CHESS AND PLAYING-CARDS. 863 



The oldest European chessmen in existence appear to be six ivory 

 pieces, long preserved in the abbey of St. Dennis and now in the 

 National Library at Paris, where they were transferred at the Revolu- 

 tion. According to tradition, they were a gift to the abbey from 

 Charlemagne. The dress and ornaments of these pieces are in keep- 

 ing with the Greek costume of the ninth century.^ 



51. TSEUNG K-f. Chess. Canton, China. Board ^ and men. 



The board, commonly made of paper, has sixty-four squares, which 

 are separated into two parts in the middle by a blank space, the width 

 of one square, called the "River." Four squares in the middle of each 

 side of the board in the first and second rows nearest the edge are 

 crossed with two diagonal intersecting lines, marking an inclosure, 

 which is called the "Palace." The pieces on each side, which are 

 placed at the intersections of the lines instead of on the squares, and 

 consist of disks of wood inscribed on both sides with the Chinese char- 

 acter for the name, distinguished by the colors red and blue, are as 

 follows : 



Tsmng, "General" (1) King. 



Sz\ "Coimcillors" (2) Bishops. 



Taenng, "Elephants" (2). 



Md, "Horses" (2) = Knights. 



Ch'e, "Chariots" (2) = Castles. 



P'du, "Cannons" (2). 



Ping and Tsut (on opposite sides), "Foot soldiers" (5) ^ Pawns. 



The "Generals" are placed in the middle of each outer row with the 

 "Councillors" on either -side. Next without them are the two 

 "Horses" with the "Chariots" in the corners. The " Cannons" occupy 

 the first points of intersection from the edges of each of the second 

 rows, while the "Footsoldiers" are placed in the third row with one 

 intervening point between each of them. 



The "General" is not permitted to move outside of his " Palace" and 

 only along the perpendicular and horizontal lines. The "Chancellors," 



some in periodicals devoted to the game, in learned journals, and as essays, such as 

 that by Fritz Strohmeyer on "Chess in Old French" in the collection of essays pub- 

 lished on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the professorship of Dr. 

 Adolf Toblcr, Halle A. S., 1895. While these have, here and there, corrected a date, 

 established matters doubted by Van der Linde, and enlarged the information given 

 by him, tliey have left substantially unchanged the more important features of his 

 work. Thus they have shoved back the date of knowledge of chess among the Arabs 

 a generation, have shown knowledge of chess in Europe some fifty years before the 

 earliest date assigned by him; proved that he spoke too quickly as to the Problem 

 Collection of Bomus Socius comprising the whole problematical chess literature of 

 the Middle Ages, etc. His books are somewhat disfigured by controversial bitter- 

 ness, and too great critical skepticism ; the style is not attractive, but they are mines 

 of information. 



1 William Maskell, Ivories, Ancient and Medieval, London, 1875, p. 77. 



2Cat. No. 16434, Mus. Arch., Univ. Penn. 



