Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-01-16
THE SWORD IN LITERATURE.
Writers and Actors DO Not Always Fan
die 1t Well.

die 1t wei.
Ho tits
With piercing steel Mt void Acrcuto's breast,
Who, MI rs hot turns .ical!y ront to point.
And, witlia il. riinl s.o:;, v;t!, one hand beats
Cold death ;sia and With tin other sends
1t back to Tybalt whose doXtcrity
Rctorts il.
-"Romco and Juliet, Act s. Scene l.
The introductiol of ranier aud dagger
MT the Danish court daring the middle
ages is, of corrsc, 10 lass an anachron-
ism than thar Of small sword bout in
the performance, but if the actors part
be to carry cut The authors ideas it is
certainly Il wonder that greater care
shouid never have been bestowed on the
scene.
Actors who in every other case are
most particular about historical accu
racy generally dispose Of all questions
relative TO fighting by referring them to
the first fencing master ut hand, and,
accordingly one sees Lacrtes and Ham
let with the utmost sang froid going
through Il salute" which, besides being
perfectly unmanagcablc with rapicrs,
was only established in all its details
some 80 years ago. There would bo III
deed less anacllronism i'll uncorking a
bottle of champagne to fill the king $
beaker than there is in Hamlet correctly
lunging, reversing his point, saluting
carte and fierce, etc, foil fencing, i'll
fact, i'll spite Of the anticipation raised
by Osrics announcements that the bout
should he played with rapier and dag
ger. A single passage like this (many
such occur in the Elizabethan drarla
tists) might have suggested tho proba
bility of IL rapicr fight being Il very diff
fercnt thing indeed from Il modern fenc-
ing bout, though not less exciting.
The difficulty of getting at the old
authors on sword play, and then to real
izo their meaning i'll the midst of their
philosophical DEPRESSION, seems to have
prevented the Investigation of tho sub
jcct. In ducling times more reliance
was placed OH ability and inspiration
than on settled principles.
Most modcIn ideas of workmanship
should be dismissed i'll order TO realize
what duel with rapicrs i'll the sin
teeuth and carly seventeenth centuries
really meant, and how unlikely and flu
tile are the picturesque descriptions of
historical noyelists.
The antiquarian will find in the study
of swordsmansiiip the explanation of al
the changes in the shapes of guards and
blades and the differentiation of tho
sword, from the cid plain, crop hiltcd
Teutonic "schncrt" through the compli-
Gated cut and thrust rapier into either
the right triangular small sword or the
solid, fiat saber Painters must often
wish to have some carly means Of ascer-
tanning the most usual method of WELD.
ing the rapier and tie dagger, or small
sword Were the old books Of fencing
more often consulted, thorc would be
finer pictures even by celebrated artists
representing. Cor instance, Il cavalier
attempting 10 closc his hand around the
three inch grip OF his rapicr instead of
screening ii Under the guard by locking
Two fingers around the quillons or Of
minions lungirg i'll the most approved
modern style aud grasping their dagsers
like stilcito%, thumb on pommcl, iii Il
manner which would have deprived tho
weapon of any value, defensive or oiien-
sive.
Tho want must be felt of some his
torical accocnt Of the changes III the
management of "thc white arm, since
the days when something more than
brute strength became the requisite i'll
personal combat. The subject is full Of
interest not cniy for the fcncer, who
locks upon his fayoriic pastime as a
science but also III u high degree for
the novelist, the painter, the actor and
the antiquarian.
The amount Of misconcaption Oh the
subject CT ancient sword play often dis
played by some historical painters and
noyclists is incredible. Ii the works of
such authors u Dumas, AiEsworth and
even Sir Walter Scott, very seldom
guilty Of an#chroniSm OIL any other sub
icct, one reads Of ducls in The fourteenth
century details Of which are evidently
borrn,yrd from :: r1ndprn fencing school.