anew the distinction between the real and the ideal, and perhaps
not to the advantage of the latter.

Nothing has yet been said as to the place of this book in the history of
chess, and, indeed, it must be confessed that it has very little
practical bearing on the game. The learned dreams by which the chess of
to-day was connected with the _latrunculi_ and with the amusement said
to have been invented by Palamedes, have been dissipated by the cool air
of modern criticism. The student of the history of chess may now follow
its fortunes under the safe guidance of Dr. van der Linde, who rejects
unhesitatingly the claim made for it, and admitted even by Forbes, of an
antiquity of 5,000 years.[41] The game of chess, which, whilst remaining
an amusement, has acquired the dignity of a science, is one that Europe
owes to India, where it was probably invented not earlier than five
centuries before Christ; the triumphant progress of Islam aided in the
extension of this oriental pastime. It was known at the courts of
Nicephorus at Conftantinople and his contemporary Haroun-al-Rashid at
Bagdad. One would like to add that Charlemagne also was acquainted with
it, but there is no good evidence for that legend. It was known in Spain
in the tenth century, since the library of the learned caliph Hakam II.
of Cordova contained some Arabic MSS. on the game. By the middle of the
eleventh century it was common in the western world. In 1061 a
Florentine bishop is said to have been ordered by Cardinal Damiani to
expiate the offence of playing chess in public by three recitations of
the Psalter, by washing the feet of twelve poor persons, and by giving
them liberal alms. The gradual developments of the game in Europe are
illustrated in detail by Dr. van der Linde. Chess in its prefent form is
comparatively modern, and refults from the enlargement of the powers of
the Queen (originally the Vizier or minister) and of the Bishop
(formerly the Alfil or Elephant). The greater powers of these pieces
came into play between 1450 and 1500, but the period of transition was
prolonged to a much later date in some cafes, and the Portuguese Damiano
may be regarded as the founder of the modern school. The player of
to-day on consulting the elementary directions given in this book (p.
159, _et seq_.), will see how greatly the present play exceeds in
complexity and scientific interest the moves that excited the enthusiasm
of Jacobus de Cessoles, and led him to t