St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-08

at Hastings, the exact date of It's Introduction
| into England may be regarded as Of mere anti
| quarian interest. The game, moreover, was al
ways arstocratic one. 1t the diversion OF
kings and queens, fair ladies and great mobiles,
| In days before tobacco was known It served in
diplomacy the part which, ut later date. ralley-
| rand claimed for snuff ENJOYS sent to beg the
hand of princess were set down to play chess
with the dam o., aud then aud there to plead the
cause of their love-sick master. In short, so
| moral. SO contempative, all absorbing Is
chess, that one well believe that 1t was de-
vised to reform the evil habits of Merodach, King
| OF Babylon, who IN the fifth chapter OF ''Game
and Playe." Is represented cheerily chopping
his subjects to pieces. This, however, was before
| ''the play of the Cheese was founder and maad ~
| for when next the medieval artist takes him in
hand he Is depicted as quite reformed charac-
| ter.
still, chess has its drawbacks. Whether owing
TO the Measure of the game savoring too much OF
earthly joys, or from dread that the chez kered
| b. ard might wean them from their breviaries, 1t
Is certain that at an early date this diversion was
| interdicted to churchmen. Five years before the
| Norman invasion, Cardinal Damianus had i'm
| posed penance Bishop for ''sporting away
his ev, 90 on the sa religious game" De
| Sully f.rbaie his ecclesiastics to Indulge in it.
| and ST. Louis, King of France imposed fine on
all who were caught at it. Yet even then there
was difference of opinion regarding the sin
fulness Of the game, for, though John Huss
] sorrowed over the time lost and the pas
sions reused during the amusement, Perrlno
| held that il was quite permissible according TO
| the canons. And this opens up q vexed ques-
| ton. The game is universally regarded as a
| meditative one. II is favored by men OF placid
temper. like Orientals and the obese folk OF the
| West. To this day it is the common diversion Of
| Eastern Courts. The finest chess sets come from
India and China, and the finest player between
| the Red Sea and the Pillars of Hercules is Sidi
| Bargash, the Moorish Minister of Foreign Al
| fairs. who for years has played one Intide Envoy
| against another in the same way that he pits
! pieces against the pawns in a game ending
John de Vigney, indeed, wrote book called
1.-The Moralization of Chess" and three
fourths of Cations masterpiece is filed
with little sermons on the emolllt NJ
| influence OF the game. Yet one of our earliest
CHEFS anecdotes is the story of the mortal quar-
| rel between Jarl Ulfr and King Canute over an
upset board, and every one has heard OF the dis
pute. in the course of which the Prince, tho az
terward became Henry l., of England, broke the
! board over the head of the Dauphin. Nor has
| chess always kept the domestic peace. II we are
| to credit the legend OF Ferrand, Count of Elan
ders, so engaging his wife by his constant success
! that on his being taken captive she permitted
the indiscreet chess player to languish for three
| years without ransom, In order that he might
| learn better manners than to be always check
mating lady. These are, however little scan
dals which the best friends of so respectable a
game are apt to pooh-pooh as the inventions Of
malicious monks who were forbidden the game
which they tried to malign. 1t is certain that in
none of the Gibbs enrolled in the Chess Associa-
ton are any such brawls heard Of, and if there
are heartburnings these must he credited to hon.
est rivalry or to the squabbles Of the young folk
who have lately taken to playing the game with
living pieces. What we do know is that ever
since the English school of chess began. about
The commep emept Of this century, the players
have been worthy IF their play, and that.
whether We regard bfilliancy or sound
strategy and far reaching analysis, there are
English names which still take the foremost
places. even with sach sturdy opponents as are
found among the Teuton invadt r..