ARCHERY IN FINSBURY FIELDS.-(Continued from p. 116.) THE Bow has one eminent advantage over the modern projectile weapons by which it has been superseded, namely that it acts with nearly the same impetus at the greatest distance of its range as at any intermediate length. The stroke of a well loosed arrow is as efficient at 250 yards (to attain which length an ordinary bow must be elevated 45 degrees) as at 100 yards, which distance requires but a slight elevation of the weapon above the point blank range. No point of archery was of more importance in a military view, than keeping the length; a failure in this particular was of infinitely greater importance than shooting a few feet to the right or the left of a given mark. This will be evident when it is considered that nearly all the arrows of archers delivered against an advancing column of infantry, or squadron of horse, if the length were duly kept, would take effect somewhere in that body; and if some hundred of shafts were in this way simultaneously discharged, the annoyance and confusion produced must be inconceivably great. Now, if the length were not properly kept, the arrows would fly over; or, what is infinitely worse, fall short of the object. The falling short of the mark is the greater defect of the two; not only because it indicates weak shooting, but because those arrows which fly over the first ranks of an enemy may fall among the rear divisions or reserve. It was from the above reasons that roving, or ranging across the fields, shooting at marks of varying and unascertained distances, was much preferred in ancient archery, to pricking, or shooting at a given mark from some fixed standing. By shooting at rovers, the archer became an excellent judge of distance, and skilful in keeping the length. The practice of shooting at rovers will account for the very numerous marks which are laid down in the annexed plan of those in Finsbury Fields, which I imagine has been originally drawn to illustrate one of those little guides for Archers, which were arranged in the manner of the modern books of hackney-coach fares, and were printed and reprinted in several editions, varying as the marks were changed. One of the earliest of these little tracts has the following title, as I find it in Ames's Typographical Antiquities. "Ayme for Finsburie Archers; or an alphabetical! table of the names of every marke within the same fields, with ther true distances, both by the map and dimensuration with the line. Published for the ease of the skilfull, and behoofe of the younge The objects in addition to the marks which occur in this Map are: 1. Dame Annis le cleere: 2. Perelous Pond; 3. Morington; 4. the Rosemary Branch. 1. The spring of St. Agnes le Clare occurs in a document temp. Hen. VIII. as Fons voc' Dame Agnes a Clere; and in a survey of the Prebendal estate of Finsbury in 1557, as "the well called Dame Agnes the Cleere." In 1622, it was valued at 40s. per annum; and in a Parliamentary survey of 1650, it is stated to have lain upon waste ground, and to have belonged to Charles late King of England. It has in modern days been converted into baths. 2. The piece of water which is named in the Map the "Perelous Pond," was also converted into a bathing place as the Peerless Pool, in the year 1748, mentioned by a writer in the last volume of this Magazine, pt. i. p. 502. The pipes in it are those by which the baths are emptied when the water is changed. 3. The word Morington occurs near a house; but it is not clear whether it belongs to that house, or to a mark: but at about this point of the public path, is placed in the map of 1737, mentioned hereafter, "Blood-house bridge." 4. In this old map the Rosemary Branch is represented as a tree (with the inscription Ros' Brach); but in 1737 here was a house, called the Rosemary Branch, or Nevil's house. It was a place of public entertainment; and afterwards became part of Walker's lead-works; when, in 1783, a new Rosemary Branch was erected, just beyond it, at the meeting of the parishes of Shoreditch and Islington.-Nelson's History of Islington, p. 196. The origin of the name of Bunhill Fields is not given in the Histories of London. Bunhill here occurs as an archer's mark; and it is possible that, as the nearest mark to London, and perhaps placed on a natural hill, it may have given name to the adjacent fields. The plan has the arms of the Goldsmiths' Company attached. + Perhaps Mr. R. Sharpe, one of the persons to whom the Map is dedicated, was the author of "A Briefe Treatise to proove the necessitie and excellence of the use of Archerie. Abstracted out of Ancient and Moderne Writers. By R. S." 1594. 4to.; of which there is a copy in the British Museum. GENT. MAG. March, 1832. 210 Archery Marks in Finsbury Fields, 1628. beginners in the famed exercise of Archerie; by I. I. and E. B. To be sold at the sign of the Swan in Grub-street, by F. Sergeant." -(16mo.) Grub-street was at that time an avenue inhabited by bowyers and fletchers, being one of those in the city immediately leading to the adjacent open fields. This tract was republished by R. F. in 1604, the title not so full; but the earliest edition I have found in the British Museum, is that of 1628, " "newly gathered and amended by James Partridge. London, printed by G.M. for John Partridge, and are to be solde at the sigue of the Sunne in Pauls Church Yard. 1628.' In this little tract, about four inches high, the distances from mark to mark are enumerated, and a table of names is given; a great number of which correspond with those in the plan before us; while new ones appear to have been added. This may be readily accounted for, when it is considered that, although some of these marks were of stone, a great part of them were wooden pillars subject to decay, and that many new marks were set up in the course of time by the liberality and zeal of the lovers of the longbow. Indeed, the tract itself, in the following note, supplies us with information nearly to the same effect : "There are here divers new stakes set up in place of such as were decayed and gone. Archers may do well to call them by their new names, to encourage others to bee at like cost when need requires." The list of the marks is added as follows, in order that the reader may compare them with the plan. The reader will not fail to notice the whim [March, sical alliteration of many of the names. This jingle of initials was the fashion of the day, and has not escaped the notice of Shakspeare.* Adam Bell,+ olus, Aldermanbury lion, Archdale, Askwiths achorne. Baines his needle, Bakers boy, Barlow, Bassings hall, Beehive, Begraves phoenix, Beswicks stake, Blackwell hall, Blacke Nan, Bores head, Boxes arm, Boult, Bradlies stone, Brands boy, Bricklayer, Bricklayers boy, Bricklayers mold, Brothers holiday, Brownes stake, Brownes boy, Bunhill, Bush under bush. Camell, Cardies castle, Carters whip, Cat and fiddle, Chamber, Chapmans ware, Clarks delight, Colbrand, Cornish chough, Cowpers worme,§ Coxes content, Cuckoe. Dawsons daunce, Dayes deed, Daines delight, Diall, Dickmans marigold, Dudleis darling, Dunstans diall, Dunstans darling. East ensigne, Egpie. Feather, Fields fellowship, Flint, Founders sonne. Gate by Harison, Gilberts goodwill, Gosson, Goves gift, Golden cup, Graveleys lambe, Great stone, Greenes stake, Guy of Warwicke. Hand and rose, Harisons fellowship, Hawes, Hayes stake, Hercules club, Hodges pleasure, Hodgets heart, Holdens heathcocke, Hookers stake, House of goodfellowship, House of honestie, House of Lancaster, House of Yorke, Humfrey James. Jefferies stake, Islips, Julius Cæsar. Kempton, Kings kindnesse, Kings mace. Lamberts goodwill, Lees leopard, Lees lion, Lockleis mouth, London stone, Loves increase, Lees lurching. Mab, Marshes stake, Martins mayflower, Martins monkie, Melhuse his mirth, Mercers maid, Mildmayes mayflower, Mildmaies rose. Nelson, Neves delight, Neves tissick, Nightingale. Pakes his pillar, Parks his pleasure, Par * We learn from Stow that the suburban villas and summer-houses of the citizens were named after the same humour. A distich in ridicule of them was this: "Kirbies Castle, and Fishers Folly, Spinilas Pleasure, and Megses Glory.” The jingling of initials has not escaped the ridicule of Shakspeare: - with blade, with bloody blameful blade, He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast."-Mids. N. Dr. act v. sc. 1. The name of a notorious Northern outlaw, as before noticed in p. 114. We have afterwards in this list Robin Hood; and in the map, towards the bottom, is Friar Tuck. Colbrand and Guy of Warwick are other allusions to our old English romances. An old house, fronting the fields at Hoxton, which was formerly much resorted to by the Finsbury archers, it bears for its sign the Robin Hood, which has to the present day written underneath the following inscription: "Ye archers bold and yeomen good, Stop and drink with Robin Hood: In the Map is "Cawdries coffer." If Robin Hood be not at home, Stop and drink with Little John." § The old name for a dragon or serpent: which was doubtless the figure on the mark; as with the lions, birds, &c. which gave name to several of the other marks. I observe Kempston Place in the Map of London and its suburbs, in the neighbourhood of the City Road. 1832.] Archery Marks in Finsbury Fields, 1737. tridge his pillar, Partridge his primerose,* Pyramides, Piggins love, Pigeon, Pilgrim, Pinder, Piper, Plaisterers stake, Plaice, Prices primerose, Princes stake, Poores partridge, Prichards hope, Puttocke. Queenes, Quinies faulchion, Quinies pillar. Rainebow, Red dragon, Robinhood. Saint Andrew, Saint Butolphes, Saint George, Saint Martin, Samuels stake, Samuels round, Saunders backe, Sawpit, Seagriffin, Sheffe of arrowes, Silkworme, Sir Rowland, Smart's sentinell, Snowball, Speerings sport, Starre, Stone in the plaine, Swan harnesman,t Swan wilcox, Swans stake. Teuels timber, Theefe in the hedge, Three cranes, Tinkers budget, Townes end, Trefoile, Turks whale, Tree in the lane. Wades mill, Walkers dragon, Watergap, Weeping crosse, Welds friendship, Wells his phissick, West ensigne, Wilies goodwill, Wilsons goodwill, Wilsons George, Wilsons ward. Yong Powell. In all one hundred and sixty-four. One of the latest editions of this archer's vade mecum is also extant in the British Museum : "Aim for Finsbury Archers, or Table of all the names of the Marks now standing in the fields of Finsbury, with their true distance from each other; also a plan of the said fields, and marks by which we may know their true bearing. "Likewise a list of all the names of such as have been Captains or Lieutenants of the Easter or Whitson Target, from the year 1717 to this present year 1738." To this little book is annexed a plan of all the marks belonging to the Company of Finsbury Archers in the said fields of Finsbury, with the true distance from each, as they now stand; May 20, 1737. This plan, which was copied to accompany the Hon. Daines Barrington's paper on Archery, in the Seventh Volume of the Archæologia, shews us that the fields from Peerless-pool to the Rosemary-branch, and for a considerable distance northward of that spot, were studded with roving marks. At this period, however, the old marks which were standing in 1628, James and John Partridge, as we have seen, were the Editor and Publisher of this little book. The allusion in this name is obscure. Perhaps two names are confounded: Swan, and man harnessed or in armour; or a man thus attired having a swan for his cognizance. 211 had been almost all swept away, and the number reduced from 164 to 21. Their names, in the order of their occurrence from London northwards, were as follow. The only six which have occurred in the previous list, are printed in Italic : Castle, Gardstone, Arnold, Absoly, Turkswhale, Day's Deed, Lambeth, Westminster Hall, Whitehall, Old Speering,* Star or Dial, Blackwell Hall, Old Gawthorn, Scarlet Lion, Edw. Gold, Pitfield, Old Absoly, Bob Peek, Levant, Welch Hall, and Egg Pye. First Butt, Butt, Short Butts. To the marks are added three butts for pricking; an appropriate term for the precise shooting at short lengths. In these marks, and in the privilege of access to them, the Artillery Company had a paramount claim. Mr. Barrington tells us, that so late as the year 1746, they obliged a cow-keeper named Pitfield to renew one of them, and caused the mark to be inscribed "Pitfield's Repentance." I do not doubt the fact of the restoration; but it is to be observed, that one of the marks in the plan of 1737, bears the name of Pitfield. The cow-keeper, therefore, perhaps defaced a mark which had been erected by some predecessor of his family. The name still remains in Pitfield-street, Hoxton : We know from history how jealous the London youth were of keeping the fields round the city open for the practice of archery; and that on one occasion of their being obstructed, in the reign of Henry VIII. à Turner, under that license for mad pranks in ancient days, a disard's or clown's coat, ran through the city, crying" shovels and spades! shovels and spades!" The cry was readily understood; and, as the author of Nigel quotes, "Uprose the Prentices, one and all, Living in London, proper and tall." They rushed forward with resistless prowess, and in a few hours levelled all the dykes, hedges, and enclosures which the spirit of exclusive appropriation had erected to obstruct the manly votaries of the English longbow. This good old national cause was aided by James the First, in a more legal way, who directed in 1605 his letters patent to the Lord Mayor, the Lord Chancellor, and others, as Com * Formerly "Speering's sport." missioners, and commanded them to cause the fields about the city, in which Archery had been practised from time immemorial, to be cleared of all obstructions to that exercise, for the space of two miles; exactly the distance which the archers' marks given in the plan of 1737, will be found to extend. Another similar commission was issued by Charles the First in 1632; and the contest was doubtless continual until at length the great march of brick and mortar was triumphant. Some of the last skirmishes, which took place about fifty years ago, are thus described in Highmore's History of the Artillery Company, from the records of that Society : "On the Company's march to Baumes, on the Accession-day in 1782, they found the gate of a large field, in which stood one of their stone marks, near Ball's Pond, both locked and chained, and four men placed to prevent their entrance. The Adjutant ordered it to be forced; after which they marched across, and opened another gate." -History of the Artillery Company, p. 366. "In 1784, a committee was appointed to ascertain the situation of the butts, &c., that the right might not be lost, and report thereon."-Ibid. p. 385. In October of the same year, "The Company marched to Finsburyfields, to view their several stone marks, beginning at Prebend mead, where the Castle Stone stood, and thence extending to Baumes Fields and Islington Common.-They removed several obstructions, &c.-P. 393. [March, of the white-lead-mill), between the marks of Bob Peak and the Levant, the Company were induced to desist from pulling down or making a breach in the wall, in order to march through, on account of Mr. Maltby (one of the partners in the white-lead works) having assured the commanding officer of the battalion, that he and his partners, at the time of the making the said inclosure, were ignorant of the Company's right in those fields, but were willing to enter into any reasonable terms of accommodation with the Company for what they had done. One of the archers' division was then ordered to shoot an arrow over the said inclosure, as an assertion of the Company's right; which having done, the battalion proceeded on its march to several of the other marks."-Ibid. p. 399. Lastly, in 1791, when the long butts on Islington Common were destroyed, by digging gravel, "A detachment marched to the spot (Aug. 12) pursuant to a previous notice to the occupiers and commissioners of the roads, to remove every obstruction, and to replace the marks. These objects were obtained."-Ibid. p. 410. Nelson says, in his History of Islington, published in 1811: "The two old shooting butts, which remained till within the last thirty years on the common, near the Rosemary-branch, in this parish, were at that time occasionally used by Toxophilites from the metropolis. These have given place to a solitary target butt, defended with iron plates, for the exercise of ball-firing, in an adjoining inclosure: but several vestiges of the old marks may yet be traced in the fields adjacent." The distances from mark to mark in the "Aim for Finsbury Archers," are very much varied; and thus, as I have observed, excellent practice for Archery at roving distances was afforded. The greatest length laid down in the plan of 1737, is 13 score five yards, or 265 yards. In the "dimensurations" of laid down, and the shortest distance 1628, the great length of 19 score is is 9 score. It cannot, however, from the above fact be assumed that the ordinary compass of our ancient bowmen was 380 yards, since powerful arbalists, or cross-bows wound up with a jack, were in use, and contrivances were employed to extend the ordinary cast of the longbow. One instance will be found in the man who used his foot at the May shooting before Henry VIII. on Blackheath, in the year 1510. The statute of 33d Henry |