"I notice," observed one of my friends, "that you have said nothing
about left-handed fencers."
"No," I answered. "The fact is, there is hardly anything to say, and
even the text-books, which do not usually err on the side of brevity,
devote very little space to them. For there is really no particular
rule, which applies to them exclusively."
"But surely they are very difficult?"
"Yes in a way no doubt they are, though one of my friends, a
left-hander of course, used to say that the supposed difficulty
is only a convenient excuse invented by right-handed fencers. His
suggestion is more witty than true, and I am willing to allow, without
hesitation, that left-handers really are puzzling to those who are
not accustomed to fence with them. Their only real advantage is that
they have more opportunities of fencing against right-handers, than
right-handers have of fencing against them. When once you are used to
them the difficulty vanishes. The left-hander on the contrary, when it
comes to fighting, is never rid of the far graver risk which he takes
by exposing his left side.
"I may add that the left-hander's advantage, which consists entirely
in his incognito, would exist no longer, if the professors,--who I
hope may take the hint,--would make a practice of giving lessons
occasionally with the left hand. Some of them do so already, and I
congratulate them on their good sense. If you come to think of it,
there is not a single left-handed thrust or parry, which cannot be
equally well executed by a right-handed player. Only, from want of
practice, the latter finds it more difficult to direct his point
because the lines are reversed. _Quarte_ becomes _sixte_, and vice
versa. The left-hander prefers to take the inside engagement, that is
to say _quarte_. This line suits him better, and accordingly it is good
policy not to let him take it without a struggle. It is usually more
difficult to hit him in the outside line.
"So much for general principles, for of course left-handed play varies
as much as right-handed, although the contrary is sometimes maintained.
But if all left-handers were providentially made alike, one would think
that it could not be very difficult to get to know the pattern by heart.