The Art of Fencing Part 10

Do nothing that's useless, every Action shou'd tend to your Advantage.

Lessons and a.s.saults are only valuable when the Application and Genius make them so.

Too good an Opinion spoils many People, and too bad a one still more.

A natural Disposition and Practice are necessary in Lessons, but in a.s.saults there must be a Genius besides.

The Goodness of Lessons and of a.s.saults does not consist so much in the Length as in the Manner of them.

When you have to do with one that's bold and forward, it is necessary to seem apprehensive in order to get a favourable Opportunity.

If you act against one that's fearful, attack him briskly to put him in Disorder.

Before you applaud a Thrust given, examine if Chance had no Hand in it.

Thrusts of Experience, and those of Chance are different, the first come often, the others seldom or never happen, you may depend on one, but not on the other.

In Battle let Valour and Prudence go together, the Lyon's Courage with the Fox's Craft.

To be in Possession of what you know, you must be in Possession of yourself.

Undertake nothing but what your Strength and the Capacity of the Enemy will admit of in the Execution.

The Beauty of an a.s.sault appears in the Execution of the Design.

Make no Thrust without considering the Advantage and the Danger of it.

If the Eye and Wrist precede the Body, the Execution will be good.

Be always cautious, Time lost cannot be regained.

If you can hit without a Feint, make none, two Motions are more dangerous than one.

To know what you risque, you must know what you are worth.

If you would do well, acquire the agreeable and useful.

Twenty good Qualities will not make you perfect, and one bad one will hinder your being so.

Judge of a Thrust, rather by Reason than by it's Success; the one may fail, but the other cannot.

To parry well is much, but it is nothing when you can do more.

Let your Guard, and your Play be always directly opposite to the Enemy.

Practice is either a Good or an Evil; all consists in the Choice of it.

When you think yourself skilful and dexterous, 'tis then you are not so.

'Tis not enough that your Parts agree, they must also answer the Enemy's Motions.

The knowing a Good without practising it, turns to an Evil.

Two skilful Men acting together, fight more with their Heads than with their Hands.

If you are superiour to your Enemy, press him close, and if you are inferiour, break Measure to keep him moving.

Endeavour both to discover the Enemy's Design, and to conceal your own.

When the Eye and the Hand agree in the same instant, you are perfectly right.

Draw not your Sword, but to serve the King, preserve your Honour, or defend your Life.

CHAP. x.x.xI.

_Against several erroneous Opinions._

Though there are People of a bad Taste in every Art or Science, there are more in that of Fencing than in others, as well by Reason of the little Understanding of some Teachers, as of the little Practice of some Learners, who are not acting upon a good Foundation, or long enough, to have a good idea of it, argue so weakly on this Exercise, that I thought it as much my Business to observe their Errors, as it is my Duty to instruct those that I have the Honour to teach in the Theory of it: By this Means, I may furnish the One with juster Sentiments, and the Others with the Means of preserving their Honour and Lives.

I begin with those, who defer letting their Children learn 'till they have attained a certain Age, Growth and Strength. If these three Qualities would enable them to put this Art in Execution immediately, I acknowledge that they ought not to begin 'till they possessed them; but it is by long Experience and Practice only, that they can become perfect; so that except they begin young, the Employments for which they are designed, may not give them Time to arrive to it; besides, by beginning in a tender Age, the Body is more easily brought to a good Air, and an easy Disengagement; being more at Liberty, and less used to Faults, which it would naturally fall into for want of being cultivated.

Others say that it is needless to learn when the Disposition is wanting, which is an Error; for a Body that is well disposed by Nature, can better dispense with the Want of Improvement, than those that she has taken less care of; these requiring a constant Labour, to acquire what the others have almost of themselves; and tho' they cannot arrive to a perfect Agility, yet their Bodies will be better disposed to act, and their Lives not so much in Danger.

Some a.s.sure you that the knowing how to Fence, makes a Man quarrelsome, and thereby exposes him to dangerous Consequences, without considering it is a natural Brutality, Honour, or Danger, which obliges him to attack another, or defend himself, which he would do without having learned, with this Difference; that though he have the same Brutality or Courage, the Issue of the Battle is not the same; and if he have Occasion to defend himself, would it not be better for him to be able to do it, than to leave his Life to an uncertain and dangerous Hazard.

Others say that it is enough to learn one Exercise at a time; that a Plurality of different Lessons fatigues the Mind and the Body: But as one Science disposes the Mind for the others, they having a Sort of a Correspondence one with another, so Exercises favour one another as well in regard to the Posture of the Body, as to the Freedom of Motion; besides, that learning them one after another, as each Particular would take up as much Time as all in general, this Length of Time would be too great for any one almost to succed in them.

Many People say that with Sword in Hand the Rules of the School are not observed, and that 'tis sufficient to have a good Heart: It is certain that People who are subject to this Error, are not capable of following the Rules which are to be acquired only by putting a good Theory in Practice; which by frequent Use, disposes the Eye and the Part of Executing so well, that it is almost impossible to act otherwise: And as to the Practice of Schools and of the Sword, 'tis the same; for no one ought to do any thing with the Foil, but what he knows by Experience to be without Risque, according to his Rules. In some Cases, it is true, what is esteemed good in one, is not in the other. For Example: Thrusts with the Foil are good only on the Body, and with the Sword they are good every where; and that in an a.s.sault with the Foil, the joining is reckoned as nothing, whereas in Battle 'tis the Seal of the Victory; but except in that, it should be alike in every Thing.

Others say that if they had to do with experienced Men, they would not give them Time to put themselves in Guard; as if a Man who is expert were not always on his Guard, being more knowing, and better disposed, not only to place himself at once, by the Habit that all his Parts have contrasted, but also to surprise, and to avoid being surprised, by the Knowledge he has of Time and Measure: On the contrary, an unskilful Person being ignorant of both, is easily catch'd; besides, that his Parts being unaccustomed to place themselves regularly, or at once, must always be in a continual Motion, vainly seeking their Place, by which they give the Time, and would lose it if it were given to them.

Some, in Opposition to these, say that if they know how to keep themselves in Guard 'tis sufficient. They are in the right if the Guard be perfect, which is not to be acquired but by a Practice as long as is necessary to make them perfectly dexterous, which is not their Meaning; they thinking that it is only the placing of the Parts, which is useless, without Freedom and Vigour to manage them. These are Qualities which when accompanied with a certain regular Air, and a good Grace, shew, as soon as a Man takes a Sword or Foil in his Hand, to what Pitch of Dexterity he is arrived.

Some Men will tell you that they know enough to serve their Turn: Those who use this Expression, as well as those I have spoken of before, sufficiently shew that they have learnt but little or nothing. In Effect it is no hard Matter to judge of the different Degrees of Ability; so that when a Man finds himself inferiour, he cannot properly say that he knows enough to serve his Turn; and a Man who is superiour, knows very well that he is not perfect, and that if his good Disposition together with his long Practice, has brought him very forward in the Art, others may know as much as he, and that therefore he is not so perfect as an unskilful Person may imagine.

I have heard several People say that they did not care to be dexterous, nor to know the five Rules, provided they knew how to defend themselves, and to push and parry well; and really they are in the right, supposing they could do that without practising what the most able Men have invented upon this Occasion.

There are People that say, that with Sword in Hand, against an able Man, there is nothing to be done but push vigorously, to disorder him: I am apt to believe that this may succeed against a Man who is not well form'd, or has not the Courage and Resolution that is necessary; but if he has enough to keep up his Spirit, this Attack will be advantageous to him; because it cannot be done without giving him an Opportunity of getting the better; and besides, I have Reason to believe that the greatest Part of those who talk in this Manner, would hardly attempt an able Man.

It may be said that People have then fought in this Manner with Success; but as there is Difference in Persons, what succeeded with them against unskilful People or Cowards, would have been dangerous against other Men.

I have met with People who were weak enough to believe that Knowledge in Fencing takes away the Heart, saying, that seeing the Counters to every Thrust they form, by Means of that Knowledge, an Idea of evident Danger, which dissipating the Courage, and causing an Apprehension, hinders them from their Enterprise; when an unskilful Person blindly undertakes every thing. It is true that there is great Blindness in this Way of pus.h.i.+ng, as they say, and still more in their Understanding, to think that an able Man dares not undertake or venture when the Appearance of Success leads him to it; and that an ignorant Man shall venture when his Loss is almost certain. Is it reasonable to suppose, that a Man of natural Courage shou'd lose it, because he is a.s.sured that he is more expert than his Enemy, over whom, or perhaps his Equals, he always had the Better in a.s.saults, by the Help of his Knowledge and Dexterity? This, far from intimidating him, seems to a.s.sure him of Success, which is due to his habitual Practice. On the contrary, an awkard Man having seen, by his Disadvantage in School a.s.saults, that he has no Room to hope in Combat, the dexterous Man possessing the Qualities which procure Success, and one who had never handled a Foil, will be as much puzzled, as if he had experience'd the Disadvantage of it.

Others, with as little Reason, leave all to Chance, but the very Name is sufficient to shew that it is not to be relye'd on.