"We here touch on another point, where I find myself at variance with
nearly all the professional instructors.
"I have read in the books which deal with this subject of 'the danger
of premature loose play.' 'You run the risk,' say some, 'of spoiling
a promising pupil, and of arresting his future progress, just when he
is beginning to form good habits.' Others go further and declare that:
'The instructor who allows his pupil to commence loose play too soon
sacrifices by an act of fatal indulgence the whole future of fencing.'
"I do not agree with this view. I cannot even see that it logically
applies to those who mean to devote all their time to the study of
sword-play, and who are prepared to make a determined effort to reach
the topmost summit of this difficult art. Much less, then, to my mind,
is it applicable to the generality of men, who have no ambition to
become such learned fencers, as we were saying the other evening. The
professors wilfully refuse to see this.
"And yet of all arts, the art of fencing may be considered from the
most widely different standpoints, and particularly may be approached
with very varied degrees of knowledge and application. Is it so very
certain that 'premature loose play,' as the professors love to call
it, is so pernicious as they think,--the bad seed that cannot fail to
produce an evil crop of vices? Right or wrong, I can only say once
more that I am of quite the contrary opinion.
"I fail to see that it is dangerous for a pupil to attempt the assault,
when he has learnt by taking lessons for a month,--more or less,
according to the progress made and his natural capacity,--to understand
the various strokes I have described, and can already execute them with
some degree of liveliness and control.