"But, Mr. Bayes,
might we not have a little fighting?" inquires Johnson, in the
burlesque of "The Rehearsal," "for I love those plays where they cut
and slash one another on the stage for a whole hour together."
The single combats that occur in Shakespeare's plays are very
numerous. There is little need to remind the reader, for instance, of
the hand-to-hand encounters of Macbeth and Macduff, Posthumus and
Iachimo, Hotspur and the Prince of Wales, Richard and Richmond. Romeo
has his fierce brawl with Tybalt, Hamlet his famous fencing scene, and
there is serious crossing of swords both in "Lear" and "Othello."
English audiences, from an inherent pugnacity, or a natural
inclination for physical feats, were wont to esteem highly the combats
of the stage. The players were skilled in the use of their weapons,
and would give excellent effect to their mimic conflicts. And this
continued long after the wearing of swords had ceased to be a
necessity or a fashion. The youthful actor acquired the art of fencing
as an indispensable step in his theatrical education. A sword was one
of the earliest "properties" of which he became possessor.
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