"So, Bassianus, you have play'd your prize."

[787] See Douce's "Illustrations of Shakespeare," p. 35.

In the "Merry Wives of Windsor" (i. 1), Slender says: "I bruised my shin
th' other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence,"
_i. e._, with one who had taken his master's degree in the science.

Among the numerous allusions to fencing quoted by Shakespeare may be
mentioned the following: "Venue or veney" was a fencing term, meaning an
attack or hit. It is used in the "Merry Wives of Windsor" (i. 1), by
Slender, who relates how he bruised his shin "with playing at sword and
dagger with a master of fence; three veneys for a dish of stewed
prunes." It is used metaphorically in "Love's Labour's Lost" (v. 1), for
a brisk attack, by Armado: "A sweet touch, a quick venue of wit! snip,
snap, quick and home!"[788] The Italian term "Stoccado" or "Stoccata,"
abbreviated also into "Stock," seems to have had a similar
signification. In "Romeo and Juliet" (iii. 1), Mercutio, drawing his
sword, says:

"Alla stoccata carries it away."

[788] See Nares's "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 919.

In the "Merry Wives of Windsor" (ii. 1), it is used by Shallow: "In
these times you stand on distance, your passes, stoccadoes, and I know
not what." Again, "Montant," an abbreviation of Montanto, denoted an
upright blow or thrust, and occurs also in the "Merry Wives of Windsor"
(ii. 3), where the Host tells Caius that he, with the others, has come
--"to see thee pass thy punto, thy stock, thy reverse, thy distance, thy
montant." Hence, in "Much Ado About Nothing" (i. 1), Beatrice jocularly
calls Benedick "Signior Montanto," meaning to imply that he was a great
fencer. Of the other old fencing terms quoted in the passage above, it
appears that "passado" implied a pass or motion forwards. It occurs in
"Romeo and Juliet" (ii. 4), where Mercutio speaks of the "immortal
passado! the punto reverso!" Again, in "Love's Labour's Lost" (i. 2),
Armado says of Cupid that "The passado he respects not, the duello he
regards not." The "punto reverso" was a backhanded thrust or stroke, and
the term "distance" was the space between the antagonists.

Shakespeare has also alluded to other fencing terms, such as the "foin,"
a thrust, which is used by the Host in the "Merry Wives of Windsor"
(iii. 2), and in "Much Ado About Nothing" (v. 1), where Antonio says, in
his heated conversation with Leonato:

"Sir boy, I'll whip you fro