Going into Morphy's bedroom one morning at ten o'clock, whom should I find sitting there but Herr Anderssen? He had arrived by a late train the night previous, and his first visit was to his young challenger, whom he was indeed sorry to find ill in bed, especially as his absence from Breslau was limited to two weeks. Morphy assured him that he should be well enough to play the following week; but Anderssen replied that he should not like to commence a match until Morphy was in a fit state to undergo the fatigue. They then agreed that the match should consist of thirteen games; in other words, he should be victor who first scored seven; and, as neither of them desired any stake but honor, the preliminaries were quickly arranged. From that we got to talking on various subjects, and Anderssen informed us, greatly to our surprise, that the German papers had published a statement to this effect: "Mr. Morphy has finally decided on remaining in Europe until spring, in consequence of the pressing solicitations of his friend, Herr Harrwitz." How we roared!
This was Anderssen's first visit to the French metropolis, and I immediately offered to show him some of the lions. So forth we sallied. He was desirous of going to the Régence; but two hours would elapse before anybody would be there, and in the mean time he could see a few public buildings. The first place I took him to was, of course, the Louvre, and, as it had rained copiously the night before, I walked him across the Place du Carrousel, in order to soil his boots with the mud. Most of his attention was taken up with keeping that portion of his attire clean; but, when that had become no longer possible, his leisure was entirely devoted to sight-seeing. Of course, we could not altogether avoid talking about the main object of his visit; he told me he had only seen a few of Morphy's games, and asked me what was the opinion of the Régence in reference to his style of play. I replied that it was the opposite of what they thought in England and America, characterizing it as sound rather than brilliant; but that there was a reason for this, inasmuch as the French players persisted in playing close openings. He replied, "No wonder; no man would willingly expose himself to Morphy's thundering attacks," [attaques foudroyantes.]
On returning to the Régence, we found Harrwitz, who, by-the-bye, is a fellow-townsman of Anderssen, and they were at the same school together. The latter knew that Harrwitz stated that he beat him the majority of games, and he was most desirous of proving the fallacy of the assertion, and immediately proposed an encounter. This was accepted, and out of six games, played on five different occasions, Anderssen won three, Harrwitz one, and two were drawn. After that, little doubt existed as to which was the stronger player, and when, just before leaving Paris, Anderssen was complimented on this result, he said, "Oh, there is but one Morphy in the world."
On the day of Anderssen's arrival, Morphy told his medical adviser that he must get him well enough to commence the match on the following Monday. The doctor said it all depended upon his feeling sufficiently strong to undergo the fatigue, when his patient replied, that what he feared was a hard battle exhausting him too much to continue the struggle next day. On the doctor's advice, he consented to play the match in the hotel, so as not to undergo the fatigue of moving, and it was arranged that only such as were specially invited should be present, but that the moves should be forwarded every half-hour to the Régence.
The Saturday before the commencement of the match, Harrwitz performed his feat of playing eight blindfold games simultaneously at the rooms of the Cercle, only subscribers of five francs or upwards being admitted. Herr Harrwitz had fixed upon seven o'clock in the evening as the time for commencing; and I, like many others, had advised him to choose an earlier hour, or he would not get through till long past midnight. He replied that he should finish in from four to five hours; "he knew this positively because he had been rehearsing for the occasion;" but the result proved how much he was mistaken, as he did not get through till near sunrise. His antagonists were mainly rook or rook and knight players, Signor Préti, the weakest of Morphy's blindfold opponents, being incomparably the strongest. Herr Anderssen, who was present, assured me that many of the players left pieces en prise, as though designedly, and that, beyond the fact of seeing the boards in his mind's eye, Harrwitz proved nothing by his exertions. The strangest affair in connection with this display is, that although Harrwitz edited a chess column in the Monde Illustré he never gave a single one of his blindfold games, nor would he permit any to be made public.
Mr. Harrwitz was perfectly in his right mind when endeavoring to emulate Paul Morphy. But the folks at the Régence ridiculed what they called aping his superior, and many were the squibs got off at his expense. One, the most popular of all, was as follows:—
"Tu veux singer Morphy, joueur phénoménal;
Jeune imprudent, tu forces ta nature.
En vain tu te poses en original,
Tu n'en es que la caricature."
In plain English prose—"You wish to ape Morphy, the phenomenon; imprudent young man, you strain yourself. It is useless to put yourself forward as an original; you are merely a caricature."—Not complimentary, certainly.
On Monday morning, I got Morphy out of bed for the first time since his illness, and, at noon, assisted him into the room where the match was to come off. No time was lost in getting to work, and, within five minutes of his entering, as many moves had been played. Our hero had first move, and ventured the Evans' gambit, which he lost after seven hours' fighting, and upwards of seventy moves. I noticed that he was restless throughout the contest, which was only to be expected after having been so long in bed, and without nourishment.
Morphy was charmed with Anderssen's defence throughout, and has frequently cited it as an admirably conducted strategy. It proved to him that the Evans' is indubitably a lost game for the first player, if the defence be carefully played; inasmuch as the former can never recover the gambit pawn, and the position supposed to be acquired at the outset, cannot be maintained.