Colonel Stewart used frequently to play at chess with Lord
Stair who was very fond of the game; but an unexpected checkmate
used to put his Lordship into such a passion that he was
ready to throw a candlestick or anything else that was near him,
at his adversary: for which reason the Colonel always took care
to be on his feet to fly to the farthest corner of the room when he
said "Checkmate, my Lord."
In older times the narrative is silent as to the temper of
Charlemagne when he lost his wager game to Guerin de Montglave,
but Eastern annals, the historians of Timur, Gibbon and others tell
us that the great potentates of the East, Al Walid, Harun Ar
Rashid, Al Mamun and Tamerlane shewed no displeasure at being
beaten, but rather appreciated and rewarded the skill of their
opponents. They manifested, however, great indignation against
those who played deceitfully or attempted to flatter by allowing
themselves to be overplayed by their Monarchs.
Concerning the origin of chess considerable misconception has
always prevailed, and the traditions which had grown up as to its
invention before knowledge of the Sanskrit became first imported
to the learned, are various and conflicting, comprising several
of a very remarkable and even mythical character, which is the
more extraordinary because old Eastern manuscripts, the
Shahnama of Persia, the Kalila Wa Dimna, the fables of Pilpay
in its translations and the Princess Anna Comnena's history
of the twelfth century (all combined) with the admissions of the
Chinese and the Persians in their best testimonies to point out
and indicate what has been since more fully established by Dr.
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