CHE 
and twenty-fix fouth-weft of Hartford. It contains an 
epifcopal church and academy, and three congregational 
churches. 
CHES'LEY, a town of France, in the department of 
the Aube, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 
Ervy : nine miles fouth-eaft of Ervy. 
CHE'SNE, a town of France, in the department of 
the Ardennes, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift 
of Vouziers, fifteen miles louth of Mezieres. 
CHE'SNE (Jofeph du), Quercetanus, lord of la 
Violette, and phyfician to the French king, was born at 
Armagnac. After having paffed a confiderable time in 
Germany, he went and p radii fed in Paris. He made 
great progreis in the ttudy of chemiftry, to which he was 
particularly devoted. The fuccefs that attended his prac¬ 
tice in this fcience, excited the fpleen of the reft of the 
phyficians, and efpecially that of Guy Patin, who was 
continually bringing out larcafmsagainfthim. This learn¬ 
ed chemift, who is called du Quefne by Moreri, died at 
Paris, at a very advanced age,in 1609. He wrote in French 
verfe, The Folly of the World, 1583, 4to. 2. The great 
Mirror of the World, 1593, 8vo. He alfo compofed fe- 
veral books of chemiftry, which had great reputation, 
confidering the then obicure ftate of that fcience. 
CHE'SNE (Andre du), called the father of French 
hiftory, was born in Tourane, in 1584 ; and was crufhed 
to death by a cart, as he was palling from Paris to his 
country-houfe, in 1640. His labours, for fuch they may 
be properly called, coniift of, 1. Hiftoirede Papes, a tom. 
fol. 2. Hiftoire d’Angleterre, 2 tom. fol. 3. Hiltoire des 
Cardinaux Francois. 4. Recueil des Hiftoriens de France. 
This laft was intended to contain twenty-four volumes 
in folio; the two firft of which, from the origin of the 
nation to Hugh Capet, he publiftied himfelf. The third 
and fourth, from Charles Martel to Philip Auguftus, 
were in the prefs when he died : and his ion, Francis du 
Chefne, who inherited his induftry as well as his learn¬ 
ing, publiftied the fifth, from Philip Auguftus to Philip 
le Bel. 5. Hiltoriae Normannorum Scriptores Antiqui, 
Paris, 1619, in folio. This colleftion has been much 
efteemed. 
CHESNUT-HILL, a town of America in Northampton 
county, Pennfylvania. 
CHES'NUT-TREE. See Fagus. 
CHESS, f \_ echecs , Fr.] By fome called the Game of 
War: a very ancient and ingenious game, performed 
with different figures and pieces of wood, to be moved 
in various direftions on a board, divided into fixty-four 
fquares called houfes. Each player is furniflted with eight 
of thefe carved figures, called dignified pieces , viz. a king, 
a queen, two bilhops, two knights, and two rooks ; alio 
with eight common pieces, called pawns . Thefe, for the 
fake of dillinftion, are painted of two oppofite colours, 
white and black. 
As this game appears to be of very high antiquity, fo 
the honour of inventing it is claimed by different nations. 
The conteft lies principally between the Hindoos, the 
Chinele, and the Perfians. In fupport of the firft claim, 
we are told by Sir William Jones, in the fecond volume 
of his Afiatic Refearch.es, that the game of chels has been 
immemorially known in Hindooftan, by the name of 
Chaturanga, or .the four members of an army, viz. ele¬ 
phants, liorfes, chariots, and foot-foldiers. This learned 
author at the fame time obferves, that though it is con¬ 
fidently afferted Slianfcrit books on chefs exiit, yet no ac¬ 
count of the game has hitherto been dilcovered in the 
claffical writings of the Brahmins. The late Mr. Daines 
Barrington attributes the invention of the game to the 
Chinele; and in this he is fupported by a paper publiftied 
in the Tranfaftions of the Royal Irilh Academy for 1794, 
vol. 5; by Mr. Eyles Irwin. It ftates, that when Mr. Ir¬ 
win was at Canton, a young mandarin of his acquaint¬ 
ance, on feeing the Englilh chefs-board on his table, re¬ 
cognized its fimilarlty with that ufed for a game of their 
own } and, on the next day, he brought his board and 
CHE 
41 f 
equipage for Mr. Irwin’s infpeflion, and foon afterward 
gave him a manufcript extrait from a book, relating the 
origin and invention of the Chinele game, called by them 
cbong - ke , or the royal game . Some of the principal differ¬ 
ences in the Chinefe chefs are, that, inftead of a queen, 
the king has a Ion on each fide for his fupport; and that 
there is a piece called the rocket - boy , ftationed between 
the lines of each party, who acts with the motion cf a 
rocket, vaulting over a man, and taking his adverfary at 
the other end of the board. This, as Mr. Irwin obferves, 
is an irrefragable proof of the antiquity of the military 
ule of gunpowder by the Chinefe. The manufcript ex- 
traft attributes the invention of the game to a Chinefe 
general (about 1965 years ago), who by its means recon¬ 
ciled his foldiers to palling the winter in quarters in the 
country of Shenfi, the cold and inconveniences of which 
W'ere likely to have occafioned a mutiny among them. 
Other writers contend, that chefs is a game of Perlian 
invention, fince fcah math is the Perfic term for check 
mate; and fince the Perfians were fedulous in recommend¬ 
ing it to their young princes, as a game calculated toin- 
ftruft kings in the art of war, and as the name they gave 
it, Scliatrak, fignifies the game of fchah, or king. Whe¬ 
ther the Greeks or Romans were acquainted with this 
game, is doubtful, becaufe though feveral paflages which 
might be fuppofed.to have fuch a reference, relate to fome 
game of Ikill, yet it is evident that chefs is not intended. 
It has been attributed to Palamedes, who lived during 
the Trojan war: but the line from Sophocles, on which 
this opinion is founded, teaches nothing more than that 
he invented lome game which was played with pebbles 
or cubes. Palamedes was fo renowned for his fagacity, 
that almoft every early difcovery was afcribed to him. 
If we recur to the original names of the pieces with 
which this game is played, we fhall readily be convinced 
that it is of Afiatic original; but whether carried from 
India into Perfia, and thence into China, or <vice c vcrfa , 
feems to be of as little real importance, as it is difficult, 
or impofiible, to afcertain the fa ft. The firft piece of 
chefs, or king, feems always to have retained the dignity 
of its character, under whatloever defignation it might 
have been ufed in different countries. The fecond piece 
of chefs, called the queen, has certainly undergone a great 
violation of charafiter. The old French authors call it 
fierce, fierche, and fierge, or fiercir. Corruptions of the 
Latin fiercia, derived from the Perfian ferze or firzin, the 
name of that piece in Perfic; and fignifies a minifter or 
vizir. Of the word fierge, they have made, vierge virgo, 
and afterwards lady or queen. The refemblance of the 
words made this change very eafy, and it feemed fo much 
the more reafonable, becaufe that piece is placed next to 
the king, and at its firft moves, like the pawns, could only 
move two fteps, which made it one of the lead confiderable 
of the board, as the authors of two ancient treatifes of 
the game of chefs acknowledge. This conftraint upon 
the lady of chefs was difpleafing to our forefathers. They 
looked upon it as a fort of flavery, more fuitable to the 
jealoufy of the Eaftern people, than to the liberty which 
ladies have always enjoyed amongft us. They extended, 
therefore, the fteps and prerogatives of that piece, and, 
in confequence of the gallantry fo natural to the weftern 
people, the lady became the moft confiderable piece of 
all the game. Yet there was ftill an abfurdity in this 
metamorphofis of the firzim or vizier into queen, and this 
incongruity remains to the prefent day, without our . 
taking notice of it. 
When a pawn, or a common foldier, has traverfed 
through the enemy’s battalions, and penetrated fo far 
as the laft line of the board, he is not allowed to return, 
back, but is honoured with the Itep and prerogatives of 
the queen. If the ferzin, or the fierge, be a vizir, a firft 
minifter, or a general of an army, we can eafily compre¬ 
hend how a pawn or a fimple foldier may be elevated to 
their rank, in recompence of the valour with which he 
has. pierced through the enemy’s battalions. But if the 
