Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews.
REVIEWS .
All Books intended for Heview should be addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 67 Barbican , E . C . Waifs and Strays , Chiefly from the Chess-Board . By CAPTAIN Huon
A . KENNEDY , Vice-President of the British Chess Association ; late President of the Brighton , Bath , and Bristol Athentoum Chess Clubs . Second Edition , Enlarged . London : W . W . Morgan , 67 Barbican . 187 G .
CHESS Books , as a rule , aro restricted to a sotnowhat narrow circle of readers , but this work of Captain Kennedy ' s is one which , wo imagine , will be most universally popular . It is charmingly written ; the style easy , graceful , chatty ; the matter excellent . There is a largo fund of anecdote scattered throughout its pages , while the hints , if sometimes cynical , show at all events good sound practical common
sense . The work has appeared previously , this being , as tho title shows , a second edition . But there is a considerable amount of new matter , including the papers on " Buckle as a Chess Player , " " Buckle ' s Chess Keferences , " and " Albany de Fonblanque as a Chess Player , " which originally appeared in tho Westminster Papers , and are now published by permission of Mr . Mossop , together with " My
Match at Chess with Horr Springbok , " reprinted from tho American Chess Monthly . The four concluding articles appeared some years since , and have been added , as the author tells us , in order to relievo "The monotony of a naturally dry subject , " a reason which , with all duo respect to Captain Kennedy , hardly holds good , seeing how lively a tone he has adopted throughout the preceding portion of his
work , so that even tho veriest ignoramus in Chess may read , markj learn , and enjoy the Waifs and Strays described herein . However , it matters little what reason is assigned . Here have we the articles , and right glad are we they arc inserted . But to pass to tho contents . The first portion of the book is devoted to " Some Eeminiscences in the life of Augustus Fitzsnob
Esq . " These are various , extend over no inconsiderablo period of time , and are highly amusing . Several people figure in these chapters whose names aro familiar enough to our readers . Thus we have a sketch of the first Napoleon in exile , playing Chess with General Bertrand . Then there is a neat story how Theodore Hook shut up a Mr . Mnlligrub who was eternally spinning yarns . The habitue ' s at
the Divan must be well enough known to those who havo ever interested themselves in the doings of tho Chess World . One anecdote of a certain M . Pion Cofle deserves quotation . In expressing his opinion of a certain member of the Buy Lopez Chess Club , for whom he had conceived a liking , tho jovial Frenchman remarked "He is a very
nice gentleman , Mistare Smeeth , I am so fond of heem ; but ( with a melancholy shake of the head ) I fear ho is bloody fool !"—moaning that Mr . Smith was constitutionally sanguineous , or full of blood . Nor is the anecdote which was told by a Dr . Macwhirter one we feel justified in passing unnoticed . It reads as follows : —
" In the town of Aberdeen there practised a certain writer or attorney , whose roguish practices had acquired for him the unenviable sobriquet of'scoundrel Grant . ' In the same place thore also resided an outspoken old gentleman , Mochrio by name , who was possessed with a mortal antipathy to tho aforesaid Grant . This senior , being a guest at a large dinner party , after the now happily exploded fashion
of the time , was , in his turn , called on to propose a toast when the cloth had been removed . 'Well , gentlemen , ' said the old boy , 'I'll give ye a tost ; hero ' s 'high hanging to scoondrel Grant , ' which was solemnly drunk by the assembled convives . A day or so afterwards Messrs . Mochrie and Grant met iu the street , the latter having been previously made aware , by some kind friend , of the compliment that
had been paid to him at the dinner . Angrily accosting Mr . Mochrie , he said , ' Is it true , sir , that you gave as a toast the other evening , ' high hanging to scoundrel Grant ? ' ' Yes , ' replied the other , ' ye have been rightly informed ; I did give that tost . ' ' Then , sir , ' said Grant in a fury , ' I suppose yon aro prepared to take the
consequences of such a proceeding ? ' ' God bless my heart ! sir , ' answered Mochrie , cocking his eye at the interlocutor with an air of surprise , ' aro ye scoondrel Grant ? ' ' No ! ' roared Grant , * I am not . ' ' Then , ' qnoth tho veteran , deliberately helping himself to a pinch of snuff , ' if ye ' re not scoondrel Grant , I should like to know what ye havo got to do with my tost ?'"
Then follows an account of tho match with Herr Springbok , capitally told , then " A Cursory Chat on Chess , " and then " Chess Chips , " in three parts . These are also freely interspersed with anecdotes , all of which are more or less amusing . Thus of the absorbing power of Chess over the minds of some players , we have the following ludicrous story : —¦
" It happened that two individuals wero intently engaged over a game , one of whom had been prodigally gifted by nature with a nose of uncommon length and proportions . In the anxious examination of a difficult position in tho partic , of which ho had decidedly the worst , this gentleman , in no very placid mood , had thrust tho upper part of his person forward , until his head , and especially his nasal
organ , appeared to predominate over the major part of the board . While in this posture , his opponent remarked with dismay that , evidently unnoticed by its preoccupied owner , there was agglomerated at the end of tho prominent feature aforesaid , a huge pendicle or drop , which , without spoedy abstertiou , threatened to deposit itself amongst tho pieces . He accordingly politely hinted this untoward
state ot matters to his absorbed and testy antagonist . The intimation , however , meeting with no attention , and the case being urgent , he somewhat peremptorily recommended him to blow his nose . ' Blow it yourself , ' at length growled the exasperated proprietor of the Slawkenbergian appendage ; ' I'm sure it ' s nearer you than it is to me !'"
Reviews.
Of the irascibility of some players , several instances are recorded . Lord Stair is cited as not scrupling , occasionally , " to have recourse to the voie du fait , and project a snuffer-tray , or the first thing that comes to his hand . " Carte , tho historian , is also quoted as mentioning that our Henry I ., before he was King , once played a game with
Lonis Le Gros , son of Philip of France . The latter was so exasperated at losing several games , and a good deal of money , that he flung the Chessmen at Henry ' s head , tho latter retaliating with so vigorous an attack on Philip with the board , that , but for timely interference , he would have killed him outright . One instance of this extreme irascibility we quote at length : —
" Many years ago my informant was playing chess with an intimate friend , an old clergyman , who was a deep enthusiast of the game . The chessmen they used were a beautiful new Chinese set , of delicately-carved ivory , which the clergyman had just received as a present from abroad . The contost , which was a long one , had gone against my friend from the beginning , and he was just on the point
of striking his flag , when an unlooked-for oversight , ou the part of his adversary , enabled him to give a peremptory mate . The loser , without uttering a word , precipitately rose from the table , swept all the pieces violently on the floor , and frantically trod them under foot . The poor old gentleman then , after gazing vacantly for a little while on the ruin he had made , sat down in a chair , and wept like a child . "
Similarly , the chapter headed , " A Desultory Ramble with the Chess Men , " contains a number of amusing anecdotes—the one quoted from Sam Slick , of tho Midshipman , at page 143 , though short , being especially so . Then follow the chapters on Buckle nnd de Fonblanque ,
which we referred to at tho beginning , as having originally appeared in the Westminster Papers , aud theu " A Fasciculus of Chess Wrinkles , " tho nature of which may be judged fromjfche three following , selected haphazard * . —
" Although you may esteem it perfectly legitimate and proper for yourself , when a loser , to lament that you are ' playing badly , ' should your opponent attempt the same plea in similar circumstances , reply promptly that you cannot allow him so to disparage his own skill ; that ho has played exceedingly well , but that you have played better . "
" In the moment of victory , fail not , I beseech you , to make your foiled ' opposite' quaff largely of the bitter cup of defeat . This you will do , not for your own gratification , but rather because you ought to consider it a paramount and conscientious duty , to endeavour at all times to impress upon your fellow-man the truthful moral that
' sweet are the uses of adversity . ' Fall back in your chair , then , and regard your vanquished adversary with an easy air of laughing triumph , talking while you do so as if it were a matter of course that you should have beaten him . After this , ' quenching your familiar smile with an austere regard of control , ' proceed to point out , as
lengthily as you can , that his opening was bad , his method of attack altogether unsound , and that , after a certain move , the ruinous consequences of which yon are astonished he did not foresee , his game was irretrievable . Conclude by hinting that perhaps you could afford to render him some odds . Should he wince at all under this
wholesome discipline , and attempt a blustering reply , hear him in silence , letting your countenance simply assume a Pecksniffian smile of commiserating pity—it becomes you to make every compatible allowance for tho mortified feelings of a beaten enemy , reflecting , as you must do , that you yourself cannot always expect to win . "
" Shonld it strike yon that the constitution of your game is in a shaky state , aud likely soon to broak up , abruptly draw out your watch , and declare , with an appearance of much vexation , that you havo a pressing engagement at a certain hour , and that you must
incontinently go , as your time is up . Your antagonist may probably hint that your game is up , as well as your time , in which case indignantly assert ( without particularising on which side ) , that you distinctly see checkmate in a few moves , and then , staying no longer question , make yourself scarce .
Our regret is , that Captain Kennedy has not found room for more of these amusing " wrinkles . " Then comes a brief " Scene in Kies ' s Divan , " and then the papers reprinted from Punc / i . Having thus indicated at some length the character of this work , and having expressed our opinion on the very great merits it
undoubtedly exhibits , we take leave of theso Waifs and Strays , with the single remark that if any of our readers , Chess-players or not , are in want of some pleasant book to pass an odd honr or two , they will do well to read this one of Captain Kennedy ' s . If they cannot extract amusement from it they must be dull indeed .
TENNYSON ' S " IN MEMOIUAM . " —Twice in the course of the present century a great man has made the memory of a comparatively unknown friend gracious , loveable , and lasting . These tributes to dead friendship arc very beautiful . Milton elegises his Lycidas—otherwise long since forgotten . Sholley beautifies oven the beautiful memory of Adonais . Carlyle translates John Sterling from oblivion , and sets
him down m rest with the world ' s immortals . In like manner , bnt in a completer fashion than thorn all , Tennyson has perpetuated the memory of hi 3 friend , Arthur Henry Hallam . It is , for once , a fine and eqnitable adjustment of fate , that the mourner has raised his own best monumont whilst he did but endeavour to bnild that of a dead friend . Tho self-erected memorial of Ozymandias crumbles and
leaves nothing but a fragment and a name ; but the lament of David over Jonathan lives through all these centuries . Sorrow was never so lovely as in tho pages of " In Memoriam . " Any analysis , criticism , or description of the work would be here impossible . It stands alono in literature . There are greater poems in tho world , no doubt , but there is none like it . It is , by itself , a species . — -From Casaell ' s National Portrait Gallery for January .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews.
REVIEWS .
All Books intended for Heview should be addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 67 Barbican , E . C . Waifs and Strays , Chiefly from the Chess-Board . By CAPTAIN Huon
A . KENNEDY , Vice-President of the British Chess Association ; late President of the Brighton , Bath , and Bristol Athentoum Chess Clubs . Second Edition , Enlarged . London : W . W . Morgan , 67 Barbican . 187 G .
CHESS Books , as a rule , aro restricted to a sotnowhat narrow circle of readers , but this work of Captain Kennedy ' s is one which , wo imagine , will be most universally popular . It is charmingly written ; the style easy , graceful , chatty ; the matter excellent . There is a largo fund of anecdote scattered throughout its pages , while the hints , if sometimes cynical , show at all events good sound practical common
sense . The work has appeared previously , this being , as tho title shows , a second edition . But there is a considerable amount of new matter , including the papers on " Buckle as a Chess Player , " " Buckle ' s Chess Keferences , " and " Albany de Fonblanque as a Chess Player , " which originally appeared in tho Westminster Papers , and are now published by permission of Mr . Mossop , together with " My
Match at Chess with Horr Springbok , " reprinted from tho American Chess Monthly . The four concluding articles appeared some years since , and have been added , as the author tells us , in order to relievo "The monotony of a naturally dry subject , " a reason which , with all duo respect to Captain Kennedy , hardly holds good , seeing how lively a tone he has adopted throughout the preceding portion of his
work , so that even tho veriest ignoramus in Chess may read , markj learn , and enjoy the Waifs and Strays described herein . However , it matters little what reason is assigned . Here have we the articles , and right glad are we they arc inserted . But to pass to tho contents . The first portion of the book is devoted to " Some Eeminiscences in the life of Augustus Fitzsnob
Esq . " These are various , extend over no inconsiderablo period of time , and are highly amusing . Several people figure in these chapters whose names aro familiar enough to our readers . Thus we have a sketch of the first Napoleon in exile , playing Chess with General Bertrand . Then there is a neat story how Theodore Hook shut up a Mr . Mnlligrub who was eternally spinning yarns . The habitue ' s at
the Divan must be well enough known to those who havo ever interested themselves in the doings of tho Chess World . One anecdote of a certain M . Pion Cofle deserves quotation . In expressing his opinion of a certain member of the Buy Lopez Chess Club , for whom he had conceived a liking , tho jovial Frenchman remarked "He is a very
nice gentleman , Mistare Smeeth , I am so fond of heem ; but ( with a melancholy shake of the head ) I fear ho is bloody fool !"—moaning that Mr . Smith was constitutionally sanguineous , or full of blood . Nor is the anecdote which was told by a Dr . Macwhirter one we feel justified in passing unnoticed . It reads as follows : —
" In the town of Aberdeen there practised a certain writer or attorney , whose roguish practices had acquired for him the unenviable sobriquet of'scoundrel Grant . ' In the same place thore also resided an outspoken old gentleman , Mochrio by name , who was possessed with a mortal antipathy to tho aforesaid Grant . This senior , being a guest at a large dinner party , after the now happily exploded fashion
of the time , was , in his turn , called on to propose a toast when the cloth had been removed . 'Well , gentlemen , ' said the old boy , 'I'll give ye a tost ; hero ' s 'high hanging to scoondrel Grant , ' which was solemnly drunk by the assembled convives . A day or so afterwards Messrs . Mochrie and Grant met iu the street , the latter having been previously made aware , by some kind friend , of the compliment that
had been paid to him at the dinner . Angrily accosting Mr . Mochrie , he said , ' Is it true , sir , that you gave as a toast the other evening , ' high hanging to scoundrel Grant ? ' ' Yes , ' replied the other , ' ye have been rightly informed ; I did give that tost . ' ' Then , sir , ' said Grant in a fury , ' I suppose yon aro prepared to take the
consequences of such a proceeding ? ' ' God bless my heart ! sir , ' answered Mochrie , cocking his eye at the interlocutor with an air of surprise , ' aro ye scoondrel Grant ? ' ' No ! ' roared Grant , * I am not . ' ' Then , ' qnoth tho veteran , deliberately helping himself to a pinch of snuff , ' if ye ' re not scoondrel Grant , I should like to know what ye havo got to do with my tost ?'"
Then follows an account of tho match with Herr Springbok , capitally told , then " A Cursory Chat on Chess , " and then " Chess Chips , " in three parts . These are also freely interspersed with anecdotes , all of which are more or less amusing . Thus of the absorbing power of Chess over the minds of some players , we have the following ludicrous story : —¦
" It happened that two individuals wero intently engaged over a game , one of whom had been prodigally gifted by nature with a nose of uncommon length and proportions . In the anxious examination of a difficult position in tho partic , of which ho had decidedly the worst , this gentleman , in no very placid mood , had thrust tho upper part of his person forward , until his head , and especially his nasal
organ , appeared to predominate over the major part of the board . While in this posture , his opponent remarked with dismay that , evidently unnoticed by its preoccupied owner , there was agglomerated at the end of tho prominent feature aforesaid , a huge pendicle or drop , which , without spoedy abstertiou , threatened to deposit itself amongst tho pieces . He accordingly politely hinted this untoward
state ot matters to his absorbed and testy antagonist . The intimation , however , meeting with no attention , and the case being urgent , he somewhat peremptorily recommended him to blow his nose . ' Blow it yourself , ' at length growled the exasperated proprietor of the Slawkenbergian appendage ; ' I'm sure it ' s nearer you than it is to me !'"
Reviews.
Of the irascibility of some players , several instances are recorded . Lord Stair is cited as not scrupling , occasionally , " to have recourse to the voie du fait , and project a snuffer-tray , or the first thing that comes to his hand . " Carte , tho historian , is also quoted as mentioning that our Henry I ., before he was King , once played a game with
Lonis Le Gros , son of Philip of France . The latter was so exasperated at losing several games , and a good deal of money , that he flung the Chessmen at Henry ' s head , tho latter retaliating with so vigorous an attack on Philip with the board , that , but for timely interference , he would have killed him outright . One instance of this extreme irascibility we quote at length : —
" Many years ago my informant was playing chess with an intimate friend , an old clergyman , who was a deep enthusiast of the game . The chessmen they used were a beautiful new Chinese set , of delicately-carved ivory , which the clergyman had just received as a present from abroad . The contost , which was a long one , had gone against my friend from the beginning , and he was just on the point
of striking his flag , when an unlooked-for oversight , ou the part of his adversary , enabled him to give a peremptory mate . The loser , without uttering a word , precipitately rose from the table , swept all the pieces violently on the floor , and frantically trod them under foot . The poor old gentleman then , after gazing vacantly for a little while on the ruin he had made , sat down in a chair , and wept like a child . "
Similarly , the chapter headed , " A Desultory Ramble with the Chess Men , " contains a number of amusing anecdotes—the one quoted from Sam Slick , of tho Midshipman , at page 143 , though short , being especially so . Then follow the chapters on Buckle nnd de Fonblanque ,
which we referred to at tho beginning , as having originally appeared in the Westminster Papers , aud theu " A Fasciculus of Chess Wrinkles , " tho nature of which may be judged fromjfche three following , selected haphazard * . —
" Although you may esteem it perfectly legitimate and proper for yourself , when a loser , to lament that you are ' playing badly , ' should your opponent attempt the same plea in similar circumstances , reply promptly that you cannot allow him so to disparage his own skill ; that ho has played exceedingly well , but that you have played better . "
" In the moment of victory , fail not , I beseech you , to make your foiled ' opposite' quaff largely of the bitter cup of defeat . This you will do , not for your own gratification , but rather because you ought to consider it a paramount and conscientious duty , to endeavour at all times to impress upon your fellow-man the truthful moral that
' sweet are the uses of adversity . ' Fall back in your chair , then , and regard your vanquished adversary with an easy air of laughing triumph , talking while you do so as if it were a matter of course that you should have beaten him . After this , ' quenching your familiar smile with an austere regard of control , ' proceed to point out , as
lengthily as you can , that his opening was bad , his method of attack altogether unsound , and that , after a certain move , the ruinous consequences of which yon are astonished he did not foresee , his game was irretrievable . Conclude by hinting that perhaps you could afford to render him some odds . Should he wince at all under this
wholesome discipline , and attempt a blustering reply , hear him in silence , letting your countenance simply assume a Pecksniffian smile of commiserating pity—it becomes you to make every compatible allowance for tho mortified feelings of a beaten enemy , reflecting , as you must do , that you yourself cannot always expect to win . "
" Shonld it strike yon that the constitution of your game is in a shaky state , aud likely soon to broak up , abruptly draw out your watch , and declare , with an appearance of much vexation , that you havo a pressing engagement at a certain hour , and that you must
incontinently go , as your time is up . Your antagonist may probably hint that your game is up , as well as your time , in which case indignantly assert ( without particularising on which side ) , that you distinctly see checkmate in a few moves , and then , staying no longer question , make yourself scarce .
Our regret is , that Captain Kennedy has not found room for more of these amusing " wrinkles . " Then comes a brief " Scene in Kies ' s Divan , " and then the papers reprinted from Punc / i . Having thus indicated at some length the character of this work , and having expressed our opinion on the very great merits it
undoubtedly exhibits , we take leave of theso Waifs and Strays , with the single remark that if any of our readers , Chess-players or not , are in want of some pleasant book to pass an odd honr or two , they will do well to read this one of Captain Kennedy ' s . If they cannot extract amusement from it they must be dull indeed .
TENNYSON ' S " IN MEMOIUAM . " —Twice in the course of the present century a great man has made the memory of a comparatively unknown friend gracious , loveable , and lasting . These tributes to dead friendship arc very beautiful . Milton elegises his Lycidas—otherwise long since forgotten . Sholley beautifies oven the beautiful memory of Adonais . Carlyle translates John Sterling from oblivion , and sets
him down m rest with the world ' s immortals . In like manner , bnt in a completer fashion than thorn all , Tennyson has perpetuated the memory of hi 3 friend , Arthur Henry Hallam . It is , for once , a fine and eqnitable adjustment of fate , that the mourner has raised his own best monumont whilst he did but endeavour to bnild that of a dead friend . Tho self-erected memorial of Ozymandias crumbles and
leaves nothing but a fragment and a name ; but the lament of David over Jonathan lives through all these centuries . Sorrow was never so lovely as in tho pages of " In Memoriam . " Any analysis , criticism , or description of the work would be here impossible . It stands alono in literature . There are greater poems in tho world , no doubt , but there is none like it . It is , by itself , a species . — -From Casaell ' s National Portrait Gallery for January .