Chapter III

"My classification, you see, is not very complicated."

"But," some one objected, "you are surely forgetting to name an immense number of strokes and parries; for it is impossible that the long lists of names, which are given in the books, and the directions for the various passes, which have the air of cabalistic formulae and are about equally intelligible, can be reduced to such simple terms."

"I am willing to forget them," I replied, "in fact more than willing, for I am convinced that they only serve to distract the learner's mind. The simpler the principles, the simpler the practice. Give him fewer things to do, and he will do them more easily, and he will certainly learn to do them in a shorter time.

"I have always said that a text-book of fencing, which contained nothing that was superfluous, would not fill a volume but might be written out on a sheet of notepaper, and besides, I would have you notice that several of the attacks, parries, and ripostes included in my list might logically have been omitted, because they are simply different ways of executing the same movement.

"For instance, what I have called "_One, two_" is the combination of two _disengagements_, one delivered in quarte, the other in tierce. The _beat straight thrust_ is the combination of a _beat_ on the sword with a _straight thrust_. The _beat disengage_ is simply a _beat_ followed by a _disengagement_. _Feint cut-over_, _feint disengage_ are in like manner the different methods, which are most commonly used, of executing the _straight thrust_ or the _disengagement_, the two fundamental strokes of sword-play.

"Even the _cut-over_ is really a sort of _disengagement_, since it starts from the same position, is aimed at the same point, and may be met by the same parries. The only difference is that the _disengagement_ passes under the blade, while the _cut-over_ passes over the point. The _cut-over and disengage in quarte_ is the same movement as _counter-quarte_, conceived and executed in the one case as an attack, in the other as a parry. _Cut-over and disengage in tierce_ is related in precisely the same way to _counter-tierce_.

"You see, then, that the multiplication of strokes, far from extending to infinity, may be reduced to very narrow limits. And I am firmly convinced, that if you transgress these limits you are at once involved in endless confusion, which you ought to be very careful to avoid.--You will, I am sure, admit the force of my argument.

"The attacks and parries which I have described traverse all the lines which are open to the passage of the sword, that is to say _the high and low lines, the inside lines and the outside_. The fencer whose mind is set free from the perplexity of parries complete and parries intermediate and so forth, understands more clearly the materials that are available for his combinations, and the measures that he must take to meet the adverse attack.

"The lucidity of his mind is reflected even in the movement of his hand which goes straight to its mark without hesitation or confusion. Speed and freedom of delivery follow as a matter of course. And we must not forget that quickness of hand, combined with what may be called fencing judgment, is of all qualifications the most important, the most necessary, the most vitally indispensable.