istic-bold, rapid attack, without a moment's pause or indecision, which would probably have exposed him to danger from a more experienced adversary; but as it was, with a profound contempt for my skill, promising me a shilling if I beat him, he sat down with a book in his hand, looked up for an instant, made a move, and beat me regularly all through the winter. At last I won my shilling, but lost my playfellow; he challenged me no more."

Many of Richard Penn's remarks in his little work on chess-playing, are as sensible as they are quaint. "Some persons," he says, "when they are playing with a stranger who entreats to be allowed to take back a move, let him do so the first time; then, almost immediately after, put their own Queen en prise; and when a mistake is politely pointed out to them, they say that they never take back a move, but that they are ready to begin another game."* It should be noted that some of the wood-cuts in this amusing volume are from sketches by his friend Sir F. Chantrey. In several of these, both Sir Francis, and Mr. Penn are felicitously hit off as anglers; but one of the best, exhibits them at chess-the great sculptor seeking consolation under gout, as is witnessed by his flannelled limb and footstool.

"Maxims and Hints for the Angler and Chess-Player," 1842.

A favourite relaxation with Thomas Henry Buckle was chess, a game in which he displayed very considerable skill. Captain Kennedy, one of his friends most capable of giving an account of his play, says* :-"Nature had gifted him with a superlative aptitude for the game of chess, and he brought the powers of a rare intellect— clear, penetrating, and sagacious beyond that of most men to bear upon it. His imagination was that of the poet, all compact,' but subservient to the dictates of a logical judgment. His combinations accordingly, under such guidance, seldom, if ever, exhibited a flaw, and were characterized by exactitude of calculation, and brilliant device. He excelled in pawn play, which he conducted with an ingenuity, and deadly accuracy worthy of the renowned pawn general, Szen. He gave large odds, such as Rook and Knight, with wonderful skill and success, appearing to have a sort of intuitive knowledge of a strange opponent's chess idiosyncrasy, which enabled him precisely to gauge the kind of risks he might venture to run. The rendering of heavy odds, as every experienced chess-player knows, necessitates hazardous and unsound play on the part of the giver.

These contests of his at odds were always full of interest and entertainment to lookers-on, and a

"Life of Thomas Henry Buckle," A. H. Huth, i., 24-25.

gallery, two or three deep, often surrounded his board in the Strand Divan, where it was his 'custom in the afternoon' to recreate himself with his favourite game. I have occasionally seen roars of laughter elicited from the spectators by the crestfallen aspect of some poor, discomfited Rook-player, who, with much care and solicitude, having obtained, as he fondly believed, an impregnable position, had suddenly found his defences scattered like chaff, and himself accommodated with a mate, after the sacrifice, by his keen-witted opponent, of two or three pieces in succession. Whether winning or losing, Mr. Buckle was a pleasant adversary, and sat quietly before the board, smoking his cigar, and pursuing his game with inflexible steadiness."

But it would seem that Buckle prudently guarded against the risk of losing his temper, for, "on one occasion when he was asked the ground for his refusal to play with an extremely slow player, whose tediousness had obtained him the cognomen of the Telegraph,' in his own sententious manner, he gave utterance to the following reply: Well, sir, the slowness of genius is difficult to bear, but the slowness of mediocrity is intolerable.'"

Many interesting anecdotes are given by Mr. Huth of Buckle's chess-playing. Thus, one day,

at Dresden, after watching some players at a café, he was invited by one of them to play. The man played carelessly at first, but soon paid more and more attention to the game; and, on being beaten, he got up and made a profound bow, remarking, "Whoever you are, you should only play with our best players."

Buckle soon won a reputation on the Continent. On another occasion he was watching a game outside a café at Rome, as was his wont, when, on the conclusion of the game, one of the players asked him to play. Seeing that he was an Englishman, and very young, the man proposed a scudo as the stake. Buckle assented.

"Or, perhaps, a couple of scudi ?" he added. Buckle agreed.

"Well, perhaps it would make a better game if we were to play for five scudi ?"

Upon this Buckle began to get angry, and said

"I'll play you for a hundred scudi if you like." The man was quite taken aback, and asked him. his name.

"Buckle."

"How do you spell it ?"

He was told.

"Ah, Booclay!" he said; with you."

"then I won't play

When staying at Paris, Buckle played Kieseritzki at the Café de la Régence, and even the redoubted St. Amant himself. Each of these masters gave him a pawn; but each was beaten. Later, when he visited Paris in the year 1848, he again engaged Kieseritzki equal; and, taking these games with former ones, beat him.

Once more, it was in Paris, while watching a game of draughts outside a café, he told the players who had just drawn it that it might be won by white in three moves. They, who knew nothing of him, would not believe him; upon which Buckle made a bet, and won it.

A story is told of the Earl of Sunderland, minister to George I., who was a most inveterate chess-player, that he once played with the Laird of Cluny and with Cunningham, the translator of Horace. Cunningham, it appears, with much honesty and little knowledge of the world, vanquished the statesman, who was so piqued at his conqueror's superiority that he dismissed him without any reward. Cluny, on the other hand, who allowed himself occasionally to be beaten, obtained all the favours he wanted.

An interesting historical little episode, in which chess played an important part, may be mentioned in connection with Lord Howe. It appears that a game of chess, with his accomplished sister Mrs.