104. _a sheef of pecok-arwes_, a sheaf of arrows with peacocks' feathers.
Ascham, in his Toxophilus, ed. Arber, p. 129, does not say much in favour
of 'pecock fethers'; for 'there is no fether but onely of a goose that hath
all commodities in it. And trewelye at a short but, which some man doth
vse, the _pecock fether_ doth seldome kepe vp the shaft eyther ryght or
level, it is so roughe and heuy, so that many men which haue taken them vp
for gaynesse, hathe layde them downe agayne for profyte; thus for our
purpose, the goose is best fether for the best shoter.' In the Geste of
Robyn Hode, pr. by W. Copland, we read--
'And every arrowe an ell longe
With _peacocke_ well ydight,
And nocked they were with white silk,
It was a semely syght.'
'In the Liber Compotis Garderobæ, sub an. 4 Edw. II., p. 53, is this
entry--Pro duodecim flechiis cum pennis de pauone emptis pro rege de 12
den., that is, For twelve arrows plumed with peacock's feathers, bought for
the king, 12 d.... MS. Cotton, Nero c. viii.'--Strutt, Sports and Pastimes,
bk. ii. ch. i. § 12. In the Testamenta Eboracensia, i. 419, 420 (anno
1429), I find--'Item lego ... j. shaffe of pakok-fedird arrows: also I wyte
them a dagger harnest with sylver.' The latter phrase illustrates l. 114
below. See further in Warton's note on this passage; Hist. E. Poet. 1840,
ii. 211. [12]
106. _takel_, lit. 'implement' or 'implements'; here the set of arrows. For
_takel_ in the sense of 'arrow,' see Rom. Rose, 1729, 1863. 'He knew well
how to arrange his shooting-gear in a yeomanlike manner.' Strutt, Sports
and Pastimes, bk. ii. c. 1. § 16, quotes a ballad in which Robin Hood
proposes that each man who misses the mark shall lose 'his _takell_'; and
one of the losers says--'Syr abbot, I deliver thee myne _arrowe_.' Fairholt
(s. v. _Tackle_) quotes from A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hood--
'When they had theyr _bowes_ ibent,
Their _tacles_ fedred fre.'
In the Cursor Mundi, l. 3600, Isaac sends Esau to hunt, saying:--'Ga lok
thi _tacle_ be puruaid.' Cotgrave gives--'_Tacle_, m. any (headed) shaft,
or boult whose feathers be not waxed, but glued on.' Roquefort says the
same.
107. The sense is--'His arrows did not present a draggled appearance owing
to the feathers being crushed'; i. e. the feathers stood out erect and
regularly, as necessary to secure for them a good flight.
109. _not-heed_, a head closely cut or cropped. Cf. 'To _Notte_ his haire,
_comas recidere_'; Baret's Alvearie, 1580. Shakespeare has _not-pated_,
i. e. crop-headed, 1 Henry IV, ii. 4. 78. Cooper's Thesaurus, 1565,
has:--'_Tondere_, to cause his heare to be _notted_ or polled of a
barbour'; also, 'to _notte_ his heare shorte'; also, '_Tonsus homo_, a man
rounded, polled, or _notted_.' Cotgrave explains the F. _tonsure_ as 'a
sheering, clipping, powling, _notting_, cutting, or paring round.' Florio,
ed. 1598, explains Ital. _zucconare_ as 'to poule, to _nott_, to shave, or
cut off one's haire,' and _zuccone_ as 'a shauen pate, a _notted_ poule.'
And more illustrations might be adduced, as e.g. the explanation of
_Nott-pated_ in Nares' Glossary. In later days the name of Roundhead came
into use for a like reason. Cf. 'your _nott-headed_ country gentleman';
Chapman, The Widow's Tears, Act i. sc. 4.