began literary work as a contributor to Fréron's Année littéraire, | A post-mortem examination of the body conclusively established and attracted notice as a political writer by two works on the fact that d'Eon was a man. financial and administrative questions, which he published in his The best modern accounts are in the duc de Broglie's Le Secret twenty-fifth year. His reputation increased so rapidly that in du roi (1888); Captain J. Buchan Telfer's Strange Career of the 1755 he was, on the recommendation of Louis François, prince of Chevalier d'Eon (1888); Octave Homberg and Fernand Jousselin, Conti, entrusted by Louis XV. (who had originally started his Le Chevalier d'Eon (1904); and A. Lang's Historical Mysteries (1904). "secret" foreign policy-i.e. by undisclosed agents behind the EÖTVÖS, JÓZSEF, BARON (1813-1871), Hungarian writer and backs of his ministers-in favour of the prince of Conti's ambition statesman, the son of Baron Ignacz Eötvös and the baroness to be king of Poland) with a secret mission to the court of Russia. Lilian, was born at Buda on the 13th of September 1813. After It was on this occasion that he is said for the first time to have an excellent education he entered the civil service as a viceassumed the dress of a woman, with the connivance, it is sup- notary, and was early introduced to political life by his father. posed, of the French court. In this disguise he obtained the He also spent many years in western Europe, assimilating the appointment of reader to the empress Elizabeth, and won her over new ideas both literary and political, and making the acquaintentirely to the views of his royal master, with whom he main- ance of the leaders of the Romantic school. On his return to tained a secret correspondence during the whole of his diplomatic Hungary he wrote his first political work, Prison Reform; and career. After a year's absence he returned to Paris to be at the diet of 1839-1840 he made a great impression by his immediately charged with a second mission to St Petersburg, eloquence and learning. One of his first speeches (published, in which he figured in his true sex, and as brother of the reader with additional matter, in 1841) warmly advocated Jewish who had been at the Russian court the year before. He played emancipation. Subsequently, in the columns of the Pesti Hirlap, an important part in the negotiations between the courts of Eötvös disseminated his progressive ideas farther afield, his Russia, Austria and France during the Seven Years' War. standpoint being that the necessary reforms could only be For these diplomatic services he was rewarded with the decora- carried out administratively by a responsible and purely national tion of the grand cross of St Louis. In 1759 he served with the government. The same sentiments pervade his novel The French army on the Rhine as aide-de-camp to the marshal de Village Notary (1844-1846), one of the classics of the Magyar Broglie, and was wounded during the campaign. He had held literature, as well as in the less notable romance Hungary in for some years previously a commission in a regiment of dragoons, 1514, and the comedy Long live Equality! In 1842 he married and was distinguished for his skill in military exercises, particu- Anna Rosty, but his happy domestic life did not interfere with larly in fencing. In 1762, on the return of the duc de Nivernais, his public career. He was now generally regarded as one of the d'Eon, who had been secretary to his embassy, was appointed his leading writers and politicians of Hungary, while the charm successor, first as resident agent and then as minister pleni- of his oratory was such that, whenever the archduke palatine potentiary at the court of Great Britain. He had not been long Joseph desired to have a full attendance in the House of Magin this position when he lost the favour of his sovereign, chiefly, nates, he called upon Eötvös to address it. The February according to his own account, through the adverse influence of revolution of 1848 was the complete triumph of Eötvös' ideas, Madame de Pompadour, who was jealous of him as a secret and he held the portfolio of public worship and instruction in the correspondent of the king. Superseded by count de Guerchy, first responsible Hungarian ministry. But his influence extended d'Eon showed his irritation by denying the genuineness of the far beyond his own department. Eötvös, Deák and Szechenyi letter of appointment, and by raising an action against Guerchy represented the pacific, moderating influence in the council of for an attempt to poison him. Guerchy, on the other hand, ministers, but when the premier, Batthyány, resigned, Eötvös, had previously commenced an action against d'Eon for libel, in despair, retired for a time to Munich. Yet, though withdrawn founded on the publication by the latter of certain state docu- from the tempests of the War of Independence, he continued to ments of which he had possession in his official capacity. Both serve his country with his pen. His Influence of the Ruling Ideas parties succeeded in so far as a true bill was found against of the 19th Century on the State (Pest, 1851-1854, German editions Guerchy for the attempt to murder, though by pleading his at Vienna and Leipzig the same year) profoundly influenced privilege as ambassador he escaped a trial, and d'Eon was found literature and public opinion in Hungary. On his return home, guilty of the libel. Failing to come up for judgment when called in 1851, he kept resolutely aloof from all political movements. on, he was outlawed. For some years afterwards he lived in In 1859 he published The Guarantees of the Power and Unity of obscurity, appearing in public chiefly at fencing matches. Austria (Ger. ed. Leipzig, same year), in which he tried to arrive During this period rumours as to the sex of d'Eon, originating at a compromise between personal union and ministerial responsiprobably in the story of his first residence at St Petersburg as ability on the one hand and centralization on the other. After the female, began to excite public interest. In 1774 he published at Amsterdam a book called Les Loisirs du Chevalier d'Eon, which stimulated gossip. Bets were frequently laid on the subject, and an action raised before Lord Mansfield in 1777 for the re-speech in favour of the "Address" (see DEÁK, FRANCIS) made covery of one of these bets brought the question to a judicial decision, by which d'Eon was declared a female. A month after the trial he returned to France, having received permission to do so as the result of negotiations in which Beaumarchais was employed as agent. The conditions were that he was to deliver up certain state documents in his possession, and to wear the dress of a female. The reason for the latter of these stipulations has never been clearly explained, but he complied with it to the close of his life. In 1784 he received permission to visit London for the purpose of bringing back his library and other property. He did not, however, return to France, though after the Revolution he sent a letter, using the name of Madame d'Eon, in which he offered to serve in the republican army. He continued to dress as a lady, and took part in fencing matches with success, though at last in 1796 he was badly hurt in one. He died in London on the 22nd of May 1810. During the closing years of his life he is said to have enjoyed a small pension from George III. But see Lang's Historical Mysteries, pp. 241-242, where this traditional account is discussed and rejected.

Italian war, however, such a halting-place was regarded as inadequate by the majority of the nation. In the diet of 1861 Eötvös was one of the most loyal followers of Deák, and his

a great impression at Vienna. The enforced calm which prevailed during the next few years enabled him to devote himself once more to literature, and, in 1866, he was elected president of the Hungarian academy. In the diets of 1865 and 1867 he fought zealously by the side of Deák, with whose policy he now completely associated himself. On the formation of the Andrássy cabinet (Feb. 1867) he once more accepted the portfolio of public worship and education, being the only one of the ministers of 1848 who thus returned to office. He had now, at last, the opportunity of realizing the ideals of a lifetime. That very year the diet passed his bill for the emancipation of the Jews; though his further efforts in the direction of religious liberty were less successful, owing to the opposition of the Catholics. But his greatest achievement was the National Schools Act, the most complete system of education provided for Hungary since the days of Maria Theresa. Good Catholic though he was (in matters of religion he had been the friend and was the disciple of Montalembert), Eötvös looked with disfavour on the dogma of papal infallibility, promulgated in 1870, and when the bishop of

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Fehérvár proclaimed it, Eötvös cited him to appear at the capital | Thessaly next year at the head of an army he procured the
ad audiendum verbum regium. He was a constant defender of
the composition with Austria (Ausgleich), and during the absence
of Andrássy used to preside over the council of ministers; but
the labours of the last few years were too much for his failing
health, and he died at Pest on the 2nd of February 1871. On the
3rd of May 1879 a statue was erected to him at Pest in the square
which bears his name.

Eötvös occupied as prominent a place in Hungarian literature as in Hungarian politics. His peculiarity, both as a politician and as a statesman, lies in the fact that he was a true philosopher, a philosopher at heart as well as in theory; and in his poems and novels he clothed in artistic forms all the great ideas for which he contended in social and political life. The best of his verses are to be found in his ballads, but his poems are insignificant compared with his romances. It was The Carthusians, written on the occasion of the floods at Pest in 1838, that first took the public by storm. The Magyar novel was then in its infancy, being chiefly represented by the historico-epics of Jósiká. Eötvös first modernized it, giving prominence in his pages to current social problems and political aspirations. The famous Village Notary came still nearer to actual life, while Hungary in 1514, in which the terrible Dozsa Jacquerie (see DozSA) is so vividly described, is especially interesting because it rightly attributes the great national catastrophe of Mohács to the blind selfishness of the Magyar nobility and the intense sufferings of the people. Yet, as already stated, all these books are written with a moral purpose, and their somewhat involved and difficult style is, nowadays at any rate, a trial to those who are acquainted with the easy, brilliant and lively novels of Jókai.

The best edition of Eötvös' collected works is that of 1891, in 17 vols. Comparatively few of his writings have been translated, but there are a good English version (London, 1850) and numerous German versions of The Village Notary, while The Emancipation of the Jews has been translated into Italian and German (Pest, 18411842), and a German translation of Hungary in 1514, under the title of Der Bauernkrieg in Ungarn was published at Pest in 1850.

See A. Bán, Life and Art of Baron Joseph Eötvös (Hung.) (Budapest, 1902); Zoltan Ferenczi, Baron Joseph Eötvös (Hung.) (Budapest, 1903) [this is the best biography]; and M. Berkovics, (R. N. B.) Baron Joseph Eotvos and the French Literature (Hung.) (Budapest, 1904). EPAMINONDAS (c. 418-362), Theban general and statesman, born about 418 B.C. of a noble but impoverished family. For his education he was chiefly indebted to Lysis of Tarentum, a Pythagorean exile who had found refuge with his father Polymnis. He first comes into notice in the attack upon Mantineia in 385, when he fought on the Spartan side and saved the life of his future colleague Pelopidas. In his youth Epaminondas took little part in public affairs; he held aloof from the political assassinations which preceded the Theban insurrection of 379. But in the following campaigns against Sparta he rendered good service in organizing the Theban defence. In 371 he represented Thebes at the congress in Sparta, and by his refusal to surrender the Boeotian cities under Theban control prevented the conclusion of a general peace. In the ensuing campaign he commanded the Boeotian army which met the Peloponnesian levy at Leuctra, and by a brilliant victory on this site, due mainly to his daring innovations in the tactics of the heavy infantry, established at once the predominance of Thebes among the land-powers of Greece and his own fame as the greatest and most original of Greek generals. At the instigation of the Peloponnesian states which armed against Sparta in consequence of this battle, Epaminondas in 370 led a large host into Laconia; though unable to capture Sparta he ravaged its territory and dealt a lasting blow at Sparta's predominance in Peloponnesus by liberating the Messenians and rebuilding their capital at Messene. Accused on his return to Thebes of having exceeded the term of his command, he made good his defence and was re-elected boeotarch. In 369 he forced the Isthmus lines and secured In the Sicyon for Thebes, but gained no considerable successes. following year he served as a common soldier in Thessaly, and upon being reinstated in command contrived the safe retreat of the Theban army from a difficult position. Returning to

liberation of Pelopidas from the tyrant Alexander of Pherae
without striking a blow. In his third expedition (366) to Pelo-
ponnesus, Epaminondas again eluded the Isthmus garrison and
won over the Achaeans to the Theban alliance. Turning his
attention to the growing maritime power of Athens, Epaminondas
Propontis detached several states from the Athenian con-
next equipped a fleet of 100 triremes, and during a cruise to the
federacy. When subsequent complications threatened the
position of Thebes in Peloponnesus he again mustered a large
army in order to crush the newly formed Spartan league (362).
After some masterly operations between Sparta and Mantineia,
by which he nearly captured both these towns, he engaged in a
decisive battle on the latter site, and by his vigorous shock
tactics gained a complete victory over his opponents (see
MANTINELA). Epaminondas himself received a severe wound
His title to fame rests mainly on his brilliant qualities both
during the combat, and died soon after the issue was decided.
as a strategist and as a tactician; his influence on military art
in Greece was of the greatest. For the purity and uprightness
of his character he likewise stood in high repute; his culture and
eloquence equalled the highest Attic standard. In politics his
chief achievement was the final overthrow of Sparta's predomin-
no special talent, and the lofty pan-Hellenic ambitions which are
ance in the Peloponnese; as a constructive statesman he displayed
Cornelius Nepos, Vita Epaminondae; Diodorus xv. 52-88;
imputed to him at any rate never found a practical expression.
Xenophon, Hellenica, vii.; L. Pomtow, Das Leben des Epaminondas
(Berlín, 1870); von Stein, Geschichte der spartanischen und thebani-
Wissowa, Realencyclopädie, v. pt. 2 (Stuttgart, 1905), pp. 2674-2707:
(M.O. B. C.)
schen Hegemonic (Dorpat, 1884), pp. 123 sqq.; H. Swoboda in Pauly-
also ARMY: History, 6.

EPARCH, an official, a governor of a province of Roman Greece, enaрxos, whose title was equivalent to, or represented that of the Roman praefectus. The area of his administration was called an eparchy (éwapxía). The term survives as one of the administrative units of modern Greece, the country being divided into nomarchies, subdivided into eparchies, again subdivided into demarchies (see GREECE: Local Administration). "Eparch "and" eparchy "are also used in the Russian Orthodox Church for a bishop and his diocese respectively.

EPAULETTE (a French word, from épaule, a shoulder), properly a shoulder-piece, and so applied to the shoulder-knot of ribbon to which a scapulary was attached, worn by members of a religious order. The military usage was probably derived from the 16th century. It was first used merely the metal plate (épaulière) which protected the shoulder in the defensive armour

as a shoulder knot to fasten the baldric, and the application of
it to mark distinctive grades of rank was begun in France at the
suggestion, it is said, of Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de
Belle-Isle, in 1759. In modern times it always appears as a
shoulder ornament for military and naval uniforms. At first it
consisted merely of a fringe hanging from the end of the shoulder-
strap or cord over the sleeve, but towards the end of the 18th
century it became a solid ornament, consisting of a flat shoulder-
piece, extended beyond the point of the shoulder into an oval
plate, from the edge of which hangs a thick fringe, in the case of
officers of gold or silver. The epaulette is worn in the British
navy by officers above the rank of sub-lieutenant; in the army
it ceased to be worn about 1855. It is worn by officers in the
United States navy above the rank of ensign; since 1872 it is
only worn by general officers in the army. In most other
countries epaulettes are worn by officers, and in the French
army by the men also, with a fringe of worsted, various dis-
corps and arms of the service. The "scale" is similar to the
tinctions of shape and colour being observed between ranks,
epaulette, but has no fringe.

ÉPÉE, CHARLES-MICHEL, ABBÉ DE L' (1712–1789), celebrated for his labours in behalf of the deaf and dumb, was born at Paris on the 25th of November 1712, being the son of the king's archi tect. He studied for the church, but having declined to sign a religious formula opposed to the doctrines of the Jansenists, he was denied ordination by the bishop of his diocese. He then

devoted himself to the study of law; but about the time of his | were among the first to adopt the fleuret also. All the illustrious admission to the bar of Paris, the bishop of Troyes granted him French professors who came after them, such as La Boëssière the ordination, and offered him a canonry in his cathedral. This younger, Lafaugère, Jean Louis, Cordelois, Grisier, Bertrand and bishop died soon after, and the abbé, coming to Paris, was, on Robert, with amateurs like the baron d'Ezpeléta, were foil-players account of his relations with Soanen, the famous Jansenist, pure and simple, whose reputations were gained before the deprived of his ecclesiastical functions by the archbishop of modern épée play had any recognized status. It was reserved Beaumont. About the same time it happened that he heard for Jacob, a Parisian fencing-master, to establish in the last of two deaf mutes whom a priest lately dead had been endeavour- quarter of the 19th century a definite method of the épée, ing to instruct, and he offered to take his place. The Spaniard which differed essentially from all its forerunners. He was soon Pereira was then in Paris, exhibiting the results he had obtained followed by Baudry, Spinnewyn, Laurent and Ayat. The in the education of deaf mutes; and it has been affirmed that methods of the four first-named, not differing much inter se, it was from him that Epée obtained his manual alphabet. The are based on the perception that in the real sword fight, where abbé, however, affirmed that he knew nothing of Pereira's hits are effective on all parts of the person, the "classical" method; and whether he did or not, there can be no doubt that bent-arm guard, with the foil inclining upwards, is hopelessly he attained far greater success than Pereira or any of his prede- bad. It offers a tempting mark in the exposed sword-arm itself, cessors, and that the whole system now followed in the instruction while the point requires a movement to bring it in line for the of deaf mutes virtually owes its origin to his intelligence and attack, which involves a fatal loss of time. The épée is really devotion. In 1755 he founded, for this beneficent purpose, a in the nature of a short lance held in one hand, and for both school which he supported at his own expense until his death, rapidity and precision of attack, as well as for the defence of the and which afterwards was succeeded by the "Institution sword-arm and the body behind it, a position of guard with the Nationale des Sourds Muets à Paris," founded by the National arm almost fully extended, and épée in line with the forearm, Assembly in 1791. He died on the 23rd of December 1789. is far the safest. Against this guard the direct lunge at the In 1838 a bronze monument was erected over his grave in the body is impossible, except at the risk of a mutual or double church of Saint Roch. He published various books on his hit (le coup des deux veuves). No safe attack at the face or method of instruction, but that published in 1784 virtually body can be made without first binding or beating, opposing or supersedes all others. It is entitled La Véritable Manière d'in- evading the adverse blade, and such an attack usually involves struire les sourds et muets, confirmée par une longue expérience. an initial forward movement. Beats and binds of the blade, with He also began a Dictionnaire général des signes, which was com- retreats of the body, or counter attacks with opposition, replace pleted by his successor, the abbé Sicard. the old foil-parries in most instances, except at close quarters. And much of the offensive is reduced to thrusts at the wrist or forearm, intended to disable without seriously wounding the adversary. The direct lunge (coup-droit) at the body often succeeds in tournaments, but usually at the cost of a counter hit, which, though later in time, would be fatal with sharp weapons. Ayat's method, as might be expected from a first-class foilplayer, is less simple. Indeed for years, too great simplicity marked the most successful épée-play, because it usually gained its most conspicuous victories over those who attempted a foil defence, and whose practice gave them no safe strokes for an attack upon the extended blade. But by degrees the épéists themselves discovered new ways of attacking with comparative safety, and at the present day a complete épée-player is master of a large variety of attractive as well as scientific movements, both of attack and defence.

ÉPÉE-DE-COMBAT, a weapon still used in France for duelling, and there and elsewhere (blunted, of course) for exercise and amusement in fencing (q.v.). It has a sharp-pointed blade, about 35 in. long, without any cutting edge, and the guard, or shell, is bowl-shaped, having its convexity towards the point. The épée is the modern representative of the small-sword, and both are distinguished from the older rapier, mainly by being several inches shorter and much lighter in weight. The smallsword (called thus in opposition to the heavy cavalry broadsword), was worn by gentlemen in full dress throughout the 18th century, and it still survives in the modern English court costume.

Fencing practice was originally carried on without the protection of any mask for the face. Wire masks were not invented till near 1780 by a famous fencing-master, La Boëssière the elder, and did not come into general use until much later. Consequently, in order to avoid dangerous accidents to the face, and especially the eyes, it was long the rigorous etiquette of the fencing-room that the point should always be kept low. In the 17th century a Scottish nobleman, who had procured the assassination of a fencing-master in revenge for having had one of his eyes destroyed by the latter at sword-play, pleaded on his trial for murder that it was the custom to "spare the face."

Rowlandson's well-known drawing of a fencing bout, dated 1787, shows two accomplished amateurs making a foil assault without masks, while in the background a less practised one is having a wire mask tied on.

For greater safety the convention was very early arrived at that no hits should count in a fencing-bout except those landing on the breast. Thus sword-play soon became so unpractical as to lose much of its value as a training for war or the duel. For, hits with "sharps" take effect wherever they are made, and many an expert fencer of the old school has been seriously wounded, or lost his life in a duel, through forgetting that very simple fact. Strangely enough, when masks began to be generally worn, and the fleuret (anglice, "foil," a cheap and light substitute for the real épée) was invented, fencing practice became gradually even more conventional than before. No one seems to have understood that with masks all the conventions could be safely done away with, root and branch, and sword-practice might assume all the semblance of reality. Nevertheless it should be clearly recognized that the basis of modern foil-fencing was laid with the épée or small-sword alone, in and before the days of Angelo, of Danet, and the famous chevalier de St George, who

It was mainly by amateurs that this development was achieved. Perhaps the most conspicuous representative of the new school is J. Joseph-Renaud, a consummate swordsman, who has also been a champion foil-player. Lucien Gaudin, Alibert and Edmond Wallace may be also mentioned as among the most skilful amateurs, Albert Ayat and L. Bouché as professors-all of Paris. Belgium, Italy and England have also produced épéists quite of the first rank

The épée lends itself to competition far better than the foil, and the revival of the small-sword soon gave rise in France to pools" and "tournaments" in which there was the keenest rivalry between all comers.

In considering the épée from a British point of view, it may be mentioned that it was first introduced publicly in London by C. Newton-Robinson at an important assault-at-arms held in the Steinway Hall on the 4th May 1900. Professor Spinnewyn was the principal demonstrator, with his pupil, the late Willy Sulzbacher. The next day was held at the Inns of Court R. V. School of Arms, Lincoln's Inn, the first English open épée tournament for amateurs. It was won by W. Sulzbacher, C. NewtonRobinson being second, and Paul Ettlinger, a French resident in London, third. This was immediately followed by the institution of the Epée Club of London, which, under the successive residencies of a veteran swordsman, Sir Edward Jenkinson, and of Lord Desborough, subsequently held annual open international tournaments. The winners were: in 1901, Willy Sulzbacher; 1902, Robert Montgomerie; 1903, the marquis de Chasselo Laubat; 1904, J. J.-Renaud; 1905, R. Montgomerie. T

668

the Amateur Fencing Association for the first time recognized the best-placed Englishman, Edgar Seligman (who was the actual winner), as the English épée champion. In 1907 R. Montgomerie was again the winner, in 1908 C. L. Daniell, in 1909 R. Montgomerie.

Among the most active of the English amateurs who were the earliest to perceive the wonderful possibilities of épée-play, it is right to mention Captain Hutton, Lord Desborough, Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, Bart., Sir Charles Dilke, Bart., Lord Howard de Walden, Egerton Castle, A. S. Cope, R.A., W. H. C. Staveley, C. F. Clay, Lord Morpeth, Evan James, Paul King, J. B. Cunliffe, John Norbury, Jr., Theodore A. Cook, John Jenkinson, R. Montgomerie, S. Martineau, E. B. Milnes, H. J. Law, R. Merivale, the Marquis of Dufferin, Hugh Pollock, R. W. Doyne, A. G. Ross, the Hon. Ivor Guest and Henry Balfour.

Among foreign amateurs who did most to promote the use of the épée in England were Messrs P. Ettlinger, Anatole Paroissien, J. Joseph-Renaud, W. Sulzbacher, René Lacroix, H. G. Berger and the Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat.

Épée practice became popular among Belgian and Dutch fencers about the same time as in England, and this made it possible to set on foot international team-contests for amateurs, which have done much to promote good feeling and acquaintanceship among swordsmen of several countries. In 1903 a series of international matches between teams of six was inaugurated in Paris. Up to 1909 the French team uniformly won the first place, with Belgium or England second.

English fencers who were members of these international teams were Lord Desborough, Theodore A. Cook, Bowden, Cecil Haig, J. Norbury, Jr., R. Montgomerie, John Jenkinson, F. Townsend, W. H. C. Staveley, S. Martineau, C. L. Daniell, W. Godden, Captain Haig, M. D. V. Holt, Edgar Seligman, C. Newton-Robinson, A. V. Buckland, P. M. Davson, E. M. Amphlett and L. V. Fildes. In 1906 a British épée team of four, consisting of Lord Desborough, Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, Bart., Edgar Seligman and C. Newton-Robinson, with Lord Howard de Walden and Theodore Cook as reserves (the latter acting as captain of the team), went to Athens to compete in the international match at the Olympic games. After defeating the Germans rather easily, the team opposed and worsted the Belgians. It thus found itself matched against the French in the final, the Greek team having been beaten by the French and the Dutch eliminated by the Belgians. After a very close fight the result was officially declared a tie. This was the first occasion upon which an English fencing team had encountered a French one of the first rank upon even terms. In fighting off the tie, however, the French were awarded the first prize and the Englishmen the second.

In the Olympic games of London, 1908, the Épée International Individual Tournament was won by Alibert (France), but Montgomerie, Haig and Holt (England) took the 4th, 5th, and 8th places in the final pool. The result of the International Team competition was also very creditable to the English representatives, Daniell, Haig, Holt, Montgomerie and Amphlett, who by defeating the Dutch, Germans, Danes and Belgians took second place to the French. Egerton Castle was captain of the English team.

In open International Tournaments on the Continent, English épéists have also been coming to the front. None had won such a competition up to 1909 outright, but the following had reached the final pool: C. Newton-Robinson, Brussels, 1901 (10th), Etretat, 1904 (6th); E. Seligman, Copenhagen, 1907 (2nd), and Paris, 1909 (12th); R. Montgomerie, Paris, 1909 (5th); and E. M. Amphlett, Paris, 1909 (roth).

The method of ascertaining the victor in épée " tournaments is by dividing the competitors into "pools," usually of six or eight fencers. Each of these fights an assault for first hit only, with every other member of the same pool, and he who is least often hit, or not at all, is returned the winner. If the competitors are numerous, fresh pools are formed out of the first two, three or four in each pool of the preliminary round, and so on, until a

| small number are left in for a final pool, the winner of which is the victor of the tournament.

Épée fencing can be, and often is, conducted indoors, but one of its attractions consists in its fitness for open-air practice in pleasant gardens.

In the use of the épée the most essential points are (1) the position of the sword-arm, which, whether fully extended or not, should always be so placed as to ensure the protection of the wrist, forearm and elbow from direct thrusts, by the intervention of the guard or shell; (2) readiness of the legs for instant advance or retreat; and (3) the way in which the weapon is held, the best position (though hard to acquire and maintain) being that adopted by J. J. Renaud with the fingers over the grip, so that a downward beat does not easily disarm.

The play of individuals is determined by their respective temperaments and physical powers. But every fencer should be always ready to deliver a well-aimed, swift, direct thrust at any exposed part of the antagonist's arm, his mask or thigh. Very tall men, who are usually not particularly quick on their legs, should not as a rule attack, otherwise than by direct thrusts, when matched against shorter men. For if they merely extend their sword-arm in response to a simple attack, their longer reach will ward it off with a stop or counter-thrust. Short men can only attack them safely by beating, binding, grazing, pressing or evading the blade, and the taller fencers must be prepared with all the well-known parries and counters to such offensive movements, as well as with the stop-thrust to be made either with advancing opposition or with a retreat. Fencers of small stature must be exceedingly quick on their feet, unless they possess the art of parrying to perfection, and even then, if slow to shift ground, they will continually be in danger. With plenty of room, the quick mover can always choose the moment when he will be within distance, for an attack which his slower opponent will be always fearing and unable to prevent or anticipate.

It is desirable to put on record the modern form of the weapon. An average épée weighs, complete, about a pound and a half, while a foil weighs approximately one-third less. The épée blade is exactly like that of the old small-sword after the abandonment of the " colichemarde" form, in which the "forte" of the blade was greatly thickened. In length from guard or shell to point it measures about 35 in., and in width at the shell about ths of an inch. From this it gradually and regularly tapers to the point. There is no cutting edge. The side of the épée which is usually held uppermost is slightly concave, the other is strengthened with a midrib, nearly equal in thickness and similar in shape to either half of the true blade. The material is tempered steel. There is a haft or tang about 8 in. long, which is pushed through a circular guard or shell (" coquille") of convex form, the diameter of which is normally 5 in. and the convexity 1 in. The shell is of steel or aluminium, and if of the latter metal, sometimes fortified at the centre with a disk of steel the size of a crown piece. The insertion of the haft or tang through the shell may be either central or excentric to the extent of about I in., for the better protection of the outside of the forearm.

After passing through the shell, the haft of the blade is inserted in a grip or handle (" poignet "), averaging 7 in. in length and of quadrangular section, which is made of tough wood covered with leather, india-rubber, wound cord or other strong material with a rough surface. The grip is somewhat wider than its vertical thickness when held in the usual way, and it diminishes gradually from shell to pommel for convenience of holding. It should have a slight lateral curvature, so that in executing circular movements the pommel is kept clear of the wrist. The pommel, usually of steel, is roughly spherical or eight-sided, and serves as a counterbalance. The end of the haft is riveted through it, except in the case of "épées démontables,” which are the most convenient, as a blade may be changed by simply unscrewing or unlocking the pommel,

An épée is well balanced and light in hand when, on poising the blade across the forefinger, about 1 in. in advance of the shell, it is in equilibrium.