"There are two kinds of parry, among those which I enumerated the other
day, which answer this purpose equally well. The first consists in
combining the parry of _tierce_ or _counter tierce_ with a _cut over_
and beat in _quarte_; the second in parrying _counter tierce_ and
_counter quarte_ in succession, and vice versa, or _counter quarte_ and
_circle_.
"These covering parries though they are technically composite, in
practice are fairly simple, and rapidly pass through all the lines that
are open to attack. Choose the one which you prefer instinctively,
which is another way of saying the one that comes most naturally to
your hand. Or, if you like, use sometimes one, sometimes the other."
"But what if this parry is deceived?" asked the Comte de R.
"Well," I answered, "'Deception no cheating' is the fencer's motto.
There is no such thing as an attack that cannot be parried, or a parry
that cannot be deceived. Sooner or later the fatal moment comes, and
superior activity or superior cunning prevails.
"If any professor can invent an attack which it is impossible to
resist, or a parry which it is impossible to deceive, I should advise
him to take very good care to secure the patent rights of his invention
without a moment's delay. He would certainly have no difficulty in
floating a company to put it on the market in all the capitals of
Europe.
"I have already expressed my opinion that a fencer's strength lies
much more in presence of mind and in quickness of hand than in a very
varied play. This is so true that the majority of fencers, amateur
and professional alike, affect certain favourite strokes; they have
favourite attacks, favourite parries and ripostes, and always come
back to them as to old friends on whose services they can confidently
rely. In the course of an assault the same stroke is often repeated
in many different ways; the shape it takes changes with the changing
incidents of the fight, and accordingly as it is adapted to suit the
peculiarities of the individual against whom it is employed. That is
the great beauty of a stroke in fencing.
"Some of you, I know, are not fencers, but there are one or two
connoisseurs present, who have studied the art, and are experts. It is
to them that I now appeal. As an illustration of my argument I will
take the most simple parry, the parry of quarte, and I will ask them if
it is not the fact that it constantly changes and undergoes surprising
transformations? Sometimes it is a light touch, sometimes a vigorous,
almost a violent blow; it may form a high parry, it may form a low
parry, it serves for every purpose and answers every call that can
be made upon it. Watch the blade as the parry is formed;--perhaps it
just meets the adverse blade and suddenly quits it or it may hold and
dominate it.
"It is this power of varying the stroke and transforming it at will
that marks the true fencer.
"The man, I repeat, who is content to recite his lesson by rote,
however well he has learnt it, can never be anything more than a
school-boy; call him that or an accomplished parrot, whichever he
prefers.