Butts_, _near Bristol_. Many of the noble
and county families of Great Britain and Ireland have the symbols of
archery charged on their escutcheons; as, for instance, the Duke of
Norfolk, on his bend, between six crosslets, bears an escutcheon charged
with a demi-lion pierced in the mouth with an arrow, within a double
tressure flory and counterflory. This was an addition to the coat of his
Grace's ancestor, the Earl of Surrey, who commanded at Flodden Field, in
1513. There are also existing families which have derived their surnames
from the names of the different crafts formerly engaged in the
manufacture of the bow and its accompaniments; as, for instance, the
names of _Bowyer_, _Fletcher_, _Stringer_, _Arrowsmith_, &c. If we refer
to our language, there will be found many phrases and proverbial
expressions drawn from or connected with archery; some suggesting
forethought and caution, as "_Always have two strings to your bow_;" it
being the custom of military archers to take additional bowstrings with
them into the field of battle; "_Get the shaft-hand of your
adversaries_;" "_Draw not thy bow before thy arrow be fixed_;" "_Kill two
birds with one shaft_." To make an enemy's machinations recoil upon
himself, they expressed by saying, "_To outshoot a man in his own bow_."
In reference to a vague, foolish guess, they used to say, "_He shoots
wide of his mark_;" and of unprofitable, silly conversation, "_A fool's
bolt is soon shot_." The unready and the unskilful archer did not escape
the censure and warning of his fellows, although he might be a great man,
and boast that he had "_A famous bow--but it was up at the castle_." Of
such they satirically remarked that "_Many talked of Robin Hood_, _who
never shot in his bow_." Our ancestors also expressed liberality of
sentiment, and their opinion that merit belonged exclusively to no
particular class or locality, by the following pithy expressions, "_Many
a good bow besides one __in Chester_;" and "_An archer is known by his
aim_, _and not by his arrows_."

And what was the result of all this practice with the bow?--why, that we
never feared invasion. Those were not times when old ladies were
frightened out of their night's sleep. Every Englishman was a free and
fearless soldier; the foe might growl at a distance, but he never dared
to touch our shores--to plunder our cities--to massacre our smiling
babes--and to do outrage worse than death to our English womanhood