THE SCHOOLE OP SHOOTYNGE 35
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fte doth lytle servyce to hym that shoulde use it, bycauseit is so negligentlye wrought of him that shuld make it,when trewlye I suppose that nether ye bowe can be to goodand chefe woode, nor yet to well seasoned or truly made,wyth hetynges and tillerynges, nether that shafte to goodwood or to thorowely wrought, with the best pinion feddersthat can be gotten, wherwith a man shal serve his prince,defende his cotmtrie, and save h)rm selfe frome his enemye.And I trust no man wyll be angrye wyth me for spekyngethus, but those which finde them selfe touched therin : whichought rather to be angrye wyth ihem selfe for doynge so,than to be miscontent wyth me for saynge so. And in no-case they ought to be displeased wyth me, seeinge this isspoken also after that forte, not for the notynge of anyeperson severallye, but for the amendynge of everye onegenerallye. But tume we agayne to knowe a good shoot-ynge bowe for oure purpose . Everye bowe is made eyther of a boughe, of a plante orof the boole of the tree. The boughe commonlye is veryeknotty, and full of pinnes, weake, of small pithe, and sonewyll folowe the stringe, and seldome werith to any fayrecoloure, yet for chyldren and yonge beginners it maye servewell ynoughe. The plante proveth many times wel, yf it beof a good and clene groweth, and for the pith of it is quickeynoughe of cast, it wyll plye and bow far afore it breake, as-al other yonge thinges do. The boole of ye tree is clenestwithout knot or pin, havinge a faste and harde woode byreasonne of hys full groweth, stronge and myghtye of cast,and best for a bow, yf the staves be even cloven, and beafterwarde wroughte not over[t]wharte the woode, but as^the graine and streyght growyng of the woode leadethe aman, or elles by all reason it must sone breake, and that inmany shivers. This must be considered in the roughe*woode, and when the bow staves be overwrought and fac-ioned. For in dressing and pikynge it up for a bow, it isto late to loke for it. But yet in these poyntes as I saydbefore you muste truste an honest bowyer, to put a goodbow in youre hand, somewhat lookinge your selfe to thosetokens whyche I shewed you. And you muste not stickefor a grote or. xii. d. more than a nother man would give yf
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