Exercitatio linguae latinae

“In Paris do they play the way we play here?”

“With some variations: the Master of the Game gives the players shoes and caps.”

“What are they like?”

“The shoes are made of felt.”

“They would be of no use here.”

“Here, of course, the game is played on streets strewn with stones; in France and Flanders they play on tile floors, flat and even.”

“And what sort of balls do they play with?”

“Almost none are filled with air, as they are here; they are smaller than the balls you know, and harder, of white leather; they are stuffed with dog hair, not the hair of men done to death; and that is why the players hardly ever strike the ball with their palms.”

“How do they play, then? With their fists, as we do with our balls?”

“No indeed, but with a racket.”

“Strung with string?”

“With a thicker cord, like the strings of the vihuela. They also stretch a line across the court: it’s an error or fault to hit the ball beneath the line.”

JUAN LUIS VIVES, Practice of the Latin Language, 1539