has died out as a popular pastime, the old name,
the butts, remains in many a town and village, recording the spot
where our forefathers acquired their famous skill. The name is still
retained in the neighbouring town of Reading, and in some old
records I find that in 1549 a certain "Will'm Watlynton received
xxxvi_s_. for making of the butts;" and there are several items of
charges in other years for repairing and renewing the same.

[Illustration: TWO ARCHERS WEARING ARMOR.]

Edward III. ordered "that every one strong in body, at leisure on
holidays, should use in their recreation bows and arrows, and learn
and exercise the art of shooting, forsaking such vain plays as
throwing stones, handball, football, bandyball, or cock-fighting,
which have no profit in them." Edward IV. ordered every Englishman,
of whatever rank, to have a bow his own height always ready for use,
and to instruct his children in the art. In every township the butts
were ordered to be set up, and the people were required to shoot
"up and down" every Sunday and feast-day, under penalty of one
halfpenny.

The sport began to decline in the sixteenth century, in spite of
royal proclamations and occasional revivals. Henry VIII. forbade the
use of the cross-bow, lest it should interfere with the practice of
the more ancient weapon, and many old writers lament over the decay
of this famous pastime of old England, which, as Bishop Latimer
stated in one of his sermons, "is a goodly art, a wholesome kind of
exercise, and much commended as physic."

The Finsbury archers had, in 1594, no less than one hundred and
sixty-four targets in Finsbury Fields, set up on pillars with
curious devices over them; but four years later Stow laments that
"by reason of closing in of common grounds, our archers, for want of
room to shoot abroad, creep into ordinary dicing-houses and
bowling-alleys near home."

The famous Robin Hood, who lived in the reign of Richard I., was the
king of archers. The exploits of this renowned outlaw and his merry
men form the subject of many old ballads and romances, and the old
oaks in Sherwood Forest could tell the tale of many an exciting
chase after the king's deer, and of many a luckless traveller who
had to pay dearly for the hospitality of Robin Hood and Little John.
The ballads narrate that they could shoot an arrow a measured mile,
but this is a flight of imagination which we can hardly follow!

"But he was an archer true an