Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/539

 io. s. ii. DEO. .3, low.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

443

Andernacus (J. Giinther of Andernach), lib. i. cap. 17, sect. 'Quoraodo lapis Armeniacus exnibeatur.' Alexander says that it should be washed twelve times.

P. 30, 1. 21 ; 12, 35, "seeking with Seneca, quid scribam, non quemadmoduin." The refer- ence given by Shilleto is wrong. It should beEp. 115, 1.

P. 31, n. 7; 13, n. q, "ut canis Nilum lambens." For the allusion see Phsedrus, i. 25 ; Plin., 'N.H.,' viii. 40 (61), 148; /Elian,
 * V.H.,' i. 4 ; Macrobius, * Saturn.,' ii. 2, 7, &c.

P. 38, 1. 32 ; 17, 42, " as Apollonius, a common prison." See Philostratus, 'Vit. Ap.,' vii. 26.

P. 43, 1. 12; 20, 27, "fallen from heaven." See Scioppius, ' De Arte Critica,' p. 10 (ed. 1662), "Cujus [Joseph! Scaligeri] scripta aurea, tamquam ancylia cselo delapsa, cum horrore & religione quadam omnes eruditi tractare solent."

P. 43, 1. 16; 20, 30, "Monarchs." See Scioppius, ' Melos ad V. C. Paulum Merulam':

REGKM, non mode Principem, Hunc eruditiorum adorem, Poplitibus venererque tiexis. 4C f>qq.

The object of Scioppius's adulation is Joseph Scaliger. But ** 'twas when he knew no better." EDWARD BENSLY.

The University, Adelaide, South Australia. (To be continwd.)

THE ARBALEST OR CROSS-BOW, As a weapon the arbalest was not so effective as the long-bow. It is true that in the use of the former far less strength and skill were required than in the use of the latter ; but, on the other hand, it was heavier and more inconvenient than the long-bow, for in the time taken by an arbalester to wind up and discharge his cross-bow an archer could discharge at least half a dozen arrows, which would be delivered with as much force as, and probably more effect than, a bolt from the arbalest.

The early arbalest, or cross-bow, was simply a short wooden bow set at right angles in a wooden stock ; this was bent by the bowman placing his foot in a loop, or stirrup, fixed to the head of the stock, and then with his hands drawing back the string, or cord, to a notch in which it was caught. At a later period the wooden bow was replaced by one of steel, the strength of which neces- sitated mechanical assistance in bending. The mechanisms employed for the purpose were usually of three kinds. The first con- sisted of a lever, called a " goafs-foot," the pressing down of which caused the bow- string to be grasped by a hooked fork, and

drawn back to the notch, ready to discharge. The second kind was a cogged wheel, which worked in the slots of a metal rod ; by turning a handle one way the rod was extended, a hook at the end of the rod then caught the- cord, the action of the wheel was then reversed, and this drew back the rod with the cord attached. The third was a systeia of pulleys, over which strong cords (called "fausse,'' or "false," cords, to distinguish them from the bowstring itself) ran. To these cords at one end was attached a hook, the opposite ends being fastened to a small windlass, fitted to the butt of the stock ; the "false" cords having been hooked to the bowstring, the windlass was put in motion, and the bow thus bent.

It can readily be seen that the performance of any of the above com plicated operations be- fore the cross-bow could be bentand discharged placed the arbalester at a considerable disad- vantage when opposed to the simple and more rapid discharge of the long-bow. This the English thoroughly recognized, and thus the long-bow was encouraged in preference to- the cross-bow, and became in the Middle Ages the principal arm of England's soldiers.

The arrow when discharged from a cross- bow passed, in some cases, along a groove made in the stock to receive it, in other cases through a barrel. Sometimes ordinary arrows were discharged, but generally arrows of a shorter and stouter kind were used. These had heavier heads than the ordinary arrow, and, instead of being of the usual barbed form, were four-sided and pyramidal in shape, and called " bolts," ** carrials," or ** quarels."

Owarelles qwayntly swapper thorowe Knyghtez

With iryne so wekyrly, that wynche they never.

Like an ordinary arrow, the "quarel" wa winged, sometimes with feathers, but more often with 4< latone " or " latten," a mixed metal resembling brass. (The effigies of Richard II. and his first queen, Anne of Bohemia, in Westminster Abbey are of latten.) The arbalester carried with him into action a quiver containing fifty "quarels," and when these were exhausted he replenished his quiver from the store of bolts which followed him in waggons to the field of battle.

The arbalest seems to have been first intro- duced into warfare about the twelfth century,, but it was then considered such a deadly weapon that its employment in war was- forbidden among Christian nations, and it was not until the fourteenth century that it came into general use. The most famous arbalesters were the Genoese, 6,000 of whom took part in the battle of Crecy, and suffered