ON CHESS. ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE GAME.

II.

Ir has been supposed that the ancient Egyptians were acquainted with chess, or at least with a game bearing some close affinity therewith. Very slight inquiry, however, is sufficient to show that the game represented on the Egyptian monuments is nothing more than a species of draughts. The players are represented sitting on the ground, or on chairs, and the pieces, or men, being ranged in rank, at either end of the table, were probally moved on a chequered board; but, the game being always represented in profile, the exact appearance, or the number of the squares, cannot be given.

monuments.

The pieces were all of the same size and form, though they varied on different boards, some being small, others large, with round summits: many were of a lighter and neater shape, like small nine-pins, probably the most fashionable kind, since they were used in the palace of King Remeses. These last seem to have been about one inch and a half high, standing on a circular base of half an inch in diameter; and one in my possession, which I brought from Thebes, of a nearly similar taste, is one inch and a quarter in height, and little more than half an inch broad at the lower end. It is of hard wood, and was doubtless painted of some colour, like those occurring on the Egyptian They were all of equal size upon the same board, one set black, the other white or red, standing on opposite sides; and each player, raising it with the finger and thumb, advanced this piece towards those of his opponent; but though we are unable to say if this was done in a direct or diagonal line, there is reason to believe they could not take backwards, as in the Polish game of draughts, the men being mixed together on the board. It was an amusement common in the houses of the lower classes, and in the mansions of the rich; and King Remeses is himself pourtrayed on the walls of his palace at Thebes engaged in the game of draughts*.

We copy the following figure from BURTON'S Excerpta Hieroglyphica.

instruments of its introduction to the western world are generally supposed to have been the crusaders; but as this supposition necessarily excludes all knowledge of the game previous to the year 1100, it is liable to very formidable objections.

An eastern historian informs as that the game was known at Constantinople in the year of our Lord 802. At that period the Emperor Nicephorus began his reign, and made a pointed allusion to the game of chess in an epistle to the Caliph Haroun al Raschid. "The queen," said he, speaking of Irene, the mother of Constantine, "to whom I have succeeded, considered you as a rook, and herself as a pawn. That pusillanimous female submitted therefore to pay to thee a tribute, the double of which she ought to have exacted from thyself." The game being thus familiar at Constantinople at that early period, it is extremely probable that the knowledge of it was speedily transmitted to other parts of Europe; and the intercourse maintained between the courts of Constantinople and France renders it extremely probable that the latter kingdom was one of the first, if not the very first, in Western Europe, to become acquainted with chess. It is singularly confirmative of this supposition that a set of ivory chess-men, of great antiquity, are still preserved in the Cabinet of Antiquities, in the Bibliothèque du Roi, at Paris, and that in the history of the Abbey of St. Denis, where they were formerly deposited, there should be found the following notice: "L'Empereur & Roy de France, Sainct Charlemagne, a donné au Thresor de Sainct Dénys un jeu d'eschets, avec le tablier, le tout d'yvoire: iceux eschets hauts d'une pauline, fort estimez; le dit tablier et une partie des eschets ont esté perdus par succession de temps, et est bien vray semblable qu'ils ont esté apportez de l'Orient, et sous les gros eschets il y a des caractères Arabesques." The dresses and ornaments of the two principal figures in this set are declared by Sir F. Madden to be in strict keeping with the costume of the Greeks in the ninth century, so that, having examined the engravings given of the king and queen, he is persuaded that these chess-men really belong to the period assigned to them by tradition, and believes them to have been executed at Constantinople, by an Asiatic Greek, and sent as a present to Charlemagne, either by the Empress Irene, or by her successor Nicephorus. Embassies were frequently despatched by the Frankish monarch to the court of Constantinople, and that sort of friendly intercourse was maintained which increases the probability of the above supposition. The size and workmanship of the chess-men prove them to have been designed for the use of some noble personage, and from the decided style of Greek art visible in the figures, it is inferred that they came to Charlemagne from a sovereign of the Lower Empire, and were not the gift of the Moorish princes of Spain, or even from the Caliph Haroun al Raschid, whose costly gifts to the Emperor of the West are particularly described by German historians.

The old French romances abound with references to the game of chess, in the time of Charlemagne. In one of these, called Guerin de Montglave, the whole story turns upon a game of chess, at which Charlemagne lost his kingdom to Guerin, the latter having proposed a game at which the stake was to be the kingdom of France. Another romance, describing the arrest of Duke Richard of Normandy, says that he was playing at chess with him, saying,-"Aryse up, Duke Rycharde; for in dispite Ivonnet, son of Regnaut, and the officers came up to of Charlemayne, that loveth you so muche, ye shall be hanged now.' "When Duke Rycharde saw that these sergeauntes had him thus by the arm, and helde in his hande a lady (dame) of ivery, where wt he would have given a mate to Yonnet, he withdrew his arme, and gave to one of the sergeauntes such a stroke with it into the forehead that he made him tumble over and over at his feet; and then he took a rooke, (roc,) and smote another

not to risk losing the reputation he had acquired in that body on account of his researches in natural history. He persevered, and in 1796 he vaccinated a child with some matter taken from the hands of a milker; this child was afterwards inoculated for the small-pox, and resisted that disease successfully: he continued his experiments, and in 1798 announced his grand discovery to the world, detailing twenty-three cases of its successful application.

His state of mind, after the first success of his experiments, is thus depicted in his Journal.-He was in the habit of meditating much upon the subject among the meadows adjoining Berkeley Castle.

While the vaccine discovery was progressing, the joy I felt at the prospect before me of being the instrument destined to take away from the world one of its greatest calamities, blended with the fond hope of enjoying independence and domestic peace and happiness, was often so excessive, that in pursuing my favourite subject among the meadows, I have sometimes found myself in a kind of reverie. It is pleasant to me to recollect that these reflections always ended in devout acknowledgments to that Being from whom this and all other mercies flow.

His announcement was received with so much scepticism at first, that no subject could be obtained in London for some months, whereon to demonstrate the experiment. This having at last been satisfactorily accomplished, the practice was soon followed with avidity and precipitation. Mr Cline and other friends urged Jenner to settle in London, assuring him that a large fortune would await him. Attached to the charms of a rural life, and of the most limited desires in point of fortune, he refused. But peace and quiet were no longer to be his portion; from this period all his energies were requir d, not only to defend vaccination from the attacks of interested opponents, but, in a far greater degree, from the exaggerated and indiscriminate view of it taken by many of its supporters. Forgetting the laborious investigations Jenner had gone through, and the rules he had laid down for the adoption of the practice, numbers, believing the operation to be much simpler than it is, by neglecting the requisite precautions, propagated an affection resembling, but less protective than, the true one. A calamitous event of this kind occurred at the Small-pox Hospital, where, by inadvertency, the true vaccine virus became contaminated with small-pox matter, and in this state was distributed over the country and abroad, giving rise to inefficient protection and much disappointment. Dr. Jenner was unceasing in endeavouring to correct these errors, and in spreading correct ideas upon the subject; but in many of his professional rivals he found much evil spirit and bstinacy that disheartened him, and he obtained much more efficient assistance from non-professional persons, especially ladies, who were not too selfsufficient to listen to and follow the instructions of a man who had devoted his life to the inquiry. The repeated blunders which occurred, and the conduct of some who wished to divert all the honour and emolument of the practice to themselves, at last obliged him to repair to the metropolis.

Vaccination extended most rapidly, in that forming a remarkable contrast to the history of inoculation. As early as 1799 the Duke of York, seeing the great importance of the practice, caused its general adoption in the army, and both he and his brother, our late king, were always warm patrons of the practice. By 1801 6000 persons had been vaccinated in England, and most of them tested with the small-pox.

It is remarkable that the practice was received with much more avidity, and much more abundantly employed on the Continent than in the country of its birth. Dr. De Carro most extensively introduced it throughout Germany, and Dr. Sacco, in Italy, in eight years vaccinated himself 600,000 patients, and by deputy 700,000 others. Vaccination was introduced into Russia by the

a num

empress-mother, who presented Jenner with a handsome diamond, and wrote an excellent letter to him. The first child vaccinated was called Vaccinoff, and was pensioned for life. In Sweden and Denmark it was soon adopted, and rendered compulsory, with the happiest effect. Owing to our unfortunate differences with France, the vaccine matter was not introduced into that country until 1800, when it was adopted with enthusiasm. After the practice was introduced into Spain, Dr. Balmis obtained from the queen a commission to extend the blessing to all the Spanish colonies in Asia and America; and a well-appointed expedition, having on board ber of young children, in order to keep up the supply of matter, circumnavigated the globe, not for the purpose of effecting bloody conquests, or introducing among uncivilized nations corrupt manners, but for diffusing the antidote to the greatest bane of those portions of the human race. It was conveyed to the United States in 1799, and thence gradually to the native Indians. Jenner was most anxious to transmit the virus to the East, wherein the small-pox raged with virulence; but failure after failure occurred, until, by the ingenuity of De Carro, it was enclosed in wax balls, and conveyed to Bombay, by way of Constantinople, and quickly diffused over India. The Marquis of Wellesley exerted himself actively in its propagation, and in removing the prejudices which many of the Hindoos felt against it, from its originating with the cow. We will not pursue farther the detail of the progress of vaccination; suffice it to say, that in little more than six years it became diffused over the habitable globe.

The effects of this extensive diffusion were striking and satisfactory. In many countries small-pox was infinitely diminished in frequency and mortality, and in others seemed to be exterminated. Ceylon resembled formerly a deserted place, after an epidemic of smallpox, and Dr. Christie states, that on the most moderate calculation, the small-pox swept off one sixth of the population. After the introduction of the vaccine by the English, in 1800, the mortality from this source became trifling. In Sweden and Denmark, by 1805, it seemed entirely subdued. In the district of Anspach, in Bavaria, out of a population of 300,000, only six deaths from small-pox occurred in 1809, and from thence to 1818 only one; while in the contiguous state of Wurtemburgh, in which the precautions were more lax, the disease raged epidemically in 1814-17. In the epidemic at Berlin, in 1823, only five persons died, while in one prior to the introduction of vaccine, 1600 persons perished.

In concluding this article it may be desirable to present a slight sketch of the present state of vaccination. For several years after its introduction it was believed to be a complete preventive of the small-pox, and Jenner fondly hoped that the disease would by its means become exterminated. Further experience has, however, shown that small-pox does occasionally occur after vaccination, and, although the disease so produced is usually rendered much milder, yet has death even sometimes resulted. The small-pox, too, which for the first ten or twelve years after the introduction of vaccination was much subdued, has of late years broken out again with violence, and although its ravages have been much less extensive than heretofore, and chiefly fallen upon the unprotected, yet has much alarm been thereby excited. It is true that where vaccination has least extended, the disease has raged most; thus, Ireland has suffered from this cause less than England, and portions of this latter country, in which vaccination has been well attended to, have received an entire immunity. So, too, in the army and navy the prevalence of the disease has been very much diminished. Still, in countries, as Sweden, Russia, Italy, Ceylon, in which vaccination had been most effectually practised, and in which the small-pox for a while ceased to appear, that disease has of late recurred and

attacked many of the vaccinated, and such cases are on

the increase.

The reason of, and remedy for, this diminished protective power of the vaccine virus have occupied much attention of late years, both at home and abroad. Its failure has been attributed by some to the deterioration arising from the matter having passed through so many individuals; but the experience of the Vaccine Board and Small-pox Hospital leads to the opinion that the same virus which has passed from person to person to the number of 1500 or 1600, still produces as active and as protective a disease as at first. This would seem to prevent the necessity of again having recourse to the cow, which however has in some instances of late been done with success. Another reason has been sought in the imperfect manner in which the process of vaccination has often been conducted, and the spurious and only partially protective virus thus diffused. This, as anticipated by Jenner, has led to many evils, and it is even said, that no person vaccinated by him has been known thus to suffer; still its influence has been exaggerated, and the small-pox has undoubtedly frequently occurred in persons who have been vaccinated with the greatest care and with the purest virus. The most generally entertained opinion upon the subject is, that the influence of vaccination is only temporary, and that it requires renewal. Many facts are in support of this opinion, and it has been most extensively acted upon on the Continent. It has been attempted, but with little success, to fix the exact period when the influence thus wears out, in order to determine when re-vaccination should be instituted. It would seem, however, that those who have been vaccinated in infancy often re-acquire the susceptibility to small-pox as they approach the period of manhood, and especially when they change the climate to which they have been habituated. The proportion of those in whom vaccination thus loses its influence is not known, but is still very inconsiderable, although on the increase.

In epidemics the small-pox has been found to be resisted by the vaccinated in proportion as they were young, while they became more liable to it as they receded from the period when the operation was performed. So, too, re-vaccination (the success of which has been regarded as evidence of the susceptibility to small-pox being renewed,) has been found to succeed on the adult but not on the child. In the Prussian army 47,000 soldiers were re-vaccinated in 1837, and a full effect resulted in 24,000; not one of these took the smallpox, although it was extensively prevalent. In Wurtemberg 44,248 were re-vaccinated, and only one became affected with the small-pox. In the Grand Duchy of Baden, the small-pox attacked many who had been vaccinated, a decree for universal re-vaccination was issued, and the disease disappeared. Of 216 children re-vaccinated at the Foundling Hospital, only eleven succeeded. At all events, the practice of re-vaccination should be put in force; it is, at least, harmless, and either supplies the valuable information that the protective power of the original vaccination is not worn out, or where this is the case, it renews it.

Even with the qualification that experience has placed upon the degree of benefit to be derived from vaccination, yet it continues one of the greatest boons ever presented to the human race. It must be recollected that the small-pox itself sometimes occurs a second time, as it does also after inoculation; and although, perhaps, it occurs more frequently after even properly performed vaccination, yet the difference is not so great as supposed. But the important fact must be noticed, that while the mortality from the natural small-pox was about twenty-five in the hundred, that where the disease occurs after vaccination, it is but nine. Of the advantages conferred by the practice, the diminished amount of mortality and increased duration of human life testify; thus, while in 1780

the annual mortality was one in forty, in 1821 it was about one in fifty-eight. This is more striking still when applied to children,-the frequent victims heretofore of small-pox. Mr. Edwards states, that prior to the introduction of vaccination, sixty per cent, in London, and forty per cent. in all England died, while, during the twenty years ending with 1830, these numbers have been reduced respectively to thirty and twenty per cent. It is true that the whole improvement cannot be attributed to the diminution of small-pox, but it may be fairly stated, that a large portion of it may, especially as that dreadful disease, even where it did not terminate fatally, laid the seeds for many future maladies. It is a minor, but yet an important consideration, that the amount of personal disfigurement, the loss of eye-sight, &c., fron small-pox have immensely diminished. In Great Britain and Ireland, between 40,000 and 50,000 persons were formerly supposed to perish of small-pox, and, in proportion to the increase of population, that number, but for vaccination, would probably now amount to 80,000. In London, wherein the mortality was usually 2000 or 3000 annually, only 277 died in 1827. Through the neglect of vaccination, small-pox has prevailed severely in Great Britain this last year, the number of deaths for six months amounting to 6000.

There is no probability that the disease will be eradicated, but its virulence may be diminished, and its sphere contracted. This will be best brought about by an extensive system of vaccination. No one who has not examined into the subject can imagine the number of unprotected persons yet in this country. Vaccination, adopted almost universally by the wealthy and educated classes, has been opposed by the ignorance, carelessness, indolence, and prejudices of their poorer brethren. It is not until the scourge arrives among them that it is discovered to how great a degree precautions against it have been neglected. Compulsory vaccination would be contrary to the genius and habits of this country, but facilities should be offered with unbounded liberality; and it is with that view that the Vaccination Bill was introduced into Parliament last session by Lord Ellenborough, and is now part of the law of the land. By it gratuitous vaccination is everywhere offered to the poorer classes of the community; but, for its successful carrying out, the advice and persuasions of their more fortunate neighbours will be required, and will, we are persuaded, not be found wanting. Another provision of this bill is the punishment, as a misdemeanour, of the inoculation for the small-pox. The persistence in this injurious practice has tended much to maintain the disease among us, and its prohibition cannot but be of the greatest service. J. C.

AN IMITATION FROM I. KINGS XIX., 11, 12. HE passed, and his terrors before him were sent, Beneath the strong tempest, the mountains were rent; It crumbled to pieces the rocks as it passed In its strength; but Jehovah was not in the blast. By internal convulsions her terror expressed, The earth the approach of her Maker confessed, In the power of the servant, the Master adored, For the might of the earthquake contained not the Lord. The fire of the Lord from his presence has gone, With the light of his coming the firmament shone, As the smoke of a furnace, the mountain became, But the Lord, but Jehovah was not in the flame. Where then was Thy presence? The earth is all still, The elements hushed are subdued to Thy will. One still small voice only was heard in that hour, When thy prophet adored thee, and worshipped thy power. F. W. M.

NOTHING can overcome him that is not first overcome by his own imaginations and passions.-BISHOP PATRICK,

VELVET.

VELVET is one of the most beautiful productions of the silk-loom. It has been known in Europe for several centuries; but the secrets of its manufacture were for a long time confined to some of the chief cities of Italy. From this country the French learned the art, and succeeded in improving it. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes⚫ brought numerous French refugees to England, about the year 1685, who settled in Spitalfields, and practised the art of weaving velvet.

The reader is probably aware of the process of plain weaving with the common loom. A large number of threads, forming the length, or warp, of the intended cloth, are wound upon a cylindrical beam or roller, and pass from thence through a harness, composed of moveable parts, called heddles. Each of these heddles receives its portion of the threads of the warp, and is alternately moved up and down, so that the threads of the warp are alternately raised and lowered. Each time the warp is opened by the separation of its alternate threads, a shuttle, containing the woof, or transverse thread, is thrown across it, and this thread, being driven into its place by a frame called a lay, gradually forms by its repeated crossing the material to be woven. In the weaving of velvet, however, in addition to the warp and woof, there is a soft shag, or pile, produced by inserting short pieces of silk-thread, doubled, under the woof, and these stand up in so large a number, and so compactly, as to conceal the interlacings of the warp and woof which are seen in plain weaving. This silky pile imparts to velvet its peculiar softness to the touch, as well as beauty to the eye; but the production of these results depends in great measure upon the uniform evenness of the pile. To insure this latter quality, it is necessary to have all the threads of the pile of equal length, which requires some skill, and much patient attention on the part of the weaver

In weaving velvet, the loom is first prepared as in the ordinary process of plain weaving: another set of threads is then prepared to go in the direction of the threads of the warp, which set is kept distinct from the warp by being stretched diagonally as shown in the figure, which d d

wwwwwwwwww

SECTION, EXHIBITING THe structurE OF VELVET.

At

represents the structure of velvet, and the plan adopted to combine the threads of the woof with the pile. aa, are the threads of the warp, and the dots placed in the loops show the section of the woof threads: at b are the threads intended for the pile, and these threads meet those of the warp in the angle c. The weaver places in this angle a brass wire of the same length as the breadth of the piece of woven stuff, so that all the pile threads are above the wire, and those of the warp below it. By the action of the treadles the alternate threads of the warp are raised, the shuttle is thrown, and passes over the pile threads, and the alternate threads of the warp, which are depressed; the batten is then made to strike up against the woof, the interlacing of the warp and woof is effected, and a loop of the pile thread is formed over the wire as at dd. It is necessary to pass the shuttle thrice between each insertion of the wire: the thread for the first woof is coarser than that employed for the other two, and the action of the batten forces the wire into its proper position. The upper part of this wire has a groove running along it: by means, therefore, of a sharp-edged tool, called a trevat, passed along the groove, the loops dd are divided, the wire is liberated, the pile is formed as at ee, and thus the process of weaving velvet is completed.

The weaver, however, finds it necessary to employ * See Saturday Magazine, vol. xvii., p. 36.

two wires, one of which remains in the texture, while the other is cut out: the reason for this is, that the pile threads may not be liberated and the whole process deranged; but as one wire is secured by the threads of the Woof, the pile threads are prevented from being set at liberty while the loops are being cut. As soon as the wire is liberated from the first loop d, it is again inserted in the angle c; and when it has been secured as before, the wire forming the second loop d in the figure, but now the first loop, is cut out, and so on alternately. At one time the richest velvets were formed of thirty-eight loops to the inch, but this beautiful substance, velvet, has been so much in demand, and persons are willing to pay such high prices for the richest productions, that now as many as fifty-five loops are woven into an inch of velvet. This circunstance will enable the reader to form some idea of the extremely tedious process of velvet-weaving. The wire requires to be inserted and cut out again fifty-five times in the space of an inch, that is, a strip of velvet, one inch broad, and whose length is equal to that of the breadth of the piece. And when we consider that the threads of the woof are of different degrees of fineness, rendering two shuttles necessary, which must be exchanged at frequent but unequal intervals, we can form an estimate of the incessant care and vigilance necessary on the part of the weaver in conducting these various operations. Much caution and dexterity, too, are required in cutting the loops: for however simple the operation of passing a knife along a straight edge may appear, yet this part of the process can only be acquired by long practice; for the smallest deviation from the straight line would injure the appearance of the velvet. The weaver being thus occupied in so many distinct operations in rapid succession, finds his dustrious if at the end of a long day's work he has woven work to increase very slowly, and he has been very ina yard of plain velvet.

It will be seen from what we have stated that the richness of velvet depends upon the number of threads forming the pile: the degrees of richness are accordingly indicated in this way, and the manufacturer speaks of velvet of two, four, or six threads, according to the number of the pile threads inserted. The striped velvet, with which waistcoats are sometimes made, is produced by leaving uncut a number of the pile loops.

The peculiarly rich effect of velvet results from the absorption of the light which falls upon its surface, and hence too arises the sombre effect when much of this substance meets the eye.

A room hung round with black cloth or velvet, and a coffin, on which is shed the light of wax-tapers, is an im pressive spectacle. The light falling upon the cloth or velvet, is absorbed; and the feeling of gloom arises from the circumstance that nothing seems to reflect light. Whereas, in a room, whose sides are covered with mirrors, reflecting the various lights; where music and merry voices mingle in concert, how different is the scene! Even in the absence of human beings, and especially happy and innocent ones, whose presence blesses and enlivens almost every scene, the room yet appears cheerful, in consequence of the abundance of reflected light, the absence or absorption of which, is, in general, attended by a gloomy prospect.-TOMLINSON'S Student's Manual of Natural Philosophy.

It should be impressed on the minds of persons in general that those plants which afford the most efficacious medicine in the hands of the skilful practitioner, are the most dangerous in those of the ignorant, and should therefore never be used as a domestic remedy.-PHILLIPS.

ENDEAVOUR yourself to do good to all men, and never speak evil of them that be absent.-SIR THOMAS SMITH.

LONDON:

JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom.