tion to the orignal rendering, than the slightly common-place reading of Mr. Montague, who infuses no more originality into the part than would nineteen actors out of twenty. He looks interesting, and behaves prettily under his affliction, but would never require a strait waistcoat. On the other hand, Mr. Clayton walks and talks a little too vigorously, and looks both a robust and a dangerous maniac. We prefer the latter version as being the more natural and the less stagy. The play, we imagine, must be considered a psychological study," like The Bells, and it was the unconventional and realistic acting of Mr. Irving that made The Bells interesting. Of the two versions of Marcel we prefer Mr. Clement Scott's, but it may be said for the other that being got up for a benefit performance, it suffered accordingly. It is not the least creditable feature of Mr. George Rignold's fine performance of Cromwell, in Colonel Richards' play of that name, that he achieved a triumph in the face of the author himself, who, having made an excellent beginning in his first act, would almost seem to have deliberately set to work to destroy the effect by his second. We desire to speak of Cromwell from a "first night" point of view. Doubtless it has been largely cut down and improved since then, but as we were present on the night of its production, we must take it as we found it. It is a fine play, full of faults of construction. It is intolerably long, and when, after Cromwell's daughter had taken an unconscionably long time in dying, the tableau curtain came down at a quarter to twelve, previous to an exhibition of England's glory, through Cromwell, it occurred to a great many persons that they were in danger of losing their English beds, and, as it was Saturday night, their English beer. Where Colonel Richards' judicious friends, or his own common sense, must have been to allow the introduction of a most preposterous under-story is marvellous. Surely the meanest actor in the company, even the ill-used gentleman who acted Mr. Neville's half-brother, might have warned the author of the certain failure of this portion of the play. Colonel Richards may have had a natural, but mistaken idea, that his main story required some relief, but it would have been better to have had Cromwell, and nobody else on the stage, than the crowd of mysterious nobodies whom he has introduced. It is the misfortune of the play, the management, and Mr. Rignold, that Cromwell will be compared-from a literary, political, and professional point of view-with Charles the 1st at the Lyceum. Mr. Rignold can bear the comparison, although he is cruelly handicapped by the author. As for politics, we look upon those who bring them into the theatre as affected idiots, and, as for the play, Colonel Richards might have taken a lesson from Mr. Wills in construction. Charles the 1st is hampered by no underplot. The story is told well and concisely, the characters of the King and Queen, Cromwell and the false Scot, being sufficient to carry the play through, without, as in Cromwell, the addition of a swarm of persons for whom nobody cares, who delay and weaken the development of the chief character, and who are a mark for the gibes of the audience. If the whole of the second act of Cromwell were cut out, as being absolutely incomprehensible, and if perhaps the play were to conclude with the soliloquy of Cromwell over the coffin of Charles, time and patience would be consulted, and an intelligible story presented. But if the faults are many, so are the merits, and we can recall few things finer than the speeches put into the mouth of Cromwell, and the delivery of them by Mr. Rignold. Great as is Mr. Irving's Charles the 1st, we submit that Mr. Rignold's Oliver Cromwell is greater. The utterance is clearer, the voice is fuller, and there is an air of sturdy manly independence about Cromwell which we miss in Charles. And here Colonel Richards has done better for his hero than Mr. Wills. Fine is the poetry, finer still the truth, and perhaps finest of all the delivery of the sentiments of Cromwell, sentiments that go straight to the hearts of the audience, be their opinions monarchial or republican. The most pathetic scenes in Charles the 1st are those between the king and his family, whilst few persons carry away pleasant recollections of the scene between the King and Cromwell in that play. In the Cromwell of Colonel Richards, the family details, though somewhat resembling, in the first and fifth acts, those in Charles the 1st, are secondary to the delineation of Cromwell's political character, and whatever may be the verdict on the man, there can be no two opinions as to the beauty of Colonel Richards' drawing, and Mr. Rignold's rendering of the part. Healthier, more honest, or more vigorous language has not been heard on the modern stage, and Mr. Rignold's acting is, we repeat, noble and manly, and such as to place him, in our opinion at least, at the very top of the tree. The very difficulties he had on the first night to contend with enhance the merit of his performance. The length of the play, the foolish scenes in which he had to take his part, and the weakness of the stage management, were terrible difficulties to contend with; but the actor surmounted them all, and triumphed, as he deserved to do. A few words as to politics and audiences. Nothing can be a greater mistake than to introduce political discussions into a play, not so much because they are out of place, as because foolishness characterises the majority before and behind the curtain. When the political discussions can be so twisted, as in the case of Cromwell, as to become representative of the present time, the practice becomes still more reprehensible. There are silly people who are ready at all times to applaud or hiss the most remote political allusion, and there are silly actors who give the cue for applause or hisses by the well known pause, or wait, at the end of their remarks. The council scene in Cromwell at once turns the theatre into a debating club, and though each conflicting argument on the stage affords an opportunity to some among the audience to bray-vo, like asses, or hiss, like geese, it causes discomfort to others who prefer to take their politics and their pleasure separately. The enjoyment of a first night's performance is already so much marred by the obstreporous approval of the friends of this lady, or the adherents of that gentleman, that we look with much apprehension to the introduction of party cries into the theatre. The well written, though ill-constructed play of Colonel Richards, must have acted as a pleasant tonic on those who had had the misfortune of previously witnessing Without Love at the Olympic. This theatre has recently been opened by Miss Ada Cavendish, and though it has been ever an unfortunate one, the lady seems either to be very confident of success, or to have unlimited capital at her demand. For she has decorated the theatre and the ladies of the company in a gorgeous manner, and money is apparent everywhere; on the ceiling, on the curtain, on the furniture of stalls and boxes, in fact, everywhere but in the best place—the pit. No capital can long stand against stalls given away and an empty pit, and "Without Money" will soon be the motto of the Olympic unless Without Love is withdrawn. We had the pain of witnessing this play on the third night, not on the first, when the glamour of crowded (but not paid for) places was over the proceedings, and when that assemblage, so well known to readers of theatrical criticism, of celebrities in literature and art, "only to be seen on these rare occasions," graced the beginning of Miss Cavendish's management. On the third night the pit was a cavern, the dress circle a desert, and the only persons who looked like celebrities were a few individuals who might each have sat for the original of the very unprincipled woman pourtrayed on the stage by Miss Cavendish. The plot of Without Love is simply this,-A man, who has heart-disease discovers that his wife loves another man, who is apparently paying attention to his wife's sister. Feigning ignorance, but intent on vengeance, he causes the lover to marry his wife's sister, on whom he settles the whole of his property. He then drops down dead, leaving his widow deprived both of money and lover. This story, which could have been told in an hour, is spread over two and a half, in order that the female characters may have time to don gorgeous dresses; the result being that the audience loses patience, and the orchestra does more than its fair share of work. This story, which-if treated simply and without decorations and adornments, after the style of the olden dramatists-might have had some good effect, becomes, on the contrary, rather an incitement to the vices it professes to rebuke. If there happened to be a woman in the Olympic hovering on the same precipice as the heroine of Without Love, we believe that she would have her decision fixed, not by the end of the play, but by the first act, in which Miss Cavendish and Miss Rivers are seen, with splendid dresses, reaching half across the stage. The dress is an actual and substantial fact, the punishment problematical, and dependent on having a husband at once revengeful and touched with heart disease. We are afraid that our imaginary female spectator in doubt would decide the wrong way, but we do not suppose for a moment that either Messrs. Yates and Dubourg, the authors, or Miss Cavendish, the producer of this play, care twopence which way she decides. Why should they, so long as the authors are able to ventilate their clever but crooked ideas, and the fair manageress is able to exhibit herself in a dress half a yard longer than any one before her time? ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. CHESS. C. W.-Accept our best thanks for the farewell problems. We cordially wish you fair winds and safe harbourage. F. W. L.-Don't waste your time over that problem, for you can do much better, even if it were correct, which we still doubt. P to K 7 seems to be a potential "cook." G. H. G. (Ipswich).-We are much obliged. The games shall have due honours. MIRON (New York Clipper).-We owe you an apology for omitting to respond last month to your notice respecting Mr. Healey's seven barreled problem. We observe that "Damaris" is a young, or at all events a fresh correspondent of yours; so kindly tell him that he should never say that he is "quite positive about a Chess problem. It is a maxim in Chess that no assault is sound that does not leave a resource in the event of failure, but Damaris in that "quite positive," has burnt his boats and destroyed his bridges. We might now exclaim, with the poet, that, "Kind to youth, this expiation o'er, We bid him look again, and say no more,"— but we shall not. It would be much too much to inflict upon him a sermon and withhold the moral-the lamb without salad, the beef without mustard. He shall have the mustard-of course we mean the moral-in the form of a question. If in reply to his two move solution, commencing with:-K to K 2 Black replies with B takes K RP check, how does Damaris propose to mate on the second move? Like Marc Antony, "we pause for a reply." The Clipper received regularly, and your column examined with genuine pleasure. WHIST. M. D.-At Whist, Clubs being Trumps, A leads a Spade, which is trumped by B. Another Spade is led, to which B plays a Heart. A third Spade is led, to which B'plays a Spade. B, evidently surprised, requests the players to count their cards, and discovers that he has in his hand one card more than he ought (the deal at starting having been correct), this he accounts for, by saying that one of the cards of a previous trick had fallen on the floor, which he picked up, and, by mistake, must have taken it into his own hand, instead of replacing it with the trick to which it belonged. What penalty has been incurred by B? Ans. It seems to us that this is a question of fact. If the statement were true (and this could be ascertained by looking at the Spade tricks), we know of no penalty. J. S.-Hearts trumps. My partner, original leader, leads D A, followed by the 2. My hand consisted originally of Hearts Ace, Queen, Knave, 10 and 9; Diamonds 8; Spades King, 8, 4, 2; Clubs Ace, 10, 3. Ought I to trump or not? I trumped, and led trumps. Got out two rounds of trumps, and when my partner got in again, he led another small Diamond, which was headed by the second hand. I again trumped. Was this right?-Ans. We think so, although your information is somewhat defective. How did your partner get in after the second round of trumps? J. F. (Heylesbury).—We shall always be glad to hear from you with the Double Dummy solutions. We believe that No. 69 is quite sound, and that you cannot prevent A and B getting the five tricks. The Westminster Papers. 1st FEBRUARY 1873. THE CHESS WORLD. "The whisperings of our petty burgh." WE have much pleasure in announcing the accession of Mr. Wisker, the champion of British Chess, to the editorial staff of the WESTMINSTER PAPERS. From the present month the games will be edited and annotated by Mr. Wisker, whose practical skill and extensive knowledge of the theory of Chess it is perhaps unnecessary to refer to, save to congratulate ourselves upon having secured them for the instruction and entertainment of our readers. The large prizes offered by the British Chess Association for the Problem competition appears to have had the desired effect of putting our British composers upon their mettle. Thirty-three sets of problems have already been received by Mr. Lowenthal, so that, unless we are to suppose that the Continental composers have sent in their problems before the time allotted to them has expired, nearly every English composer of note must be represented in the tourney. We have been requested to publish the mottoes of the competing problems that have been received. They are as follows: The City of London Chess Club has been removed from Bishopsgate Street to more commodious quarters at the City Restaurant, Milk Street, Cheapside, and the annual meeting of the members was held in the new room, on the 3rd ult., when Mr. Gastineau was elected President, and Mr. H. F. Down was re-elected Honorary Secretary. We learn from the Glasgow Herald that the match for the championship of the Glasgow Club, between Sheriff Spens and Mr. Scott, has terminated in favour of the former, the score at the finish being— Spens 3, Scott 1. It is matter for regret that this excellent Chess column should be marred by the frothy ravings of the syllabic hero, E. H. We are by no means inclined to confer upon that person the distinction of controversy with this journal. His offensive selfassertion provoked us into putting him in his proper place, a narrator of "twice-told tales," somewhat troublesome in the hearing; and for the rest, a person who, uniting the graces of a Boulogne "Garçon" with the acquirements of a Newhaven "fish-wife," displays his conception of satire in a nick-name, and his idea of criticism in abuse, may be safely left to the penal judgment of the very limited audience he is ever likely to obtain. The following problem, by Conrad Bayer, is extracted from that admirable Chess Magazine the Austrian Schachzeitung, edited by Hermann Lehner. The last number contains an interesting review of Austrian and German Chess for the year 1872-several games and four problems. A BLACK. WHITE. White to play and mate in four moves. Mr. Abbott has strengthened his popular Chess column in the English Mechanic by an additional diagram, and the pages devoted to Chess in the Huddersfield Magazine (J. Watkinson) and the Rathmines Magazine are interesting and instructive as usual. The Figaro Chess column has been transferred from the Saturday to the Wednesday edition, but is still edited by Mr. Lowenthal. Mr. Bird appears to have revived the old glories of the "Divan in the Strand," and, notwithstanding the smoke-permeated atmosphere of the little room, it is crowded nightly by metropolitan amateurs, to witness the exploits of this very brilliant Chess player. We give this month a pretty little skirmish between Mr. Bird and Mr. Macdonnell. Chess: a Manual for Beginners, is the title of a new sixpenny handbook, just published by the Graphotyping Company, Garrick Street, London. The title-page informs us that the work is by the "Author of the Chess Openings," and, as there happens to be two "authors of Chess Openings," we are, appropriately enough, confronted with a problem at the outset, to prepare us for the complexities of the openings to follow. As however the little work is marked by great clearness of style, and gives the latest leading variations in more than twenty openings, we are more inclined to attribute it to Mr. Wormald than to Mr. Longman. The book is nicely printed, and is an excellent and attractive introduction to the game of Chess. The telegraphic match between Hartford and Springfield, for the Championship of New England, resulted in the victory of Hartford, whose champions won both of the games played. Mr. Hall, of Springfield, has however challenged Captain O. Farrell, of Hartford, and a match has been commenced between these leading players of their respective cities--the winner of the first five games to be the victor. The Book of the Cleveland Congress has just been issued, edited by by O. A. Brownson, jun., of Dubuque, Iowa. It contains all the games played in the Tournies, and a selection of the competing problems. On Saturday, Herr Zukertort played twelve games simultaneously, blindfold, at Glasgow, winning six, drawing five, and losing one. We give one game in the margin. We regret to learn that the little match between Messrs. Gossip and Gocher, for the Championship of the Eastern Counties, has been broken off. Six games were played, of which each player won two, and two were drawn. We hope to hear before our next issue that the match is resumed. On Saturday, the 9th of November, New South Wales and Victoria, played a match of seven games by Electric Telegraph. The result was a tie. Three won on each side, and a draw. EVANS' GAMBIT. 7. P to Q 4 Black. Mr. KENNEDY. 1. P to K 4 2. Kt to Q B3 3. B to QB 4 4. B takes P 5. B to QB 4 6. Kt to K B3 7. B to Q 3 8. Castles 9. Q to K 2 10. Q Kt takes K P II. Q takes P 12. Q to QB 4 ch 13. Q takes Q ch 14. B takes B 15. P to K R3 16. P to K R 4 17. K to R sq 18. Kt to R 2 19. K to Kt sq 20. P to K Kt 3 21. K to Kt 2 22. Kt takes R 23. Kt to K 3 24. P takes B And White announced Mate in four moves. 25. R to K B 7 ch 25. K anywhere 26. Q Kt to K 4 With mate in two moves. A DISTINGUISHED AMATEUR. To the Editor of the WESTMINSTER PAPERS. I dislike pubMy dear sir, I and that I am SIR, It is with extreme reluctance that I ask permission to reply to Mr. Montmorency Smith. licity, and I detest controversy, but my lawyer tells me that his letter is an actionable libel. very much object to his description of me; I admit that I am not addicted to bad language, indifferent to the attractions of jerky small talk and to the "laughter of ***” well, never mind! but it is hard to be represented as an inane nonentity who takes no interest in anything! I object to be charged with snapping up a Queen at Chess without saying "Check" to her! I never did such a thing,-and, if possible, I object still more to the scandalous imputation conveyed by that hysterical second diagram of his-viz. that I took a mean advantage of him by letting him suppose himself mated when he was not! My dear sir, that diagram is a perfect hallucination. My first introduction to this distinguished gentleman occurred just three years since, when I joined our Chess Club, of which he was a member. I found him in constant attendance, but never playing! he candidly informed me (he is candour itself!) that he was utterly unable to concentrate his faculties if there was a whisper in the room, but that he was a player of forty years standing-devoted to the "noble game," and "would I play with him at my own house?" He was chatty and pleasant, and I agreed, but found at once that to offer to give odds would have been mortal affront, and that his play was so utterly unscientific, that I must decline his society unless I could amuse myself by learning to play without seeing the board, and I therefore said that "for psychological reasons (!) I wished to acquire that particular kind of Clairvoyance-through the back of my head!" He agreed, and from that time we have never played in any other way. To give you some idea of this irritable gentleman's idiosyncrasies-I shortly afterwards got a note, "he had a bad cold-confined to his room-wanted to talk about a problem he had been trying to solve— would I take pity on a forlorn Bachelor-breakfast with him to-morrow at eleven, and discuss it?" I went, and found him sitting before the fire, enveloped in an oriental dressing gown of wondrous hues-no dying dolphin so gorgeous-on his head was a blue velvet cap, with a gold tassel, which reached to his shoulder! and altogether his majestic appearance made me feel quite uncomfortable !—But "How charming is divine Philosophy" There sat the illustrious gentleman, with his feet on the fender, his elbows on his knees, gazing abstractedly at an egg which he held in his hands, whilst his repeater was simmering away in the saucepan before him, with the chain and seals dangling over the side!-he seemed to me to breakfast, to a considerable extent, on his nails, on which he also invariably feeds when playing-and accordingly, "His finger tips are fair to see, To do him justice-his first diagram, in your January number, as well as the account he gives of that game, are perfectly accurate. My dear sir, I assure you, on the word of a gentleman, that I took no ungenerous advantage of him. It was a true "forced" mate. When I announced the fact, a strong expression, not altogether adapted to Exeter Hall, caused me to turn round, and I saw he was in a state of intense excitement, -in fact I was very much afraid that he would fly at and scratch me !-But he bounced out of the room like a sky rocket! I did not follow him, as I usually do, but rang the bell; the housemaid happened to be in the hall, and opened the door. She informed me that it was raining hard, and that, after buttoning up his coat, with great emphasis, on the doorstep, he went off, making desperate but ineffectual efforts to open his walking stick! To use the poor girls own words, she "offered to give un master's umberella, but he wouldn't--and he did swear awful." Our last game was played very lately, and my memory enables me to give an accurate diagram of the position which he has so grievously misapprehended, and as he has given what he describes as “a faithful transcript of his secret reflections," at each move, I beg to give, in return, a faithful transcript of the various sounds—articulate and otherwise—which reached my ears at each move! 401 BLACK. WHITE. (f) A spasmodic grunt, not capable of being rendered into any known language! (g) D******** ! ! ! which last pious ejaculation caused me to turn sharp round as I have stated! My dear sir, I am very sorry for all this, but I hope he will publish. "Oh that mine enemy would write a Book!" Your aggrieved Admirer and constant Reader, SEPTIMUS PLACID. OUR PROBLEMS REVIEWED. J. M. Brown.--Incorrect solution (W. Moore.)-The Pawn going to Q rather spoils the situation. (Edward W. Walker.) No. 197.-Incorrect solution. (W. Moore.) No. 203.-Correct solution. (W. Moore). (E. W. Walker.) "Ingenious." No. 204. Correct solution. "A clever sacrifice: it does not appear as if, after losing his Q, White had sufficient force to mate." (E. W. Walker.) "A clever construction." (W. Moore.) No. 205.-"Very neat." (W. Moore.) Incorrect solution. (E. W. Walker.) No. 207.--Correct solution by both reviewers. E. W. Walker says, "This is the most difficult problem I have ever solved." No. 209. This problem admits of dual moves; both reviewers send solutions different from the authors. |