The Art of Fencing Part 4

CHAP. XII.

_Of_ Disengagements.

There is nothing more nice, or more necessary in Fencing, than Disengagements; the nicest Motion, being the smoothest and finest, and the most necessary, there being but few Thrusts where you ought not to disengage, and to several more than once; and there is no better Means of avoiding the Advantage that a strong Man has when he presses on your Sword.

If we confine ourselves, strictly, to the Meaning of Disengagements, we shall find it to be of three Sorts; which are, upon the Blade, over the Point, and under the Wrist: But as this might be too intricate in Lessons, and a Learner mistake one for another; none should be called a Disengagement, but that which is made on the Blade; and though the others are, in effect, Disengagements, especially that over the Point, which is done closer than those under the Wrist, yet they are distinguished from Disengagements, by calling them Cuts over the Point, and under the Wrist, according as they are used.

In order to disengage and push from the Outside to the Inside, being in Guard towards half _Quart_; the Wrist must be raised a little at the Time that you lower the Point and raise it again, which should be done as close as possible, by a smooth and quick Motion, that you may be covered and lose no Time, and be able to push with your Fort to the Adversary's Feeble.

Some People, in pus.h.i.+ng _Quart_ and _Tierce_, keep the Wrist in _Tierce_, in order to push _Quart_ the swifter, which is a Fault; because they accustom themselves to a Situation, which, when they come to a.s.sault, is unsafe and dangerous, for want of being in the Guard of Defence.

In disengaging from the Inside to the Outside, the Wrist should turn a little more towards _Quart_, than in the Guard which I have recommended: The Point should fall and rise and the same Instant, and the Hand should turn insensibly in _Tierce_, as the Thrust goes forward.

Some Masters teach to hold the Sword in Guard between _Quart_ and _Tierce_, and to disengage in that Situation; whereby the three Advantages which the Disengagement in _Half-Quart_ gives you, are lost; that is to say, first, a good Air, secondly, the being covered with the Fort of the Sword, and thirdly, the Swiftness of the Thrust; because the Hand has not a sufficient Freedom of Motion.

The knowing how to disengage barely is not sufficient; it is necessary that you be acquainted with the Time, and with your Adversary's Play, in order to disengage to Advantage. The Time is when the Adversary comes to your Sword; and when your Adversary, depending on his Strength, comes to your Blade, in order to guide his Thrust to your Body, is what is meant by his Play or Manner. You may indeed disengage without taking the Time, but with less Success.

When the Adversary engages swift, 'tis good to keep your Point a little low, or distant from his; by which Means he requires more Time to engage you, and gives you more to prevent him, unless you suffer him to touch your Sword; which would not only make you lose the Time of hitting him, but would also expose you to receive a Thrust, it being certain that when you go to the Blade on one Side, you cannot defend the Other; for you cannot do two opposite Actions at one and the same Time; and by the same Rule, if you miss the Time of disengaging, and disengage too late, you expose yourself to his Thrust; for you cannot, at the same time, quit his Blade and parry.

Though it is necessary that every Fencer should understand the Disengagements, it is more especially so to tall and weak Men. To the first, that they may keep their Adversary at a Distance; which by Reason of their Height, is an Advantage to them; and to the others in order to prevent closing; in which Case, their Weakness would be a Disadvantage to them.

CHAP. XIII.

_Of_ Feints.

Feints are much used in _Fencing_, whether it be by reason of their Number, their Ease, or the Success that attends them, gaining more Time and Light than is to be got in plain Thrusts, there being no Thrust to be given so well as after a Feint.

The Number of Feints is so great, by reason of the many Guards and Parades, that I should find it as difficult to describe them, as the Reader would to comprehend them without Experience; so that I shall confine myself to those from which the rest derive, which are, strait Feint, Feint, and double Feint.

By strait feint, is meant a Motion or Feint to Thrust on the Side on which your Sword is, which is to be done on the Inside, the Wrist in _Quart_, a little higher than the Point which must be near the Adversary's Sword, that you may be covered, whilst you endeavour to get an Opening. This Motion should be attended with a little Beat of the Right-foot, keeping back the Body. If, at the Time you feint, your Adversary does not stir, you must push _Quart_: if he parrys with his Feeble, you must immediately disengage to _Tierce_; and if he parrys high you must cut in _Quart_ under the Wrist.

The Feint, to which I give no other Name, it being the most used, and to distinguish it from the others, is done by feinting from _Quart_ to _Tierce_, with a little beat of the Foot, keeping the Body back: the Wrist must be raised in _Quart_, and the b.u.t.ton a little lower than the Pommel, near the Adversary's Blade; by which means you are covered, and can make your Thrust swifter. If the Adversary does not stir at the Feint, you must go on strait with the _Tierce_: if he parrys with his Feeble, you must disengage and thrust _Quart_, and if he parrys with his Fort, you must push _Seconde_.

Several masters teach to make this Feint from the inside to the outside, with the Wrist turned in _Tierce_; and indeed they are seemingly in the right; a Feint being a likeness of the beginning of a Thrust; and that likeness cannot be better shown than in the figure of the thrust: but the smart motion of the point, causes the adversary to stir, the figure of the hand no way contributing thereto. You are to consider which is the most proper, not only to make the adversary answer you, but also to make the motion quicker. Monsieur De Latouche says, that from _Quart_ to _Quart_ there is no motion; but we have two instances to the contrary.

First, that a Man of experience has his Wrist and the bend of his Arm free, so as to thrust strait in _Quart_, tho' in the same figure; and secondly, if there be a motion preceding the Thrust, as in a Disengagement, or a cut under; this motion is sufficient to help the swiftness of the Feint, and of the Thrust: in short, the motion from _Quart_ to _Quart_, being quicker than feinting from _Quart_ to _Tierce_, and returning in _Quart_; it ought to have the preference, swiftness being the line of Fencing. The only Feints that should be made in _Tierce_, are those that are marked from below above to return below, and from above below to return above.

The double Feint is in two motions, so that in order to push within the Sword, you must be without; and making a little motion in _Quart_ within, with a little beat of the Foot, you feint again without closing the measure, keeping back the Body in order to be out of the adversary's reach: if he parrys with his Fort, you must cut under in _Seconde_, and if he parrys with his Feeble, disengage to _Quart_ within.

As there are in this Thrust three motions of the Sword, _viz._ the two Feints and the Thrust; the Foot must make as many, in order to answer the motions of the Hand.

Some Masters teach to make the double Feint without stirring the Foot; and others teach to advance on the first Motion. In the first Case, being in the Adversary's Measure, you lose too much Time, which is very dangerous: And advancing on the first motion, is almost as dangerous as keeping the Foot firm, by putting yourself within the Adversary's Reach; besides the Manner is not so graceful as that which I recommend, in which you are not within his Reach 'till the second Motion; and this is attended with another Advantage; for by bearing with the Right-foot, the Body must of necessity be kept back, and consequently, farther from the Sword of the Adversary, and in a better Condition to act.

There are two other Ways of making these Thrusts: The one by an Interval between the first and second Motions, joining or uniting the other two; and the latter between the second and third Motions, joining the two first. Though both these Methods are good, I prefer the latter, which puts you in a better Condition, not only to avoid your Adversary's Thrust, but also to chuse your own; the Interval giving you a favourable Opportunity of doing both.

There has been so much said of the Feints which I have described, with their Opposites, that I shall say no more of them, nor will I speak of an infinite Number of other Feints, strait, single, and double, within, without, and under, in disengaging, or cutting over the Point, or under the Wrist, in risposting, or redoubling Thrusts; all which, depend on the three which I have described; in which, as in all Thrusts, the Body must be kept back, and the Fort of the Sword before you; by which Means, you are more out of Danger, and the Wrist is better prepared. Some Men mark Feints with the Head and Body, which is a very disagreeable Sight, and dangerous with Regard to Time.

A Feint is the Likeness of the Beginning of a Thrust: It is made to put the Adversary off his Guard, and to gain an Opening. In order to take Advantage of the Time and Light which you get by your Feint, you must take care to avoid an Inconveniency into which many People fall, by uncovering themselves in endeavouring to uncover the Adversary.

CHAP. XIV.

_Of cutting over the Point of the_ Sword.

In order to cut over the Point, within from without, the Wrist must be turned towards _Tierce_, which gives it a swifter Motion. When your Point is over your Adversary's, you must turn the Wrist in _Quart_, pus.h.i.+ng with your Fort to his Feeble: Though this is a regular Way of cutting, what is most essential to perfect the Thrust is wanting, that is to say, the Motion that should precede it, which is commonly a Half-thrust or Feint, by which, two Advantages are gained: First you discompose your Adversary, and secondly, your Thrust is swifter, being by so much the more vigorous, as the Motion previous thereto is so. At the Time you make a Half-thrust or Feint, you must make a little Beat with the Foot, bearing back the Body to break your Adversary's Measure.

The Cut from the Inside to the Outside, has commonly more Success than that from the Outside to the Inside, the Adversary going more readily to his Parade on this Side than on the other. The Manner of cutting on the Outside, is by placing your Sword within, making a little Motion or strait Feint, the Wrist in _Quart_, the Fort of the Sword before you, in order to be covered, and your Point very near the Adversary's Sword; you must beat a little with the Foot, bending the Body back a little, and as the Adversary is going to parry with the Feeble, you must pa.s.s your Point quickly over his, pus.h.i.+ng in _Tierce_, with your Fort to his Feeble.

Though all Thrusts have the same following Ones; the Cut has them more easy; it's Motion from above to below, disposing it better than the Disengagements, if the Thrust be from the Outside to the Inside, and that the Adversary parrys with his Fort to your Feeble: Besides the Recovery in Guard, which is common after all Thrusts, you must, upon a Parade with the Fort, if it be without stirring the Foot, or in advancing, join: And if the Adversary makes this Parade in retiring, he gives you an Opportunity of cutting in _Quart_ under the Wrist, and on his parrying with the Feeble, you must return in _Seconde_, bringing forward the Left-foot a little, in order to procure a Reprise or second Lunge.

These two Reprises are to be made before you are acquainted with your Adversary's Manner of parrying; but when you have discovered it, if it be with his Fort, you must cut over and under the Wrist in _Quart_, and if with his Feeble, return in _Tierce_, that is to say, make an entire Circle. These Cuts are to be made in one or two Motions; in the first you are not to stop, but in the other, you make a short Interval by a little Beat with the Foot.

The Thrusts following the Cut from the Inside to the Outside, before you know your Adversary's Parade, are made thus: If 'tis with the Fort, you must return with a Cut in _Seconde_, under the Sword, advancing the Left-foot a little; If he parrys with the Feeble, you must return by disengaging to _Quart_ within, advancing the Left-foot, as before: Some People return a Cut in _Tierce_, in _Quart_, by another Cut over the Point, of _Quart_ in _Tierce_, and so on the contrary Side.

When you foresee the Parade, you may at once cut from the Inside to the Outside, and under in _Seconde_; or return within, according as the Parade is made with the Fort or Feeble. You may also make these Redoubles by a little Interval over the Sword, beating with the Foot.

There are other Redoubles which are made by drawing back the Body without stirring the Feet.

See the Chapter of Reprises.

The Cut may be made not only after a Half-thrust, or strait Feint, as I have said, but also after an Engagement, Lunge, or Pa.s.s, and in Risposting, which is the best and most used; because that is to be done only in recovering to Guard, or by bringing one Foot behind the other, or springing back; To the first you must Rispost with the Foot firm, and to the other by closing the Measure.

CHAP. XV.

_Of the_ Reprise, _or redoubled Thrust_.

The Term _Reprise_ signifies a succession of Thrusts without Interval, or with very little. It may be done in three Manners; First after having pushed without recovering, Secondly, in recovering or being recovered; and Thirdly, when the Enemy steals Measure.

The first and last of these three Reprises may be called Redoubles.

The first Reprise is made after having pushed _Quart_, the Enemy having parryed with his Feeble, you must return in _Seconde_, advancing the left Foot a little to make the Action easier to the right Foot, and tho'

it be not necessary to advance it unless the Enemy retires, it serves for an Ornament, and to give more Vigour to the Thrust: But if as soon as the Enemy has parryed he Risposts, you must only redouble with the Hand, the Body low without stirring the Feet, and join. If he Risposts under the Wrist in the Flank, you must either parry crossing his Sword as you recover, opposing with the left Hand, or return, as I said, with the Hand in _Seconde_.

Upon the Rispost of the Enemy, you may also redouble, volting strait, or cutting in the Flank according as he raises his Hand more or less in his Rispost, in order to facilitate your Volt; you must immediately after your Lunge follow a little with the left Foot.

The second Reprise is made, after having pushed _Quarte_, when in recovering to Guard the Enemy advances, without being covered, or that suffering the Superiority of your Sword, he gives you room to thrust in _Quarte_, if he disengages, you must go off in _Tierce_, if he forces your Sword with his Feeble, you must disengage to _Tierce_, and if with his Fort cut _Quarte_ under the Wrist.