Middleton's Comedy of Chesse, 1624, was acted at the Globe.
It was however a sort of religious controversy, the game being
played by a member of the Church of England, and another of
the Church of Rome, the former in the end gaining the victory.
The play being considered too political, the author was cast into
prison, from which he obtained his release by the following
petition to the King.
A harmless game, coyned only for delight,
T'was played betwixt the black house and the white,
The white house won, yet still the black doth brag,
They had the power to put me in the bag,
Use but your hand, tw'll set me free,
T'is but removing of a man, that's me.
Philidor states in his work that historians have commemorated
the following Sovereigns as chess players: Charlemagne,
Tamerlane, Sebastian, King of Portugal, Philip II King of
Spain, The Emperor Charles V, Catherine of Medecis, Queen of
France, Pope Leo X, Henry IV of France, Queen Elizabeth,
Louis XIII, James I of England (who used to call the game a
philosophical folly,) Louis XIV, William III, Charles XII, and
Frederick of Russia.
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