you. For methought, by your waveringe pace and earnest lookinge, your booke ledde you, not you it.

"Tox. Indeede, as it chaunced, my minde went faster then my feete, for I happened here to reade in Phedon Platonis, a place that entreates wonderfullye of the nature of soules; which place, whether it were for the passinge eloquence of Plato, and the Greeke tongue, or for the highe and goodlye description of the matter, kepte my minde so occupyed, that it had no leisure to looke to my feete. For I was readynge how some soules, beinge well feathered, flewe alwayes about heaven and heavenly matters; other some having their feathers mouted away and droupinge, sancke downe into earthlye thinges.

"Phi. I remember the place very well, and it is wonderfullye sayd of Plato; and now I see it was no marveile, thoughe your feete fayled you, seinge your minde flewe so faste.

"Tox. I am glad now that you letted* me, for my heade akes with lookinge on it, and because you tell me so, I am very sorye that I was not with those good fellows, you spake upon, for it is a very fayre day for a man to shoote in.

“Phi. And methincke, you were a great deale better occupyed, and in better company, for it is a very fayre day for a man to go to his booke in.

"Tox. All dayes and wethers will serve for that purpose, and surely this occasion was ill lost.

"Phi. Yea, but cleare wether maketh cleare mindes, and it is best, as I suppose, to spende the best time upon the best thinges, and me thought you shotte verye well, and at that marke, at which everye good scholer shoulde most busilye shote at."

Toxophilus now proceeds to prove, by copious quotations from ancient authorities, that some relaxation and pastime are to be mingled with " sadde matters of the minde," a position which the studious Philologus endeavours to controvert.

"Phi. How muche in this matter is to be geven to the authoritye eyther of Aristotle or Tullye, I can not tell, seinge sadde men may well enoughe speake merilye for a merye matter: this I am sure, whiche thinge this fayre wheate (God save it) maketh mee remember, that those husbandmen, whiche ryse earlyest, and come latest home, and are contente to have theyr dinner, and other drinkynges broughte into the fielde to them, for feare of loosinge of tyme, have fatter barnes in the harvest, than they which will eyther sleape at noone tyme of the day, or els make merye with theyr neighbours at the ale. And so a scholer that purposeth to be a good husbande, and desyreth to reape and enjoye muche fruite of learninge, must till and sowe thereafter. Our best seede tyme, whiche be scholers, as it is very tymely and when we be yonge, so it endureth not over long, and therefore it may not be let slippe one houre: our grounde is very harde, and full of weedes, our horse wherewith we be drawen, very

wilde as Plato sayth, and infinite other mo lettes, which will make a thriftye scholer take heede howe he spendeth his time in sport and playe.

"Tox. That Aristotle and Tullye spake earnestlye and as they thoughte, the earneste matter which they entreate upon doth plainly prove. And as for your husbandrye, it was more probablye tolde with apte wordes proper to the thinge, than thoroughlye proved with reasons belonginge to our matter. For contrarywyse, I heard myselfe a good husbande at his booke once saye, that to omitte studye some tyme of the daye, and some tyme of the yeare, made as much for the increase of learnynge, as to let the lande lye some tyme falloe, maketh for the better increase of corne. This we see if the land be plowed every yeare, the corne cometh thinne up: the ear is short, the grain is small, and when it is brought into the barne and threshed, giveth very evill faule.+ So those which never leave poringe on theyr bookes, have oftentimes as thinne invention, as other poore men have, and as small witte and weight in it as in other men's. And thus your husbandrye, methincke, is more like the life of a covetous snudge that ofte very evill proves, than the labour of a good husbande that knoweth well what he doth. And surelye the best wittes to learninge must needes have muche recreation and ceasynge from theyr booke, or els they marre themselves; when base and dompish wittes can never be hurte with continual studye as ye see in lutinge, that a treble minikin stringe must alwayes be let downe, but at such tyme as when a man must needes playe, when the base and dulle stringe needeth never to be moved out of his place."

We regret that we cannot give the learned parallel between the arts of singing and archery. Philologe defends the former with great eloquence and skill; we shall quote a portion of it, which is deserving the serious consideration of the professional gentlemen mentioned in the extract.

"Besyde all these commodities, truely two degrees of men, which have the highest offices under the kinge in all this realme, shall greatlye lacke the use of singinge, preachers and lawyers, because they shall not, without this, be able to rule their breastes for everye purpose. For where is no distinction in tellinge glade thinges and fearful thinges, gentlenes, and cruelnes, softnes, and vehementnes, and such like matters, there can be no great perswasion. For the hearers, as Tullie sayth, be much affectioned, as he is that speaketh. At his words be they draween; if he stand still in one fashion, their mindes stande still with him: if he thunder, they quake; if he chide, they fere; if he complaine, they sorye with him: and finallye, where a matter is spoken with an apte voice for everye affection, the hearers for the most part, are moved as the speaker woulde; but when a man is alwaye in one tune, like an humble bee, or els now in the top of the churche, now downe that no man knoweth where to have him: or

piping like a reede or roaringe like a bull, as some lawyers do, which thincke they do best, when they crye lowdest, these shall never greatly move, as I have knowen manye well learned have done, because theyr voyce was not stayed afore, with learninge to singe. For all voyces, great and small, base and shrill, weake or soft, may be holpen and brought to a good point by learninge to singe."

In enumerating the praises of archery, Ascham takes occasion to compare it with the amusement of gaming, and gives us a fine picture of the gambling arts of that day. If we mistake not, it has all the force and truth which the hand of one who has, in some degree, been a sufferer in the cause, is so well able to give.

"How will they use these shiftes, when they get a plaine man that cannot skill of them? How will they go about, if they perceive an honest man have moneye, which list not playe, to provoke him to playe? They will seeke his companye, they will let him pay noughte, yea, and as I hearde a man ones saye that he did, they will sende for him to some house, and spend perchaunce a crowne on him, and, at last, will one begin to saye: What, my masters, what shall we do? Shall every man playe his twelve-pence whiles an apple roste in the fyre, and then we will drincke and departe? Naye, will an other saye, (as false as he) you cannot leave when you begin, and therefore I will not playe: But if you will gage, that every man, as he hath lost his twelve-pence, shall sit downe, I am contente, for surelye I would winne no manne's moneye here, but even as much as woulde pay for my supper. Then speaketh the thirde, to the honeste man that thoughte not to playe, What? will you playe your twelve-pence? If he excuse him; Tush, man! will the other saye, sticke not in honeste companye for twelve-pence; I will beare your halfe, and here is my moneye.

"Nowe all this is to make him to beginne, for they knowe if he be ones in, and be a loser, that he will not stick at his twelve-pence, but hopeth ever to get it againe, whiles perhappes he will lose all. Than everye one of them setteth his shiftes abroache, some with false dyse, some with settling of dyse, some with having outelandish silver coynes guilded, to put awaye at a time for good golde. Than if there come a thinge in controversye, must you be judged by the table, and than farewell the honest man's parte, for he is borne downe on every syde.

"Nowe, Sir, besyde all these thynges, they have certaine termes (as a man woulde saye) appropriate to their playinge; wherebye they will drawe a man's moneye, but paye none, which they calle barres, that surelye he that knoweth them not maye soon be debarred of all that ever he hath, before he learne them. If a plaine man lose, as he shall do ever, or els it is a wonder, than the game is so devilish, that he can never leave: for vaine hope, (which hope, sayth Euripides, destroyeth manye a man and cittye) driveth him on so farre, that he can never return backe, until he be so light, that he neede feare no

theeves by the way. Now if a simple man happen once in his life to winne of such players, than will they eyther entreate him to keepe them companye whiles he hath lost all againe, or els they will use the most devilyshe fachion of all, for one of the players that standeth next him, shall have a payre of false dyse, and cast them out upon the bourde, the honest man shall take them and cast them as he did the other, the thirde shall espye them to be false dyse, and shall crye out harde, with all the othes under God, that he has falsely wonne theyr moneye, and than there is nothinge but houlde thy throte from my dagger; everye man layeth hande on the simple man, and taketh all theyr moneye from him, and his owne also, thinckinge himselfe well that he escapeth with his life."

There are so many highly touched traces of nature, and such a spirited handling of his pen in the detached pictures, in which the Toxophilus abounds, that we have some difficulty in passing over them, even to reach our archer's splendid delineation of the delights and advantages of his art. We cannot afford space for his excellent argument, wherein he proves that "in learninge anye thinge, a man must covete to be best, or els he shall never attayne to be meane." Nor can we give his anathemas against swearing, when he "griselye sets out the horiblenesse of blasphemye;" and we must even restrain ourselves from quoting all the fine panegyrics which he utters in praise of learning, and the high commendations which he bestows on his contemporary Cheke, and his patron Wingfield. It is time that we should harness ourselves for the sport, fasten our bracer on our arm, pull on our shooting glove, draw our bow from its woollen case, and take our station in the field. Perhaps, however, we ought previously to carry the reader to the shops of our Bowyer and Fletcher, and teach him how to choose a good bow and shafts that will fly to the mark. If then he should find a bow that is "small, longe, heavye, and stronge, lying streyhte, not windinge, nor marred with knotte gaull, winde shake, wenn freat or pinch;" let him buy that bow of our warrant. Let him select one, where the back and belly are of the same colour, and it shall prove "like virgin wax or golde." Then let him take it into the fields, and try it, and if perchance it need it, let him take it to a trusty workman who shall "cut him shorter, and pike and dresse him fitter, and make him come compass round every where," and then let it be well rubbed and polished with a waxed woollen cloth. Let the arrows be "round, nothing flat, without gall or wemme," and let them have the ancient and excellent silver-spoon head, "which is good both to keepe a length withall, and also to perche a winde withall." Then let the young archer be careful that the Fletcher set not any other than goose-feathers on his shafts, and let him attend to the distinction between the feathers

of an old goose, and a young goose, a gander, or a goose, a fenny goose and an uplandish goose. But, indeed, with regard to the feather, and the selection, cutting, and fastening of them, there are so many nice points to be observed, that we must beg the reader will consult Toxophilus himself on the subject. We will, however, indulge him with the following finely drawn character of this despised bird, for which Ascham seems to have entertained a sincere affection, especially in a culinary point of view.

"Yet well fare the gentle goose, which bringeth to a man, even to his doore so many exceeding commodities! For the goose is man's comfort in warre and in peace, sleepinge and wakinge. What prayse soever is given to shootinge, the goose may challenge the best part of it. Howe well dothe she make a man fare at his table? How easilye doth she make a man lye in his bedde? How fitte, even as her feathers be only for shootinge, so be her quills for writinge.

"Phil. Indeed, Toxophile, that is the best prayse you gave to a goose yet, and surely I would have sayde you had bene to blame, if you had overskipte it.

"Tox. The Romaynes, I trowe, Philologe, not so much because a goose with crying saved their capitolium and heade toure, with their golden Jupiter, as Propertius dothe saye very pretely in this verse,

Anseris et tutum voce fuisse Jovem,-Prop.

Id est;

Thieves on a night had stolne Jupiter, had a goose not a kekede ; did make a golden goose, and set her in the toppe of the capitolium, and appointed also the Censores to allow out of the common batche yearely stipendes for the findinge of certaine geese; the Romaynes did not, I saye, geive all this honour to a goose for that good dede onely, but for other infinite mo, which come daily to a man by geese; and surelye if I should declame in the prayse of any maner of best lyvinge, I would chuse a goose. But the goose hath made us flee

too farre from our matter."

But let us suppose ourselves fairly in the field, amply provided with all the appointments of a true archer. Now is the time when our author's exhortations shall advantage us most, and now must we put his talents, as a teacher of this noble art, to the test. Imprimis; the Tyro must take good heed of his footing and standing, that they be both "comely to the eye and profitable to his use." Then let him carefully fix his arrow in the string, which, in our author's phrase, is called "knockinge." But drawing well is the best part of shooting, and this must be done easily and uniformly; drawing to the ear, which was the custom with our English archers, is preferable to drawing to the breast, which, it is said, the ancients were used to do. The