Morning journal and courier., 1881-01-04
Lawn Tennis.

From the New York Hour.]
 Games like dogs, have their day, and the day of croquet that favorite dissipation of mild eyed curates and sentimental young ladies, seems to be well nigh over. Lawn tennis has usurped it's place, and batter familias, strolling about his grounds in the twilight to enjoy the post prandial cigar, will no longer fall prey to the malignant hoop. There are many reasons why lawn tennis should win grea CT degree of popularity than it's predecessor. Permitting equally that min gling of the sexes which must add to the charms of any out door sport, an exercise it is at once more picturesque and more in vigorating, while, as game, it involves O greater degree of skill and consequently of interest. As it's name implies, it is an adapt ation of the ancient game of tennis-the roy al game, as it has been called-the jeu de paume familiar to all readers of the early French chronicles. With the French kings, indeed, it was always prime favorite, and in the time of Louis XIV the grand monarch had his choice of no less than 115 tennis courts wherein to try Ia set" with graceless Richlieu or gay Lauzun. The last of these courts was pulled down to make way for the Parisian Grand opera-house-
 Tennis was played in court much like a racket court, such as we have here on the corner of Twenty sixth street and Sixth ave- difficult game than rackets. It was well call ed royal sport, for only rich men could af- ford it. To build the court alone cost from S15,O ,OO0 to $20,000. Originally played in the courtyard of some old chateau, all suc- ceeding tennis courts have followed the plan of the original with more than Chinese fidelity. As in the first court, for example, there chanced to be an angle in one of the side walls, so in all subsequent tennis courts the angle is carefully reproduced in what is known as the "tambour." So, too, 8 little grated window which chanced to be in one of q ,r,o11 ic al |. name of ''grille," is made to play an impor- ant part in the game
 Tennis Supposed to have derived it's name from the number of players, originally five on each side) is played, like lawn tenn1s, with balls, rackets and net; but in other respects bears only superficial resemblance to it's outdoor representative. What with it's be- wilderilg confusion of chases and galleries, chase one, close the door, first gallery, last gallery, the door hazard side, and so on; it's complicated system of scoring; the difficulty imparted to it by twisting" the ball against the sidewalks, much ball is 'sEnglished" at billiards, tennis must have been altogether too much like scientific problem worked out with hard physical labor to be attractive to fair players at least. Indeed, it was not without its dangers, too; the impact of heavy tennis ball propelled by skillful arm was by no means to be sneezed at and it was long tradition of the court which stood in the London Hay market that duke had been killed there by 8 stroke from ball. So the ladies, at least, have reason to bless the memory of that duke of Beaufort who one day had the happy ideatoput up anet in the picture gallery of his house at Badminton, and so first played the game called ''Badminton battledore." From that to lawn tennis the transition was easy.
 Long before that, however, the idea had been anticipated by the Earl of Hertford, who, when he entertained Queen Elizabeth, had ten of his servants, in square green court before her majesty's window, hanging up lines squaring out the form of tennis court and making crosse line in the middle, where they played five to five with hand-bal at 'bord and cord as they tearme it, to the great liking of her highness.n Strutt even infers, from an entry in the register of Hen ry VIps expenditures, that the open air game was known as early as the reign of that mon arch. However that may be- or to whomso- ever we are indebted for the happy thought, our fair readers may be thankful for an addi- tion to their list of outdoor pastimes which is not only healthful and graceful in an efni- nent degree, but affords fresh and admira- ble field for the display of those miracles of millinery and marvels of hosiery without which any pastime would be to them but stale and improbable.