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Archery: its theory and practice Horace A. Ford S=-=—-_. I, 4, AID ZA 7 — 600082067T ARCHERY: THEORY AND PRACTICE. BY HORACE A. FORD. (Holder of the Champion’s Medal for 1849-50-51-52-53-54 and 1855.) Honor : J. BucHanan, 215, Prccaprity. CHELTENHAM: H, Davies, MonrTpELLIER LIBRARY. 1856, LOE Le [00 PREFACE. GENTLE READER, The favour bestowed on my late Articles upon the Theory and Practice of Archery, published some months back in the “ Field” newspaper, has induced me to present them to your notice embodied in their present more per- manent form. Considerable additional matter, and the necesssary illustrations and diagrams, (which were un- suited to the former mode of publication,) have now been introduced, but with this exception and some few trifling alterations, the present Work is very much a resumé of those Articles, a careful revision having suggested no modi- fication of the views and theories therein laid down. If you are already an Archer, it is hoped the perusal of the following pages may assist your onward progress in 4 PREFACE. the noble art—if one of those benighted beings who know it not, then that it may at least induce you to commence its study ; having done so, there is little fear of your ever abandoning the pursuit. Your sincere well-wisher and friend, THE AUTHOR. ARCHERY; ITs THEORY AND PRACTICE. Chapter ¥. INTRODUCTORY. Burt little apology is, I think, needed, for presenting to the lovers of the long bow the present Work upon the Theory and Practice of Archery. The rapidly increasing taste for this elegant and manly amusement (requiring, as it does, both physical powers and mental study for its successful practice), and the eager desire of many to excel in this their favourite pursuit, seem to call for some more practical and scientific Treatise upon the art, than at present exists. No disparagement is here intended to the clever and amusing Works upon the same subject already before the public; but it is an undeniable fact—and the opinion of almost every experienced archer can be adduced to bear me out in asserting it— that all those Works, without exception, fail to touch upon or develop any fixed theoretic principle of shooting, and totally ignore those more abstruse and delicate points connected with its practice, upon which accurate and scientific archery mainly depends. This may appear a somewhat bold and presumptuous assertion to make, but that it is a fact, few, who have endeavoured to find written in- struction to guide them in the pursuit, will be tempted to deny; and the principal reason for its being so would appear to be, that, at the time these publications appeared, the knowledge of the art and the powers of the bow had either been partially lost, or had not reached such a state of development as is the case at the present day—con- sequently, much less being known about it, much less could be taught. Just one example shall be mentioned in corroboration of B 2 ARCHERY; ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE. this view of the matter. Mr. Roberts, in his very talented Treatise on Archery, published in 1801 (perhaps the best at present extant), records the following performance, as being one of what was con- sidered in his time the great feats of the day, namely, that in one hundred arrows, shot at the distance of one hundred yards, fifty-two actually struck the target! Wonderful, indeed! Is there any third-rate archer of the present day who has not done as much, and a great deal more, over and over again? ‘The name of many a brother archer occurs to me at this moment, who would be exceedingly disappointed, indeed, at having, in any morning’s practice, only achieved such a performance as this! but Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. Archery of 1856 is nat the archery of half a century, or even of twenty years ago. Scores that would then have been deemed im- possible and visionary, are now of every-day occurrence; and the Robin Hoods and Little Johns of those days, could they but be pitted against the present living magnates of the bow, would occupy but a sorry position indeed. Another reason, to account for the undoubted omission in these Works of practical and, scientific instruction, may be here further adduced; namely, that their authors were, with but few exceptions, themselves archers of no note even in their own days, and, therefore, not the best qualified for its exposition even up to the standard of knowledge at that time attained. Having thus far demonstrated that the want exists of a practical Work on Archery by a practical archer, and being well convinced of it by my own experience, and supported in that conviction by the almost unanimous opinion of my brother toxopholites, I am em- boldened to lay before the public the following Treatise, containing the results of considerable experience and much hard study; as likely, it is hoped, in some measure to supply the deficiency com-