among your own equals; you obey thofe laws only which you yourfelves have dictated. If any of your deliverers, when at a distance from the vigilant eye of their tyrant, they confpired to break his iron you chooses to appreciate the happi-yoke.-There is the facred plain, nefs contained within the boundary of his little poffeffion, he fhall find himself equal to the mafters of the world, and will neither envy their palaces, nor their flatterers. On this occafion, when gladness reigos in our mountains, fome teftify where the aufpicious arrow of Kinnemberg fell. On that fide is the venerable chapel of William Tell; and you fee below, the narrow boundaries of the field of battle, where Vinkchied, and fo many of your generous ancestors cemented the foun their joy by fongs and by dancing,dation of rifing liberty with their and others by banquets and by mas querades. As to us, we offer up a public and a folema homage to our • brave deliverers; we ftir up in every bofom the love of Liberty, and we crown with garlands the face of our beloved country! The cold and phlegmatic rules of art do not prefide at this fpectacle; truth alone, without diffimulation, ' without embellishment, reminds you of thofe happy days, when faith, valor, and other rural virtues, were alone honored among us. Our & poetry is fimple, like that of our torefathers ; it reminds us of the candor and the artleffnefs of their energetic language; and as to our games, they are not agreeable but to real Helvetians to thofe mountaineers, ftill worthy of their anceftors, b. cause they strive to refemble 6 them. ****** ***** ***** But above all things, O brave Helvetians, above all things, imprint upon your minds the remembrance of thofe great events which this day folemnize. Salute then, you these auguft fcenes-blefs this famous fpot-this fpot faced to liberty, on which you have f often trod without reflection-bathe in tears the ftones which form the monu⚫ments of your forefathers glory! At every step your country feems to to you "Stop, you trampie under 6. your feet the unknown tomb of fome • hero." cry Here is the folitary field of Rutli, which formerly gave fhelter to I doubt not, O Helvetians! but that the reprefentation of the deeds of former times has at once interefted and affected you; may this scene remain impreffed upon your minds, and preferve in you the love of your 'country, and of all its ancient virtues! You who are the youthful fons of the fhepherds of the mountains, fee how the fon of William • Tell was made an inftrument by "Heaven, to preferve the innocence of his father, and the honour of his country. Be courageous like that boy, who never turned a way way his head, who fhut his eyes, and exclaim with pride", Although we are yet but • children, are neverthelefs we never even in the feats of war; but refolve only to ufe your arms in the defence of your children, your laws, and your religion. the defcendants of ancient heroes ; and underneath our little leathern caps, the generous blood of Switzer• land, even now, animates us to glory!" * * * * * * * Young bowmen-ye who still carry the arms of William Tell-ye who exercise them, that you may attain perfection, fay with me:- -If the enemy should come, we fhall fharpen our arrows, we shall bend our bows; and when we are older, the ball launched from the • fusee shall hereafter give a certain death. * * * * And you, ye illuftrious people, • defcended from thefe freemen, renew in your hearts this univerfal • confederation; cement it by the language of brotherhood and of peace: fo that each canton may hold out an Helvetian hand to its neighbour; and its citizen may be ready to ferve his country at the expence even of his life. " more * 6 O Switzerland! sheltered by the buckler of Heaven, amidft your 'fcattered vallies, you hear at a diftance the feeble found of devouring war ! Your happiness confifts in "O ye robust warriors, who know peace; fedulously then preserve that that every Swifs is born a foldier, peace; it will avail you more than love always the noife of arms-en- numerous armies of mercenaries, · courage no other than military ⚫ than fortreffes befet with cannon, games in the time of peace be pru-and treafures which but corrupt their games-in dent enough to exercife yourfelves A Anecdotes of Archery; by H. G. Oldfield. T the general diftribution of faculties, the Omnipotent beftowed the power of invention on the human race alone. Man being endowed with this bleffing, has produced many wonderful, but more useful difcoveries. Derham fomewhere obferves, that the ufe of things which mankind had the greatest occafion for, was found out long before others which are not fo effential, or of pernicious confequences-neceffity is the great affiftant of invention the aid of nature is feldom wanting-and chance is frequently the parent of great difco veries. Archery is of fo great antiquity, that at what time, and by whom first practifed, is very uncertain; and whether the inftruments thereof were the contrivance of neceffity on fome fudden emergency, or a difcovery owing to the pure effects of chance, is equally doubtful. No infirument has fo generally ob tained throughout the earth as the bow; very few nations but have some time or other used it even now in many places it is a common weapon. This general prevalence makes it doubtful whether more perfons than one may not jufly lay claim to the invention as their own; we find it in the further parts of Afia, and the moft northern of Europe; in Africa it is alfo common. The first discoverers found the bow and arrows among the Americans. It is not improbable that Nimrod knew the ufe of the bow, confidering he was a great hunter, and a man of war. We are certain that the later Patriarchs were not ignorant of it. The Grecians were well acquaint ed ed with these weapons, and their bow was (fays Montfaucon) fhaped after the fashion of the letter. At the fiege of Troy, the bow and arrow were in common ufe; the poets fay that a Centaur was brought into the army who fhot his arrows with fuch force as to pierce through two or three ranks. It is not evident that the Romans, in the early part of the republic, had the bow. They made ufe of it however afterwards, though their archers were for the moft part auxiliaries, yet they were not unacquainted with this exercife, as appears by the Emperor Commodus, who was uncommonly dexterous therein. They had mafters at Rome to teach the art; among whom was T. Flavius Expe. ditus, whofe image Spon has given from a fepulchral bafs relief, where he is called Do&tor Sagittorum. The Perfians and Parthians were reckoned very expert bowmen; and Herodotus, fpeaking of the army of Xerxes, mentions the following nations who were armed with bows and qui vers; viz. the Perfians, Medes, Affyrians, Scythians., Parthians, Indians, and Arabs, whofe arrows for the most part were of cane, pointed with fome hard confiftence. The forms of the ancient bow are pretty much alike, they have generally two inflections or bendings, between which, in the place where the arrow is laid, is a right line: Thefe fort of bows must be compofed of three different pieces of wood to be of fuch a form, which of courfe would give it elafticity and a ftronger fpring. The common weapors of the Indians are bows and arrows; Columbus found them among the Caribbs and Weft Indians. In his fecond voyage, meeting with a canoe with with four men and one woman, who perceiving they could not baffle their purfuers, put themfelves in a poiture of defence, and the female shot an arrow with fuch force and dexterity, that it actually went through a strong target g but the Spaniard's attempting to board them, overset the canoe, fo that they betook themfelves to fwimming, and one of them ufed his bow in the water as well as if he had been on dry land. Guadaloupe, at the first dif covery, was inhabited by women only; thefe amazons oppofed the landing of the Spaniards with their bows and arrows. Several of the Indian nations fhot pofoned arrows, but to the honour of Indian humanity, the use of fuch ho rible weapons was among the canibal part of them chiefly. Sir Walter Raleigh met with fome of these in his voyage up the country of Guiana; and Cavendish had one of his men killed with a poifoned arrow at Sierra Leona. The Brafilians, when difcovered by De Cabral, a Portugefe captain, ufed bow, which they fhot fo dexterously, as very feldom to mifs their aim, and their arrows were pointed with fifh bone that would penetrate the thickeft boards. In Drake's voyage, thế Brafilian bows are defcribed of an ell in length. De Gama, another Portuguese, found bows and arrows in the Eaft Indian ifles; they were alfo ufed in Calcutta, which he experienced to the lofs of a number of his men. When the renowned Sir Francis Drake was making his expedition by land to intercept the Spanish caravan loaded with treafure, falling fhort of provifions, and not daring to fire a gun left he should hazard a discovery, the Symerons who accompanied him fupplied him with food with their bows and arrows: these people confifted of fuch Indians who fled from the cruelty of their mafters, the Spaniards, and forming themselves into a strong body, built a town in an advantageous place, and refifted the Spaniards by force of arms. I find no mention of the bow among the Britons, and the Romans making making but little ufe of it, fuch inftruments were not common till the coming of the Saxons, who (accord ing to Verftegan) firft brought them into general ufe in this land, and they most like had the knowledge thereof from their ancestors, the Scythians, who are before mentioned as excellent arch ers. Camden thus fpeaks of archery: "Amongst all the English artillery, archery challengeth the pre-eminency as peculiar to our nation, as the Sarif fa was to the Macedonians, the Gefa to the old Gauls, the Framea to the Germans, the Mochæra to the Greeks; first thewed to the English by Danes, brought in by the Normans, continued by their fucceffors, to the great glory of England in atchieving honourable victories." The bows used by the English were long bows and cross bows: the long bow confifted of a fingle piece of wood, commonly yew, four or five feet long, the ftring of finews or guts of animals: the arrows ufed with thefe bows were about a yard long, of light wood, headed with iron, and trimmed with feathers. The cross bow was of fteel, paffing through a flock of wood, upon which it was charged; the arrows fhot from thefe were fhort, and made of iron, with a pyramidical point. They fometimes fhot ftones from thefe inftru ments. The bow was not confined to mar. tial purposes alone, but it was alfo ufed in fporting; for birding there was a particular kind of arrow, cal. led a bird bolt. We read that God frey of Bullogne, broached three fwallows upon his arrow at one fhot, when he commanded in the Holy-land, which being a thing very remarkable,he took the three birds for his coat of arms. I cannot difcover that the English had any number of bowmen at the memorable battle, of Haftings; but the Normans we are told had a confiderable number of excellent archers, headed by Fitz Obern.) King Harold was wounded in the eye by an arrow from one of thefe Norman bows, and was foon after flain by fome who confidered his death as the most important fruit of their victory. King William the conqueror was an admirable archer, and was fo ftrong, that none but himself could bend the bow he ufed. There is this curious poetic charter relating to archery extant in feveral of our historians: I William King, In the third year of my reign, The Hop and the Hoptown, To witness that this is footh, At the glorious battle of Crefcy, the French had among them a body of Genoefe archers, who at that time were reckoned excellent in the use of the bow; thefe having their bow-ftrings moistened with rain, their arrows fell thort for want of the ufual elafticity. It is alfo recorded that the English had many bowmen, and the victory was chiefly owing to their valour and care in keeping their weapons dry. The English at the battle of Poictiers made good ufe of their arrows; and many other battles have been gained by the fkill and valour of the English archers. At the battle of Hallidown Hill, the Scots had 10,000 men; the Percies of Northumberland oppofed them. Speed Speed gives us this defcription of the battle: "The chief feat was wrought by the English archers, who firft with their ftiff, clofe, and cruel ftorms of arrows, made their enemies footmen break; and when the noble Douglas defcended to the charge, with his choiceft bands, himself being in a moft rich and excellently tempered armour, and the reft fingularly well appointed; the Lord Percie's archers making a retreat, did withal deliver their deadly arrows, tam vividé, tam animofé, tam gravitér, (faith our monk) fo lively, fo courageously, fo grievoufly, that they ran through the men of arms, bored the helmets, pierced their very fwords, beat their lances to the earth, and eafily fhot those who were more lightly armed, through and through. There were taken prisoners, the Earl of Douglas himself (who, notwithstanding his armour of the best proof, had five wounds and loft an eye,) Murdake Steward, Earl of Fife (eldeit fon to Robert Duke of Albany,) George Earl of Angus, the Earls of Murray and Orkney, the Lords Montgomery, Erkin, and Grange, with about fourfcore Knights, befides Ef quires and Gentlemen." At the battle of Agincourt, King Henry commanded two hundred bowmen to plant themselves in a meadow fecured by a ditch and under cover of bushes, having ftakes pointed at each end to plant against the approaches of the horses. The reft of his army he ranged in array, placing the men at arms in the main body, and the archers on each fide; the vanguard, confifting folely of atchers, was led by the Duke of York. Before the battle began, the king fpoke thefe words:" Worthy foldiers, and faithful companions, we are now going into the field of honour, exert your felves to the utmoft, that ages may know what the bow, lance, axe, and fword, can do in the hands of valiant men.' When he had done, the army gave a shout, and the archers in the " ambush darkened the air with their arrows, few of which were shot in vain ; at the fame time the main battle advancing, with fuch courage had the king's words infpired them, that though before they could fcarcely bend their bows, they were now able to draw their yard-long arrows to the head. The French horfe charged the archers, who fixed their ftakes, and retiring behind them, were fecure, and made terrible flaughter of their ene-. mies, the greater part of whofe troops turned their backs and fled. The battle was a fhort time maintained by the French general and leaders, who courageously died, like men, on their enemies points, rather than difhonourably retreat. Before evening the field was clear, and no enemy to be seen. In the battle of Bofworth, between King Richard III. and the Earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry the Seventh, there were bowmen on both fides, who were ranged in front, and began the battle; the Duke of Norfolk commanded thofe on the fide. of King Richard, and the Earl of Oxford was captain of the Earl's archers. In Bofworth field was found, not many years fince, the ftock of a cross bow curioufly carved; the figure of which is engraved in the Gentleman's Magazine. King Henry the Seventh inftituted, a band of archers to guard his perfon, under the title of Yeomen of the Guard. This band is at prefent eftablifhed; but they are now armed with fwords and a kind of halberts, inftead of bows-Still, to keep up the memory of their predeceffors fkill, they annually practife fhooting with bow and arrows. A D. 1513, James, King of Scot land, invaded the English borders, The Earl of Surry, Lieutenant in the north, advanced to meet him, with 26,000 men ; under the Earl Sir Edward Stanley commanded a referved band of three companies of archers, The 1 |