The Fair Toxophilites

The Fair Toxophilites

This comically-inflected rendering of two rival female archers shows how female competitiveness drives the marriage market and how the marriage market becomes a field for exercising female competitiveness. The caption reads as follows. Constance: 'Oh, Mamma! I'm so delighted, I have just made the best gold, and won the beautiful bracelet given by Captain Rifles' / Lucy (disappointed): 'Well, Constance, I think you had better not say much about it. You know it was a fluke, for you told me you always shot with your eyes shut, as you feel so very nervous!'

John Leech

1864