308 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Oct. 20. 1855. 



fortunately bound, somewhat collectively, but yet 

 bound hard and fast. Who does not know the at- 

 tributes of the clumsy volume entitled Pamphlets ? 

 — a book with an infinity of inscription upon its 

 back — a very Babel of titles — curt and con- 

 tracted, without implying the purport of the per- 

 formance; works often in themselves oddly named 

 to catch the passing eye — a volume constructed 

 of papers and types of all colours and sizes, in 

 themselves a demonstration against the fellowship 

 thrust upon them. These drrty specimens of 

 vagrant literature I would reduce to order in the 

 following manner, which would cost little more 

 than collective binding, and yet enable additions 

 and classifications to go on to any extent: — I 

 would have each work bound, separately, in what 

 bookbinders call " cloth limp ;" which is a stiffcard 

 or paper cover, cut through without "squares" 

 (or projecting boards at the edges), a tablet of 

 paper being placed on the side to receive the title 

 in MSS. I would never cut ray pamphlets down 

 in the margins ; but place each collection or sec- 

 tion between flat 4to., 8vo., or 16rao. mill-boards, 

 as the several sizes dictate — bound at head and 

 tail with indian-rubber rings. The calico cover- 

 ings of each pamphlet should indicate the subject 

 upon which it treats : thus, divinity might be pur- 

 ple, military red, naval blue, the law taking buff 

 or pie-crust colour, as it always has done. I would 

 number the whole, keeping each clear and distinct 

 for ease of reference and comparison. Then would 

 an additional or superior copy be hailed as an ad- 

 vantage to a complete collection of pamphlets. 



Luke Limnek. 



K.B. A written index of titles and authors 

 CQuld be kept (with letters down the fore-edge, as 

 in an address-book) ; and another, relating to sub- 

 jects (with the edges coloured to correspond with 

 the covers of each series). Ingenious amateurs 

 covld cover their collections in stiff coloured papers 

 themselves, though I would not advise amateur 

 binding, from specimens I have seen, being, like 

 most amateur artists' work, defective where 

 strength was most required. 



objects. Nothing can be more convenient, either as re- 

 gards the flrmnesa with which it retains the different 

 sheets, be they few or many, or the facility with which any 

 sheet may be removed when required. The inquiry after 

 De la Rue's Pamphlet-Binder, brought us acquainted with 

 another invention patented by this enterprising firm, to 

 whom all literary men and users of writing tables are in- 

 debted for so many aids — we mean Db la. Rue's Regis- 

 tered Letter Clips. We recommend all those who, 

 like ourselves, after abandoning red tape for elastic bands, 

 have been obliged to return to the old red tape system, to 

 try these very ingenious clips, which are made in a va- 

 riet\' of sizes and forms, calculated to meet every require- 

 ment.— Ed. «N. & Q."] 



No. 312.] 



" RACKETS, OB " RACQUETS. 



(Vol. xii., p. 244.) 



A game with a racket and balls is, I think, 

 older than the game of tennis, from the different 

 way they are mentioned by Chaucer and Shak- 

 speare. The former, in the fourth book of Troilus 

 and Creseide, says, " But canst thou play a racket 

 to and fro, nettle in, dock out ? " and again in the 

 first book of The Testament of Love, he uses 

 nearly the same words. There is not any thing 

 like tennis in this. Shakspeare knew something 

 of the language of the tennis court, but could 

 have been no tennis player, or he would not have 

 thus spoken of the game : 



" We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us ; 

 Ilis present, and your pains, we thank you for : 

 When we have match'd our rackets to these balls, 

 We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set 

 Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard. 

 Tell him, he hath made a match with such a wrangler, 

 That all the courts of France will be disturbed 

 With chaces." 



Hen. V. Act. I. Sc. 2. 



No tennis player would have thus used the 

 terms hazard and chaces. 



Tennis appears to have been a French importa- 

 tion, not much earlier than Shakspeare's time. 

 See Henry VIII. Act I. Sc. 3. 



" Renouncing clean 



The faith they have in tennis, and tall stockings. 



Short blister'd breeches, and those types of travel." 



Charles II. revived it, and in his time, it is said, 

 there were more tennis courts in England than 

 there are at present : the more the pity, for it is 

 the first of games. If any of your readers wish 

 for farther proof that Shakspeare knew little of 

 tennis, let him call on my Oxford tutor (in tennis), 

 Edmund Tomkins, now lessee of the Brighton 

 tennis court, who can produce his Shakspeare as 

 well as his racket, and he will, In a few minutes, 

 learn more clearly my meaning, than I could, to • 

 the uninitiated, explain it with much writing. 



The game of rackets is only a poor substitute 

 for tennis, but from it, I think, tennis sprung. 



The word racket I would deduce from the 

 Dutch racken, to stretch ; German, recken ; tight 

 stringing being the great merit in a racket. All 

 the language of the game is French, and, to this 

 day, the only good rackets are imported from 

 France; but the game is there all but extinct. 

 Let me add these Queries : 



Does Chaucer expressly mention tennis, and if 

 so, where ? 



Was the " last gallery " on the hazard side ever 

 called " the hazard " ? Could this be proved, we 

 may be able to write Shakspeare a tennis player 

 after all. A. Holt White. 



" Rackets " appears to have been merely a 

 "transition" from the ruder, and less scientific 



