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Title: Game and Playe of the Chesse

Author: active 1288-1322 de Cessolis Jacobus

William Caxton

Editor: William E. A. Axon

Release date: January 1, 2004 [eBook #10672]

Most recently updated: October 28, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10672

Credits: Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Debra Storr and PG Distributed Proofreaders

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GAME AND PLAYE OF THE CHESSE ***

CAXTON'S

GAME AND PLAYE OF THE CHESSE.

1474.

A VERBATIM REPRINT OF THE FIRST EDITION.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

BY

WILLIAM E.A. AXON, M.R.S.L.

"And ther was founde by clerkes full prudent

Of the chesse the play most glorious."

JOHN LYDGATE.

LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK,

62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.

1883.

[Transcribers Note: This is a reprint of Caxton's 1474 original. "Englifh" long s's which look very similar to f's have been transposed to s's for readability; yogh (looks like a mutated 3) has been rendered as a 3; thorn, þ, has been left as such and macrons over letters are given as e.g. [=o]. Otherwise the text has been left as is.

The original punctutation has been preseved. Virgula suspensiva, shown here as / was in common use from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. Often used for short pauses (such as the cæsura in the middle of a line of poetry), but sometimes was used as equivalent to the punctus. '9 represents a superscripted 9 and is an ancestor to the modern apostrophe. It usually indicates the omission of a terminal -us.

A small amount of text in this edition is in Blackletter, which was used in the Caxton original, and these sections have been marked up as such.

The book contains many attractive illustrations copied from the Caxton original and an HTML version exists to give a better representation of this.]

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.

THE GAME OF THE CHESSE.

Dedication to the Duke of Clarence

Prologue to second edition

BOOK I.

The first chapitre is under what kynge this play was founden.

The .ii. chapitre/ who fonde this playe.

The .iii. chapitre/ treteth of. iii. causes why hit was made and founden.

BOOK II.

The seconde traytee treteth of the chesse men/ and conteyneth .v. chapitres.

The first chapitre treteth of the forme of a kynge and of suche thinges as apperteyn to a kynge.

The .ii. chapitre treteth of y'e quene & her forme & maners.

The .iii. chapitre of the forme of the alphins and her offices and maners.

The .iiii. chapitre is of the knygth and of his offices.

The .v. is of the rooks and of their maners and offices.

BOOK III.

The thirde traytee is of the offices of the comyn peple And hath .viii. chapitres.

The first chapitre is of the labourers & tilinge of the erthe.

The .ii. of smythis and other werkes in yron & metall.

The .iii. is of drapers and makers of cloth & notaries.

The .iiii. is of marchantes and chaungers.

The .v. is of phisicyens and cirugiens and apotecaries.

The .vi. is of tauerners and hostelers.

The .vii. is of y'e gardes of the citees & tollers & customers.

The .viii. is of ribauldes disepleyars and currours.

BOOK IV.

The .iiii. traytee is of the meuyng and yssue of them And hath .viii. chapitres.

The first is of the eschequer.

The seconde of the yssue and progression of the kynge.

The thirde of the yssue of the quene. [Transcribers note: Original mislabels 3rd chapter as a second 2nd chapter]

The fourth is of the yssue of the alphyns.

The fifth is of the yssue of the knyghtes.

The sixty chapitre of the yssue of the rooks.

The seuenth is of the meuynge & yssue of the comyn peple.

And the eyght and laste chapitre is of the epilegacion and of the recapitulacion of all these forsaid chapitres.

GLOSSARY

INDEX

INTRODUCTION

editio princeps

Sir Walter Scott in a footnote adds:--"This bibliomaniacal anecdote is literally true; and David Wilson, the author need not tell his brethren of the Roxburghe and Bannatyne Clubs, was a real personage." Mr. Blades, whose iconoclastic temper is not moved to mercy even by this good story, says that although it "looks like a true bibliographical anecdote," its appearance is deceptive, and that "not a single statement is founded on fact."[1]

Jonathan Oldbuck did not venture to estimate the sum that would ransom a copy of the "Game of Chesse," and the world of the bibliomania has moved even since his days, so that prices which seemed fabulous, and were recounted with a sort of awe-struck wonder, have been surpassed in these latter days, and the chances of any successor of "Snuffy Davy" buying a Caxton for two groschen have been greatly reduced.

According to Mr. William Blades, our latest and best authority on the subject, there are but ten copies known of the first edition of the "Chesse" book.[2] There is a perfect copy in the King's Library in the British Museum. This is what ought to be Snuffy Davy's copy. A previous owner--R. Boys--has noted that it cost him 3s. The copy in the Grenville Library has the table and last leaf supplied in facsimile. The copy in the Public Library at Cambridge is defective to the extent of five leaves. The Bodleian copy wants the last leaf. The Duke of Devonshire's copy formerly belonged to Roger Wilbraham, and the first and eighth leaves are supplied in facsimile. The exemplar belonging to the Earl of Pembroke is perfect, "but on weak and stained paper." Earl Spencer's copy is perfect, clean, and unusually large. Mr. H. Cunliffe's copy came from the Alchorne and Inglis Libraries, and wants the first two printed leaves, two near the end, and the last two. Mr. J. Holford's copy is perfect and in its original binding. It was once in the library of Sir Henry Mainwaring of Peover Hall, as his bookplate shows. On a fly-leaf is written, "Ex dono Thomæ Delves, Baronett 1682." The copy belonging to the Rev. Edward Bankes is imperfect, and wants the dedicatory leaf and is slightly wormed.

The book, when complete, consists of eight quaternions or eight leaves folded together and one quinternion or section of five sheets folded together, making in all seventy-four leaves, of which the first and last are blank. The only type used throughout is that styled No. 1 by Mr. Blades. The lines are not spaced out; the longest measure five inches; a full page has thirty-one lines. Without title-page, signatures, numerals, or catch-words. The volume, as already mentioned, begins with a blank leaf, and on the second recto is Caxton's prologue, space being left for a two-line initial, without director. The text begins with a dedication:--"(T)o the right noble/ right excellent & vertuous prince George duc of Clarence Erl of Warwyk and of Salisburye/ grete chamberlayn of Englond & leutenant of Ireland oldest broder of kynge Edward by the grace of god kynge of England and of France/ your most humble servant william Caxton amonge other of your servantes sendes unto yow peas. helthe. Joye and victorye upon your Enemyes/ Right highe puyssant and." The text ends on the seventy-third recto, thus:--"And sende yow thaccomplisshement of your hye noble. Joyous and vertuous desirs Amen:/: Fynysshid the lastday of Marche the yer of our lord god. a. thousand foure honderd and LXXIIII. *. *. *. *." The seventy-fourth leaf is blank.

It is unnecessary to say that this book seldom comes into the market. The recorded sales are very few. In 1682 R. Smith sold a perfect copy for 13s. 2d. In 1773 J. West's copy was bought by George III. for.£32 0s. 6d. Alchorne's imperfect copy was bought by Inglis for £54 12s., and at the sale of his books found a purchaser in Lord Audley for £31 10s., and was again transferred, in 1855, to the possession of Mr. J. Cunliffe for £60 l0s. 0d.[3] Mr. J. Holford's copy was bought at the Mainwaring sale for £101.

The last copy offered for sale was described in one of Mr. Bernard Quaritch's catalogues issued in 1872, and the account given by that veteran bibliopole is well worth reproduction.

CAXTON'S GAME AND PLAY OF CHESS MORALIZED, (translated 1474) FIRST EDITION, folio, 65 LEAVES (of the 72), bound in old ruffia gilt, £400.

[Blackletter: Fynyshid the last day of Marche the yer of our Lord God, a thousande, foure hondred and lcciiiii...]

An extremely large, though somewhat imperfect copy of

THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN ENGLAND, from Caxton's press.

Mr. Blades quotes 9 copies (4 perfect, 5 imperfect), the present is the 10th known copy, and is TALLER than even the Grenville--hitherto the tallest known copy; my copy measures 11-1/8 inch in height by 8 in width, whilst the Grenville copy (also imperfect) is only 11 inches high.

COLLATION of my copy:

[Blackletter: This Booke conteyneth iiii traytees]

1 leaf

[Blackletter: This first chapiter of the first tractate]

1 leaf

[Blackletter: The trouthe for to do Justice right wysly,] etc. to the end

62 leaves

The last leaf with the date:

[Blackletter: In conquerynge his rightful inheritance,]

ending: [Blackletter: fynyshed], etc. 1474

1 leaf

-------------

65 leaves.

My copy wants therefore 7 leaves, the two blank ones being out of question. The imperfections include the first leaf, and two leaves in the second chapitre of the fourth tractate, the end is all right. I should be glad to hear of any IMPERFECT COPY of this work, which would supply me with what I want. In the mean time this precious relic of the Infancy of Printing in England can be feen by BUYERS of Rare books.

See Dibdin's Bibl. Spenc. IV. p. 189.

No copy of this edition has been sold for years; in 1813, Alchorne's copy, wanting first two leaves, the last two leaves and two leaves in the second chapter of the fourth tractate, fetched at Evans', £54. 12s. The value of this class of books has much risen since then, and may now be considered, as ten times greater.

In comparing the first edition of "Caxton's Game of Chess" with the second, one perceives many variations in the spelling. I confider the first edition to be the more interesting, for a variety of reasons:

1. It is the first book printed in England. 2. It is the Editio princeps of the English version. 3. It shows the Art of Printing in its crudest form. 4. It has a Post-script not in the second edition.

Both editions run on together to the passage on the last page of the second edition:

[Blackletter: And a mon that lyvyth in thys world without vertues lyveth not as a man but as a beste.]

[Blackletter: And therefore my right redoubted Lord I pray almighty god to save the Kyng our soverain lord to gyve him grace to yssue as a Kynge tabounde in all vertues/ to be assisted with all other his lordes in such wyse yn his noble royame of England may prospere/ habounde in vertues and yn synne may be eschewid justice kepte/ the royame defended good men rewarded malefactours punyshid the ydle peple to be put to laboure that he wyth the nobles of the royame may regne gloriously.

In conquerynge his rightfull inheritaunce / that verraypeas and charitie may endure in both his royames and that marchandise may have his cours in suche wise that every man eschewe synne/ and encrese in vertuous occupacions / Praynge your good grace to resseyve this lityll and symple book made under the hope and shadow of your noble protection by hym that is your most humble servant in gree and thanke. And I shall praye almighty god for your long lyf & welfare / which he preserve And sende now thaccomplishment of your hye noble joyous and vertuous desirs Amen:|:

Fynysshid the last day of marche the yer of our lord god a. thousand four hondred and lxxiiii. *.:.:.*.]

[Blackletter: Thenne late every man of what condycion he be that redyth or herith this litel book redde. take therby ensaumple to amend hym. Explicit per Caxton.]

[4]

It will be noticed that Mr. Quaritch calls the editio princeps of Caxton's "Game and Play of the Chesse" the first book printed in England. This was the general opinion of bibliographers before the investigations of Mr. Blades. Dibdin, although he seems to have had some doubt, pronounced in favour of that view. Yet it is clearly erroneous. The only materials for judgment are those afforded by the colophon and the prologue to the second edition, with the silent but eloquent testimony of typography. Caxton ends the first edition with the words:--"Fynysshid the last day of Marche the yer of our lord god a thousand four hondred and LXXIIII." The word "fynysshid," as Mr. Blades observes, "has doubtless the same signification here as in the epilogue to the second book of Caxton's translation of the Histories of Troy, 'Begonne in Brugis, contynued in Gaunt and finysshed in Coleyn,' which evidently refers to the translation only. The date, 1475-6, has been affixed, because in the Low Countries at that time the year commenced on Easter-day; this in 1474 fell on April 10th, thus giving, as the day of the conclusion of the translation, 31 March 1475, the same year being the earliest possible period of its appearance as a printed book." Then there is Caxton's own racy account of the circumstances under which the book first appeared:--

"And emong alle other good werkys It is a werke of ryght special recomendacion to enforme and to late vnderstonde wysedom and vertue vnto them that be not lernyd ne can not dyscerne wysedom fro folye Th[=e]ne emonge whom there was an excellent doctour of dyuynyte in the royame of fraunce of the ordre of thospytal of Saynt Johns of Jherusalem which entended the same and hath made a book of the chesse moralysed whiche at suche tyme as I was resident in brudgys in the counte of Flaundres cam into my handes/ whiche whan I had redde and ouerseen/ me semed ful necessarye for to be had in englisshe/ And in eschewyng of ydlenes And to thende that s[=o]me which haue not seen it/ ne [=v]nderstonde frenssh ne latyn J delybered in my self to translate it in to our maternal tonge/ And whan I so had achyeued the sayd translacion/ J dyde doo sette in enprynte a certeyn nombre of theym/ Whiche anone were depesshed and solde wherfore by cause thys sayd book is ful of holsom wysedom and requysyte vnto euery astate and degree/ J haue purposed to enprynte it/ shewyng therin the figures of suche persons as longen to the playe."

[5]

The second edition is undoubtedly the work of our first English printer. "Explicit per Caxton" is the unambiguous statement of the colophon. It is a much more advanced specimen of typography than the first edition. It has signatures, of which a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, are quaternions, k and l are terternions, making in all eighty-four leaves, of which the first is blank. There is no title-page, and the type used is that which Mr. Blades reckons as No. 2*. The lines are spaced out to an even length. There are twenty-nine lines to a full page, and the full line measures 4-7/8 inches. The prologue begins on a ij., and the table of chapters begins on the next page. The text begins on the recto of a iii. The text ends on the recto of l 6, the last page being blank. There are sixteen woodcuts in the volume, which are used twenty-four times. There has been some diversity of opinion as to the year in which this "Game of the Chesse" came from the press of Caxton. The book is not dated. Dibdin thought it one of the printer's earliest efforts. Figgins regarded it as the earliest issue of the Westminster press, and further believed that it was printed from cut metal types. This is not the view of Mr. Blades, who says: "An examination of the work, however, with a typographical eye does not afford a single evidence of very early workmanship. All Caxton's early books were uneven in the length of their lines--this is quite even. Not one of the early works had any signatures--this is signed throughout. These two features alone are quite sufficient to fix its date of impression at least as late as 1480, when Caxton first began the use of signatures; but when we find that every known copy of this edition of the 'Chess-Book' presents a thicker and more worn appearance than any one copy of any other book, there is good reason for supposing that this may have followed the 'Tulli' of 1481, and have been the last book for which Type No. 2* was used."[6]

Mr. Blades describes nine known copies, so that even fewer exemplars remain of the second edition than of its predecessor. The copy in the King's Library in the British Museum is imperfect, wanting several leaves, and is mended in many places. The copy in the Pepysian Collection at Cambridge wants one-half of the last leaf. Trinity College, Cambridge, has a perfect copy, "but a bad impression." The Bodleian copy is defective in not having the last leaf. St. John's College, Oxford, has a copy, from which one-half of d iii. has been torn away. The Imperial Library at Vienna has an imperfect copy. The Duke of Devonshire's copy is perfect, but it is "a poor impression, and slightly stained." The Earl of Pembroke's copy is very imperfect. Earl Spencer's is only slightly imperfect. The prices fetched by the second edition have a sufficiently wide range. In 1698, at Dr. Bernard's sale, a copy fold for 1s. 6d. Farmer's copy in 1798 fetched £4 4s. Ratcliffe's copy was bought at his sale for £16 by Willett; and when his books came to the hammer in 1813, it was purchased by the Duke of Devonshire for £173 5s.[7] It is interesting to know that the copy of the second edition in the Bibliotheca Spenceriana formerly belonged to Laurence Sterne, who bought it for a few shillings at York![8]

In the present reprint, the text followed is that of the first edition, transcribed from the copy in the British Museum; but the variations, alterations, and additions made in the second issue are all recorded in footnotes. The reader has, therefore, before him the work in all its fulness. The same reasons that have led to the adoption of this course have also decided the publisher to include facsimiles of the curious woodcuts which appeared in the second edition. These, although necessarily reductions in size, reproduce the quaint vigour of the originals.

Caxton, we have seen, translated the "Game of the Chesse" from the French. There were in effect two, if not three, from which he may have taken his version. One of these is by Jean Faron, Perron, or Feron (as the name is variously spelled), a monk of the order of St. Dominic, of whom the notices are exceedingly scanty.[9] La Croix du Maine styles him "de l'Ordre des Frères Prescheurs ou Jacobins du Paris." La Monnaye says that the translation was made from the Latin of Cessoles, and was begun in the year 1347. It has not been printed.[10] The translation is considered a literal version of the Latin of Cessoles.

The prologue of Perron's version is as follows:--"Chy ensuit le geu des Eschas moralisé, ouquel a plusiers exemples bien à noter. A noblehomme, Bertrand de Tarascon, frere Jehan Perron, de l'ordre des Freres precheurs de Paris, son petil et humble chappelain soy tout. Le Sainte Escripture dit que Dieux a fait a chascun commandement de pourchassier à tous nos prochains leur sauvement. Or est-il ainsi que nos prochains ne sont pas tout un, ains sont de diverses condicions, estas et manieres, sy comme il appert. Car les uns sont nobles; les aultres non: les aultres sont de cler engin; les aultres, non: les aultres sont enclins a devocion; les aultres, non. Et pour ce, affin que le commandement de Dieu soit mis à execution bien convenablement, il convient avoir plusiers voyes et baillier à chascun ce qui lui est plus convenable; et ainsi pourroit il le commandement de Dieu accomplir; .... Pour tant je, vostre petit chappelain, à vostre requeste, que je tieng pour commendement, vous ai volu translata de latin en français le Gieu des Eschas moralisé, que fist l'un de nos freres, appelé frere Jaques de Cossoles, maistre en divinité, si que vous l'entendés plus legierrement; et à exemple des nobles hystoires qui y sont notteés, veuillés maintenir, quant à vous, honnestement, et quant aux autres justement.... Or prenés done ce petit present, comencié le 4'e jour de May, l'an 1347."[11]

That Caxton made use of Perron's version is clear. Thus Mr. Blades mentions the description of Evilmerodach as "un homme joly sans justice" as peculiar to Ferron, whose version he regards as the basis of the first and third chapters of Caxton's work.

Dr. Van der Linde mentions a number of MSS.; in some the date is given as 1357, and in one as 1317. This version remains unprinted, but there are MSS. of it in the Bibliotheque Nationale, at Aosta, Cambrai, at Brussels, in the British Museum, Chartres, at Bern, and at Stockholm.[12]

Dr. Van der Linde also describes a MS. on parchment of the fifteenth century, forming part of the national library at Paris, which contains the Game of Chess in verse.

"Mès si d'esbat te prent tallant,

Pren ton esbat déuement;

Mès si à jouer vieulx attendre,

Un noble jou te faulte attendre,

C'est des echecs qui est licite

Et à touz bien les gens incite."

The author has concealed his name with an ingenuity that has so far defied penetration.

"Nommez mon nom et mon surnom,

Je ey escript tout environ,

A vingt et dous lettres sans plus,

Sera trouvé cy au dessus

En enscript, et sans plus ne moins."

On this it is only necesiary to quote the remarks of a French critic:--"Ou ne nous dit pas si c'est dans la suite même de la phrase, ou seulement en acrosticke, que se trouvent les vingt-deux lettres de ces nom mystérieux. Nous ne saurions former aucun nom avec les initiales des trente vers qui précèdent ceux que nous venons de citer; et le merite de l'ouvrage ne nous encourage pas à faire des longues recherches pour découvrir un nom que l'auteur a pris plaisir à nous cacher."[13]

The bulk of Caxton's work is undoubtedly from the French translation of Jehan de Vignay, whose dedication to Prince John of France has simply been transformed into a similar address to the Duke of Clarence. He styles De Vignay "an excellent doctor of the order of the Hospital of St. John's of Jerusalem." This is the only authority we have for supposing De Vignay to be connected with that order. He styles himself "hospitaller de l'ordre de haut pas," which was situated in the Faubourg St. Jacques of Paris. It is curious that two members of the same order--for Ferron was also a Jacobin--should independently have occupied themselves with the same work. The version by De Vignay was probably the later of the two, and it was also the most popular, for whilst Ferron's is still unprinted, that of De Vignay has been frequently re-issued from the press. The work is dedicated to Jean de France, Duc de Normandie, who became king in 1350. It will be seen from this that these two French versions were practically contemporaneous.

The prologue to the book is as follows:--"A Tres noble & excellent prince Jehan de france duc de normendie & auisne filz de philipe par le grace de dieu Roy de france. Frere Jehan de vignay vostre petit Religieux entre les autres de vostre seignorie/ paix sante Joie & victoire sur vos ennemis. Treschier & redoubte seign'r/ pour ce que Jay entendu et scay que vous veez & ouez volentiers choses proffitables & honestes et qui tendent alinformacion de bonne meur ay Je mis vn petit liuret de latin en francois le quel mest venuz a la main nouuellement/ ou quel plussieurs auctoritez et dis de docteurs & de philosophes & de poetes & des anciens sages/ sont Racontez & sont appliquiez a la moralite des nobles hommes et des gens de peuple selon le gieu des eschez le quel liure Tres puissant et tres redoubte seigneur jay fait ou nom & soubz vmbre de vous pour laquelle chose treschr seign'r Je vous suppli & requier de bonne voulente de cuer que il vo daigne plaire a receuvoir ce liure en gre aussi bien que de vn greign'r maistre de moy/ car la tres bonne voulente que Jay de mielx faire se je pouoie me doit estre reputee pour le fait/ Et po'r plus clerement proceder en ceste ouure/ Jay ordene que les chappitres du liure soient escrips & mis au commencement afin de veoir plus plainement la matiere de quoy le dit liure pole."[14]

It will be seen that this is the foundation of Caxton's dedication of the Chess-book to the Earl of Warwick. The "Golden Legend," printed by Caxton in 1484, was in effect a translation from "La Legende Dorée," made before the year 1380 by Jehan de Vignay, who in his prologue mentions that he had previously translated into French "Le miroir des hystoires du monde," at the request of "Ma dame Jehanne de Borgoigne, royne de France."[15] This preface Caxton, as usual, adopted with some changes of name and other alterations, amongst which is a reference to "the book of the chesse" as one of his works. The "Legenda Aurea" of Jacobus de Voragine is, of course, the original source of De Vignay's "Legende Dorée," and Caxton's "Golden Legend."

Ferron and de Vignay were avowedly translators. Their original was Jacques de Cessoles. The name of this author has been tortured into so many fantastic forms that one may almost despair of recovering the original. Cæsolis, Cassalis, Castulis, Casulis, Cesolis, Cessole, Cessulis, Cesulis, Cezoli, de Cezolis, de Cossoles, de Courcelles, Sesselis, Tessalis, Tessellis, de Thessolus, de Thessolonia, and de Thessolonica are different manners of spelling his surname, and the two last are certainly masterpieces of transformation. Prosper Marchand has amused himself by collecting some vain speculations of previous writers as to the age, country, and personality of Jacques de Cessoles. Some counted him a Lombard, some an Italian, whilst others again boldly asserted that he was a Greek!

He lived towards the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century, and having joined the Dominican order, was a "Maître en Théologie" of that brotherhood at Reims. Various works are attributed to him, and his learning and piety had many eulogists.

It is more than probable that his name would have been much less widely known but for the happy accident that turned his attention to the game of chess. It was a popular diversion, and in the moralizing spirit of the age he saw in it an allegory of the various components of the commonwealth. The men who were merely killing time were perhaps flattered at the thought that they were at the same time learning the modes of statecraft. Then, as now, the teachers of morality felt that a song might reach him who a sermon flies, and they did not scruple to use in the pulpit whatever aids came handy. The popular stories, wise saws, and modern instances, were common enough on the lips of the preachers, and such collections as the "Gesta Romanorum show what a pitch of ingenuity in unnatural interpretation they had reached. An appropriate instance is furnished by it in the following quaint fashion of moralizing the chess play:--

"Antonius was a wys emperour regnyng in the cite of Rome, the which vsid moche to pley with houndis; and aftir þat pley, all þe day aftir he wolde vse þe chesse. So yn a day, as he pleide at þe chesse, & byheld the kyng fette yn the pley, som tyme hy and som tyme lowe, among aufyns and pownys, he thought þerwith þat hit wold be so with him, for he shuld dey, and be hid vndir erth. And þerfore he devided his Reame in thre parties; and he yaf oo part to þe kyng of Ierusalem; þe secunde part vnto þe lordis of his Reame or his empire; and the thrid partie vnto the pore people; & yede him self vnto the holy londe, and ther he endid his lyf in peas.

MORALITE.

Seth now, good sirs; this emperour, þat lovith so wele play, may be called eche worldly man þat occupieth him in vanytes of the world; but he moste take kepe of the pley of the chesse, as did the emperoure. the chekir or þe chesse hath viij. poyntes in eche partie. In euery pley beth viij. kyndes of men, scil. man, woman, wedewer, wedowis, lewid men, clerkes, riche men, and pouere men. at this pley pleieth vj. men. the first man, þat goth afore, hath not but oo poynt, but whenne he goth aside, he takith anoþer; so by a pouere man; he hath not, but when he comyth to þe deth with pacience, þen shall he be a kyng in heuen, with þe kyng of pore men. But if he grucche ayenst his neighbour of his stat, and be a thef, and ravissh þat wher he may, þen he is ytake, and put in to the preson of helle. The secund, fcil. alphyn, renneth iij. poyntes both vpward and douneward; [he] betokenyth wise men, the whiche by deceyuable eloquence & takyng of money deceyueth, & so he is made oonly. The iij. scil. þe kny3t, hath iij. poyntes, & goth þerwith; [he] betokenyth gentilmen þat rennyth aboute, & ravisshith, and ioyeth for her kynrede, & for habundaunce of richesse. The fourth, scil. þe rook, he holdith length & brede, and takith vp what so is in his way; he betokenyth okerers and false merchaunt3, þat rennyth aboute ouer all, for wynnyng & lucre, & rechith not how thei geten, so that thei haue hit. The fifthe is þe quene, that goth fro blak to blak, or fro white to white, and is yset befide þe kyng, and is ytake fro the kyng. This quene bytokenyth virgyns and damesels, þat goth fro chastite to synne, and beth ytake by the devill, for glovis or such maner yiftis. The vj. is to whom all owe to obey and mynystre; and he goth forth, and bakward ayen, & in either side, & takith ouer all; so sone discendith in to þe world, and ascendith to god by praiers; But when he takith [no] kepe of god, and hath no meyne, þan is hit to þe man chekmate. And þerfore let vs not charge of oure estatis, no more þan is with þe men, when þei be put vp in þe poket; then hit is no charge who be above or who be byneth; and so by the Spirit of loulynesse we may come to þe ioy of heven. And þat graunt vs, qui viuit &c."

[16]

The difficulties in the way of forming any clear conception as to the life and personality of Cessoles, Ferron, and De Vignay are well shown in an article by M.C. Leber.[17] Dr. Ernst Köpke, who has reexamined the evidences as to Cessoles, holds that he was a Lombard.[18]

The chief source from which Cessoles took his material was the treatise "De Regimine Principum" of Egidius Romanus.

He was of the great Neapolitan family of the Colonna, and his Christian name appears to have been Guido, but his designations have undergone some curious transformations. Born at Rome, 22nd Sept., 1216, Guido Colonna went at an early age to Paris, where, from the name of his birthplace, he became known as Ægidius Romanus, with the French form of Gilles de Rome. He was an ardent and enthusiastic disciple of St. Thomas Aquinas, and his familiarity with that great doctor of the Church led him to desire admission to the Dominican order, but a difficulty intervened from the circumstance that he had already contracted ties which bound him to the order of St. Augustine. To this untoward accident may probably be attributed no little of the extension of the philosophical doctrine of Aquinas; for Colonna, unable or unwilling to be relieved of the vows that bound him to the Augustinians, preached eagerly amongst them the Thomist speculations of his friend and master. In the controversy with the Franciscans, those whom he had indoctrinated were valuable allies to the Thomists, for their aid, coming from an independent organization, appeared to carry the weight of impartiality, and to be unassailable on the plea of partisan interest. In the year 1287 there was a general convocation of the order of St. Augustine at Florence, and at this assembly it was decreed that the doctors of the order should teach in conformity with the decisions arrived at by Colonna. To him is largely due the success of the Thomist scheme, of which he was an able, persistent, and vigorous exponent. Many tracts by him remain in print and MS. on these subjects. The fame he had thus acquired gained him the name of doctor fundamentarius and doctor fundatissimus. His lectures at Paris attracted to him the attention of Philippe le Hardi, who thought him a fitting person to be entrusted with the education of his son, who was afterwards known to hiftory as Philippe le Bel. It was whilst occupied with this royal youth that the thought of composing or compiling--and the terms were in practice interchangeable in those days--occurred, and the result was the treatise "De regimine Principum libri iii." Philippe le Hardi, if not an educated man himself--and there are doubts as to whether he could write his own name--was laudably anxious that his heir should have the best instruction that could be obtained. It cannot well be claimed that the able, handsome, and unscrupulous Philippe was any great credit to his preceptor. The despotic and perfidious character of the king probably owed more to the influence of Nogaret and other defenders of the "right divine of kings to govern wrong," than to the soberer precepts of Colonna. That Philippe had some tincture of literary feeling may be inferred from his employment of Jehan de Meung to translate the military treatise of Vegetius Flavius Renatus, a compilation of the second century of the present era, which was so popular in the middle ages that it was translated by Caxton into English. Still better evidence is the translation made for the king by the same poet of Boethius, whose stoical philosophy must have had a special appropriateness for those times of political storm and stress, when the fickleness of fortune must have been a matter of only too common repute. Guido Colonna was elected by his admiring brethren the general of the order in 1292, and took up his residence at Bourges, its metropolitan seat.

In this honourable office he continued his literary labours, and to this period are assigned the greater part of his numerous works. He died at Avignon in 1316. His body was translated to Paris, where his effigy in black marble, with his epitaph, remained until the French revolution.[19] It would be superfluous to enumerate his philosophical writings, for they would have no interest in the present day. His commentary on Aristotle "De Anima," it may be observed, was dedicated to Edward I. His name is now chiefly remembered because his work on the rule of princes formed the basis of the treatise in which Jacques de Cessoles moralized the fashionable game of the chess.

One interesting instance of the popularity of Colonna's work is the translation of it made into English verse by Thomas Occleve.[20] He wrote it in 1411 or 1412, and its object was to obtain the payment of an annuity from the exchequer which had been granted to him, but the payment of which was very irregular. The book was dedicated to the Prince of Wales. After mentioning his purpose to translate from the (apocryphal) letter of Aristotle to Alexander and "Gyles of Regement of Prynces," he proceeds:--

"There is a booke, Jacob de Cessoles,

Of the ordre of Prechours, made, a worthy man,

That the Chesse moralisede clepede is,

In whiche I purpose eke to labour ywis

And here and there, as that my litelle witte

Afforthe may, I thynke translate it.

And al be it that in that place square

Of the lystes, I meane the eschekere,

A man may learn to be wise and ware;

I that have avanturede many a yere,

My witte therein is but litelle the nere,

Save that somewhat I know a Kynges draught,

Of other draughts lernede have I naught."--(p. 77.)

"In those days," says Warton, "ecclesiastics and schoolmen presumed to dictate to kings and to give rules for administering states, drawn from the narrow circle of speculation, and conceived amid the pedantries of a cloister. It was probably recommended to Occleve's notice by having been translated into English by John Trevisa, a celebrated translator about the year 1390.[21]

Having thus traced the stream back to its fountain, we return to Caxton. The story of his life has been told by Mr. Blades, and only the most essential facts of his busy and useful career need be recapitulated here. He was born in the Weald of Kent, and it has been conjectured that the manor of Caustons, near Hadlow, was the original home of the family. He was apprenticed to Alderman Robert Large, a mercer, who was afterwards Lord Mayor. The entry in the books of the Mercers' Company leads to the inference that Caxton was born about 1422. Probably on the death of Large, in 1441, Caxton went abroad, for he tells us that in 1471 he had been resident outside England for thirty years. About 1462 or 1463 he was Governor of the English Nation or Merchant Adventurers at Bruges. This was a position of great influence, and it is thought to have enabled the loyal mercer to give good service to Edward IV., who was an exile in 1470. Caxton's marriage was not much later than 1469, and it is conjectured that this led him to enter the service of the Duchess of Burgundy. She had literary tastes, and at her request he translated the "Recuyell des Histoires de Troyes" of Raoul Le Fevre. It was the demand for copies of this that exhausted Caxton's calligraphic patience, and led to his employment of a printer. The incident may have been casual, but it led to great results. It has been said that he learned the printers' art at Cologne, but Mr. Blades supposes that he entered its mystery at Bruges under Colard Mansion, with whom he appears to have had some partnership. Probably towards the end of 1476 Caxton returned to England. He had the favour of Edward IV. and of his sister, Duchess of Burgundy, and the friendship of the King's brother-in-law, Earl Rivers. Ninety-nine distinct productions issued from Caxton's press, he was printer, publisher, translator, and something of author as well. He set in good earnest about the work that is still going on--of making the best accessible literature widely and commonly known. This useful career was only ended by his death. The exact date is not known, but it was probably late in 1491. He left a married daughter. Caxton was a good business man. He was also a sincere lover of literature, and he was at his favourite work of translation only a few hours before the final summons came.

The quality of Caxton as a translator is not a matter of much doubt. It may be that the archaic forms give an additional flavour to his style, since they present few difficulties to the modern reader, and yet sound like echoes from the earlier periods of the language. Generally he is content to follow his author with almost plodding fidelity, but occasionally he makes additions which are eminently characteristic. His author having remarked:--"Il nest an Jour Duy nulle chose qui tant grieue Rome ne ytalie com~e fait le college Des notaires publiques Car ilz ne sont mie en accort ensemble"--Caxton improves the passage thus:--

"For ther is no thynge at this day that so moche greueth rome and Italye as doth the college of notaries and aduocates publicque. For they ben not of oon a corde/ Alas and in Engeland what hurte doon the aduocats. men of law. And attorneyes of court to the comyn peple of y'e royame as well in the spirituell lawe as in the temporall/ how torne they the lawe and statutes at their pleasir/ how ete they the peple/ how enpouere they the comynte/ I suppose that in alle Cristendom ar not so many pletars attorneys and men of the lawe as ben in englond onely/ for yf they were nombrid all that lange to the courtes of the channcery kinges benche. comyn place. cheker. ressayt and helle And the bagge berars of the same/ hit shold amounte to a grete multitude And how alle thyse lyue & of whome. yf hit shold be vttrid & told/ hit shold not be beleuyd. For they entende to theyr synguler wele and prouffyt and not to the comyn/"

"Alas what haboundance was some tymes in the royames. And what prosþite/ In whiche was Iustice/ And euery man in his office contente/ how stood the cytees that tyme in worship and renome/ how was renomed the noble royame of Englond Alle the world dredde hit And spack worship of hit/ how hit now standeth and in what haboundance I reporte me to them that knowe hit yf ther ben theeuis wyth in the royame or on the see/ they knowe that laboure in the royame And sayle on the see I wote well the same is grete therof I pray god saue that noble royame And sende good true and politicque counceyllours to the gouernours of the same &c./"

"And therfore my ryght redoubted lord I pray almighty god to saue the kyng our souerain lord & to gyue hym grace to yssue as a kynge & tabounde in all vertues/ & to be assisted with all other his lordes in such wyse y't his noble royame of Englond may prospere & habounde in vertues/ and y't synne may be eschewid iuftice kepte/ the royame defended good men rewarded malefactours punysshid & the ydle peple to be put to laboure that he wyth the nobles of the royame may regne gloriously In conquerynge his rightfull enheritaunce/ that verray peas and charite may endure in bothe his royames/ and that marchandise may haue his cours in suche wise that euery man eschewe synne/ and encrece in vertuous occupacions/ Praynge your good grace to resseyue this lityll and symple book made vnder the hope and shadowe of your noble protection by hym that is your most humble seruant/ in gree and thanke And I shall praye almighty god for your longe lyf & welfare/ whiche he preferue And sende yow thaccomplisshement of your hye noble. Ioyous and vertuous desirs Amen:/: Fynysshid the last day of marche the yer of our lord god. a. thousand foure honderd and lxxiiii"

"Thenne late euery man of what condycion he be that redyth or herith this litel book redde take therby ensaumple to amend hym.

Explicit per Caxton."

The bibliography of the editions, translations, and imitations of Cessoles is long and intricate. Details of MSS. have not been thought necessary. They have been amply described by Dr. Van der Linde. The treatise on the rule of princes of Colonna has been taken as furnishing the matter which Jacques de Cessoles afterwards re-arranged under the attractive form of a description of the game of chess. The editions of the Latin text are followed by particulars of the translations into French, English, Spanish, Italian, and other languages. Each title has appended the name of the bibliographer on whose authority it is given.

These are as follows:--

Hain.--Repertorium Bibliographicum ... opera Ludovici Hain. Stuttgart, 1826.

Ebert.--A General Bibliographical Dictionary, from the German of Frederic Adolphus Ebert. Oxford, 1837. 4 vols.

Græsse.--Trésor de Livres rares et précieux: par Jean George Théodore Græsse. Dresde, 1859-67. 6 vols.

Brunet.--Manuel du Libraire par Jacques-Charles Brunei. Paris, 1860.

Linde.--Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels von Antonius van der Linde. Berlin, 1874.

Das erste Jartausend der Schachlitteratur (850-1880) zusammengestellt von Dr. A.v.d. Linde. Berlin, 1881.

Dr. van der Linde's work is so complete that, for the most part, it has been thought sufficient to give his name, even when older authorities have been consulted.

COLONNA.

antè

Ægidius Romanus de regimine principum L. III. s. l. 1473. Folio.

This Ebert and Græsse conjecture to have been printed by G. Zainer. They describe it as the first edition of a work frequently reprinted, and say that the last edition appeared at Lugd. Batav. in 1643, and had on the title-page the name of St. Thomas Aquinas as author. Hain mentions editions at Rome--Stephanum Plannck, 1482, folio; Venetiis, 1498.

(French translation.)

Miroir exemplaire, selon la compilation du Gilles de Rome du regime et gouvernement des rois etc. (by Henri de Gauchy or de Gauchay) et avec est compris le secret de Aristote appellé le secret des secrets, et les noms des rois de France com bien de temps ils out regné. Paris, 1517. Folio.

(Græsse.)

This was printed by Guillaum Eustace: "On les v=et au palais au Tiers pillier Et a la me neufue nostre dame a lenseigne de Lagnus dei" (Brunef). Ebert mentions a French translation as having been printed at Paris, in 1497; but Brunet, in the article on Aristotle, gives a somewhat minute account of the book, to show that it is not that of Colonna.

(Spanish translation.)

Regimi[=e]to de los principes sechs y ordenado par Don fray Gil de Roma de la orden de s[=a]t Augustin. E fizolo trasladar de latín en rom[=a]ce do Bernardo obispo de osma etc. Suilla--a espenses de Mæstre Conrado aleman. & Melchior gurrizo, mercadores de libros, fue impresso per Meynardo Ungut alememo: & Stanislas Polono compañeros. Acabaron se a veynte dias del mes de octubre Año del señor de Mill & quarto cientos & nouenta & quarto [1494] folio.

(Hain, Brunet, Græffe.)

Ebert notes that there was an edition under the name of Th. Aquino at Madrid, 1625, 4to.

(Catalan translation.)

Regiment des Princeps. Barcelona per Mestre Nicolau Spindaler emprentador. 1480. Folio.

(Græffe.)

Regiment del Princeps. Barcelona per Johan Luchner. 1498. Fol.

(Brunei, Græffe.)

(Italian translation.)

Ebert mentions an Italian version by Val. Averoni. Firenze, 1577, 8vo.

(Græffe.)

(English translation.)

De regimine Principum, a poem by Thomas Occleve, written in the reign of Henry IV. Edited for the first time by Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., &c. Printed for the Roxburghe Club. London, J.B. Nichols. 1860. 4to.

(See antè, p. xxxii., for notice of another Early English version.)

CESSOLES.

antè

Incipit solati[=u] ludi schacor. Scilicz regiminis ac morum nominu= et officium viror' nobili[=u] quor' si quis formas menti impresserit bellum ipsum et ludi virtutem cordi faciliter poterit optinere. (E)Go frater iacobus de thessolonia multor' fratru= &c. Ends: Explicit folaci[=u] ludi schacor'. Folio. 40 leaves.

There is neither date, place, nor printer's name given; but it is considered to have been the work of Nic. Ketelær and Ger. de Leempt, at Utrecht (Ultrajectus), about 1473.

(Linde, Græsse.)

Incipit libellus de ludo Scaccorum, et de dictis factisque nobilium virorum, philosophorum et antiquorum. Explicit tabula super ludum Scacchorum. Deo gratias. 4to. 29 leaves. Sign. A--H.

This is in black letter, and has neither date nor place.

(Linde.)

Incipit libelles de ludo Schaccorum.... Explicit doctrina vel morum informatio, accepta de modo et ordine Ludi Schaccorum. 4to.

(Linde.)

Incipit liber quem composuit frater. Jacobus' de cessolis ordinis fratr[=u] predicatorum qui intitulatur liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium super ludo scacorum. Impressum Mediolani ad impensas Paulini de suardis Anno a natali christiano. MCCCCLXXviiij. die xxiij. Mensis augusti. Folio. 24 leaves.

(Linde, Græsse.)

Jacobi de Cessolis Ord. Præd. Informatio morum, excerpta ex modo et ratione ludi Scacchorum; sive de moribus hominum officiisque nobilium et super eo commentarius. Mediolani. 1497. Folio.

(Linde, Græsse.)

Tractatus de Scachis mistice interpretatus de moribus per singulos homin[=u] status. 4to. Anno 1505.

On leaf 31b:--

"Ad lectorum

Qum paucis rigidos possis compescere mons

Accipe: quod offert hiberna ex arce Johannes

Scacherii munus: sapiens Philometer et illud

Tradidit. ut regis babilonis crimina mergat

Hunc tibi si soties capiet te lectio frequens

Noveris et iuste que ius moderamina vite."

No place or date, but supposed to be printed at Vienna, by Joh. Winterburg.

(Linde, Græsse.)

Jacobus de Cessoles. Von Prof. Dr. Ernft Köpke, Mittheilungen, aus den Handschriften der Ritter. Akademie zu Brandenburg. Brandenburg a.d. Havel, 1879, 4to.

(Linde, "Jartausend.")

(French translation.)

Les jeu des Echez moralisé, nouvellement imprimé à Paris (ends). Cy finist le livre des Echez et l'Ordre de Chevalerie, translaté de latin en françois, imprimé nouvellement à Paris; et fut achevé le vendredy, VI'e jour de septembre, l'an MVC et IIII, pour Anthoine Verart, libraire juré en l'université de Paris, demourant à Paris, à l'imaige Sainct Jehan l'evangeliste, devant la rue neufve Nostre Dame, &c. Folio, 102 leaves.

(Linde.)

"On trouve an f. LX un autre traité de Morale et an f. lxxxij celui de Melibee et de Prudence. Il y a à la bibl. imp. un exempl. de cette éd. tiré sur vélin et orné de 4 Miniatures."

(Græsse.)

Le Jeu de Echets moralisé ... Cy finist le liure des eschecz et lordre de cheualerie, translattée de latin en françoys imprimé à Paris: et fut acheué le xiiii iour de nouembre mil cinq cent et cinq. Par Michel le noir libraire ... demourant deuant Saint Denys de la chartre à limaige nostre dame. 90 leaves.

(Linde.)

On trouve à la fin du Livre de l'ordre de chevalerie le même Dialogue entre Melibée et Prudence sous le titre: Ung petit traictie a lenseignement et au prouffit de tous princes barons & aultres que le vouldront entendre & garder lequel fut fonde & extrait d'une fiction trouvee en escript. Ce qui a induit Du Verdier (vol. i. p. 556) en erreur de croire que cette traduction, publiée en 1505, diffère de celle de 1504.

(Græsse.)

{Italian translation.}

Libro di Giuocho di Scacchi intitulato de costumi degli huomin et degli officii de nobili. 4to.

"Ohne Angabe des Druckortes und des Jahres. Ausser dem Titelblattbildchen bringt das Buch dreizehn Abbildungen, welche die von Cessoles auf dem Schachbrett statuirten Würden und Gewerke darstellen."

(Linde)

Libro di givocho di scacchi intitulato de costumi degl huomini & degli offitii de nobili. (Fol. 2a:) In comincia un tractato gentile & utile della uirtu del giuocho degli scachi cioe intitulato de costumi deglhuomini & degli ufitii denobili: composto pel Reu[=e]redo Mæstro Jacopo dacciesole dellordine de fratri predicatori. Fol. 67b: Impresso in Fir[=e]ze per Mæstro Antonio Miscomini Anno M.CCCCLXXXXIII. Adi primo di Marzo 8vo.

(Linde.)

"Cette ed. bien incorrecte quant an texte (comme les reimpressions: f. l. 1534, in 8vo. [56 ff.] I 1. 206, Gallarini) est recherchée pour ses belles gravures en bois, don't une partie a été copiée par Dibdin, Aedes Althorp, vol. ii. p. 5-13. II y a une nouvelle édition: Mil. tipogr. di Giulio Terrario, 1829, gr. in 8°, avec des copies de ces mêmes figures et des corrections du texte d'après des de Florence. On a tiré de cette dernière édition 24 exempl. in carte distinte, 1 sur peau velin d'Augsbourg et 1 in capretti di Roma."

(Græsse.)

Opera nvova nella quale se insigna il vero regimento delli huomini & delle do[=n]e di qualunqu grado, stato, e condition esser si voglia:, Composta per lo Reuerendissimo Padre Frate Giacobo da Cesole del ordine di predicatori sopra il giuoco delli Scacchi, Intitulata Costvme delli hvomini, & vfficii delli nobeli, nuouamente Stampata. M.D. XXXIIII. Stampata in Vineggia per Fransesco di Alessandro Bin doni & Mapheo Pasini compagni: Nelli anni del Signore, 1534. del mese di Zenaro 8vo. 56 leaves.

(Linde.)

Volgarizzamento del libro de' costumi e degli officii de' nobili sopra il giuoco degli scacchi di frate Jacopo da Cessole tratto nuovamente da un codice Magliabechiano. Milano, 1829. Dalla tipografia del dottore Giulio Ferrario Contrado del Bocchetto al No. 2465 8vo. Pp. xx and 162, and 1 leaf.

(Linde.)

Catalan translation.

This does not appear to have been printed. There is a codex in the Vatican and another at Barcelona. They are described by Linde. See ante, p. xxviii.

Spanish translation.

Dechado de la vida humana. moralmento Sacado del juego del Axedrez. tradizado agora de nuevo per el licenciado Reyna Vezino della Villa de Aranda de duero. En este año M.D.XLIX. 4to. 56 leaves.

Printed at Valladolid by Francifque Fernandes de Cordoue.

(Linde.)

German translation.

Ich bruder Jacob von Caffalis prediger ordens, bin überwunder worden von der bruder gebet ... (Ends.) Hie endet sich das buch menschlicher sitten vnd d'ampt der edeln. Folio. 40 leaves.

Without place or year, but printed before the year 1480.

(Linde.)

I (Ch) bruder Jacob von Cassalis prediger ordens bin vberwunden worden vo(n) der brüder gebet wegen vn(d) der weltlichen studenten vn(d) andern edlen leut die mich haben horen predigen das spil das do heysset schachzabel. Das ich davon gemacht hab ditz buch. vn(d) hab das pracht zenutz menschlichs geschlechts. Vn(d) hab es geheissen das buch menschlicher sitten vnnd der ampt der edlen ... (Ends.) Hie endet sich das buch menschlicher sitten vnd der ampt der edeln I.4.7.7. Folio. 40 leaves.

This is believed to have been printed with the type of G. Zainer at Augftmrg.

(Linde)

(I)ch bruder Jacob vo(n) Cassalis prediger ordens bin vberwunden worden von der brüder gebet ... (Ends.) Hie endet sich das Buch menschlicher sitten vnd der ampt der edlen. Gedruckt zu Augsburg in der Kayserliche(n)stat anno dni MCCCC LXXX IIJ. am osterabe(n)t geent. Folio. 36 leaves.

(Linde.)

Dis buchlein weiset die aufzlegung des schachzabel spils, Vnd menschlicher fitten, Auch von den ampten der edeln. (Leaf Aiia)

(I)ch bruder Jacob vo(n) Cassalis prediger orde(n)s ... (Leaf 39b) Getruckt vnd volendet von henrico knoblochzern in der hochgelobten stat Strassburg vff Sant Egidius tag In dem LXXX iij Jor. &c. Folio. 39 leaves.

(Linde.)

Jacobus de Cessolis, de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium ac popularium; oder, Das Schachwerk des Cessolis, von den Sitten der Menschen und den Pflichten der Vornehmen und Niedern. Von Heydebrand v. d. Lafa. (Schachzeitung, 1870.)

(Linde.)

(German rhyming version of Conrad von Ammenhausen.)

Ueber das Schachzabelbuch Konrads von Ammenhausen und die Zofinger Handsschrift desselben, von Wilhelm Wackernagel (Beitrage zur Geschichte und Literatur vorzuglich aus den Archiven und Bibliotheken des Kanton Aargau. Herausgegeben von Dr. Heinrich Kurz ... und Placid Weissenbach. Erster Band. Aarau 1846.)

Dr. van der Linde gives particulars of various MSS. of this rhyming version of Cessolis.

(German rhyming version of Dr. Jacob Mennel.)

Schachzabel. (Ends.) Getruckt vund vollendet in der loblichen statt Costentz vo Hanfen schäffeler. Vf zinftag vor sant Vits tag Anno M. cccc vn vii iar. 4to 13 leaves. Sig. a ii--c ii.

In the prologue Jacob Mennel, doctor, claims the paternity of this rhyming treatise, but he is supposed to have taken much of his material--ready made--from Ammenhausen.

Schachtzabel Spiel. D Esz Ritterlich[=e] kunst lich[=e] Schachtzabel Spiels vnderweygung, erclärung, vn(d) verstant, wo here das kommen, were das am ersten erfunden, vund ausz was vrsach es erdacht sey, Auch wie man das künstlich lernen ziehen vn(d) spielen solle, sampt etlich[=e] kunstlich[=e] geteylten spielen &c. [Illustration: hand] Zu dem Schachtzieher.

"Dein Augen scherpff, nicht uberseh

Dem wyderteyl, sleiszlich nach speh,

Wie fich gebürt, im Feld und Heer,

Dein volck das schich an zu der weer,

Vnd orden das recht an dem streyt,

Ders überlicht, gern vnden leyt."

Getruckt zu Oppenheym. 4to.

This second edition was issued by Jacob Köbel, who printed about 1520.

(Linde.)

Des Altenn Ritterlichenn spils des Schachzabels, grüntlich bedeutung vund klarer bericht, dasselbig künstlich zuziehenn vund spilen. Mit ein newenn zusatz ettlicher besonderen Meisterstück, nach der Current, welfchen art, vn(d) von Hutten, deszgleichen ettlichener besondern Regeln des Schachziehens, vormals nie auszgangen. Franckfurt, 1536. 4to.

(Linde.)

Vnderweifzung, erklärung, vund auszlegung desz Ritterlichenn, kunstlichenn spielfz des Schachzabels, durch den Hochgelartenn Doctor Jacob Mennel... auff dem heiligen Reichsztag zu Kostentz, Anno &c. 1507 in Rheimen gedicht, vund desselbinn spiels Vrsprung vn(d) wesenn, Auch wie man das auff das aller kurtzest zu ziehenn vund spilen begreissen mag, offenbart. Frankfurt, 1536, 4to.

This is given on the authority of Massmann by Dr. van der Linde.

Das Schachzabelspiel. Des alten ritterlichen Spiels des Schachzabels' gründlich Bedeutung... Frankf. 1536. [Reprint.]

Dr. van der Linde does not speak well of this reprint which appeared in:--Schaltjahr, welches ist der teutsch Kalendar, durch J. Scheible. Dritter Band. Stuttgart, 1847.

(German rhyming version of Heinrich von Beringen.)

There is a third rhyming version of the Chessbook by Heinrich von Beringer, of which a MS., dated 1438, is in the Stuttgart library. (Linde.)

(Low German rhyming translation by Stephan.)

Van dogheden vnde van guden zeden fecht dyt boek wol dat valen ouer left de wert ok des schackspeles klock. (Lubeck, about 1489.) Small 4to. or large 8vo.

"Hir gheyt vth ghemaket to dude

Dat schackspil der eddelen lude

Des bokes dichter het stephan."

(Linde.)

(Dutch Translation.)

(D)It is die tafel van desen boeck datmen hiet dat scæcspel (Fol. 2'a) (H)Ier beghint ee suuerlyc boec vanden tytuerdryf edelre heren ende vrouwen. als vande scæc spul. dær nochtant een ygherlyck mensche van wat stæt dat hi si. vele scoenre en(de) saliger leren wt neme(n) mach. næ welcken hi syn leuen sal regieren tot profyt ende salicheyt synre sielen (Fol. 67'b), ghebruyken Amen In iær ons heren dusent vierhondert ende neghentseuentich. opten anderden dach van october, soe is dit ghenoechlycke boeck voleynt en(de) Ghemæct ter goude in hollant. by my gherært leeu. Lof heb god Folio.

(Linde.)

Tractat van den Tydverdryf der Edele Heeren ende Vrouwen, genoemt dat scækspel, verciert met veele schoone historien (Ends:) Int iær ons heren M.CCCC.LXXXIII. opten veertienden dach van februario: so is dat ghenoecklike bock volmæckt te Delff in hollant. 4to.

(Linde.)

Hier beghint een suyuerlijck boeck vande(n) tytuerdrijf edelre heere(n) ende vrouwen, als vanden scæck spel, dær nochtans een ieghelijck me(n)sche va wat stæt dz by sy, vele scoonre en(de) saligher leerighe(n) wt nemen mach, næ welcken hy sijn leuen sal regeren tot profijt ende salicheyt synre sielen. (Ends.) Gheprint tot Louen in de Borchstrate in den Lupært by my Anthonis Maria Bergaigne ghesworen boecprinter. Int iær ons Heren. M.CCCCC. ende LI. den VI. dach van Augustus. 8vo. 120 leaves.

(Linde.)

(Scandinavian rhyming translation.)

De ludo Scacchorum seu de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium ac popularium. Poema suecanum vetustum. e codice manuscripto biblioth. Reg. Universitatis Havn. nunc primum editum. quod consensu ampl. ord. phil. Lund. p.p. Ernestus Rietz et Augustus Ludovicus Sjöberg, scanus in Academia Carolina die vi Decembris MDCCCXLVIII. Lundæ, Typis Berlingianis. MDCCCXLVIII. 8vo.

Fourteen dissertations, of which there is a set in the Jena Library.

There is a MS. of this Scandinavian poetical version of Cessolis dated 1492, and another dated 1492 in the Kopenhagen University Library.

(Linde.)

(English translation.)

The Game and Playe of the Chesse. folio. E. P.

The Game and Playe of the Chesse. Explicit per Caxton. folio.

The Game at Chesse, a metaphorical Discourse shewing the present Estate of this Kingdome. London. 1643, 4to.

This title is given by Lowndes, but examination only would show whether it is in any way an imitation of Caxton.

The Game of the Chesse by William Caxton. [Facsimile reprint of the second edition, with remarks by Vincent Figgins.] London: J. R. Smith, 1855. folio.

The Game of the Chesse by William Caxton. Reproduced in facsimile from a copy in the British Museum. With a few remarks on Caxton's Typographical Productions. By Vincent Figgins. London: John Russell Smith. 1860.

The Game of the Chesse by William Caxton. A facsimile reproduction of the first work printed in England, from the copy in the British Museum. London: Trübner and Co. 1862. fol.

Caxton and the Spelling Reform. [Signed] Isaac Pitman, Bath, 10th March, 1877. 4to. Pp. 4.

This contains an extract from the "Game of the Chess" in four columns:--i. Caxton's spelling. 2. The supposed pronunciation of the same represented by the Phonetic alphabet. 3. Modern spelling. 4. Phonetic spelling.

The Game of the Chesse: a moral treatise on the duties of life. The First Book Printed in England, by William Caxton in the year 1474. Reprinted in Phonetic spelling, with a preface and contents in Caxton's orthography, and a fac-simile page of the original work. Second edition. London, F. Pitman. Bath, Isaac Pitman, James Davies. 1872 [1879].

The printing of this book began in 1872, when the title-page and earlier sheets were worked, but it was not finished until May, 1879. This is the second time that Mr. Pitman has printed the Chess-book in his reformed orthography. The first issue was in 1855. Although the title-page repeats the old belief that "The Game of Chess" was the first book printed in England, and gives the date of 1474, it is really a reprint of the second edition of Caxton.

(Sloane's version.)

The Buke of the Chesse. Auchinleck Press. 1818. 4to.

This is printed from a MS. which is believed to have been written about the beginning of the sixteenth century. The work is in verse, and ends: "Heir endis y'e buke of y'e Chess, Script per manu Jhois Sloane." Only forty copies were reprinted by Sir Alexander Boswell at the Auchinleck Press.

(Linde. Lowndes.)

The "Game and Play of the Chess" is an interesting specimen of mediæval English literature. It is so near our own time that the language prefents few difficulties, in spite of its many Gallicisms, and yet it is so remote as to seem like the echo of an unknown world. The distinctly dogmatic portions of the book are but few, and their paucity is indeed a matter of some surprise, since it is in effect a detailed treatise on practical ethics, and is, in part if not wholly, systematized from the discourses of one distinguished preacher, who had borrowed much of his matter from another eminent ecclesiastic. The author aims not at the enforcement of doctrine, but at the guidance of life, though he no doubt assumes that his hearers are all faithful and orthodox sons of the Church.[22]

The ideal of the commonwealth of the middle ages finds an interesting expression. The sharp lines of demarcation between class and class are stated with the frankness that comes of a belief that the then existing social fabric was the only one possible in the best of worlds. There is no doubt in the author's mind as to the rightful position of king and baron, of bishp and merchant. The "rights of man" had not been invented, apparently, and the maxim that the king reigns but does not govern, would have perplexed the souls of Cessoles and his translators. They had no more doubt as to the divine right of the monarch, than the Thibetan has of the divine right of the grand lama. The Buddhist thinks he has secured the continuous re-appearance of supernatural wisdom in human form, and the regular transmission of political ability in the same family was the ideal for which the devotees of mediæval despotism had to hope. Nothing could be further from the aspirations of our author than a race of mere palace kings seeking enjoyment only in self-indulgence. The king was to be the ruler and leader of his people. The relation and interdependence of the several classes is emphatically proclaimed, and the claims of duty are urged upon each.

The book enables us to gauge the literary culture of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Poor as it may now seem, it belonged, in those days, to the "literature of power," and had great influence. The form is one which lent itself readily to poetic and historic illustration, and indeed demanded such treatment. The authors and translators were chiefly learned and distinguifhed ecclesiastics. Caxton, the representative of the new time when literature was to be the common heritage, was filled to overflowing with the best literature then accessible. A writer of the present century, probably borrowing his sentiment, has defined originality to be undetected imitation. Such refinements were unknown to Cessoles and his contemporaries. A writer took whatever suited his purpose from any and every source that was open to him. A quotation was always as good as an original sentiment, and sometimes much better. Why should a man take the trouble of laboriously inventing fresh phrases about usury or uncleanness when there were the very words of St. Augustine or St. Basil ready to hand? Why seek modern instances when the great storehouse of anecdotes of Valerius Maximus was ready to be rifled? Very frequently the author is given, mostly it may be imagined from a sense of the value of the authority of the names thus cited. Whatever the intention of the writer, the effect is to show us what were the authors known, studied, and quoted in the middle ages.

The authors named are:--Saint Ambrose (2 references), Anastasius (1), Avicenna (2), Saint Augustine (9), Saint Basil (1), Saint Bernard (2), Boethius (3), Cassiodorus (1), Cato (5), Cicero (6), Claudian (2), "Crete" (1), Diomedes (1), Florus (1), Galen (1), Helinand (4), Hippocrates (4), Homer (1), Saint Jerome (3), John the Monk (1), Josephus (4), Livy (2), Lucan (1), Macrobius (1), Martial (1), Ovid (6), Paulus Diaconus (1), Petrus Alphonsus (2), Plato (4), Quintilian (3), Sallust (1), Seneca (15), Sidrac (1), Solinus (1), Symmachus (1), Theophrastus (1), "Truphes of the Philosophers" (2), Turgeius Pompeius (1), Valerius Maximus (23), Valerian (7), Varro (1), Virgil (2), "Vitas Patrum" (2).

It will be seen that the great classical writers are but poorly represented, and the main dependence has been upon the later essayists, and chiefly upon Valerius Maximus, who has pointed many of the morals enforced in this book. It may, perhaps, be doubted if the writer had more to work from than Valerius, Seneca, and St. Augustine, with occasional quotations such as memory would supply from other sources. The verification of all these quotations would not repay the labour it would involve; but in most cases where the experiment has been tried, the result has been fairly creditable to the old author.

The biblical allusions may be taken as typical. There are references to the "bible," "holy scripture," "Ecclesiastes," and "Canticles." There also occur the names of Adam, Eve, Abel, Cain, Noah, Ham, Lot, David, Abner, Joab, Abishai, Solomon, Isaiah, Evilmerodach, Belshazzar, Darius, Cyrus, Tobias, John the Baptist, and Paul. The citations are not all literally exact. Solomon had not a very good opinion of his fellow-men; but the comprehensive estimate of the number of fools with which he is credited on p. 3 is not to be found in the writings canonically attributed to him. The quotation from the Canticles on p. 25 may be compared with the translation in the Wicliffite verfion made by Nicholas de Hereford, A. D. 1380. This passage is rendered: "His left hond is vndur myn heed; and his ri3t hond shal biclippe me" ("Song of Solomon," ii. 6). Clip is still current in Lancashire, in the sense of embrace.

The extract from St. Paul, with which the prologue to the second edition opens, is no doubt intended for the following passage: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. iii. 16).

In the reference to the Athenians (p. 16), we seem to hear an echo of the words: "For all the Athenians and strangers that were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing " (Acts xvii. 21).

The most curious reference to a biblical personage is that relating to Evilmerodach (p. 10). Cessoles seems to have been the first to associate the name of the son of Nebuchadnezzar with the invention of the game of chess. The biblical references to Evilmerodach are few; they throw no light on the reason of his selection by the mediæval scribe for a bad pre-eminence of parricide. The epithet of joli applied to the king has an odd effect, followed as it is by the narrative of his most unfilial conduct. Dr. Van der Linde shows how widely the legend spread. Lydgate evidently hesitates between the divided authority of Guido--that is, Colonna, the author of the Troy book--and Cessoles, whom he quotes through Jacobus de Vitriaco.[23]

Amongst the authors not identified are "Crete" (p. 133), and Diomedes (p. 10). The account of the origin of chess attributed to the last is amplified a little further on. The legend that Palamedes invented a game of this kind at the siege of Troy is emphatically rejected by our author, who pins his fame on Xerxes, a Greek philosopher! This became the received opinion, as may be gathered from the unhesitating language of Polydore Vergil in a passage which is thus rendered by John Langley:--"The chesse were invented the year of the world 3635, by a certain Wise man called Xerxes, to declare to a Tyrant, that Majesty or Authority without strength, assistance & help of his subjects, was casual feeble & subject to many calamities of fortune; his intent was to break the fierce cruelty of his heart, by fear of such dangers as might come to passe in the life of man." [24]

The curious treatise which contains the supposed conversations of King Bocchus and the philosopher Sidrac (p. 171) was a favourite science book of the middle ages. It is probably of oriental origin, but there are editions in Latin, French, German, Flemish, Dutch, Italian, and English. By way of question and answer very decided statements are made on a wide variety of topics of which the author was profoundly ignorant. The particular part referred to by Cessoles is chap, cclxxxi: "Pourquoy sacostent les hommes charnellement aux femmes grosses et les bestes ne le font pas?"[25] John the Monk (p. 70) is the noted canonist Giovanni Andrea, who died at the plague of Bologna in 1347. His learning gained him such titles as rabbi doctorum and normaque morum. His commentaries on the decretals were frequently reprinted. He gave the name of "Novellæ" to this work after the name of his mother and daughter. His code of morality contained no prohibition of literary theft, for his additions to the "Speculum Juris" of Durand are said to have been taken bodily from Oddrale. In the same magnificent manner he appropriated the treatise "De Sponsalibus et Matrimonio" of Anguissola. His daughter Novella was a learned woman, and became the wife of Giovanni Calderino, a jurist of Bologna. Their son, Gaspard Calderino, wrote a commentary on the decretals. Father, daughter, son-in-law, and grandson appear to have all been experts in the canon law.[26]

The reference to the "first book of the Truphes of the Philosophers by figure" does not convey a very definite idea as to the particular work intended. It must have been somewhat miscellaneous in character, for one extract describes the fountain of the syrens (p. 122), and the other is an anecdote, which though told here of Julius Cæsar (p. 71), is really the story of the soldier who had fought at Actium with Augustus Cæsar. It occurs also in the "Gesta Romanorum," where the emperor is named Agyos.

"Helmond" (p. 33, &c.) is intended for Helinand, who died some time after 1229. After a brilliant period at the court of Philip Augustus, where he is represented as reciting his heroic verses before the king and his surrounding, he became a monk of the Cistercian Abbey of Froidmont. One of his surviving poems deals with the melancholy subject of death. The "Flores Helinandi" are said to have been popular as well as his "Chronique." He is also the reputed author of some sermons, and of the life of St. Gereon, published by the Bollandists, and of other works still inedited. He is sometimes confounded with another French monk of the same name, who lived in the eleventh century, and was an inmate of the monastery at Persigne in Maine. This second Helinand was the author of commentaries or glosses on the Apocalypse and Exodus.[27] The first-named has been credited with the authorship of "Gesta Romanorum." The grounds for this are very slight. "On a longtemps ignoré le nom de l'auteur de cette compilation, mais un passage du 68^e dialogue du livre intitulé 'Dialogus creaturarum' nous le révele par ces mots: Elimandus in gestis romanorum."[28] But, as Sir F. Madden and Mr. Herrtage have pointed out, the name of "Gesta Romanorum" was given to any book treating of Roman affairs. A French translation of Livy, by Robert Gaguin, has been catalogued as a version of the "Gesta." The reference cited by Brunet is to the Chroniques of Helinand.[29]

Many of the stories and anecdotes are the commonplaces of ancient history, such as the friendship of Damon and Pythias, the sword of Damocles, the chastity of Scipio, the magnanimity of Alexander, the fable of the Dog and the Shadow, &c. Others current in the middle ages had great popularity, and even in our own days occasionally renew their youth. The story of John of Ganazath (p. 48) is to be found in Occleve's translation of Colonna. Mr. Thomas Wright remarks: "This story, under different forms, was a very common one in the middle ages. One version will be found in my 'Latin Stories,' p. 28. It will hardly be necessary to remark that the story of King Lear and his daughters is another version."[30]

The story appears also in some modern compilations. In one instance it is given as the will of Jehan Connaxa, of Antwerp, about 1530.[31] The incident is given in the following form in the popular collection known as the "Percy Anecdotes":[32]--

"An eminent trader at Lyons, who had acquired an easy fortune, had two handsome daughters, between whom, on their marriage, he divided all his property, on condition that he should pass the summer with one and the winter with the other. Before the end of the first year, he found sufficient grounds to conclude that he was not a very acceptable guest to either; of this, however, he took no notice, but hired a handsome lodging, in which he resided a few weeks; he then applied to a friend, and told him the truth of the matter, desiring the gift of two hundred livres, and the loan of fifty thousand, in ready money, for a few hours. His friend very readily complied with his request; and the next day the old gentleman made a very splendid entertainment, to which his daughters and their husbands were invited. Just as dinner was over, his friend came in a great hurry; told him of an unexpected demand upon him, and desired to know whether he could lend him fifty thousand livres. The old man told him, without any emotion, that twice as much was at his service, if he wanted it; and going into the next room, brought him the money. After this, he was not suffered to stay any longer in lodgings; his daughters were jealous if he stayed a day more in one house than the other; and after three or four years spent with them, he died; when, upon examining his cabinet, inftead of livres, there was found a note containing these words: 'He who has suffered by his virtues, has a right to avail himself of the vices of those by whom he has been injured; and a father ought never to be so fond of his children as to forget what is due to himself.'"

Amongst other versions of the story is a novelle by Giovanni Brevio, published as part of his "Rime" in 1545. Piron's comedy of "Les Fils Ingrats," also known as "L'Ecole des Pères," appeared in 1728. "The story," adds Dunlop, "is also told in the 'Pieuses Recreations d'Angelin Gazée,' and is told in the 'Colloquia Mensalia' of Luther, among other examples to deter fathers from dividing their property during life among their children--a practice to which they are in general little addicted."[33]

There is yet another verfion of the story in John of Bromyard's "Summa Predicantium." After describing the discovery of the club it says, "in quo Anglice scriptum erat"--

"Wyht fuyle a betel be he smetyn,

That al the werld hyt mote wyten,

That gyfht his sone al his thing,

And goht hym self a beggyn."

[34]

Herodotus has attributed the same unfilial conduct to some Indian tribes.

The incident of St. Bernard playing at dice for a soul (p. 151), is in the "Gesta Romanorum." The anecdote how a son induced his father to become a monk (p. 81) which is quoted from the "Vitas Patrum" is also in the "Gesta Romanorum," and has so much of the Buddhist flavour as to give rise to the suspicion that it comes from an Oriental source.[35] The story of two merchants quoted from Petrus Alphonsus is also in the "Gesta Romanorum." It is the foundation of Lydgate's "Two Friends," and is beyond doubt an Eastern importation. In a MS. of the "Speculum Laicorum," described by Prof. Ingram, the writer has transformed one of the merchants into an Englishman.[36]

The story quoted from "Paul, the historiagraph of the Lombards" (p. 46), is also given in the "Gesta Romanorum." Mr. Herrtage says it is "evidently founded on the classical legend of Tarpeia." The narrative in the chess-book is taken from Paulus Diaconus.[37]

The stratagem by which deposited money was recovered from a dishonest trustee (p. 114) is told by Petrus Alphonsus, and is also in the "Gesta Romanorum."

The story of the danger of drunkenness (p. 129) was a favourite with our forefathers. It is given by John of Bromyard, and is the subject of a fabliau which is given by Meon.[38]

The somewhat violent remedy recorded as having been adopted by Demosthenes (p. 103) will remind some readers of a passage in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. "He had given up," says Mrs. Oliphant, "without hesitation, as would appear, all the indefinite sweetness of youthful hopes. But, nevertheless, he was still young, still a man, with human instincts and wishes, the tenderest nature, and an imagination full of all the warmth and grace of his age and his country. It does not appear that he ever put into words the musings which caught him unawares--the relics of old dreams or soft recollections which now and then would steal into his heart. But one night suddenly he rose from the earthen floor which was his bed, and rushed out into the night in an access of rage and passion and despair. A certain brother who was praying in his cell, peering, wondering, through his little window, saw him heap together seven masses of snow in the clear moonlight. 'Here is thy wife,' he said to himself; 'these four are thy sons and daughters, the other two are thy servant and thy handmaid; and for all these thou art bound to provide. Make haste, then, and provide clothing for them, lest they perish with cold. But if the care of so many trouble thee, be thou careful to serve our Lord alone.' Bonaventura, who tells the story, goes on, with the true spirit of a monkish historian, to state how, 'the tempter being vanquished, departed, and the holy man returned victorious to his cell.' The piteous human yearning that is underneath this wild tale, the sudden access of self-pity and anger, mixed with a strange attempt, not less piteous than the longing, at self-consolation--all the struggle and conflict of emotion which stilled themselves, at least for a moment, by that sudden plunge into the snow, and wild, violent, bodily exertion, are either lost upon the teller of the tale, or perhaps he fears to do his master injustice by revealing any consciousness of the possibility of such thoughts. But it is a very remarkable peculiarity of Francis's history, that whereas every saint in the Calendar, from Antony downwards, is sometimes troubled with visions of voluptuous delight, only Francis, in his pure dreams, is tempted by the modest joys of wife and children--the most legitimate and tenderest love."[39]

The reader must not expect any historical exactitude or critical spirit from our author. For his purpose a narrative was just as useful whether true or false, but it probably never occurred to him to question the exact truth of any statement that he found written in a book. The murder of Seneca (p. 9) is certainly not the least of the many crimes which stain the memory of Nero, but the circumstances of his death are not exactly described by the mediæval scribe. Whether the philosopher and former tutor was implicated in the conspiracy of Piso may be doubted, but some ambiguous phrases he had used were reported to the Emþeror, whose messenger demanded an explanation of their meaning. The reply of Seneca was either unsatisfactory or the tyrant had decided to be rid of his former guide. As in more recent times in Japan the condemned man was expected to be his own executioner, and Seneca opened his veins and allowed the life to ooze from them with a stoicism that was certainly heroic if not untainted by theatrical display. The character of Seneca will ever remain one of the puzzles of history, for the grave moralist was accessory to the murder of Agrippina, and not unsuspected of licentiousness, and of the accumulation of an enormous fortune of three hundred million sestertii by injustice and fraud. The statements of Dion Cassius as to the misdeeds of the philosopher must be weighed against the absence of any condemnation of his proceedings in the pages of Tacitus.

The Theodore Cerem named on p. 12, is Theodorus Cyrenaicus, who was probably a native of Cyrene, and a disciple of Aristippus. He was banished from the (supposed) place of his birth, and was shielded at Athens by Demetrius Phalerus, whose exile he is assumed to have shared. Whilst in the service of Egypt he was sent as an ambassador to Lysimachus, whom he offended by the directness and plainness of his speech. The offended monarch threatened him with crucifixion, and he replied in a phrase which became famous, "Threaten thus your courtiers, for it matters not to me whether I rot on the ground or in the air."[40] The king's threat was not executed, as Theodorus was afterwards at Corinth, and is believed to have died at Cyrene. That he was condemned to drink hemlock is a statement cited from Amphicrates by Diogenes Lærtius (Aristippus, xv.). The anecdote of his colloquy with Lysimachus would easily be perverted into a belief that he had been put to death for the freedom with which he exercised his biting wit.

The Democreon mentioned at pp. 12 and 16 is Democritus of Abdera, of whom the anecdote is told. He was a man whose knowledge and wisdom won even the respect of Timon, the universal scoffer. The tradition that he deprived himself of sight with a view to philosophic abstraction is mentioned by Cicero, Aulus Gellius, and others, but it is hardly necessary to account for a too uncommon calamity by a supposition so remarkable.

The transformations of some of the names are peculiar. At p. 12 we read of Defortes. The philosopher disguised under this strange name appears to be Socrates. The story is told in the Apology of Socrates attributed to Xenophon. The person to whom the saying was addressed was not Xanthippe, but was a disciple named Apollodorus, whose understanding was not equal to his admiration.

The statement that Didymus voluntarily blinded himself is made both by Jerome (Ep. 68) and in the Ecclesiastical History of Socrates (iv. 29). Didymus was born 309 or 314, and became blind at the age of four, as the result of disease. He learned the alphabet by wooden letters, and by application and force of character became learned in all the learning of his time. Is this a real anticipation of the use of raised letters for the blind? What would be the use of a knowledge of the alphabet so acquired in obtaining that skill in geometry, rhetoric, arithmetic, and music for which he was famous? He owed to Athanasius his position as head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria.

The readers of "Cymbeline" will remember the passage in the concluding scene:--

"The piece of tender air, thy virtuous daughter,

Which we call mollis ær; and mollis ær

We term it mulier; which mulier, I divine,

Is this most constant wife: who even now,

Answering the letter of the oracle,

Unknown to you unsought, were clipp'd about

With this most tender air."

There is an interesting personal reference in the following passage which has not, it is believed, been pointed out:--

"And also hit is to be supposyd that suche as haue theyr goodes comune & not propre is most acceptable to god/ For ellys wold not thise religious men as monkes freris chanons obseruantes & all other auowe hem & kepe the wilfull pouerte that they ben professid too/ For in trouth I haue my self ben conuersant in a religious hous of white freris at gaunt Which haue all thynge in comyn amonge them/ and not one richer than an other/ in so moche that yf a man gaf to a frere .iii.d or iiii.d to praye for hym in his masse/ as sone as the masse is doon he deliuerith hit to his ouerest or procuratour in whyche hows ben many vertuous and deuoute freris And yf that lyf were not the beste and the most holiest/ holy church wold neuer suffre hit in religion."

This description by the busy merchant of the "best life" might serve to point anew the distinction between the real and the ideal, and perhaps not to the advantage of the latter.

Nothing has yet been said as to the place of this book in the history of chess, and, indeed, it must be confessed that it has very little practical bearing on the game. The learned dreams by which the chess of to-day was connected with the latrunculi and with the amusement said to have been invented by Palamedes, have been dissipated by the cool air of modern criticism. The student of the history of chess may now follow its fortunes under the safe guidance of Dr. van der Linde, who rejects unhesitatingly the claim made for it, and admitted even by Forbes, of an antiquity of 5,000 years.[41] The game of chess, which, whilst remaining an amusement, has acquired the dignity of a science, is one that Europe owes to India, where it was probably invented not earlier than five centuries before Christ; the triumphant progress of Islam aided in the extension of this oriental pastime. It was known at the courts of Nicephorus at Conftantinople and his contemporary Haroun-al-Rashid at Bagdad. One would like to add that Charlemagne also was acquainted with it, but there is no good evidence for that legend. It was known in Spain in the tenth century, since the library of the learned caliph Hakam II. of Cordova contained some Arabic MSS. on the game. By the middle of the eleventh century it was common in the western world. In 1061 a Florentine bishop is said to have been ordered by Cardinal Damiani to expiate the offence of playing chess in public by three recitations of the Psalter, by washing the feet of twelve poor persons, and by giving them liberal alms. The gradual developments of the game in Europe are illustrated in detail by Dr. van der Linde. Chess in its prefent form is comparatively modern, and refults from the enlargement of the powers of the Queen (originally the Vizier or minister) and of the Bishop (formerly the Alfil or Elephant). The greater powers of these pieces came into play between 1450 and 1500, but the period of transition was prolonged to a much later date in some cafes, and the Portuguese Damiano may be regarded as the founder of the modern school. The player of to-day on consulting the elementary directions given in this book (p. 159, et seq.), will see how greatly the present play exceeds in complexity and scientific interest the moves that excited the enthusiasm of Jacobus de Cessoles, and led him to the composition of the book of the chess which has had such long and widespread popularity.

Incidentally his book is a monument in the history of chess, but it was never intended to make its primary object that of teaching the game. The author's aim was almost exclusively ethical. It was to win men to a sober life and to the due performance of individual and social duties, that the preacher exhausted his stores of learning, and invoked alike the reproofs of the fathers of the Church, the history and legend of chroniclers, pagan and Christian, and the words of prophets and poets. As a memorial of the literature and learning of the middle ages, it must always possess a permanent value. From it we may learn, and always with interest, what was the literary taste and social ideal of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. There is, doubtless, ample room for dissatisfaction with that ideal, but it is not without some bright aspects. Possibly there are modern realms that are not any happier now than they would be if governed in strict accordance with the rules laid down by the earnest author of the game and play of the chess.

It only remains for the editor to thank the friends who have interested themselves in his work. Mr. J.E. Bailey, F.S.A., has shown his usual scholarly courtesy and liberality in the communication of books and references. To Mr. R.C. Christie, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Manchester, a similar acknowledgment is due. Mr. C.W. Sutton, and Mr. W.R. Credland, of the Manchester Free Library, on this, as on many other occasions, have not only given the editor many facilities for his work, but some suggestions by which he trusts he has profited. The index is chiefly the work of the editor's eldest daughter.

THE GAME OF CHESSE

[DEDICATION.]

[42]

[PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.]

[TABLE.]

his booke conteyneth .iiii. traytees/

The first traytee is of the Invencion of this playe of the chesse,/ and conteyneth .iii. chapitres

The first chapitre is under what kynge this play was founden

The .ii. chapitre/ who fonde this playe

The .iii. chapitre/ treteth of .iii. causes why hit was made and founden

The second traytee treteth of the chesse men/ and conteyneth .v. chapitres

The first chapitre treteth of the form of a kynge and of suche thinges as apperteyn to a kynge

The .ii. chapitre treteth of y'e quene & her forme & maners

The .iii. chapitre of the forme of the alphins and her offices and maners

The .iiii. chapitre is of the knyght and of his offices

The .v. is of the rooks and of their maners and offices

The thirde traytee is of the offices of the comyn peple And hath .viii. chapitres

The first chapitre is of the labourers & tilinge of the erthe

The .ii. of fmythis and other werkes in yron & metall

[43] The .iii. is of drapers and makers of cloth & notaries

The .iiii. is of marchantes and chaungers

[44] The .v. is of phisicyens and cirugiens and apotecaries

[45] The .vi. is of tauerners and hostelers

[46] The .vii. is of y'e gardes of the citees & tollers & cuftomers

[47] The .viii. is of ribauldes disepleyars and currours The .iiii. traytee is of the meuyng and yssue of them And hath .viii. chapitres

The first is of the eschequer

The seconde of the yssue and progression of the kynge

The thirde of the yssue of the quene

The fourth is of the yssue of the alphyns

The fifth is of the yssue of the knyghtes

The sixty chapitre of the yssue of the rooks

The seuenth is of the meuynge & yssue of the comyn peple

And the eyght and laste chapitre is of the epilegacion.

And of the recapitulacion of all these forsaid chapitres.

BOOK I.

This first chapiter of the first tractate sheweth under what kynge the play of the chesse was founden and maad.:.

This second chapitre of the first tra3tate sheweth who fonde first the playe of the chesse.

The thirde chapitre of the first tractate treteth wherfore the playe was founden and maad.

[48]

BOOK II.

The seconde tractate/ the first chapiter treteth of the forme of a kynge of his maners and of his estate.

The seconde chapitre of the seconde book treteth of the forme and maners of the Quene.

[49]

The thirde chapitre of the seconde tractate treteth of the alphyns her offices and maners.

Marcus cursus a romayn of grete renome sayth thus. That whan he had besiegid & assayllyd them of amente And boneuentans whiche herde that he was poure/ they toke a grete masse and wegghe of gold and ended hit to hym prayng hym that he wold resseyue hyt and leue his assault and siege/ And whan they cam with the present to hym they fonde hym sittynge on the erthe and ete his mete oute of platers and disshes of tree and of wode and dyde than her message/ to whom he answerd and sayde that they shold goo hoome and saye to them that sente hem that marcus cursus loueth better to be lord and wynne richesses than richesses shold wynne hym/ For by bataylle he shall not be ouercome and vaynquysshid Nor be gold ne siluer he shal not be corrupt ne corompid Often tymes that thynge taketh an euyll ende that is vntrewe for gold and siluer/ And that a man is subgett vnto money may not be lord therof/ helimond reherceth that [50] demoncene demanded of aristodone how moche he had wonne for pletynge of a cause for his clyent/ And he answerd a marck of gold. [51] Demoscenes answerd to hym agayn that he had wonne as moche for to hold his pees and speke not Thus the tonges of aduocates and men of lawe ben þyllous and domegeable/yet they must be had yf thou wylt wynne thy cause for wyth money and yeft thou shall wynne And oftetymes they selle as welle theyr scilence/ as theyr vtterance/ Valerius reherceth that the senatours of rome toke counceyll to geder of two persones that one was poure/ And that other riche and couetous/ whiche of hem bothe were moft apte for to sende to gouerne and Iuge the contre of spayne/ and scipion of affricque sayd that none of them bothe were good ner prouffitable to be sente theder/ For that one hath no thynge And to that other may nothynge suffise And despised in his saynge alle pouerte and auerice in a Iuge/ For a couetous man hath nede of an halfpeny For he is seruant & bonde vnto money/ and not lord therof. But pouerte of herte & of wylle ought to be gretly alowed in a Iuge Therfore we rede that as longe as the romayns louyd pouerte they were lordes of all the world For many ther were that exposed alle their goodes for the comyn wele and for that was most prouffitable for the comynaulte that they were so poure that whan they were dede they were buryed & brought to erthe with the comyn good/ And theyr doughters were maryed by the comandement of the senatours/ But syn that they despised pouerte/ And begonne to gadre rychesses/ And haue maad grete bataylles/ they haue vsed many synnes And so the comyn wele perysshid/ For there is no synne but that it regneth there/ Ther is none that is so [52] synfull as he that hath alle the world in despyte/ For he is in pees that dredeth no man/ And he is ryche that coueyteth no thynge/ Valere reherceth that he is not ryche that moche hath/ But he is ryche that hath lytyll and coueyteth no thynge/ Than thus late the Iuges take hede that they enclyne not for loue or for hate in ony Iugement/ For theophrast saith that alle loue is blynde ther loue is/ ther can not ryght Iugement by guyen/ For alle loue is blynde And therfore loue is none euyn Iuge For ofte tymes loue Iugeth a fowll & lothly woman to be fayr And so reherceth quynte curse in his first book that the grete Godaches sayth the same to Alixandre men may saye in this caas that nature is euyll For euery man is lasse auysed and worse in is owne feet and cause than in an other mans/ And therfore the Iuges ought to kepe hem well from yre in Iugement/ Tullius sayth that an angry & yrous þsone weneth that for to doo euyll/ is good counceyll/ and socrates saith y't .ii. thinges ben contraryous to co[=u]ceyll/ and they ben haftynes & wrath/ and Galeren sayth in Alexandrye/ yf yre or wrath ouercome the whan thou sholdest gyue Iugement/ weye all thinge in y'e balance so that thy Iugement be not enclyned by loue ne by yeste/ ne fauour of persone torne not thy corage. Helemond reherceth that Cambyses kynge of perse whiche was a rightwys kynge had an vnrightwys Iuge/ whiche for enuye and euyll will had dampned a man wrongfully and agaynst right/ wherfore he dide hym to be flain all quyk/ and made the chayer or fiege of Iugement to be couerid wyth his skyn/ And made his sone Iuge and to sitte in the chayer on the skyn of his fader/ to thende that the sone shold Iuge rightwysly/ And abhorre the Iugement & payne of his fader/ Iuges ought to punysshe the defaultes egally And fullfille the lawe that they ordeyne/ Caton sayth accomplisshe and do the lawe in suche wyse as thou hast ordeyned and gyuen. Valerius reherceth that calengius a consull had a sone whiche was taken in adwultrye. And therfore after the lawe at that tyme he was dampned to lose bothe his eyen The fader wold y't the lawe shold be acc[=o]plisshid in his sone with out fauour/ but all the cyte was meuyd herewyth And wold not suffre hit/ but in the ende his fader was vaynquysshid by theyr prayers/ And ordeyned that his sone shold lese oon eye whiche was put oute And he hymself lost an other eye/ And thus was the lawe obserued and kept/ And the prayer of the peple was accomplisshid We rede y't ther was a counceyllour of rome that had gyen counceill to make a statute/ that who some euer that entrid in to the senatoire/ & a swerd gyrt aboute hym shold be ded/ Than hit happend on a tyme that he cam from with out and entrid in to the senatoyre & his swerd gyrt aboute hym/ wherof he took n[=o]n heede/ and [=o]n of the senatours told hym of hit/ and whan he knewe hit & remembrid the statute/ he drewe oute his swerd & slewe hymself to fore them/ rather to dye than to breke the lawe/ for whos deth all the senatours made grete sorowe/ but alas we fynde not many in thise dayes that soo doo/ but they doo lyke as anastasius saith that the lawes of some ben lyke vnto the nettis of spyncoppis that take no grete bestes & fowles but lete goo & flee thurgh. But they take flyes & gnattes & suche smale thynges/ In lyke wise the lawes now a dayes ben not executed but vpon the poure peple/ the grete and riche breke hit & goo thurgh with all And for this cause sourden bataylles & discordes/ and make y'e grete & riche men to take by force and strengthe lordshippis & seignouries vpon the smale & poure peple/ And this doon they specially that ben gentill of lignage & poure of goodes And causeth them to robbe and reue And yet constrayned them by force to serue them And this is no meruayll/ for they that drede not to angre god/ ner to breke the lawe and to false hit/ Falle often tymes by force in moche cursednes and wikkidnes/ but whan the grete peple doo acordinge to the lawe/ and punysh the tr[=a]nsgressours sharply The comyn peple abstayne and withdrawe hem fro dooyng of euyll/ and chastiseth hem self by theyr example/ And the Iuges ought to entende for to studie/ for y't yf smythes the carp[=e]ntiers y'e vignours and other craftymen saye that it is most necessarye to studye for the comyn prouffit And gloryfye them in their connyng and saye that they ben prouffitable Than shold the Iuges studie and contemplaire moche more than they in that/ that shold be for the comyn wele/ wherfore sayth seneke beleue me that they seme that they do no thynge they doo more than they that laboure For they doo spirytuell and also corporall werkis/ and therfore amonge Artificers ther is no plesant reste/ But that reson of the Iuges hath maad and ordeyned hit/ And therfore angelius in libro actiui atticatorum de socrate sayth That socrates was on a tyme so pensyf that in an hole naturell daye/ He helde one estate that he ne meuyd mouth ne eye ne foote ne hand but was as he had ben ded rauyshyd. And whan one demanded hym wherfore he was fo pensyf/ he answerd in alle worldly thynges and labours of the fame And helde hym bourgoys and cytezeyn of the world And valerius reherceth that carnardes a knyght was so age wye and laborous in pensifnes of the comyn wele/ that whan he was sette at table for to ete/ he forgate to put his hande vnto the mete to fede hymself. And therfore his wys y't was named mellye whom he had taken more to haue her companye & felawship than for ony other thynge/ Fedde hym to thende that he shold not dye for honger in his pensifnes/ Dydymus sayd to Alix-andrie we ben not deynseyns in the world but stra[=u]gers/ ner we ben not born in the world for to dwell and abyde allway therein/ but for to goo and passe thurgh hit/ we haue doon noon euy dede/ but that it is worthy to be punysshid and we to suffre payne therfore And than we may goon with opon face and good conscience And so may we goo lightly and appertly the way that we hope and purpose to goo This suffiseth as for the Alphyns.

The fourth chapitre of the seconde book treteth of the ordre of cheualerye and knyghthode and of her offices and maners.

[53]

The fyfthe chapitre of the second book of the forme and maners of the rooks.

[54]

BOOK III.

The thirde tractate of the offices of the comyn peple. The fyrst chapitre is of the office of the labourers and werkemen.

The seconde chapitre of the thirde tractate treteth of the forme and maner of the second pawne and of the maner of smyth.

[55]

The thirde chapitre of the thirde book treteth of the office of notaryes aduocats skryueners and drapers or clothmakers.

And otherwhile amytie is founded vpon honeste/ And this amytie is vertuouse/ Of the whiche tullius faith y't ther is an amytie vertuous by the whiche a man ought to do to his frende alle that he requyreth by rayson For for to do to hym a thynge dishonneste it is ayenst the nature of verray frendshipe & amytie/ And thus for frendshipe ne for fauour a man ought not to doo ony thinge vnresonable ayenst the comyn prouffit ner agaynst his fayth ne ayenst his oth/ for yf alle tho thynges that the frendes desire and requyre were accomplisshid & doon/ hit shold seme that they shold be dishoneste coniuracions/ And they myght otherwhile more greue & hurte than prouffit and ayde/ And herof sayth seneque that amytie is of suche wylle as the frende wylle/ And to reffuse that ought to be reffusid by rayson/ And yet he sayth more, that a man ought to alowe and preyse his frende to fore the peple/ and to correcte and to chastyse hym pryuyly. For the lawe of amytie is suche For a man ought not to demande ner doo to be doon to his frende no vyllayns thynge that ought to be kept secrete And valerian sayth that it is a fowll thynge and an euyll excufacion/ yf a man conffesse that he hath done ony euyll for his frende ayenst right and rayson/ And sayth that ther was a good man named Taffile whiche herde one his frende requyre of hym a thynge dishonnefte whiche he denyed and wold not doo And than his frende sayth to hym in grete dispyte/ what nede haue I of thy frendship & amytie whan thou wylt not doo that thynge that I requyre of the And Taffile answerd to hym/ what nede haue I of the frendship and of the amytie of the/ yf I shold doo for the thynge dishonefte And thus loue is founded otherwhile vpon good prouffitable/ and this loue endureth as longe as he seeth his prouffit And herof men faye a comyn prouerbe in england/ that loue lasteth as longe as the money endureth/ and whan the money faylleth than there is no loue/ and varro reherceth in his smmes/ that y' riche men ben alle louyd by this loue/ for their frendes ben lyke as y'e huse whiche is aboute the grayn/ and no man may proue his frende so well as in aduersite/ or whan he is poure/ for the veray trewe frende faylleth at no nede/ And seneque saith y't some folowe the empour for riches/ and so doon y'e flies the hony for the swetenes/ and the wolf the karayn And thise companye folowe the proye/ and not the man And tullius saith that Tarquyn y'e proude had a neuewe of his suster which was named brutus/ and this neuewe had banysshid tarquyn out of rome and had sente hym in exyle/ And than sayd he first that he parceyuyd & knewe his frendes whiche were trewe & untrewe/ and y't he neuer perceyuyd a fore tyme whan he was puyssant for to doo their wyll/ and sayd well that the loue that they had to hym/ endured not but as longe as it was to them prouffitable/ and therfore ought till the ryche men of the world take hede/ be they Kynges Prynces or ducs to what peple they doo prouffit & how they may and ought be louyd of theyr peple/ For cathon sayth in his book/ see to whom thougyuyst/ and this loue whiche is founded vpon theyr prouffit/ whiche faylleth and endureth not/ may better be callyd and said marchandyse than loue/ For yf we repute this loue to our prouffit only/ and nothynge to the prouffyt of hym that we loue/ It is more marchandyse than loue/ For he byeth our loue for the prouffit that he doth to vs/ and therfor saith the versifier thise two versis Tempore felici multi murmerantur amici Cum fortuna perit nullus amicus erit/ whiche is to saye in English that as longe as a man is ewrous and fortunat he hath many frendes but whan fortune torneth and perisshith, ther abideth not to hym one frende/ And of this loue ben louyd the medowes, feldes, Trees and the bestes for the prouffit that men take of them/ But the loue of the men ought to be charyte, veray gracious and pure by good fayth/ And the veray trewe frendes ben knowen in pure aduersite/ and pers alphons saith in his book of moralite that ther was a philosophre in arabye that had an onely sone/ of whom he demanded what frendes he had goten hym in his lyf. And he answerd that he had many And his fader sayd to hym/ I am an olde man/ And yet coude I neuer fynde but one frende in alle my lyf/ And I trowe verily that it is no lytyll thynge for to haue a frende/ and hit is well gretter and more a man to haue many/ And hit appertayneth and behoueth a man to assaye and preue his frende er he haue nede And than comanded the philosopher his sone/ that he shold goo and slee a swyne/ and putte hit in a sack/ and fayne that hit were a man dede that he had slayn and bere hit to his frendes for to burye hit secretly/ And whan the sone had don as his fader comanded to hym and had requyred his frendes one after an other as a fore is sayd/ They denyed hym/ And answerd to hym that he was a vylayne to requyre & desire of them thynge that was so peryllous And than he cam agayn to his fader and sayd to hym how he had requyred alle his frendes/ And that he had not founden one that wolde helpe hym in his nede And than his fader said to hym that he shold goo and requyre his frende whiche had but one/ and requyre hym that he shold helpe hym in his nede And whan he had requyred hym/ Anone he put oute alle his mayne oute of his hows/ And whan they were oute of the waye or a slepe he dide do make secretly a pytte in the grounde/ And whan hyt was redy and wold haue buryed the body/ he fonde hit an hogge or a swyne and not a man/ And thus thys sone preuyd thys man to be a veray trewe frende of his fader/ And preuyd that his frendes were fals frendes of fortune/ And yet reherceth the sayd piers Alphons/ That ther were two marchantes one of Bandach and that other of Egipte whiche were so Joyned to gyder by so grete frendshippe that he of Bandach cam on a tyme for to see hys frende in Egipte/ of whom he was receyuyd ryght honourably And thys marchant of Egipte had in his hows a fayr yonge mayden whom he shold haue had in maryage to hymslf/ Of the whiche mayde thys marchant of Bandach was esrysd wyth her loue so ardantly that he was ryght seeke/ And that men supposid hym to dye. And than the other dyde doo come the phisicyens whiche sayd that in hym was none other sekenes sauf passyon of loue/ Than he axid of the seeke man yf ther wer ony woman in hys hows that he louyd and made alle the women of his hows to come to fore hym/ And than he chees her that shold haue ben that others wyf and sayd that he was seek for the loue of her/ Than hys frende sayd to hym Frende conforte your self/ For trewly I gyue her to yow to wyf wyth alle the dowayre that is gyuen to me wyth her/ And had leuer to suffre to be wyth oute wyf than to lese the body of his frende And than he of Bandach wedded the mayde. And wente wyth his wyf and wyth his richesse ayen in to his contrey And after this anone after hit happend that the marcha[=n]t of Egipte be cam so poure by euyll fortune/ that he was constrayned to feche and begge his brede by the contrey in so moche that he cam to bandach. And whan he entrid in to the toun hit was derke nyght that he coude not fynde the hows of his frende/ but wente and laye this nyght in an olde temple/ And on the morn whan he shold yssue oute of the temple/ the officers of the toun arestid hym and sayd that he was an homycide and had slayn a man whiche laye there dede And an[=o]n he confessid hit wyth a good wylle/ And had leuyr to ben hangid/ than to dye in that myserable and poure lyf that he suffrid And thus whan he was brought to Iugement And sentence shold haue ben gyuen ayenst hym as an homicide/ his frende of bandach cam and sawe hym and anone knewe y't this was his good frende of Egipte And forthwyth stept in and sayde that he hymself was culpable of the deth of this man/ and not that other/ and enforced hym in alle maners for to delyuer and excuse that other/ And than whan that he that had don the feet and had slayn the man sawe this thynge/ he considerid in hym sels that these two men were Innocente. of this feet/ And doubtynge the dyuyn Iugement he cam to fore the Iuge and confessid alle the feet by ordre/ And whan the Iuge sawe and herd alle this mater/ and also the causes he considerid the ferme and trewe loue that was betwene the two frendes And vnderstode the cause why that one wold saue that other/ and the trouth of the fayte of the homicide And than he pardoned alle the feet hoolly and entierly/ and after the marchant of bandach brought hym of egipte wyth hym in to his hous/ and gaf to hym his suster in mariage/ and departid to hym half his goodes/ And so bothe of hem were riche/ And thus were they bothe veray faythfull and trewe frendes/ Furthermore Notaires. men of lawe and crafty men shold and ought to loue eche other And also ought to be contynent chaste & honeste/ For by theyr craftes they ought so to be by necessite/ For they conuerse & accompanye them ofte tyme with women And therfor hit apperteyneth to them to be chaste and honeste And that they meue not the women ner entyse them to lawhe/ and Iape by ony disordinate ensignees or tokens/ Titus liuyus reherceth that the philosopher democreon dyde do put oute his eyen for as moche as he myght not beholde the women wyth oute flesshely desire/ And how well hit is said before that he dide hit for other certayn cause yet was this one of the pryncipall causes/ And Valerian telleth that ther was a yonge man of rome of ryght excellent beaute/ And how well that he was ryght chaste/ For as moche as his beaute meuyd many women to desyre hym/ in so moche that he vnderstode that the parents and frendes of them had suspecion in hym/ he dyde his visage to be cutte wyth a knyf and lancettis endlonge and ouerthwart for to deforme his visage/ And had leuer haue a fowle visage and disformed/ than the beaute of hys visage shold meue other to synne/ And also we rede that ther was a Nonne a virgyne dyde do put oute bothe her eyen For as moche as the beaute of her eyen meuyd a kynge to loue her/ whyche eyen she sente to the kynge in a presente/ And also we rede that plato the ryght ryche and wyse phylosophre lefte hys owne lande and Contre. And cheese his mansion and dwellynge in achadomye a town/ whiche was not only destroyed but also was full of pestelence/ so that by the cure and charge and customance of sorowe that be there suffrid/ myght eschewe the heetes and occasions of lecherye/ And many of his disciples dyde in lyke wyse/ Helemand reherceth that demostenes the philosopher lay ones by a right noble woman for his disporte/ and playnge with her he demanded of her what he shold gyue to haue to doo wyth her/ And she answerd to hym/ a thousand pens/ and he sayd agayn to her I shold repente me to bye hit so dere/ And whan he aduysed hym that he was so sore chauffid to speke to her for tacc[=o]plissh his flesshely defire/ he dispoyled hym alle naked and wente and putte hym in the middes of the snowe And ouide reherceth that this thynge is the leste that maye helpe and moste greue the louers And therfore saynt Augustyn reherceth in his book de Ciuitate dei that ther was a ryght noble romayne named merculian that wan and toke the noble cyte of siracuse And to fore er he dyde do assaylle hit or befyghte hit/ and er he had do be shedde ony blood/ he wepte and shedde many teeris to fore the cyte And that was for the cause that he doubted that his peple shold defoyle and corrumpe to moche dishonestly the chastyte of the toun And ordeyned vpon payne of deth that no man shold be so hardy to take and defoylle ony woman by force what that euer she were/ After this the craftymen ought to vnderstond for to be trewe/ and to haue trouthe in her mouthes And that theyr dedes folowe theyr wordes For he that sayth one thynge and doth another/ he condempneth hymself by his word Also they ought to see well to that they be of one Acorde in good, by entente, by word, and by dede/ so that they ben not discordant in no caas/ But euery man haue pure veryte and trouth in hym self/ For god hym self is pure verite/ And men say comynly that trouthe seketh none hernes ne corners/ And trouthe is a vertu by the whyche alle drede and fraude is put away/ Men saye truly whan they saye that they knowe/ And they that knowe not trouthe/ ought to knowe hit/ And alleway vse trouthe/ For Saynt Austyn sayth that they that wene to knowe trouthe/ And lyuyth euyll & viciously It is folye yf he knoweth hit not/ And also he sayth in an other place that it is better to suffre peyne for trouthe. Than for to haue a benefete by falsenes or by flaterye. And man that is callyd a beste resonable and doth not his werkes after reson and trouthe/ Is more bestyall than ony beste brute/ And knowe y'e that for to come to the trouthe/ Hit cometh of a raysonable forsight in his mynde/ And lyenge cometh of an outrageous and contrarye thought in his mynde/ For he that lyeth wetyngly/ Knoweth well that hit is agaynst the trouthe that he thynketh/ And herof speketh Saynt Bernard and sayth/ That the mouthe that lyeth destroyeth the sowle/ And yet sayth Saynt Austyn in an other place For to saye ony thynge/ And to doo the contrarye. maketh doctryne suspecious/ And knowe y'e veryly that for to lye is a right perillous thynge to body and sowle For the lye that the auncyent enemye made Eue & adam to beleue hym/ made hem for to be dampned wyth alle theyr lignage to the deth pardurable And made hem to be cast oute of Paradyse terrestre/ For he made them to beleue that god had not forboden them the fruyt. But only be cause they shold not knowe that her maister knewe But how well that the deuyll said thise wordes yet had she double entente to hem bothe For they knewe ann as they had tasted of the fruyt that they were dampned to the deth pardurable/ And god knewe it well to fore But they supposid well to haue knowen many other thynges And to belyke vnto his knowleche and science And therfor fayth saynt poule in a pistyll/ hit ne apperteyneth to saure or knowe more than behoueth to saure or knowe/ but to fauoure or knowe by mesure or fobrenes/ And valerian reherceth that ther was a good woman of siracusane that wold not lye vnto the kynge of *ecylle whiche was named dyonyse And this kynge was so full of tyrannye & so cruell that alle the world defired his deth and cursid hym/ Saauf this woman onely whiche was so olde that she had seen thre or .iiii. kynges regnynge in the contre/ And euery mornynge as sone as she was rysen she prayd to god that he wold gyue vnto the tyrant good lyf and longe And that she myght neuer see his deth/ And when the kynge dyonise knewe this he sent for her And meruayllid moche herof For he knewe well that he was fore behated/ And demaunded her/ what cause meuyd her to pray for hym. And she answerd and said to hym Syre whan I was a mayde we had a right euyll tyrant to our kynge of whom we coueyted fore the deth And whan he was ded ther cam after hym a worse/ of whom we coueyted also the deth/ And whan we were deliueryd of hym/ thou camst to be our lord whiche arte worste of alle other. And now I doubte yf we haue one after the he shall be worse than thou art/ And therfore I shall pray for the And whan dionyse vnderstod that she was so hardy in sayynge the truthe/ he durste not doo tormente her for shame be cause she was so olde.

The fourth chapitre of the thirde book treteth of the maner of the fourth pawn and of the marchants or changers.

This fifth chapitre of the thirde book treteh of phisiciens spicers and Apotyquarys.

The sixthe chapitre of the thirde book treteth of the sixth pawn/ whiche is lykened to tauerners hostelers and vitayllers.

The seventh chapitre of the thirde Tractate treteth of kepars of townes customers and tolle gaderers &c.

This chapitre of the thirder book treteth of Rybauldis players of dyse and messagers and corrours

BOOK IV.

The fourth tractate & the last of the progression and draughtes of the forsayd playe of the chesse.

The first chapitre of the fourth tractate of the chesse borde in genere how it is made.

The seconde chaitre of the fourth tractate tretheth of the draught of the kynge/ And how he meuyth hym in the chequer.

We ought to knowe that in this world/ the kynges seygnourye and regne eche in his royame. And in this playe we ought to knowe by the nature of hit how the kynge meueth hym and yssueth oute of his place/ For y'e shall vnderstande that he is sette in the fourth quadrante or poynt of theschequer. And whan he is black/ he standeth in the white/ and the knyght on his ryght side in white/ And the Alphyn and the rooke in black/ And on the lifte side the foure holden the places opposite/ And the rayson may be suche/ For be cause that the knyghtes ben the glorye & the crowne of the kynge,' They ensiewe in semblable residence/ that they doo whan they ben sette semblably on the ryght side of the kynge & on the lyfte side of the quene/ And for as moche as the rook on the ryght syde is vicayre of the kynge he accompanyeth the quene in semblable siege that the Alphyn doth whiche is Iuge of the kynge/ And in lyke wyse the lifte rook & the lyfte Alphyn accompanye the kynge in semblable siege/ In suche wyse as they ben sette aboute the kynge in bothe sides wyth the Quene in manere of a crowne/ That they may seurely kepe the royame that reluyseth and shyneth in the kynge and in the Quene/ In suche wyse as they may conferme and diffende hym in theyr sieges and in theyr places. And the more hastily renne vpon his enemyes And for as moche as the Iuge, the knyght/ and the vicaire. kepe and garnysshe the kynge on that one syde/ They that ben sette on the other syde kepe the Quene/ And thus kepe they alle the strength and fermete of the royame/ And semblably otherwhile for to ordeyne the thynges that apperteyne to the counceyll/ and to the besoygne of the royame/ For yf eche man shold entende to his owen proper thynges/ And y't they defended not ner toke hede vnto the thingis y't apperteynen to the kynge to the comyn and to the royame/ the royalme shold an[=o]n be deuided in parties And thus myght the Iuge regne/ And the name of the dignyte royall shold be lost/ And truly for as moche as the kynge holdeth the dignyte aboue alle other and the seygnourye royall/ therfore hit apperteyneth not that he absente hym longe/ ne wythdrawe hym ferre by space of tyme from the maister siege of his royame/ For whan he wele meue hym/ he ought not to passe at the first draught the nombre of .iii. poynts/ And whan he begynneth thus to meue from his whyt poynt/ he hath the nature of the rooks of the right syde and of the lifte syde for to goo black or whithe/ And also he may goo vnto the white poynt where the gardes of the Cyte ben sette And in this poynt he hath the nature of a knyght. And thyse two maners of meuynge apperteyneth otherwhile to the quene/ and for as moche as the kynge and the quene that ben conioyned to geder by mariage ben one thynge as one flessh and blood/ therfore may the kynge meue on the lifte side of his propre poynt also wele as he were sette in the place of the quene whiche is black/ and whan he goth right in maner of the rook only/ And hit happen that the aduersarie be not couered in ony poynt in the seconde ligne/ The kynge may not passe from his black poynt vnto the thirde ligne/ And thus he sortisith the nature of the rook on the ryght syde and lyfte syde vnto the place of the knyghtes and for to goo ryght to fore In to the whyte poynt to fore the marchant/ And the kynge also sortyst the nature of the knyghtes whan he goth on the ryght syde in two maners/ For he may put hym in the voyde space to fore the phisicyen/ And in the black space to fore the tauerner/ And on the other side he goth in to other two places in lyk wise that is to fore the smyth/ and the notarye/ And thus as in goynge out first in to .iiii. poynts he sorteth the nature of knyghtes/ and also the kynge sortiseth the nature of the alphins at his first yssu in to .ii. places And he may goo on bothe sides vnto the white place voyde/ that one to fore y'e smith on that on side/ and that other to for the tauerner on that other side/ All these yssues hath y'e kyng out of his propre place of his owen vertue whan he begynneth to meue. But whan he is ones meuyd fro his propre place/ He may not meue but in to one space or poynt/ and so from one to an other/ And than he sortiseth the nature of the comyn peple/ and thus by good right he hath in hymfelf the nature of alle/ For alle the vertue that is in the membres cometh of the heed and all meuyng of the body/ The begynnynge & lyf comen from the herte/ And all the dignyte that the subgettes haue by execucion/ and contynuell apparence of their meuynge & yssue/ The kynge deteyneth hit & is attribued to hym/ the victorye of the knightes/ the prudence of y'e Iuges/ the auctorite of the vicaires or legates The c[=o]tynence of the quene/ the c[=o]corde & vnyte of y'e peple Ben not all thise thinges ascribed vnto the honour and worship of the kynge Jn his yssue whan he meuyd first The thirde ligne to fore the peple he neuer excedeth/ Fro in the .iii. nombre alle maner of states begynne to meue For the trynary nombre conteyneth .iii. parties/ whiche make a perfect nombre/ For a trynarye nombre hath. i. ii. iii. Whiche Ioyned to geder maken .vi. Whiche is the first parfyt nombre And signefieth in this place/ vi. persones named that constitute the þfection of a royame That is to wete the kynge. the quene. Iuges, knyghtes. the vicaires or legats/ and the comyn peple And therfor the kynge ought to begynne in his first meuynge of .iii. poyntes/ that he shewe perfection of lyf as well in hym self as in other After that the kynge begynneth to meue he may lede wyth hym the quene/ after the maner of his yssue For why the quene foloweth vnto two angularye places/ after the maner of the alphyn/ and to a place indirect in the maner of a rook in to the black poynt to fore the phisicien/ herin is signefied that the women may not meue neyther make vowes of pylgremage ner of viage wythoute the wylle of theyr husbondes/ For yf a woman had a vowed ony thynge/ her husbonde lyuynge/ and agaynsaynge/ she may not yelde ne accomplisshe her vowe/ yf the husbond wyll goo oughwer. he may well goo wyth oute her And yf so be that the husbond wyll haue her wyth hym/ she is bounden to folowe hym/ And by reson For a man is the heed of a woman/ and not econuerso/ For as to suche thingis as longe to patrymony/ they ben lyke/ but the man hath power ouer her body/ And so hath not the woman ouer his And therfore whan the kynge begynneth to meue. the Quene may folowe/ And not alleway whan she meuyd it is no nede the kynge to meue/ For why four the first lignes be with in the limytes and space of the royame/ And vnto the thirde poynt the kynge may meue at his first meuynge out of his propre place/ And whan he passith the fourth ligne he goeth oute of his royame. And yf he passe oon poynt late hym beware/ For the persone of a kynge Is acounted more than a thousand of other/ For whan he exposeth hym vnto the paryllis of bataylle/ Hit is necessarye that he goo temperatly and slyly/ For yf he be taken or ded/ or ellis Inclusid and shette vp/ Alle the strengthes of alle other faylle and alle Is fynysshid and loste/ And therfore he hath nede to goo and meue wysely/ And also therfore he may not meue but one poynt after hys fyrst meuynge but where that euer he goo foreward or bacward or on that one syde or that other or ellis cornerwyse/ He may neuer approche hys aduersarye the kynge nerrer than in the thirde poynt/ And therfore the kynges in batayll ought neuer tapproche one nyghe that other/ And also whan the kynge hath goon so ferre that alle his men be lost/ than he is sole/ And than he may not endure longe whan he is brought to y't extremyte/ And also he ought to take hede that he stande not soo that a knyght or an other saith chek rook/ than the kyng loseth y'e rook/ That kynge is not well fortunat that leseth hym to whom his Auctoryte delegate apperteyneth/ who may doo the nedes of the royame yf he be priuyd taken or dede/ that was prouisour of alle the royame/ he shall bere a sack on his hede that Is shette in a cyte/ And alle they that were theryn ben taken in captiuite and shette vp &c.

The seconde chapiter of the fourth book of the quene and how she yssueth oute of her place.

The fourth chapitre of the fourth book Is of the yssuynge of the Alphyn.

The fyfth chapitre of the fourth Tractate Is of the meuynge of the knyghtes.

The sixt chapitre of the fourth tractate treleth of the yssue of the rooks and of her progression.

The seuenth chapitre of the fourth book treteth of the yssue of the comyn peple &c.

The eyght chapitre and the last of the fourth book of the epilogacion and recapitulation of this book.

[56]

[1] Blades' "Life of Caxton," ii., 12.

[2] Mr. Blades enumerates only ten, but between the publication of his work in 1863 and the appearance in 1880 of a more popular one, an eleventh copy turned up. It is described further on. As both editions of Mr. Blades' book are frequently cited, it may be stated here that where the reference is to the page only, the one volume edition of 1880 is meant.

[3] Blades, ii., 12.

[4] Van der Linde, "Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels," Berlin, 1874, ii., 125.

[5] Blades, ii., 48.

[6] Blades, ii., 97.

[7] Blades, ii., 95.

[8] Dibdin's "Bibliotheca Spenceriana," iv., 195.

[9] See Prosper Marchand, "Dict. Hist.," t. i., p. 181.

[10] "Les Bibliothéques Françoises de La Croix du Maine et de Du Verdier." n. e. Paris, 1782, t. i., p. 493.

[11] Dr. Van der Linde, "Geschichte," 114.

[12] Cf. Van der Linde, "Geschichte," and his "Jartausend."

[13] Jaubert, cited by Van der Linde, "Geschichte," t. i., p. 122.

[14] Blades' "Caxton," 173-175.

[15] Blades, i., 166.

[16] "Geschichte," i., 29. There is a manuscript copy in the Chetham Library, Manchester, which he does not name. It came from the Farmer Collection, and is in a volume containing a number of fifteenth century Latin tracts. See account of European MSS. in the Chetham Library, Manchester, by James Orchard Halliwell, F.R.S., Manchester, 1842, p. 15.

[17] "Bulletin du Bibliophile," 1836-1837, 2ième serie, p. 527.

[18] "Academy," July 12, 1881.

[19] Blades' "Life of Caxton," vol. ii., p. 9.

[20] "De regimine Principum," a poem by Thomas Occleve, written in the reign of Henry IV. Edited, for the first time, by Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., &c. Printed for the Roxburghe Club. London: J. B. Nichols, 1860, 410.

[21] Warton's "History of English Poetry," 1871, iii., 44.

[22] The fires of purgatory are finely and amply illustrated in the story at p. 110, whilst the power of the saints and the value of pilgrimages would be impressed upon the hearers by the narrative of the miracles wrought by St. James of Compostella (p. 136)

[23] "Hist. of Siege of Troye."

[24] "Works of Polidore Virgil." London, 1663, p. 95.

[25] Græsse: Trésor, s.v. Sydrach. See also Warton's "History of English Poetry," 1871, vol. ii., p. 144, Hazlitt's "Handbook of Early English Literature," p. 43.

[26] Hoeffer: "Nouvelle Biographie Universelle."

[27] Hoeffer, "Nouvelle Biographie Générale," xxxiii. 818.

[28] Brunei, "Manuel du Libraire," s. v. Gesta.

[29] "Gesta Romanorum," edited by Herrtage. London, 1879, p. vii.

[30] Occleve, "De Regimine Principum," p. 199.

[31] "Curiosities of Search Room." London, 1880, p. 32.

[32] "Percy Anecdotes: Domestic Life," iv. 446.

[33] Dunlop, "History of Fiction," 1876, p. 259.

[34] "Latin Stories," edited by Thomas Wright. Percy Society, 1842, p. 222.

[35] See "Gesta Romanorum," edit, by Herrtage, p. 364.

[36] "On Two Collections of Mediæval Moralized Tales," by John K. Ingram, LL.D. Dublin, 1882, p. 137.

[37] Muratori: "Rerum Italicarum Scriptores," t. i. p. 465.

[38]ight, "Latin Stories," p. 235.

[39] "Francis of Assisi," Mrs. Oliphant. London, 1874, p. 87.

[40] "Valerius Maximus," vi. 2, 3.

[41] It will be sufficient here to refer for further details to the following works:--"Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels," von Antonius van der Linde, Berlin, 1874, 2 vols.; "Quellenstudien zur Gefchichte des Schachspiels," von Dr. A. v.d.Linde, Berlin, 1881.

[42] This dedication is omitted in the second edition.

[43] Second edit. reads "Thossyce of notaries/ aduocates scriueners and drapers and clothmakers capitulo iii"

[44] Sec. edit. reads "The forme of phisiciens leches spycers and appotycaryes"

[45] Sec. edit. "Of tauerners hostelers & vitaillers"

[46] Sec. edit. "Of kepers of townes Receyuers of custum and tollenars"

[47] Sec. edit. "Of messagers currours Rybauldes and players at the dyse"

[48] "democrite" in the sec. edit.

[49] "beclyppe" in sec. edit.

[50] "demotene" in sec. edit.

[51] "demostenes" in sec. edit.

[52] "blisful" in the sec. edit.--The reading of the first edition is evidently a misprint.

[53] Sec. edit. "buneuentayns."

[54] sec. edit, "y nough."

[55] sec. edit. "by the martel or hamer."

[56] "And therfore &c." to the end, is wanting in the second edition, and, instead thereof, the treatife concludes in the following manner--

"Thenne late euery man of what condycion he be that redyth or herith this litel book redde take therby enfaumple to amende hym.

Explicit per Caxton."

GLOSSARY

advocationis

ampulla

ancilla

arracher

Auenture; adventure.

Axe; ask.

Barate; trouble, suffering.

Beaulte; beauty.

Benerous; French bénir, blessed.

Besaunt; besant, a Byzantine gold coin.

Beneurte; French bonheur, good fortune.

Bole; bull.

Bourdellys; brothels, stews.

Butters; freebooters.

Butyn; French butin, plunder, spoils.

Chamberyer; Chambrere; woman servant, concubine.

Chequer; chefs-board.

Chauffed; French échauffer, to warm.

Compaignon; French compagnon, companion.

Connynge; cunning, knowledge.

Corrompith; French corrompre, to corrupt.

Couenable; French convenable, proper, fit.

Courrours; French coureurs, runners, messengers.

Curatours; guardians, trustees.

Dampned; condemned.

Debonairly; debonairte, French de ban air, in a good manner, with good

will.

Depesshed; French depecher, defpatched.

Deporte; deport.

Devour; French devoir, duty.

Dismes; Latin decimal, tenths, or tithes.

Disobeyfance; disobedience.

Difpendynge; spending.

Distemprance; intemperance.

Dolabre; Latin dolabra, axe, pick-axe.

Doubted; redoubted, of doughty.

Drawhtes; draughts, movements.

Drof; drove.

Dronkelewe; drunkenness.

Dronkenshyp; drunkenness.

Dyse; dice.

Enbrasid; embraced.

Enpessheth; French empécher, to forbid.

Enpoigne; French empoigner, to take in hand.

Enfeygned; French enfeigner, to teach.

Eschauffed; French échauffer, to warm.

Esmoued; French émouvoir, to move.

Espicers; French epicier.

Espryfed; French epris, taken.

Ewrous, in; French heureuse, happy.

Feet; French fait, act, feat.

Ferremens. See Serremens.

Flessly; fleshily.

Folelarge; prodigal, extravagant.

Fumee; French fumee, smoke, vapour.

Garnyfche; garnish, adorn, set off.

Genere; general.

Goddes man; godsman, saint or religious person.

Gossibs; gossyb; gossips, gossip.

Gree; French gré, liking.

Grucche; grudge.

Guarisshors; French guèrir, to cure.

Hauoyr; French avoir, possessions.

Herberowe; harbour.

Historiagraph; historian.

Hoos; hoarse.

Iape; jape, trick.

Jolye, lvii; fine (French joli).

Keruars; carvers.

Langed; belonged.

Latrocynye; Latin latrocinium.

Lecherye; lechery.

Letted; prevented.

Male; mail, trunk.

Maleheurte; French malheur, misfortune, sorrow.

Maronners; mariners.

Martel; hammer.

Meure; French moeurs, manners.

Mordent; biting.

Mortifyed; mortified, deadened.

Mufyque; mufic.

Nonne; nun.

Noye; annoyance.

Oeuurages; French outrages, works.

Oftencion; show.

Olefauntes; elephants.

Oughwer; over.

Oultrage; outrage.

Pardurable; everlasting.

Parfyt; French parfait, perfeft.

Pawon; pawn.

Payringe; "without a pareing," i.e. undiminished.

Peages; peagers; French péage, péager. A local tax on merchandise in

paflage for the maintenance of roads and bridges. A gatherer of

the péage.

Pensee; French pensée, thought.

Pourueance; providence.

Rawe; rough.

Renomee; renown.

Roynyous; ruinous.

Rybauldes; ribalds.

Saciat; satiated.

Sawlter; þsalter.

Scawage; scavage, toll or tax.

Semblant; French sembler, to appear, to seem.

Serremens; cerements.

Siege; feat.

Slear; slayer.

Spores; spurs.

Spyncoppis; spiders.

Stracched; stretched.

Supplye; French supplier, to supplicate.

Syfe; fix.

Tacches; gifts, bequests. A. S. tacan, having the double meaning of

giving and taking.

Tapyte; carpet.

Tencyons; temptations.

Trycheur; tricker.

Tryste; sad.

Tutours; tutors, guardians.

Vignours; vine-dresser.

Wetyngly; knowingly.

Yates; gates.

Yre; ire.

INDEX

Babylon and the Chess-board,

Baldness of Cæsar,

Baltazar,

Bankes, Rev. Edw.,

Barbers, women,

Bafille le grant,

Basil, St.,

Bearers of letters,

Beauty and chastity.

Bees,

Begging,

Beringen, H. von,

Bernard, W.,

Bernard, St.,

Biblical allusions,

Bibliography of the Chess-book,

Birds,

Blades, William,

Blindness, philosophical,

Blind, raised letters for,

Boasting,

Bocchus,

Bodleian Library,

Body of Man a castle of Jefus,

Boece,

Boecius,

Boethius,

Boneuentan,

Borrowing,

Boys, R.,

Breath, stinking,

Brevio, Giovanni,

Bribery,

Bromyard, John of,

Brudgys. See Bruges.

Bruges,

Brunet, J.C.,

Brutus,

Burgundy, Duchess of,

Bull of copper,

Bulls,

Cadrus, duc of athenes,

Cæsolis. See Cessoles.

Cain,

Calderino, Giovanni,

Calengius,

Cambridge Public Library,

Cambyfes,

Cantanus,

Capayre,

Carpenters,

Carthage,

Carvers,

Cassalis. See Cessoles.

Cassiodorus,

Castle of Jesus Christ,

Castulis. See Cessoles.

Casulis. See Cessoles.

Cato,

Cauftons,

Caxton, William,

prologue of Chess-book, epilogue, finished in 1474, his account of

the translation, printed at Bruges, translated from the French,

adapts De Vignay's dedications, translates Vegetius, chief dates of

his life, opinion of lawyers, epilogue to Chefs-book, editions of

it, representative of a new time for literature, at Ghent

Caym.

Cesar.

Cesolis. See Cessoles.

Cessole. See Cessoles.

Cessoles, Jacques de.

Cessulis. See Cessoles.

Cesulis. See Cessoles.

Cezolis, de. See Cessoles.

Cezoli. See Cessoles.

Cham.

Changers.

Charlemagne.

Chastity.

Chequer.

Chess-book,

copies of first edition described; prices at which it has sold; where

printed; second edition described; when printed; prices at which it

has sold; translated from the French; Ferron's version; version in

French verse; De Vignay's version.

Chess, game of.

-- how the board is made.

-- manner of its invention.

-- moralized.

-- movements of pieces.

Chetham Library.

Child hostages.

Children, ungrateful.

Chivalry.

Cicero.

Cities, guarding.

Clarence, George, Duke of.

Claudian.

Clip.

Cloth cutters.

-- merchants.

-- workers.

Colatyne.

Colonna, Guido.

Common life.

Common people;

not to be despised; not to be at councils; those who have become

great.

-- profit.

-- weal.

Commonwealth.

Communities.

Community of goods.

Contemplation.

Continence.

Connaxa, Jehan.

Cordwainers.

Cossoles, de. See Cessoles.

Council, women apt in.

Courage.

Courcelles, de. See Cessoles.

Couriers.

Covetousness.

Crafts.

Crete.

Crime and punishment.

Crown apostrophized.

Cruelty.

Cunliffe, H.

-- J.

Cures, accidental and scientific.

Curse.

Cursus.

Curtius Marcus.

Curtius Quintus.

Customary and natural law.

Customers.

Cyrurgyens.

Cyrus.

Dacciesole. See Cessoles.

Damiani, Cardinal,

Damiano,

Damocles,

Damon,

Dares (Darius),

Daughters and their ancestresses,

Daughter, dutiful,

David,

Death,

from joy,

Defence of the people,

Defortes,

Delves, Sir Thomas,

Demetrius Phalerus,

Democrion,

Democritus,

Democritus of Abdera,

Demothenes,

Denys,

De Vignay. See Vignay.

Devonshire, Duke of,

Dialogus creaturarum

Dibdin, T.F.,

Dice,

play for a foul,

Didymus,

Diogenes,

Diogenes Lærtius,

Diomedes,

Diomedes, a "theefe of the see,"

Dion Cassius,

Dionysius,

Dionyse,

Disobedient children,

Divine right,

Dog and the Shadow,

Drapers,

Draughts of the Chess,

Drunkenness,

danger of,

Duele,

Dunlop, J.,

Durand,

Du Verdier,

Dydymus,

Dyers,

Dyna,

Dyonyse,

Ebert,

Ecclesiastes,

Edward I.,

Edward IV.,

Education of kings,

Education of physician,

Egidius Romanus. See Colonna.

Election, or hereditary succession?

Elephants,

Elimandus,

Emelie,

Emmerancian,

Emyon,

England's good old times,

Enulphus,

Envy,

Ermoaldus,

Ethics,

Eustace, Guillaum,

Eve,

Evilmerodach,

Example,

Fabian,

Fabius,

Fabricius,

Faith,

Faron. See Ferron.

Fear,

Fears of a tyrant,

Feron. See Ferron.

Ferron, Jean,

Fevre, Raoul le,

Fidelity,

Figgins, V.,

Florus,

Folly

Fools

Forbes, D.

Forgers

Fornier

Fortune misdoubted

Framosian

Francis of Assisi

Frederick II.

Friend in need

Friends, many and few

and enemies

Friendship

Frugality

Fullers

Gaguin, Robert

Galen

Galeren

Galyene

Game at Chesse

Ganazath, John of

Gaunt

Gauchay, H. de

Gauchy, H. de

Gazée, Angelin

Genoa

Geometry

Gereon, St.

Gesta Romanorum

Ghent, White-friars

Gibbet

Gifts

Gildo

Gilles de Rome. See Colonna.

Gluttony

Godaches

Godebert

Golden Legend

Goldsmiths

Good old times

Goribert

Goribald

Government of wise men

Græsse, J.G.T.

Grammarians

Gregory Nazianzen

Grenville Library

Grymald

Guards of cities

Guests and hosts

Guido

Guilt not to be punished in wrath

Guye

Gyles of Regement of Prynces

Gyges

Hain, Ludovici

Hakam II.

Halliwell, J. O.

Ham

Hanniball

Haroun-al-Rashid

Hate

Hazlitt, W. C.

Health

Helemand. See Helinand.

Helemond. See Helinand.

Helemonde, See Helinand.

Helimond. See Helinand.

Helinand

Helmond. See Helinand.

Heredity, influence of

Hereford, N. de

Hermits

Herodes Antipas

Heredotus

Herrtage, S. J.

Hippocrates

Hoeffer

Holford, J.

Holy Mawle

Holy Scripture

Homer

Honesty

Horse and the thief

Hospitallers

Hosts, duties of

Hound and the cheese

Hunger

and piety

Idols

Iene (Genoa)

Inglis Library

Ingram, Prof.

Inns

Inns, thievish servants

Instaulosus

Intemperance

James of Compostella

Jaubert

Jean II. of France

Jehanne de Borgoigne

Jerome

Joab

John Baptist

John of Ganazath

John the Monke (Giovanni Andrea)

Josephus

Jovinian

Joy, its dangers

Jherome. See Jerome.

Judas Machabeus

Judges' duties

skin

Jugglers

Julius Cæsar

Justice

Keepers of towns

King, estate and duties of

should take council

unpleasantness of the office

Kings, unlettered

Knight, education

estate and duties

Knight's followers

Köpke, Dr. E.

Labourers' office and duties

La Croix du Maine

Langley, John

Large, Alderman Robert

Latrunculi

Laws

like cobwebs

Law courts

Lawyers

Lear and his daughters

Leber, C.

Lechery

Legenda Aurea

Legende Dorée

Lending

Letter-carriers

Liberality

Liber de Moribus Hominum. See Cessoles.

Lineage, high and low

Linde, Dr. A. van

Ligurgyus

Literature

Livy

Logicians

Lot

Love

Love of the commonweal

Love of nature

Lowndes, W. T.

Loyalty

Lucan

Lucretia

Luther

Luxury

Lycurgus

Lydgate

Lying

Lyna

Lylimachus

Macrobius

Madden, Sir F.

Mainwaring, Sir H.

Magnanimity

Malechete

Mansion, Colard, teacher and partner of Caxton

Marchand, Prosper

Mariners

Marshals

Martial

Masons

Meats and Drinks

Medicines

Mennel, Dr. J.

Meon

Merchandise

Merchant, anecdote

Merchant, dishonest

Merchant who valued his good name

Merchants

Merchants of Bandach and Egipte

Merciall

Merculian

Mercy

Messengers

Metalworkers

Meung, Jehan de

Mollis Aer

Money, its force

Moneyers

Money-lenders,

Mulier, derivation of

Muratori

Music

Natural laws

Nature, rule of

Nero

Nicephorus

Noah

Nobility

Noblemen

Nogaret

Normandie, Duc de

Notaries, office of

Novella

Nun, anecdote of a

Oaths

Oaths of princes

Occleve

Octauian

Oddrale

Office no inheritance

Offices

Officials

Oldbuck, Jonathan

Originality

Osma, Bishop of

Ovid

Palamedes

Papirion

Papirus

Paradise lost

Pardoning a mother for the daughter's sake

Passage money

Patharich

Paul, St.

Paul, the historiagraph

Paulus, Diaconus

Paulyne

Pawn

Pembroke, Earl of

Penapion

Percy Anecdotes

Pers Alphons. See Petrus Alphonsus

Petit, L. M.

Petrus Alphonsus,

Philarde,

Philip Augustus,

Philippe le Bel,

Philippe le Hardi,

Philomenus,

Philostratus,

Philometor,

Phisias. See Pythias.

Physicians,

Physiognomy,

Pigmentaries,

Pilgrimages,

Piron,

Pirre,

Pitman, Isaac,

Pity,

Plaisters,

Plato,

Polygamy,

Polygamy or polyandry?

Pompeye,

Porters of gates,

Porus,

Poverty,

Princes' oaths and promises,

Prisoners,

Prodigality,

Promises,

Proverbs,

Ptolome,

Publius Ceser,

Purgatory,

Pyrrhus,

Pythias,

Quaritch, Bernard,

Quarrels,

Queen, estate and duties,

Quintilian,

Quintus Catullus,

Reason,

Regimine Principum. See Colonna.

Religion,

Religious communities,

Renatus, Vegetius Flavius,

Reyna Vezina,

Ribalds,

Riches,

Rivers,

Robbers,

Robbery,

Romanus, Egidius. See Colonna.

Romans, character of,

Rome, Gilles de. See Colonna.

Rook,

Rook, chess-piece,

Rooks, form and manners,

Sallust,

Scenocrates,

Schoolmaster who betrays the children,

Scipio,

Scott, Sir Walter,

Scriveners,

Scylla,

Secrets,

Semiramis,

Seneca,

Septemulle,

Servants,

Sesselis. See Cessoles.

Shakespeare,

Shamefastness,

Scheible, J.,

Ships and shipwrecks,

Sidrac,

Slander,

Sloane, John,

Smith, office and duty of,

Smith, R.,

Snuffy Davy,

Sobriety,

Socrates,

Solinus,

Solomon,

Solynus,

Speculum Laicorum,

Spelling reform,

Spencer, Earl,

Spicers,

Stars and clouds,

Stephan,

St. James of Compostella,

Suicide,

Surgeons,

Syrens, Fountain of the,

Symmachus,

Syrians,

Tacitus,

Tailors,

Tarascon, Bertrand de,

Tarchus,

Tarentum,

Tarpeia,

Tarquin,

Tartar women go to the wars,

Tassile,

Taverners,

Tessalis. See Ceffoles.

Tessellis. See Ceffoles.

Themes,

Themistides,

Theodorus Cyrenaicus,

Theodosius,

Theophrastus,

Theryle,

Thessolonia, J. de. See Cessoles.

Thessolonica, J. de. See Cessoles.

Thessolus, J. de. See Cessoles.

Thieves,

Thievish inn servants,

Thobie,

Thorn's Anecdotes and Traditions,

Tiberius,

Timon,

Tinque,

Titus,

Toll-gatherers,

Torture,

Trajan,

Treachery, 60, 61.

Trevisa, John,

Troy, and the invention of Chess,

Troy-book,

Truphes of the Philosophers,

Trustee, dishonest,

Truth,

Tullius. See Cicero.

Turgeius Pompeius,

Tyranny,

Tyrus. See Cyrus.

Valere. See Valerius Maximus.

Valerian,

Valerius Maximus,

Valerye. See Valerius Maximus.

Varro,

Vergil, Polydore,

Vespasian,

Vessels, earthen,

Victory,

Victuallers,

Vignay, Jehan de,

Vine legend,

Virgil,

Virginity,

Visions,

Vitas Patrum

Vow of a woman

Wages should be paid punctually

War

Warton, T.

Warwick, George, Earl of

Weavers

Weft, J.

White Friars at Ghent

Wilbraham, Roger

Wilson, "Snuffy Davy"

Wine

Wine forbidden to women

Wine, origin of

Wisdom

Woollen merchants

Workmen

Workmen, office and duty

Woman

advice

education

vow

and lawyers

dangers abroad

forbidden to drink wine

going to the wars

Women barbers

Wright, T.

Xanthippé

Xenocrates

Xenophon

Xerxes the philosopher

Ylye

Youth and government

Ypocras

Ysaye

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Table of Contents

CAXTON'S GAME AND PLAYE OF THE CHESSE.

1474.

A VERBATIM REPRINT OF THE FIRST EDITION.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

WILLIAM E.A. AXON, M.R.S.L.

"And ther was founde by clerkes full prudent Of the chesse the play most glorious."

JOHN LYDGATE.

LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1883.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.

THE GAME OF THE CHESSE.

Dedication to the Duke of Clarence Prologue to second edition BOOK I.

BOOK II.

BOOK III.

BOOK IV.

GLOSSARY INDEX

INTRODUCTION

COLONNA.

CESSOLES.

THE GAME OF CHESSE [DEDICATION.]

[PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.]

[TABLE.]

BOOK I.

This first chapiter of the first tractate sheweth under what kynge the play of the chesse was founden and maad.:.

This second chapitre of the first tra3tate sheweth who fonde first the playe of the chesse.

The thirde chapitre of the first tractate treteth wherfore the playe was founden and maad.

BOOK II.

The seconde tractate/ the first chapiter treteth of the forme of a kynge of his maners and of his estate.

The seconde chapitre of the seconde book treteth of the forme and maners of the Quene.

The thirde chapitre of the seconde tractate treteth of the alphyns her offices and maners.

The fourth chapitre of the seconde book treteth of the ordre of cheualerye and knyghthode and of her offices and maners.

The fyfthe chapitre of the second book of the forme and maners of the rooks.

BOOK III.

The thirde tractate of the offices of the comyn peple. The fyrst chapitre is of the office of the labourers and werkemen.

The seconde chapitre of the thirde tractate treteth of the forme and maner of the second pawne and of the maner of smyth.

The thirde chapitre of the thirde book treteth of the office of notaryes aduocats skryueners and drapers or clothmakers.

The fourth chapitre of the thirde book treteth of the maner of the fourth pawn and of the marchants or changers.

This fifth chapitre of the thirde book treteh of phisiciens spicers and Apotyquarys.

The sixthe chapitre of the thirde book treteth of the sixth pawn/ whiche is lykened to tauerners hostelers and vitayllers.

The seventh chapitre of the thirde Tractate treteth of kepars of townes customers and tolle gaderers &c.

This chapitre of the thirder book treteth of Rybauldis players of dyse and messagers and corrours

BOOK IV.

The fourth tractate & the last of the progression and draughtes of the forsayd playe of the chesse. The first chapitre of the fourth tractate of the chesse borde in genere how it is made.

The seconde chaitre of the fourth tractate tretheth of the draught of the kynge/ And how he meuyth hym in the chequer.

The seconde chapiter of the fourth book of the quene and how she yssueth oute of her place.

The fourth chapitre of the fourth book Is of the yssuynge of the Alphyn.

The fyfth chapitre of the fourth Tractate Is of the meuynge of the knyghtes.

The sixt chapitre of the fourth tractate treleth of the yssue of the rooks and of her progression.

The seuenth chapitre of the fourth book treteth of the yssue of the comyn peple &c.

The eyght chapitre and the last of the fourth book of the epilogacion and recapitulation of this book.

GLOSSARY

INDEX

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