ORIGIN OF CHESS.
(To the Editor of the Mirror.)
SIR,—In vol. 3, page 211, of the MIRROR, is an account of the origin of the scientific game of chess, the invention of which, your correspondent F. H. Y. has attributed to a brahmin, named Sissa. But I believe it is entirely a matter of doubt, both as to where, and by whom it was invented; it is evidently of very high antiquity, and if we recur to the original names of the pieces with which it is played, we shall readily be convinced it is of Asiatic original. The honour of inventing it, is contended for by several nations, but principally by the Hindoos, the Chinese, and the Persians. In support of the first, we are told, by Sir William Jones, in the 2nd vol. of his Asiatic Researches, that the game of chess has been immemorably known in Hindostan, by the name of Chaturanga, or the four members of an army, viz. elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers. And yet, the same learned author observes, that no account of the game has hitherto been discovered in the classical writings of the brahmins. Mr. Daines Barrington supposed the Chinese to be the inventers, and in this he is supported by a paper published in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, for 1794, vol. 5, by Mr. Eyles Irwin. It states, that when Mr. Irwin was at Canton, a young mandarin, on seeing the English chess-board, recognised its similarity with that used for a game of their own; and brought his board and equipage for Mr. Irwin's inspection, and soon after gave him a manuscript extract from a book, relating the invention of the Chinese game, called by them chong-he, or the royal game, which it attributed to a Chinese general (about 1,965 years ago) who by its means reconciled his soldiers to passing the winter in quarters in the country of Shensi, the cold and inconvenience of which were likely to have occasioned a mutiny among them. Other writers contend that chess is a game of Persian invention, since scah muth is the Persic term for check-mate; and since the Persians were sedulous in recommending it to their young princes, as a game calculated to instruct kings in the art of war. It has been attributed to Palamedes, who lived during the Trojan war; but it was a game played with pebbles, or cubes, of which he was the inventer. Palamedes was so renowned for his sagacity, that almost every early discovery was ascribed to him. Whether the Greeks or Romans were acquainted with this game is doubtful. Of the three contending nations, the claim of the Persians appears to me to be least eligible, and that of the Chinese the most.
Near Sheffield.
J. M. C-D.