an ingenious game, performed with different pieces of wood, on a board divided into sixty-four squares or houses; in which chance has so small a share, that it may be doubted whether a person ever lost but by his own fault.

Each gamester has eight dignified pieces, viz. a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, and two rooks; also eight pawns: all which, for distinction sake, are painted of two different colours, as white and black. As to their disposition on the board, the white king is to be placed on the fourth black house from the corner of the board, in the first and lower rank; and the black king is to be placed on the fourth white house on the opposite or adversary's end of the board. The queens are to be placed next to the kings, on houses of their own colour. Next to the king and queen, on each hand, place the two bishops; next to them, the two knights; and last of all, on the corners of the board, the two rooks. As to the pawns, they are placed without distinction, on the second rank of the house, one before each of the dignified pieces.

Having thus disposed the men, the onset is commonly begun by the pawns, which march straight forward in their own file, one house at a time, except the first move, when it can advance two houses, but never moves backwards: the manner of their taking the adversary's men, is side-ways, in the next house forwards; where having captivated the enemy, they move forward as before. The rook goes forward or cross-ways through the whole file, and back again. The knight skips backward and forward to the next house, save one, of a different colour, with a fiddling march, or a slope, and thus kills his enemies that fall in his way, or guards his friends that may be exposed on that side. The bishop walks always in the same colour of the field that he is placed in at first, forward and backward, aslope, or diagonally, as far as he lifts. The queen's walk is more universal, as she takes all the steps of the before-mentioned pieces, excepting that of the knight; and as to the king's motion, it is one house at a time, and that either forward, backward, sloping, or side ways.

As to the value of the different pieces, next to the king is the queen, after her the rooks, then the bishops, and last of the dignified pieces comes the knight. The difference of the worth of pawns, is not so great as that of noblemen; only, it must be observed, that the king's bishop's pawn is the best in the field, and therefore the skilful gambler will be careful of him. It ought also to be observed, that whereas any man may be taken, when he falls within the reach of any of the adversary's pieces, it is otherwise with the king, who, in such a case, is only to be saluted with the word check, warning him of his danger, out of which it is absolutely necessary that he move; and, if it so happen that he cannot move without exposing himself to the like inconvenience, it is check-mate, and the game is lost.