CHESS AND LITERATURE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18918, 5 February 1927, Page 13

CHESS AND LITERATURE.

AN EXTEMPORE SPEECH BY SIR JOHN SIMON. „, A ' .» "cent dinner o! tbe Author*' Club in Loniiou tho subjtct (or ditcussion was "Chess anil Other Hobbies." Sir John Simon was the sueit of th« evening and mado a delightful speech <n chess and its relr.ttcn to iiterahue. Sir John spoko almost without notes. • » » "I feel iaiher like Mr Winkle when ho was invited to exhibit his skill on skates, and I cannot be too careful to observe that the Authors' Club does not require me fo play in this company an exhibition panic. One aspect of the game of chess is very suitable for the Authors' Club to consider- its relation to literature," said Sir John Simon.

"How far docs literature—at any rate, tho literature of our own tongue—recognise the position that this groat and noble pastime occupies among the entertainments of mankind?

''Considering the antiquity of the game, considering the affection with which it has been regarded by so many remarkable persuns, considering the claim commonly put forward by the most insignificant chess player who has just won a match that real skill in the game is—as in flic case of Napoleon—proof of the command of military strategy of the highest order—considering all these things, it is very remarkable how comparatively small is the part which chess appears to play in the literature of our country. I am not talking about the large collection of books dovoted to expounding the game—'hooks,' as Charles Lamb said, 'which are no books'—but rather how far the imaginative writers in prose or verse have found this occupation a suitable topic to introduce into their detlghtful works. - "Shakespeare, of course, did introduce it. Indeed, the stage direction in 'The Tempest,' where the scene opotis with Miranda and Ferdinand engaged in a game of chess, is one of the very few Shakespearean stage directions that are not immediately and vitally connected with the action. "I doubt whether Shakespeare understood chess. At any rate, it is verv unusual for two players in the course of their fii'st encounter to address each other thus:

"•Mir.: Sweet Lord, you play mo false. " 'For.: Ko. my dearest dear, I would not for tho world.'

"Now if Bacon played chess, and Shakespeare didn't, what light; would this throw on the liaconiau coptroV °''Shakes P eare has never been edited with sufficient stage directions; it • one of the proofs of the {fjg & enius that he got over the £»««* without it. Fancy what it would De like if a scene in Shakespeare were edited with the elaborate italicised comment and preparation which aro common in the works of modern «ra beginning of the last act of the Mer chant of Venice''-the dialogue between Jessica and her lover-§.r John said: "The reason why the modern actor and iwtress conduct the *l»te » that splendid .passage, every I .no ot which suggests its appropriate, by-play, I,mrn IvinE on a sofa, is entirely oe cause'no o ß ne has ever written stage directions for Shakespeare. "But Shakespeare, who was as great a nroducer as he was a poet, in his day could secure all the effects he wanted without any stage directions at oil. ine only passage in his works where he £»»& to me to Pr°y d « tion in the world for on who has to proposerthcs health of a distinmiished cit sen of the U.S.A. «» ments. Miranda, ivintr in her enchanted isle and setting eyes for the first time 8 upon those mysteriousM*r.Jgi« from overseas, is moved to exclaim.

" '0 br»ve now world, to have such reoplo in Ml*

—a passage which the American population of london a few years ago ve y condescendinglv received as written by Shakespeare w th obvious reference to ST SSStanb of the United Stat*, "I think it rather remarkable that, on the whole, literature contains bo few references to the game of chess. Of course, there is the famous instanco with which the name of I-ewis Cnrioll will ever ho associated, nltllOCgll -J hnve never been able to wideband tho moves in that . particular game. But what opportunities have been missed bv the authors and producers " literature! What n pity it is that o e of our literary c cntlemcn has not ma o the game of cjiess as prominent m s romance as Surtres made ho P«» of fox-hunting. Why is it that Robert Browning did not write : '• 'O mvßtic cbe ß s, half instinct nod half And all".? Unsure and » wild iitrpribD.'

Whv is irthat Johii Keats did not describo his feelings on a particular occasion by saying:—

"Tban Mt I like' »ome critic of the Whco'Tacw gambit swims into his ken.'

"What a sad failure to make use of the proper opportunity is exhibited by the more emotional of our journalists. What could the Church limes' do with the headlines, 'tcrSistent Attack Upon a Black Bishop i* What romantic and loyal icrvonr cu«M the "Morning Post" work up hy describing tho 'gracious act of her Majesty the (jueen in defending an isolatccl pawn'? How much good might be done in exposing the evils of Uepublicanism if a suitable journal would report, 'Decayed lawyer insists that the preservation of the King a csficntial to orderly progress' ? \Vbat a reputation might be made hy the author of a new scenario fo r the lilni if the title was 'A Knight's Suicide,' featuring Charlie—Muzio! "It is remarkable that chess does not take a bigger place m literature, because it is 'a great game. It has associated with it a.; continuous and as remarkable a series of examples ot skill in the highest form .as any gallic one can pick. Think of the Ryracusaii, Paulo Boi, who exhibited such skill in chess that, finding no worthy opponent in his own country, he made n lengthv tour throughout Christendom, encountered and defeated the great Ruy Lopez himself, and was actually patronised and rewarded by # King Sebastian of Portugal and hy Catharine «e Medici. . 'Think of the marvellous hoy. the Chattorton of chess. Paul Morphy. of New Orleans, who from the ape of 10 showed amazing aptitude in the came, and won a first nrise in a major tournament at New York at the age of 21. He came to Europe seventy years ago, defeated the strongest players in London and Pari«. returned to his own country, abandoned rher« for the profession of advocacy in the law courts, was never heart! of in his new opcup.ition. and. after only partially recovering from an attack of insanity, died at the age of 47. What a warning to ns all to stick to the job we do best."