104.
105. The Philosopher's Game.
It was my wish to have subjoined a general outline of the method of playing the game, but the author is so exceedingly obscure in his phraseology, and negligent in his explanations, that I found it impossible to follow him with the least degree of satisfaction. [943] It is, however, certain, that the great object of each player is to take the king from his opponent, because he who succeeds may make his triumph and erect his trophy.
Burton, speaking of this pastime, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, [944] calls it the Philosophy Game, and thinks it "not convenient for students;" to which he adds, "the like I say of Dr. Fulke's Metromachia, and his Ouronomachia, with the rest of those intricate, astrological, and geometrical fictions, for such as are mathematically given, and other curious games." Dr. Fulke was a Cambridge man, and his book was printed at London 1566.