Every Boy's Book: A Complete Encyclopaedia of Sports and Amusements Part 31

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It is rather more delicate than tierce, but wants its power and energy.

The Ripostes, or reply thrusts, are made, as they would have been had the parade been that of Tierce.

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SECONDE

is formed by turning the hand in the same position in which it was turned for Tierce, but the point of the foil slopes as much downwards as in Tierce it did upwards; the direction and distance for the hand to traverse being the same. Again, had the attack been delivered at none of these, but at the _inside under_ the hand, then the proper parade would have been

DEMI-CERCLE,

which, as its name expresses, is a half-circle, described by a sweep of the blade traversing the _under_ line. Next comes the parade of

OCTAVE.

In this parade the hand is held as in Quarte; the hilt of the foil is kept lower than that of the opponent; the blade is almost horizontal, the point being only slightly lower than the hilt, and directed towards the body of the adversary.

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Octave is extremely useful when the fencer misses his parade of Demi-cercle, as there is but a short distance for the point to traverse, and it generally meets the blade of the adversary before the point can be properly fixed. Moreover, it brings the point so near the adversary's body, that he will not venture to make another thrust until he has removed the foil.

Thus I have enumerated, and partly explained, the forms and uses of these four parades: they are called Simple Parades, to distinguish them from another set of defensive movements, called

CONTRE-PARADES.

I have said and shown that a man standing foil in hand, in the position of the guard, is exposed in four distinct places to thrusts from an adversary within longing distance. I have also shown that he has a defence for each of these exposed places; but if a man has but _one_ defence for each a.s.sailable part, then his adversary, knowing beforehand what the defence must be, would be prepared beforehand to deceive him.

But if he has a reserve--if he has a _second_ defence for each part, then the adversary cannot tell what the defence will be, until his attack, false or real, is begun.

To meet this contingency, a second series of defences have been devised, which are of an entirely different nature from the _Simple_ Parades.

Again, as each of the simple parades is framed to guard only one opening, it was found desirable that the contre-parades should be of a more comprehensive character. They are therefore devised so that each is capable of protecting the entire front. It is evident that this object could not be attained without the sacrifice of quickness, because a larger s.p.a.ce must be traversed, and therefore more time is occupied with a contre than a simple parade.

To know one contre-parade is virtually to know all, as they are all formed on the same plan. They are all full circles in the position of hand and direction of foil of the different simple parades; or more clearly speaking, each simple parade has a contre-parade; there are, therefore, four simple and four contre-parades, which may be thus arranged:--

Quarte Contre de Quarte.

Tierce Contre de Tierce.

Seconde Contre de Seconde.

Demi-cercle Contre de Cercle.

I have said that a contre-parade is a full circle in the position of hand and direction of blade of its simple; thus, contre de quarte is made by retaining the hand in the position of quarte, while the foil describes a circle descending on the inside, and returning by the outside to the place of its departure. So with all the others, the foil _following the direction of the simple_ parade, of which it is the contre. These complete the entire system of defences.

I now come to movements of an opposite nature, namely, the

ATTACKS,

and shall begin with the most simple of them. I will again suppose two adversaries standing, _en guard_, within longing distance of each other: now the most simple movement that the attacking party could make would be,

THE STRAIGHT THRUST

to the outside or inside, according to his line of engagement. I have, in describing the longe, in effect described the straight thrust; it is but a longe in a straight line, taking care, however, to feel firmly the adversary's blade, but taking care also not to press or lean on it during the delivering of the thrust.

Next in character comes

THE DISENGAGEMENT.

This attack is made by dropping the point of the foil beneath the adversary's blade, and raising it on the opposite side, at the same time, rising with the arm fully extended; on the completion of the extension the longe is made and the thrust delivered.

THE ONE-TWO

is but a double disengagement, the first being but a feint or false attack, to induce the adversary to form a parade to cover the part threatened, for the covering of one part of the body exposes the opposite: the second disengagement is made to take advantage of this exposure. The arm is extended halfway on the first, and then wholly on the second, to be immediately followed by the longe.

THE BEAT AND THRUST.

This is another variety of attack. Supposing the adversary's blade to be firmly joined to yours, when you wished to deliver a _straight thrust_, there would then be danger of your falling upon his point. This danger is avoided by giving a slight beat on his blade the instant preceding your extension of arm, of course to be followed _en suite_ by the longe.

The companion attack to this attack is

THE BEAT AND DISENGAGEMENT.

The _beat_ here takes the character of the first disengagement in _one-two_, _i. e._ becomes a _feint_, and is intended to induce the adversary to return to the place he occupied when the beat was made. You then immediately pa.s.s to the opposite side of his blade in the manner described in the _disengagement_.

It will be seen that all these movements pa.s.s _under_ the adversary's blade. However, there are certain situations in the _a.s.sault_, as a fencing bout is called, when an adversary is more a.s.sailable _over the point_ than under the blade; for this purpose there is what the French call the _coupe sur point_, or

CUT OVER THE POINT.

It is thus made: By the action of the hand, and without drawing it back at all, the foil is raised and brought down on the opposite side of the adversary's blade, the arm being extended during its fall to the horizontal position, on attaining which the longe is delivered.

CUT OVER AND DISENGAGEMENT

is on the same principle as the _one-two_ and the _beat and disengagement_. On the adversary opposing the first movement (the cut) with a parade, the second movement (the disengagement) is made to the opposite side, to be followed of course by the longe; the extension of the arm being divided between the two movements.

These attacks are called simple attacks, because they may be parried by one or more simple parades, according to the number of movements in the attack. In fact, every attack can be parried, and every parade can be deceived: it is the _additional_ movement last made which hits or guards.