and by the
same Rule, if you miss the Time of disengaging, and disengage too late,
you expose yourself to his Thrust; for you cannot, at the same time,
quit his Blade and parry.

Though it is necessary that every Fencer should understand the
Disengagements, it is more especially so to tall and weak Men. To the
first, that they may keep their Adversary at a Distance; which by Reason
of their Height, is an Advantage to them; and to the others in order to
prevent closing; in which Case, their Weakness would be a Disadvantage
to them.

CHAP. XIII.

_Of_ Feints.

Feints are much used in _Fencing_, whether it be by reason of their
Number, their Ease, or the Success that attends them, gaining more Time
and Light than is to be got in plain Thrusts, there being no Thrust to
be given so well as after a Feint.

The Number of Feints is so great, by reason of the many Guards and
Parades, that I should find it as difficult to describe them, as the
Reader would to comprehend them without Experience; so that I shall
confine myself to those from which the rest derive, which are, strait
Feint, Feint, and double Feint.

By strait feint, is meant a Motion or Feint to Thrust on the Side on
which your Sword is, which is to be done on the Inside, the Wrist in
_Quart_, a little higher than the Point which must be near the
Adversary's Sword, that you may be covered, whilst you endeavour to get
an Opening. This Motion should be attended with a little Beat of the
Right-foot, keeping back the Body. If, at the Time you feint, your
Adversary does not stir, you must push _Quart_: if he parrys with his
Feeble, you must immediately disengage to _Tierce_; and if he parrys
high you must cut in _Quart_ under the Wrist.

The Feint, to which I give no other Name, it being the most used, and to
distinguish it from the others, is done by feinting from _Quart_ to
_Tierce_, with a little beat of the Foot, keeping the Body back: the
Wrist must be raised in _Quart_, and the Button a little lower than the
Pommel, near the Adversary's Blade; by which means you are covered, and
can make your Thrust swifter. If the Adversary does not stir at the
Feint, you must go on strait with the _Tierce_: if he parrys with his
Feeble, you must disengage and thrust _Quart_, and if he parrys with his
Fort, you must push _Seconde_.

Several masters teach to make this Feint from the inside to the outside,
with the Wrist turned in _Tierce_; and indeed they are seem