"An ARBALEST of Foheman's construction, bearing the date 1579, 3 feet 3 inches long, exquisitely carved out of black oak, is now in the possession of A. Nossoc, Esq., the proprietor of a rare and valuable collection of paintings by ancient masters. By this gentleman's kindness I have been able to take a sketch of it, a copy of which I enclose. In these instruments the impulse is not communicated to the arrow directly by the string, but by means of a movable iron bridge, placed behind the string. I subjoin outlines of the arrow used with this kind of bow, and also of its lock.--(_See Cuts._) "The end (_a_) of the arrow, Fig. 1., was placed against a small square plate of metal (_a_) of the bridge, and the other end of the arrow rested on the steel bow. The string pulled upon the hook, (_d_) Fig. 2, and the end (_c_) acting with a lever advantage communicated its impulse to the bridge, (_b_) against which was placed the arrow. The figure 3 will explain the rest of the contrivance, (_f_) being a spring to keep the trigger down. "The wooden part of the arbalest is beautifully carved with figures; its front extremity is a lion's head holding in its mouth an acorn originally of gold, for which a wooden one is substituted, as is the round stock at the other extremity which was of silver; its lower side has a figure of Bellona, a terminus, &c., carved out of it; its upper, a sphynx, head of Medusa, leaves, and numerous other ornaments upon it; the sides are also beautifully carved, and two steel escutcheons on its sides before the bridge have engraved on them a trophy, and two roses. "As these cross-bows are now extremely rare, I should feel gratified if any correspondent could inform me whether an arbalest of this description is preserved in the Tower, or in any public or private collection of ancient armour; and whether it was used by the Company of Archers after the Restoration." The _Steel Bow_ is of the shape annexed, _Fig. 5_, being a resting-place for the fore end of the arrow. We may here add that the _Cross-bow_ was also called a _Steel-bow_, because the horns were usually made with steel; and others were called _Stone-bows_ because they were modified to the purpose of discharging stones. The cross-bow makers used to exercise themselves in shooting at the popinjay, or artificial parrot, in a field called Tassal Close in London, from the number of thistles growing there, now called the Old Artillery Ground.[7]