whilst it is on record that many ancient players,-Salvo, Paolo Boi, Zerone, Medrano, Ruy Lopez, &c. &c., notoriously first rate in their day, played under such restrictions up to within nearly a pawn of their strength; that Sacchieri could play equally well four games at a time; although Philidor's vanity led him to rank the talent so highly, that, in his ostentatious notice of some of the games played by him, at Parsloes, &c., against three adversaries at a time, he prefaces it by an apology for a statement which he professes to give "lest posterity should not credit the possibility of the fact." Philidor probably did not, any more than other great men, calculate on the much slandered "march of intellect," or that it would take chess in its course. He either did not know, or never supposed that posterity would the works on the game then confined to the libraries of the curious. He was mistaken. The effect has been that an increased love for the game has spread over the country-that clubs have been formed that coffee houses and divans have been opened for the game—that hundreds play at it where it was scarcely possible, a few years since, to find an adversary, and that a liberal education can hardly be said to be complete without a knowledge of this "science" according to Leibnitz,-but, certainly, this most interesting and scientific of all games. March, 1831. R. B. ANTIQUITY OF CHESS-ORIGIN OF THE QUEEN. [For the Year Book.] There are, perhaps, as many countries which lay claim to the honor of the invention of chess, as there were cities which contended for the birth of Homer. I shall briefly enumerate a few of the numerous inventors of this most rational amusement, and then offer, with all due submission, a mere conjecture of my own. (1.) Strutt (in his celebrated work, which has been lately edited by a particular friend to science, and to myself,) informs us that John de Vigney assigned the invention to a Babylonian philosopher Xerxes-in the reign of evil Merodach, whose object it was "to reclaim a wicked king," &c. Strutt agrees that "it made its first appearance in Asia." (2.) Seneca attributes the origin of the game to Chilo, the Spartan, one of the seven sages of Greece. (3.) Sir William Jones has left us a poem entitled "Caissa," the first idea of which was taken from Vida," in which (says he) the invention of chess is practically ascribed to Mars, though it is certain that the game was originally brought from India." ( (4.) Gibbon, treating upon the learning and wisdom of the Brahmins, continues, "To admonish kings that they are strong only in the strength of their subjects, the same Indians invented the game of chess, which was likewise introduced into Persia under the reign of Nushirvan." (5.) Chaucer tells us it was "Athalus that made the game First of the chess, so was his name."And Cornelius Agrippa informs us that Attalus, king of Asia, is said to be the inventor of games of chance. (6) Peter Texiras is certain it is of P'ersian origin, inasmuch as the name of every piece is derived from that language. (7.) Kennett agrees with those who attribute the invention to Palamedes, prince of Eubœa, during the siege of Troy, an excellent time for becoming a proficient in the game! (8.) Others will give the merit to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who is said to have devised the pastime to divert his idle army; to whom (I imagine) Burton alludes when he tells us that the game was invented, some say, by the generall of an army in a famine, to keep souldiers from mutiny." He gives Bellonius as his authority. (9.) The Arabians claim the honor for their countryman, Sissa, or Sida. And (10.) A manuscript in the Harleian Collection pronounces Ulysses to be the inventor. In fact, so many were the competitors for the honor of the discovery, that Herodotus considered it worthy of record, that the Lydians did not lay claim to the merit of the invention of chessd Among such a host of contending evidence it is impossible for us to decide the question: but we may fairly offer any conjecture which is founded upon the internal testimony of the game itself. I shall, at any rate, assume the permission of so doing. We must observe in the machinery of the game, that, strangely inconsistent with our ideas of propriety and probability, "the queen" is the chief character in the contest. She is not merely the soft excitement of the war,the Helen for whom mighty monarchs will fight and fall; she is not the high This occupation is, certainly, as inconsistent with the character of an Asiatic princess of the days of yore as with that of a modern belle; for all history informs us that the eastern queen was no more than the humble slave, and inanimate amusement, of her royal spouse. There is but one oriental lady in the pages of ancient annals who acted the part of the queen of chess, who fought, and who conquered, and that lady is Semiramis. To her reign, therefore, do I attribute the invention of chess. It is indisputably of Asiatic origin, and of very great antiquity. The earliest writer upon the subject who appears to have given it any serious consideration places its birth (as we have seen above) in Babylon: and, moreover, the institution of the game would, at that particular period, have been not only probable in appearance, but politic in practice. It would have been, during that reign, not only a pleasant amusement, but a piece of most delicate flattery to the royal heroism; it would then have been an entertaining method of teaching her idle subjects that their empress was their lord and their leader, the gainer of their glory, the palladium of their prosperity. I can discover no other way of explaining the extraordinary regulations of the game. The objects, which have been assigned as contemplated by the inventors of chess, appear to me most unsatisfactory. "It was constructed (says one party) for the purpose of teaching a king humility: to show him he is supported solely by the exertions of his subjects." This is true; but it also instructs him that at the king's downfall the whole nation must perish; and it does any thing but teach him to submit to restraint, when it proves that the commonweal must be ruined when even the king is check'd on all sides. "It was invented (says another exposition) to withdraw the attention of the hungry from the contemplation of their hunger." But starvation has a voice, which, like every other ventriloquism, can be heard both far and near Montaigne thought so lightly of the interest of the game, that he writes, "I hate and avoid it, because it is not play enough" and as to the "moral" of the amusement, he declares that it produces all the malevolent passions," and a vehement desire of getting the better in a concern, wherein it were more excusable to be ambitious of being overcome." Burton pronounces it to be "a testy, cholerick game, and very offensive to him that loseth the mate." The wife of Ferrand, count of Flanders, allowed her husband to remain in prison, when she could easily have procured his liberation, in consequence of their mutual hatred produced by chess-playing! And history gives us many other instances of the vindictive feeling which this "moral" pastime generates. Pliny informs us that Numidia Quadratilla used always to send her grandson out of the room when "she used to relax her mind with a game of chess."-And Ovid instructs the lover to be especially particular in allowing his lady-love to win the game: the triumph of his skill might cost him the heart of his indignant antagonist. - It will, probably, be objected to my humble conjecture, “ that the queen used not to be the leading piece upon the board; that the ancient name for that piece was "fers," or "ferce," which, Hyde says, is obviously derived from the Persian "phez," or "pherzan," a general, or chief counsellor, a title by which that piece was distinguished in the east and that must be the original name of the piece, because all the terms of the game were derived from the Persian." To this, I shall briefly reply that I doubt the derivation from such a source: and, secondly, that the piece we call the "queen" has been supposed to be a female, as long as the game has been known in Europe. -- First. It is asserted that the same terms in the game are used by all the world, and that those terms are of Persian origin: for instance "check-mate," which is derived from "shâk-mât,"—" the king is conquered." To this I must reply, that the French never used that term: their expression-indicative of the politeness of the nation- -was ave,' "hail," to the king,-a Latin salutation; and the idea of deriving "check" from "shak" is too ridiculous to require further comment. In the oldest MSS. quoted by Strutt, the names of the men are as English as they are now. The bishop is called "the archer;" the castle is termed "rook," or "roc;" and if, indeed, “roc" be a Persian word, signifying (properly) a rock, I think we have a word very much like it in our own language. Secondly. The queen I will maintain to have always been considered a lady, whatever her appellation might have been. In the Harleian MSS., where she is called "fers," she is also termed "reyne," and regina." In the account of the Fanciful Dance, performed before queen Whims, which was neither more nor less than a large game with animate chessmen-(such as, we read in actual history, that John, duke of Austria, and a certain duke of Weimar, were wont to have played in a large hall, purposely chequered black and white, where their servants moved, a-la-chessmen, at their bidding), -Rabelais enumerates the performers, and calls them a king, a queen, two archers," &c., and she is characterised, throughout, as acting the part of a lady. Chaucer, in his "Booke of the Duchesse," introduces the sorrowful John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, lamenting the death of Blanch, his consort, and makes him complain that he had played at chess with fortune, when Leap 1. 22 22 3 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 41 From 4 to 21 to 6 to 16 to 31 to 48 to 63 to 53 to 59 to 49 to 43 to 28 to 38 to 55 to 61 to 44 to 34 to 17 to 2 to 12 to 22 to 39 to 56 to 62 to 45 to 51 to 57 to 42 to 25 to 19 to 36 to 30 to 13 to 7 to 24 to 14 to 8 to 23 to 40 to 46 to 29 to 35 to 52 to 58 to 41 to 26 to 9 to 3 to 18 to 1 to 11 to 5 to 15 to 32 to 47 to 64 to 54 to 60 to 50 to 33 to 27 to 37 to 20 to 10 to 4. Leap 2. From 19 to 4 to 21 to 6 to 16 to 31 to 48 to 63 to 46 to 36 to 30 to 40 to 55 to 61 to 51 to 57 to 42 to 25 to 10 to 20 to 35 to 52 to 62 to 56 to 39 to 24 to 7 to 13 to 3 to 9 to 26 to 41 to 58 to 43 to 28 to 45 to 60 to 50 to 33 to 18 to 1 to 11 to 5 to 15 to 32 to 22 to 12 to 2 to 17 to 27 to 37 to 47 to 64 to 54 to 44 to 34 to 49 to 59 to 53 to 38 to 23 to 8 to 14 to 29 to 19. Leap 3. From 1 to 11 to 17 to 2 to 19 to 9 to 3 to 13 to 7 to 22 to 16 to 6 to 12 to 27 to 21 to 4 to 10 to 25 to 42 to 57 to 51 to 61 to 55 to 40 to 23 to 8 to 14 to 24 to 39 to 56 to 62 to 52 to 58 to 41 to 26 to 20 to 5 to 15 to 32 to 38 to 48 to 63 to 53 to 59 to 49 to 43 to 28 to 34 to 44 to 29 to 35 to 45 to 30 to 36 to 46 to 31 to 37 to 47 to 64 to 54 to 60 to 50 to 33 to 18 to 1. Leap 4. From 9 to 3 to 20 to 5 to 22 to 16 to 6 to 12 to 2 to 17 to 11 to 1 to 18 to 33 to 27 to 37 to 31 to 46 to 63 to 48 to 54 to 64 to 47 to 53 to 59 to 49 to 34 to 28 to 38 to 32 to 15 to 21 to 4 to 10 to 25 to 35 to 29 to 39 to 56 to 62 to 45 to 55 to 61 to 44 to 50 to 60 to 43 to 58 to 52 to 42 to 57 to 51 to 41 to 26 to 36 to 30 to 40 to 23 to 8 to 14 to 24 to 7 to 13 to 19 to 9. Leap 5. From 25 to 10 to 4 to 14 to 8 to 23 to 29 to 19 to 2 to 17 to 27 to 21 to 31 to 16 to 6 to 12 to 18 to 1 to 11 to 28 to 22 to 32 to 15 to 5 to 20 to 26 to 9 to 3 to 13 to 7 to 24 to 30 to 40 to 55 to 61 to 51 to 57 to 42 to 36 to 46 to 63 to 48 to 38 to 44 to 34 to 49 to 59 to 53 to 47 to 64 to 54 to 37 to 43 to 33 to 50 to 60 to 45 to 39 to 56 to 62 to 52 to 58 to 41 to 35 to 25. The leaps may be commenced on any given square March 12, 1831. W. CHESS ANECDOTES, &c. [For the Year Book.] This most ingenious and fascinating game is of very great antiquity, and, perhaps, there is no game that can boast so general a study and practice; for, though various games on cards may be more commonly pursued in some parts of Europe, chess is not only an object of extensive attention in Europe, but played with incomparably more frequency in Asia. Al Amin, khalif of Bhagdat, was earnestly employed at this game when his capital residence was on the point of being taken by assault. Tamerlane the Great is recorded to have been engaged at chess during the decisive battle between him and Bajazet. King John of England insisted upon concluding his game before he gave an audience to the deputies from Roouen, coming to apprize him that their city was besieged. King James I. styled this game a philosophic folly. His son, Charles I., was at chess when told that the Scots had finally determined upon selling him to the English; and he did not seem any way discomposed, but coolly continued his game. Charles XII., of Sweden, when surrounded, in a house at Bender, by the Turks, barricaded the premises, and then coolly set down to chess: this prince always used the king more than any other piece, and thereby lost every game; not perceiving that the king, although the most considerable of |
