30 ROGER ASCHAM
40 lines✦
oth because then you shall shoote nought, and agayn bylitle and lytle hurtynge your finger, ye shall make it longeand longer before you shoot agayne. A newe glove pluckesmany shootes bycause the stringe goeth not freelye off, andtherefore the fingers muste be cut shorte, and trimmed withsome ointment, that the string maye glyde wel awaye. Somewyth holdynge in the nocke of theyr shafte too harde, rubthe skyn off there fingers. For this there be. ii. remedyes,one to have a goose quyll splettyd and sewed againste thenockynge, betwixt the lining and the lether, whyche shallhelpe the shoote muche to, the other waye is to have someroule of lether sewed betwixt his fingers at the setting on ofthe fingers, which shall kepe his fingers so in sunder, thatthey shal not hold the nock so fast as they did. The shoot-yng glove hath a purse whych shall serve to put fine linencloth and wax in, twoo necessary thynges for a shooter,some men use gloves or other suche lyke thyng on theirbow hand for chafyng, because they houlde so harde. Butthat commeth commonlye, when a bowe is not rounde, butsomewhat square, fine waxe shall do verye well in such acase to laye where a man holdeth his bow : and thus mucheas concemjmge your glove. And these thjrnges althoughethey be trifles, yet bycause you be but a yonge shoter, Iwoulde not leve them out. Phi. And so you shal do me moost pleasure : The stringI trow be the next. Tox. The nexte in dede. A thing though it be lytle, yetnot a litle to be regarded. But here in you muste be con-tente to put youre truste in honest stringers. And surelystringers ought more diligently to be looked upon by theofficers than ether bower or fletcher, bycause they may de-ceyve a simple man the more easelyer. An ill stringe brek-ethe many a good bowe, nor no other thynge half e so many.In warre if a string breke the man is loste and is no man,for his weapon is gone, and althoughe he have two stringesput one at once, yet he shall have small leasure and lesseroome to bend his bow, therfore God send us good stringersboth for war and peace. Now what a stringe ought to bemade on, whether of good hempe as they do now a dayes,or of flaxe or of silke, I leave that to the jugemente of
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