_OF HOLDING AND LOOSING_
HOLDING.
By _holding_ is meant keeping the arrow fully drawn before it is loosed.
Ascham has made this his fourth point of archery; and but little can be
added to what he has said on the subject. 'Holding,' he says, 'must not
be longe, for it bothe putteth a bowe in ieopardy, and also marreth a
man's shoote; it must be so lytle yat it may be perceyued better in a
man's mynde when it is done, than scene with a man's eyes when it is in
doyng.' This represents so exactly what holding, at its best, should be,
that it needs only be added that this almost imperceptible pause before
the act of loosing serves to steady the arm and perfect the aim, and is
a great assistance to the obtaining of a certain and even loose. It is
therefore, in company with the other points of archery, most necessary
to be cultivated if successful hitting is to be the result. But let no
archer think to arrive at this perfection of holding by grasping his bow
as tight as he possibly can from first to last. The grasp should be
gradually tightened as the strain of the draw is increased; otherwise
too much toil is given to the bow-hand, and it will fail in the loose.
One very successful shot had so many faults that his success was always
a surprise; yet he had this invariable virtue, that, though it was
obvious that he held his bow quite loosely during the draw, at the final
pause his grasp was visibly tightened most firmly.
Mention should not be omitted of the sadly false conception many
archers have of holding when fully drawn. This they exhibit by
constantly letting the arrow creep out whilst they appear to be taking
aim, as though they were quite incapable of checking its impatience to
be off. This is a most dangerous fault, and must be most carefully
guarded against.
[Illustration: MAJOR C. H. FISHER, CHAMPION ARCHER FOR THE YEARS
1871-2-3-4.]
LOOSING.
After the bow has been drawn up to its proper extent, and the aim
correctly taken, there still remains one more point which the archer
must achieve successfully before he can ensure the correct and desired
flight of his arrow to its mark; and this is the point of _loosing_,
which term is applied to the act of quitting or freeing the string from
the fingers of the right hand which retain it. It is the last of
Ascham's famous 'Quintette,' wherein, though he does not say much, yet
what he does say is so much to the point that it may well be quoted. 'It
must be so quycke and hard yet it be wyth oute all guides, so softe and
gentle that the shafte flye not as it were sente out of a bow case. The
meane betwixt bothe, whyche is the perfyte lowsynge, is not so hard to
be folowed in shootynge as it is to be descrybed in the teachyng. For
cleane lowsynge you must take hede of hyttynge anythynge aboute you. And
for the same purpose Leo the Emperour would haue al archers in war to
haue both theyr heades pouled and there berdes shauen, lest the heare of
theyr heades should stop the syght of the eye, the heere of theyr berdes
hinder the course of the strynge.'
This loosing is the archer's crowning difficulty; for no matter how
correct and perfect may be all the rest of his performance, the result
will infallibly prove a failure, and end in disappointment, unless the
loose also be successfully mastered. Upon this the flight of the arrow
mainly depends, and to how great an extent this may be affected by it
may be gathered from the fact that the same bow with a like weight of
arrow and length of pull will cast many yards further in the hands of
one man than it will in those of another, owing solely and entirely to
the different manner in which the string shall have been quitted.
No arguments are necessary to prove how delicate an operation it is in
archery to loose well, and to accomplish, with the evenness, smoothness,
and unvarying similarity necessary for accurate hitting, the
consummating effort, including as it does on the one side of an instant
the greatest exertion of muscles that on the other side of that instant
are in perfect repose. But considerable misapprehension exists amongst
archers as to what is a good loose, it being often thought that if an
extreme sharpness of flight be communicated to the arrow, it is
conclusive evidence as to the goodness of the loose, without reference
to the consideration that this extreme sharpness of loose seldom
produces steadily successful hitting at any distance, and still less
frequently is effective at all the distances. A thoroughly good loose
cannot exist unless accuracy of hitting as well as keenness of flight be
the combined result; and if the two cannot be obtained together, a
slower flight with accuracy rises immeasurably superior to the rapid
flight with uncertainty.
The flight of an arrow keenly loosed is as fair to view as that of any
bird, whilst the flight of an arrow that is badly loosed is as
uninteresting as the staggerings of a drunken man. This is quite apart
from the consideration of hitting the object aimed at; but when the
question resolves itself into this practical form--'Is it possible for
the same mode of loosing to give the utmost rapidity of flight and at
the same time certainty of line and elevation?'--the consensus of
experience should be in the negative. There is no denying that a few
successive arrows may be shot accurately in this way, but during any
prolonged period the inaccuracy of flight is sure to be such as to
render the average shooting inferior. The difficulty, amounting almost
to an impossibility, of obtaining a loose which shall combine great
sharpness and accuracy of flight at the same time arises from the fact
that such a loose requires, to obtain that sharpness, that the fingers
of the right hand be snatched away from the string with such suddenness
and rapidity as to compromise the second quality of accuracy--such a
sudden jerk of the string endangering the steadiness of the left arm at
the final moment, and, by its unavoidable irregularity, not only having
a tendency to drag the string and consequently the arrow out of the
proper line of flight, but also simultaneously to vary the elevation.
Excepting for long-distance shooting, then, a very sharp loose cannot be
recommended; nevertheless, in case he may be at any time engaged
therein, the archer perfect at all points should have it under his
command.
The different looses may now be divided into the _slashing_ loose, which
may degenerate into the snatch or may be improved into the steady
_continuous_ loose. The chief contrast to this is the _dead_ loose,
which in strong hands is very useful. This consists of the simple
opening of the fingers for the escape of the string, and is liable to
degenerate into the _creeping_ loose, which need not be further referred
to except for the purpose of again urging its avoidance. Another loose,
which may be called an _active_ loose, is an appreciable improvement
upon the dead loose in that the fingers at the loosing instant are
withdrawn from the string, though without any further draw, and will be
found, after the escape of the string, to have resumed their previous
position--i.e. curled up instead of being sprawled out straight as is
the case in the dead loose. The only remaining loose may be called the
_lively_ loose, and consists of a short and quick additional draw, after
the aim has been taken, of say from half an inch to three inches, and
finished with an _active_ loose, and care must be taken to prevent the
degeneration of this into a snatch.
Before the final treatment of the loose be entered upon, it will be
useful to consider how the different sorts of shooting-gloves and
finger-tips affect this intricate operation. Doubtless in the times when
the English archer was in such high repute in battle, the only loose
suitable to the old glove was the _slash_, as the only method of
quitting the string, which, with the strongest bow each individual could
use, must, for the longest pull on such bow, have been gripped as close
as possible to the inside of the knuckles of the last joints of the two
or three fingers used. No other loose could be employed with any chance
of obtaining full results from the work done, and it is evident from the
Acts of Parliament on the subject that in the archer's drill none but
long-distance shooting was countenanced. The comparatively modern
finger-tips or thimbles connected by straps at the back of the hand and
buckled on round the wrist must have been used with the same slashing
sort of loose. But, with the old tab made of horse-butt leather, and all
the different neatly-fitting tips with catches that have been invented
long since the commencement of the public meetings at which York Rounds
are shot, a much steadier and quieter loose may be obtained without
wasting any of the work done; but, it must be admitted, with the general
result that there is some slight decrease in the average strength of the
bows that are used now. Moreover, it has been found that in the
closely-contested matches of the present times the slashing sort of
loose stands at a positive disadvantage at the shorter ranges.
[Illustration: FIG. 46.]
With the glove and tab and tips without catches the best loose may be
obtained with the fingers extended as far as is compatible with the
retention of the string; and, by applying the fingers almost diagonally
to the string, a very firm grip is secured combined with much facility
of liberation (fig. 46, p. 128). With the help of catches on the tips
the string can be taught to rest at any intermediate point on the last
joint or third phalanx of either of the fingers--it will be found more
convenient here to use the word _phalanx_ for each part of the finger,
each finger having three phalanges, first, second, and third--and the
most entirely different hold on the string to the one previously
described is that where the fingers are almost completely curled up
(fig. 45); with an _active_ or _lively_ loose the string may be very
sharply quitted with this hold, but it is more liable to strain the
fingers, unless the bow be weak, and the high-set catch, though more
popular twenty years ago, is now very little used. With a strong common
glove and all four fingers on the string, this extreme position has been
known to contribute to first-rate scores at all the distances, and it is
probably the necessary position when four fingers are used.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.]
The intermediate position between these two extremes will probably be
found the best, and this may be thus described.
The third phalanx of the middle finger should be as nearly as possible
at right angles with the line of the drawn-up arrow.
The second phalanx will make an obtuse angle with the third, and the
first about the same obtuse angle with the second; and these obtuse
angles will vary in individual instances according to the stiffness or
suppleness of the finger-joints.
The back of the hand will incline slightly away from the line through
the forearm, so that the line from the elbow through the wrist may be
quite straight with the same line continued through the wrist to the
position of the string on the fingers at A. The positions of the
phalanges of the first and third fingers will vary from those of the
second finger, as shown in fig. 44.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.]
This position of the string across the fingers should be neither too
near to nor too far from the tips, as too great a grip necessitates a
drag or a jerk to free the fingers, besides exposing more surface to the
friction of the string in passing over it; whilst an insufficient hold
of the string weakens the shooter's command over it, and renders the
giving way of the finger a constant occurrence. It is therefore
recommended that the string be placed as nearly as possible midway
between the tips and first joints of the fingers.
Now a good loose may be described as possessing the characteristic that
the fingers do not go forward one hair's breadth with the string, but
their action is, as it were, a continuance of the draw rather than an
independent movement, yet accompanied with just enough additional
muscular action in a direction away from the bow and simultaneous
expansion of the last joints of the fingers at the final instant of
quitting the string as to admit of its instantaneous freedom from all
and each of them at the same identical moment of time; for should one
finger linger on the string but the minutest moment longer than its
fellows, or should all or any of them follow forward with the string in
the slightest degree, the loose will be faulty and the shot a probable
failure. So slight, however, is this muscular movement that, though a
distinct and appreciable fact to the mind of the shooter, it is hardly
if at all perceptible to the lookers-on, as in a good loose the fingers
should instantly recover their holding position, but will be at a slight
though appreciable distance further from the bow consequent upon the
combined effect of the removal of the pulling weight of the bow and the
loosing effort. A passage out of Mr. Townsend's article, 'How should the
String be Loosed,' in the 'Archer's Register for 1866-7,' may here be
quoted. 'The string of the bow having been pulled to the fullest extent
intended, and the pause having been felt or made, next comes the loose;
and, as this _must be effected by an opening of the fingers_, the
tendency of the string would be to run forward, if ever so little,
during the opening; and, as the whole spring [cast] of the bow is not
given to the string [and arrow] until it is altogether freed from the
fingers, so, to prevent [the] loss of power, the pulling hand and arm
are drawn so much further back, as the opening of the fingers would
allow the string to run forward before it is altogether released. Thus
the string in reality remains stationary or nearly so [quite so] during
the loose; and the fingers are freed without going one hair's breadth
forward with the string.'
As an assistance towards this instantaneous recovery of the loosing
fingers, some archers wore silver rings round the first phalanges of
their three fingers, and these rings were connected by india-rubber
straps with the finger-tips, thus compelling the first and third
phalanges to approximate, as described in the _Mason_ tips.
Mr. Townsend's 'india-rubber practising apparatus' has not been seen for
many years, though of great assistance in experiments and in correcting
faults and general improvement of drawing and loosing.
Some archers use only the first and second fingers, and the loose thus
obtained possesses the advantage that the string when quitting the
fingers has less surface in contact with it.
Mr. Ford's own latest loose was from the first and third fingers, with
the second finger packed upon the back of the first finger for its
support; and he has been heard to declare that this arrangement of the
fingers gives the best loose possible, as already described.
One of the commonest faults at the present day is the habit of making
the third finger do more than its fair share of work. Evidence of this
failing may be found in the fact that blisters are far more common on
the third finger than on either of the others, and a frequent result is
that the muscles of the third finger get strained and even partially
torn from their attachments. This is one of the most frequent causes of
the breakdown of archers who practise much. This may be avoided and the
loose much improved by turning the backs of the fingers while drawing
slightly upwards, and inwards, and thus exerting more pressure with the
forefinger. An example of what is meant may be seen in the picture (opp.
p. 122) of Major Fisher, whose loose is remarkably good. Here it will be
seen that the line of the knuckles is not perpendicular, but slopes
outwards and downwards from the knuckle of the forefinger to that of the
fourth.
The utility of catches on the finger-tips has already been explained in
a previous chapter, but may be further mentioned in connection with the
loose as contributing by an invariable hold on the string to a constant
repetition of exactly the same loose.
Especial care must be taken that, whilst loosing, the left arm must
maintain its position firmly and unwaveringly, and must not give way at
the final moment in the slightest degree in the direction towards the
right hand, as arrows constantly dropping short are the certain
consequence of any such shrinking of the bow-arm--the same injurious
effect being produced on their flight as when the fingers of the right
hand are allowed to go forward with the string. This yielding of the
left arm is of more constant occurrence than archers will generally
admit, and is the cause of many an arrow, otherwise correctly treated,
missing its mark. This failing is not unfrequently the result of too
much practice. All must be firm to the last, and the attention of the
shooter should never be relaxed for a single instant until the arrow has
actually left the bow. But, though this firmness be necessary for the
shooting of an arrow it is not necessary, however satisfactory the
result or good the attitude, to remain for some seconds in rivalry with
the Apollo Belvedere; the bow-arm should, if possible, be instantly and
quietly moved to the left whilst the next arrow is procured from the
quiver or whilst the shooting station is given up to the next in order;
and this leftward motion of the left arm will correct the very general
tendency there is to throw the upper horn of the bow to the right and
downwards convulsively, which is a very frequent and unsightly antic.
Many of the other objectionable antics already referred to are brought
to perfection at this instant, and should also be most carefully
avoided.