"I have another question for you," continued the Comte de R. "You were
speaking the other day of feints and stop thrusts. Of course it was
ridiculous to expect an opponent to follow every gyration, which you
chose to describe with the point of your sword, but don't you think
that nowadays the practice of straightening the arm on every possible
occasion is utterly overdone?"
"No doubt it is by some men--overdone, or rather very badly done, which
amounts to the same thing. '_Ne quid nimis_' you know is a good motto,
and I quite agree with you, however little you may like it, that this
movement, which comes more by instinct than by intention, is now the
refuge of those who cannot parry; but, mind this, it is a refuge, from
which it is often very difficult to dislodge them. I quite admit that
those who straighten the arm without any justification are hopelessly
unscientific, but they present a difficulty to surmount, which requires
serious attention.
"Let me explain before going on. There is a distinction to be made
between stop thrusts, and time thrusts. The stop thrust is taken,
when your opponent advances incautiously, or when he draws back his
arm while executing a complicated attack, whenever in fact he makes a
movement which leaves him exposed. The time thrust on the other hand,
correctly speaking, is a parry of opposition,--the most dangerous of
all parries, for if it fails it leaves you absolutely exposed and at
the mercy of your opponent. I have seen it taught in the lesson by
every master (as an exercise no doubt), but I have hardly ever seen
a master put it into practice in the assault. The thrust has nothing
to recommend it, but on the contrary it is to be condemned on many
grounds. I should like to see it ignominiously expelled from the
fencing room, as the buyers and sellers were expelled from the temple.