ing was a favourite amusement on Shrove Tuesday, as well
as at other times. This shameful and barbarous practice was
continued until the eighteenth century; some of our kings took
delight in it, and in the old grammar schools in the North of
England it was sanctioned by the masters, who received from their
scholars a small tax called "cock-fight dues." Happily, with
bull-baiting, bear-baiting, dog-fighting, and the like, this cruel
and brutal pastime has ceased to exist. If we have lost some of the
simple joys and cheerful light-heartedness of our forefathers, we
have also happily lost some of their cruel disregard for the
sufferings of animals, and abandoned such barbarous amusements as I
have tried to describe. But the old sports of England were not all
like these; the archery, running, leaping, wrestling, football, and
other games in which our ancestors delighted, made the young men of
England a manly and a sturdy race, and our nation mainly owes its
greatness to the courage, manliness, and daring of her sons.

But Ash Wednesday has dawned, and all is still in town and village.
The Shrove-tide feast is ended, and the days of fasting and of
prayer have hushed the sounds of merriment and song.

CHAPTER III.

MARCH.

"And now a solemn fast we keep,
When earth wakes from her winter sleep."

"And he was clad in cote and hode of grene;
A shefe of pecocke arrowes bryght and shene
Under his belt he bare ful thriftely,
Well could he dresse his tackle yomanly;
His arrowes drouped not with fethers lowe,
And in hande he bare a myghty bowe."

Archery--Lent--"Mothering" Sunday--Palm Sunday--
"Shere" Thursday--Watching the Sepulchre.

Of all the sports and pastimes of old England, archery was the most
renowned, and many a hard-fought victory has been gained through
the skill which our English archers acquired in the use of their
famous bows. "Alas, alas for Scotland when English arrows fly!" was
the sad lament of many a Highland clan, and Frenchmen often learnt
to their cost the force of our bowmen's arms. The accounts of the
fights of Crecy and Poitiers tell of the prowess of our archers; and
the skill which they acquired by practising at the butts at home has
gained many a victory. Archery was so useful in war that several
royal proclamations were issued to encourage the sport, and in many
parishes there were fields set apart for the men to practise.
Although the sport