Having procured his outfit, the archer will doubtless be anxious to
make a trial of it in the field, and we will now endeavor to give him
the clearest instructions for the management of his weapon, by
attention to which, and constant practice, we hope he will succeed to
his utmost satisfaction. It will be useless for him to overburden
himself with accessories more than are absolutely necessary--they will
only be in the way; an archer who wishes to shoot well will find that
the less he has about him the better. Besides his bow, he will take
four arrows (three for use and one spare one in case of accident),
which he will put into his pouch or pocket, arm-guard, glove or tips,
tassel, and scoring-card. A spare string also it will be prudent to
have in the pocket. Anything more than these is unnecessary in the
field.
STRINGING THE BOW.--In stringing the bow it is held by the handle in
the right hand (flat part towards the body) with the lower horn
resting on the ground against the hollow of the right foot. The left
hand is then placed upon the upper part of the bow in such a manner
that the base of the thumb rests upon the flat side of it, the thumb
pointing upwards. The bow is then bent by the combined action of the
two hands, the right pulling, the left pressing it; at the same time
the loop of the string is slipped into its place by the left thumb
and forefinger. However, actual experiment under the guidance of a
proficient will teach them sooner and better than we can possibly hope
to do by mere precept. When the bow is braced, the string should be
exactly six inches from the centre of the bow in a gentleman's, and
five inches and a half in a lady's bow. Care must be taken that the
string lies evenly along the exact centre of the bow, that it is not
turned on one side at either horn. If this be the case, it will, by
pulling the bow unevenly, in all probability break it.
POSITION.--It is difficult to determine exactly what is the _best_
position for the archer. Every one naturally subsides into that which
is most easy to him; still there are certain fundamental rules, which
are given in almost every book on archery, by attention to which in
the first place the shooter ultimately falls into the best position
for himself. The left foot should point rather to the right of the
mark, the right foot being nearly at right angles to it, the heels six
or eight inches apart, in a straight line from target to target, both
feet flat on the ground, knees straight, body erect but not too stiff,
face turned towards the mark. The body must be carried as easily as
possible on the hips, not too stiffly upright nor yet bending forward.
Nothing looks worse than a stiff, constrained attitude, except a
loose, slouching one. Our cut on back of last cover represents an
archer taking aim.
NOCKING.--Having mastered the position, the next thing to be looked to
is the _nocking_. "The bow being held by the handle in the left hand,
let the arrow be placed with the right (_over_ the string, not _under_)
on that part of the bow upon which it is to lie; the thumb of the left
hand being then gently placed over it, will serve to hold it perfectly
under command, and the forefinger and thumb of the right hand can then
take hold of the nock end of the arrow and manipulate it with the most
perfect ease in any manner that may be required." When the arrow is
nocked it should be at right angles with the string. Some archers are
accustomed to try to alter the range of the arrow by heightening or
lowering the nocking point, but this is a great mistake.
DRAWING.--Having nocked the arrow according to the foregoing
direction, the next thing to proceed with is the drawing, which is
managed as follows: Extend the left arm downwards until it is
perfectly straight, the hand grasping the handle of the bow, the arrow
being held by the nocking end by the two first fingers of the right
hand passed over the string and on each side of the arrow, as in the
cut, care being taken not to pass the fingers too far over the string,
or the sharpness of the loose will be interfered with. This done,
the left arm should be smoothly raised, _still extended_, until at
right angles, or nearly so, with the body, the string being drawn at
the same time with the right hand until the arrow is drawn about
three-fourths of its length, when the right wrist and elbow should be
at about the level of the shoulder. Having got it thus far a slight
pause maybe made before drawing the arrow to its full length (although
we think it better to make it all one motion), which done, the archer
must take his aim before loosing. By the old fashion of drawing the
bow to the ear, aiming was rendered impossible; in fact, there seemed
to be a sort of idea that no aim whatever was required for archery.
This, however, is far from being the case; it is most essential to
take an aim, aye, and a good one too, if you wish to meet with
success. By drawing the arrow below the level of the eye, the archer
is enabled to look along it as he would along the barrel of a rifle.
As regards the direction, the archer will find that it is but seldom
he will be able to aim directly at the gold. He will almost always
have to aim to one side or the other, to make, allowance for wind, &c.
This cannot be taught. The archer will soon learn by experience
whereabouts on the target his proper point of sight lies, and will aim
accordingly. He will also learn the degree of elevation required by
his bow at the various distances, which elevation he will always give
by raising or lowering his _left_ hand, and in no other way, if he
values success.
_Remember!_ the arrow must always be drawn to exactly the same spot.
If possible, let the spot where the pile and steel join just reach the
how.
LOOSING.--Having drawn the arrow to its full extent, the next
thing is to loose it properly, and this, although apparently a very
simple thing, is by no means so easy as it looks. The great object to
be attained in loosing is to remove the obstruction of the fingers
from the string suddenly, and yet in such a manner that no jerk is
given to the string (which would be fatal to the aim), and that the
fingers do not at all _follow_ the string, which would weaken the
force of the shot. The string should lie across the fingers at an
equal distance from the tip of each--not too near the joint nor too
near the tip; about midway between the tip and joint of the first
finger, and on the others in proportion, will be found about the most
convenient position for a good loose. The fingers must all be
withdrawn at once, for should one be an instant behind the others, it
would be fatal to the aim.
It must be understood that, although we have described separately the
actions of drawing, aiming, and loosing, no perceptible pause should
be made between them: they should all appear to form part of the same
movement; for, as Ascham says, "Holding must not be long, for it puts
a bow in danger of breaking, and also spoils the shot; it must occupy
so little time that it may be better perceived in the mind when it is
done than seen with the eye when doing."
We have now concluded this portion of our subject, and hope that we
have succeeded in making ourselves sufficiently intelligible to be of
service to our readers. Let them always recollect that "practice makes
perfect," and that we cannot make them good archers without great
exertion on their part, although we hope we have succeeded in making
plain to them those first principles, without which all efforts would
he but labor in vain.