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.
For practice, the point is blunted to resemble the flat head of a nail, and is made still more incapable of penetration by winding around it a small ball of waxed thread, such as cobblers use. This is called the “button.” In competitions various forms of “boutons marqueurs,” all of which are unsatisfactory, are occasionally used. The “pointe d’arrêt,” like a small tin-tack placed head downwards on the flattened point of the épée, and fastened on by means of the waxed thread, is, on the contrary, most useful, by fixing in the clothes, to show where and when a good hit has been made. The point need only protrude about 1⁄16th of an inch from the button. There are several kinds of pointes d’arrêt. The best is called, after its inventor, the “Léon Sazie,” and has three blunt points of hardened steel each slightly excentric. The single point is sometimes prevented by the thickness of the button from scoring a good hit.
A mask of wire netting is used to protect the face, and a stout glove on the sword hand. It is necessary to wear strong clothes and to pad the jacket and trousers at the most exposed parts, in case the blade should break unnoticed. A vulnerable spot, which ought to be specially padded, is just under the sword-arm.
Bibliography.—Among the older works on the history and practice of the small-sword, or épée, are the following:—The Scots Fencing-Master, or Compleat Small-swordsman, by W.H. Gent (Sir William Hope, afterwards baronet) (Edinburgh, 1687), and several other works by the same author, of later date, for which see Schools and Masters of Fence, by Egerton Castle; Nouveau traité de la perfection sur le fait des armes, by P.G.F. Girard (Paris, 1736); L’École des armes, by M. Angelo (London, 1763); L’Art des armes, by M. Danet (2 vols., Paris, 1766-1767); Nouveau traité de l’art des armes, by Nicolas Demeuse (Liège, 1778).
More modern are: Traité de l’art des armes, by la Böessière, Jr. (Paris, 1818); Les Armes et le duel, by A. Grisier (2nd ed., Paris, 1847); Les Secrets de l’épée, by the baron de Bazancourt (Paris, 1862); Schools and Masters of Fence, by Egerton Castle (London, 1885); Le Jeu de l’épée, by J. Jacob and Émil André (Paris, 1887); L’Escrime pratique au XIXe siècle, by Ambroise Baudry (Paris); L’Escrime a l’épée, by A. Spinnewyn and Paul Manonry (Paris, 1898); The Sword and the Centuries, by Captain Hutton (London,1901); “The Revival of the Small-sword,” by C. Newton-Robinson, in the Nineteenth Century and After (London, January 1905); Nouveau Traité de l’épée, by Dr Edom, privately published (Paris, 1908); and, most important of all, Méthode d’escrime à l’épée, by J. Joseph-Renaud, privately published (Paris, 1909).
(C. E. N. R.)
EPERJES, a town of Hungary, capital of the county of Sáros, 190 m. N.E. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) 13,098. It is situated on the left bank of the river Tarcza, an affluent of the Theiss, and has been almost completely rebuilt since a great fire in 1887. Eperjes is one of the oldest towns of Hungary, and is still partly surrounded by its old walls. It is the seat of a Greek-Catholic bishop, and possesses a beautiful cathedral built in the 18th century in late Gothic style. It possesses manufactures of cloth, table-linen and earthenware, and has an active trade in wine, linen, cattle and grain. About 2 m. to the south is Sóvár with important salt-works.