promenade which is shaded by trees and skirts the beach. Föhr, the most fertile of the North Frisian islands, is principally marshland, and comparatively well wooded. There are numerous pleasantly-situated villages and hamlets scattered over it, of which the most frequented are Boldixum, Nieblum and Alkersum. The inhabitants are mainly engaged in the fishing industry, and are known as excellent sailors.
FOIL. 1. (Through O. Fr. from Lat. folium, a leaf, modern
Fr. feuille), a leaf, and so used in heraldry and in plant names,
such as the “trefoil” clover; and hence applied to anything resembling
a leaf. In architecture, the word appears for the small
leaf-like spaces formed by the cusps of tracery in windows or
panels, and known, according to the number of such spaces, as
“quatrefoil,” “cinquefoil,” &c. The word is also found in
“counterfoil,” a leaf of a receipt or cheque book, containing
memoranda or a duplicate of the receipt or draft, kept by the
receiver or drawer as a “counter” or check. “Foil” is particularly
used of thin plates of metal, resembling a leaf, not in shape
as much as in thinness. In thickness foil comes between “leaf”
and “sheet” metal. In jewelry, a foil of silvered sheet copper,
sometimes known as Dutch foil, is used as a backing for paste
gems, or stones of inferior lustre or colour. This is coated with
a mixture of isinglass and translucent colour, varying with the
stones to be backed, or, if only brilliancy is required, left uncoloured,
but highly polished. From this use of “foil,” the
word comes to mean, in a figurative sense, something which by
contrast, or by its own brightness, serves to heighten the attractive
qualities of something else placed in juxtaposition. The
commonest “foil” is that generally known as “tinfoil.” The
ordinary commercial “tinfoil” usually consists chiefly of lead,
and is used for the wrapping of chocolate or other sweetmeats,
tobacco or cigarettes. A Japanese variegated foil gives the
effect of “damaskeening.” A large number of thin plates of
various metals, gold, silver, copper, together with alloys of
different metals are soldered together in a particular order,
a pattern is hammered into the soldered edges, and the whole is
hammered or rolled into a single thin plate, the pattern then
appearing in the order in which the various metals were placed.
2. (From an O. Fr. fuler or foler, modern fouler, to tread or trample, to “full” cloth, Lat. fullo, a fuller), an old hunting term, used of the running back of an animal over its own tracks, to confuse the scent and baffle the hounds. It is also used in wrestling, of a “throw.” Thus comes the common use of the word, in a figurative sense, with reference to both these meanings, of baffling or defeating an adversary, or of parrying an attack.
3. As the name of the weapon used in fencing (see Foil-Fencing) the word is of doubtful origin. One suggestion, based on a supposed similar use of Fr. fleuret, literally a “little flower,” for the weapon, is that foil means a leaf, and must be referred in origin to Lat. folium. A second suggestion is that it means “blunted,” and is the same as (2). A third is that it is an adaptation of an expression “at foils,” i.e. “parrying.” Of these suggestions, according to the New English Dictionary, the first has nothing to support it, the second is not supported by any evidence that in sense (2) the word ever meant to blunt. The third has some support. Finally a suggestion is made that the word is an alteration of an old word “foin,” meaning a thrust with a pointed weapon. The origin of this word is probably an O. Fr. foisne, from the Lat. fuscina, a three-pronged fork.
FOIL-FENCING, the art of attack and defence with the fencing-foil.
The word is used in several spellings (foyle, file, &c.) by the
English writers of the last half of the 16th century, but less in
the sense of a weapon of defence than merely as an imitation of
a real weapon. Blunt swords for practice in fencing have been
used in all ages. For the most part these were of wood and flat in
general form, but when, towards the close of the 17th century, all
cutting action with the small-sword was discarded (see Fencing),
foil-blades were usually made of steel, and either round, three-cornered
or four-cornered in form, with a button covering the
point. The foil is called in French fleuret, and in Italian
fioretto (literally “bud”) from this button. The classic small-sword
play of the 17th and 18th centuries is represented at the
present time by fencing with the épée de combat (fighting-rapier),
which is merely the modern duelling-sword furnished with a
button (see Épée-de-Combat), and by foil-fencing. Foil-fencing
is a conventional art, its characteristic limitation lying in the rule
that no hits except those on the body shall be considered good,
and not even those unless they be given in strict accordance with
certain standard precepts. In épée-fencing on the contrary,
a touch on any part of the person, however given, is valid.
Foil-fencing is considered the basis, so far as practice is concerned,
of all sword-play, whether with foil, épée or sabre.
There are two recognized schools of foil-fencing, the French and the Italian. The French method, which is now generally adopted everywhere except in Italy, is described in this article, reference being made to the important differences between the two schools.
The Foil.—The foil consists of the “blade” and the “handle.” The blade, which is of steel and has a quadrangular section, consists of two parts: the blade proper, extending from the guard to the button, and the “tongue,” which runs through the handle and is joined to the pommel. The blade proper is divided into the “forte,” or thicker half (next the handle), and the “foible” or thinner half. Some authorities divide the blade proper into three parts, the “forte,” “middle” and “foible.” The handle is comprised of the “guard,” the “grip” and the “pommel.” The guard is a light piece of metal shaped like the figure 8 (Fr. lunettes, spectacles) and backed with a piece of stiff leather of the same shape. The grip, which is grasped by the hand, is a hollow piece of wood, usually wound with twine, through which the tongue of the blade passes. The pommel is a piece of metal, usually pear-shaped, to which the end of the tongue is joined and which forms the extremity of the handle. The blade from guard to button is about 33 in. long (No. 5), though a somewhat shorter and lighter blade is generally used by ladies. The handle is about 8 in. long and slightly curved downwards.
The genuine Italian foil differs from the French in having the blade a trifle longer and more whippy, and in the form of the handle, which consists of a thin, solid, bell-shaped guard from 4 to 5 in. in diameter, a straight grip and a light metal bar joining the grip with the guard, beyond the edge of which it extends slightly on each side. Of late years many Italian masters use French blades and even discard the cross-bar, retaining, however, the bell-guard.
In holding the foil, the thumb is placed on the top or convex surface of the grip (the sides of which are a trifle narrower than the top and bottom), while the palm and fingers grasp the other three sides. This is the position of “supination,” or thumb-up. “Pronation” is the reverse position, with the knuckles up. The French lay stress upon holding the foil lightly, the necessary pressure being exerted mostly by the thumb and forefinger, the other fingers being used more to guide the direction of the executed movements. This is in order to give free scope to the doigté (fingering), or the faculty of directing the point of the foil by the action of the fingers alone, and includes the possibility of changing the position of the hand on the grip. Thus, in parrying, the end of the thumb is placed within half an inch, or even less, of the guard, while in making a lunge, the foil is held as near the pommel as possible, in order to gain additional length. It will be seen that doigté is impossible with the Italian foil, in holding which the forefinger is firmly interlaced with the cross-bar, preventing any movement of the hand. The lightness of grasp inculcated by the French is illustrated by the rule of the celebrated master Lafaugère: “Hold your sword as if you had a little bird in your hand, firmly enough to prevent its escape, yet not so firmly as to crush it.” This lightness has for a consequence that a disarmament is not considered of any value in the French school.
To Come on Guard.—The position of “on guard” is that in which the fencer is best prepared both for attack and defence. It is taken from the position of “attention”; the feet together and at right angles with each other, head and body erect, facing forward in the same direction as the right foot, left arm and hand hanging in touch with the body, and the right arm and foil
