly all these cases of contortion it will be found that the 'very head and front of the offending' is in the archer's vain attempt to employ a bow that is beyond his control; whilst, if the weapon be well within his control, it is as needless to distort even a muscle of the face as it is for a short-sighted person to make a grimace when fixing the gla.s.s in his eye. Still it will also be a mistake to be under-bowed with a plaything, as wasting part of the power of covering distance and overcoming wind, &c. Whilst bows varying in measure from 40 lbs. to 56 lbs. and arrows varying in weight from 4_s._ to 5_s._ can be easily procured, every archer's weakness or strength can be appropriately suited. For ladies there is the range in strength of bows from 20 lbs.
to 35 lbs., and in weight of arrows from 2_s._ 6_d._ to 3_s._ 6_d._
Next as regards the length of arrow to be drawn at each discharge. The variation in the arrows themselves may be only from 26 to 29 inches in those of men, and from 24 to 26 inches in those of ladies; but there is a much wider variation in the part of the arrow drawn up by different archers. There appears to be a widespread belief that in olden times the archer soldiers used arrows a yard long; but only a few archers partic.i.p.ate in this belief, and join in treating this as a proof of the degeneracy of modern archers. Ascham, in his treatment of the subject of arrows, mentions them of many different lengths and thicknesses, without any precision, and no doubt they were much more various in his time than now. The 'clothyard' or the 'clothier's yard,' not the standard yard, is almost always mentioned by old writers when treating of the length of draw employed by English archers; and many considerations (supposing positive proof to be altogether wanting) point to the conclusion that this 'clothyard' was the length of 27 inches. In the absence of any representative surviving war-arrow the evidence of an ancient model may be taken, and such a model exists in the possession of the Royal Toxophilite Society, described thus in 'A History of the Royal Toxophilite Society 1870.' 'The most ancient piece of plate possessed by the Society is an arrow, 28-1/4 inches long, the ”stele” being of iron very thickly plated with silver, and the barbed pile (1-1/4 inch long), of solid silver. The three feathers are also of solid silver. On the ”stele” are these inscriptions:
SIR REGINALD FOSTER, Kt. and Bart.
WARWICK LEDGINGHAM, Esq.
_Stewards in Finsbury._ Anno Dom. 1663.
This arrow was presented to the Society by Mr. Philip Constable.' This Mr. Philip Constable is mentioned as one of the oldest Finsbury archers in Dailies Barrington's essay on Archery in the seventh volume of 'Archaeologia.' The ancient Scorton arrow (1672) is of no greater length, but has been broken and repaired and has no date on it. There is an act of Parliament (Irish?) 5 Edward IV. ch. 4, which provides that every Englishman, and Irishman dwelling with Englishmen, and speaking English, being between sixteen and sixty years of age, shall have an English bow of his own length, and a fistmele at least between the nocks, and _twelve shafts of the length of three-quarters of the standard_. This points to the length of 27 inches as the regulation length for the stele of an arrow. The danger of breaking a bow increases the further it is drawn up, and there is no scarcity of bows that are broken at even a shorter draw than 27 or 28 inches. How many more broken bows would there have been then if the usual length of arrows drawn were 36 inches; and this in the course of a battle, when a broken bow meant an archer temporarily disabled, as an archer? The material used in the manufacture of bows, the wood, must have been the same as now, and, from the specimens extant, their length does not appear to have been much beyond those now in use. In fact, the length of a bow must always be limited so as to be within the reach of the archer who strings it, and the average stature of the human race does not appear to have diminished.
It is not pretended that no arrows were longer than 27 inches. Doubtless long and light arrows were employed to annoy an enemy whilst still at a distance; but for a war-arrow, with a heavy barbed pile, to be an effective missile, it must have been provided with a strong and stiff stele, and this cannot also have been unusually long.
As dictionaries seem to avoid the compound words _clothyard_ and _clothier's yard_, no better evidence can be found than the statement that the 27 inches const.i.tute a Flemish yard, and that Flemish bows, arrows, and strings were always in high repute. So the dispute must still be left for further consideration.
Hansard, in 'The Book of Archery,' 1840, treats the matter as fully as possible perhaps, and apparently leans towards the belief that the tallest and most stalwart archers may have drawn up huge bows a full yard of the standard; yet, as he contends, at p. 191, that 'great numbers of Welsh served at Crecy and Poictiers, and it is somewhere said that a considerable portion consisted of archers,' it seems unlikely that at the same time the average archer at those battles was of gigantic stature. Ascham might have settled the matter, but he ventures no further than the statement (p. 87 of Arber's reprint) that 'at the battel of Agincourt with vii thousand fyghtynge men, and yet many of them sycke, beynge suche archers, _as the Cronycle_ sayeth, that mooste parte of them drewe a yarde,' &c.
Apart from the historical consideration of what used to be the average draw of the old English archers, it must be admitted that modern archers err on the side of not pulling up enough rather than on the side of overdrawing. Therefore it is strongly recommended to every archer to employ as long an arrow as he can conveniently use, and to bear in mind that the portion of it to be drawn up at each loose should bear some reasonable proportion to the length of arm, &c., in each individual case. It may be safely stated that no archer will find that he can conveniently draw fully up and loose evenly an _arrow of greater length_ than the s.p.a.ce between the left centre joint of the collarbone and the knuckle of the left-hand index-finger when the bow-arm is fully extended.