﻿GAME OF CHESS, &C. 481 



who have heen stigmatized as Siingninary, from their 

 delighting in boxing, cock-tigiUiiig and bear-hait- 

 ing? — But instances of contradictions oF this kind 

 between particular habits, and y-er.eral character in 

 every nation, must b:^ too taujiliar to you to lequire 

 illustration by further examples ; and 1 um sure you 

 ^vill agree with me, that it is tlje wisest and s^.trst 

 course to avoid forming general conclusions from 

 partial views. 



A member does not form a uhole ; and who has 

 the means of examining and comparing all the paits 

 of so stupendous a system, as forms the history and 

 character of man, even in the meanest of the sub- 

 divisions of society? We therefore must not con- 

 clude that the Bunnhas are a scientific or intelligent 

 people, because they play chess ; nor that they are 

 brutally savage, because they sometimes eat the flesh 

 of their enemies. 



Chess, by universal consent, hokls the first rank 

 among our sedentary amusements, and its history 

 has employed the pens of many eminent n en. Among 

 the number, Sir ^Villiam Jones has obliged the world 

 with an essay replete as usual with er-dition and 

 information. But while I avow the wannest admi- 

 ration of his talents, and subscribe with all due defe- 

 rence to his authority, Imust be allosved to acknow- 

 ledge a difference of sentiment. 



, Sir William says, " The bt^autiful simplicity and 

 extreme perfection of the game, as it is comnionly 

 played in Europe and Asia, convinces me that it was 

 invented by one effort of some great genius, not 

 completed by gradual improvements, but formed, to 

 use the phrase of Italian critics, by the first inten- 

 tion. " But it appears to me that all he afterwards 

 adduces on the subject is so far from corr borating, 

 that it is in direct contradiction of this opinion, and 

 I trust my further combating it will neither be deem- 



Ii ed 



