The following are directions for the principal guards and thrusts.
Carte, Guard.—Turn wrist with nails upwards; hand on a line with lower part of breast; arm somewhat bent, and elbow inclined a little to the outside; point of foil ele vated at an angle of about 15°, and directed at upper part of adversary's breast.
Thrust.—Being at the guard in carte, straighten the arm, raise the wrist above the head, drop the foil's point to a line with the adversary's breast, throw first the wrist, and then the whole body, forward by a lunge of the right foot of 2 ft. from tho " guard," the left foot remaining firm. The left hand should be dropped during the lunge to a level with the thigh, and to a position distant about a foot from the body; it will then afford a good counterpoise to the sword-arm. During the whole action, the body must be perfectly upright. When performed briskly, it appears that the point and foot are advanced simultaneously, but in fact the point has, or should have, priority, in order that the instantly following lunge may drive it home. Most of these observations concerning thrust in carte apply equally to all other thrusts.
Carte over the arm is a variety of this thrust. The sword is driven outside the adversary's blade, from the carte position, but in the tierce line.
Low Carta.—Engage adversary's blade in carte, then drop point under his wrist, in a line to his elbow, and thrust at his flank, the body being considerably bent.
Flanconnade or Octave.—Engage adversary's blade in carte, and bind it with yours, then carry your point behind his wrist and under his elbow ; without quitting his blade, plunge your point to his flank.
Tierce, Guard.—As in carte, the nails and wrist being somewhat more downward, and the arm stretched a little outward, to cover the outside.
Parade.—Move arm, from the guard, obliquely downward to the right about 6 in., and oppose the inside of the adversary's blade.
iltrust.—From the guard, turn wrist with nails downward, the same height as in carte, the inside of the arm in a line with the right temple; then thrust and lunge as in carte.
Seconde, Parade.—Nails and wrist downward, hand opposed outward, and blade, pointing low, should form an angle of about 45° with the ground.
Thrust.—The same as tierce, but delivered under the adversary's wrist and elbow, to a point between his right armpit and right breast: the body to be more bent than in carte or tierce.
Prime, Parade.—In using prime to parry the thrust in seconde, pass your point over the adversary's blade, lower it to the waist, keeping your wrist as high as your mouth, nails downward, elbow bent, and body held back as far as possible. The left foot should also be drawn backward a few inches, to remove the body further- from the hostile point.
Thrust.—An extension movement from 1-,3) Quinte, Parade.—Wrist in high carte, sword-point low, and oppose adversary from the forte of the outside edge of your blade.
Thrust.—Make a feint on the half-circle parade, with the wrist in carte; disengage your point over the adversary's blade, and thrust directly at his flank.
Half-circle, Parade.—One of the principal defensive parades: straighten arm, keep wrist in line with shoulder, nails up: by quick motion of wrist sweep point from right to left in a circle covering your body from head to knee, until the adversary's blade is found and opposition established.
The parades parry thrusts as follows: Carte, with wrist low, parries low carte and seconde; with wrist raised, all the thrusts over the point on the inside of the sword and the fianconnade.
Tierce parries high carte; with raised wrist, parries tierce.
Seconde parries all lower thrusts, both inside and outside.
Half-circle parries carte, high carte, tierce, and seconde.
Prime parries carte, low carte, and seconde.
Quinte parries seconde and flanconnade.
In all parades or parries, care must be taken that in covering the side attacked, the parade is not so wide as to expose the other side to the enemy. A steady countenance, showing no disquietude at any attempt he may make, is, above all, necessary in parades.