The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 32, June, 1860 by Various
page 57 of 270 (21%)
page 57 of 270 (21%)
|
And when I sawe my fers away,
Alas! I couth no longer play. "Therewith Fortune said,' Checke here, And mate in the mid point of the checkere With a paune errant.' Alas! Full craftier to play she was Than Athalus, that made the game First of the Chesse, so was his name." [Footnote 1: Mediaeval name for the Queen, (originally the Counsellor,)--the strength of the board.] In the early part of the seventeenth century, Thomas Middleton wrote a comedy styled "A Game at Chess," which was acted at the Globe (Shakspeare's) nine times successively. It seems to have been a severe tirade on the religious aspects of the times. The stage directions are significant: for example:--Act I., Scene 1. _Enter severally, in order of the game, the White and Black houses_. Act II., Scene 1. _Enter severally White Queen's Pawnes and Black Queen's Pawnes_. The Prologue is as follows:-- "What of the game called Chesse-play can be made To make a stage-play shall this day be played. First you shall see the men in order set, States, and their Pawnes, when both the sides are met; The houses well distinguished: in the game Some men entrapt, and taken to their shame, Bewarded by their play: and in the close |
|