Wearing a rapier

[Anne Lyle]

Your proposed soldierly protagonist might spend a fair amount of time down at the local tavern drinking enough to cut the aches...even if he'd never had any important parts cut or sliced up...

He's British - he doesn't need an excuse to go down the pub

[Corey Roberts]

"With regard to the small sword, I am going by summaries of Silver's writings, in which he advocates a shorter rapier than was normally worn. I understand he was rather dismissive of the fancy Continental style of fencing! "

Do not confuse the "shorte sword" advocated by Silver with the later smallsword. Silver is advocating shorter, military Cut & Thrust weapons over the new-fangled rapier. The smallsword is an even later development and is an entirely foyning weapon, about the length of the leg, common to the late 17th century, and became immensely popular in the 18th century.

I would strongly recommend you actually read Silver's work, rather than relying on summaries of it. Neither of his works are particularly long and only require a small time investment to read, and I think his work will help you tremendously on understanding English martial arts of the period.

I also strongly recommend you read The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe by Dr. Sydney Anglo to get the widest possible understanding of European martial arts of this period. Good luck!