Chapter I: Preface

Chess is distinguished from other games, by having long had the suffrages of contemplative men in its favor; the countenance of illustrious characters of the most opposite professions. Generals have modelled their operations on its little portable field; philosophers have traced consequences through its range of combinations; divines have exercised contemplation in its vicissitudes. Teeming, through its varied progress and turns, with excitements to thinking, it is, in its essential tendency, a _gymnasium_ of the mind.

It is unnecessary to insist on the right of this game to be classed alone, as the distinction with which it is viewed is a general sentiment. The EDITOR is equally unoriginal on another subject, his own merely coinciding with public impressions. This is the excellence of the work of PHILIDOR, as a deposit of science and experience. It is a publication intrinsically pervaded by invention and skill. The substance alone is, however, entitled to unqualified eulogy: it must be admitted, that PHILIDOR presented it in a dress capable of improvement. This partly arose from an implicit adoption of terms which he found in the game; and partly from the difficulty of giving his ideas an expression, as clear as their conception, when conveying them in a foreign language.

Hence the EDITOR found it necessary to recompose some, and to retouch almost all the notes of the _ANALYSIS_. For any degree of obscurity which may remain, or have acceded, he is thus become chargeable. He hopes he has not unsuccessfully endeavoured at clearness; and he felt it not a duty, incumbent on his province, to aim at elegance.

In the notation of the moves, the following are the principal alterations upon which he has ventured. When the first lessons at Chess were given to PHILIDOR, a habit of speaking of a piece, as making two moves at once, infected his masters; and he imbibed it. “The king’s pawn _two moves_.” It would be as proper to direct a bishop to make at once seven moves. For phrases which have been repeated till they cease to be strange, in marking the distance to be passed by a pawn, the EDITOR uses the phrases, “_one square_”—“_two squares_.”

When two or three captures succeed without intermission, he found the word _retake_ employed. But a piece once lost, is recovered by a different process than capture; and though a player may make reprisals or retaliate, he cannot, by any latitude of accommodation, be said to retake. As this expression must perplex a novitiate, by implying a resemblance in Chess and arms, which, in this respect, does not exist, and cannot be agreeable to the proficient who considers its incorrectness, it is rescinded, in the present copy, for the simple word _take_.

The term _double check_ was indiscriminately applied, in the _ANALYSIS_, to a situation which it precisely marks, and to another situation. _The king in check with two pieces_, and _one piece taking such an attitude to give check, that a part of the assailing power diverges on a second piece_, are, surely, different relations of the mimic forces. The EDITOR has introduced the new term _divergent check_, for the latter situation

The high reputation of PHILIDOR, has not deterred the EDITOR from critically examining each successive example in the ANALYSIS, whether invented or adopted; and if an inquisitorial review has detected circumstances, in the collision of the pieces, which appear to flow from oversight, it is a just encomium on that accomplished player, that they are very few. Aware of the delicacy with which movements dependent on complicate play should be touched, the EDITOR has uniformly retained the original course assigned by PHILIDOR; with regard to any change of course, merely proposing it in a stricture, or pursuing it in the detached form of a variation.

The _ANALYSIS_, as left by our professor, was not accompanied by a compendium of the first elements of Chess, though a standard display of the constitution of the game must be more or less necessary to every person who consults a Chess Book. The _INTRODUCTION_ now prefixed, proceeds on the supposition, that the reader is an inquirer on _every_ point connected with the board and pieces; any other idea excludes method, and involves rejections that may be attributed to caprice. The divisions will enable each reader to pass, in masses, those particulars of which he does not want to be informed.

The rising series of games form an ascent to _PHILIDOR_. The inceptive party is interspersed with moves which are declared to be wrong: these may have a parallel use with the examples of false construction inserted in grammars. The latter have long been pronounced to furnish an improving exercise.

The scale of powers is a branch of Theory, new in its design. An engaging part of the work remains to be noticed.

The Poem of Sir WILLIAM JONES is introduced as a relief from a serious application to the game, and an elegant embellishment. Among its numerous beauties, the description of the operations of the knight, may be pointed out as eminently happy. The reader of taste, far from disapproving the assignation of twenty pages to this admired effusion, will regret that the recreative flight is so soon suspended; and the amateur and polite scholar will hail, with pleasure, such a classical offering to Chess.

CAÏSSA .
OR
THE GAME AT CHESS.

A POEM.

WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1763.
BY SIR WILLIAM JONES.

The first idea of the following piece was taken from a Latin poem of Vida, entitled SCACCHIA LUDUS, which was translated into Italian by Marino, and inserted in the fifteenth Canto of his Adonis: the author thought it fair to make an acknowledgment in the notes for the passages which he borrowed from those two poets; but he must also do them the justice to declare, that most of the descriptions, and the whole story of Caïssa, which is written in imitation of Ovid, are his own, and their faults must be imputed to him only. The characters in the poem are no less imaginary than those in the episode; in which the invention of Chess is poetically ascribed to Mars, though it is certain that the game was originally brought from India.

CAÏSSA.

Of[1] armies on the chequer’d field array’d,
And guiltless war in pleasing form display’d;
When two bold kings contend with vain alarms,
In ivory this, and that in ebon arms;
Sing, sportive maids, that haunt the sacred hill
Of Pindus, and the fam’d Pierian rill.
[2]Thou, joy of all below, and all above,
Mild Venus, queen of laughter, queen of love;
Leave thy bright island, where on many a rose
And many a pink thy blooming train repose:
Assist me, goddess! since a lovely pair
Command my song, like thee divinely fair.

[1] Ludimus effigiem belli, simulataque veris Prælia, buxo acies fictas, et ludicra regna: Ut gemini inter se reges, albusque nigerque, Pro laude oppositi certent bicoloribus armis. Dicite, Seriades Nymphæ, certamina tanta. _Vida._

[2] Æneadum genitrix, hominum divûmque voluptas, Alma Venus! &c. _Lucretius._

Near yon cool stream, whose living waters play,
And rise translucent in the solar ray;
Beneath the covert of a fragrant bower,
Where spring’s soft influence purpled every flower;
Two smiling nymphs reclin’d in calm retreat,
And envying blossoms crouded round their seat;
Here Delia was enthron’d, and by her side
The sweet Sirena, both in beauty’s pride:
Thus shine two roses, fresh with early bloom,
That from their native stalk dispense perfume;
Their leaves unfolding to the dawning day
Gems of the glowing mead, and eyes of May.
A band of youths and damsels sat around,
Their flowing locks with braided myrtle bound;
Agatis, in the graceful dance admir’d,
And gentle Thyrsis, by the muse inspir’d;
With Sylvia, fairest of the mirthful train;
And Daphnis, doom’d to love, yet love in vain.
Now, whilst a purer blush o’erspreads her cheeks,
With soothing accents thus Sirena speaks:

“The meads and lawns are ting’d with beamy light,
“And wakeful larks begin their vocal flight;
“Whilst on each bank the dewdrops sweetly smile;
“What sport, my Delia, shall the hours beguile?
“Shall heavenly notes, prolong’d with various art,
“Charm the fond ear, and warm the rapturous heart?
“At distance shall we view the sylvan chace?
“Or catch with silken lines the finny race?”

Then Delia thus: “Or rather, since we meet
“By chance assembled in this cool retreat,
“In artful contest let our warlike train
“Move well-directed o’er the colour’d plain;
“Daphnis, who taught us first, the play shall guide;
“Explain its laws, and o’er the field preside:
“No prize we need, our ardour to inflame;
“We fight with pleasure, if we fight for fame.”

The nymph consents: the maids and youths prepare
To view the combat, and the sport to share:
But Daphnis most approv’d the bold design,
Whom Love instructed, and the tuneful Nine.
He rose, and on the cedar table plac’d
A polish’d board, with differing colours grac’d;
[3]Squares eight times eight in equal order lie;
These bright as snow, those dark with sable dye;
Like the broad target by the tortoise born,
Or like the hide by spotted panthers worn.
Then from a chest, with harmless heroes stor’d,
O’er the smooth plain two well-wrought hosts he pour’d;
The champions burn’d their rivals to assail.
[4]Twice eight in black, twice eight in milkwhite mail;
In shape and station different, as in name,
Their motions various, nor their power the same.
Say, muse! (for Jove has nought from thee conceal’d)
Who form’d the legions on the level field?

[3] Sexaginta insunt et quatuor ordine sedes Octono; parte ex omni, via limite quadrat Ordinibus paribus; necnon forma omnibus una Sedibus, æquale et spatium, sed non color unus: Alternant semper variæ, subeuntque vicissim Albentes nigris; testudo picta superne Qualia devexo gestat discrimina tergo. _Vida._

[4] Agmina bina pari numeroque, et viribus æquis, Bis niveâ cum veste octo, totidemque nigranti. Ut variæ facies, pariter sunt et sua cuique Nomina, diversum munus, non æqua potestas. _Vida._

High in the midst the reverend kings appear,
And o’er the rest their pearly scepters rear:
One solemn step, majestically slow,
They gravely move, and shun the dangerous foe;
If e’er they call, the watchful subjects spring,
And die with rapture if they save their king;
On him the glory of the day depends,
He once imprison’d, all the conflict ends.

The queens exulting near their consorts stand;
Each bears a deadly falchion in her hand;
Now here, now there, they bound with furious pride,
And thin the trembling ranks from side to side;
Swift as Camilla flying o’er the main,
Or lightly skimming o’er the dewy plain:
Fierce as they seem, some bold Plebeian spear
May pierce their shield, or stop their full career.

The valiant guards, their minds on havock bent,
Fill the next squares, and watch the royal tent;
Tho’ weak their spears, tho’ dwarfish be their height,
[5]Compact they move, the bulwark of the fight.

To right and left the martial wings display
Their shining arms, and stand in close array.
Behold, four archers, eager to advance,
Send the light reed, and rush with sidelong glance;
Through angles ever they assault the foes,
True to the colour, which at first they chose.
Then four bold knights for courage fam’d and speed,
Each knight exalted on a prancing steed:
[6]Their arching course no vulgar limit knows,
Transverse they leap, and aim insidious blows:
Nor friends, nor foes, their rapid force restrain,
By one quick bound two changing squares they gain;
From varying hues renew the fierce attack,
And rush from black to white, from white to black.
Four solemn elephants the sides defend;
Beneath the load of ponderous towers they bend:
In one unalter’d line they tempt the fight;
Now crush the left, and now o’erwhelm the right.
Bright in the front the dauntless soldiers raise
Their polish’d spears; their steely helmets blaze:
Prepar’d they stand the daring foe to strike,
Direct their progress, but their wounds oblique.

[5] The chief art in the Tactics of Chess consists in the nice conduct of the royal pawns; in supporting them against every attack; and, if they are taken, in supplying their places with others equally supported: a principle, on which the success of the game in great measure depends, though it seems to be omitted by the very accurate Vida.

[6] Il cavallo leggier per dritta lista, Come gli altri, l’ arringo unqua non fende, Mà la lizza attraversa, e fiero in vista Curvo in giro, e lunato il salto stende, E sempre nel saltar due case acquista, Quel colore abbandona, e questo prende. _Marino, Adone. 15._

Now swell th’ embattled troops with hostile rage,
And clang their shields, impatient to engage;
When Daphnis thus: A varied plain behold,
Where fairy kings their mimick tents unfold,
As Oberon, and Mab, his wayward queen,
Lead forth their armies on the daisied green.
No mortal hand the wondrous sport contriv’d,
By Gods invented, and from Gods deriv’d;
[7]From them the British nymphs receiv’d the game,
And play each morn beneath the crystal Thame;
Hear then the tale, which they to Colin sung,
As idling o’er the lucid wave he hung.

[7] Quæ quondam sub aquis gaudent spectacla tueri Nereides, vastique omnis gens accola ponti; Siquando placidum mare, et humida regna quierunt. _Vida._

A lovely Dryad rang’d the Thracian wild,
Her air enchanting, and her aspect mild:
To chase the bounding hart was all her joy,
Averse from Hymen, and the Cyprian boy;
O’er hills and valleys was her beauty fam’d,
And fair Caïssa was the damsel nam’d.
Mars saw the maid; with deep surprise he gaz’d,
Admir’d her shape, and every gesture prais’d:
His golden bow the child of Venus bent,
And through his breast a piercing arrow sent:
The reed was Hope; the feathers, keen Desire;
The point, her eyes; the barbs, ethereal fire,
Soon to the nymph he pour’d his tender strain;
The haughty Dryad scorn’d his amorous pain:
He told his woes, where’er the maid he found,
And still he press’d, yet still Caïssa frown’d;
But ev’n her frowns (ah, what smiles have done!)
Fir’d all his soul, and all his senses won.
He left his car, by raging tigers drawn,
And lonely wander’d o’er the dusky lawn;
Then lay desponding near a murmuring stream,
And fair Caïssa was his plaintive theme.
A Naiad heard him from her mossy bed,
And through the crystal rais’d her placid head;
Then mildly spake: “O thou, whom love inspires,
“Thy tears will nourish, nor allay thy fires.
“The smiling blossoms drink the pearly dew;
“And ripening fruit the feather’d race pursue;
“The scaly shoals devour the silken weeds;
“Love on our sighs, and on our sorrow feeds.
“Then weep no more; but, ere thou canst obtain
“Balm to thy wounds, and solace to thy pain,
“With gentle art thy martial look beguile;
“Be mild, and teach thy rugged brow to smile.
“Canst thou no play, no soothing game devise;
“To make thee lovely in the damsel’s eyes?
“So may thy prayers assuage the scornful dame,
“And ev’n Caïssa own a mutual flame.
“Kind nymph, said Mars, thy counsel I approve;
“Art, only art, her ruthless breast can move.
“But when? or how? Thy dark discourse explain:
“So may thy stream ne’er swell with gushing rain;
“So may thy waves in one pure current flow,
And flowers eternal on thy border blow!”

To whom the maid replied with smiling mien:
“Above the palace of the Paphian queen
“[8]Love’s brother dwells, a boy of graceful port,
“By gods nam’d Euphron, and by mortals Sport:
“Seek him; to faithful ears unfold thy grief,
“And hope, ere morn return, a sweet relief.
“His temple hangs below the azure skies;
“Seest thou yon argent cloud? ’Tis there it lies.”
This said, she sunk beneath the liquid plain,
And sought the mansion of her blue-hair’d train.

[8] Ecco d’astuto ingegno, e pronta mano Garzon, che sempre scherza, e vola ratto. _Gioco_ s’apella, ed è _d’amor germano_. _Marino, Adone. 15._

Meantime the god, elate with heart-felt joy,
Had reach’d the temple of the sportful boy;
He told Caïssa’s charms, his kindled fire,
The Naiad’s counsel, and his warm desire.
“Be swift, he added, give my passion aid;
“A god requests.”—He spake, and Sport obey’d.
He fram’d a tablet of celestial mold,
Inlay’d with squares of silver and of gold;
Then of two metals form’d the warlike band,
That here compact in show of battle stand;
He taught the rules that guide the pensive game,
And call’d it _Cassa_ from the Dryad’s name:
(Whence Albion’s sons, who most its praise confess,
Approv’d the play, and nam’d it thoughtful _Chess_.)
The god delighted thank’d indulgent Sport;
Then grasp’d the board, and left his airy court.
With radiant feet he pierc’d the clouds; nor stay’d,
Till in the woods he saw the beauteous maid:
Tir’d with the chase the damsel set reclin’d,
Her girdle loose, her bosom unconfin’d.
He took the figure of a wanton Faun,
And stood before her on the flowery lawn;
Then show’d his tablet: pleas’d the nymph survey’d
The lifeless troops in glittering ranks display’d;
She ask’d the wily sylvan to explain
The various motions of the splendid train;
With eager heart she caught the winning lore,
And thought ev’n Mars less hateful than before;
“What spell, said she, deceiv’d my careless mind?
“The god was fair, and I was most unkind.”
She spoke, and saw the changing Faun assume
A milder aspect, and a fairer bloom;
His wreathing horns, that from his temples grew,
Flow’d down in curls of bright celestial hue;
The dappled hairs, that veil’d his loveless face,
Blaz’d into beams, and show’d a heavenly grace;
The shaggy hide, that mantled o’er his breast,
Was soften’d to a smooth transparent vest,
That through its folds his vigorous bosom show’d,
And nervous limbs, where youthful ardour glow’d:
(Had Venus view’d him in those blooming charms,
Not Vulcan’s net had forc’d her from his arms.)
With goatlike feet no more he mark’d the ground,
But braided flowers his silken sandals bound.
The Dryad blush’d; and, as he press’d her, smil’d,
Whilst all his cares one tender glance beguil’d.

He ends: _To arms_, the maids and striplings cry;
_To arms_, the groves and sounding vales reply.
Sirena led to war the swarthy crew,
And Delia those that bore the lily’s hue.
Who first, O muse, began the bold attack;
The white refulgent, or the mournful black?
Fair Delia first, as favouring lots ordain,
Moves her pale legions tow’rd the sable train:
From thought to thought her lively fancy flies,
Whilst o’er the board she darts her sparkling eyes.

At length the warrior moves with haughty strides;
Who from the plain the snowy king divides:
With equal haste his swarthy rival bounds;
His quiver rattles, and his buckler sounds:
Ah! hapless youths, with fatal warmth you burn;
Laws, ever fix’d, forbid you to return.
Then from the wing a short-liv’d spearman flies,
Unsafely bold, and see! he dies, he dies:
The dark-brow’d hero, with one vengeful blow
Of life and place deprives his ivory foe.
Now rush both armies o’er the burnish’d field,
Hurl the swift dart, and rend the bursting shield.
Here furious knights on fiery coursers prance,
Here archers spring, and lofty towers advance.
But see! the white-rob’d Amazon beholds
Where the dark host its opening van unfolds:
Soon as her eye discerns the hostile maid,
By ebon shield, and ebon helm betray’d;
Seven squares she passes with majestic mien,
And stands triumphant o’er the falling queen.
Perplex’d, and sorrowing at his consort’s fate,
The monarch burn’d with rage, despair, and hate:
Swift from his zone th’ avenging blade he drew,
And, mad with ire, the proud virago slew.
Meanwhile sweet smiling Delia’s wary king
Retir’d from fight behind his circling wing.

Long time the war in equal balance hung;
Till, unforeseen, an ivory courser sprung,
And, wildly prancing in an evil hour,
Attack’d at once the monarch and the tower:
Sirena blush’d; for, as the rules requir’d,
Her injur’d sovereign to his tent retir’d;
Whilst her lost castle leaves his threatening height,
And adds new glory to th’ exulting knight.

At this, pale fear oppress’d the drooping maid,
And on her cheek the rose began to fade:
A crystal tear, that stood prepar’d to fall,
She wip’d in silence, and conceal’d from all;
From all but Daphnis: He remark’d her pain,
And saw the weakness of her ebon train;
Then gently spoke: “Let me your loss supply,
“And either nobly win, or nobly die;
“Me oft has fortune crown’d with fair success,
“And led to triumph in the fields of Chess.”
He said: the willing nymph her place resign’d,
And sat at distance on the bank reclin’d.
Thus when Minerva call’d her chief to arms,
And Troy’s high turret shook with dire alarms,
The Cyprian goddess wounded left the plain,
And Mars engag’d a mightier force in vain.

Strait Daphnis leads his squadron to the field;
(To Delia’s arms ’tis ev’n a joy to yield.)
Each guileful snare, and subtle art he tries,
But finds his heart less powerful than her eyes:
Wisdom and strength superior charms obey;
And beauty, beauty, wins the long-fought day.
By this a hoary chief, on slaughter bent,
Approach’d the gloomy king’s unguarded tent;
Where, late, his consort spread dismay around,
Now her dark corse lies bleeding on the ground.
Hail, happy youth! thy glories not unsung
Shall live eternal on the poet’s tongue;
For thou shalt soon receive a splendid change,
And o’er the plain with nobler fury range.
The swarthy leaders saw the storm impend,
And strove in vain their sovereign to defend:
Th’ invader wav’d his silver lance in air,
And flew like lightning to the fatal square;
His limbs dilated in a moment grew
To stately height, and widen’d to the view;
More fierce his look, more lion-like his mien,
Sublime he mov’d, and seem’d a warrior queen.
As when the sage on some unfolding plant
Has caught a wandering fly, or frugal ant,
His hand the microscopick frame applies,
And lo! a bright hair’d monster meets his eyes;
He sees new plumes in slender cases roll’d;
Here stain’d with azure, there bedropp’d with gold;
Thus, on the alter’d chief both armies gaze,
And both the kings are fix’d with deep amaze.
The sword, which arm’d the snow-white maid before,
He now assumes, and hurls the spear no more;
Then springs indignant on the dark-rob’d band,
And knights and archers feel his deadly hand.

Now flies the monarch of the sable shield,
His legions vanquish’d, o’er the lonely field:
[9]So when the morn, by rosy coursers drawn,
With pearls and rubies sows the verdant lawn,
Whilst each pale star from heaven’s blue vault retires,
Still Venus gleams, and last of all expires.
He hears, where’er he moves, the dreadful sound;
_Check_ the deep vales, and _Check_ the woods rebound.
No place remains: he sees the certain fate,
And yields his throne to ruin, and Check-mate.

A brighter blush o’erspreads the damsel’s cheeks,
And mildly thus the conquer’d stripling speaks:
“A double triumph, Delia, hast thou won,
“By Mars protected, and by Venus’ son;
“The first with conquest crowns thy matchless art,
“The second points those eyes at Daphnis’ heart.”
She smil’d; the nymphs and amorous youths arise,
And own that beauty gain’d the nobler prize.

Low in their chest the mimic troops were lay’d,
[10]And peaceful slept the sable hero’s shade.

[9] —— Medio rex æquore inermis Constitit amissis sociis: velut æthere in alto Expulit ardentes flammas ubi lutea bigis Luciferis Aurora, tuus pulcherrimus ignis Lucet adhuc, Venus, et cœlo mox ultimus exit. _Vida_, ver 604.

[10] A parody of the last line in Pope’s translation of the Iliad, “And peaceful slept the mighty Hector’s shade.”

A
SYSTEMATIC
_INTRODUCTION_
TO

THE GAME OF CHESS.