Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/685

 ARCHEKY ARCHES 649 silk. The power of flight, correctness of aim, and penetration of these terrible missiles were prodigious. In shooting matches, 300 feet was the common range, and the ordinary mark was a straight willow or hazel rod, as thick as a man's thumb and five feet long ; and such a mark a good archer held it a shame to miss. At 200 feet no armor but the best Spanish or Milan steel plate could resist the English arrow; and the legends of men and horses shot through and through are proved by cors- lets of the stoutest plate, preserved in several collections, where the shafts have been driven through the breastplate and the whole body of the wearer, and then through the steel backplate, not inferior in strength to the breast- plate. In shooting, the longbow was held per- pendicularly at arm's length, and the bow- string drawn back until the arrow feathers were opposite the right ear. While the English archers were the best in the world, and their longbow was the most formidable weapon, several nations of continental Europe acquired great dexterity in the use of the crossbow or Crossbow. arbalast. This consisted of a bow fixed trans- versely at the end of a wooden stock somewhat resembling a modern gun stock ; along the top of the stock ran a barrel slit nearly to the muzzle, in such a manner that the string of the bow could pass through the slit and be drawn along it until caught by a trigger ; this latter being pressed, the string was released, and swept forward with great force along the slit barrel, discharging the bolt or arrow which had been placed in it. Sometimes the arrow was placed in a simple groove in the top of the stock, along which the released string swept. This bow was generally of steel, and so strong that o, steel which was often fixed to the stock for the purpose of drawing back the cord. In shooting, the crossbow was aimed from the shoulder, like a musket. The Genoese were famous crossbowmen, and several provinces of France furnished good archers. Archery disappeared as firearms came into use; and as an instrument of war and the chase, the bow is now confined to the most savage tribes. Many of the North American Indians were expert with the bow ; but they early adopt- ed the musket or the rifle, and now, except among the most remote frontier tribes, the bow Bow and Arrows of the North American Indians. African Bow. is never seen unless in the hands of children or as an implement for catching fish. The Comanches, however, are an exception, for to this day their force consists in their skilful archery. Their bows are short, and their ar- rows clumsily pointed ; but they are properly feathered, and the warriors discharge them with such force that they have been known to pass entirely through the body of a bison. Among many of the African tribes, too, the bow is still in use. ARCHES, Court of, one of the ten English eccle- siastical courts, so called because its sittings were formerly held in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow (Sancta Maria de Arcubus) in London, whence they were in 1567 transferred to the hall of the doctors' commons. This court has origi- nal jurisdiction in most ecclesiastical causes arising in 13 parishes in London, which form a deanery. The presiding officer, called the dean of the arches, is also the deputy of the arch- bishop of Canterbury, so that the court of arches has an appellate jurisdiction in all eccle- siastical causes arising out of the diocese of York. Formerly the jurisdiction of this court was very extensive, especially in matrimonial and testamentary matters; but these have within a few years been transferred from the ecclesiastical courts to the crown, and divorces to the divorce court. The practitioners in the ecclesiastical court are styled doctors, advocates, and proctors, and must before admission to practice obtain the fiat of the archbishop, and then be duly admitted by the dean of the arches. This court has now but little business to do ; but the dean, as president of the college of doctors of law, is usually constituted princi- pal judge in admiralty.