and  clever  bow-meetings.  In  a  day's  journey  through  that  por-
tion of  England^  butts  and  marks  erected  upon  the  lawns,
before  the  drawing-room  windows  of  gentlemen's  mansions,
meet  our  eyes  almost  as  frequently  as  rifle  targets,  along  the
shores  of  beauteous  Leman's  Lake.
I  recollect  a  rather  amusing  proof  of  the  laudable  esprit  du
corpSf  existing  among  these  Cheshire  and  Lancashire  bowmen,
a  relic  of  ancient  pride  of  skill,  transmitted  from  their  ances-
tors. Whilst  target  shooting  with  a  small  party  at  Tuttshill  *,
a  lovely  spot  on  the  summit  of  Vaga's  rocky  bounds,  the
author  of  the  History  and  Antiquities  of  Cheshire  f ,  then  re-
siding at  Sedbury  Park,  passed  by.  Being  known  as  a  good
bowman,  we  challenged  him  to  a  shot ;  but,  with  ready  wit,
he  made  a  familiar  north  country  proverb  to  serve  as  his  ex-


pcnon  deserves  it ;  but  I  put  in  no  boys.  Said  the  fiither,  *  G>me  in  boye.*
The  son  enters,  about  eighteen  or  nineteen,  but  such  a  goodlie  proper  young
fellow,  as  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  had  not  seen  the  like :  he  was  the  tallest  of  all
the  guarde.  Sir  Walter  swares  him  in  immediately ;  and  ordered  him  to
carry  up  the  first  dish  at  dinner,  where  the  Queen  beheld  him  with  admira-
tion, as  if  a  beautifull  young  giant  had  stalked  in  with  the  service."

John  Taylor,  the  Water  Poet,  thus  describes  this  body  from  personal
observation.
Within  these  few  yeeres,  I  to  mind  doe  call
The  yeoman  of  the  guard  were  archers  all.
A  hundred  at  a  time  J  oft  have  seen.
With  bowes  and  arrowes  ride  before  the  Queen.
Their  bowes  in  hand,  their  quivers  on  their  shoulders.
Was  a  most  stately  shew  to  the  beholders.
And  herein,  if  men  rightly  doe  observe.
