vations and the preceding notices have been gleaned, will not fail to add, in further vindication of the amusement in question, that it can never be deemed trifling or unimportant, since it has called into exercise so much varied and extensive learning, and produced so curious and elaborate a quarto as the "Researches into the History of Playingcards."

CHAPTER XXIII.

Sedentary Amusements.-Chess.

"Dicite, Seriades Nymphæ, certamina tanta
Carminibus prorsus vatum illibata priorum:
Vos hujus ludi in primis meminisse necesse est :
Vos primæ studia hæc Italis monstrastis in oris
Scacchidis egregiæ."

Hieronymus Vida.

Ir we are to believe our motto, and the learned Vida, whose Latin poem entitled "Scacchie Ludus" obtained for him the patronage of Leo X. and the bishopric of Alba, the game which he celebrates was inyented by the Serian nymphs in memory of their sister Scacchis, from whom it took the Latin name of Scacchia Ludus, whence is derived the French word Echecs, and our English term Chess. It was a happy choice, says Dr. Warton, to write a poem on chess; nor is the execution less happy. The various stratagems and manifold intricacies of this ingenious game, so difficult to be described in Latin, are here expressed with the greatest perspicuity and elegance; so that perhaps the game might be learned from this description. Our English poet Pope not only speaks of the author as

Immortal Vida, on whose honour'd brow,

The poet's lays and critic's ivy grow,

but probably took from his Game of Chess the first idea of the Rape of the Lock, substituting the sylphs for the Olympian deities employed by the Bishop of Alba. Vida, who

Z 2

seems to have been a better poet and Latinist than antiquary, has not found any one to support him in his fanciful derivation of the game from the nymph Scacchis. Its real origin still remains a questio vexata among the learned. Sarasin has an express treatise on the different opinions respecting the derivation of the Latin Scacchi, and Menage is also very full on the same head. By some, this noble or, as it is frequently called, royal pastime, is said to have originated, together with dice-playing, at the siege of Troy; others derive it from the Hebrews; and Fabricius says, that the game of chess was discovered by a celebrated Persian astronomer, one Schatrenscha, who gave it his own name, which it still bears in that country; in confirmation of which opinion Bochart adds, that scach is originally Persian; and that in that language Scachmat (whence our checkmate) signifies the king is dead.

Mr. Irwin, who made researches into this subject during his residence in India, maintains it to be a Chinese invention, to which effect he found a tradition current among the Brahmins; and infers, as the result of his inquiries and researches, that the confined situation and powers of the king, resembling those of a monarch in the earlier stages of the world, countenance this supposition; and that as the invention travelled westward, and descended to later times, the sovereign prerogative extended itself, until it became unlimited, as in our present state of the game: that the agency of the princes, in lieu of the queen, who does not exist in the oriental chess-board, bespeaks forcibly the nature of the Chinese customs, which exclude females from all influence or power whatever: these princes, in the passage of the game through Persia, were changed into a single vizier, or minister of state, with the enlarged portion of delegated authority that exists there; and for this vizier, the Europeans, with the same gallantry that had prompted the French to add a queen to the pack of cards, substituted a queen on the chess-board, a coincidence which confirms the oriental origin of both games. Mr. Irwin further suggests, that the painted river which divides the two parties on the Chinese chess-boards is expressive of the general face of the country, where a battle could hardly be fought without some such intervention, which the soldier is hera

taught to overcome: but that on the introduction of the game into Persia, the board, in accordance with the dry nature of that region, was made to represent terra firma. And lastly, that the game was designed in the spirit of war to quiet the murmurs, by employing the vacant hours of a discontented soldiery, while it cherished in them a taste for tactics and the spirit of conquest. The Chinese annals date the invention of chess 379 years after the time of Confucius, or about two thousand years ago.

Sir William Jones, however, claims this invention for the Hindoos, on the authority of the Persians, who unanimously agree that it was imported into their country from the west of India in the sixth century of our era; and he traces the successive corruptions of the original Sanscrit term, through the Persians and Arabs, into scacchi, echecs, chess; which, by a whimsical concurrence of circumstances, has given birth to the English word check, and even a name to the Exchequer of Great Britain. Sir William recites the various ordinances of the Indian game, as imbodied in a set of rules, which in the original Sanscrit is written in verse, and in point of date claims considerable precedence of Vida's Latin poem upon the same subject. It is well worth the attention of any chess-lover to compare the two, which our narrow limits prevent us from attempting.

John de Vigney wrote a book which he calls the Moralization of Chess, wherein he assures us that it was invented by a philosopher named Xerxes, in the reign of Evil-merodach, King of Babylon, in order that it might engage the attention and correct the manners of that dissolute monarch. The Arabians and the Saracens, who are said to be great chess-players, have new-modelled this story, and adapted it to their own country, changing the name of the philosopher from Xerxes to Sisa.

When it was first brought into Europe it is impossible to determine, but we have good reason for supposing it to have been a favourite and fascinating pastime with persons of rank at least a century anterior to the Norman conquest. William the Conqueror, when a young man, being one day engaged at chess with the King of France's eldest son, and exasperated at something uttered by his antagonist, struck him with the chess-board, and was obliged to mak a precipitate retreat to avoid the consequences of his rash

ness. Leland records a nearly similar circumstance to have happened to the youngest son of our Henry II., when playing with Fulco Guarine, a nobleman of Shropshire. We are told by Dr. Robertson, in his History of Charles V., that John Frederic, Elector of Saxony, having been taken prisoner by Charles, was condemned to death; a decree which was intimated to him while at chess with Ernest of Brunswick, his fellow-prisoner. After a short pause, and making some reflections on the irregularity and injustice of the emperor's proceedings, he challenged his antagonist to finish the game, played with his usual ingenuity and attention; and, having won, expressed all the satisfaction usually felt on gaining such victories.

Dr. Hyde, quoting from an Arabic history of the Saracens, tells us that the Calif of Bagdad was engaged at chess with his freedman Kuthar, when a soldier rushed in to inform him that the city, which was then vigorously 'besieged, was on the point of being carried by assault. "Let me alone," said the calif, "for I see checkmate against Kuthar !"

In the chronicle of the Moorish kings of Grenada, we find it related that in 1396, Mehemed Balba seized upon the crown in prejudice of his elder brother Juzaf, whom he ordered to be put to death that he might secure the succession of his own son. The alcaid despatched for that purpose found the prince playing at chess with a priest. Juzaf begged hard for two hours' respite, which was denied him; at last, though with great reluctance, the officer permitted him to play out his game; but before it was finished, a messenger arrived with the news of the sudden death of Mehemed, and the unanimous election of Juzaf to the

crown.

We record the following anecdote as a warning to such of our male and married readers as may be in the perilous habit of playing chess with a wife. Ferrand, Count of Flanders, having constantly defeated the countess at chess, she conceived a hatred against him, which came to such a height, that when the count was taken prisoner at the battle of Bovines, she suffered him to remain a long time in prison, though she could easily have procured his release.

Our Charles I. was thus occupied when informed that the Scots had finally resolved to sell him to the parliament;

but he was so intent upon the game that he finished it with great composure. Innumerable are the similar instances that might be adduced to prove the deep fascination which this bewitching game exercises over the minds of those who lend themselves to its seductions.

The chess-board, the number of the pieces, and the manner in which they are played, do not appear to have undergone much, if any, variation for several centuries, though the forms and names have suffered material change. The rock or fortress we have corrupted into a rook: the bishop was with us formerly an archer, while the French denominated it Alfin, and Fol, which were perversions of the original oriental term for the elephant. The ancient Persian game of chess consisted of the following pieces, which were thus named when they reached Europe:

1. Schach,
The King.

2. Pherz,
The Vizier, or
General.

3. Phil,
The Elephant.
4. Aspen Suar,
The Horseman.

5. Ruch,
The Dromedary.
6. Beydal,
Foot-soldier.

Upon the introduction of the game into France the pieces were no doubt called by the Persian names, but in process of time these were partly changed by translation, and partly modified by French terminations. Schach was converted by translation into Roy, the king. Pherz, the vizier, became Ferciè, Fierce, Fierge, Vierge, and was of courso at last converted into a lady, Dame. The elephant, Phil, was easily altered into Fol, or the modern Fou. Of the horseman, Aspen Suar, they made the cavalier or knight. The dromedary, Ruch, was changed into a castle, tour or tower: probably from being confounded with the elephant, which is usually represented carrying a castle. The footsoldiers, Beydal, were retained by the name of Pietons, or Pions, whence our pawns.

Pleasure was afforded to the early chess-player, not only from the nice and abstruse nature of the game itself, but from its being considered a perpetual allegory, or emblem of state policy, a character of which it is not altogether undeserving, since we have seen that in its westward progress it was adapted to the institutions of the countries that fostered it. Our poet Denham recognises its sage and instructive nature.