h largely superseded
it in the Middle Ages for war and sport, the English gentleman's
"birding-piece" before he took to the gun, he will not hear of. The
sportsman of tender years often prefers it. It is less troublesome in the
matter of ammunition. Any missile will answer for it, from a sixpenny nail
to a six-inch pewter-headed bolt--projectiles which travel two hundred
yards with force and precision. The draft on the muscular strength is of
course the same with either form of the bow, but the long-bow admits of
its being more easily graduated, and is therefore preferable for the
exercise-ground.

Mr. Thompson, we observe, seems to disregard the spiral arrangement of the
feather, and the rotary movement around the axis of flight imparted by it
to the arrow. He uses three strips of feather, which is better than two
flat ones for the purpose of keeping the missile steady, but still does
not prevent its swerving toward the end of its course, as more than one
vexatious incident of his hunting record shows. This usage may help to
account for the superiority of the old bowmen to the amateurs of to-day in
accuracy at long ranges. The best targets reported on the part of the
latter, such as "eleven shots in a nine-inch bull's-eye, out of thirteen,
at forty yards," and "ten successive shots in a sheet of paper eight
inches square at thirty yards," are poor by the side of the exploits of
the yeomen and foresters on the archery-grounds of yore. To split a
willow-wand at two hundred paces must have required something in the way
of practice and system more precise and absolute than the guesswork Mr.
Thompson concedes to be unavoidable to-day with the utmost care and
experience. It could not have been done with a missile liable, in the
calmest atmosphere, the moment it passed the point-blank, to unaccountable
aberrations, vertically and horizontally.

The China-Hunters' Club. By the Youngest Member. New York: Harper &
Brothers.

The literature of which this is a new specimen would have astonished the
reading public of ten years ago, as it probably will that of ten years
hence. Library shelves which knew it not at the former period are nearly
filled now, and fast becoming crowded. Shall we predict that at the future
date named their contents will be nearly invisible for dust? No. Much of
what is going through the press on the subject of pottery will have its
use as promoting the advancement and clearing up the history of fictile