(15)“2em-dashhow. . . .they could discourseThe freezing hours away!”](Cymbeline, act iii. scene 3). The chief subjects of our hero’s conversation are supposed, by a poetical genius of the 16th{xxxvi}century, to have been the commendation of a forest-life and the ingratitude of mankind.“I have no tales of Robin Hood, though mal-content was heIn better daies, first Richard’s daies, and liv’d in woods as weA Tymon of the world; but not devoutly was he soe,And therefore praise I not the man: but for from him did groeWords worth the note, a word or twaine of him ere hence we goe.Those daies begot some mal-contents, the principall of whomeA county was, that with a troope of yomandry did rome,Brave archers and deliver men, since nor before so good,Those took from rich to give the poore, and manned Robin Hood.He fed them well, and lodg’d them safe in pleasant caves and bowers,Oft saying to his merry men, What juster life than ours?Here use we tallents that abroad the churles abuse or hide,Their coffers’ excrements, and yeat for common wants denide.We might have sterved for their store, & they have dyc’st our bones,Whose tongues, driftes, harts, intice, meane, melt, as syrens, foxes, stones,Yea even the best that betterd them heard but aloofe our mones.And redily the churles could prie and prate of our amis,Forgetfull of their owne. . . .I did amis, not missing friends that wisht me to amend:I did amend, but missed friends when mine amis had end:My friends therefore shall finde me true, but I will trust no frend.Not one I knewe that wisht me ill, nor any workt me well,To lose, lacke, live, time, frends, in yncke, an hell, an hell, an hell!Then happie we (quoth Robin Hood) in merry Sherwood that dwell.”27It has been conjectured, however, that, in the winter season, our hero and his companions severally quartered themselves in villages or country-houses more or less remote, with persons of whose fidelity they were assured. It is not improbable, at the same time, that they might have tolerably comfortable habitations erected in the woods.Archery, which our hero and his companions appear to have carried to a state of perfection, continued to be cultivated for some ages after their time, down, indeed, to that of Henry VIII., or about the year 1540, when, owing to the introduction of artillery and matchlock-guns, it became neglected, and the bowmen of Cressy and Agincourt utterly extinct; though it may be still a question whether a body of expert archers would not, even at this day, be superior to an equal{xxxvii}number armed with muskets.28The loss sustained from this change by the people at large seems irreparable. Anciently, the use of the bow or bill qualified every man for a soldier; and a body of peasants, led on by a Tyler or a Cade, was not less formidable than any military force that could be raised to oppose them: by which means the people from time to time preserved the very little liberty they had, and which their tyrants were constantly endeavouring to wrest from them. See how the case stands at present: the sovereign, let him be who or what he will (kings have been tyrants, and may be so again), has a standing army, well disciplined and accoutred, while the subjects or people are absolutely defenceless: as much care having been taken, particularly since “the glorious revolution,” to deprive them of arms as was formerly bestowed to enforce their use and practice.29The following extract from Hale’s Historia Placitorum Coronæ (i. 118) will serve to show how familiar the bow and arrow was in the 14th century:—“M. 22. E. 3. Rot. 117. coram rege Ebor. This was the case of Henry Vescy, who had been indicted before the sheriff in turno suo . . . of divers felonies, whereupon the sheriff mandavit commissionem suam Henrico de Clyderawe & aliis ad capiendum prædictum H. Vescy, & salvo ducendum usque castrum de Ebor.” Vescy would not submit to an arrest, but fled, and inter fugiendum shot with his bow and arrows at his pursuers, but in the end was killed by Clyderawe: to which may be added a remarkable passage in Harison’s “Description of England” (prefixed to Holinshed’s Chronicle, 1587), to prove how much it had declined in the 16th. “In times past,” says he, “the{xxxviii}cheefe force of England consisted in their long bowes. But now we have in maner generallie given over that kind of artillerie, and for long bowes in deed doo practise to shoot compasse for our pastime; which kind of shooting can never yeeld anie smart stroke, nor beat down our enemies, as our countrymen were woont to doo at everie time of need. Certes the Frenchmen and Rutters,30deriding our new archerie in respect of their corslets, will not let, in open skirmish, if anie leisure serve, to turne up their tailes, and crie, Shoote, English; and all because our strong shooting is decaied and laid in bed. But if some of our Englishmen now lived that served King Edward the Third in his warres with France, the breech31of such a varlet should have beene nailed to his bum with one arrow, and an other fethered in his bowels, before he should have turned about to see who shot the first” (p. 198). Bishop Latimer, in his sixth sermon before King Edward VI., gives an interesting account how the sons of yeomen were, in his infancy, trained up to the bow. “But now,” says he, “we have taken up whooring in townes, instead of shooting in the fieldes.”
(15)
“2em-dashhow. . . .they could discourseThe freezing hours away!”]
“2em-dashhow. . . .they could discourseThe freezing hours away!”]
“2em-dashhow. . . .they could discourseThe freezing hours away!”]
“2em-dashhow
. . . .they could discourse
The freezing hours away!”]
(Cymbeline, act iii. scene 3). The chief subjects of our hero’s conversation are supposed, by a poetical genius of the 16th{xxxvi}century, to have been the commendation of a forest-life and the ingratitude of mankind.
“I have no tales of Robin Hood, though mal-content was heIn better daies, first Richard’s daies, and liv’d in woods as weA Tymon of the world; but not devoutly was he soe,And therefore praise I not the man: but for from him did groeWords worth the note, a word or twaine of him ere hence we goe.Those daies begot some mal-contents, the principall of whomeA county was, that with a troope of yomandry did rome,Brave archers and deliver men, since nor before so good,Those took from rich to give the poore, and manned Robin Hood.He fed them well, and lodg’d them safe in pleasant caves and bowers,Oft saying to his merry men, What juster life than ours?Here use we tallents that abroad the churles abuse or hide,Their coffers’ excrements, and yeat for common wants denide.We might have sterved for their store, & they have dyc’st our bones,Whose tongues, driftes, harts, intice, meane, melt, as syrens, foxes, stones,Yea even the best that betterd them heard but aloofe our mones.And redily the churles could prie and prate of our amis,Forgetfull of their owne. . . .I did amis, not missing friends that wisht me to amend:I did amend, but missed friends when mine amis had end:My friends therefore shall finde me true, but I will trust no frend.Not one I knewe that wisht me ill, nor any workt me well,To lose, lacke, live, time, frends, in yncke, an hell, an hell, an hell!Then happie we (quoth Robin Hood) in merry Sherwood that dwell.”27
“I have no tales of Robin Hood, though mal-content was heIn better daies, first Richard’s daies, and liv’d in woods as weA Tymon of the world; but not devoutly was he soe,And therefore praise I not the man: but for from him did groeWords worth the note, a word or twaine of him ere hence we goe.Those daies begot some mal-contents, the principall of whomeA county was, that with a troope of yomandry did rome,Brave archers and deliver men, since nor before so good,Those took from rich to give the poore, and manned Robin Hood.He fed them well, and lodg’d them safe in pleasant caves and bowers,Oft saying to his merry men, What juster life than ours?Here use we tallents that abroad the churles abuse or hide,Their coffers’ excrements, and yeat for common wants denide.We might have sterved for their store, & they have dyc’st our bones,Whose tongues, driftes, harts, intice, meane, melt, as syrens, foxes, stones,Yea even the best that betterd them heard but aloofe our mones.And redily the churles could prie and prate of our amis,Forgetfull of their owne. . . .I did amis, not missing friends that wisht me to amend:I did amend, but missed friends when mine amis had end:My friends therefore shall finde me true, but I will trust no frend.Not one I knewe that wisht me ill, nor any workt me well,To lose, lacke, live, time, frends, in yncke, an hell, an hell, an hell!Then happie we (quoth Robin Hood) in merry Sherwood that dwell.”27
“I have no tales of Robin Hood, though mal-content was heIn better daies, first Richard’s daies, and liv’d in woods as weA Tymon of the world; but not devoutly was he soe,And therefore praise I not the man: but for from him did groeWords worth the note, a word or twaine of him ere hence we goe.Those daies begot some mal-contents, the principall of whomeA county was, that with a troope of yomandry did rome,Brave archers and deliver men, since nor before so good,Those took from rich to give the poore, and manned Robin Hood.He fed them well, and lodg’d them safe in pleasant caves and bowers,Oft saying to his merry men, What juster life than ours?Here use we tallents that abroad the churles abuse or hide,Their coffers’ excrements, and yeat for common wants denide.We might have sterved for their store, & they have dyc’st our bones,Whose tongues, driftes, harts, intice, meane, melt, as syrens, foxes, stones,Yea even the best that betterd them heard but aloofe our mones.And redily the churles could prie and prate of our amis,Forgetfull of their owne. . . .I did amis, not missing friends that wisht me to amend:I did amend, but missed friends when mine amis had end:My friends therefore shall finde me true, but I will trust no frend.Not one I knewe that wisht me ill, nor any workt me well,To lose, lacke, live, time, frends, in yncke, an hell, an hell, an hell!Then happie we (quoth Robin Hood) in merry Sherwood that dwell.”27
“I have no tales of Robin Hood, though mal-content was he
In better daies, first Richard’s daies, and liv’d in woods as we
A Tymon of the world; but not devoutly was he soe,
And therefore praise I not the man: but for from him did groe
Words worth the note, a word or twaine of him ere hence we goe.
Those daies begot some mal-contents, the principall of whome
A county was, that with a troope of yomandry did rome,
Brave archers and deliver men, since nor before so good,
Those took from rich to give the poore, and manned Robin Hood.
He fed them well, and lodg’d them safe in pleasant caves and bowers,
Oft saying to his merry men, What juster life than ours?
Here use we tallents that abroad the churles abuse or hide,
Their coffers’ excrements, and yeat for common wants denide.
We might have sterved for their store, & they have dyc’st our bones,
Whose tongues, driftes, harts, intice, meane, melt, as syrens, foxes, stones,
Yea even the best that betterd them heard but aloofe our mones.
And redily the churles could prie and prate of our amis,
Forgetfull of their owne. . . .
I did amis, not missing friends that wisht me to amend:
I did amend, but missed friends when mine amis had end:
My friends therefore shall finde me true, but I will trust no frend.
Not one I knewe that wisht me ill, nor any workt me well,
To lose, lacke, live, time, frends, in yncke, an hell, an hell, an hell!
Then happie we (quoth Robin Hood) in merry Sherwood that dwell.”27
It has been conjectured, however, that, in the winter season, our hero and his companions severally quartered themselves in villages or country-houses more or less remote, with persons of whose fidelity they were assured. It is not improbable, at the same time, that they might have tolerably comfortable habitations erected in the woods.
Archery, which our hero and his companions appear to have carried to a state of perfection, continued to be cultivated for some ages after their time, down, indeed, to that of Henry VIII., or about the year 1540, when, owing to the introduction of artillery and matchlock-guns, it became neglected, and the bowmen of Cressy and Agincourt utterly extinct; though it may be still a question whether a body of expert archers would not, even at this day, be superior to an equal{xxxvii}number armed with muskets.28The loss sustained from this change by the people at large seems irreparable. Anciently, the use of the bow or bill qualified every man for a soldier; and a body of peasants, led on by a Tyler or a Cade, was not less formidable than any military force that could be raised to oppose them: by which means the people from time to time preserved the very little liberty they had, and which their tyrants were constantly endeavouring to wrest from them. See how the case stands at present: the sovereign, let him be who or what he will (kings have been tyrants, and may be so again), has a standing army, well disciplined and accoutred, while the subjects or people are absolutely defenceless: as much care having been taken, particularly since “the glorious revolution,” to deprive them of arms as was formerly bestowed to enforce their use and practice.29The following extract from Hale’s Historia Placitorum Coronæ (i. 118) will serve to show how familiar the bow and arrow was in the 14th century:—“M. 22. E. 3. Rot. 117. coram rege Ebor. This was the case of Henry Vescy, who had been indicted before the sheriff in turno suo . . . of divers felonies, whereupon the sheriff mandavit commissionem suam Henrico de Clyderawe & aliis ad capiendum prædictum H. Vescy, & salvo ducendum usque castrum de Ebor.” Vescy would not submit to an arrest, but fled, and inter fugiendum shot with his bow and arrows at his pursuers, but in the end was killed by Clyderawe: to which may be added a remarkable passage in Harison’s “Description of England” (prefixed to Holinshed’s Chronicle, 1587), to prove how much it had declined in the 16th. “In times past,” says he, “the{xxxviii}cheefe force of England consisted in their long bowes. But now we have in maner generallie given over that kind of artillerie, and for long bowes in deed doo practise to shoot compasse for our pastime; which kind of shooting can never yeeld anie smart stroke, nor beat down our enemies, as our countrymen were woont to doo at everie time of need. Certes the Frenchmen and Rutters,30deriding our new archerie in respect of their corslets, will not let, in open skirmish, if anie leisure serve, to turne up their tailes, and crie, Shoote, English; and all because our strong shooting is decaied and laid in bed. But if some of our Englishmen now lived that served King Edward the Third in his warres with France, the breech31of such a varlet should have beene nailed to his bum with one arrow, and an other fethered in his bowels, before he should have turned about to see who shot the first” (p. 198). Bishop Latimer, in his sixth sermon before King Edward VI., gives an interesting account how the sons of yeomen were, in his infancy, trained up to the bow. “But now,” says he, “we have taken up whooring in townes, instead of shooting in the fieldes.”