A HISTORY OF TENNIS.
A History of Tennis. By E. B. Neel and J. O. M. Clark. (Oxford University Press. 2 Vols. £6 6s.)
IF Messer Antonio Soaino da Said could but see these volumes I Robert Lukin, too—with what delight he would devour them. Mr. Ileathcote we see more critical ; so, too, Mr. Julian Marshall. But all four we are certain would acclaim them as a splendid and worthy memorial of Tennis As Barre was the hero of Mr. Heathcote's pages, and George Lambert and Mr. Ileathcote the heroes of Mr. Julian Marshall's, Peter Latham is the hero of Messrs. Noel and Clark's history, though Mr. Jay Gould and Mr. Edgar Baerlein follow closely on his heels. No part of the book is more valuable than Mr. Noel's short studies of great players, past and present. The sketch of Peter Latham is perfect, and equal justice is done to " Punch "• Fairs, our late champion, and to G. F. Covey, the present holder of the honours. Ferdinand Garcia, too, has a pleasant and graceful acknow- ledgment of his genius, and George Lesueur, whom we shall always remember playing a match at. Prince's with Charles Saunders, then champion—Lesueur playing without a racket, and catching and throwing the ball. Saunders started serving, and his two first services were caught and thrown by " le biscon," as Lesueur was called, for the dedans, and each, when Saunders tried to stop it, flew off his racket to the root Here, we thought, was going to be fun ; but though " le biscon " won the first game, there his victory ended, for Saunders won every other game and the match by six games to one and six games to love. Nevertheless, we remember Latham saying afterwards that he would back Lesueur against the world " bar three," and he was probably right. If again we barred three, we think Mr. Nigel Haig might be safely backed to beat anybody in such a match.
All the tennis courts in the world are laid bare to Mr. Noel, and he has weighed and measured them for our delectation. And he discourses upon the rules at home and abroad. He tells us of the making of balls and rackets, and he gives us full details of his ideal tennis court. We have lists of champions and lists of players. We have all kinds of quaint and out-of-the-way lore, and a propos of this we have, in an 'appendix, three very valuable and interesting articles reprinted from their original homes, two by Mr. Noel and
one by Mr. A. E. Crawley, treating of the mysteries of the score by fifteens and the name Tennis, The book contains 'reproductions of photographs, many of them rare, while one of them, with four champions all in a row, is a possession beyond price. The Oxford Press has done its work admirably, and all tennis lovers will bless Mr. Noel and Mr. Clark for giving them a standard work, full and complete, never dull, and written with a delightful enthusiasm and good humour from start to finish.
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