BACK. 636 KACQUETS. ferer was stretched and bound. Cords were at- tached to his ankles and wrists, and gradually strained by means of a lever and pulleys, till — unless the prisoner confessed and was released — dislocation of the limbs ensued. Tlie rack was in use among the Romans in the first and second centuries, and many of the earlj* Christians un- derwent its tortures. Coke mentions its intro- duction into the Tower of London by the Duke of Exeter, Constable of the Tower, in 1447, when it came to be called the 'Duke of Exeter's daugh- ter;' its use is mentioned by Hollinshcd in 1047, and it became common in the time of Henry VIII. as an implement of torture for prisoners confined in the Tower. The infliction of the punishment of the rack took jilace during the reign of the Tudor sovereigns by warrant of council, or under the sign manual. In 1628 it was proposed in the Privy Council to put Felton, the murderer of the Duke of Buckingham, to the rack, in order that he might confess as to his accomplices, but the judges resisted the proceeding, as contrary to the law of England. In various European countries the rack was frequently used both by the civil authorities in cases of traitors and conspirators, and by members of the Inquisition to extort a recantation of heresy. RACK. A liquor. See Arrack. BACKETS. See Racquets. BACKET-TAIL. A name for certain hum- ming-birds (q.v.) two or more of whose tail- feathers are greatly elongated, bare of webs to- ward their tips, and then suddenly broadly webbed, suggesting the shape of a tennis racket. Several species of extraordinary brilliance in- habit the Andean region, of which the species {Stegamira Undericoodi) illustrated on the Plate of HuMMiNG-BiRDS is a characteristic ex- ample. The name 'puff-leg' is sometimes given to these hummers on account of the mass of loose white feathers about their tarsal joints. Similar tail-feathers occur in other species, as the mag- nificent Loddifferia iiiirabilis of Xorthern Peru. BACK BENT. A rent that is equivalent to the full net annual value of the real property out of which it issues, or approximately so. By statute in England to-day, rack rent is defined to be "not less than two-thirds of the full net an- nual value of the lands out of which it arises." Rack rent in the ancient sense has probably never been exacted in the United States. See Rent. EACOVIAN CATECHISM. A catechism first printed at Rakow, or Kacovia, Poland, in 1605. It was based on the writings of Socinus (q.v.) and presented his doctrines. An English translation was published in London in 1818. BACQUETS, or BACKETS (Fr. raguette, from OF. rachete, raclictic, r<isqucte, rasqtiette, from Sp. raqiicta, racquet, battledore, from Ar. rahiii, jialm of the hand). A modern legitimate descendant of the old game of tennis (q.v.). It is probably of British origin and arose aljout the beginning of the nineteenth century, being at that time played chiefly in the English debtors' prisons by men who were tennis players, but in their incarceration had to make .shift with a less elaborate court. It began as an open-court game, the ball being batted against a single wall so as to rebound within a marked space upon the ground. Other walls were added as the game developed, and it is now mostly played within a closed court surrounded by four walls and cov- ered with a high roof. The game in America is substantially the same as in Europe, excepting that the courts are somewhat slower and some- times a trifle smaller, and the balls slightly softer. The game is played by two, or by four, divided into pairs, on a covered court having an asphalted or stone-paved floor space of about 60 feet long by 30 wide (or 80 by 40, for double matches ) , surrounded by plain plastered walla about 40 feet high at one end and both sides. The other end wall is usually utilized as a gallery for onlookers. On the front wall, on one line, 'the service line' is drawn across eight feet from the floor. Two feet two inches from the floor on the same wall a board is placed flat across it called 'the play-line or board.' The floor ig divided by lines into five spaces, two of which are called 'service boxes.' At the start one player, called the 'hand in.' stands in the service box, and the other, the 'hand out,' in one of the spaces. 3ofeet > front ' Wal I o to 8 feet efeet c Servke box c Service box B » DacK Wall PLAN OF BACQUET COUET. The 'hand in' drops a ball and strikes it so that, without touching either of the side walls, it strikes the front wall, above the service line on the opposite of the centre to that from which he strikes, and rebounds into space. If these con- ditions are not conformed to, the 'hand out' is not obliged to take the service. If the 'hand in' fails to accomplish the stroke in two attempts, or hits the service board, or roof, or gallery, he loses his service. His opponent is on the watch to hit the ball before it has touched the ground twice, back to the front wall, above the board, and he is at liberty to strike it so that it first
