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1571 R. Reynolds Chron. Noble Emperours f. 217 He profered to finishe and end all controuersies, vppon condition that he would fight the combat with him at the Rapier and Dagger.

1591 J. Harington Briefe Apol. Poetrie in tr. L. Ariosto Orlando Furioso sig. ¶i^v Hercules..fought with a club and not at the rapyer and dagger.

1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. F3 This poking fight of rapier and dagger will come vp then.

c1600 Return: 1st Pt. iv. i, in Three Parnassus Plays (1949) 193 This Bracchidochio,..this meere rapier and dagger.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iv. iii. 13 Mr Starue-Lackey the Rapier and dagger man.

1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 52 I have seen some of these Portugall Negres..play at Rapier and Dagger very skilfully.

1720 J. Finet Let. from Paris 5 Some eight or nine Years since, when Duels were grown so licentiously familiar, it was..common to see Two try it out with Rapier and Dagger.

1785 J. Boswell Jrnl. Tour Hebrides 109 Sanquhar, a peer of Scotland, from a vain ambition to excel a fencing-master in his own art, played at rapier and dagger with him.

1899 J. E. Cook Story of Rouen xi. 271 It was at the double game of rapier and dagger that Marquet Dubosc wiped off old scores after a quarrel at the Sign of the Cauldron.

1931 Times 28 May 5/5 Representations of quarterstaff play (14th century), sword and buckler fights (16th century), rapier and dagger and rapier and cloak (17th century) and a duel with small swords (18th century) will all be given.

1978 Winnipeg Free Press 6 Mar. 19/1 I also take rapier and dagger lessons.

2007 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 11 Jan. 1 At the basic level, they already have spent 80 to 100 hours learning unarmed stage combat, Shakespearean rapier and dagger, and a third discipline involving various swords.