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Title
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The Art of Fencing
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list of authors
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Louis Tronchet
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Date
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June 10, 1898
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5
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en
The Art of Fencing
Fencing, admirable art and complicated science, which charms its devotees far more than any other exercise and combines the movements and benefits of all other exercises, may be said to be the mother of them all, molding the education of the mind as well as of the body, giving the latter a quickness, suppleness, grace and precision which is absorbed and reflected by the mind.
It is the sport of the refined and intelligent, the fact being undeniable that those in intellectual pursuits excel all others in the art. It also enables those who are not well endowed with physical advantages to more than supply that deficiency with their heads; they work and achieve with their foil as with their pen, for, as they combine ideas which go to prove an argument and hit their opponent in a weak spot, so by a combination of ideas with their foil, feints, thrusts, parries, etc., they likewise hit their opponents. Of two equally skilled in the foils, he has the advantage who possesses the most grit, cunningness and will power over his adversary.
Here certainly is an excellent exercise for the mind, and a good master will always teach his pupil to use his head, playing a game of science and art not one that depends sorely upon strength and physique, which latter called a game of “(????????),” over which art is always the conqueror. No one is born a fencer. The art is acquired only by hard work, perseverance, self-control and patience.
Strength is not necessary to begin fencing, as its study develops it. Nor is age a consideration. Witness in Paris many septuagenarians still active fighters, as M. Legouve, a well-known Parisian over 80 years of age, of the Academie Francaise, will never misses his daily bout, such is the keen pleasure these veterans “de la lame” have to meet each other. No more refined courtesy and urbanity can be found than in a fencing-room; it is indeed a school of politeness where the finest scholars in fencing are the most esteemed and respected. In this country, unfortunately, different conditions obtain. Beginners in their eagerness to become fighters forget that they must first master the principles of the art. They begin fighting after a few months’ practice. Perchance their names appear in the papers, they get an exaggerated estimation of their powers, and thinking they have attained the utmost round abandon further study.
During the six years I have taught fencing in the United States I have crossed foils with many fencers of different schools and nations. Unfortunately the greater part of these have never mastered the first principles of the science. In my twenty-one years of teaching it has always been my first aim to ground the pupil in the fundamental principles, for to cross foils or have a bout with any arm whatsoever is no more to have an assault-at-arms than to clash and clang heathen instruments is to play music. There is but one correct way to fence, and a beginner should never take up the foils unless to be taught by a competent master.
I use the word “school” with reluctance, for there is no more a school of fencing than there is a school of justice or of truth. The remind is over matter; here one needs not know the language of the adversary; here is a Volapuk where ideas are interchanged with lightning rapidity; and it may be said that as one’s language reflects one’s character so does his assault even in a greater degree.
Here, where by t few understand its benefits, the shallow remark is often made, “What good is it in this country where there are no duels?” In France, as in other Latin countries, true, dueling still exists, but undeceive yourself if you think that arms are used only to kill your neighbor. When a master puts a foil on the hands of a beginner he inculcates in him ideas far different from those of becoming a swashbuckler or quarrel-seeker.
Among the better circles youth study foils more to develop their physique than merely to make themselves respected. But there are few “men of the world” who have not had, at some time or another, an “affair of honor,” an insult or a quarrel thrust upon them, nay, perhaps, a sister or a mother, to average. I do not approve dueling for some trifling matter, peccadillo or chicane among politicians, and still less when some mistress is the cause, but to my thinking honor demands all brave men to wipe away a defamatory insult by arms, especially of our private lives be attacked. Some, if the insult be given face to face, will forthwith bring the insulter to account. To these I answer that it is bad taste to grapple with the insulter on the spot, like ragpickers; other may go before the courts to be paid for the insult in a sum money. To these I say that money would soil the hands of a gentleman. Despite what is low, but make yourself respected – there is honor. In France the name of a good fencer is always known, and of itself “silences many envious tongues.”
The bout or assault-at-arms is the contest in the fencing-room, executing what has been practiced in the lesson; it is the pastime of veterans and the height to which all pupils aspire. But a master will nto permit a beginner to bout except with a correct fencer, who will make an easy play, and correct the faults of the aspirant, who should always strive to be as quick and as supple as possible, to have precision in the fingering, and, above all, an eye alert to read the opponent’s thoughts, and, lightning-like, to touch an uncovered spot. Quickness is the most important qualification, and greatly enhances the pleasure of the game. IT can be acquired by practice.
Suppleness is an indispensable adjunct to quickness, and can also be acquired by continuous study. It is this which gives such beauty, grace, and ease to the movements, rendering possible the fine movements of the blade in the deceiving parries. In this fine fingering, which distinguishes the class fencer, the fingers play as important and as delicate a part and are as intimately connected with the mind, if not the very soul of the fencer, as they are in the case of the pianist or the violinist. Rigidity of the muscles destroy quickness and certainty of action, besides making a clumsy game.
It is the eye, though, that is the power behind the throne. It is upon the eye that this most important duty of divining the intentions of the adversary devolves – seeing where the attacking hand will make the charge, and seizing with unmistaken accuracy the exact moment of the lunge.
The mental qualifications are coolness, good judgment and a readiness to take advantage of every movement of the adversary. Coolness is the most important of these, for without it the others can hardly exist. He who loses his head in a bout had better drop fencing, for the beneficial effects of the exercise, either mental or physical, will never become a good fencer. Further, it is possible for a cool man to control the play to a great extent, and in many ways; as. By exposing himself or feinting, he may lead his adversary into a snare.
On seeing a bout between active, skillful fencers, the unacquainted are struck by what seems unparalleled endurance. There are ways of resting in the severest bout, for it would be obviously impossible to keep every nerve and muscle at the highest tension for an considerable length of time without tiring – for example, retreating a step or two, slightly changing the position of the body and legs, calming the nerves and relaxing the muscles, at the same time distracting the attention of the opponent by beating or playing with this blade, which last tends to hinder his attack, always, however, keeping on the quivive (?) to defend and attack if any opportunity presents itself.
From my point of view an assault at arms is to do your best to touch without being touched. If in an assault of fifteen or twenty minutes by your tactics, your ruse, physical exertions and science you have touched your adversary but once, without having been touched yourself, you will have proven yourself a fencer of science and of brains. In an assault, when touched within the limits, one must say “touched” in a distinct, quiet voice, and never show impatience or loss of temper by tone or manner. When touched without the limits one must also say “touched,” indicating where the erroneous point has lodged. After being touched wheresoever, the blades must be crossed and the attack recommenced. Should you touch, but your adversary fail to acknowledge it, never call out, “I touched you,” or ask if you have touched him, for by so doing you would show quite as petty a spirit as he does in keeping silent, particularly if there are spectators.
Should a fencer make a brilliant play he should not look at the spectators for applause. In a word, always be a gentleman, fencing for respect and devotion to the science, never causing unpleasant feelings to be vanquished.
The types of sword met with in history, and from which all forms now in use among civilized nations are derived, many be classified into straight-edged and curved; the straight-edged type either for cutting or thrusting, and either single or double edged. The double-edged form was prevalent down to the seventeenth century, but the single-edged blade, or broadsword, as it was exclusively employed for military purposes.
The Asiatics even now use their sword purely for cutting, and the curved edge used by them is undoubtedly the very best design for that, the curved edge causing the cut to be oblique to the surface. With few exceptions the shape of the sword now in use has been more or less influenced by the oriental curved saber.
Among the early double-edged swords the Roman pattern is the most formidable, and the point was preferred by them. In the middle ages the Roman traditions disappeared and a new start was made from the clumsy, barbarian arm which the Romans so despised. Gradually the broad, pointless blade was lengthened and tapered, and the thrust, although its real power was unknown, was more or less practiced.
The Cavalier St. Louis anticipated Napoleon is calling on his men to use the point, and in the first half of the sixteenth century a well-proportioned, well mounted cut and thrust sword was in general use.
The superiority of the point over the edge was recognized by Wellington during his Spanish campaign and commented upon by him, as the following instance will illustrate. The English army was retreating, a regiment of light horse acting as rear guard. The Fifteenth Chasseurs were the advance guard of the French army, and at the village of Villaclugo came upon the English. The two lines halted a short distance apart; then at a shot of “Forward” from the Chasseurs the two lines plunged into each other. Just as the charge was about to be made General Clausel happened to be upon an eminence overlooking contest too out his watch to time it. It lasted just fourteen minutes. The Chasseurs remained masters of the field. Wellington, in his general orders, praised the French cavalry for their superiority in fencing.
Major-General Carl von Schmidt of the Prussian army, in 1870, while naturally reluctant to recognize a superiority in anything French, wrote as follows in a letter of instruction: “The cavalry man who can fence with his saber, even if an indifferent horseman, will in the combat be superior to the one who is a perfect horseman, but a poor fencer. Many instances in 1813, 1814, and 1815 by the French cavalry, whose horses were taken from the plow and whose men were of an ordinary class and incompletely trained, will show that there were a formidable foe, their deficiencies being more than compensated by their knowledge of fencing.”
General Von Schmidt says further: “Fencing with the point should be studied before fencing with the saber, as the former is more difficult and gives greater adroitness and poise to the body, and that suppleness and rapidity to the wrist which are necessary for the saber. Fencing with the point should be taught carefully, being the best to overcome that deplorable habit of slashing indiscriminately.”
The fact that a German general advocates the use of the point after the style of the French and against the practice of his countrymen, speaks volumes of the greater effectiveness of the former, and while a man may cut and slash a good deal without inflicting any serious hurt, one thrust is enough to place his adversary hors de combat.
Louis Tronchet,
Fencing-master of the Olympic Club.
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depicts
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Illustration : "The thrust on the sixth feint."
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Illustration : "Professor Tronchet."
