The English never had much esteem for the cross-bow in the field. Among the 10,500 men led out of England by Henry VI., in 1415, there were only ninety-eight Arbalesters, of whom eighteen were horsemen; nevertheless, Henry VII. found it necessary to prohibit the use of the cross-bow in 1508, and, seven years after, another statute was passed, renewing the prohibition. This interference, however, of the legislature does not seem to have produced the intended effect, for in less than twenty years later the use of the cross-bow had become so prevalent, that a new statute was judged requisite, which inflicted on every person that kept one in his house, the penalty of twenty pounds. It is from this period, therefore, that we may date the decline of the arbalest in this country, as these statutes produced by degrees the reformation sought for. Not a single cross-bow man is to be seen in the paintings belonging to the Society of Antiquaries, nor at Cowdray House, representing the battles of Henry VIII., and painted at the period; and, to give a finishing blow, another statute soon followed, still more decisive. DESCRIPTION OF CROSS-BOW. ~Description.~ The ancient cross-bow, which differed in many particulars from those of late times, is thus described by Father Daniel, who formed his description from one or more then before him. The cross-bow was an offensive weapon, which consisted of a bow fixed to the top of a sort of staff, or stock of wood, which the string of the bow, when unbent, crossed at right angles. ~Stock.~ ~Trigger.~ The handle or bed, which was called the stock of the cross-bow, had towards the middle a small opening or slit, of the length of two fingers, in which was a little moveable wheel of solid steel; through the centre of it passed a screw that served for an axis; this wheel projected a little beyond the surface of the stock, and had a notch, or catch, which stopped and held the string of the bow when bent. In the opposite side of the circumference was a much smaller notch, by the means of which the spring of the trigger kept the wheel firmer, and in its place; this wheel is called the nut of the cross-bow. Under the stock, near the handle, was the key of the trigger, like that of the serpentine of a musket; by pressing this key with the hand, to the handle of the cross-bow, the spring released the wheel that held the string, and the string by its motion drove forward the dart. ~Back-sight.~ ~Fore-sight.~