The Art of Fencing Part 7

CHAP. XXI.

_Of several Guards, and the Manner of attacking them_.

Tho' all the Guards are Good when well defended, yet they are not equally good; because we ought not to look upon any thing as good, that does not procure us some Advantage, and an ill placed Guard, instead of being favourable, requires a great deal of Skill to be of any Use at all, being farther from a Posture of Defence, the midling Guard only carrying with it such a Disposition of the Point and Wrist as is sufficient to defend the Inside, the Outside, the Upper and Lower Parts of the Body with the Sword: For as to the other Guards, whether Flat, High, or Low, or holding the Sword with both Hands, they leave some Part uncovered, either by reason of their Height, or their Line.

_To attack a strait Guard._

No Man of Skill or Reason will give a considerable Open without a Design, and as the People who hold such a Guard as I am going to describe, have their several Designs, you must be cautious of them, in order not only to make them useless to them, but advantageous to yourself.

Some Men hold their Swords strait or flat,[3] whether 'tis because they are more used to Disengagements than Parades, or to take Advantage of the Superiority of their Stature, or of the Length of their Sword, to avoid the Attacks and Engagements to which the other Guards are more exposed; for you can hardly engage or feint on this Guard, the Point being too low; so that to attack him, you must bind the Sword, which you must do after placing yourself within his Sword, binding his Blade under yours, when he is out of Measure, to take, with more Ease, the Feeble of his Sword, crossing it with yours, raising your Hand in _Seconde_, and carrying the Point low, whilst gaining Measure, you form a little Circle with the two Points, and raising them up again, you push _Seconde_ within, with the Body low.

Tho' it be almost impossible for the Enemy to disengage, when you have bound his Sword as I have described, it may happen that if some of the Circ.u.mstances were wanting, he might disengage and push, which ought not to hinder you from making your Thrust; because your Sword may very well hit him, pa.s.sing under his, which cannot hurt you, because of the Lowness of your Body.

The Binding is easy to be parryed, by reason of the natural Tendency to follow the Sword, which is done by raising and bringing your Fort nearer. These following have commonly more Success.

The first is made after having bound the Sword, instead of pus.h.i.+ng _Seconde_ within, you must, upon the Parade, disengage and push _Tierce_ over: If the Adversary is quick enough in his Parade to shun this double Motion, you must have recourse to the third, binding the Sword in the like Manner, and feinting above, return below.

Tho' the Sword is seldom bound on the Outside, upon some Occasions and to some People it would not be amiss; it must be done with your Feeble to the Enemy's, with the Precautions necessary in binding within, by a little Circle without, the Hand in _Quarte_, and if he does not stir, or if he disengages, you must push without, the Hand in _Quarte_. These following are according to the Parade with the Fort or with the Feeble, pus.h.i.+ng _Seconde_ under, or _Quarte_ within.

As in all Thrusts the Hand must be easy and uniform, it must be more so in this than in the others, because the Binding cannot be made without a very close and smooth Motion.

Though several Masters teach to disengage in order to bind the Sword, I would not have it done so for two Reasons: First, because the disengaging gives Time to the Opponent, not only to thrust strait, but also to disengage; and Secondly, because you cannot so easily bind the Sword as when you are on the same Side.

In binding the Blade, you must close the Measure; because a Man who is superior to you, in Height, by the Length of his Sword, or by his Situation, won't let his Inferior into Measure; in one or the other Case, being at a proper Distance, you bind more easily on the Feeble.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 12th Plate. Attack in the high Guard.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Attack in the low Guard.]

_To attack the high Guard._

In this Guard, you must place yourself under, with the Hand in _Seconde_, covering the upper Part, in order to oblige the Enemy to go under; which being the most distant Place from his Sword, procures you more Time to avoid him. He may, on this Occasion, do three things: Let you engage him, go under, or force your Sword.

If he lets you engage him, 'tis either with a Design to parry, or to take the Time; wherefore, before you push, you must make a Half-thrust under: If he parrys, it will be in one of the three Ways that I have shewn in the Parade of _Seconde_, Chap. 8, where you may see all their Counters.

If upon the Half-thrust he takes the Time, you must parry and risposte below, or push strait, opposing with the Hand; you may also volt on this Occasion, but it is better to parry.

If he opposes with his Hand upon your Half-thrust, you must parry with your Left-hand, and, pus.h.i.+ng near his Left Shoulder, baulk his Hand.

And if he volts on your Half-thrust, you must parry and risposte in the Flank.

If on the Engagement he thrust under, you must parry and thrust strait, or take the Time, opposing with your Hand, and if instead of going under, he only feints there in order to return above; you must either parry the Feint and risposte under, or push on the time, as I have said before.

If he makes use of the same Thrust, pus.h.i.+ng at the Time of your going under, you must make believe to push there, returning quickly to the Parade above, and risposte under.

And if he would draw you on in order to make this Rispost on you, you must make a Half-thrust, keeping on your Parade below, to risposte strait in _Quarte_.

If upon your Engagement he forces your Sword, you must yeild the Feeble, opposing with the Fort and the Left-hand. _See the 5th_ Plate.

To keep the Enemy from forcing your Sword, you must cross his Blade with your Fort to his Feeble.

_To attack the low Guard._

Those who hold a low Guard have a Design either to parry with the Sword or with the Hand, to lower the Body or to volt; therefore as in the other Guards you must make a false Time, or half Thrust, and if he parrys with the Sword, thrust where you see Light, if he parry with the Hand, you must feign a strait Thrust in order to bring his Left-hand to the Parade, at the same time raising your Point with a little Circle, pus.h.i.+ng at the left Side with the Hand in _Seconde_, the Body low, whereby you baulk his Left-hand, and for the greater Safety, you must oppose his Thrust with your Hand, endeavouring in your Risposts, to deceive his Sword and his Hand.

If he waits for your Thrust in order to lower the Body or to volt, you must make a Half-thrust to draw him on, and take one of the Counters which I have spoken of before.

If the low Guard is within your Sword, you must attack it making a Semi-circle with the Point of the Sword down, las.h.i.+ng and crossing his, the Hand in _Quarte_, and to push without Danger, you must oppose with the Left-hand: This Thrust is good against a Man that pushes at the same Time.

If the low Guard is without your Sword, you must lash in _Tierce_, crossing the Sword and push without.

If the low Guard is neither within nor without, you must lash smartly in _Tierce_ and in _Quarte_, that is to say on his Outside and Inside, pus.h.i.+ng _Quarte_ afterwards, opposing with the Left-hand: This Thrust puzzles a Man who disengages quick, which in this Case is of no use.

You may also engage this Guard placing yourself within, the Wrist in _Tierce_, and the Point low[4] closing the Enemy pretty near to oblige him to push above, and if he pushes there, you must parry and risposte above, or under, according as you have Light.

If instead of making a Thrust above, he makes a Feint there and pushes within, or under, you must push _Quarte_, opposing with the Left-hand, or else going to the Parade with the Sword to all Thrusts and Feints without, leave to the Left-hand the Defense of the Inside, and of the under Part.

And if instead of pus.h.i.+ng, he waits for your Thrust to take the Time upon it, you must press close upon him and push strait in _Quarte_, with the Point low, opposing with the Left hand, in order to throw off his Sword, or push at his Arm, of which you are in Reach, though he is not in Measure of your Body.

These Sorts of Guards are not so much practised, with Sword in Hand, as the middling Guard, People being more careful of parrying with the Sword, and a Man is in much better Condition to parry from the middling Guard than from any other.

_To attack the Guard where the Sword is held in both Hands._

Those who hold the Sword in both Hands, that is to say, the Handle in the Right-hand, and the Blade about four Fingers Breadth in the Left, will either engage, or beat on your Sword, with great Force, or stick to a strong Parade, in order to uncover you the more, in Favour of their Thrust.

But as they cannot keep this Situation without exposing their Body very much, which is often dangerous, as also a very unseemly Posture, this Guard is therefore, with good Reason, condemned by most, if not all, experience'd Masters.

If you have to do with one that holds this Guard, you must keep your Point a little low, and be always ready to change, in order to render the Strength which the Left-hand gives to the Right, useless, in his engaging or beating.

If he will not attack you, but waits for your Thrust in order to parry and risposte, you must make a Half-thrust, and recover quickly to your Parade, to avoid his Rispost; wherein, throwing back his Left-hand, and abandoning himself extremely, he is not in a Condition to avoid your Thrust after you have parryed his.

You may also make a Home-thrust on him, by a single or double Feint, because these require two or three Parades; so that your Adversary being unable to parry without throwing his Point a great way off, he cannot bring it back in time if you disorder him by a Feint.

You may likewise catch him, by placing your Sword along his, with your Point a little raised, and sliding on a Defence along his Sword, push at his Left-hand or Arm, for he cannot, tho' he goes to his Parade, hinder your Blade from sliding so as to hit him there, without running any Risque, you being in Measure of his Hand and Arm, when he is out of Reach of your Body.

You are to observe, that in all Guards with Sword in Hand, you must push at the nearest and most uncovered Part; which in the Guards that I have described is the Arm; therefore you must not abandon yourself to hit the Body, but in risposting, or after having disordered, or engaged the Enemy as aforesaid.

CHAP. XXII.

_Of Left-handed Men._