Roger Ascham Toxophilus 1545

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awaye the pleafure of the grounde, carieth wyth hym
alfo the profyt of the grounde, as euery man by expe-
rience knoweth in harde and roughe winters, Some
thynges there be whych haue no other ende, but onely
cumlyneffe, as payntyng, and Daunfmg. And vertue it
felfe is nothynge eles but cumlyneffe, as al Philo-
fopliers do agree in opinion, therfore feynge that whych
is befl done in anye matters, is alwayes mooil cumlye
done as both Plato and Cicero in manye places
do proue, and daylye experience dothe teache in other
thynges, I praye you as I fayde before teatche me to
fhoote as fayre, and welfauouredly as you can imagen.

2D0X. Trewlye Philologe as you proue verye well in
other matters, the befl ihootynge, is alwayes the mooil
cumlye Ihootynge but thys you know as well as I that
Craffus mewethe in Cicero that as cumlineffe is the
chefe poynt, and mofl to be fought for in all thynges,
fo cumlyneffe onlye, can neuer be taught by any Arte
or craft. But maye be perceyued well when it is done,
not defcribed wel how it mould be done.

Yet neuertheleffe to comme to it there be rnanye
waye whych wayes men haue affayde in other matters,
as yf a man would folowe in learnynge to fhoote
faire, the noble paynter Zeuxes in payntyng Helena,
whyche to make his Image bewtifull dyd chofe out. v.
of the fayrefl maydes in al the countrie aboute, and in
beholdynge them conceyued and drewe out fuche an
Image that it far exceded al other, bycaufe the comeli-
neffe of them al was broughte in to one moofl perfyte
comelineffe: So lykewyfe in Ihotynge yf a man, woulde
fet before hys eyes. v. or. vi. of the fayrefl Archers that
euer he faw Ihoote, and of one learne to ftande, of a
nother to drawe, of an other to lowfe, and fo take of
euery man, what euery man coulde do beft, I dare faye
he ihoulde come to fuche a comlyneffe as neuer man
came to yet. As for an example, if the moofl comely
poynte in fhootynge that Hewe Prophete the Kynges
feruaunte hath and as my frendes Thomas and Raufe
Cantrell doth vfe with the mooil femelye facyons that