world, and the King knew not which to admire most, the
ingenuity of the game itself, or that of the minister's demand.

The earliest European work on chess is supposed to be that of
Jacobus de Cessolus, a monk of Picardy, which appeared (it is
said) in 1290 (scheilt swischen 1250-1275 Linde 1-10). His
favourite names are Evil Merodach, King of Babylon and a
philosopher named Xerxes, Massman, 1830, gives Ammelin,
Amilin, Amilon and Selenus, Ibl, Xerxes whose Greek name was
Philometer to whom 597 B.C. has been assigned.

Palamedes and Diomedes of Trojan celebrity, the Lydians of
Herodotus, the Thoth of Plato, the Hermes of the Asiatic Society's
philosopher; in fact nearly every one of the Gods who has in turn
served as the Great Mythological Divinity has been credited with
the discovery of chess.

NOTE. There are few parts of learning so involved in obscurity, as
the history of Pagan idolatry. It may, perhaps, be some
satisfaction to us to think that the ancients themselves knew
even less of the matter than we do; but if so, it furnishes a
strong argument for the necessity of being very cautious in
drawing our conclusions. We believe it may safely be said, that
there is not one among all the fabled deities of antiquity, whom
(if the writers of antiquity may be trusted) it is not possible
to identify with every other--Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Pan,
Hercules, Priapus, Bacchus, Bel, Moloch, Chemosh, Taut, Thoth,
Osiris, Buddha, Vishnou, Siva, all and each of these may be shown
to be one and the same person. And whether we suppose this person
to have been the Sun, or to have been Adam, or Seth, or Enoch,