Fig. 14.-Grip for the light cutlass.
The method of holding the broad-sword depends entirely upon the weight and length of the blade. If you have a light cutlass weighing, say, about one and a half pound, and measuring about thirty-four inches in the blade, you may hold it in the same way as in single-stick play, viz. with the thumb on the back of the hilt, as in the sketch, and you will probably find that in this way the guards are made with greater facility. At the same time, when guarding, say, with the hanging guard (see Fig. 15), the thumb is liable to a severe sprain; and this is more particularly the case when the opposing blade meets the foible, or half nearest the point of your blade, at right angles, or nearly so.
To be more explicit. If A B C, in Fig. 16, represent your blade lying flat on the paper, d o the intersection of a plane at right angles to the plane of the paper and also at right angles to the tangent to the curve at the point o, where we will suppose the edges of the blades to meet, it will be seen at a glance that the leverage from o to C is considerable, and that a great strain is thrown upon the thumb which is endeavouring to keep the guard in position.
Fig. 15-Low hanging guard.
In this case the cut has been received on the "foible," or half of the blade nearest the point. All guards should, if possible, be made with the "forte," or half nearest the hilt.
It is important to bear in mind that the cut should be received with the guard as much as possible on the slant; i.e. you should endeavour to make the opponent's blade glance off yours at an angle such as d´ o. The difficulty of bringing about this "glance off" is certainly increased by having the thumb on the hilt, because your hanging guard-which is perhaps the most important and constantly recurring of all the guards-is apt to be higher, so far as the point is concerned, and there is the chance of letting in cuts 3 or 5 at the left side, which is exposed by an elevated point.
If, in the hanging guard, the arm is well extended, with the hand slightly above the level of the shoulder, the point dropped well to the left, and the edge turned outwards to the left, as in the illustration (Fig. 15), a very good general guard will be formed. Remember, too, that in all cuts, points, or guards, the second knuckles of the fingers should be in a line with the edge. The only exception to this rule is, perhaps, to be found in the third point, where a shifting of the hand, so as to enable the edge to be more completely directed upwards, is sometimes recommended.
Fig. 16-The broad-sword.
The hanging guard, or modifications thereof, is capable of warding off all cuts made at the left side of the head and body, and is also effective against cut 7. Then, by bringing the hand slightly to the right, with the elbow held well in to the right side, it is extremely easy to come into the position for guarding cut 2.
We may, I think, assume that, on the whole, the thumb held at the back of the hilt gives, in the case of a very light sword, an advantage in speed, especially with short quick cuts and points.
Turning to the heavy sabre used by the cavalry of this and other countries, we observe that to keep the thumb on the back of the hilt would lead to constant sprains. No man is strong enough to wield with effect a blade weighing about two and a half pounds and measuring little short of three feet-thirty-five inches is the regulation length of the British cavalry sabre-unless he holds it as indicated in Fig. 17.
Fig. 17.-Grip for the heavy sabre.
Most cuts made with the heavy sword are more sweeping in their nature, more "swinging," so to speak, than the short quick cuts which can be effected with the lighter and more handy weapon; indeed, it is only to be expected that the weight of the blade and length of the sweep should give great force to the sabre; but it must not be forgotten that what is thus gained in power is lost in speed, and that in nine cases out of ten a well-directed "point" would be immeasurably superior both in speed and effect than the most sweeping cut.
Such very different weapons are required to be thoroughly effective in different circumstances. A light, thin-bladed sword, though admirable for a man on foot, would not be of nearly so much use to a cavalry man, whose slashing cut through shield or helmet renders weight an absolute necessity. The light blade might be brought to bear with all the speed and force of the strongest man, but would be of no avail in those cases where hard, dense, and heavy substances have to be cut through.
A fly may dash against a pane of plate-glass with the utmost speed and yet fail to break the glass; but a cricket-ball thrown with a tenth part of the velocity will smash the window to pieces. This is only an analagous case, which indicates very fully the existence of the two factors in the vis-viva necessary to produce a certain result.
If you get your blade too light it will not be serviceable for heavy-cutting work, whatever the speed of the cut; and if you get the blade too heavy, it will be impossible to use it effectively on account of its weight.
Everything depends upon what a sword is expected to do; and in selecting a blade this cannot be too carefully borne in mind.
The Easterns have not, and indeed never had, any idea of using the point; but they are far and away our superiors at edge work, and their curved scimitars are admirably adapted for effective cutting, because the edge, meeting the object aimed at on the slant, has great cutting or slicing power.
This brings us to the most important matter in connection with cutting weapons-the "draw."
If you take a razor in one hand and hit the palm of the other hand a smart blow with the edge, no harm will be done; but if you vary this hit, by making it lighter and putting the slightest possible draw into it, a cut will be the result, and blood will flow freely. That is to say, anything like drawing the edge along the skin will produce a cut.
Turn to the case of the scimitar. It will be seen that the curved form of the blade from hilt to point renders it impossible for a sweeping cut, given with the arm extended its full length and with the shoulder as centre of the circle, which the hand traces out in making the cut, to be other than a "draw," because the edge must meet the object to be severed on the slant.
Fig. 18.-The scimitar.
Excellent examples of this kind of cutting are to be found in the circular saw and the chaff-cutting machine.
But this is not the case with a nearly straight-bladed broad-sword, which requires what may be termed an artificial draw, either backward or forward, in order that the cut may have its full effect. Of course the draw back is by far the most common form of the "draw;" and on reference to the accompanying sketch (Fig. 19) it will be seen that the edge, if the hand retains its position throughout the entire sweep, on the circumference of the circle B D, will meet the object to be cut simply as a hit, and not as a cut. This is just what we want to avoid.
Fig. 19.
Suppose the cut is being made parallel to the plane of the paper, and that the hilt of the sword is, in the first part of the sweep, moving on the circumference of the circle from B to D. Suppose, too, that the edge first meets the obstacle to be cut at the point n. Then slightly before n is reached the "draw" should commence, the hand coming into position at F, and the point n being necessarily drawn down to n´ by the time the object has been severed. That is to say, the portion of the blade between m and n will have been made effective in the drawing cut, the point n having travelled in the direction of the dotted lines till it arrives at n´.
The point n is taken at random: it might be nearer the hilt or nearer the point, according to the distance of the object aimed at. It may also be observed that the "draw" might continue during the entire sweep from B to F, but a very slight consideration will show clearly the advantage of keeping the arm fully extended until the edge is quite close to the object, as, by this means, the reach is increased and the power of the cut gains considerably. The dynamical proof of this latter advantage would take up too much space, and I regret that it is rather outside the scope of this little work.
No matter how extended the arm may be when commencing the cut-and the more extended the better in the case of a long heavy sword-the "draw" should always come in towards the end of the sweep, the first part of which is merely intended to give the required impetus to the effective portion of the cut.
How is it that an apple or potato can be divided by a straight cut when placed in the folds of a silk pocket-handkerchief, which remains uninjured? Simply because there is a complete absence of "draw," and the apple or potato is broken or split in two, much as the flesh is indented by the edge of the razor whilst the skin escapes without the slightest mark.
In cavalry charges, etc., our soldiers too often forget that they have in their hands pointing and cutting weapons, and make slashing hits, which lead to a large percentage of broken blades. I should myself always place the point before the edge, as it is quicker and far more deadly; but as there are numerous instances where cutting is necessary, it is as well to remember that a mere...
