The King standeth in the field in
middle of his army, and hath his Queene next unto him and his
Nobilitie about him, with his soldiers to defend him in the
forefront of the battell.
Sith therefore this game is pleasant to all, profitable to most,
hurtful to none. I pray thee (gentle reader) take this my labour
in good part, and thou shalt animate me hereafter to the setting
forth of deeper matters. Farewell. LUDUS SCACCHI.
Peter Pratt of Lincoln's Inn, author of the "Theory of Chess,"
(1799) a work referred to by Professor Allen, the biographer of
Philidor as "the most divertingly absurd of all chess books."
Some idea of the plan and style of the work may be obtained
from the following extract from the author's preface: "The game
of chess, though generally considered as an emblem of war (the
blood stained specie of it) seemed to him (the author) more to
resemble those less ensanguined political hostilities which take
place between great men in free countries, an idea which was at
once suggested and confirmed by observing that when one
combatant is said to have conquered another, instead of doing
anything like killing or wounding him, he only casts him from his
place and gets into it himself.
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