ABSTRACT
AS the Northerners of old continually applied their skills to practising everything else which would preserve and sharpen their powers, so in an intense form of exercise they accustomed themselves to avoiding the thrusts of swordsmen or to inflicting them on opponents. 1Some of these fencers, who were remarkably expert in the art of combat, frequently grazed their opponent's eyebrow with unerring aim, and if anyone who received such a stroke blinked an eyelid through fear, he was soon discharged of his duties and dismissed from court.1
