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BROAD-SWORD
AND
SINGLE-STICK
R. G. ALLANSON-WINN,
AND
C. PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY.
THE ALL-ENGLAND SERIES.
_Small 8vo, cloth. Illustrated, price 1s. each._
_CRICKET._ By the Hon. and Rev. E. LYTTELTON.
_CRICKET._ By FRED C. HOLLAND.
_LAWN TENNIS._ By H. W. W. WILBERFORCE.
_TENNIS, RACKETS, and FIVES._ By JULIAN MARSHALL, MAJOR SPENS, and
Rev. J. ARNAN TAIT.
_SQUASH-RACKETS AND SQUASH-TENNIS._ By EUSTACE H. MILES.
[Double volume, 2_s._]
_GOLF._ By H. S. C. EVERARD. [Double volume, 2_s._]
_HOCKEY._ By F. S. CRESWELL. Revised by P. Collins (1909).
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_ROWING AND SCULLING._ By GUY RIXON.
_SAILING._ By E. F. KNIGHT. [Double volume, 2_s._]
_CANOEING WITH SAIL AND PADDLE._ By Dr. J. D. HAYWARD.
[Double volume, 2_s._]
_SWIMMING._ By M. and J. R. COBBETT.
_BOXING._ By R. G. ALLANSON-WINN.
_WRESTLING._ By WALTER ARMSTRONG. [New edition.]
_FENCING._ By H. A. COLMORE DUNN.
_BROADSWORD AND SINGLESTICK._ By R. G. ALLANSON-WINN and
C. PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY.
_FOOTBALL--RUGBY._ By HARRY VASSALL. Revised by C. J. B. MARRIOTT (1909).
_FOOTBALL--ASSOCIATION._ By C. W. ALCOCK.
_SKATING._ By DOUGLAS ADAMS. [Double volume, 2_s._]
_CYCLING._ By H. H. GRIFFIN, L.A.C. [Double volume, 2_s._]
_CYCLE TOURING._ By A. W. RUMNEY, M.A.
_ROUNDERS, QUOITS, BOWLS, etc._ By J. M. WALKER and C. C. MOTT.
_GYMNASTICS._ By A. F. JENKIN. [Double volume, 2_s._]
_GYMNASTIC COMPETITION AND DISPLAY EXERCISES._ Compiled by F. GRAF.
_DUMB-BELLS._ By F. GRAF.
_INDIAN CLUBS._ By G. T. B. COBBETT and A. F. JENKIN.
_BASEBALL._ By NEWTON CRANE.
_RIDING._ By W. A. KERR, V.C. [Double volume, 2_s._]
_RIDING FOR LADIES._ By W. A. KERR, V.C.
_CAMPING OUT._ By A. A. MACDONELL. [Double vol., 2_s._]
_MOUNTAINEERING._ By Dr. CLAUDE WILSON, [2_s._]
_DANCING._ By EDWARD SCOTT. [Double volume, 2_s._]
LONDON: G. BELL & SONS. LTD.
BROAD-SWORD
AND
SINGLE-STICK.
WITH CHAPTERS ON
QUARTER-STAFF, BAYONET, CUDGEL SHILLALAH, WALKING-STICK,
UMBRELLA, AND OTHER WEAPONS OF SELF-DEFENCE.
BY
R. G. ALLANSON-WINN,
AUTHOR OF "BOXING,"
AND
C. PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY,
INNS OF COURT SCHOOL OF ARMS.
LONDON:
G. BELL & SONS, LTD.,
AND NEW YORK.
1911.
PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BECCLES.
PREFACE.
The favour with which my little _brochure_ on boxing has been received
induces me to put together a few ideas on the subject of attack and
defence with weapons other than those with which nature has endowed us.
A glance at the table of contents will suffice to show that the scope of
the work has been somewhat extended, and that, though there is of course
a vast deal more to be said on the wide subject of self-defence, an
attempt has been made to give practical hints as to what may be effected
by a proper and prompt use of those common accessories which we may find
in our hands at almost any hour in the day.
Not having leisure to take in hand the whole of the work myself, I asked
my friend Mr. C. Phillipps-Wolley to make himself responsible for that
portion of the treatise which deals with single-stick play. This he
kindly consented to do, and those of my readers who wish to make a
special study of stick-play, I refer to p. 50 to p. 85 inclusive. The
illustrations in this portion of the work are from photographs by the
London Stereoscopic Company; all the other illustrations are from my own
sketches.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY 1
II. THE QUARTER-STAFF 4
III. THE BROAD-SWORD 17
IV. SINGLE-STICK 50
V. THE BAYONET 85
VI. THE CUDGEL, SHILLALAH, WALKING-STICK,
UMBRELLA, AND VARIOUS ACCESSORIES 100
BROAD-SWORD AND SINGLE-STICK.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Our neighbours on the other side of the English Channel have been
accused of calling us a "nation of shopkeepers." No doubt the definition
is not bad; and, so long as the goods supplied bear the hall-mark of
British integrity, there is nothing to be ashamed of in the appellation;
still, with all due deference, I think we might more appropriately be
called a nation of sportsmen.
There is not an English boy breathing at this moment who does not long
to be at some sport or game, and who has not his pet idea of the channel
into which he will guide his sporting proclivities when he is a man.
There are not many grown Englishmen who don't think they know something
about a horse, would not like to attend a good assault-at-arms, or who
are not pleased when they hear of their sons' prowess with the oar, the
bat, or the gloves.
I may be quite mistaken, but it always seems to me that the
well-brought-up little foreign boy is too unwholesomely good and gentle
to fight the battle of life. Still, such little boys _do_ grow up brave
and clever men, and they _do_, taken collectively, make splendid
soldiers.
Then, as to sports, foreigners seem to put too much pomp and
circumstance into their efforts in pursuit of game; the impedimenta and
general accoutrements are overdone; but here again I may be wrong.
Of one thing we may be quite sure, and that is that the majority of
Englishmen are devoted to sport of _some kind_. One of the prettiest
little compliments you can pay a man is to call him "a good old
sportsman."
When, in addition to the advantages of a national sport or collection of
national sports, such as boxing, sword exercises, wrestling, etc., you
recognize the possibility that the games you have been indulging in with
your friends in playful contests may at almost any moment be utilized
for defeating your enemies and possibly saving your life, you are forced
to the conclusion that there are some sports at least which can be
turned to practical account.
Unfortunately there are individuals, possibly in the small minority, who
regard anything like fighting as brutal or ungentlemanly. In a sense--a
very limited sense--they may be right, for, though our environment is
such that we can never rest in perfect security, it does seem hard that
we should have to be constantly on the alert to protect that which we
think is ours by right, and ours alone.
However this may be, let us be men _first_, and aristocrats, gentlemen,
or anything else you please, _afterwards_. If we are not men, in the
larger and better sense of the word, let there be no talk of gentle
blood or lengthy pedigree. The nation is what it is through the pluck
and energy of individuals who have put their shoulders to the wheel in
bygone days--men who have laid the foundation of a glorious empire by
sturdy personal efforts--efforts, unaided by the state, emanating from
those higher qualities of the character, relying on itself, and on
itself alone, for success or failure.
From the earliest times, and in the most primitive forms of animal life,
physical efforts to obtain the mastery have been incessant.
Whether it is in the brute creation or the human race, this struggle for
existence has always required the exercise of offensive and defensive
powers. The individual has striven to gain his living, and to protect
that living when gained; nations have paid armies to increase their
territories, and retain those territories when acquired.
The exact form of weapon which first came into use will always be
doubtful, but one would think that stones, being hard and handy, as well
as plentiful, might have presented irresistible attractions to, say,
some antediluvian monster, who wished to intimate to a mammoth or
icthyosaurus, a few hundred yards distant, his readiness to engage in
mortal combat.
Are there not stories, too, of clever little apes in tropical forests
who have pelted unwary travellers with nuts, stones, and any missiles
which came handy?
Then, coming nearer home, there is the lady at an Irish fair who hangs
on the outskirts of a faction-fight, ready to do execution with a stone
in her stocking--a terrible gog-magog sort of brain-scatterer.
When man was developed, no doubt one of his first ideas was to get hold
of a really good serviceable stick--not a little modern masher's
crutch--a strong weapon, capable of assisting him in jumping, protecting
him from wild beasts, and knocking down his fellow-man.
To obtain such a stick the primitive man probably had to do a good deal
of hacking at the bough of a hard oak or tough ash, with no better knife
than a bit of sharp flint. Having secured his stick, the next thing was
to keep it, and he doubtless had to defend himself against the assaults
of envious fellow-creatures possessed of inferior sticks.
Thus we can imagine that the birth of quarter-staff play--not much
_play_ about it in those days--was a very simple affair; and we
recognize in it the origin and foundation of all the sword exercises,
and all the games in which single-stick, lance, and bayonet play a
prominent part.
As the question of who picked up the first stone and threw it at his
fellow-man, or when the first branch of a tree was brought down on the
unsuspecting head of another fellow-man, are questions for learned men
to decide, and are of no real importance, I shall not allow myself to go
on with any vague speculations, but shall turn at once to an old English
sport which, though sometimes practised at assaults-at-arms in the
present day, takes us back to Friar Tuck, Robin Hood, and
"Maid Marian, fair as ivory bone,
Scarlet and Much and Little John."