FEN 
by carrying your wrift to the left, if neceffary; otherwife 
your antagonift may firft deceive you by a feint, and then 
deliver his thru ft at the infide. 
The mode of parrying firft with a /iconic, and then 
changing to a prime hanging guard, if your antagonift 
difengage to attack the intide of your pofition, teems pe¬ 
culiarly adapted to the broad ('word ; and the fituation of 
the liand at the fame time affords great fecurity from a 
cut as well as a thvutf. In feme circumftanqes, efpecially 
in an attack at night, your fafety mutt depend greatly on 
not lofing X.\\6feel of your antagonift’s blade.; you tliould 
therefore learn to parry the lower thru (is by clofely fol¬ 
lowing your antagonift’s weapon with your oivn. blade, 
with a fcconde parade if he disengages from an intidc guard ; 
and with either a prime or half-circle parade, if lie disen¬ 
gages from an outtide guard. The fcconde parade is the 
fame as the outfide hanging guard. The prime parade is 
fimilar to the infide hanging guard ; in parrying a thru ft 
with the prime, the antagonift’s fword is oppofed by the 
back of your blade ; but in warding a cut with the infide 
hanging guard, it is oppofed by your edge. 
If your antagonift drops his point from the infide guard, 
to thruft below your wrift, you muft follow his blade by 
the feconde, or outfide hanging guard. Having parried his 
thruft:, you may return cut 5, under his blade ; or you may 
return a thruft in fcconde. If he completes the circle 
with his point by continuing the motion till he brings it 
over your hilt to thruft at the infide,. you muft parry by 
changing from the outfide to the infide hanging guard. 
In the moment your antagonift finks his point from your 
outfide guard to thruft under your wrift, drop your point 
over his blade, and ftriking the back of your blade on his 
weapon, draw your hand to within a foot of your fore¬ 
head, in a line with your left temple, fo as to bring his 
thruft clear of the infide of your pofition. To efFeCt this 
you muft bend your elbow ; then having brought his blade 
paft your body, extend your arm to a hanging guard, turn¬ 
ing the back of your hand oppofite your forehead. This 
Ihould be praCtifed till you can perform it as one motion. 
Til e prime thruf may be frequently delivered with fafety 
after forming this parade. It differs from the thruft in 
feconde in being directed at the infide inftead of at the out¬ 
fide, and the oppofition to your antagonift’s blade being 
formed by bearing your wrift to the left of the line of de¬ 
fence, inftead of to the right. —If you intend to return a 
thruft after having parried by the prime, it will be beft 
either to oppofe your antagonift’s blade with your left 
hand as you thruft, or to ftep out of the line to the right 
as you parry, which gives you an opportunity of thru fl¬ 
ing at the infide of your antagonift. But Ihould he only 
make a half thruft and difengage to the outfide, you muff 
oppofe any cut or thruft lie may there attempt, by car¬ 
rying your hand to the right, as in the feconde hanging 
guard. 
Half-Circle Parade. — This is to be effected by 
dropping your point over your adverfary’s blade as lie 
quits your outfide guard to thruft under your hilt, and 
ftriking with the edge of your fword againft his blade, to 
beat his thruft from the infide. In performing this, the 
arm muft be extended and inclined to the left till the 
wrift becomes oppofite the left temple, the back of the 
hand downwards, and the point directed tow ards your an¬ 
tagonift’s hip. When by this parade you have beat his 
blade out of the line to the left, you may either return 
a thruft in low carte, or turn the nails down and make 
cut 6, beneath his blade as lie recovers, fpringing back 
as you cut. If in performing the half-circle parade, you 
mils the feel of your adverfary’s blade, by his railing his 
point over your hilt to thruft at your outfide, you muft 
inftantly carry your hand about fix inches to the right of 
your line of defence, the infide of the wrift Hill upwards, 
and oppofe his thruft with the back of your blade, which 
forms the parade called qui.ntc, in common fencing; then 
whirl your point up in a circular direction outwards, and 
Vol. VII. No. 429. 
C I N G. /- 313 
thus bring it round to the feconde hanging guard, with¬ 
out finking your Wrift as you turn it. 
Round Parades. —Tliefie cannot be well performed 
with a very heavy fword, yet will.prove life fill to a per- 
fon armed with a light cut and thruft fword. On an in¬ 
fide guard, if your antagonift difengages to thruft tierce 
or carte over the arm; follow his blade by describing a 
(mail circle with your point, keeping your wrift on the 
line of the infide guard ; this will bring his blade to the 
pofition from which he difengaged. This circle is begun 
by finking your poipt from left to right.—On an outfide 
guard, if your opponent difengages to thruft carte ; fol¬ 
low his blade with a frnall circle begun by dropping your 
point from the right to the left, keeping your wrift on 
the outfide guard : this alfo brings his blade up to the 
pofition from which lie difengaged., The motion of your 
wrift and the circle deferibed by your point muft not be 
greater than may be fufficient to enable you to preferve 
or regain the feel of your antagonift’s weapon ; for which 
reafon, when you intend to life thefe parades againft a 
thruft, you muft engage with your point directed towards 
the upper part of your antagonift’s bread. 
Circle Parade. —This is formed by defer!bing a circle 
of about three feet diameter with your point, keeping 
your wrift the height of your fnoulder, on the line of 
either an infide or outfide guard, your weight refting on 
the left leg, and holding your head back. This parade 
is extremely ferviceable for regaining the feel of an ad¬ 
verfary’s blade, efpecially' when engaged in the dark, and 
wilt be found ufeful againft a fencer who endeavours to 
embarrafs you by a multiplicity of feints. 
Of the Spadroon. —The fpadroon being much light¬ 
er than the broad fword, and made both to cut and thruft, 
is therefore a weapon well adapted to thofe who are maf- 
ters both of the frnall and broad fword, and unite accord¬ 
ing to circumftances the defenfive and offenfive move¬ 
ments of the two. In thrufting, the fpadroon lias an 
advantage over the broad (word, on account of the cele¬ 
rity with which that movement may be executed ; but in 
cutting, it is much weaker, in its effeCt. 
The chief defenfive pofition of the fpadroon among the 
French, refembles the feconde hanging guard, except 
that the blade is heldsnor.e horizontally, the point is di¬ 
rected at the antagonift’s body about two inches below 
the arm-pit, and the wrift held on a level with the (boul¬ 
der, inftead of railing it high enough to view your adver- 
fary under the (hell. From this guard, by dropping the 
point to the infide or outlide of your pofition, as in the 
prime or feconde hanging guard, you may parry any cut 
or thruft made below the neck. Cuts at the head are to 
be parried by the St. George ; and thofe made at the 
cheek and neck by railing the hilt to a primecr feconde 
hanging guard, as with the broad fword. Confiderable 
pradfice will be neceffary to enable you to hold the fword 
in the pofition above deferibed, without conftraint or 
wavering; as alfo to attain the firnmels requfite for par¬ 
rying, and a fufficient degree of celerity in ftriking ,oc 
thrufting^ 
Although the above guard in feconde is that on which 
the molt eminent French maffers place their chief depend¬ 
ence, and in which they principally.inftruCt their fcholars ; 
yet the guards herein directed for the broad (word, will 
be found equally ufeful, efpecially to thofe who can not 
retain their arm a fufficient length of time in that pofture. 
The cuts with the fpadroon are made on a principle fimi¬ 
lar to thofe of the' broad fword, except in the following 
iadduces. The weapon being lighter, and the blade Held 
more horizontal, the difengaging may be effected with a 
fmaller circle deferibed by the point, and the attack made 
more rapidly. The mode of recovering from cuts 1 and 
2, when you chance to niifs the object at which your cut 
is directed, may be rather more in front than with the 
broad fword or fabre, inftead of the blade twinging fo 
much round to the outfide or infide of your pofition, as is 
4 L -neceffary 
