the acts attest the care with which the company adorn themselves. Mr. Montague, being the manager naturally takes the shine out of the rest of the males, by a celestial evening arrangement, and a blue velvet morning suit. It is true that he apologises for this last, but we doubt if the apology is in the author's manuscript. Nor are the appointments behind the dresses. There are Fortnum and Mason hampers, and the latest cunning novelty in luncheon furniture; and, to add to the effect of a baronial apartment, a miniature billiard table is introduced. In this matter the Globe is far behind the Adelphi, which possesses a full-sized table, that has already done duty in two plays, and may very likely be brought out again should occasion offer. But nothing can be more exasperating than to watch, with one eye, the movements of the leading characters, and with the other to regard the efforts, mostly futile, of the subordinate performers to make hazards on this miniature table. Lastly, there is the eternal cigarette. It is an established fact that smoking is as necessary to modern comedy as taking snuff is to that of an older date; and, just as we see the performers in the School for Scandal and The Rivals pretend to take an amount of snuff that would inevitably have choked anybody in real life, so in the new style is there a perpetual lighting of tobacco. In Society we had the pipe, in School the cigar, and, just now, there is a passion for the cigarette. It is perhaps hardly necessary to inform the reader that it is de rigueur for visitors to the stalls and dress circles of the theatres to issue forth in a body between the acts, and suffocate each other with the profuse smoke of cigarettes. Any person failing in this duty would be considered as benighted a savage as that nian who neglected, during the progress of the play, to chew a quill tooth-pick. At present it is hardly possible for the occupants of the stage, consistent with clear utterance, to chew tooth-picks; but the cigarette is conspicuous.

Mabel's Life, which finishes its short career at the same time that these Notes are published, is an extraordinary production. The plot is utterly unintelligible, and for that reason perhaps is not forced much upon the attention of the audience; but the comic scenes, which are conceived in Mr. Byron's happiest vein, are of large dimensions, though they have no connection whatever with the plot. This has been little regretted by the audience, which finds Mr. John Clark's humour more amusing than the starts and shrugs of Madame Celeste, or the queer gesticulation of Miss Furtado, whose pleasant face, however, atones for many imperfections. But the most extraordinary feature of this most extraordinary play is the lavish manner in which it has been placed upon the stage. The ladies' dresses are of a gorgeous description, and if the splendour of the gentlemen's attire is less apparent, the shininess of their hats makes due amends. The climax of amazement on the part of the Adelphi visitor is reached at a carpenter's scene, embellished with a breakfast-table and sideboard. It is true that the only furniture in addition is a couple of chairs, but the eatables and drinkables on the table and sideboard atone for all other deficiencies. When a game pie is supplemented by a bottle of real soda-water, which goes off with a real pop, the Adelphi pittite looks on with awe mingled with resentment at such an innovation. Nor are wanting the boy singers, without whom no play is now considered perfect, and should the result be a revived taste for old English madrigals, nobody will quarrel with their introduction.

It is now more than three years ago since we noticed Mr. Gilbert's first comedy, which was produced at the Gaiety, under the title of An Old Score. Though the story was of a very unpleasant nature, scarcely one of the characters enlisting any sympathy, the play attracted attention from the bold and even startling way in which the author touched on many social vices, and from his happy attack on that objectionable journal, the now defunct Tomahawk. Mr. Gilbert has of late preferred to make his wholesome satire less apparent, by laying the scenes of his plays in fairy land or classic times, but we should prefer to see a modern comedy from his pen, after the fashion of An Old Score, but with a better and more interesting story. The play has just been revived, under a new title (Quits), by Miss Litton, at the Court Theatre, where Amphitryon has had, as we hinted last month would be the case, but a short existence. The free, bold and original dialogue of Quits arrests the attention as much as before, though we regret to see that some of the entertaining satire on journalism has been cut out. But the unpleasantness, and, from a stage point of view, the unnaturalness of the story still remains, and no audience can sympathise with the heroine who changes the object of her regard twice or thrice in ten minutes. In fact, the only character on whom the audience can confer its approval is that of the nursery_governess, which Miss Litton acts with that unaffected simplicity which seems natural to her. The Court Theatre has also produced a new burlesque, entitled Charles II. Any remarks on burlesque may by this time seem superfluous, but we must say that it is inconceivable to us how any man connected with literature can have the assurance, as Mr. Gilbert a'Beckett has in this instance, to put his name to such unbearable imbecility. It is not merely the absence of real jokes, nor the fact that the attempts at jokes are old ones, nor the dullness of the whole thing that arouses our astonishment; but the utter lack of cohesion between scene and scene, nay, between sentence and sentence. And why should a management go to an author at all, when they can arrange a programme themselves, after the fashion of the Christy Minstrels? Thus, we might have "a chorus by the company;" then "a photographic scene between Messrs. Righton and Hill;" then "a break-down by young lady unknown," succeeded by "sentimental ballad by Mdlle. D'Anka." Indeed the absurdity of the whole proceeding may be instanced by Mdlle. D'Anka, as a burlesque queen, singing Arthur Sullivan's Once Again, for which, being encored, she substitutes Home Sweet Home. Mr. a'Beckett is at pains to write to the Times, protesting against the introduction of Charles I. into his burlesque. He might have explained, while he was about it, by what reasoning he bestowed upon the vile nonsense he has written the name of a burlesque.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

LEX. The point being good (and by the rules of the game counting first), your adversary is out and scores a double.

M. L. B. (Brighton Club).—I lay six cards on the table, consisting of Quint Major and one other of the suit, and I ask my opponent, "Is this good?" He looks and says, "Yes." I then call, "14 Queens make 95." My opponent looks at his cards again, and says, "Your cards are not good, I have more cards," and on my telling him that I would not allow that, as he had called my cards good, he alleges that he only referred to my Quint, and did not refer to the cards because I had not called the number of my pips. Please state which is correct.-Ans. Your claim was informal, but the informality appears to us covered by your adversary. When he said " good," it must be assumed that he referred to the cards, and not to the Quint. The six cards being on the table, you must be claiming the six cards first, and, in our We sent the opinion, you were therefore entitled to game. If above case and decision to Mr. Clay, who has favoured us with the following: "I agree to the above decision. If your call was informal, it was not punishable; what could you gain by it? There may be two points having the same number of pips, either of which you may hold; by exposing your cards, you inform your adversary which of them you have got."

The Westminster Papers.

1st JANUARY 1873.

THE CHESS WORLD.

"The whisperings of our petty burgh."

THE Chess Editor of Bell's Life announces that a pension of £50 per annum has been granted to the widow of the late Captain Evans, and that Mrs. Evans has also received the handsome present of 300 roubles from the Archduke Constantine, who, some years ago, played a series of games of Chess with her late husband. The aid, although tardy, is welcome, and we believe the entire Chess world will rejoice with us that comparative comfort is now secured for the aged widow of one of Caissa's most brilliant sons.

A new Chess Club has been established at New Cross, attached to the Literary and Scientific Association of that pleasant suburb, and members meet for play on the evenings of Wednesday and Saturday, at the rooms of the Association, 10 Ashby Place, Brockley Road. Mr. R. Ormond is the President, and Mr. C. S. Kemp the Vice-President.

We have been favored with an advance copy of the Recreationist, a new monthly magazine of general sports and pastimes, published at Southampton. The first number contains, besides Draughts, Puzzles, Charades, etc., four Chess problems by well-known composers, two games played by correspondence, and a humorous sketch, entitled "My Uncle's Discovery," by Mr. J. White, of Blaydon. The magazine is printed in clear type, upon good paper, and the price is only threepence.

The Rathmines School Magazine promises to supply a want long felt by Irish Chess players. Although the general scope and purpose of the magazine is to interest and instruct the schoolboy, the Chess Department is not merely elementary-indeed, some of the games and articles will be better appreciated by the proficient than the tyro.

In connection with the Rathmines Magazine there has been just issued from the press a Christmas Annual (the first that has ever appeared in Ireland), entitled Blue, White, and Blue, which contains, besides the usual Yule-tide Tales and Essays, an able article upon Chess notation, from the pen of Mr. Thomas Long, the Chess editor. We can cordially recommend both the magazine and the Annual to our readers.

The Huddersfield College Magazine, edited by Mr. John Watkinson, grows rapidly in public favour, and deservedly so. The January number contains an interesting biographical sketch of the career of the late M. St. Amant, one of his best games, and a three-move problem by Abbott.

The Annual Soirée of the Bristol and Clifton Chess Association, now numbering 126 members, was held last month, at the Academy of Fine Arts, White Ladies Road, Bristol. We have been favoured with the following report of the proceedings by a correspondent :

There was a good attendance, those present numbering 150, and the soirée was more successful than it has ever been before. The proceedings consisted of Chess matches, bagatelle and billiard games, and during the evening a concert was given in the small water-colour room, by Mrs. and Miss Lubbock, Miss Rumsey, the Misses Rossiter, Mr. Honeywill, and Mr. Harvey, vocalists; and Mr. C. Rowe, Herr Janick, and Mr. L. Mosely, instrumentalists. Mr. A Lee gave a humorous recitation in the concert-room at nine o'clock. The Chess matches played during the evening were as follows:-A consultation match between Bristol and Cardiff was played. The Rev. A. C. Rowley and Mr. Thomson played for Bristol, and Cardiff was represented by the Rev. J. G. Ash and Mr. Fedden. The game was unfinished. A match between fourteen married and fourteen unmarried members, two games each, resulted in the married winning by four games. A consultation game between the Cotham Social Club and the Chess Association was played, and resulted in a victory for the Association. The Revs. J. Green and N. Tibbits played for the Association, and Messrs. C. Bourne and C. Cook for the Club. The two handsome sets of men, presented by the Rev. J. Green, were awarded to the winners of the tournament which has for some time past been going on, and were won by Mr. J. Burt and Mr. J. W. Clarke jun. Mr. Thorold played simultaneously against fifteen players, with the following result :

Lost. Won.

Lost. Won.

Lost.

Won.

Lost. Won.
O

I

Mr. Saunders...

Mr. Haycraft.

I

O

The arrangements were under the superintendence of Mr. J. Burt (vice-president), Mr. Banfield (secretary), and Mr. J. W. Clarke. On the 10th January there will be a dinner at the Volunteer Club.

We have given mortal offence to the Glasgow Weekly Herald, for venturing to express our indifference to "syllabic" Knight's Tours, so the awful "We" of the Chess column has planted his foot upon his native thistle, and brays forth small "wut" in reference to our "weak digestion" and the "Waste-paper basket Papers." We can assure this champion of "syllables" that, however our "digestion" may be qualified, we have not stomach for his ponderous nonsense. We know-and, in charity, we will suppose he does not know

it-that the Knight's Tour was dealt with years ago by Jaenisch, who, in his treatment of the subject, left nothing for such small fry as E. H. but the application of their "syllables" to it; and even the small credit attaching to this notable invention does not belong to E. H., for those abominable plagiarists, the ancients, of five-and-twenty years ago, appropriated his "syllables," and gave them to a wondering public in the pages of the Schachzeitung of the period. In justice to É. H., however, we must confess that there is not the slightest resemblance, except in respect of "symmetry" and "syllables," between his Knight's Tour and those to which we have referred.

"Tis changed, no doubt, from what it was before,

His rank digestion makes it wit no more."

A new Chess column has been opened in the Wiener Residenzblattes, edited by Dr. Gold. The editor offers three prizes for the best sets of problems in two, three, and four moves, and three prizes for the best single problems in two, three, and four moves. We shall be glad to see some of our English composers measuring their powers against our German brothers, and if they choose to do so they can send their problems to No. 5 Weihburggasse, Vienna.

BLACK.

The Nordisk Skaktidende is the title of a new monthly Chess publication, which has made its appearance in Copenhagen, containing games and problems by the best Danish players and composers, news, &c. &c. The Dubuque Chess Journal, edited by O. A. Brownson, increases in attraction month by month. The number for December contains about fifty Problems upon diagrams, and a further instalment of the Book of the Cleveland Congress. From the latter we select the position in the margin, belonging to the set to which the first prize was awarded in the tourney. The prize winner was Mr. T. M. Brown.

Mr. Carpenter is reviewing Kling's "Euclid" in the New York Clipper, and we need scarcely say exhibits his usual power of analysis and sound judgment.

A match by telegraph between the Chess players of Hartford and Springfield appears to have excited more than ordinary interest among the Chess fraternity of these cities. We cannot wonder that the excitement has been shared even by the general public, after perusing the following bonne bouche, which is extracted from the Springfield Union. The writer is expressing his feelings regarding the representatives of his own town before the match came off, and none will deny that he has succeeded in doing it effectually.

White to play and mate in two moves. "After a slumber of four years, Bangs, the fresh, the growing, the vigorous, has risen from his lair, and, shaking the dew from his mane, has given utterance to a roar that no champion of Chess can hear without a shudder. There is no doubt that he has gained at least a Pawn in strength since 1868. Dr. Hooker, too, the lightning player, now gives, where he once received, a Castle. Beach has returned to his native heath, rich with the experience of Morphy's old haunt, the Café de la Régence. Hall has toughened his sinews by many a desperate tug with the paladins of New York. MacKenzie himself has felt the force of his genius, and gazed on his moves with astonishment. Between the style of these four great players there is a notable difference. Bangs, like the lion, tears everything absolutely to fragments that comes within the reach of his claws. Hooker, like the eagle, soars, screaming, aloft, sometimes to such a height that he loses himself, but generally only to return with a desperate souse, which Bangs himself can hardly withstand. Beach, more like the slow worm, insinuates gradually into the bowels of the enemy, making his presence only known by the effect; while Hall, on the contrary, rushes right onward, like the locomotive, scattering obstacles to right and left, and treating his antagonist with no more ceremony than if he were a cow, strayed accidentally upon the track."

We are indebted to the Hartford Times for giving us an opportunity of reproducing this flash of genius, as indeed we have been for many a pleasant half-hour derived from that paper's own wit and humour. The match was commenced on the 3rd ult., but the game, an Evans' gambit, was adjourned to the Wednesday, and again to the Thursday evening, and remained unfinished at the date of our latest advices.

A DISTINGUISHED AMATEUR.

IT often occurs to me that many remarkable persons live and die unknown to the great mass of their fellow

creatures

"Some perishing of pleasure, some of study,

And some of withered or of broken hearts."

simply "caret quia vate sacro!"-and as I consider myself a remarkable person, I am not disposed to submit to float down the mighty river of Time, "unwept, unhonoured and unsung." I therefore introduce myself without further preface as an enthusiastic but unfortunate Chess Player, in search of sympathy! In fact I have been, in the strictest sense, unfortunate throughout a life, now "i' the sere and yellow leaf." At Billiards, my antagonists were always winning by the merest flukes; at Whist, I never held a good hand or won a rubber! Somehow my friends seemed to dislike playing with me, and I admit it, I was rather irritable! So persistently

did the fickle goddess set her face against me, that at last I consulted an eminent astrologer, who "cast my nativity," and after pocketing my £3 35, grimly favoured me with the oracular result in black letter, viz. :"The Stars, in their courses, fought against Sisera!"

It was a great shock, and I never played at a game of chance afterwards, but I was always devoted to Chess, and I made it my idol. On the whole, I think I prefer a lady antagonist-women have more originality, more spirit than men, and take a passionate interest in a hard fight, which is positively sublime to witness! Above all, and I honor them for it, they never have recourse to that contemptible practice of "getting up the openings "-playing with other peoples brains, I call it! When a boy of fifteen, I was on a visit to a schoolfellow in Warwickshire, and there I played my first serious match-a very serious one I found it. On arriving, I found that my young friend had a charming sister-"sweet sixteen" and very clever; an intimacy sprung up between us, and I soon found myself engaged in an animated discussion as to the superiority of the sexes; she insisted that women have been the successful rivals of the sterner sex in every department of art, science and literature. Confessedly. "Homer was inferior to Sappho !" and when, driven from all my positions, I suggested war as a test, she shut me up by citing Semiramis, Joan of Arc, and the Maid of Saragossa! Her cleverness and energy, to say nothing of her volubility, piqued me exceedingly, and I sneeringly asked whether she could play at Chess? "Chess! Oh, yes, she delighted in Chess, and she always beat papa and uncle Edward." She brought out the board at once. I see it now, the old fashioned pieces were hideous to behold! We played four games, each of which I won, and in each of which-Horresco referens-I was spiteful enough to administer "scholar's mate!" I am confident I showed no appearance of triumph, but the lesson was too severe; she burst into a passionate flood of tears, and I am sure she never forgave me.

"The Whirligig of Time brings about its revenges," as the sequel shows too plainly.

He

For the last three years I have been in the habit, until very lately, of playing regularly, once a week, withI see no reason for withholding his name-a friend for whom I had a great esteem, Mr. Septimus Placid. is a person of exceedingly gentle and amiable manners; his temperament preternaturally calm and unexcitable; he never laughs, and never swears, never shows, and probably never feels, the slightest emotion about Chess or anything else. Decidedly, as a player, he is my inferior. His gentle, unimpassioned intellect is not equal to a daring combination, and yet, incredible as it may seem, I do believe that, on the whole, I have not won one game in ten of him. He has only one conceivable advantage over me--if advantage it be, which I doubtviz., that he pores over the books and talks about the openings in a quiet, smooth, pragmatical manner. For my own part, I never looked at a Chess book, and I think no man who has any respect for himself should. About six months ago I expressed my opinion on this subject to him; he made no reply, beyond a faint smile of acquiescence, and I thought he felt convinced that it is a mean thing to do. As a rule, I prepare a brilliant attack with my pieces, not Pawns. The combination becomes irresistible, the grand coup is ready to fall like a thunderbolt, and exactly at the crisis-and never before-he pokes out a dirty little Pawn, and "Ibi omnis effusus labor!" It is a poor, sneaking style of play, and when I tell him so he always apologises, by saying, "Philidor did it!" Sometimes, when I win, a horrible suspicion flashes across me, that he lets me win on purpose. But no, he is too much of a gentleman to insult me. Besides it can't be so, for he often snaps up my Queen instead of saying "Check" to her, which entirely spoils the game. He is dreadfully slow; I have known him take three minutes and fifty-three seconds over a single move, and never, except twice, did he give the slightest evidence of talent or originality.

BLACK.

this

Shortly after I had expressed my opinion to him about "the books"--whatever they are--we met as usual at his house. I was playing my very best; I opened and kept up a brilliant attack; horse, foot and artillery; driving him from his positions one by one, with every prospect of routing him utterly, when, as usual, that inevitable little Pawn made its appearance at his King's seventh square, backed by Queen and Knight; caused a slight tremulous feeling of anxiety, but his King was fearfully exposed, and I determined to let him Queen his sneak of a Pawn, and then mate him on the instant. Fortunately, as I always have noted my games with a view to publication, I am able to explain by the opposite diagram. I (Black) had the move, and I played at once R to Q Kt 7. His making a second Queen could not possibly save him from being mated at my next move. I appeal to you, Sir, whether you would not have made the very same move? Instead of noticing this terrible attack, he calmly pushed on his Pawn to my King's square, as I intended him to do, but to my extreme surprise, he said in his slow gentle way, "Check! I think I prefer to have a Knight rather than a Queen." I thought it signified very little, but I objected on principle. "In all my forty years' experience, I had never heard of such a thing." Without replying, he rose from his chair, and after examining his bookcase very deliberately, took down a book from a top shelf. I don't know what it was, but I saw a gilt diagram of a Chess board on the cover, and turning at once to the page, he showed me a rule to the effect, that he was entitled to substitute any kind of piece for his Pawn.

WHITE.