Chess History And Reminiscences
Nicephorus of Constantinople. Greetings and embassies passed
between them.
Offa corresponded with Charlemagne and despatched the
scholar Alcuin to assist him in refuting certain religious
heresies (as alleged) propounded by one Felix, a bishop of
Urgel. Egbert, we read, took refuge at Charlemagne's Court,
was well received by him and served for a time in his army.
Alcuin was the preceptor and became the life-long friend and
adviser of Charlemagne, was domesticated with him and greatly
revered in his family. 232 letters of Alcuin's are referred to
in Forbes' edition.
The Emperor's taste for chess, his celebrated chessmen and
his communications on scientific and social matters with the East
and elsewhere could be no secrets to Alcuin.
Charlemagne seems to have fancied himself at chess, and from
his avidity to find an opponent Alcuin may have been induced to
test conclusions of chess skill with him. On his visit to England
in 793 Alcuin brought his knowledge with him and he is the
least unlikely person to have noticed chess and to have assisted
in diffusing a knowledge of it in England.
Egbert, a young man of the most promising hopes gave
great jealously to Brithric, the reigning prince, both because he
seemed by his birth better entitled to the crown, and because he
had acquired, to an eminent degree the affections of the people.
Egbert, sensible of his danger from the suspicions of Brithric,
secretly withdrew into France where he was well received by
Charlemagne. By living in the Court, and serving in the armies
of that prince, the most able and most generous that had appeared
in Europe during several ages, he acquired those accomplishments
which afterwards enabled him to make such a shining figure on the
throne, and familiarizing himself to the manners of the French,
who, as Malmesbury observes, were eminent, both for valour and
civility above all the Western Nations, he learned to polish the
rudeness and barbarity of the Saxon character, his early
misfortunes thus proved a singular advantage to him.
------
THEORIES AS TO THE INVENTION OF CHESS
In the second volume of the "History of British India," by
James Mill, Esq., we are told that the Araucanians invented the
game of chess.
Forbes sums up an article upon this claim by saying, "We must
in charity suppose that Mr. Mill really knew nothing of chess,
whether Hindu, Persian, or Chinese."
Professor Wilson's opinion of Mr. Mill's work is better worth
recording. "History of British India," by James Mill, Esq.,
fourth edition, with notes and continuation, by Horace Hayman
Wilson, M.A., F.R.S., &c., London 1840, 9 vols., 8 vo., Vide
Preface by Professor Wilson, page vii, &c.
Of the proofs which may be discovered in Mr. Mill's history of
the operation of preconceived opinions, in confining a vigorous
and active understanding to a partial and one-sided view of a
great question, no instance is more remarkable than the
unrelenting pertinacity with which he labours to establish the
barbarism of the Hindus. Indignant at the exalted, and it may
be granted, sometimes exaggerated descriptions of their advance
in civilization, of their learning, their sciences, their talents,
their virtues which emanated from the amiable enthusiasm of Sir
William Jones, Mr. Mill has entered the lists against him with
equal enthusiasm, but a less commendable purpose, and has sought
to reduce them as far below their proper level as their encomiasts
may have formerly elevated them above it. With very imperfect
knowledge, with materials exceedingly defective, with an implicit
faith in all testimony hostile to Hindu pretensions, he has
elaborated a portrait of the Hindus which has no resemblance
whatever to the original, and which almost outrages humanity.
As he represents them, the Hindus are not only on a par with the
least civilized nations of the old and new world, but they are
plunged almost without exception in the lowest depths of
immorality and crime. Considered merely in a literary capacity,
the description of the Hindus, in the history of British India is
open to censure for its obvious unfairness and injustice, but in
the effect which it is likely to exercise upon the connexion
between the people of England and the people of India, it is
chargeable with more than literary element, its tendency is evil,
it is calculated to destroy all sympathy between the rulers and
the ruled.
A writer in Fraser's Magazine, observes: "The native
of India is defective in that mental and moral energy, that
restless enterprise, which distinguishes the Anglo Saxon genius,
and which gives him such a preponderance over the impassive
and contemplative Oriental, but, on the other hand, the
native of India possesses in a high degree that acute perception
and common sense strengthened by numerical traditions and
maxims, which enable him to judge correctly of both the acts and
motives of his Foreign superior. It should be recollected to their
credit, that the germ of almost every known invention, the
original idea of nearly every useful secret in arts, the knowledge
of the highest branches of the abstract sciences, had been familiar
to the wise men of the East, and were taught in the most perfect
© 101ChessTips.com. All Rights Reserved.
