Here we find exhibited a school for practice; and the manner in which the archers shot at the butts, or dead marks, a pastime frequently alluded to by the authors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

In the reign of Henry VII. the cross-bow was forbidden by law to be used; and, soon after his son ascended the throne, it was found necessary to renew the prohibition; yet, notwithstanding the interference of the legislature, in less than twenty years afterwards, the usage of cross-bows and hand-guns was so prevalent, that a new statute was judged necessary, which forbad the use of both, and inflicted a penalty of ten pounds for keeping a cross-bow in the house.