diverfion of archery. The reigning house of York owed much of its military fuccefs to the fuperiority of the bowmen under its banners, and the Londoners themselves were jealous of their reputation in this martial accomplishment. For the last fifty years, notwithstanding the warlike nature of the times, the practice of the bow, in the intervals of peace, had been more neglected than seemed wife to the rulers. Both the king and his loyal city had of late taken much pains to enforce the due exercife of Goddes inftrumente,' upon which an edict had declared that the liberties and honour of England principally rested !' *** The butts, formed of turf, with a small white mark fastened by a very minute peg, were placed apart, one at each end, at the distance of eleven score yards. At the extremity, where the shooting commenced, the crowd affembled, taking care to keep clear from the opposite butt, as the warning word of Faft' was thundered forth; but eager was the general murmur, and many were the wagers given and accepted, as fome well-known archer tried his chance. Near the butt that now formed the target, ftood the marker with his white wand; and the rapidity with which archer after archer discharged his shaft, and then, if it miffed, hurried across the ground to pick it up (for arrows were dear enough not to be lightly loft), amidst the jeers and laughter of the bystanders, was highly animated and diverting. As yet, however, no marksman had hit the white, though many had gone clofe to it, when Nicholas Alwyn ftepped forward; and there was something fo unwarlike in his whole air, so prim in his gait, fo careful in his deliberate furvey of the shaft, and his precise adjustment of the leathern gauntlet that protected the arm from the painful twang of the string, that a general burst of laughter from the bystanders attested their anticipation of a fignal failure. ""Fore heaven!' said Montagu, he handles his bow an' it were a yard measure. One would think he were about to bargain for the bow-string, he eyes it fo closely.' "And now,' faid Nicholas, flowly adjusting the arrow, 'a fhot for the honour of old Westmoreland!' And as he fpoke, the arrow sprang gallantly forth, and quivered in the very heart of the white. There was a general movement of furprise among the spectators, as the marker thrice fhook his wand over his head. But Alwyn, as indifferent to their respect as he had been to their ridicule, turned and faid, with a fignificant glance at the filent nobles, We springals of London can take care of our own, if need be.'" The great feat of Cloudeflie, the William Tell of England, was to fhoot the apple from the head of his child in the presence of the king. The skilful archer bound his son of seven years old to a tree, placed an apple on the child's head, measured one hundred and twenty yards from the stake, entreated the spectators to be filent, And then drew out a fayre brode arrowe; Hys bowe was great and longe, He set that arrowe in his bowe That was both styffe and stronge. Then Cloudeslie cleft the apple in two, "That thou sholde shote at me." 33 ROBIN HOOD. T was natural that in the midft of all the "merrie - makynge" and the harveft feafts of olden times, our ancestors fhould have loved the memory of the good and bold "Robyn Hode,”—as well as of that trio of liberty-loving Saxons, who years before had refifted and defied, in the faftneffes of their foreft-homes, the encroachments of Norman conquerors. William and his fucceffors would have made of the broad lands of England only one vast hunting field, and would have governed the vanquished people by the curfew-bell and a game law. But Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudeslie, -all honour to their memories!-laughed at the King's laws, and flew and ate the Plantagenets' venifon despite his cruel F |