1. _Controversy._--In this field he had no contemporary peer save
perhaps Richard Bentley. The first of his controversial works was
_Three Letters to the Bishop of Bangor_ (1717), which were considered
by friend and foe alike as one of the most powerful contributions to
the Bangorian controversy on the high church side. Thomas Sherlock
declared that "Mr Law was a writer so considerable that he knew but
one good reason why his lordship did not answer him." Law's next
controversial work was _Remarks on Mandeville's Fable of the Bees_
(1723), in which he vindicates morality on the highest grounds; for
pure style, caustic wit and lucid argument this work is remarkable; it
was enthusiastically praised by John Sterling, and republished by F.
D. Maurice. Law's _Case of Reason_ (1732), in answer to Tindal's
_Christianity as old as the Creation_ is to a great extent an
anticipation of Bishop Butler's famous argument in the _Analogy_. In
this work Law shows himself at least the equal of the ablest champion
of Deism. His _Letters to a Lady inclined to enter the Church of Rome_
are excellent specimens of the attitude of a high Anglican towards
Romanism. His controversial writings have not received due
recognition, partly because they were opposed to the drift of his
times, partly because of his success in other fields.
2. _Practical Divinity._--The _Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life_
(1728), together with its predecessor, _A Treatise of Christian
Perfection_ (1726), deeply influenced the chief actors in the great
Evangelical revival. The Wesleys, George Whitefield, Henry Venn,
Thomas Scott and Thomas Adam all express their deep obligation to the
author. The _Serious Call_ affected others quite as deeply. Samuel
Johnson, Gibbon, Lord Lyttelton and Bishop Horne all spoke
enthusiastically of its merits; and it is still the only work by which
its author is popularly known. It has high merits of style, being
lucid and pointed to a degree. In a tract entitled _The Absolute
Unlawfulness of Stage Entertainments_ (1726) Law was tempted by the
corruptions of the stage of the period to use unreasonable language,
and incurred some effective criticism from John Dennis in _The Stage
Defended_.
3. _Mysticism._--Though the least popular, by far the most
interesting, original and suggestive of all Law's works are those
which he wrote in his later years, after he had become an enthusiastic
admirer (not a disciple) of Jacob Boehme, the Teutonic theosophist.
From his earliest years he had been deeply impressed with the piety,
beauty and thoughtfulness of the writings of the Christian mystics,
but it was not till after his accidental meeting with the works of
Boehme, about 1734, that pronounced mysticism appeared in his works.
Law's mystic tendencies divorced him from the practical-minded Wesley,
but in spite of occasional wild fancies the books are worth reading.
They are _A Demonstration of the Gross and Fundamental Errors of a
late Book called a "Plain Account, &c., of the Lord's Supper_" (1737);
_The Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Regeneration_ (1739); _An
Appeal to all that Doubt and Disbelieve the Truths of Revelation_
(1740); _An Earnest and Serious Answer to Dr Trapp's Sermon on being
Righteous Overmuch_ (1740); _The Spirit of Prayer_ (1749, 1752); _The
Way to Divine Knowledge_ (1752); _The Spirit of Love_ (1752, 1754); _A
Short but Sufficient Confutation of Dr Warburton's Projected Defence
(as he calls it) of Christianity in his "Divine Legation of Moses"_
(1757); _A Series of Letters_ (1760); a _Dialogue between a Methodist
and a Churchman_ (1760); and _An Humble, Earnest and Affectionate
Address to the Clergy_ (1761).
Richard Tighe wrote a short account of Law's life in 1813. See also
Christopher Walton, _Notes and Materials for a Complete Biography of
W. Law_ (1848); Sir Leslie Stephen, _English Thought in the 18th
century_, and in the _Dict. Nat. Biog._ (xxxii. 236); W. H. Lecky,
_History of England in the 18th Century_; C. J. Abbey, _The English
Church in the 18th Century_; and J. H. Overton, _William Law, Nonjuror
and Mystic_ (1881).
LAW (O. Eng. _lagu_, M. Eng. _lawe_; from an old Teutonic root _lag_,
"lie," what lies fixed or evenly; cf. Lat. _lex_, Fr. _loi_), a word
used in English in two main senses--(1) as a rule prescribed by
authority for human action, and (2) in scientific and philosophic
phraseology, as a uniform order of sequence (e.g. "laws" of motion). In
the first sense the word is used either in the abstract, for
jurisprudence generally or for a state of things in which the laws of a
country are duly observed ("law and order"), or in the concrete for some
particular rule or body of rules. It is usual to distinguish further
between "law" and "equity" (q.v.). The scientific and philosophic usage
has grown out of an early conception of jurisprudence, and is really
metaphorical, derived from the phrase "natural law" or "law of nature,"
which presumed that commands were laid on matter by God (see T. E.
Holland, _Elements of Jurisprudence_, ch. ii.). The adjective "legal" is
only used in the first sense, never in the second. In the case of the
"moral law" (see ETHICS) the term is employed somewhat ambiguously
because of its connexion with both meanings. There is also an Old
English use of the word "law" in a more or less sporting sense ("to give
law" or "allow so much law"), meaning a start or fair allowance in time
or distance. Presumably this originated simply in the liberty-loving
Briton's respect for proper legal procedure; instead of the brute
exercise of tyrannous force he demanded "law," or a fair opportunity
and trial. But it may simply be an extension of the meaning of "right,"
or of the sense of "leave" which is found in early uses of the French
_loi_.
In this work the laws or uniformities of the physical universe are dealt
with in the articles on the various sciences. The general principles of
law in the legal sense are discussed under JURISPRUDENCE. What may be
described as "national systems" of law are dealt with historically and
generally under ENGLISH LAW, AMERICAN LAW, ROMAN LAW, GREEK LAW,
MAHOMMEDAN LAW, INDIAN LAW, &c. Certain broad divisions of law are
treated under CONSTITUTION AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CANON LAW, CIVIL LAW,
COMMON LAW, CRIMINAL LAW, ECCLESIASTICAL LAW, EQUITY, INTERNATIONAL LAW,
MILITARY LAW, &c. And the particular laws of different countries on
special subjects are stated under the headings for those subjects
(BANKRUPTCY, &c.). For courts (q.v.) of law, and procedure, see
JURISPRUDENCE, APPEAL, TRIAL, KING'S BENCH, &c.
AUTHORITIES.--The various legal articles have bibliographies attached,
but it may be convenient here to mention such general works on law,
apart from the science of jurisprudence, as (for English law) Lord
Halsbury's _Laws of England_ (vol. i., 1907), _The Encyclopaedia of
the Laws of England_, ed. Wood Renton (1907), Stephen's _Commentaries
on the Laws of England_ (1908), Brett's _Commentaries on the present
Laws of England_ (1896), Broom's _Commentaries on the Common Law_
(1896) and Brodie-Innes's _Comparative Principles of the Laws of
England and Scotland_ (vol. i., 1903); and, for America, Bouvier's
_Law Dictionary_, and Kent's _Commentaries on American Law_.
LAWES, HENRY (1595-1662), English musician, was born at Dinton in
Wiltshire in December 1595, and received his musical education from John
Cooper, better known under his Italian pseudonym Giovanni Coperario (d.
1627), a famous composer of the day. In 1626 he was received as one of
the gentlemen of the chapel royal, which place he held till the
Commonwealth put a stop to church music. But even during that songless
time Lawes continued his work as a composer, and the famous collection
of his vocal pieces, _Ayres and Dialogues for One, Two and Three
Voyces_, was published in 1653, being followed by two other books under
the same title in 1655 and 1658 respectively. When in 1660 the king
returned, Lawes once more entered the royal chapel, and composed an
anthem for the coronation of Charles II. He died on the 21st of October
1662, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Lawes's name has become known
beyond musical circles by his friendship with Milton, whose _Comus_ he
supplied with incidental music for the performance of the masque in
1634. The poet in return immortalized his friend in the famous sonnet in
which Milton, with a musical perception not common amongst poets,
exactly indicates the great merit of Lawes. His careful attention to the
words of the poet, the manner in which his music seems to grow from
those words, the perfect coincidence of the musical with the metrical
accent, all put Lawes's songs on a level with those of Schumann or Liszt
or any modern composer. At the same time he is by no means wanting in
genuine melodic invention, and his concerted music shows the learned
contrapuntist.
LAWES, SIR JOHN BENNET, BART. (1814-1900), English agriculturist, was
born at Rothamsted on the 28th of December 1814. Even before leaving
Oxford, where he matriculated in 1832, he had begun to interest himself
in growing various medicinal plants on the Rothamsted estates, which he
inherited on his father's death in 1822. About 1837 he began to
experiment on the effects of various manures on plants growing in pots,
and a year or two later the experiments were extended to crops in the
field. One immediate consequence was that in 1842 he patented a manure
formed by treating phosphates with sulphuric acid, and thus initiated
the artificial manure industry. In the succeeding year he enlisted the
services of Sir J. H. Gilbert, with whom he carried on for more than
half a century those experiments in raising crops and feeding animals
which have rendered Rothamsted famous in the eyes of scientific
agriculturists all over the world (see AGRICULTURE). In 1854 he was
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, which in 1867 bestowed a Royal
medal on Lawes and Gilbert jointly, and in 1882 he was created a
baronet. In the year before his death, which happened on the 31st of
August 1900, he took measures to ensure the continued existence of the
Rothamsted experimental farm by setting aside £100,000 for that purpose
and constituting the Lawes Agricultural Trust, composed of four members
from the Royal Society, two from the Royal Agricultural Society, one
each from the Chemical and Linnaean Societies, and the owner of
Rothamsted mansion-house for the time being.
LAW MERCHANT or LEX MERCATORIA, originally a body of rules and
principles relating to merchants and mercantile transactions, laid down
by merchants themselves for the purpose of regulating their dealings. It
was composed of such usages and customs as were common to merchants and
traders in all parts of Europe, varied slightly in different localities
by special peculiarities. The law merchant owed its origin to the fact
that the civil law was not sufficiently responsive to the growing
demands of commerce, as well as to the fact that trade in pre-medieval
times was practically in the hands of those who might be termed
cosmopolitan merchants, who wanted a prompt and effective jurisdiction.
It was administered for the most part in special courts, such as those
of the gilds in Italy, or the fair courts of Germany and France, or as
in England, in courts of the staple or piepowder (see also SEA LAWS).
The history of the law merchant in England is divided into three stages:
the first prior to the time of Coke, when it was a special kind of
law--as distinct from the common law--administered in special courts for
a special class of the community (i.e. the mercantile); the second stage
was one of transition, the law merchant being administered in the common
law courts, but as a body of customs, to be proved as a fact in each
individual case of doubt; the third stage, which has continued to the
present day, dates from the presidency over the king's bench of Lord
Mansfield (q.v.), under whom it was moulded into the mercantile law of
to-day. To the law merchant modern English law owes the fundamental
principles in the law of partnership, negotiable instruments and trade
marks.
See G. Malynes, _Consuetudo vel lex mercatoria_ (London, 1622); W.
Mitchell, _The Early History of the Law Merchant_ (Cambridge, 1904);
J. W. Smith, _Mercantile Law_ (ed. Hart and Simey, 1905).
LAWN, a very thin fabric made from level linen or cotton yarns. It is
used for light dresses and trimmings, also for handkerchiefs. The terms
lawn and cambric (q.v.) are often intended to indicate the same fabric.
The word "lawn" was formerly derived from the French name for the fabric
_linon_, from _lin_, flax, linen, but Skeat (_Etym. Dict._, 1898,
Addenda) and A. Thomas (_Romania_, xxix. 182, 1900) have shown that the
real source of the word is to be found in the name of the French town
Laon. Skeat quotes from Palsgrave, _Les claircissement de la langue
Françoÿse_ (1530), showing that the early name of the fabric was _Laune
lynen_. An early form of the word was "laund," probably due to an
adaptation to "laund," lawn, glade or clearing in a forest, now used of
a closely-mown expanse of grass in a garden, park, &c. (see GRASS and
HORTICULTURE). This word comes from O. Fr. _launde_, mod. _lande___,
wild, heathy or sandy ground, covered with scrub or brushwood, a word of
Celtic origin; cf. Irish and Breton _lann_, heathy ground, also
enclosure, land; Welsh _llan_, enclosure. It is cognate with "land,"
common to Teutonic languages. In the original sense of clearing in a
forest, glade, Lat. _saltus_, "lawn," still survives in the New Forest,
where it is used of the feeding-places of cattle.
LAWN-TENNIS, a game played with racquet and ball on a court traversed by
a net, but without enclosing walls. It is a modern adaptation of the
ancient game of tennis (q.v.), with which it is identical as regards the
scoring of the game and "set." Lawn-tennis is essentially a summer game,
played in the open air, either on courts marked with whitewash on
close-cut grass like a cricket pitch, or on asphalt, cinders, gravel,
wood, earth or other substance which can be so prepared as to afford a
firm, level and smooth surface. In winter, however, the game is often
played on the floor of gymnasiums, drill sheds or other buildings, when
it is called "covered-court lawn-tennis"; but there is no difference in
the game itself corresponding to these varieties of court.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
The lawn-tennis court for the single-handed game, one player against one
("singles"), is shown in fig. 1, and that for the four-handed game
("doubles") in fig. 2. The net stretched across the middle of the court
is attached to the tops of two posts which stand 3 ft. outside the court
on each side. The height of the net is 3 ft. 6 in. at the posts and 3
ft. at the centre. The court is bisected longitudinally by the
half-court-line, which, however, is marked only between the two
service-lines and at the points of junction with the base-lines. The
divisions of the court on each side of the half-court-line are called
respectively the right-hand and left-hand courts; and the portion of
these divisions between the service-lines and the net are the right-hand
service-court and left-hand service-court respectively. The balls, which
are made of hollow india-rubber, tightly covered with white flannel, are
2½ in. in diameter, and from 1(7/8) to 2 oz. in weight. The racquets
(fig. 3), for which there are no regulation dimensions, are broader and
lighter than those used in tennis.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
Before play begins, a racquet is spun as in tennis, and the winner of
the spin elects either to take first service or to take choice of
courts. If he takes choice of courts, he and his partner (if the game be
doubles) take their position on the selected side of the net, one
stationing himself in the right-hand court and the other in the left,
which positions are retained throughout the set. If the winner of the
spin takes choice of courts, his opponent has first service; and vice
versa. The players change sides of the net at the end of the first,
third and every subsequent alternate game, and at the end of each set;
but they may agree not to change during any set except the last. Service
is delivered by each player in turn, who retains it for one game
irrespective of the winning or losing of points. In doubles the partner
of the server in the first game serves in the third, and the partner of
the server in the second game serves in the fourth; the same order being
preserved till the end of the set; but each pair of partners decide for
themselves before their first turn of service which of the two shall
serve first. The server delivers the service from the right- and
left-hand courts alternately, beginning in each of his service games
from the right-hand court, even though odds be given or owed; he must
stand behind (i.e. farther from the net than) the base-line, and must
serve the ball so that it drops in the opponent's service-court
diagonally opposite to the court served from, or upon one of the lines
enclosing that service-court. If in a serve, otherwise good, the ball
touches the net, it is a "let" whether the serve be "taken" or not by
striker-out; a "let" does not annul a previous "fault." (For the meaning
of "let," "rest," "striker-out" and other technical terms used in the
game, see TENNIS and RACQUETS.) The serve is a fault (1) if it be not
delivered by the server from the proper court, and from behind the
base-line; (2) if the ball drops into the net or out-of-court, or into
any part of the court other than the proper service-court. The
striker-out cannot, as in racquets, "take," and thereby condone, a
fault. When a fault has been served, the server must serve again from
the same court, unless it was a fault because served from the wrong
court, in which case the server crosses to the proper court before
serving again. Two consecutive faults score a point against the side of
the server. Lawn-tennis differs from tennis and racquets in that the
service may not be taken on the volley by striker-out. After the serve
has been returned the play proceeds until the "rest" (or "rally") ends
by one side or the other failing to make a "good return"; a good return
in lawn-tennis meaning a stroke by which the ball, having been hit with
the racquet before its second bound, is sent over the net, even if it
touches the net, so as to fall within the limits of the court on the
opposite side. A point is scored by the player, or side, whose opponent
fails to return the serve or to make a good return in the rest. A player
also loses a point if the ball when in play touches him or his partner,
or their clothes; or if he or his racquet touches the net or any of its
supports while the ball is in play; or if he leaps over the net to avoid
touching it; or if he volley the ball before it has passed the net.
For him who would excel in lawn-tennis a strong fast service is hardly
less necessary than a heavily "cut" service to the tennis player and
the racquet player. High overhand service, by which alone any great
pace can be obtained, was first perfected by the brothers Renshaw
between 1880 and 1890, and is now universal even among players far
below the first rank. The service in vogue among the best players in
America, and from this circumstance known as the "American service,"
has less pace than the English but is "cut" in such a way that it
swerves in the air and "drags" off the ground, the advantage being
that it gives the server more time to "run in" after his serve, so as
to volley his opponent's return from a position within a yard or two
of the net. Both in singles and doubles the best players often make it
their aim to get up comparatively near the net as soon as possible,
whether they are serving or receiving the serve, the object being to
volley the ball whenever possible before it begins to fall. The
server's partner, in doubles, stands about a yard and a half from the
net, and rather nearer the side-line than the half-court-line; the
receiver of the service, not being allowed to volley the serve, must
take his stand according to the nature of the service, which, if very
fast, will require him to stand outside the base-line; the receiver's
partner usually stands between the net and the service-line. All four
players, if the rest lasts beyond a stroke or two, are generally found
nearer to the net than the service-lines; and the game, assuming the
players to be of the championship class, consists chiefly of rapid low
volleying, varied by attempts on one side or the other to place the
ball out of the opponents' reach by "lobbing" it over their heads into
the back part of the court. Good "lobbing" demands great skill, to
avoid on the one hand sending the ball out of court beyond the
base-line, and on the other allowing it to drop short enough for the
adversary to kill it with a "smashing" volley. Of "lobbing" it has
been laid down by the brothers Doherty that "the higher it is the
better, so long as the length is good"; and as regards returning lobs
the same authorities say, "you must get them if you can before they
drop, for it is usually fatal to let them drop when playing against a
good pair." The reason for this is that if the lob be allowed to drop
before being returned, so much time is given to the striker of it to
gain position that he is almost certain to be able to kill the return,
unless the lob be returned by an equally good and very high lob,
dropping within a foot or so of the base-line in the opposite court, a
stroke that requires the utmost accuracy of strength to accomplish
safely. The game in the hands of first-class players consists largely
in manoeuvring for favourable position in the court while driving the
opponent into a less favourable position on his side of the net; the
player who gains the advantage of position in this way being generally
able to finish the rest by a smashing volley impossible to return.
Ability to play this "smash" stroke is essential to strong
lawn-tennis. "To be good overhead," say the Dohertys, "is the sign of
a first-class player, even if a few have managed to get on without
it." The smash stroke is played very much in the same way as the
overhand service, except that it is not from a defined position of
known distance from the net; and therefore when making it the player
must realize almost instinctively what his precise position is in
relation to the net and the side-lines, for it is of the last
importance that he should not take his eye off the ball "even for the
hundredth part of a second." By drawing the racquet across the ball at
the moment of impact spin may be imparted to it as in tennis, or as
"side" is imparted to a billiard ball, and the direction of this spin
and the consequent behaviour of the ball after the stroke may be
greatly varied by a skilful player. Perhaps the most generally useful
form of spin, though by no means the only one commonly used, is that
known as "top" or "lift," a vertical rotatory motion of the ball in
the same direction as its flight, which is imparted to it by an upward
draw of the racquet at the moment of making the stroke, and the effect
of which is to make it drop more suddenly than it would ordinarily do,
and in an unexpected curve. A drive made with plenty of "top" can be
hit much harder than would otherwise be possible without sending the
ball out of court, and it is therefore extensively employed by the
best players. While the volleying game is almost universally the
practice of first-class players--A. W. Gore, M. J. G. Ritchie and S.
H. Smith being almost alone among those of championship rank in modern
days to use the volley comparatively little--its difficulty places it
beyond the reach of the less skilful. In lawn-tennis as played at the
ordinary country house or local club the real "smash" of a Renshaw or
a Doherty is seldom to be seen, and the high lob is almost equally
rare. Players of moderate calibre are content to take the ball on the
bound and to return it with some pace along the side-lines or across
the court, with the aim of placing it as artfully as possible beyond
the reach of the adversary; and if now and again they venture to
imitate a stroke employed with killing effect at Wimbledon, they think
themselves fortunate if they occasionally succeed in making it without
disaster to themselves.
Before 1890 the method of handicapping at lawn-tennis was the same as
in tennis so far as it was applicable to a game played in an open
court. In 1890 bisques were abolished, and in 1894 an elaborate system
was introduced by which fractional parts of "fifteen" could be
conceded by way of handicap, in accordance with tables inserted in the
laws of the game. The system is a development of the tennis
handicapping by which a finer graduation of odds may be given.
"One-sixth of fifteen" is one stroke given in every six games of a
set; and similarly two-sixths, three-sixths, four-sixths and
five-sixths of fifteen, are respectively two, three, four and five
strokes given in every six games of a set; the particular game in the
set in which the stroke in each case must be given being specified in
the tables.
_History._--Lawn-tennis cannot be said to have existed prior to the year
1874. It is, indeed, true that outdoor games based on tennis were from
time to time improvised by lovers of that game who found themselves out
of reach of a tennis-court. Lord Arthur Hervey, sometime bishop of Bath
and Wells, had thus devised a game which he and his friends played on
the lawn of his rectory in Suffolk; and even so early as the end of the
18th century "field tennis" was mentioned by the _Sporting Magazine_ as
a game that rivalled the popularity of cricket. But, however much or
little this game may have resembled lawn-tennis, it had long ceased to
exist; and even to be remembered, when in 1874 Major Wingfield took out
a patent for a game called Sphairistike, which the specification
described as "a new and improved portable court for playing the ancient
game of tennis." The court for this game was wider at the base-lines
than at the net, giving the whole court the shape of an hour-glass; one
side of the net only was divided into service-courts, service being
always delivered from a fixed mark in the centre of the opposite court;
and from the net-posts side-nets were fixed which tapered down to the
ground at about the middle of the side-lines, thus enclosing nearly half
the courts on each side of the net. The possibilities of Sphairistike
were quickly perceived; and under the new name of lawn-tennis its
popularity grew so quickly that in 1875 a meeting of those interested in
the game was held at Lord's cricket-ground, where a committee of the
Marylebone Club (M.C.C.) was appointed to draw up a code of rules. The
hour-glass shape of the court was retained by this code (issued in May
1875), and the scoring of the game followed in the main the racquets
instead of the tennis model. It was at the suggestion of J. M.
Heathcote, the amateur tennis champion, that balls covered with white
flannel were substituted for the uncovered balls used at first. In 1875,
through the influence of Henry Jones ("Cavendish"), lawn-tennis was
included in the programme of the All England Croquet Club, which in 1877
became the All England Croquet and Lawn-Tennis Club, on whose ground at
Wimbledon the All England championships have been annually played since
that date. In the same year, in anticipation of the first championship
meeting, the club appointed a committee consisting of Henry Jones,
Julian Marshall and C. G. Heathcote to revise the M.C.C. code of rules;
the result of their labours being the introduction of the tennis in
place of the racquets scoring, the substitution of a rectangular for the
"hour-glass" court, and the enactment of the modern rule as regards the
"fault." The height of the net, which under the M.C.C. rules had been 4
ft. in the centre, was reduced to 3 ft. 3 in.; and regulations as to the
size and weight of the ball were also made. Some controversy had already
taken place in the columns of the _Field_ as to whether volleying the
ball, at all events within a certain distance of the net, should not be
prohibited. Spencer Gore, the first to win the championship in 1877,
used the volley with great skill and judgment, and in principle
anticipated the tactics afterwards brought to perfection by the
Renshaws, which aimed at forcing the adversary back to the base-line and
killing his return with a volley from a position near the net. P. F.
Hadow, champion in 1878, showed how the volley might be defeated by
skilful use of the lob; but the question of placing some check on the
volley continued to be agitated among lovers of the game. The rapidly
growing popularity of lawn-tennis was proved in 1879 by the inauguration
at Oxford of the four-handed championship, and at Dublin of the Irish
championship, and by the fact that there were forty-five competitors for
the All England single championship at Wimbledon, won by J. T. Hartley,
a player who chiefly relied on the accuracy of his return without
frequent resort to the volley. It was in the autumn of the same year, in
a tournament at Cheltenham, that W. Renshaw made his first successful
appearance in public. The year 1880 saw the foundation of the Northern
Lawn-Tennis Association, whose tournaments have long been regarded as
inferior in importance only to the championship meetings at Wimbledon
and Dublin, and a revision of the rules which substantially made them
what they have ever since remained. This year is also memorable for the
first championship doubles won by the twin brothers William and Ernest
Renshaw, a success which the former followed up by winning the Irish
championship, beating among others H. F. Lawford for the first time.
The Renshaws had already developed the volleying game at the net, and
had shown what could be done with the "smash" stroke (which became known
by their name as the "Renshaw smash"), but their service had not as yet
become very severe. In 1881 the distinctive features of their style were
more marked, and the brothers first established firmly the supremacy
which they maintained almost without interruption for the next eight
years. In the doubles they discarded the older tactics of one partner
standing back and the other near the net; the two Renshaws stood about
the same level, just inside the service-line, and from there volleyed
with relentless severity and with an accuracy never before equalled, and
seldom if ever since; while their service also acquired an immense
increase of pace. Their chief rival, and the leading exponent of the
non-volleying game for several years, was H. F. Lawford. After a year or
two it became evident that neither the volleying tactics of Renshaw nor
the strong back play of Lawford would be adopted to the exclusion of the
other, and both players began to combine the two styles. Thus the
permanent features of lawn-tennis may be said to have been firmly
established by about the year 1885; and the players who have since then
come to the front have for the most part followed the principles laid
down by the Renshaws and Lawford. One of the greatest performances at
lawn-tennis was in the championship competition in 1886 when W. Renshaw
beat Lawford a love set in 9½ minutes. The longest rest in first-class
lawn-tennis occurred in a match between Lawford and E. Lubbock in 1880,
when eighty-one strokes were played. Among players in the first class
who were contemporaries of the Renshaws, mention should be made of E. de
S. Browne, a powerful imitator of the Renshaw style; C. W. Grinstead, R.
T. Richardson, V. Goold (who played under the _nom de plume_ "St
Leger"), J. T. Hartley, E. W. Lewis, E. L. Williams, H. Grove and W. J.
Hamilton; while among the most prominent lady players of the period were
Miss M. Langrishe, Miss Bradley, Miss Maud Watson, Miss L. Dod, Miss
Martin and Miss Bingley (afterwards Mrs Hillyard). In 1888 the
Lawn-Tennis Association was established; and the All England Mixed
Doubles Championship (four-handed matches for ladies and gentlemen in
partnership) was added to the existing annual competitions. Since 1881
lawn-tennis matches between Oxford and Cambridge universities have been
played annually; and almost every county in England, besides Scotland,
Wales and districts such as "Midland Counties," "South of England," &c.,
have their own championship meetings. Tournaments are also played in
winter at Nice, Monte Carlo and other Mediterranean resorts where most
of the competitors are English visitors.