The Book of the Sword

THE BOOK OF THE SWORD
LONDON: PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET
RICHARD F. BURTON
MAÎTRE D’ARMES (BREVETÉ)
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
London
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1884
‘He that hath no Sword (-knife = μάχαιρα), let him sell his garment and buy one.’ St. Luke xxii. 36. ‘ Solo la spada vuol magnificarsi. ’ (Nothing is high and awful save the Sword.) Lod. della Vernaccia , a.d. 1200. ‘But, above all, it is most conducive to the greatness of empire for a nation to profess the skill of arms as its principal glory and most honourable employ.’ Bacon’s Advancement of Learning , viii. 3.
‘The voice of every people is the Sword
That guards them, or the Sword that beats them down.’
Tennyson’s Harold .