TENNIS.*
THE "Badminton Library " continues to maintain its encyclo- pa3dic character. The services of experts are secured without stint, one may suppose, of expense, and every subject is treated exhaustively and by capable pens. In this volume, for instance, four kinds of ball-games, probably the oldest variety of human sport, are treated by no less than eleven authors, and treated, we may say, with a very fair average of literary merit.
Tennis proper has, of course, precedence; and, equally of course, we have a discussion of what Mr. J. M. Heathcote, who is generally responsible for the subject, calls the "palaeontology of ball-games." He is commendably brief, for attempts to make out how an ancient game was really played are not satisfactory, even when, as in the case of the harpaston, the football of antiquity (only that the ball was not kicked), we have the detailed description of Galen, and the picturesque scene quoted by Athena3us from Anti- phanes. Doubtless the ball-game was developed as time went on; and when it was played in a court, as it was in the later Greek and Roman times, we may feel sure that the walls were used, and that the game so far resembled the modern varieties. But there is no classical word for a bat or racquet. This, indeed, is a comparatively recent invention, though something like it occurs in a Byzantine author of the twelfth century. To come to more modern times, the first home of tennis was France, where, indeed, it attained an extraordinary amount of favour. That there should have been fourteen hundred courts in Paris alone in the days of Henry M., as a Venetian Ambassador asserts, is clearly incredible ; but it was the national game, and the same spirit that showed itself in sumptuary laws forbade its being played by any person below a certain rank. It was imported into England in the fifteenth century, and in the sixteenth the court at Hampton Court, which is now the oldest in Europe, • The Badminton Library Tennis, Lawn-Tennis, Rackets, Fives. By Various Authors. London: Longman. 1890.
was erected. In both countries it suffered an eclipse during the latter part of the last and the early part of this century. The present generation has witnessed a revival. Thirty new courts have been built in England—and to build a tennis- court is no slight matter—and the Colonies are beginning to follow our example.
The personalities of the game, as we may call them, are of no little interest. Passing by the great people in the past who have played it, we may come to our own time. Two of the three contributors to this division of the volume are players of the highest distinction, and the third, Mr. Julian Marshall, has also won honours at it. Mr. J. M. Heathcote held the championship for fifteen years (1867-1881), lost it to Mr. A. Lyttelton in 1882, regained it the following year, and then yielded it for good to his younger rival, who seems likely to have a tenure not less protracted. But the most interesting figure to whom we are introduced is the Frenchman Barre, who, born in 1802, could still hold his own with a first-rate player in 1869. Mr. Heathcote gives a sympathetic picture of the old man, whose courtesy and good-humour never failed him. When time put him in the second place, he submitted with admirable resignation. How pathetic, for instance, is the picture of him, as he leans over the " dedans," resting his bald head on his folded arms after a protracted bout (" rest," it is called in tennis, on the /was a non principle, one might think), as he plaintively murmured, " Mon Dien ! mon Dieu!" but added with a cheerful smile, " Il eat si jeune." Tor, indeed, it was time that vanquished him. Poor Barre suffered much in the siege of Paris, and the Republic, contemptuous of the " Royal game," cut off the pension which the Emperor had granted him. It is pleasing to find that England helped out the wants of his old age with a liberal gift. He died in 1873. The first honours of tennis now belong to an American, Pettitt (born, however, at Beckenham, in Kent). Since this book was published, he has decisively proved his superiority over all competitors.
The chapters on " Lawn-Tennis " are contributed by seven writers, Mr. C. G. Heathcote taking the principal part. The history of the game is of the briefest. To the world in general, it dates from the year 1874, though a careful research has discovered various anticipations of it of a much older date (there is a mention of " field-tennis " nearly a hundred years ago). For practical value, the directions given by Mr. Heath- cote and his collaborateurs leave nothing to be desired. We cannot wholly agree with Miss Dod's remarks on " Ladies' Lawn-Tennis." It is quite true that ladies may well endeavour to do their best and not spoil a game to which their presence gives a new attraction. At the same time, there is something very repulsive—at least, to our taste—in the practice of noted players going from tournament to tournament, and exhibiting their prowess before crowds of strangers. Of course, it will be answered that if we are to have skill, we must have contest of skill. If so, let us go without skill.
The chapters on " Rackets " and " Fives " may be passed over with a general commendation of the way in which the subjects are treated, and some special praise for Mr. A. C. Ainger's admirable " Song of Fives." The two concluding lines of this inculcate a moral which cannot be too distinctly remembered by all who engage in these sports. It is the special distinction of cricket that it is played for nothing but love and glory. The more other games can resemble it in this respect, the better. We may concede to the weakness of human nature the titles of champion, and even some visible symbol of the honour; but it cannot be too often repeated that— "Every one can win who tries, For the struggle is the prize."
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