Fencing
the art of using skillfully, in attack or self-defense, a sword, rapier, or bayonet; but usually taken to mean address in the use of the second of these weapons. In the school of fence, the foil is wielded.
The foil is a circular or quadrangular rod or blade of pliable, highly tempered steel, blunted and covered with leather at the point, so as to prevent accidents in its practice. From its nature, the foil can only be employed in thrusting; and, being edgeless, it can be handled without liability to cutting wounds. Fencers wear a strong wire mask upon their faces, as a defense against accidental thrusts, etc.
Fencing was cultivated by the ancients; the Roman gladiators instructed the soldiery of that period; but as their weapons differed so materially from those of the present day, and as they defended themselves by shields and armor, their methods were infinitely less complicated and efficient than those of the present day. During the period comprised within the Middle Ages, fencing became greatly neglected, and this was owing most likely to the fact that there was a great improvement in the armor worn by knights in battle; from which circumstance battle axes and other ponderous weapons of offense were substituted for the sword. When metal casing became somewhat, if not altogether disused, fencing came once more into vogue; and as all gentlemen wore swords, and quarrels were frequent, it was absolutely necessary that all should have some knowledge of the "fence." The peculiar state of society in Italy made this even more needed than in any other country, and it followed that the Italians became the best fencers in Europe. Spain next found the art FENIANS necessary, and soon France, in which latter country it created such a favorable impression that a school was established for its prosecution.
In fencing there are three openings or entrances-the inside, comprising the whole breast from shoulder to shoulder; the outside, which can be attacked by all the thrusts made above the wrist on the outside of the sword; and, finally, low ports, which embrace the armpits to the hips.
FÉNELON, FRANÇOIS DE SALIG- NAC DE LA MOTHE, a French prelate; born in the Cháteau de Fénelon, province of Périgord, France, Aug. 6, 1651, was educated at Plessis College in Paris, and at the seminary of St. Sulpice, where he received holy orders in 1675. In 1678 he was appointed head of an institution, then newly organized in Paris, for the reception of female converts to the Roman Catholicfaith. His success in the duties here led to his appointment as head of a mission to Saintonge for the conversion of the Huguenots. In 1689 Louis XIV. intrusted to him the education of his grandsons, the dukes of Burgundy, Anjou, and Berri; and in 1694 he was created Archbishop of Cambray. A theological dispute with Bossuet, his former instructor, terminated in his condemnation by Pope Innocent XII., and his banishment to his diocese by Louis XIV. He was the author of the famous "Fables," "Dialogues of the Dead," "The Education of Girls," "Telemachus," "History of the Ancient Philosophers," and numerous other works on philosophy, theology, and belles-lettres.
He died in Cambray, France, Jan. 7. 1715.