OCR Text |
Show The Cloth-Yard Arrow. It is evident that about ' 1515 the cloth-yard, as a measure, meant thirty-seven thirty-seven inches. It follows that all writers on the subject of archery, who maintain main-tain that the old English archers habitually ha-bitually drew cloth-yard shafts fully up, themselves "draw very long bows," as, oven admitting (which is very unlikely) un-likely) that a very tall and powerful man might be able to draw fully up so long an arrow (ten inches longer than the usual shaft and draw of twenty-seven twenty-seven inches) with a bow as strong as those that undoubtedly were in use, no bows, unless they were excessively long '(eight feet at least), could bear the unusual strain frequently without breaking. Moreover, the shaft of an arrow of this unusual length would have to tfeinii twice the usual weight of a heavy arrow (one ounce) that it might be stiff enough for the purposes cf accuracy In shooting. Xotes and Queries. |