_Of_ Feints.
Feints are much used in _Fencing_, whether it be by reason of their
Number, their Ease, or the Success that attends them, gaining more Time
and Light than is to be got in plain Thrusts, there being no Thrust to
be given so well as after a Feint.
The Number of Feints is so great, by reason of the many Guards and
Parades, that I should find it as difficult to describe them, as the
Reader would to comprehend them without Experience; so that I shall
confine myself to those from which the rest derive, which are, strait
Feint, Feint, and double Feint.
By strait feint, is meant a Motion or Feint to Thrust on the Side on
which your Sword is, which is to be done on the Inside, the Wrist in
_Quart_, a little higher than the Point which must be near the
Adversary's Sword, that you may be covered, whilst you endeavour to get
an Opening. This Motion should be attended with a little Beat of the
Right-foot, keeping back the Body. If, at the Time you feint, your
Adversary does not stir, you must push _Quart_: if he parrys with his
Feeble, you must immediately disengage to _Tierce_; and if he parrys
high you must cut in _Quart_ under the Wrist.
The Feint, to which I give no other Name, it being the most used, and to
distinguish it from the others, is done by feinting from _Quart_ to
_Tierce_, with a little beat of the Foot, keeping the Body back: the
Wrist must be raised in _Quart_, and the Button a little lower than the
Pommel, near the Adversary's Blade; by which means you are covered, and
can make your Thrust swifter. If the Adversary does not stir at the
Feint, you must go on strait with the _Tierce_: if he parrys with his
Feeble, you must disengage and thrust _Quart_, and if he parrys with his
Fort, you must push _Seconde_.
Several masters teach to make this Feint from the inside to the outside,
with the Wrist turned in _Tierce_; and indeed they are seemingly in the
right; a Feint being a likeness of the beginning of a Thrust; and that
likeness cannot be better shown than in the figure of the thrust: but
the smart motion of the point, causes the adversary to stir, the figure
of the hand no way contributing thereto. You are to consider which is
the most proper, not only to make the adversary answer you, but also to
make the motion quicker. Monsieur De Latouche says, that from _Quart_ to
_Quart_ there is no motion; but we have two instances to the contrary.
First, that a Man of experience has his Wrist and the bend of his Arm
free, so as to thrust strait in _Quart_, tho' in the same figure; and
secondly, if there be a motion preceding the Thrust, as in a
Disengagement, or a cut under; this motion is sufficient to help the
swiftness of the Feint, and of the Thrust: in short, the motion from
_Quart_ to _Quart_, being quicker than feinting from _Quart_ to
_Tierce_, and returning in _Quart_; it ought to have the preference,
swiftness being the line of Fencing. The only Feints that should be made
in _Tierce_, are those that are marked from below above to return below,
and from above below to return above.
The double Feint is in two motions, so that in order to push within the
Sword, you must be without; and making a little motion in _Quart_
within, with a little beat of the Foot, you feint again without closing
the measure, keeping back the Body in order to be out of the adversary's
reach: if he parrys with his Fort, you must cut under in _Seconde_, and
if he parrys with his Feeble, disengage to _Quart_ within.
As there are in this Thrust three motions of the Sword, _viz._ the two
Feints and the Thrust; the Foot must make as many, in order to answer
the motions of the Hand.
Some Masters teach to make the double Feint without stirring the Foot;
and others teach to advance on the first Motion. In the first Case,
being in the Adversary's Measure, you lose too much Time, which is very
dangerous: And advancing on the first motion, is almost as dangerous as
keeping the Foot firm, by putting yourself within the Adversary's Reach;
besides the Manner is not so graceful as that which I recommend, in
which you are not within his Reach 'till the second Motion; and this is
attended with another Advantage; for by bearing with the Right-foot, the
Body must of necessity be kept back, and consequently, farther from the
Sword of the Adversary, and in a better Condition to act.
There are two other Ways of making these Thrusts: The one by an Interval
between the first and second Motions, joining or uniting the other two;
and the latter between the second and third Motions, joining the two
first. Though both these Methods are good, I prefer the latter, which
puts you in a better Condition, not only to avoid your Adversary's
Thrust, but also to chuse your own; the Interval giving you a favourable
Opportunity of doing both.
There has been so much said of the Feints which I have described, with
their Opposites, that I shall say no more of them, nor will I speak of
an infinite Number of other Feints, strait, single, and double, within,
without, and under, in disengaging, or cutting over the Point, or under
the Wrist, in risposting, or redoubling Thrusts; all which, depend on
the three which I have described; in which, as in all Thrusts, the Body
must be kept back, and the Fort of the Sword before you; by which Means,
you are more out of Danger, and the Wrist is better prepared. Some Men
mark Feints with the Head and Body, which is a very disagreeable Sight,
and dangerous with Regard to Time.
A Feint is the Likeness of the Beginning of a Thrust: It is made to put
the Adversary off his Guard, and to gain an Opening. In order to take
Advantage of the Time and Light which you get by your Feint, you must
take care to avoid an Inconveniency into which many People fall, by
uncovering themselves in endeavouring to uncover the Adversary.