THE SCHOOLE OF SHOOTYNGE 43
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e mooste fit to be used: yet some one fytter then an otherfor divers mennes shotinge, as shalbe toulde afterwarde.As in this pointe as in a bowe you muste truste an honestfletcher. Neverthelesse al thoughe I can not teache you tomake a bowe or a shafte, whiche belongeth to a bowyer anda fletcher to comme to theyr lyvyng, yet wyll I shewe yousome tokens to knowe a bowe and a shafte, whiche pertayn-eth to an Archer to come to good shootynge. A stele muste be well seasoned for Castinge, and it mustbe made as the grayne lieth and as it groweth or els itwyl never flye clene, as clothe cut overtwhart and agaynstethe wuUe, can never hoose a manne cleane. A knottye stelemaye be suffered in a bygge shafte, but for a lytle shafte itis nothynge fit, bothe bycause it wyll never flye far, andbesydes that it is ever in danger of breakynge, it flieth notfar bycause the strengthe of the shoote is hindred andstopped at the knotte, even as a stone cast in to a plaineeven stil water, wyll make the water move a greate space,yet yf there be any whirlynge plat in the water, the mov-ynge ceasethe when it commethe at the whyrlynge plat,whyche is not muche unlyke a knotte in a shafte yf it beconsidered wel. So every thyng as it is plaine and streightof hys owne nature so is it fittest for far movynge. Ther-fore a stele whyche is harde to stande in a bowe, withoutknotte, and streighte (I meane not artificiallye streyghte asthe fletcher dothe make it, but naturally streight as it grow-eth in the wood) is best to make a shaft of, eyther to gocleane, fly far or stand surely in any wedder. Now howebig, how small, how hevye, how lyght, how longe, howshort, a shafte shoulde be particularlye for everye man(seynge we must taulke of the generall nature of shootyng)can not be toulde no more than you Rhethoricians can ap-poynt any one kynde of wordes, of sentences, of fyguresfyt for every matter, but even as the man and the matterrequyreth so the fyttest to be used. Therfore as concem-ynge those contraryes in a shafte, every man muste avoydethem and draw to the meane of them, whyche meane is bestin al thynges. Yet yf a man happen to offende in any ofthe extremes it is better to offend in want and scantnesse,than in to muche and outragiouse exceedynge. As it is
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