but put case that I haue thre or fower suche good bowes, pyked and dressed, as you nowe speke of, yet I do remembre yt manye learned men do saye, that it is easier to gette a good thynge, than to saue and keepe a good thyng, wherfore if you can teache me as concernyng that poynte, you haue satisfyed me plentifullye, as concernynge a bowe. TOX. Trulye it was the nexte thyng that I woulde haue come vnto, for so the matter laye.

Whan you haue broughte youre bowe to suche a poynte, as I spake of, than you must haue an herde or wullen cloth waxed, wherwt euery day you must rubbe and chafe your bowe, tyll it shyne and glytter withall. Whyche thynge shall cause it bothe to be cleane, well fauoured, goodlye of coloure, and shall also bryng as it were a cruste, ouer it, that is to say, shall make it euery where on the outsyde, so slyppery and harde, that neyther any weete or wether can enter to hurte it, nor yet any freat or pynche, be able to byte vpon it: but that you shal do it great wrong before you breake it. This must be done oftentimes but specially when you come from shootynge.

Beware also whan you shoote, of youre shaft hedes, dagger, knyues or agglettes, lest they race your bowe, a thing as I sayde before, bothe vnsemely to looke on, and also daŭgerous for freates. Take hede also of mistie and dankyshe dayes, whiche shal hurte a bowe, more than any rayne. For then you muste eyther alway rub it, or els leaue shootynge.

Bowecase.

Your bowecase (this I dyd not promise to speake of, bycause it is without the nature of shootynge, or els I shoulde truble me wyth other thinges infinite more: yet seing it is a sauegarde for the bowe, somthynge I wyll saye of it) youre bowecase I saye, yf you ryde forthe, muste neyther be to wyde for youre bowes, for so shall one clap vpon an other, and hurt them, nor yet so strayte that scarse they can be thrust in, for that woulde laye them on syde & wynde them A bowecase of ledder, is not the best, for that is ofttymes moyste which hurteth the bowes very much. Therfore I haue sene good shooters which would haue for euerye bowe, a sere case made of wollen clothe, and than you maye putte .iii. or .iiii. of them so cased, in to a ledder case if you wyll. This wollen case shall bothe kepe them in sunder, and also wylle kepe a bowe in his full strengthe, that it neuer gyue for any wether. At home these wood cases be verye good for bowes to stande in.

But take hede yt youre bowe stande not to nere a stone wall, for that wyll make hym moyste and weke, nor yet to nere any fier for that wyll make him shorte and brittle. And thus muche as concernyng the sauyng and keping of [y]our bowe: nowe you shall heare what thynges ye must auoyde, for feare of breakyng your bowe.

A shooter chaunseth to breake his bowe commonly .iiii. wayes, by the strynge, by the shafte, by drawyng to far, & by freates: By the stryng as I sayde afore, whan the strynge is eyther to shorte, to long, not surely put on, wyth one wap, or put croked on, or shorne in sundre wyth an euell nocke, or suffered to tarye ouer longe on. Whan the stryng fayles the bowe muste nedes breake, and specially in the myddes; because bothe the endes haue nothyng to stop them; but whippes so far backe, that the belly must nedes violentlye rise vp, the whyche you shall well perceyue in bendyng of a bowe backward. Therfore a bowe that foloweth the strynge is least hurt with breakyng of strynges. By the shafte a bowe is broke ether when it is to short, and so you set it in your bow or when the nocke breakes for lytlenesse, or when the strynge slyppes wythoute the nocke for wydenesse, than you poule it to your eare and lettes it go, which must nedes breake the shafte at the leaste, and putte stringe and bow & al in ieopardy, bycause the strength of the bowe hath nothynge in it to stop the violence of it.

Thys kynde of breakynge is mooste perilouse for the standers by, for in such a case you shall se some tyme the ende of a bow flye a hoole score from a mã, and that moost commonly, as I haue marked oft the vpper ende of the bowe. The bow is drawne to far .ii. wayes. Eyther when you take a longer shafte then your owne, or els when you shyfte your hand to low or to hye for shootynge far. Thys waye pouleth the backe in sunder, and then the bowe fleethe in manye peces.

So when you se a bowe broken, hauynge the bellye risen vp both wayes or tone, the stringe brake it. When it is broken in twoo peces in a maner euen of and specyallye in the vpper ende, the shafte nocke brake it.

When the backe is pouled a sunder in manye peeces, to farre drawynge brake it.

These tokens eyther alwayes be trewe or els verye seldome

mysse.

The fourthe thyng that breketh a bow is fretes, whych make a bowe redye and apte to breake by any of the .iii. wayes afore sayde. Freetes be in a shaft

Freates.

as well as in a bowe, and they be muche lyke a Canker, crepynge and encreasynge in those places in a bowe, whyche be weaker then other. And for thys purpose must your bowe be well trymmed and piked of a cōning man that it may come rounde in trew compasse euery where. For freetes you must beware, yf youre bow haue a knot in the backe, lest the places whyche be nexte it, be not alowed strong ynoughe to bere wt the knotte, or elles the stronge knotte shall freate the weake places nexte it. Freates be fyrst litle pinchese, the whych whe you perceaue, pike the places about the pinches, to make them somewhat weker, and as well commynge as where it pinched, and so the pinches shall dye, and neuer encrease farther in to great freates.

Freates begynne many tymes in a pin, for there the good woode is corrupted, that it muste nedes be weke, and bycause it is weake, therfore it freates. Good bowyers therfore do rayse euery pyn & alowe it moore woode for feare of freatynge.

Agayne bowes moost commonlye freate vnder the hande, not so muche as some men suppose for the moistnesse of the hande, as for the heete of the hand: the nature of heate sayeth Aristotle is to lowse, and not to knyt fast, and the more lowser the more weaker, the weaker, the redier to freate. A bowe is not well made, whych hath not wood plentye in the hande. For yf the endes of the bowe be staffyshe, or a mans hande any thynge hoote the bellye must nedes sone frete. Remedie for fretes to any purpose I neuer hard tell of any, but onelye to make the freated place as stronge or stronger then any other. To fill vp the freate with lytle sheuers of a quill and glewe (as some saye wyll do wel) by reason must be starke nought.

For, put case the freete dyd cease then, yet the cause whiche made it freate a fore (and that is weakenesse of the place) bicause it is not taken away must nedes make it freate agayne. As for cuttyng out of freates wythe all maner of pecynge of bowes I wyll cleane exclude from perfite shootynge. For peced bowes be muche lyke owlde housen, whyche be more chargeable to repayre, than commodiouse to dwell in. Agayne to swadle a bowe much about wyth bandes, verye seldome dothe anye

F

good, excepte it be to kepe downe a spel in the backe, otherwyse bandes ether nede not when the bow is any thinge worthe, or els boote not whe it is marde & past best. And although I knowe meane and poore shooters, wyll vse peced and banded bowes sometyme bycause they are not able to get better when they woulde, yet I am sure yf they consyder it well, they shall fynde it, bothe lesse charge and more pleasure to ware at any tyme a couple of shyllynges of a new bowe than to bestowe .x. d of peacynge an olde bowe. For better is coste vpon somewhat worth, than spence vpon nothing worth. And thys I speke also bycause you woulde haue me referre all to perfitnesse in shootynge.

Moreouer there is an other thynge, whyche wyl sone cause a bowe be broken by one of the .iii. wayes whych be first spoken of, and that is shotyng in winter, when there is any froste. Froste is wheresoeuer is any waterish humour, as is in al woodes, eyther more or lesse, and you knowe that al thynges frosen and Isie, wyl rather breke than bende. Yet if a man must nedes shoote at any suche tyme, lette hym take hys bowe, and brynge it to the fyer, and there by litle and litle, rubbe and chafe it with a waxed clothe, whiche shall bring it to that poynt, yt he maye shote safelye ynough in it. This rubbyng with waxe, as I sayde before, is a great succour, agaynst all wete and moystnesse.

In the fyeldes also, in goyng betwyxt the pricks eyther wyth your hande, or elles wyth a clothe you muste keepe your bowe in suche a temper. And thus muche as concernynge youre bowe, howe fyrste to knowe what wood is best for a bowe, than to chose a bowe, after to trim a bowe, agayne to keepe it in goodnesse, laste of al, howe to saue it from al harm and euylnesse.

And although many men can saye more of a bow yet I trust these thynges be true, and almoste sufficient for the knowlege of a perfecte bowe. PHI. Surelye I beleue so, and yet I coulde haue hearde you talke longer on it: althogh I can not se, what maye be sayd more of it. Therfore excepte you wyll pause a whyle, you may go forwarde to a shafte.

TOX. What shaftes were made of, in oulde tyme authours Hero. eute[r]p. do not so manifestlye shewe, as of bowes. Herodotus doth tel, that in the flood of Nilus, ther

was a beast, called a water horse, of whose skinne after it was dried, the Egyptians made shaftes, and dartes on. The tree called Cornus was SO common to make shaftes of, that in good authours of ye latyn tongue, Sen. Hipp. Cornus is taken for a shafte, as in Seneca, and that place of Virgill,

In Polym.

I maruayle

Yet of all thynges that euer I warked of olde authours, either greke or latin, for shaftes to be made of, there is nothing so cōmon as reedes. Herodotus in describynge the mightie hoost of Xerxes doth tell that thre great contries vsed shaftes made of a rede, the Aethiopians, the Lycians (whose shaftes lacked fethers, where at moste of all) and the men of Inde. The shaftes in Inde were verye longe, a yarde and an halfe, as Arrianus doth saye, or at the least a yarde, as Q. Curtius doth saye, and therfore they gaue ye greater strype, but yet bycause they were so long, they were the more vnhansome, and lesse profitable to the men of Inde, as Curtius doeth tell.

Arrianus. 8.

Q. Curt. 8.

In Crete and Italie, they vsed to haue their shaftes of rede also. The best reede for shaftes grewe in Inde, Pli. 16. 36. and in Rhenus a flood of Italy.

But bycause suche shaftes be neyther easie for Englishe men to get, and yf they were gotten scarse profitable for them to vse, I wyll lette them passe, and speake of those shaftes whyche Englysh men at this daye moste cōmonly do approue and allowe.

A shaft hath three principall partes, the stele, the fethers, and the head: whereof euerye one muste be seuerallye spoken of. ¶ Steles be made of dyuerse woodes, as,

Brasell.

Turkie wood.
Fusticke.

Sugercheste.

Hardbeame.

Byrche.
Asshe.

Ooke.