Chapter C: O. H. Cl. Br. I. S (5)

_Geology._--With the exception of a small area of Carboniferous rocks
on the eastern border, and a small patch of Lower Lias near Audlem,
the whole country is occupied by Triassic strata. The great central
plain is covered by red and mottled Keuper Marls. From these marls
salt is obtained; there are many beds of rock-salt, mostly thin; two
are much thicker than the others, being from 75 ft. to over 100 ft.
thick. Thin beds and veins of gypsum are common in the marls. The
striking features of the Peckforton Hills are due to the repeated
faulting of the Lower Keuper Sandstone, which lies upon beds of Bunter
Sandstone. Besides forming this well-marked ridge, the Lower Keuper
Sandstones or "Waterstones" form several ridges north-west of
Macclesfield and appear along most of the northern borders of the
county and in the neighbourhood of New Brighton and Birkenhead. The
Lower Keuper Sandstone is quarried near the last-named place, also at
Storeton, Delamere and Manley. This is a good building stone and an
important water-bearing stratum; it is often ripple-marked, and bears
the footprints of the _Cheirotherium_. At Alderley Edge ores of
copper, lead and cobalt are found. West of the Peckforton ridge,
Bunter Sandstones and pebble beds extend to the border. They also form
low foothills between Cheadle and Macclesfield. They fringe the
northern boundary and appear on the south-eastern boundary as a narrow
strip of hilly ground near Woore. The oldest rock exposed in the
county is the small faulted anticline of Carboniferous limestone at
Astbury, followed in regular succession eastward by the shale, and
thin limestones and sandstones of the Pendleside series. These rocks
extend from Congleton Edge to near Macclesfield, where the outcrop
bends sharply eastward and runs up the Goyt valley. Some hard
quartzites in the Pendleside series, known locally as "Crowstones,"
have contributed to the formation of the high Bosley Min and
neighbouring hills. East of Bosley Min, on either side of the Goyt
valley, are the Millstone Grits and Shales, forming the elevated
moorland tracts. Cloud Hill, a striking feature near Congleton, is
capped by the "Third Grit," one of the Millstone Grit series. From
Macclesfield northward through Stockport is a narrow tongue of Lower
and Middle Coal-Measures--an extension of the Lancashire coalfield.
Coal is mined at Neston in the Wirral peninsula from beneath the
Trias; it is a connecting link between the Lancashire and Flintshire
coalfields. Glacial drift is thickly spread over all the lower ground;
laminated red clays, stiff clay with northern erratics and lenticular
sand masses with occasional gravels, are the common types. At Crewe
the drift is over 400 ft. thick. Patches of Drift sand, with marine
shells, occur on the high ground east of Macclesfield at an elevation
of 1250 ft.

_Agriculture and Industries._--The climate is temperate and rather damp; the soil is varied and irregular, but a large proportion is a thin-skinned clay. More than four-fifths of the total area is under cultivation. The crop of wheat is comparatively insignificant; but a large quantity of oats is grown, and a great proportion of the cultivated land is in permanent pasture. The vicinity of such populous centres as Liverpool and Manchester, as well as the several large towns within the county, makes cattle and dairy-farming profitable. Cheese of excellent quality is produced, the name of the county being given to a particular brand (see DAIRY). Potatoes are by far the most important green crop. Fruit-growing is carried on in some parts, especially the cultivation of stone fruit and, among these, damsons; while the strawberry beds near Farndon and Holt are celebrated. In the first half of the 19th century the condition of agriculture in Cheshire was notoriously backward; and in 1865-1866 the county suffered with especial severity from a visitation of cattle plague. The total loss of stock amounted to more than 66,000 head, and it was necessary to obtain from the Treasury a loan of L270,000 on the security of the county rate, for purposes of relief and compensation. The cheese-making industry naturally received a severe blow, yet to agriculture at large an ultimate good resulted as the possibility and even the necessity of new methods were borne in upon the farmers.

The industries of the county are various and important. The manufacture of cotton goods extends from its seat in Lancashire into Cheshire, at the town of Stockport and elsewhere in the north-east. Macclesfield and Congleton are centres of silk manufacture. At Crewe are situated the great workshops of the London & North-Western railway company, the institution of which actually brought the town in to being. Another instance of the modern creation of a town by an individual industrial corporation is seen in Port Sunlight on the Mersey, where the soap-works of Messrs Lever are situated. On the Mersey there are shipbuilding yards, and machinery and iron works. Other important manufactures are those of tools, chemicals, clothing and hats, and there are printing, bleaching and dye works, and metal foundries. Much sandstone is quarried, but the mineral wealth of the county lies in coal and salt. The second is a specially important product. Some rock-salt is obtained at Northwich and Winsford, but most of the salt is extracted from brine both here and at Lawton, Wheelock and Middlewich. At Northwich and other places in the locality curious accidents frequently occur owing to the sinking of the soil after the brine is pumped out; walls crack and collapse, and houses are seen leaning far out of the perpendicular. A little copper and lead are found.

_Communications._--The county is well served with railways. The main line of the London & North-Western railway, passing north from Crewe to Warrington in Lancashire, serves no large town, but from Crewe branches diverge fanwise to Manchester, Chester, North Wales and Shrewsbury. The Great Western railway, with a line coming northward from Wrexham, obtains access through Cheshire to Liverpool and Manchester. These two companies jointly work the Birkenhead railway from Chester to Birkenhead. The heart of the county is traversed by the Cheshire Lines, serving the salt district, and reaching Chester from Manchester by way of Delamere Forest. In the east the Midland and Great Central systems enter the county, and the North Staffordshire line serves Macclesfield. The Manchester, South Junction & Altrincham and the Wirral railways are small systems serving the localities indicated by their names. The river Weaver is locked as far up as Winsford, and the transport of salt is thus expedited. The profits of the navigation, which was originally undertaken in 1720 by a few Cheshire squires, belong to the county, and are paid annually to the relief of the county rates. In the salt district through which the Weaver passes subsidence of the land has resulted in the formation of lakes of considerable extent, which act as reservoirs to supply the navigation. There are further means of inland navigation by the Grand Trunk, Shropshire Union and other canals, and many small steamers are in use. The Manchester Ship Canal passes through a section of north Cheshire, being entered from the estuary of the Mersey by locks near Eastham, and following its southern shore up to Runcorn, after which it takes a more direct course than the river.

_Population and Administration._--The ancient county, which is a county palatine, has an area of 657,783 acres, with a population in 1891 of 730,058 and in 1901 of 815,099. Cheshire has been described as a suburb of Liverpool, Manchester and the Potteries of Staffordshire, and many of those whose business lies in these centres have colonized such districts as Bowdon, Alderley, Sale and Marple near Manchester, the Wirral, and Alsager on the Staffordshire border, until these localities have come to resemble the richer suburban districts of London. On the short seacoast of the Wirral are found the popular resorts of New Brighton and Hoylake. This movement and importance of its industries have given the county a vast increase of population in modern times. In 1871 the population was 561,201; from 1801 until that year it had increased 191%. The area of the administrative county is 654,825 acres. The county contains 7 hundreds. The municipal boroughs are Birkenhead (pop. 110,915), Chester (38,309), Congleton (10,707), Crewe (42,074), Dukinfield (18,929), Hyde (32,766), Macclesfield (34,624), Stalybridge (27,673), Stockport (92,832). Chester, the county town, is a city, county of a city, and county borough, and Birkenhead and Stockport are county boroughs. The other urban districts with their populations are as follows:--

Alderley Edge (a) 2,856
Alsager 2,597
Altrincham (a) 16,831
Ashton-upon-Mersey (a) 5,563
Bollington (a) 5,245
Bowdon (a) 2,788
Bredbury and Romiley (a) 7,087
Bromborough (b) 1,891
Buglawton (Congleton) 1,452
Cheadle and Gatley (a) 7,916
Compstall (a) 875
Ellesmere Port and Whitby (b) 4,082
Hale (a) 4,562
Handforth (a) 911
Hazel Grove and Bramhall (a) 7,934
Higher Bebington (b) 1,540
Hollingworth (a) 2,447
Hoole (Chester) 5,341
Hoylake and West Kirkby (b) 10,911
Knutsford (a) 5,172
Lower Bebington (b) 8,398
Lymm (a) 4,707
Marple (a) 5,595
Middlewich 4,669
Mottram-in-Longdendale (a) 3,128
Nantwich 7,722
Neston and Parkgate (b) 4,154
Northwich 17,611
Runcorn 16,491
Sale (a) 12,088
Sandbach 5,558
Tarporley 2,644
Wallasey (b) 53,579
Wilmslow (a) 7,361
Winsford 10,382
Yeardsley-cum-Whaley (a) 1,487

Of the townships in this table, those marked (a) are within a radius
of about 15 m. from Manchester (Knutsford being taken as the limit),
while those marked (b) are in the Wirral. The localities of densest
population are thus clearly illustrated.

The county is in the North Wales and Chester circuit, and assizes are held at Chester. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into fourteen petty sessional divisions. The boroughs already named, excepting Dukinfield, have separate commissions of the peace, and Birkenhead and Chester have separate courts of quarter sessions. There are 464 civil parishes. Cheshire is almost wholly in the diocese of Chester, but small parts are in those of Manchester, St Asaph or Lichfield. There are 268 ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part within the county. There are eight parliamentary divisions, namely, Macclesfield, Crewe, Eddisbury, Wirral, Knutsford, Altrincham, Hyde and Northwich, each returning one member; the county also includes the parliamentary borough of Birkenhead returning one member, and parts of the borough of Stockport, which returns two members, and of Ashton-under-Lyne, Chester, Stalybridge, and Warrington, which return one member each.

_History._--The earliest recorded historical fact relating to the district which is now Cheshire is the capture of Chester and destruction of the native Britons by the Northumbrian king Aethelfrith about 614. After a period of incessant strife between the Britons and their Saxon invaders the district was subjugated by Ecgbert in 830 and incorporated in the kingdom of Mercia. During the 9th century. Aethelwulf held his parliament at Chester, and received the homage of his tributary kings from Berwick to Kent, and in the 10th century Aethelflaed rebuilt the city, and erected fortresses at Eddisbury and Runcorn. Edward the Elder garrisoned Thelwall and strengthened the passages of the Mersey and the Irwell. On the splitting up of Mercia in the 10th century the dependent districts along the Dee were made a shire for the fortress of Chester. The shire is first mentioned in the Abingdon _Chronicle_, which relates that in 980 Cheshire was plundered by a fleet of Northmen. At the time of the Domesday Survey the county was divided into twelve hundreds, exclusive of the six hundreds between the Ribble and the Mersey, now included in Lancashire, but then a part of Cheshire. These divisions have suffered great modification, both in extent and in name, and of the seven modern hundreds Bucklow alone retains its Domesday appellation. The hundreds of Atiscross and Exestan have been transferred to the counties of Flint and Denbigh, with the exception of a few townships now in the hundred of Broxton. The prolonged resistance of Cheshire to the Conqueror was punished by ruthless harrying and sweeping confiscations of property, and no Englishman retained estates of importance after the Conquest. In order that the shire might be relieved of all obligations beyond the ever-pressing necessity of defending its borders against the inroads of hostile neighbours, it was constituted a county palatine which the earl of Chester "held as freely by his sword as the king held England by his crown." The County had its independent parliament consisting of the barons and clergy, and courts, and all lands except those of the bishop were held of the earl. The court of exchequer was presided over by a chamberlain, a vice-chamberlain, and a baron of the exchequer. It was principally a court of revenue, but probably a court of justice also, before that of the justiciary was established, and had besides the functions of a chancery court, with an exclusive jurisdiction in equity. Other officers of the palatinate were the constable, high-steward and the Serjeants of the peace and of the forests. The abbots of St Werburgh and Combermere and all the eight barons held courts, in any of which cases of capital felony might be tried.

During the 12th and 13th centuries the county was impoverished by the constant inroads of the Welsh. In 1264 the castle and city of Chester were granted to Simon de Montfort, and in 1267 the treaty of Shrewsbury procured a short interval of peace. Richard II., in return for the loyal support furnished him by the county, made it a principality, but the act was revoked in the next reign. In 1403 Cheshire was the headquarters of Hotspur, who roused the people by telling them that Richard II. was still living. At the beginning of the Wars of the Roses Margaret collected a body of supporters from among the Cheshire gentry, and Lancastrian risings occurred as late as 1464. At the time of the Civil War feeling was so equally divided that an attempt was made to form an association for preserving internal peace. In 1643, however, Chester was made the headquarters of the royalist forces, while Nantwich was garrisoned for the parliament, and the county became the scene of constant skirmishes until the surrender of Chester in 1646 put an end to the struggle.

From the number of great families with which it has been associated Chester has been named "the mother and nurse of English gentility." Of the eight baronies of the earldom none survives, but the title of that of Kinderton was bestowed in 1762 on George Venables-Vernon, son of Anne, sister of Peter Venables, last baron of Kinderton, from whom the present Lord Vernon of Kinderton is descended. Other great Domesday proprietors were William FitzNigel, baron of Halton, ancestor of the Lacys; Hugh de Mara, baron of Montalt, ancestor of the Ardens; Ranulph, ancestor of the Mainwarings; and Hamo de Massey. The Davenports, Leighs and Warburtons trace their descent back to the 12th century, and the Grosvenors are descended from a nephew of Hugh Lupus.

In the reign of Henry VIII. the distinctive privileges of Cheshire as a county palatine were considerably abridged. The right of sanctuary attached to the city of Chester was abolished; justices of the peace were appointed as in other parts of the kingdom, and in 1542 it was enacted that in future two knights for the shire and two burgesses for the city of Chester should be returned to parliament. After the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned four members from two divisions, and Macclesfield and Stpckport returned two members each. Birkenhead secured representation in 1859. From 1868 until the Redistribution Act of 1885 the county returned six members from three divisions.

From earliest times the staple products of Cheshire have been salt and cheese. The salt-pits of Nantwich, Middlewich and Northwich were in active operation at the time of Edward the Confessor, and at that date the mills and fisheries on the Dee also furnished a valuable source of revenue. Twelfth century writers refer to the excellence of Cheshire cheese, and at the time of the Civil War three hundred tons at L33 per ton were ordered in one year for the troops in Scotland. The trades of tanners, skinners and glove-makers existed at the time of the Conquest, and the export trade in wool in the 13th and 14th centuries was considerable. The first bed of rock-salt was discovered in 1670. Weaving and wool-combing were introduced in 1674.

_Antiquities._--The main interest in the architecture of the county lies in the direction of domestic buildings rather than ecclesiastical. Old half-timbered houses are common in almost every part of the county; many of these add to the picturesqueness of the streets in the older towns, as in the case of the famous Rows in Chester, while in the country many ancient manor-houses remain as farm-houses. Among the finest examples are Bramhall Hall, between Stockport and Macclesfield, and Moreton Old Hall, near Congleton (see HOUSE, Plate IV., fig. 13). The first, occupying three sides of a quadrangle (formerly completed by a fourth side), dates from the 13th and 14th centuries, and contains a splendid panelled hall and other rooms. Of Moreton Hall, which is moated, only three sides similarly remain; its date is of the 16th century. Other buildings of the Elizabethan period are not infrequent, such as Brereton and Dorfold Halls, while more modern mansions, set in fine estates, are numerous. Crewe Hall is a modern building on an ancient site, and Vale Royal near Winsford incorporates fragments of a Cistercian monastery founded in 1277. A noteworthy instance of the half-timbered style applied to an ecclesiastical building is found in the church of Lower Peover near Knutsford, of which only the tower is of stone. The church dates from the 13th century, and was carefully restored in 1852. Cheshire has no monastic remains of importance, save those attached to the cathedral of Chester, nor are its village churches as a rule of special interest. There is, however, a fine late Perpendicular church (with earlier portions) at Astbury near Congleton, and of this style and the Decorated the churches of Bunbury and Malpas may be noticed as good illustrations. In Chester, besides the cathedral, there is the massive Norman church of St John; and St Michael's church and the Rivers chapel at Macclesfield are noteworthy. No more remarkable religious monuments remain in the county than the two sculptured Saxon crosses in the market-place at Sandbach. Ruins of two Norman castles exist in Beeston and Halton.

AUTHORITIES.--Sir John Doddridge, _History of the Ancient and Modern
State of the Principality of Wales, Duchy of Cornwall, and Earldom of
Chester_ (London, 1630; 2nd ed., 1714); D. King, _The Vale-Royall of
England, or the County Palatine of Cheshire Illustrated_, 4 parts
(London, 1656); D. and S. Lysons, _Magna Britannia_, vol. ii. pt. ii.
(London, 1810); J. H. Hanshall, _History of the County Palatine of
Chester_ (Chester, 1817-1823); J.O. Halliwell, _Palatine Anthology_
(London, 1850); G. Ormerod, _History of the County Palatine and City
of Chester_ (London, 1819; new ed., London, 1875-1882); J.P. Earwaker,
_East Cheshire_ (2 vols., London, 1877); R. Wilbraham, _Glossary_
(London, 1820; 2nd ed., London, 1826); and _Glossary founded on
Wilbraham_ by E. Leigh (London, 1877); J. Croston, _Historic Sites of
Cheshire_ (Manchester, 1883); and _County Families of Cheshire_
(Manchester, 1887); W.E.A. Axon, _Cheshire Gleanings_ (Manchester,
1884); Holland, _Glossary of Words used in the County of Cheshire_
(London, 1884-1886); N.G. Philips, _Views of Old Halls in Cheshire_
(London, 1893); _Victoria County History, Cheshire_. See also various
volumes of the Chetham Society and of the Record Society of
Manchester, as well as the _Proceedings_ of the Cheshire Antiquarian
Society, and _Cheshire Notes and Queries_.

CHESHUNT, an urban district in the Hertford parliamentary division of Hertfordshire, England, on the Lea, 14 m. N. of London by the Great Eastern railway. Pop. (1891) 9620; (1901) 12,292. The church of St Mary is Perpendicular and has been enlarged in modern times. A college was founded, for the education of young men to the ministry of the Connexion, by Selina countess of Huntingdon in 1768 at Trevecca-isaf near Talgarth, Brecknockshire. In 1792 it was moved to Cheshunt, and became known as Cheshunt College. In 1904, as it was felt that the college was unable properly to carry on its work under existing conditions, it was proposed to amalgamate it with Hackney College, but the Board of Education refused to sanction any arrangement which would set aside the requirements of the deed of foundation, namely that the officers and students of Cheshunt College should subscribe the fifteen articles appended to the deed, and should take certain other obligations. In 1905 it was decided by the board to reorganize the college and remove it to Cambridge.

Nursery and market gardening, largely under glass, brick-making and saw-mills are the chief industries of Cheshunt. Roman coins and other remains have been found at this place, and an urn appears built into the wall of an inn. A Romano-British village or small town is indicated. There was a Benedictine nunnery here in the 13th century. Of several interesting mansions in the vicinity one, the Great House, belonged to Cardinal Wolsey, and a former Pengelly House was the residence of Richard Cromwell the Protector after his resignation. Theobalds Park was built in the 18th century, but the original mansion was acquired by William Cecil, Lord Burghley, in 1561; being taken in 1607 by James I. from Robert Cecil, first earl of Salisbury, in exchange for Hatfield House. James died here in 1625, and Charles I. set out from here for Nottingham in 1642 at the outset of the Civil War. One of the entrances to Theobalds Park is the old Temple Bar, removed from Fleet Street, London, in 1878.

CHESIL BANK (A.S. _ceosol_, pebble bank), a remarkable beach of shingle on the coast of Dorsetshire, England. It is separated from the mainland for 8 m. by an inlet called the Fleet, famous for its swannery, and continues in all for 18 m. south-eastward from Abbotsbury, terminating at the so-called Isle of Portland. The height of the bank at the Portland end is 35 ft. above spring-tide level, and its breadth 200 yds. The greater height at this end accords with the general-movement of shingle along this coast from west to east; and for the same reason the pebbles of the bank decrease in size from 1 to 3 in. in diameter at Portland to the size of peas at the western end, where the breadth is only 170 yds.

CHESNELONG, PIERRE CHARLES (1820-1894), French politician, was born at Orthez in the department of the Basses-Pyrenees, on the 14th of April 1820. In 1848 he proclaimed himself a Republican; but after the establishment of the Second Empire he changed his views, and in 1865 was returned to the chamber as the official candidate for his native place. He at once became conspicuous, both for his eloquence and for his uncompromising clericalism, especially in urging the necessity for maintaining the temporal power of the papacy. In 1869 he was again returned, and, devoting himself with exceptional ability to financial questions, was in 1870 appointed to report the budget. During and after the war, for which he voted, he retired for a while into private life; but in 1872 he was again elected deputy, this time as a Legitimist, and took his seat among the extreme Right. He was the soul of the reactionary opposition that led to the fall of Thiers; and in 1873 it was he who, with Lucien Brun, carried to the comte de Chambord the proposals of the chambers. Through some misunderstanding, he reported on his return that the count had accepted all the terms offered, including the retention of the tricolour flag; and the count published a formal denial. Chesnelong now devoted himself to the establishment of Catholic universities and to the formation of Catholic working-men's clubs. In 1876 he was again returned for Orthez, but was unseated, and then beaten by the republican candidate. On the 24th of November, however, he was elected to a seat in the senate, where he continued his vigorous polemic against the progressive attempts of the republican government to secularize the educational system of France until his death in 1894.

CHESNEY, CHARLES CORNWALLIS (1826-1876), British soldier and military writer, the third son of Charles Cornwallis Chesney, captain on the retired list of the Bengal Artillery, and nephew of General F.R. Chesney, was born in Co. Down, Ireland, on the 29th of September 1826. Educated at Blundell's school, Tiverton, and afterwards at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he obtained his first commission as second lieutenant of engineers in 1845, passing out of the academy at the head of his term. His early service was spent in the ordinary course of regimental duty at home and abroad, and he was stationed in New Zealand during the Crimean War. Among the various reforms in the British military system which followed from that war was the impetus given to military education; and in 1858 Captain Chesney was appointed professor of military history at Sandhurst. In 1864 he succeeded Colonel (afterwards Sir Edward) Hamley in the corresponding chair at the Staff College. The writings of these two brilliant officers had a great influence not only at home, but on the continent and in America. Chesney's first published work (1863) was an account of the Civil War in Virginia, which went through several editions. But the work which attained the greatest reputation was his _Waterloo Lectures_ (1868), prepared from the notes of lectures orally delivered at the Staff College. Up to that time the English literature on the Waterloo campaign, although voluminous, was made up of personal reminiscences or of formal records, useful materials for history rather than history itself; and the French accounts had mainly taken the form of fiction. In Chesney's lucid and vigorous account of the momentous struggle, while it illustrates both the strategy and tactics which culminated in the final catastrophe, the mistakes committed by Napoleon are laid bare, and for the first time an English Writer is found to point out that the dispositions of Wellington were far from faultless. And in the _Waterloo Lectures_ the Prussians are for the first time credited by an English pen with their proper share in the victory. The work attracted much attention abroad as well as at home, and French and German translations were published.

Chesney was for many years a constant contributor to the newspaper press and to periodic literature, devoting himself for the most part to the critical treatment of military operations, and professional subjects generally. Some of his essays on military biography, contributed mainly to the _Edinburgh Review_, were afterwards published separately (1874). In 1868 he was appointed a member of the royal commission on military education, under the presidency first of Earl De Grey and afterwards of Lord Dufferin, to whose recommendations were due the improved organization of the military colleges, and the development of military education in the principal military stations of the British army. In 1871, on the conclusion of the Franco-German War, he was sent on a special mission to France and Germany, and furnished to the government a series of valuable reports on the different siege operations which had been carried out during the war, especially the two sieges of Paris. These reports were published in a large volume, which was issued confidentially. Never seeking regimental or staff preferment, Colonel Chesney never obtained any, but he held at the time of his death a unique position in the army, altogether apart from and above his actual place in it. He was consulted by officers of all grades on professional matters, and few have done more to raise the intellectual standard of the British officer. Constantly engaged in literary pursuits, he was nevertheless laborious and exemplary in the discharge of his public duties, while managing also to devote a large part of his time to charitable and religious offices. He was abstemious to a fault; and, overwork of mind and body telling at last on a frail constitution, he died after a short illness on the 19th of March 1876. He had become lieutenant-colonel in 1873, and at the time of his death he was commanding Royal Engineer of the London district. He was buried at Sandhurst.

CHESNEY, FRANCIS RAWDON (1789-1872), British general and explorer, was the son of Captain Alexander Chesney, an Irishman of Scottish descent who, having emigrated to South Carolina in 1772, did brilliant service under Lord Rawdon (afterwards marquess of Hastings) in the War of Independence, and subsequently received an appointment as coast officer at Annalong, Co. Down, Ireland. There F.R. Chesney was born on the 16th of March 1789. Lord Rawdon gave the boy a cadetship at Woolwich, and he was gazetted to the Royal Artillery in 1805. But though he rose to be lieutenant-general and colonel-commandant of the 14th brigade Royal Artillery (1864), and general in 1868, Chesney's memory lives not for his military record, but for his connexion with the Suez Canal, and with the exploration of the Euphrates valley, which started with his being sent out to Constantinople in the course of his military duties in 1829, and his making a tour of inspection in Egypt and Syria. His report in 1830 on the feasibility of making the Suez Canal was the original basis of Lesseps' great undertaking (in 1869 Lesseps greeted him in Paris as the "father" of the canal); and in 1831 he introduced to the home government the idea of opening a new overland route to India, by a daring and adventurous journey (for the Arabs were hostile and he was ignorant of the language) along the Euphrates valley from Anah to the Persian Gulf. Returning home, Colonel Chesney (as he then was) busied himself to get support for the latter project, to which the East India Company's board was favourable; and in 1835 he was sent out in command of a small expedition, for which parliament voted L20,000, in order to test the navigability of the Euphrates. After encountering immense difficulties, from the opposition of the Egyptian pasha, and from the need of transporting two steamers (one of which was lost) in sections from the Mediterranean over the hilly country to the river, they successfully arrived by water at Bushire in the summer of 1836, and proved Chesney's view to be a practicable one. In the middle of 1837 he returned to England, and was given the Royal Geographical Society's gold medal, having meanwhile been to India to consult the authorities there; but the preparation of his two volumes on the expedition (published in 1850) was interrupted by his being ordered out in 1843 to command the artillery at Hong Kong. In 1847 his period of service was completed, and he went home to Ireland, to a life of retirement; but both in 1856 and again in 1862 he went out to the East to take a part in further surveys and negotiations for the Euphrates valley railway scheme, which, however, the government would not take up, in spite of a favourable report from the House of Commons committee in 1871. In 1868 he published a further volume of narrative on his Euphrates expedition. He died on the 30th of January 1872.

His _Life_, edited by Stanley Lane Poole, appeared in 1885.

CHESNEY, SIR GEORGE TOMKYNS (1830-1895), English general, brother of Colonel C.C. Chesney, was born at Tiverton, Devonshire, on the 30th of April 1830. Educated at Blundell's school, Tiverton, and at Addiscombe, he entered the Bengal Engineers as second lieutenant in 1848. He was employed for some years in the public works department and, on the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny in 1857, joined the Ambala column, was field engineer at the battle of Badli-ke-serai, brigade-major of engineers throughout the siege of Delhi, and was severely wounded in the assault (medal and clasp and a brevet majority). In 1860 he was appointed head of a new department in connexion with the public works accounts. His work on _Indian Polity_ (1868), dealing with the administration of the several departments of the Indian government, attracted wide attention and remains a permanent text-book. The originator of the Royal Indian Civil Engineering College at Cooper's Hill, Staines, he was also its first president (1871-1880). In 1871 he contributed to _Blackwood's Magazine_, "The Battle of Dorking," a vivid account of a supposed invasion of England by the Germans after their victory over France. This was republished in many editions and translations, and produced a profound impression. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, 1869; colonel, 1877; major-general, 1886; lieutenant-general, 1887; colonel-commandant of Royal Engineers, 1890; and general, 1892. From 1881 to 1886 he was secretary to the military department of the government of India, and was made a C.S.I, and a C.I.E. From 1886 to 1892, as military member of the governor-general's council, he carried out many much-needed military reforms. He was made a C.B. at the jubilee of 1887, and a K.C.B. on leaving India in 1892. In that year he was returned to parliament, in the Conservative interest, as member for Oxford, and was chairman of the committee of service members of the House of Commons until his death on the 31st of March 1895. He wrote some novels, _The Dilemma_, _The Private Secretary_, _The Lesters_, &c., and was a frequent contributor to periodical literature.

CHESS, once known as "checker," a game played with certain "pieces" on a special "board" described below. It takes its name from the Persian word _shah_, a king, the name of one of the pieces or men used in the game. Chess is the most cosmopolitan of all games, invented in the East (see _History_, below), introduced into the West and now domiciled in every part of the world. As a mere pastime chess is easily learnt, and a very moderate amount of study enables a man to become a fair player, but the higher ranges of chess-skill are only attained by persistent labour. The real proficient or "master" not merely must know the subtle variations in which the game abounds, but must be able to apply his knowledge in the face of the enemy and to call to his aid, as occasion demands, all that he has of foresight, brilliancy and resource, both in attack and in defence. Two chess players fighting over the board may fitly be compared to two famous generals encountering each other on the battlefield, the strategy and the tactics being not dissimilar in spirit.

_The Board, Pieces and Moves._--The chessboard is divided (see accompanying diagrams) into sixty-four chequered squares. In diagram 1, the pieces, or chess-men, are arranged for the beginning of a game, while diagram 2 shows the denomination of the squares according to the English and German systems of notation. Under diagram 1 are the names of the various "pieces"--each side, White or Black, having a King, a Queen, two Rooks (or Castles), two Knights, and two Bishops. The eight men in front are called Pawns. At the beginning of the game the queen always stands upon a square of her own colour. The board is so set that each player has a white square at the right hand end of the row nearest to him. The rook, knight and bishop on the right of the king are known as King's rook, King's knight, and King's bishop; the other three as Queen's rook, Queen's knight, and Queen's bishop.

BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| r | n | b | q | k | b | n | r |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | | | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | | | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | | | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | | | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| R | N | B | Q | K | B | N | R |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Rk. Kt. Bp. Q. K. Bp. Kt. Rk.
WHITE

DIAGRAM 1.--Showing the arrangement of the pieces at the commencement
of a game.

Briefly described, the powers of the various pieces and of the pawns are as follows.

The king may move in any direction, only one square at a time, except in castling. Two kings can never be on adjacent squares.

The queen moves in any direction square or diagonal, whether forward or backward. There is no limit to her range over vacant squares; an opponent she may take; a piece of her own colour stops her. She is the most powerful piece on the board, for her action is a union of those of the rook and bishop. The rooks (from the Indian _rukh_ and Persian _rokh_, meaning a soldier or warrior) move in straight lines--forward or backward--but they cannot move, diagonally. Their range is like the queen's, unlimited, with the same exceptions.

The bishops move diagonally in any direction whether backward or forward. They have an unlimited range, with the same exceptions.

The knights' moves are of an absolutely different kind. They move from one corner of any rectangle of three squares by two to the opposite corner; thus, in diagram 3, the white knight can move to the square occupied by the black one, and vice versa, or a knight could move from C to D, or D to C. The move may be made in any direction. It is no obstacle to the knight's move if squares A and B are occupied. It will be perceived that the knight always moves to a square of a different colour.

The king, queen, rooks and bishops may capture any foeman which stands anywhere within their respective ranges; and the knights can capture the adverse men which stand upon the squares to which they can leap. The piece which takes occupies the square of the piece which is taken, the latter being removed from the board. The king cannot capture any man which is protected by another man.

The moves and capturing powers of the pawns are as follows:--Each pawn for his first move may advance either one or two squares straight forward, but afterwards one square only, and this whether upon starting he exercised his privilege of moving two squares or not. A pawn can never move backwards. He can capture only diagonally--one square to his right or left front. A pawn moves like a rook, captures like a bishop, but only one square at a time. When a pawn arrives at an eighth square, viz. at the extreme limit of the board, he may, at the option of his owner, be exchanged for any other piece, so that a player may, e.g., have two or more queens on the board at once.

BLACK
a b c d e f g h
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| qrsq|qktsq| qbsq| qsq | ksq | kbsq|kktsq| krsq|
8| | | | | | | | |8
| QR8 | QKt8| QB8 | Q8 | K8 | KB8 | KKt8| KR8 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| qr2 | qkt2| qb2 | q2 | k2 | kb2 | kkt2| kr2 |
7| | | | | | | | |7
| QR7 | QKt7| QB7 | Q7 | K7 | KB7 | KKt7| KR7 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| qr3 | qkt3| qb3 | q3 | k3 | kb3 | kkt3| kr3 |
6| | | | | | | | |6
| QR6 | QKt6| QB6 | Q6 | K6 | KB6 | KKt6| KR6 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| qr4 | qkt4| qb4 | q4 | k4 | kb4 | kkt4| kr4 |
5| | | | | | | | |5
| QR5 | QKt5| QB5 | Q5 | K5 | KB5 | KKt5| KR5 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| qr5 | qkt5| qb5 | q5 | k5 | kb5 | kkt5| kr5 |
4| | | | | | | | |4
| QR4 | QKt4| QB4 | Q4 | K4 | KB4 | KKt4| KR4 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| qr6 | qkt6| qb6 | q6 | k6 | kb6 | kkt6| kr6 |
3| | | | | | | | |3
| QR3 | QKt3| QB3 | Q3 | K3 | KB3 | KKt3| KR3 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| qr7 | qkt7| qb7 | q7 | k7 | kb7 | kkt7| kr7 |
2| | | | | | | | |2
| QR2 | QKt2| QB2 | Q2 | K2 | KB2 | KKt2| KR2 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| qr8 | qkt8| qb8 | q8 | k8 | kb8 | kkt8| kr8 |
1| | | | | | | | |1
| QRsq|QKtsq| QBsq| Qsq | Ksq | KBsq|KKtsq| KRsq|
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
a b c d e f g h
WHITE

DIAGRAM 2.--Showing English and German Methods of Notation.

"Check and Checkmate." The king can never be captured, but when any piece or pawn attacks him, he is said to be "in check," and the fact of his being so attacked should be announced by the adverse player saying "check," whereupon the king must move from the square he occupies, or be screened from check by the interposition of one of his own men, or the attacking piece must be captured. If, however, when the king is in check, none of these things can be done, it is "checkmate" (Persian, _shah mat_, the king is dead), known generally as "mate," whereupon the game terminates, the player whose king has been thus checkmated being the loser. When the adversary has only his king left, it is very easy to checkmate him with only a queen and king, or only a rook and king. The problem is less easy with king and two bishops, and still less easy with king, knight and bishop, in which case the opposing king has to be driven into a corner square whose colour corresponds with the bishop's, mate being given with the bishop. A king and two knights cannot mate. To mate with king and rook the opposing king must be driven on to one of the four side files and kept there with the rook on the next file, till it is held by the other king, when the rook mates.

The pawn gives check in the same way as he captures, viz. diagonally. One king cannot give check to another, nor may a king be moved into check.

"Check by discovery" is given when a player, by moving one of his pieces, checks with another of them. "Double check" means attacking the king at once with two pieces--one of the pieces in this case giving check by discovery.

"Perpetual check" occurs when one player, seeing that he cannot win the game, finds the men so placed that he can give check _ad infinitum_, while his adversary cannot possibly avoid it. The game is then drawn. A game is also drawn "if, before touching a man, the player whose turn it is to play, claims that the game be treated as drawn, and proves that the existing position existed, in the game and at the commencement of his turn of play, twice at least before the present turn."

+---+---+
| N | D |
+---+---+
| A | B |
+---+---+
| C | n |
+---+---+

Knight's move.

"Stalemate." When a king is not in check, but his owner has no move left save such as would place the king in check, it is "stalemate," and the game is drawn.

"Castling." This is a special move permitted to the king once only in the game. It is performed in combination with either rook, the king being moved two squares laterally, while the rook towards which he is moved (which must not have previously moved from its square) is placed next him on the other side; the king must be touched first. The king cannot castle after having been once moved, nor when any piece stands between him and the rook, nor if he is in check, nor when he has to cross a square commanded by an adverse piece or pawn, nor into check. It will be perceived that after castling with the king's rook the latter will occupy the KB square, while the king stands on the KKt square, and if with the queen's rook, the latter will occupy the queen's square while the king stands on the QB square.

"Taking _en passant_." This is a privilege possessed by any of the pawns under the following circumstances:--If a pawn, say of the white colour, stands upon a fifth square, say upon K5 counting from the white side, and a black pawn moves from Q2 or KB2 to Q4 or KB4 counting from the black side, the white pawn can take the black pawn _en passant_. For the purposes of such capture the latter is dealt with as though he had only moved to Q3 or KB3, and the white pawn taking him diagonally then occupies the square the captured pawn would have reached had he moved but one square. The capture can be made only on the move immediately succeeding that of the pawn to be captured.

"Drawn Game." This arises from a stalemate (noticed above), or from either player not having sufficient force wherewith to effect checkmate, as when there are only two kings left on the board, or king and bishop against king, or king with one knight, or two knights against king, or from perpetual check. One of the players can call upon the other to give checkmate in fifty moves, the result of failure being that the game is drawn. But, if a pawn is moved, or a piece is captured, the counting must begin again.

A "minor piece" means either a knight or a bishop. "Winning the exchange" signifies capturing a rook in exchange for a minor piece. A "passed pawn" is one that has no adverse pawn either in front or on either of the adjoining files. A "file" is simply a line of squares extending vertically from one end of the board to the other. An "open file" is one on which no piece or pawn of either colour is standing. A pawn or piece is _en prise_ when one of the enemy's men can capture it. "Gambit" is a word derived from the Ital. _gambetto_, a tripping up of the heels; it is a term used to signify an opening in which a pawn or piece is sacrificed at the opening of a game to obtain an attack. An "opening," or _debut_, is a certain set method of commencing the game. When a player can only make one legal move, that move is called a "forced move."

_Value of the Pieces._--The relative worth of the chess-men cannot be definitely stated on account of the increase or decrease of their powers according to the position of the game and the pieces, but taking the pawn as the unit the following will be an estimate near enough for practical purposes:--pawn 1, bishop 3.25, knight 3.25, rook 5, queen 9.50. Three minor pieces may more often than not be advantageously exchanged for the queen. The knight is generally stronger than the bishop in the end game, but two bishops are usually stronger than two knights, more especially in open positions.

_Laws._--The laws of chess differ, although not very materially, in different countries. Various steps have been taken, but as yet without success, to secure the adoption of a universal code. In competitions among English players the particular laws to be observed are specially agreed upon,--the regulations most generally adopted being those laid down at length in Staunton's _Chess Praxis_, or the modification of the _Praxis_ laws issued in the name of the British Chess Association in 1862.

_First Move and Odds._--To decide who moves first, one player conceals a white pawn in one hand and a black pawn in the other, his adversary not seeing in which hand the different pawns are put. The other holds out his hands with the pawns concealed, and his adversary touches one. If that contains the white pawn, he takes the white men and moves first. If he draws the black pawn his adversary has the first move, since white, by convention, always plays first. Subsequently the first move is taken alternately. If one player, by way of odds, "gives" his adversary a pawn or piece, that piece is removed before play begins. If the odds are "pawn and move," or "pawn and two," a black pawn, namely, the king's bishop's pawn, is removed and white plays one move, or any two moves in succession. "Pawn and two" is generally considered to be slightly less in point of odds than to give a knight or a bishop; to give a knight and a bishop is to give rather more than a rook; a rook and bishop less than a queen; two rooks rather more than a queen. The odds of "the marked pawn" can only be given to a much weaker player. A pawn, generally KB's pawn, is marked with a cap of paper. If the pawn is captured its owner loses the game; he can also lose by being checkmated in the usual way, but he cannot give mate to his adversary with any man except the marked pawn, which may not be moved to an eighth square and exchanged for a piece.

_Rules._--If a player touch one of his men he must move it, unless he says _j'adoube_ (I adjust), or words of a similar meaning, to the effect that he was only setting it straight on its square. If he cannot legally move a touched piece, he must move his king, if he can, but may not castle; if not, there is no penalty. He must say _j'adoube_ before touching his piece. If a player touch an opponent's piece, he must take it, if he can: if not, move his king. If he can do neither, no penalty. A move is completed and cannot be taken back, as soon as a player, having moved a piece, has taken his hand off it. If a player is called upon to mate under the fifty-move rule, "fifty moves" means fifty moves and the forty-nine replies to them. A pawn that reaches an eighth square _must_ be exchanged for some other piece, the move not being complete until this is done; a second king cannot be selected.

_Modes of Notation._--The English and German methods of describing the moves made in a game are different. According to the English method each player counts from his own side of the board, and the moves are denoted by the names of the files and the numbers of the squares. Thus when a player for his first move advances the king's pawn two squares, it is described as follows:--"1. P-K4." The following moves, with the aid of diagram 2, will enable the reader to understand the principles of the British notation. The symbol x is used to express "takes"; a dash--to express "to."

White. Black.
1. P-K4 1. P-K4
2. KKt-KB3 2. QKt-QB3
(i.e. King's Knight to the (i.e. Queen's Knight to the
third square of the King's third square of the Queen's
Bishop's file) Bishop's file)
3. KB-QB4 3. KB-QB4
(King's Bishop to the fourth
square of the Queen's
Bishop's file)
4. P-QB3 4. KKt-KB3
5. P-Q4 5. P takes P (or PxP)
(King's pawn takes White's
Queen's pawn)
6. P takes P (or PxP) 6. KB-QKt5 (ch., i.e. check)
(Queen's Bishop's pawn
takes pawn: no other pawn
has a pawn _en prise_)

It is now usual to express the notation as concisely as possible; thus, the third moves of White and Black would be given as 3. B-B4, because it is clear that only the fourth square of the queen's bishop's file is intended.

The French names for the pieces are, King, _Roi_; Queen, _Dame_; Rook, _Tour_; Knight, _Cavalier_; Pawn, _Pion_; for Bishop the French substitute _Fou_, a jester. Chess is _Les Echecs_.

The German notation employs the alphabetical characters a, b, c, d, e, f, g and h, proceeding from left to right, and the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, running upwards, these being always calculated from the white side of the board (see diagram 2). Thus the White Queen's Rook's square is a1, the White Queen's square is d1; the Black Queen's square, d8; the White King's square, e1; the Black King's square, e8, and so with the other pieces and squares. The German names of the pieces are as follows:--King, _Konig_; Queen, _Dame_; Rook, _Turm_; Bishop, _Laufer_; Knight, _Springer_; Pawn, _Bauer_; Chess, _Schach_.

The initials only of the pieces are given, the pawns (_Bauern)_ being understood. The Germans use the following signs in their notation, viz.:--for "check" ([dagger]); "checkmate" ([double dagger]); "takes" (:); "castles on king's side" (0-0); "castles on queen's side" (0-0-0); for "best move" a note of admiration (!); for "weak move" a note of interrogation (?). The opening moves just given in the English will now be given in the German notation:--

White. Black.
1. e2-e4 1. e7-e5
2. S g1-f3 2. S b8-c6
3. L f1-c4 3. L f8-c5
4. c2-c3 4. S g8-f6!
5. d2-d4 5. e5-d4:
6. c3-d4: 6. L cs-b4[dagger]

In both notations the moves are often given in a tabular form, thus:--

P-K4 e2-e4
1. ---- 1. -----, the moves above the line being White's
P-K4 e7-e5
and below the line Black's.

_Illustrative Games._--The text-books should be consulted by students who wish to improve their game. The following are some of the leading openings:--

GIUOCO PIANO.

White. Black.
1. P-K4 1. P-K4
2. KKt-B3 2. QKt-B3
3. B-B4 3. B-B4
4. P-B3 4. Kt-KB3
5. P-Q4 5. PxP
6. PxP 6. B-Kt5 (ch)
7. B-Q2 7. BxB (ch)
8. QKtxB 8. P-Q4
9. PxP 9. KKtxP
10. Q-Kt3 10. QKt-K2
11. Castles (K's side) 11. Castles

Even game.

RUY LOPEZ.