prohibition, when other games were being interdicted, seems to
have escaped the notice of all writers, and does not harmonize
with the Germans Weber and Van der Linde's theories of 954 A.D.
for the earliest knowledge of chess in its precise form.

NOTE. Alcuin, 735-804, is a name forgotten by all writers in
considering the Charlemagne, Koran, and Princess Irene period
and English probabilities.

NOTE. The Sanskrit translations for the glorious Al Mamun, 813
to 833, those mentioned in the Sikust (980), and for the
enlightened Akbar, 1556 to 1615, seem to have been unknown to
European scholars, who throughout the early and middle ages do
not strike us as having been remarkable for zeal and application.

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The Chinese claims made apparently rather for than by them,
are recorded in the annals of the Asiatic Society as being in
respect of a game called "War Kie," played with 360 pieces, said
to have been invented by Emperor Yao so far back as B.C. 2300,
the next account is of a game called Hsiang Kie, attributed to
Wa Wung B.C. 1122, with 16 pieces on each side, like draughts
with characters written on each so recently as 1866, it was claimed
to be played all over the country. The great dictionary of Arts
and Sciences dedicated to our King in 1727, merely says:

"The Chinese claim to date back their acquaintance with chess
to a very remote period." The Chinese call chess the game of the
Elephant, and say that they had it from the Indians. The