Broad-Sword and Single-Stick Part 2

GENERAL.

In the early stages of the world's history our very remote ancestors were unacquainted with the art of forging instruments and weapons from metals; they were not even aware of the existence of those metals, and had to content themselves with sharpened flints and other hard stones for cutting purposes. Many of these weapons were fas.h.i.+oned with considerable skill, and give evidence that even in the dark days of the Stone Age men had a good idea of _form_ and the adaptation of the roughest materials to suit the particular purpose they had in view.

To take an example from the most common forms--the spear and javelin-heads which are found along with the bones and other remains of the cave bear. These are admirably designed for entering the body of any animal; for, though varying greatly in size, weight, and shape, the double edge and sharp point render them capable of inflicting severe wounds, and of entering into the flesh almost as easily as the point of a modern sword.

As good specimens of these early spear-heads fetched high prices, _finding_ them was at one time quite a profession, like finding bullets, etc., on the field of Waterloo. Forgeries became common, and in many cases the imitations were so perfect that the most experienced antiquary was often puzzled to pick out the genuine article when placed next to the spurious.

For the benefit of those who take an interest in this branch of research, it may be mentioned that the museum at Salisbury is full of excellent specimens both of true spear-heads and the copies "made to meet the demand," and I may fairly say that the ordinary observer would be utterly incapable of distinguis.h.i.+ng the slightest difference between the two.

The genus "cutting instrument," then, has for its archetype the sharp flint, which was fas.h.i.+oned by dint of hard labour in the very early days of man's existence on the face of the earth.

When metals were discovered and their malleability had been tested by the application of fire, not only spear and javelin-heads were formed from the new material, but short swords, consisting entirely of metal, were first constructed; and this departure marked a new era in the civilization of the world, termed by geologists and antiquarians the Bronze Age.

In a very short treatise on a cut-and-thrust weapon like the broad-sword, it would be out of place to enter into any speculations as to the probable dates at which the stone, the bronze, and the iron ages commenced their respective epochs. It seems sufficient to give the _order_ and to mention a few of the early weapons with which we are acquainted, either through actually finding them, or by seeing representations of them on early works of art, such as alto-relievos or frescoes.

One of the earliest forms of sword was the leaf-shaped blade of the early Greeks. It properly belongs to the Bronze Age, as it is found amongst the human remains of that period. It was a short, heavy-bladed weapon, with sharp point and double edge, used, it appears from ancient monuments, for cutting purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 12.--Early Greek sword.]

No doubt the weight of the blade, increased by the heavy deep ridge running almost from point to hilt, made it very serviceable for cutting, but it seems more than probable that the point was also used, and that the idea of the edge was handed down to us because the ancient sculptor or delineator, in his battle-piece representations, placed the swordsman in the most spirited positions he could think of. A figure in the act of delivering a slas.h.i.+ng cut, say cut 1 or cut 2, looks much more aggressive and eager for the fray than a similar figure about to give the point.

I only advance this as a suggestion, for it seems hard to believe that people who must have been well acquainted with the use of the point at the end of a pole or staff--as in the case of the spear, which was the very earliest form of thrusting weapon--should abandon it when they came to the sword.

Be this as it may, there is no doubt that the short Roman sword, which was practically a large heavy dagger, sharp-pointed, double-edged, and straight-bladed, was extensively used for thrusting. For cutting purposes, however, it could not, from the absence of curve in the edge of the blade, have been equal to the early Greek weapon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 13.--Short Roman sword.]

When iron began to play a prominent part in the construction of articles requiring hardness, strength, and durability, a great stride was made in the production of war-like weapons, and it was then very soon discovered that ordinary forged iron was too soft and easily bent, and it was not until the art of tempering began to be roughly understood that iron, or more correctly speaking steel, swords were brought to a degree of perfection sufficient to ent.i.tle them to a higher place than their bronze predecessors.

It is believed that the Egyptians had some method of tempering their bronze chisels, which is now numbered amongst the lost arts; otherwise, how could they have carved the head of the Sphinx and innumerable other works out of the intensely hard stone of which so many of their monuments are cut?

The modern sword blade is constructed of steel, tempered so as to suit the particular kind of work for which it is intended.

"Mechanical invention has not," says the "Encyclopaedia Britannica,"

"been able to supersede or equal handwork in the production of good sword blades. The swordsmiths' craft is still, no less than it was in the Middle Ages, essentially a handicraft, and it requires a high order of skill. His rough material is a bar of cast and hammered steel, tapering from the centre to the ends; when this is cut in two each half is made into a sword. The 'tang,' which fits into the handle, is not part of the blade, but a piece of wrought iron welded on to its base.

From this first stage to the finis.h.i.+ng of the point it is all hammer and anvil work. Special tools are used to form grooves in the blade, according to the regulation or other pattern desired, but the shape and weight of the blade are fixed wholly by the skilled hand and eye of the smith. Measuring tools are at hand, but are little used. Great care is necessary to avoid over-heating the metal, which would produce a brittle crystalline grain, and to keep the surface free from oxide, which would be injurious if hammered in. In tempering the blade the workman judges of the proper heat by the colour. Water is preferred to oil by the best makers, notwithstanding that tempering in oil is much easier. With oil there is not the same risk of the blade coming out distorted and having to be forged straight again (a risk, however, which the expert swordsmith can generally avoid); but the steel is only surface-hardened, and the blade therefore remains liable to bend. Machinery comes into play only for grinding and polis.h.i.+ng, and to some extent in the manufacture of hilts and appurtenances. The finished blade is proved by being caused to strike a violent blow on a solid block, with the two sides flat, with the edge, and lastly with the back; after this the blade is bent flatwise in both directions by hand, and finally the point is driven through a steel plate about an eighth of an inch thick. In spite of all the care that can be used, both in choice of materials and in workmans.h.i.+p, about forty per cent. of the blades thus tried fail to stand the proof and are rejected. The process we have briefly described is that of making a really good sword; of course plenty of cheaper and commoner weapons are in the market, but they are hardly fit to trust a man's life to. It is an interesting fact that the peculiar skill of the swordsmith is in England so far hereditary that it can be traced back in the same families for several generations.

"The best Eastern blades are justly celebrated, but they are not better than the best European ones; in fact, European swords are often met with in Asiatic hands, remounted in Eastern fas.h.i.+on. The 'damascening' or 'watering' of choice Persian and Indian is not a secret of workmans.h.i.+p, but is due to the peculiar manner of making the Indian steel itself, in which a crystallizing process is set up; when metal of this texture is forged out, the result is a more or less regular wavy pattern running through it. No difference is made by this in the practical qualities of the blade."

The above-quoted description, though short and superficial, is sufficient to indicate some of the chief difficulties of the swordsmith's art, and it sets one thinking, too, as to the various uses to which cutting instruments are put, and gradations of hardness, from the high temper of razors and certain chisels to the low temper of hunters' and sailors' knives, which should always be of rather soft steel, for they are sharpened more easily, and the saw-like edge is better suited for cutting flesh, ropes, etc., than a very fine edge would be.

A comparatively soft steel does well enough for the heavy cutla.s.s used for cutting lead or dividing a sheep, and the edge, though sharp and keen, need not, and, indeed, cannot, approach the razor-edge necessary for cutting a silk pocket-handkerchief or a feather.

_Every_ edge, when closely examined by a microscope, presents a more or less saw-like and jagged appearance. It is merely a question of _degree_, and, in a sword to be used for ordinary cutting and thrusting, you want to secure hardness sufficient to produce a good edge and an instant return to its former shape after any reasonable bending, and you want to avoid anything like brittleness or liability to snap. If the disposition of the molecules is such as to give too great hardness, the blade, though capable of taking a fine edge, will probably snap, or the edge will crack and s.h.i.+ver on meeting any hard obstacle. For example, if you put razor steel into a cutla.s.s, and then try to cut lead, the blade will either snap off or the edge will break away in large pieces. If, on the other hand, you make the blade of too soft steel, the edge will be readily dented or turned on one side.

Though there are wonderful reports of the excellence of Eastern blades manufactured at Damascus, it is probable that European work was quite as good, and that the tempering of steel was quite as well understood at Toledo, in Spain, where, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, splendid rapiers were produced. It seems highly probable that the rapier was an extension or refinement of the earlier heavy cut-and-thrust sword, because, though the superior value of the point was beginning then to a.s.sert itself, there was an evident attempt to preserve in the rapier the strength and cutting properties of the long straight sword of a previous time.

The Italian and Spanish rapiers were sometimes of great length, three feet or three feet six inches and more in the blade, and they were often beautifully finished, the work of the hilts being frequently both elaborate and costly. The blade itself, which was double-edged and inclined to be flat, tapered gradually from hilt to point, and was strengthened by a ridge running almost its entire length.

The French duelling-sword of modern days is sometimes spoken of as a "rapier;" but this is incorrect, as the popular Gallic dispute-settler is three-sided, and is, as it has no edge, exclusively used for pointing.

For _details_ of historical research, and other particulars, the reader is referred to Mr. Egerton Castle's work on the sword.

THE MODERN CUT-AND-THRUST SWORD.

The word "Broad-sword" may be taken to include all kinds of cut-and-thrust swords. It is the generic term for s.h.i.+p's cutla.s.s, infantry sword, and heavy cavalry sabre, which are all cutting weapons, and, though varying in length and curvature of blade, can be used for pointing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 14.--Grip for the light cutla.s.s.]

The method of holding the broad-sword depends entirely upon the weight and length of the blade. If you have a light cutla.s.s weighing, say, about one and a half pound, and measuring about thirty-four inches in the blade, you may hold it in the same way as in single-stick play, viz.

with the thumb on the back of the hilt, as in the sketch, and you will probably find that in this way the guards are made with greater facility. At the same time, when guarding, say, with the hanging guard (_see_ Fig. 15), the thumb is liable to a severe sprain; and this is more particularly the case when the opposing blade meets the foible, or half nearest the point of your blade, at right angles, or nearly so.

To be more explicit. If A B C, in Fig. 16, represent your blade lying flat on the paper, _d o_ the intersection of a plane at right angles to the plane of the paper and also at right angles to the tangent to the curve at the point _o_, where we will suppose the edges of the blades to meet, it will be seen at a glance that the leverage from _o_ to C is considerable, and that a great strain is thrown upon the thumb which is endeavouring to keep the guard in position.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 15--Low hanging guard.]

In this case the cut has been received on the "foible," or half of the blade nearest the point. All guards should, if possible, be made with the "forte," or half nearest the hilt.

It is important to bear in mind that the cut should be received with the guard as much as possible on the slant; _i.e._ you should endeavour to make the opponent's blade glance off yours at an angle such as _d' o_.

The difficulty of bringing about this "glance off" is certainly increased by having the thumb on the hilt, because your hanging guard--which is perhaps the most important and constantly recurring of all the guards--is apt to be higher, _so far as the point is concerned_, and there is the chance of letting in cuts 3 or 5 at the left side, which is exposed by an elevated point.

If, in the hanging guard, the arm is well extended, with the hand slightly above the level of the shoulder, the point dropped well to the left, and the edge turned outwards to the left, as in the ill.u.s.tration (Fig. 15), a very good general guard will be formed. Remember, too, that in all cuts, points, or guards, the second knuckles of the fingers should be in a line with the edge. The only exception to this rule is, perhaps, to be found in the third point, where a s.h.i.+fting of the hand, so as to enable the edge to be more completely directed upwards, is sometimes recommended.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 16--The broad-sword.]

The hanging guard, or modifications thereof, is capable of warding off all cuts made at the left side of the head and body, and is also effective against cut 7. Then, by bringing the hand slightly to the right, with the elbow held well in to the right side, it is extremely easy to come into the position for guarding cut 2.

We may, I think, a.s.sume that, on the whole, the thumb held at the back of the hilt gives, in the case of a very light sword, an advantage in speed, especially with short quick cuts and points.

Turning to the heavy sabre used by the cavalry of this and other countries, we observe that to keep the thumb on the back of the hilt would lead to constant sprains. No man is strong enough to wield with effect a blade weighing about two and a half pounds and measuring little short of three feet--thirty-five inches is the regulation length of the British cavalry sabre--unless he holds it as indicated in Fig. 17.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 17.--Grip for the heavy sabre.]

Most cuts made with the heavy sword are more sweeping in their nature, more "swinging," so to speak, than the short quick cuts which can be effected with the lighter and more handy weapon; indeed, it is only to be expected that the weight of the blade and length of the sweep should give great force to the sabre; but it must not be forgotten that what is thus gained in power is lost in speed, and that in nine cases out of ten a well-directed "point" would be immeasurably superior both in speed and effect than the most sweeping cut.