Cornell Uniucrstty library 3tljaca, SJmu fork FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY , COLLECTED BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY . . , . Cornell University Library ML 410.P54A42 The life of Phllldor, musician and chess 3 1924 017 593 694 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924017593694 LIFE OF PHILIDOR GEORGE ALLEN A few Large Paper copies have been printed on French vellum paper (Papier •v'elin a" Annonay,') on Dutch laid paper (Papier merge de Hollande^) and on American toned paper. Two copies have been printed on VELLUM: The first Book-Printing on Vellum executed in America. LIFE OF PHILIDOR MUSICIAN AND CHESS-PLAYER GEORGE ALLEN Greek Profeflbr in the Univerfity of Pennfyfvania WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY ESSAY ON PHILIDOR AS CHESS-AUTHOR AND CHESS-PLAYER BY Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa Envoy Extraordinary and Minifter Plenipotentiary of the' King of >Pruffia at the Court of Saxe- Weimar PHILADELPHIA E. H. BUTLER & CO. LONDON C. J. SKEET PARIS G. BOSSANGE & Cie LEIPZIG ERNST SCHAFER 1863 U Entered, according to Aft of Congrefs, in the year 1863, BY GEORGE ALLEN, In the Clerk's Office of the DiftricT: Court of the United States in and for the Eaftern Diftrict of Pennfylvania. P HI1ADI1 p ft 1 a : CAXTON PRESS OF C. SHERMAN, SON & CO. PREFACE. ■ro^HE fpecial and indifpenfable original fources -7_\k of information for the life of Philidor are the following: — I. A biographical notice in the work of his pupil, La Borde (Effai fur la Mufique, 4 vols. 4to. Paris 1760.) This no- tice was bafed on memoranda furniftied by Philidor him- felf, rather over fifteen years before his death ; but it brings his / erj "on a I hiftory down no lower than 1754, tne date of his return from England. — II. The "Anecdotes of Mr. Philidor, communicated by himfelf" in Chefs [by Richard Twifs, F.R.S.] vol. i. 1787, pp. 149-71, with the additional anecdotes in Chefs, vol. ii. 1789, pp. 215-18, and the " Clofure of the account of Mr. Phili- dor," 'in Twifs's Mifcellanies, 1805, vol. ii. pp. 105-14. Thefe anecdotes, while they confirm the notice of La Borde, are far more copious, and conftitute the chief reliance of the biographer. — III. The article Philidor peint par lui-meme, in the feventh volume of Saint- Amant's Palamede, (pp. z-16,) compofed by J. Lardin from matter prepared by Philidor's eldeft fon, Andre, who furvived until 1845. It embraces a biographical notice, which the fon had completed, and a number of random anecdotes. The notice contains little beyond what appears to have been derived from Twifs's Chefs ; vi PREFACE. but the anecdotes, worthlefs as a portion of them may be, are of, peculiar intereft and value, for the light which they throw upon Philidor's perfonal character and habits. — IV. A#fpecimen of the letters which Phi- lidor was in the habit of writing home, during his annual viiits to London. Thefe important documents are found in the Palamede for 1847, pp. 172-8. Now many Lives of Philidor have been written, in the fliape of articles in works of general and fpecial Biography; but they differ Angularly from each other, in reference to the ufe made in them of the above- defcribed original authorities. Of courfe, none but fuch as have been written fince 1847 could exhibit anything derived from the matter furniflied in Saint-Amant's Palamede. But of the others — and they are nearly all — • it is a curious faft, that none but fuch as have been written by Chefs-authors (and I might even fay by Englijh Chefs-authors) have lhewn any knowledge whatever of the Anecdotes of Twifs. Hence Mr. George Walker's very agreeable Biographical Sketch (prefixed to his edition of the Analyfis, in 1832) and the appro- priate chapter in Mr. Tomlinfon's delightful Amufe- ments in Chefs, both bafed upon Twifs, are by far the bed of all that appeared before Andre Philidor's .pofthu- mous notice. As to French Chefs-authors, all they have of Twifs has been obtained at fecond hand : the flight and inaccurate Biographic, for example, in the firft volume of La Bourdonnais's Palamede — the production, moll likely, of the lazy and care'lefs "King of the Chefs- board" himfelf — is made up from the Biographical Sketch of Mr. Walker; and the brief notice in the Comte de Bafterot's moil attra&ive Nouveau Trait'e 'el'e- mentaire appears to be bafed direclly upon the cor- refponding chapter in the Amufements of Mr. Tom- linfon. As for the numerous lives of Philidor, written by PREFACE. vii other than Chefs-authors — articles in Encyclopaedias, Biographical Dictionaries, and Dictionaries of Mufical Hiftory and Biography — thefe, whether French or Eng- lish, are, for the mod part, mere tracings after the flcetdi of La Borde, with only fo much of unauthentic anecdote or goffip, as each writer might happen to pick up from cafual fources of information. Of thefe, that which was contributed to the Biographie Univerfelle of the Brothers Michaud, by Sevelinges, is not merely defective, like the reft, but positively mifchievous : it contains that calum- nious charge of plagiarifm, which has been regularly copied by the fecond-rate compilers, who have ftolen their materials from that vaft quarry. The very able article on Philidor, in M. Fetis's Biographic Univerfelle des Muficiens, for its Angular merits and its very original defefts, ftands entirely by itfelf. It is unique in the value of its criticifm of Philidor's mufical works — made, as it was, after careful ftudy of the engraved fcores, now fo little known and fo difficult to procure; and it is triumphant in its vindication of the probity, as well as of the genius, of Philidor. On the other hand, it is equally unique as a piece of perfonal biography. Fetis knew nothing of Twifs, and he wrote before Andre Philidor. Although a Chefs-player himfelf, and a fre- quenter of the Cafe de la R'egence, he appears never to have read, or to have treated with contempt, the Bio- graphie of La Bourdonnais's Palamede. Nothing was left him, therefore, but La Borde ; and La Borde he regarded with a fcorn fo intolerant and fo abfolute, that he would not accept as fatisfaftory even thofe particulars of Phili- dor's foreign residence, which at the fame moment he tells us were contributed by Philidor himfelf. Nay, when he finds the German, Gerber, repeating thofe fame- particulars, and fubftantiating them by independent teftimony, he as little fcruples to fmother Gerber, as to throw overboard La Borde. To fupply the lack of per- viii PREFACE. fonal details, of which he thus robs himfelf, he is forced to fill up his fketch with La Regence goffip ; and this, where it is, in its way, injurious to Philidor, has been unfortunately and unfufpeftingly copied by the mufical writers, who naturally defer to the high authority of Fetis — fuch as Adam, Scudo, and Pougin. From that which I have thus, with all freedom, faid of my predeceffors, it may be fufficiently inferred, what I have myfelf aimed to make the Life of Philidor now prefented to the Reader. It might, perhaps, have been more what it mould be, if it had not been originally, like its fellows, a mere article — the fruit, too, of acci- dental authorftiip in the field of my recreations, rather than in that of my profeflional ftudies. The truth is, that, having fucceeded in collecting a remarkable Chefs- library — now one of the five or fix in exiftence, that ap- proach completenefs — I was induced, in 1857-8, more readily than I could have fuppofed poflible, to contribute to the American Chefs Monthly, (which had then juft been eftablilhed by the able bibliographer and philolo- gift, Mr. Daniel W. Fiske,) a feries of articles on the perfonal biography of Philidor, of which fifty copies were feparately printed for private diftribution. The reception of my biography, in either form, by the Chefs- world, to which alone it was then addrefled, was fo un- expectedly favourable,* that, when my illullrious corre- fpondent, Herr von der Lasa, offered to contribute a fupplementary paper on Philidor as Chefs-author and * The celebrated French Chefs-litterateurs, MM. Doazan and St.- Elme Le Due, in particular, made a more graceful recognition of what I had endeavoured to do for the memory of their great countryman, by publicly inferibing to me — the former his charmingly written mo- nographs entitled La Bourdonnah-Morfhy and M. Alliey, the latter a beautiful article in La Regence on his precious Ceylon Chefs-board ; and the learned German Mafter, Herr Max Lange, did me the ho- nour to prefent a free verlion of my Biography to his countrymen, (with praife far beyond its deferts,) in the Scbacbzeitung. PREFACE. . ix Chefs-player, I decided at once — quite contrary to my original intention — to give the work a careful revifion, and to publifti it in the ordinary mode. To be perfectly frank, however, I muft own, that my decifion was not a little affefted alfo by the temptation to indulge certain philobiblian taftes of mine, long fup- preffed but profoundly inveterate. Laying to my foul the flattering unftion, that better Grecians than I had been bitten with the Bibliomania — that Brunck, for exam- ple, (who was a gentleman and a foldier, before he was a fcholar,) never put forth one of his editions without having copies printed on Large Paper and at leafl one for himfelf on Vellum — I accepted it as a good reafon for publilhing my own trifling volume, that I Ihould thereby have the opportunity of " inaugurating" book-printing on Vellum in America.* The fuppofed difficulty of the undertaking gave it the charm of ail adventure. From Dibdin — with whofe pages I had often dallied too fond- ly — I had learned, that the Englifli experiments of his day, although made by a Bulmer, had been decided fail- ures, the caufe of which lay (as he believed) in the bad quality of the imported material. With entire confi- dence in the fkill of our Philadelphia preflm'en, I was equally fure, that the relations of my friends, MefTrs. John Penington & Son, to the honourable houfe of Hector Bossange & C ie at Paris would fecure me the beft vellum to be had anywhere. Nor was I difappointed. M. Bossange Senior — ever ready to oblige his American * In mercy to future Panzers and Van Praets, I will reconcile be- forehand fome apparent conflict of dates by Mating precifely, that after the work had been carried on into the laft meet of the Life proper in 1859, it was fufpended; and thatj before it was refumed, (viz., in the fpring of i860,) two copies of another little book of mine (the No- vena to St. Antony of Padua, pp. viii and 1-24,) were printed on Vel- lum in the fame Office ; while Mr. George Livermore, of Bofton, had three Vellum-copies of the Souldicrs Pocket Bible (pp. viii and 1-16) executed by Mr. Houghton, of the Riverfide Prefs, Cambridge. x PREFACE. clientele — not only caufed the lkins to be examined and fele&ed by an expert, but alfo forwarded me, from the fame fource, full and minute inftruftions for the guidance of the preffman — the want of which was the real caufe, I fufpeft, of the failure of Bulmer. With fuch ample preparations and precautions, the work has been exe- cuted with entire fuccefs. I have only to ftate, in conclusion, that I have been induced, by the confideration that but few take any inte- reft in Bibliography, to detach from the Life of Philidor the original Appendix on the editions of the Analyfe. This Bibliotheca Philidoriana will, however, be fpeedily printed by itfelf, with many corrections and additions. G. A. Philadelphia, June 13th, 1863. [Prefixed to the private edition o^ - 1858.] DANIEL WILLARD FISKE, Es^, EDITOR OF THE CHESS MONTHLY. My DEAR FlSKE, To no one, with fo much propriety as to you, could this poor attempt at Chefs-biography, in its prefent form, be infcribed, for it has been yours from the beginning. You led the way to it, by your own beautiful lives of Guftavus Selenus and of Domenico Ponziani. It was written for you — to relieve you from fome portion of your editorial labours, during your abforbing engagements with that Firft American Chefs-Congrefs, whereof you were, at every ftage, fo large a part. And when I ap- pealed to the good-nature of our common friend, Mr. Miller, to allow me the troublefome favour of a feparate impreffion, what I had chiefly in view was the opportu- nity, by dedicating it to you, of expreffing how highly I eflimated the value of your fervices in the caufe of Ame- rican Chefs and of American Chefs-literature. I muft add, however, that as the work began to reach its con- clufion, an additional motive for fuch collective impref- fion began to force itfelf upon my mind. I reflected, xii DEDICATION. that there ftill remained many unpubliflied letters of Phi- lidor — that there ftill furvived many recollections and traditions, by which fome of his opinions, fome of the events of his life, and the circumftances of his folitary death and burial might be cleared up ; and I ventured to indulge the hope, that the private diftribution of my papers, in a collected form, among fome of the Chefs- literati of France and England, might operate as a direft appeal to them to fecure the publication of fuch addi- tional materials before it mould yet be too late. Even if difappointed in this hope, I mail not regret having joined you, my dear Fi&e, in the attempt to record the perfonal hiftory of the Chefs-heroes of other lands and of other times. The work is at leaft a pious 'one ; and, as fuch, may be deftined, perhaps, to an appropriate re- ward : — fome foreign author, of a happier infpiration than mine, may one day arife to embalm the career of our Chefs-hero in a record as lafting, as that which has preferved forever the memory of Lionardo da Cutri and Paolo Boi of Syracufe. The diftant adventure, upon which the youthful Paul Morphy has gone forth, is not lefs chivalrous, than thofe which won for that ear- lier II Puttino the title of the Chefs Knight-errant : — ■ may he too find his Aleflandro Salvio ; and thus, by a double title, fhine to pofterity not the leaft brilliant among the " Lights and Splendours of the Game of Chess !" I remain, My dear Fiske, Your friend and coadjutor, Geo. Allen. Philadelphia, Auguft 2d, 1858. THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. CHAPTER I. EARLY YEARS MUSIC AND CHESS. N the early part of the feventeenth century, an Italian hautboy-player, from Sienna, by the name of Filidori, vifited France, and produced a ftrong impref- fion on the mind of Louis XIII. by his brilliant performance. Meanwhile a young fubject of the King's, Michel Danican* by name, had been ftudy- ing the fame inftrument, in his native Dauphine, with fuch fuccefs, that his fkill went far beyond * If the royalift general, Augufte Danican, was really (as Querard affirms) of the fame ftock as Philidor, (even if not his fon,) and if the new Biographic Gin'erale be correct in faying that the General was of a decayed noble family, then either a nom deficf may have been dropt, or the aftual name may have been fpelt originally with the ariftocratic dc, viz., CAnkan. I 2 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. anything until then known in France. He, too, came to Paris, a few years after the vifit of the ad- mired Italian ; and when he had been admitted to play before the Court, his powerful inftrument fo ftirred up in the foul of the King the recolle&ion of his "fweeteft of muficians," that he exclaimed — " I have recovered my Filidori . . . I have found a fecond Philidor!" The fobriquet of Philidor, beftowed under circumftances fo impreffive, remained ever after infeparably attached to Michel Danican and his numerous fucceflbrs. He himfelf was imme- diately made mufician of the royal Chapel ; his fon, of the fame name, (born in 1635,) was likewife hautboy-player, both in the Chapel and in the King's private band; and the race of Philidors, always multiplying and always clinging to the profefllon of their Dauphinais progenitor, (for one even beat the kettle-drum, for lack of talent to compafs any higher attainment,)* had, by and by, come to form a large element in the compofition of the King's mufical eftablifliment.f The thirdj Michel Danican, after having long * "Le fecond etait Tymbalier des Menus-plaifirs, n'ayant jamais pu parvenir a faire autre chose." La Bordt. \ The fa£ts given by La Borde and Twifs have here received fome flight addition and interpretation from Fetis. J La Borde, Twifs, Andre Philidor, and Lardin all agree in making Philidor's father to have been the fecond, and not the third, Michel — EARLY TEARS. 3 filled the poft of baflbon-player to Louis XIV., was permitted by Louis XV., in 1724, to retire on a pen- fion. He fixed himfelf at Dreux, near Paris ; and there Francois-Andre Danican-Philidor was born, on the 7th day of September, 1726.* He was the firft fon by a third wife, — a woman (fays her defcendant) of a character Angularly unfophifticated and fimple. Thefe qualities were reproduced in her fon, in a proportion as remarkable as his fhare in the mufical endowment of his race.f At the age of to have been the fon, and not the grandfon, of the Dauphinais hautboy- player. I believe them all to be in the wrong, and that Fetis (whom I follow) is in the right, partly becaufe he appears to have confulted authentic documents, and partly for other reafons, which will prefently appear. * Here Fetis gives the date of 1727, upon the authority of the valuable MSS. of Beffara, (Biographic des Mujiciens, art. Beffara.) But M. Fetis appears to have feen the engraved portrait by Bartolozzi, and might have reflected, that the date attached to it was moft proba- bly given upon the authority of Philidor himfelf; and ivc have (what Fetis had not) not only the teftimony of Twifs's Anecdotes, but alfb the legal certificate, (afle de naijfance,) which Lardin profeffes to have had in his hands. ■}■ The other biographers make her a fecond wife. I follow Lardin, who alfo (as a proof, perhaps, of her extreme fimplicity) makes her at nineteen marry a hulband of feventy-three. He gives our hero, at his birth, a filler of fifty-fix years old; and will have him to be one of eight children, born between 1726 and 1730, when his father died — a period of only four years. Such an account, although coming from a defcendant, is clearly not to be relied upon. According to Fetis, Phi- lidor's father, Michel the third, was but fifty at the time of his laft 4 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. fix, after the death of his father, Andre was admit- ted one of the Pages of the royal Chapel, at Ver- failles, and was thus put, for his mufical education, under the veteran Campra, who was both Maitre de Chapelk and alfo, by fpecial patent, Teacher of the Pages. This admiflion was four years earlier than the age prefcribed by the rules of the Chapel. The favour was, therefore, probably due to the influence of his numerous relations in the King's fervice, and to the fupport which their reprefentations derived from evidences of 'his extraordinary precocity of mufical talent, and of his docility of difpofition. His boyifh treble could be made available at once ; and his literary ftudies* were probably made to keep even pace with his exercifes in Harmony and Coun- terpoint. The rigid old Campra was not at all the marriage. The other biographers, as we have feen, affume his father to have been the fecond Michel; and this, probably, is the fecret of the bridegroom's advanced age. * Nothing is faid, in my authorities, of Philidor's literary education ; but I affume it to have been received under Campra's superintendence, becaufe I understand, (from Gretry's Mimoires and other fources,) that the Maitrifes (or residences of the Maitres de Mufique) of Cathedrals — and a fortiori of a Chapel Royal — were complete Schools, in which (asi in the Confer neffes.* It is obvious enough, that a light-hearted youth of from fourteen to eighteen could hardly be ex- pected to fit all day ftudying Chefs with Legal, at the Cafe de la R'egence — to be enjoying the fenfa- tion created by his blindfold games — and at the fame time to keep regular hours with his mufic pupils. He negleited them, (as he admitted to Twifs), and they confequently took another mailer. It muft not be inferred, however, that the negle£t of his pupils amounted to an abandonment of his profellion. He would never, probably, have been a punctual Teacher, at any rate — Chefs or no Chefs — and that becaufe he had, with the genius, the temperament of a Compofer: — he was always abfolutely abforbed by his mufical meditations, no lefs than, at another hour, * I copy the language of the Encyclopedic from Twifs : " We had at Paris, a young man of eighteen, who played at the fame time two games at Chefs, without feeing the boards, beating two antagonifts, to either of whom he, though a firft-rate player, could only give the ad- vantage of a Knight, when feeing the board. We ihall add to this , account, a circumftance of which we were eye-witneffes : In the middle of one of his games, a falfe move was defignedly made, which after a great number of moves he difcovered, and placed the piece where it ought to have been at firft. This young man is named Mr. Philidor, the fon of a mufician of repute ; he himfelf is a great mufician, and, perhaps, the beft player of Poliih Draughts there ever was, or ever will be. This is among the moft extraordinary examples of ftrength of memory, and imagination.'' PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT. 13 by his game ; and he was as little capable of taking note of time in one cafe as in the other. But if we accept his too honeft confeflion, that Chefs fpoiled him for a Teacher, in his youth, let us be fair enough to accept, with equal readinefs of aflent, his later declaration, that Mufic had at no time ceafed to be his ftudy.* Such a declaration, after the event, may always, indeed, be, in the nature of things, a little fufpicious ; but that of Philidor happens to be fupported — for this period, at leaft — by abundant proof. During his moft affiduous practice of Chefs, with M. de Legal, Philidor regularly carried his an- nual tribute of a Motett to the royal Chapel, at Verfailles ; when the Chevalier de Jaucourt recorded his feats of blindfold playing, he faid — not that he had been — but that he was, at the time, a "great mufician ;" and the firft of that feries of journeys, by which his reputation as a Chefs-player was ipread over Europe, was undertaken folely in pur- fuance of a mufical engagement. Nay, it is as a mufician, doing profeffional work by contract, that Philidor figures in a tranfadtion of this very period — a tranfadtion, which exhibits him in clofe relations with the Philofopher of Geneva. * In the advertifement, which Philidor inferted in the Public Ad- ■vertifer, December 9th, 1753, he affirmed "that the Art of Mufic had been at all times his conftant ftudy and application, and Chefs only his diverfion." — Twifs, (Cbtfs, vol. ii. p. 216. ) 4 i 4 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. Jean- Jacques Roufleau had come to Paris, in 1741, at the age of twenty-nine, with the expectation of gaining a name and fortune by means of a new fcheme of mufical notation. Failing in this, and reafoning, that he might fecure the fame ends by proving himfelf to be firjl in fomething elfe, juft as well, he began daily to frequent the Cafe de la Regence, and to contend with its ftrongeft players for the primacy of Chefs.* He was beaten by them all; but he played refolutely on, with the allured conviction, that he mould, one day, have his turn of beating them. He chofe his adverfaries wifely — for among them he names both Philidor and Legal. Before he had fucceeded in beating either of them, he was called away to Venice, to take the place of private fecretary to the French ambaffador. On his return to Paris, in 1745, he returned alfo to his old opinion, that he was to achieve greatnefs by means of Mufic. To that end, he refumed a work, which he had laid afide, when entering on his Chefs- campaign — an Opera, namely, in three a£ls, entitled Les Mufes galantes. This he wiflied to bring out, at firft, privately, at the houfe of M. de la Popeli- niere, who, as fermier-g'en'eral, was a genuine fuc- ceflbr of the munificent furintendant, Nicolas Fou- quet. Like Fouquet, La Popeliniere was fond of * The hiftory of Roufleau's learning Chefs, a few years before, is given by him in an amufing paragraph of his Confefum, (liv. v.) ROUSSEAU. 15 feeing himfelf furrounded hymen of mind and mark, with little regard to birth, or Handing, or even to character; and his manfion, at Pany, was made to contain every appliance for enabling the artifts, who fought his patronage, to exhibit their talents under the moft favourable aufpices. He had his Theatre, with Marmontel for his dramatic poet. He had his Chapel, too ; and his Organift and Maitre de Cha- pelle was no other than Rameau.* It may be taken as a matter of courfe, that young Philidor, in his double character of precocious Mu- fician and portentous Chefs-player, had been prefled into what was called La Popeliniere's menagerie, nor could any formal proch-verbal, duly authenticated, add ftrength to my aflurance, that Philidor's Motetts took their turn in La Popeliniere's Chapel, under the dire&ion of his friend Rameau, and that Philidor's exhibition of blindfold playing had been repeated in La Popeliniere's drawing-room, before a company, which embraced the Due de Richelieu and Diderot> the painter La Tour, and the unrivalled mechanift, Vaucanfon, fide by fide with every fort of foreign virtuofo and adventurer. Philidor was, at any rate, the common friend of many of the celebrities, that formed this aflemblage ; and when the compofer of Les Mufes galantes required the help of a thorough- * What I fay of M. de la Popeliniere is derived from a very in- teresting article in the Biographic Univcrfdh. 1 6 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. bred mufician to lick his really genial production into a prefentable fliape, it was to young Philidor that he applied. To what extent, and with what fuccefs, Philidor aflifted Rouffeau, is ftated differently by different parties. There feems to have been a tradition in Philidor's family, that he executed his tafk with charadteriftic abnegation of felf — that he fo managed his fymphonies and accompaniments, as to keep them entirely fubordinate, while they gave relief to the me- lodies of the amateur compofer.* But, from Rouf- feau's own account, on the other hand, it would at leaft appear, that any efforts Philidor may have made to preferve the appearance of unity in the work- manfhip had been entirely unfuccefsful. Rameau praifed the Overture, indeed, — but not as being the production of Rouffeau ; and to the execution of the Opera itfelf he liftened with various indications, now of impatience and now of fufpicion, until at laft he exclaimed — ill-naturedly enough — that part of what he had heard was the work of a confurrimate mufi- cian, and the reft that of. the mereft ignoramus in the art. Honeft Jean- Jacques, therefore, is not at * Such is Lardin's ftatement in the Palamede, t. vii. p. 1 1 , only that he fpeaks of Philidor's afliftance as given to Rouffeau for Le Dcvin du Village. But this was impoffible : Le De therefore, even in its additional matter, penetrated by the fame fpirit as the earlier one. The Games, with the inftru&ive Notes ap- pended to them, ftill form the ftaple of the work. Thefe conftitute the expofition of a peculiar fyftem, the cha- rafteriftic features of which, contrafted with thofe of the Italian fchool, I have endeavoured to give, in an eflay of fome length, contributed to the Berlin Scbacbzeitung for 1 847 and 1 848. It can hardly be poffible, that thefe model Games ever occurred in actual play ; they were, undoubtedly, compofed by Philidor himfelf for his work. They are diftinttively characterized by the thoroughly confequent and fyftematic flyle of their Pawn-play, and SUPPLEMENT. 125 by the manner in which they make ufe of the central Pawns to fecure clofenefs of pofition. They cannot, however, be faid to have been conftrufted upon princi- ples abfolutely new ; they are, more properly, the off- fpring of the prevailing theories of the day— theories that were bafed far more upon the games of Lopez, (of whofe work there had been feveral editions in French,) than upon thofe of Greco, in which the fpirit of the Italian fchool was decidedly preponderant. The little book of the Engliihman Bertin (1735,) and Stamma's Openings (1745,) do in faft belong to the fame fchool as the Ana- lyfe : what Philidor did was to perfeft and expound the fyftem of that fchool. When we examine the work in this light — taking into account alfo the youthful years of the author in 1749 — ll ' s impoffible not to concede to Philidor a precocious maftery of all the recondite futi- lities of the game, and an extraordinary gift of exhibit- ing his ideas in a clear and comprehenfive plan. The mark which Philidor aimed at was high and worthy of a great mafter. And yet he would hardly have ventured upon the execution of the talk he had propofed to him- felf, if he had been fully aware how wide a field was really embraced by it — if he had not, like his contempo- raries, reftrifted his obfervation to the one-fided " Pawn game" alone. Neverthelefs the Analyfe — even in the fhape wherein it firft appeared, in 1749 — abundantly proves that its author pofleffed a remarkable talent for dealing with the fcience of the game. This is a gift, which many other great players have not pofleffed. I do not prove this by inftancing in the celebrated, but 3* ia6 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. weak, Traite des Amateurs, becaufe I do not confider that work to have been produced by " great players," of a clafs to compare with Philidor. But La Bourdonnais is a cafe in point. Although endowed with the very higheft order of genius for the practice of the game, he has left behind him, in his theoretical work, only a very middling fort of compilation.* I may cite alfo Defcha- pelles, another Hero of the later age, from whom, as an antagonift in play, La Bourdonnais acquired much of his fkill. That great player never gave himfelf the flighteft trouble about the theory of the game ; nay, he rated Chefs-fcience fo low, that when a move propofedby him- felf, in one of the famous correfpondence-games with Pefth, was objected to, on grounds of Chefs-theory, as not the ftrongeft, he could think of no better way to de- cide the difference between Chefs-fcience and himfelf, than to challenge the entire Committee to play out the- reft of the game with him, over the board, for a wager. He immediately refigned his place in the Committee, when they declined accepting this Angular cartel. The Analyfe contains many propositions, afferted by Philidor with too much confidence in 1749, which, at maturer years, he was not difpofed to' maintain, and therefore difcarded in his fecond edition. The fact, however, that he had once afferted fuch propofitions, continued, even after he had withdrawn them, to affeft prejudicially his authority as a theorift. To thefe in- * " Le pauvre La Bourdonnais et fon pauvre livre !" " Deteftable compilation !" are fome of the flowers fcattered by M. le Viceroi St. Amant upon the Nouveau Traite of his Sovereign. — Te. SUPPLEMENT. 127 ftances of youthful rafhnefs belong the unfounded cen- fure, which he pronounced, in 1749, upon the King's Knight's Game, the favourite opening of the Italians, — the Notes on the third move in the Second Game, (Queen's Bijbop's Pawn's Defence in the King's Bilhop's Game,) with the illuftrative Firft Back-game, and the Notes on the opening moves of the Fourth Game — Notes, from which it might be inferred, that Philidor (like Carrera, 1617, p. 74) held the opinion, that to have the firft move was to win the game. On the other hand, if we find thefe few untenable precepts in the Analyfe, we alfo find Notes, which enunciate very link- ing general propofitions, and Games decided by moves well thought through, and univerfally recognifed to be the ftrongeft. At the fame time, there is no lack, either in the openings, or in the fubfequent moves, of fuch oversights, as we can account for, only by fuppofing, that the author gave more attention to the general cha- racter and main tendency of the games, than to the ana- lytical accuracy of each move. How otherwife — to cite only one example — can we account for it, that Philidor mould play out to the advantage of Black, the pofition in which his Cunningham-Gambit game Hands after the 29th move of Black, in the Second Variation ?* He had taken fides with Black, and therefore remarks, (in reference to this Pofition, on which he beftows par- * The Pofition is : White— King at KR ; Rook at QB7 ; Bifliops at K3 and 2 R 4> Knight at KB; Pawns at Q4, QKt5, and QR^. Black— King at KKt3 ; Rook at Qz ; Bifliop at K3 ; Knight at K2 ; Pawns at KR4, KKt4, K5, g4, £> Kt2 > and S Ra - 128 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. ticular attention,) that White would lofe, juft as well, were he even to avoid the exchange of Rooks. Phili- dor purfues the game as follows :* (White) 30. R : R, (Black) B : R ; and thereupon continues with 3 1. K Kt2, KRP on ; 32. QB KB2, K KR4 ; 33. KB Qf, B covers ; inftead of allowing White to make the decifive move, 3 1 . QKtP on. Without ftirring the queftion who was the author of this move, it is fufficient for my prefent purpofe to fay, that it is mentioned in Walker's edition of the Analyfe, i832.f But I will here repeat the earlier moves of this Gam- bit, in order to attach to them a few notes, and to invite * It being obvioufly neceflary to fubftitute, for the " algebraic" nota- tion employed by the author, one more familiar to Englifh and Ameri- can Chefs-players, I have adopted fubftantially that which appears in the later publications of George Walker, partly becaufe three of the games, cited in the Effay, were copied from Walker's SckSlion, and partly becaufe I do myfelf prefer Walker's to any other form of de- fcriptive notation, as being the more, compendious reproduction of the real language of Chefs-players over the board. For the convenience of the printer, I have made the flight change of adopting from German Chefs-books a colon (:) as equal to " takes," and the dagger (■)•) for " checks" or " checking." — Tr. ■f Walker's note is, "You may now get a fine game, e.g., 31. QKtP on, BSB3; 32. P : P, QKtPa; 33. KB : P, BQR; 34- Kt Kt3, and ought to win." The move 31. QKtP on appears firft (fo far as I know) in Pratt's Studies of Chefs, 18 10, vol. ii. p. 17, where it introduces a " Variation by the Editor." Herr von der Lafa, I fup- pofe, does 'not conlider the claim thus aflerted to be put beyond all queftion, inafmuch as honeft Peter was certainly ablblutely incapable of inventing any ftrong move whatfbever, not to (ay a ftronger move than one of Philidor's. — Tr. SUPPLEMENT., 129 attention to a flip or two, which Philidor has made in this part of the game alfo. 1. KP2, KP2; 2. KBPz, P:P; 3. KKtB3, KBK2; 4. B QB4, KBKRsf; 5. KtP covers, P : P ; 6. Caftles, P : Pf ; 7- K to corner. Philidor gives to this variation of the Knight's Gambit, as Stamma had done before him, (although Stamma con- tinues with 7 QP z j) the name of" Cunningham's Gambit." The earlier Englifli author, Bertin, however, (whofe little book, now fo very rare, Philidor was ac- quainted with,) calls it merely The Three Pawns Game, without attaching to it the name of any inventor. It has, therefore, been afiumed by fome writers, (as, for example, by Cochrane, 1822, p. 357,) that Bertin him- felf was the real inventor of this bold game. On this point, nothing can be affirmed with certainty. Philidor proceeds thus : B KB3 ; 8. KP on, QPz ; 9. KP : B, Kt : P ; 10. KB QKt3. Here Bertin (p. 6) makes Black caftle ; and then, after 11. QP2, KRPi, Hops lhort, with the remark — " And the players may finifli the game," without expreffing any opinion which fliould win. In another place, however, he makes a general remark, from which we can fee, that he, as Philidor did after him, confiders Black to have the beft of it ; to the tenth, name- ly, of his Rules (p. vi) he adds thefe words : " But the defence, if well played, is ftill the beft againft the gam- bits, in which you change all your pieces, except the gambit that gives three pawns, [in] which [it] will be neceflary to keep a rook, to conduft your pawns to the queen." Philidor continues the game thus : QB K3 ; {Second 33 130 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. Variation) 11. QPz, KKt K5. This Variation is fur- niftied by him in order to juftify the cenfure, which he had pronounced on QPz as the. eleventh move of White, namely, that by fo playing (inftead of QPl) White would make an opening for Black's Knights, and thus fpeedily lofe the game. It will be feen, however, that precifely in confequence of the entry of Black's Knight into White's game, (by KKt K5,) and by the confequent move of the King's Bilhop's Pawn (KBP2) to fupport the Knight there, Black expofes himfelf, in Philidor's own continua- tion of the game, to very ferious attacks. 1 z. QB KB4, KBPz; 13. SKtQz, QKz; 14. QBPz, gBPi ; 15. P: P, P:P; 16.QRQB, QKtB 3 ; 1 7. Kt : Kt, KBP : K* 18. Kt: Gambit P. (Here, by the way, Cozio [1766, vol. ii. p. 375] more correftly plays KtK$, with the advantage on White's fide.) Caftles KR ; 19. QQz, KRPi. Another very queftionable move. White would win, were he to take advantage of it by making the attack given in Bilguer's Handbuch, viz., zo. QB : KRP. But Philidor proceeds : zo. QR QB5, QR Q ; 21. KB QR4, KKtPz; zz. QBK3, R:Rf; 23. Kt : R, QQ3; Z4. Q KRz, K Ktz ; Z5. Q : Q, R : Q ; z6. QRPi, K Kt3 ; 27. QKtPz, KRP 1 ; z8. QKtP on, KtKz; zg. R QB7, R Qz ; which brings us to the pofition, from which we fet out. SUPPLEMENT. 131 II. PHILIDOR AS CHESS-PLAYER. I AVING thus examined the Analyfe, in re- ference to its value as a work of Chefs- ^ ojisgn p theory, it now remains to infer from it, what was Philidor's ftrength in a&ual play. Such inferences, it muft be owned, are by no means, certain, inafmuch as authors rarely appear fo ftrong in their works, as in games played over the board. In the prefent cafe, however, it can be aflerted with con- fidence, that, in fpite of feveral inaccuracies in the Ana- lyfe, we derive from it a higher opinion of Philidor's ftrength in play, than from the games, (of which we have a confiderable number,) which he played blindfold, or over the board at odds. Nearly all of the genuine games, that have been preferved to us of Philidor and other players of his day, were publilhed by Mr. George Walker, in 1835, in a fmall volume, under the title of A SeleBion of Games at Chefs flayed by Philidor and bis Contemporaries. This author, who has enriched fo many departments of Chefs-literature by his valuable contri- butions, was enabled to throw fome light upon the Phi- lidorian Age, by becoming the fortunate purchafer of the Rev. George Atwood's Chefs MSS., when the library of that celebrated mathematician was expofed to fale by auction. Mr. Atwood was known to have been among the admirers and aflbciates of Philidor, and to have been himfelf, moreover, no mean Chefs-player. His MSS. i 3 2 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. proved to be his own record of many games, played, between 1780 and 1800, by Count Briihl, Mr. Wilfon, Dr. Bowdler, Lord Harrowby, the Hon. Mr. Conway, Mr. Cotter, and Mr. Leycefter, with De Beaurevoir, Philidor, Verdoni, and Mr. Atwood himfelf. Thefe fpecimens are highly interefting to the ftudious inquirer ; but — to fpeak quite frankly — they give no very high idea of the Chefs-fkill of that day. Philidor, at any rate, was then in the evening of his life. In thefe games, the Old Mailer does indeed (land, under the keen infpeftion of our eyes, far higher than his fellows ; but he is by no means fecure againft committing, now and then, a linking' overfight. To explain how this mould happen, one or two circumftances muft be taken into confederation. Phi- lidor had, at that time, croffed the boundary of threefcore, and had, therefore, moft certainly, long lince left behind him the period of his greateft ftrength as a player, — a pe- riod, which cannot be confidered as extending, upon an average, beyond the fortieth year of life. Nay, I am dif- pofed to believe, that the limit of the moll perfect cor- re&nefs in play is, in very many cafes, reached confider- ably earlier : the long-continued occupation with the bufinefs of life afts, with weakening effect, upon the power of attention, fo effentially requifite in Chefs. The fecond confideration, that operates to mitigate the feverity of our judgment, refts upon the faft, that Phili- dor's adverfaries were players of only moderate ftrength. Their weak and inaccurate fly le of play could not remain without its effect upon him. For it is a truth, well ef- tablifhed by experience, that ftrong players, when engaged SUPPLEMENT. 133 with weak ones, can exert themfelves only fo far as to make fure of vidlory in a majority of games. The in- tenfity, with which they exert their faculty of combina- tion, is at firft relaxed by careleflhefs, and afterwards by a haftinefs, that has become a habit. To play, moreover; giving heavy odds, although it may compel the ftronger player to exert his attention, does, neverthelefs, affeft him injurioufly, upon the whole ; becaufe, in fuch games, he calculates of courfe, and may calculate too much, upon the overfights of his adverfary. If, under thefe complicated relations of the queftion, it is difficult to form a juft eflimate of Philidor's real ftrength, in comparifon with that of his contemporaries, it cannot but be doubly difficult to bring an earlier age into com- parifon with a later one — efpecially when the later age is characterized by its remarkable advancement in Chefs- fcience — and to determine how Philidor would rank among the players of the prefent day. The opinion, which I have, neverthelefs, formed, is, that Philidor, when in the fulnefs and frelhnefs of his ftrength, with the folid fupport of his talent for analyfis, muft have pof- feffed the capacity to make his own any given meafure of pra&ical flcill; but that his Chefs-faculty had, by no means, attained, among fuch contemporaries, its higheft pomble degree of development ; and that he, therefore, falls fomewhat fhort of that accuracy of conception and that richnefs of combination, which we behold with wonder in the victorious conteft of La Bourdonnais againft the united book-knowledge and genius of M'Donnell. The judgment, which I have thus pronounced upon 34 i 3 4 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. Philidor and his Age, to many may appear to be unjuft. To give the reader an opportunity, therefore, to judge of its fairnefs and its foundnefs, I Ihall proceed to lay before him a few games from Mr. Walker's publication, with the accompaniment of fome notes of my own. Before doing fo, however, I muft devote a few words to Phili- dor's playing without fight of board and men, or "blind- fold playing" (fo called.) Nine fuch games of his — each triad whereof was played iimultaneoufly — are familiar to all Englifh-reading Chefs-ftudents, inafmuch as they are contained in every current edition of Philidor on Chefs. They firft appeared in the new edition of the Analyfe, which was publifhed in the Englifh language, at London, in 1 790. This edition, which — if it had been really pre- pared by Philidor, as it bears his name, would be the third edition — exhibits indications, in the Preface and elfewhere, by which we recognife the faft, that it was merely fuperintended by the Publilher in the Author's name. The games in queftion belong to the years 1783, 1788, and 1790 — to Philidor's old age, therefore; but even had they been the fruit of an earlier period, they could furnilh no criterion of his ordinary play. Their fpecial intereft confifts in the evidence, which they fur- nilh, of Philidor's rare gift of imaginative prefentation, — the power of keeping boards and men clearly before his " mind's eye," — a gift that may be compared to the pe- culiar talent of thofe mental arithmeticians, who aftound us by the portentous computations, which they carry on in their head alone. It is worthy of remark, that Phili- dor Ihould have retained this gift to the day of his death. SUPPLEMENT. 135 He never exhibited it, however — fo far as the number of his limultaneous games is concerned — in the fulleft extent, to which it has been cultivated. Greater feats, of this kind, had been performed before his time ; greater feats have alfo been performed in our own day, when Mr. Louis Paulfen plays blindfold ten games at once.* Among the Afiatics, during the middle Ages, blindfold playing was fo much a favourite mode of play, that the Oriental Chefs-authors give fpecial inflruclions for if. In this way we learn the faft, that Afiatic amateurs, who could con- duit three or four blindfold games at once, and at the fame time recite verfes, were by no means rare. Nay, there is alfo faid to have been one player, in the Eaft, who had gone to the extent of playing fo many as ten fuch games at once."f" Thefe examples go far beyond what Philidor's art ever achieved. Several games in Walker's SeleBion fliow, that Philidor, blindfold, played even with antagonifts, to whom, over the board, he was accuftomed to give the Queen's Knight for the King's Bilhop's Pawn and the move. And, upon the whole, it is reckoned, that Philidor, in blindfold play, was about a Pawn under his ufual ftrength. To proceed with the games from Walker's SeleBion. In 1788, Philidor gives the Pawn and two moves to M. * In a letter, written fome time after the date of the Eflay, the au- thor expreffes his regret, that no account of Paul Morphy's blindfold playing, at Birmingham and in the Cafe dc la Rigence, had reached him, in feafon to enable him to place the name of the young Ameri- can mafter by the fide of Mr. Paulfen's. — T». •j- Bland's Perjian Cbefs, p. Z4. , 136 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. de Beaurevoir. This gentleman, being at that time (ac- cording to Mr. Walker) a Chefs-player of high Handing in France, had expefted to be able to make a Hand againft Philidor at the Pawn and one move. He was beaten, notwithstanding, at the larger odds. Although the games of this match are by no means free from errors, they ex- hibit, in many places, a mafterly judgment of pofition, on the part of Philidor. It muft alfo be obferved, that his adverfary was not remarkably ftrong. He not only allowed himfelf to be vifibly frightened by Philidor's play — as often happens to the weaker party in fuch a match — but in faft he really pofleffed hardly fuch a meafure of talent, as would conftitute him, at the prefent day, what is called a " fecond-rate" player — fuch a player as ufually wins not more than one even game out of five from a matter in Chefs. First Game. (Remove Black's KBP from the board.) I. (M. de Beaurevoir) KP2 ; 2. QP2, (Philidor) KPl ; 3. KBP2. (KBP2 is no longer recommended at the prefent day ; but formerly it was the ufual move. I do not, therefore, condemn it as weak play on the part of Beaurevoir.) QPz ; 4. KP on, QBP2 ; 5. QBPl, gKt B 3; 6. KKtB 3 , SSKt 3 ; 7. QRPi,QRP 2 ; 8. QRP on. (The two laft moves of White mow that he had as yet formed no plan how to ufe his Pieces for an attack — a proof either of embarraffment through fear, or of natural want of energy.) KKtR 3 ; 9. KBQ 3 , QBQ2; 10. £>KtR 3 , Caftles; 11. QKt Kt5, KKtB2j iz. QB K 3 , QBPon; i 3 . KBQB2* (This retreat of the Bifhop is difadvantageous. It wou|d do better to go to Kz, in SUPPLEMENT. 137 order to maintain the attack on Black's QB P. If Phili- dor fliould, thereupon, make the fame move as he does in the actual game, White would get a very good attack : e.g., 13. KBKz, QKtKt; 14. QKtPi, QB : Kt ,• 15. P:B, Q.P; 16. KKtQz, or QKtP : P, QP : P ; 17. QRR± QQKtj; 18. QiJhome, Q.-QBP^; 19. B covers, Q QKf] ; 20. KB : P, with a decifive attack.) QKt Kt ; 14. QKt R3, Q : QKtP. (White would have done better to play 14. Caftles, B: Kt,- 15. P:B, Q:P,- 16. QQ2.) 15. KtQKt5. (Here White facrifices a Pawn, poffibly for the purpofe of getting room for his attack, but probably becaufe he failed to fee, that 15. Q QB would make his game fafe at every point : Black could not then take QBP without lofing his Queen.) B:Kt; !6. P:B, Q : QKtP ; 17. KBQR4, QQR3. (In hopes of getting a chance to play QKtPz, which would clear a.fpace for defenfive purpofes. But the combination does not.fucceed. The Queen might have alfo drawn back to QKt$ ; but fhe could not have gone afterwards to QB2 : the defence of QKtP would then have been too difficult.) 18. QR QKt, KB Kz ; 19. Caftles, Q QR2 (a coup de repos ,•) 20. Q QB2, KKtPi ; 21. RQKt5. (A Angularly unfkilful move. Black takes advantage of it immediately, to provide the neceffary, protection for his QKtP.) R Q2 ; 22. KR QKt, KKt Q ; 23. R QKt6, KKt QB 3 ; 24. KKtP Z , KR KB ; 25. KRP2, R QB2 ; 26. K Kt2. (A blunder. White now had a chance to call back his Rook from the idle adven- ture on which it had gone to QKt6, and fo prevent its being cut off by Kt QKt 5. After doing this, he might 35 138 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. have attempted, with the help of a Rook, to make a breach in Black's line of defence on the King's fide. The Black Queen is ftill in an unfavourable pofition, and could not readily come to the refcue of the other wing.) KtQKtS; 27. QR:Kt, P:R; 28. P : P, QKtPz. (Black lofes no time to fecure greater freedom of move- ment.) 29. KB:P, RQKt 2; 30. KB : P. (White could have drawn his Bilhop back, with the lofs of a Pawn, to QR4.. The facrifice of 30. B : P is, perhaps, founded on a bold, but unfound, combination, which — even if it could have been completely carried out — would not have been decifive for White, viz.: 30. B: P, P:B; 31. Q:P\,KQz; 32. gPon, Q:B; 33. P: /^.tfhomc; 34. QBSf, B covers, &c.) RQBz; 31. KtQz, P:B; 32. Kt : P, Q QKtzf ; 33- K Kt 3, QKt R 3 ; 34. QK 2 , Kt: P. (Black could alfo have firft played 33. g Kt$; and then, upon 34. R QB, Kt QR 3 ; [35. QK2, K Kt 7] 35. QP on, and then B: P.) 35. Kt Q6f, B: Kt; 36. P : B, R gB6 ; 37. K R 2 , R QB 7 ; 38. gB Q2, KR : P. (Black's laft move was a blunder — fuch a blunder as fhould never be made by a Mafter in Chefs. KR : P gives White a chance poffibly to draw the game ; whereas K gz would have been a winning move. But White, as we mail fee, does not avail himfelf of the chance thus given him. He replies with 39. g .- Pf, without duly weighing all the conferences of the move. His at- tention may have been directed exclufively to the follow- ing combination : 39. R : Kt, Q:R; 40. g : KP\, K QKt2; [ 4I . QK 7 f, KQR 3; 42. QKzf, Q covers, or KKti, &c] 41. g g 7 f, KQR 3; 42. KKt 3 , Q: QP; SUPPLEMENT. 139 43. B:R, QQ6f,&c.) 39. Q:Pf,KQ. (If Black had moved inftead to Q Kt, he would juft as little have cut off White's chance to draw, as may be feen by the following moves: 40. Q KSf, [R QB ; 41. B:KR,~] K Q R 7 i 4 1 • Q S R 4t> Q covers ; 4 Z - 6 S7t> K t0 corner >* 43. QKSf, R covers; 44. P Q 7 , Sec.) 40. Q KKt8f, KQ2; 41. Q:Pf, KB. (White could now draw by perpetual check.) 42. Q : Qf, K:Q; 43. R : Ktf, K B3 ; 44. K attacks R, KR KB8 ; 45. P Q5f, K : firft P. (Beaurevoir appears not to have been well (killed in end- games ; otherwife, he would have played B K$, or ftill better B KB4., becaufe the Bifliop, befides protecting the Pawn, is alfo for the moment protected by the King.) 46. RQ 4 , K K 4 ; 47. R Q 3 , K attacks R; 48. R K 3 f, K : P ; 49. R Q3"j". (White adls evidently upon the er- roneous impreffion, that he is obliged to keep the Bifliop at Qz.) KK5; 50. RK3f, KQ5; 51. RKz, K attacks R ; 52. R attacks P, K : B ; 53. R : P, QR B6f ; 54. K attacks R, KRB6; 55. KRP on, QRK6; 56. KRP on, K K7 and wins. Second Game. (Remove Black's K.BP from the board.) 1. (M. de Beaurevoir) QPz ; 2. QBP2, (Philidor) KPi ; 3. KP2, KKtPi ; 4. KBP2. (I make no fort of re- mark upon thefe introductory moves, becaufe Drill in the openings depends upon ftudy ; and this branch of Chefs- ftudy is far more advanced now, than it was in the time of Philidor. I referve all criticifm for the game proper.) QP2 ; 5. QBP : P, KP : P ; 6. KP on, QBP2 ; 7. KB Q Kt 5 f, QKt B 3 ; 8. QKt B 3 , QRPi ; 9. B : Ktf, P : B ; 10. QBK3, P:P; 11. Q:P, KKtR 3 ; 12. QQKt6. i 4 o THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. (In games at odds, the fecond player has ufually a bad pofition, and is glad to bring about an exchange of Queens. Here it is White that offers the exchange. The pofition has, however, by this time become about equal, and I will not, therefore, condemn Q QKt6 as a fin againft a general principle. The move is, neverthelefs, to be blamed, becaufe it mull bring White into a bad pofition, or caufe him the lofs of a Pawn.) Q,:Q,; 1 3. B : Q, QR attacks B; 14. QKt R4, KB QKt5f 5 15. KKz, Caftles; 16. QRPi.KBKz; 17. KKtPi,QBPon; 18. QR QKt, (a perfectly ufelefs move,) QB attacks R; 19. QR Q, QBK5; zo. KKtB3, QBQB7. (The Bifliop might have gone at once to QBj. In that cafe, White's KKt would have kept his place. Beaurevoir was, I fufpeft, a player, to whom Philidor could have given the Knight : the Mafter, therefore, plays careleflly.) 21. QB : P, B : Rf; zz. R:B, B:B; 23. Kt:B, R:Pf; Z4. KB, Kt KB 4 ; z 5 . R Q 3 , KR QB ; z6. Kt QKt 3 , KR QB 7 ; z 7 . QKtgz, QP on; z8. KKz, QR QR 7 ; 29. Kt:P. (White mould have prepared this move by KKt P on. Philidor, however, did not take advantage of the blunder, which ought (as Walker remarks) to have coll White the lofs of a Piece.) Kt : Kt. (R : Kt\ would have been the better move. Both this game and that which follows it exhibit fuch ferious blemiflies that I mould not afcribe them to Philidor, if there were the flighteft reafon to doubt the genuinenefs of the Atwood MSS., which Walker made ufe of for his Selellion. — I may take this occafion alfo to guard myfelf againft the fufpicion of hav- ing, on purpofe, chofen defective games, in order to make SUPPLEMENT. 141 out my cafe : the games, which I am now annotating, are taken precifely as they come — the three, firft — in Walker's book.) 30. R : Kt, R:P; 31. Ktp'on, QR KR6; 32. KBP on, R:Pf; 33- KQ, KRiKtf; 34- R : R, R : Rf ; 35. K : R, P : P ; 36. P : P, KRP2 ; 37. KP on, QRP on and wins. Third Game. (Remove Black's KBP from the board.) 1. (M. de Beaurevoir) KP2; 2. QP2, (Philidor) KPi ; 3. QBP2, KKtPl ; 4. KBP2, QP2 ; 5. QBP : P, P : P ; 6. KP on, QBP2; 7. KB QKt5f, QKtB3. (Thus far this game is quite like the fecond ; only that a move or two are tranfpofed. The players appear, therefore, to have had a good memory for the mode, in which they had played before. The two firft games were played at the fame fitting, on the 31ft of May, 1788. The third followed in April.) 8. KKt B3, Q QKt3 ; 9. QKt B3, P:P; 10. KKt: P, KB pins Kt; 1 1. QB K3, KKt K2 ; 12. QRPi,KBQB 4 . (Walker, who accompanies the games with only here and there a note, fays here, that (Black) 1 2. KB : QKff would apparently have been better. It is clear, there- fore, that he perceived, as little as Beaurevoir, (who con- tinued with 13. QKtP2,) the grofs blunder, which Black had fallen into — a blunder, which lhould have coft him a Piece. The overfight is all the more ftriking, that the Bifhop — if it had been well for him to ftand at QB4 — could have gone thither two moves earlier, inftead of going to QKt5. At that moment, KB QB4 could have been made without difadvantage. The confequences would have been fomewhat as follows : — 11. QKt QR\, 36 i 4 2 THE LIFE OF PH1L1D0R. Q QRtf; 12. gB covers, KB QKt$ ; 13. QKt B$, KKt Kz; 14. Ca/lles. The following Variation fhows the neceflary confequences of the moves a&ually made : — 13. QKtQRif, Q checks; 14. QKtP covers, KB : P\ ; 15. QRP.-B, Q.-Pfs l6 - KBz - There is no ftrength in Black's paffed Pawns. The pofition of his Queen is bad likewife. Befides, White can force an exchange of Queens, if he likes. In an ancient Perfian MS., prer fented by Major Yule to the Britilh Mufeum, (No. 151,) and defcribed by Bland, (pp. 18-25,) we find ^ related, that " in India there was a player, who, during forty years, never had a Pawn taken from, him gratis." The Perfian author adds, " We have never beheld fuccefs like this." That ancient Indian Chefs-player mull have pof- fefled the power of attention in a far higher degree than Philidor in 1788.) The Game proceeds— 13. QKtP2, B:Kt; 14. B : B, SSB 2 ;i 5 . <2BSB 5 ,QBK 3; 16. QB : Kt, Q: B; 17. Kt:P > SS (Black's game is defperate ;) 18. Kt KB6f, KB2; 19. SKB3, SQKt 3 ; ao. B:Kt, P:B; 21. Kt K 4 , B pins Kt; 22. KtQ6f, K Ktz; 23. gKB 2 , KR KB ; 24. KR B, QR Q (in hopes, evidently, to get fome chance to take off the Knight, who was fteadily main- taining his pofition;) 25. Q : Q, P : Q ; 26. KKtPi, KRP2 ; 27. KRP2, (a .move by no means unwelcome to Black, inafmuch as it takes from the ftrength of the White Pawns, and gives greater fecurity to the connexion be- tween Black's Bilhop and his Pawns.) QKtP on, (thus getting all his Pawns on white fquares.) 28. K B2, R : Kt. (Walker remarks on this move, which Black had SUPPLEMENT. 143 been for a long time getting ready to make, that " the facrifice was uncalled for." But upon this move hung Black's laft hope of poffibly drawing the game ; becaufe by getting the troublefome Knight out of the way, the Bifhop gains in ftrength. Although Philidor did not fuc- ceed, even by this move, in extricating himfelf entirely from his difficulties, he neverthelefs proved himfelf to have been a far abler judge of the pofition, than the Edi- tor of his games.) 29. P : R, KR Q ; 30. KR K, R : QP ; 3 1 . KR K5, B K3; (becaufe, polled here, the Bifhop clofes up the game, commands the fquares at KB4 and KKt5, and releafes the Rook, which otherwife was threatened with being fhut up by QR Q.) 32. QR K, K B3. Walker remarks that the game was drawn, but that " the remainder was, unfortunately, not taken down." Beaurevoir (he adds) " could only have allowed his ad- verfary to draw the game through fome important mis- calculation," inafmuch as he had " a decided advantage." From thefe words it is clear, that Walker did not en- tirely understand the nature of this end-game. Beaure- voir cannot have played R : Bf, or this very elegant and decifive move (which evidently was not thought of by Walker) would have been noted down and preferved with the reft. White failed of winning the game, I fuf- peft, becaufe he was not fully aware of the Bilhop's ftrength for defence, and therefore did not take him off at all, or took him off in a lefs favourable pofition than the prefent. The confequences of taking him off at this moment would have been as follows : — 1. R : Bf, R: Rj 2. R : Rf, K: R ; 3. KB3, KB^;^. KtPf, P:P-\; S- i 4 4 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. KKti, KK 3 ; 6. K:P, KBi; 7. KBP on, P : Pf ; 8. KB\ and wins, becaufe, while the Black King is taking KRP, the White King will be moving over to the other fide of the board, and the Black King will be too far be- hind him to be able to proteft his Pawns at Q.63 and QKt^. There are other Variations, (as e. g. where the Black King goes over at once to the Queen's fide,) but by all of them Black mull lofe. It would lead me too far, were I to prefent more games accompanied with full notes. Suffice it to repeat, that all of thefe games of Philidor's old age, taken from the Atwood MSS., contain fuch overfights as, under other circumftances, would rarely occur between good players. The games, moreover, taken all together — even when no odds are given (as in many of the blindfold-games) — are played entirely in the fpirit of that Chefs-period — that is to fay, with that want of elegance and brilliancy — nay, with that clumjinefs — in planning the combinations, which then prevailed throughout the North of Europe. During Philidor's laft days, immediately preceding his death, his ftrength in play mull have fallen off confidera- bly, for he gave lighter odds. Atwood had been accuf- tomed to take the Queen's Knight, or the Queen's Rook, for the King's Bifhop's Pawn — on one occafion, for the Queen's Bifhop's Pawn. He appears, however, as the winner, in the majority of thofe games of Walker's Se- leBion, that belong to the fummer of 1795. And the change certainly was not on Atwood's fide. He did not play particularly well — as may be feen by the following opening moves of a game, which bears date the 24th of SUPPLEMENT. 145 June, 1795, precifely two months, therefore, before Phi- lidor's death : — (Philidor gives QR for KBP, and has the move)— 1. KPz, KPl; 2. Q?2, QP2; 3. KP on, QBP2 ; 4. QBPi, P : P ; 5. P : P, KBf ; 6. K Kz, QKt Pi; 7. QQR 4 t,QKtQ2; 8. Q : B, BOR 3 t; 9. K K, B:B; 10. K:B, QR QB ; u. QKt B 3 , 8KR5; &c. The game has become reafonably equal, confidering that the firfl player had given the Rook ; but Philidor loft it, at laft, for no other reafon, than becaufe he failed to feize the initiative in the later combinations. On the 28th and 29th of June, he gave Atwood only the Pawn and Two Moves, in games, which were perhaps the laft he ever played : thefe games he won. In January 1796, Verdoni gave the fame Odds with fuccefs to At- wood, after having failed in the attempt to give him the Knight. It would appear from this, that Verdoni — whom Sarratt, from perfonal acquaintance, defignates, in his Treatife, (1808, p. xxii.,) as " inconteftably a player of the firft order" — may probably have favoured Atwood. If fiich were not the cafe, then we might agree with Walker (1835, p. 74) in his inference, that "while the games of Verdoni evince unqueftionable talents for in- vention, they prove the immeafurable fuperiority of Phi- lidor." Verdoni died at London about the year 1804. As to what his real ftrength was, in comparifon with that of Philidor, we happen to poffefs precife information. We learn, namely, from a letter of Defchapelles to the late celebrated Aftronomer, Schumacher of Altona, (print- ed in the Berliner Schachzeitung for 1848, pp. 274 and 327,) that Philidor did indeed give Verdoni the Pawn, 37 146 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. but that he referved to himfelf the Move. The differ- ence of ftrength thus indicated was fo flight, that in our day no attempt would be made to equalize it by any kind of Odds. But Walker does not flop with inferring the inferiority of Verdoni to Philidor : he croffes the boundary of the eighteenth century, and, by afluming that Sarratt was ex- actly equal to Verdoni, eftablifhes a means of comparifon, between the earlier and the later age, and comes to the conclufion, that Philidor would have proved decidedly fuperior to the Chefs-mailers of the prefent day. But this comparifon refts on too uncertain a foundation. For, in the firfl place, as to the real ftrength of Verdoni, Sar- ratt may have rated it too high ; — fince in his Treatife (1808, p. 6,) he intimates, that his relations to Verdoni were thofe of a mere beginner to an adept.* Under fuch circumftances, the experienced player might well appear to him to be greater than he really was. In the next place, there is abfolutely nothing to go upon to prove that Sarratt flood upon the fame level with Verdoni. I think myfelf authorized to fay, that the aflumption of fuch equality is certainly erroneous. The later genera- tion of Chefs-players has not, indeed, (hewn itfelf parti- cularly grateful for the hafty labours of Sarratt as a Chefs- * From a letter of Mr. Lewis's to me, (as well as from Walker, Sekainu, p. 61, note,) it appears that Sarratt flood to Verdoni in the relation of a Pupil to a Teacher: "Verdoni" (he fays) "was Sarratt's matter, and was fcarcely, if at all, inferior to Philidor, although he learned the game in middle age." — Tr. SUPPLEMENT. 147 author, although he really did good fervice, between the publication of his Treatife in 1808 and his death in 1821, both by his own works and by his abridged tranflations of the old Mailers ; but even lefs juftice appears to have been meted out to him as a Chets-p/ayer. Lewis — who in April 1821 had played with Defchapelles and was ac- quainted' with the other Matters of that day — " afferts, without hesitation," of Sarratt, on the 30th of Novem- ber, 1822, (in the Preface to his tranflation of Carrera,) " that he was the fineft and molt finifhed player he had ever feen, alike excellent in attack and defence."* Ac- cording to this, the efforts of Sarratt in practical fkill could not for a moment be put on the fame level with the moderately well-played games of Verdoni in Walker's Selection. I abide,' therefore, by the opinion, that the players of the fecond half of the laft century were infe- rior to the Chefs-mafters of the more recent period. There can be no doubt, that the modern habit of making Chefs a fubject of theoretical ftudy — whether by private reading, or by playing with fkilful book-players — has contributed not a little to fuch fuperiority of our age over * Mr. Lewis ftill exprefles the fame opinion. I may without im- propriety give his very words ; for although they occur in a private letter, they are but the fpecification of the general ftatement made public in 1822. " If the perfection of Chefs-playing" (he writes) " confifts in making the beft moves with the greateft rapidity, La Bourdonnais approached perfection nearer than any player I have ever known. I mould, however, have backed both Defchapelles and Sar- ratt (both flow players) againft him, thinking them a made better." [Letter to G. A., March 5th, i860.) — Tr. 148 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. the paft. The arduous labours of the Chefs-author — in which I may claim to have had my fhare — find their re- ward in the affurance, that they have been fuccefsful in attaining the objeft they aimed at, — to raife the ftandard and the chara&er of aftual play. Another element, to aflift in determining the ftrength of Philidor, is furniftied by a game, which was publiflied by La Bourdonnais in the firft volume of the Palamede, (1836,) p. 392. It was played by him againftthe "Ama- teurs," Carlier and Bernard. Defchapelles knew them both, and fays, that when playing fingly with Philidor,. they received from him the Pawn and Move ; but that when they played againft him confulting, Philidor either loft, at thefe odds, or fucceeded with difficulty in-draw- ing the game. The following game, which dates from the year 1780, mull be the oldeft recorded fpecimen of a " Confultation-game." Philidor gives KBP, and lofes by his own fault. — 1. (Carlier and Bernard) KP2, (Phi- lidor) KPl ; 2. gPz, QPz ; 3. P : P, P : P ; 4. Q R 5 f, P covers; 5. Q K^f, Q covers; 6. gB KB4, QBPl ; 7. KB K2, KB Kt z ; 8. Q : Qf» Kt : S 5 9- KKt B 3> Caftles ; 10. gBK5, QKtg2; 11. Caftles, QKt:B; 12. Kt : Kt. (" White retakes with the Knight," fays the Palamede, " in order to enable KBP afterwards to fupport the Knight." We mail, however, prefently fee, that both parties, for feveral moves, failed in forming a correft judgment of the pofition, which really gave Black a chance to win back his Pawn. The queftion, whether the Pawn would have been loft juft as well, if White had played 12. P : P, I do not paufe to examine thoroughly : appa- ; SUPPLEMENT. 149 rently, the Pawn might in that cafe have been fafe.) B : Kt ; 1 3. P : B, KR B5. (The Rook goes one fquare too far : it mould have ftopt at .B4. In that cafe, White's pafled Pawn would have been loft. For the game muft then have proceeded thus: 14. KBP2, KKtP on; 15. P: P, R : BP, and KP cannot be faved. This combina- tion was obferved, neither by the parties nor by the Pa- lamede, which afcribes the lofs of the game by Philidor to the faft, that Black, by 1 2. B : Kt, allowed White to get a pafled Pawn.) 14. KBQ3, QBKB4; 15. B:B, Kt : B, (Philidor's moves lead, in the fimpleft poffible way, to his defeat. It is difficult to fee why he did not contrive to adopt another line of play. He flill had it in his power to take off the pafled Pawn : e. g. 15. ... R.B; 16. KBPz, KKtP on ; 1 7. P : P, R .- BP. The game might then have proceeded fomewhat as follows : li.RK.KtKti,; 19. KP on, ££4; 20.KtQ2.QRK, and Black wins the Pawn without danger.) 16. KKtPi, KRK5; 17. KBPz, KRK7; 18. QKtR 3 , KtK6; 19. KRBz,R:R; 20. K : R,Kt KKt5f; 2i.KKtz,QRg; 22. KRPi, Kt KR3 ; 23*. KKtP on, QRPi ; 24. QR Q, KtKBz; 25. KRPon,QBPon; 26. QBPi, QKtPz; 27. KtgB2, QRPl; 28. KtK 3 ,QPon; 29. P:P, P:P; 30. KtQB 2 , QP on; 31. KtK, QP on; 32. KtKB 3 and wins. This game appears to me to be well calcu- lated to confirm the opinion, which I have before ex- prefled, concerning the Chefs-fkill of Philidor and his contemporaries. I clofe this difcuflion, by pafling in review the fuccef- fion of great players, who have figured during the lateft 38 150 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. period of Chefs-hiftory. The lift begins with M. de Kermuy, Sire de Legal. He attained to a very advanced old age — to nearly ninety years. He was the teacher of Philidor; but it was fettled, by the match of 1755, that the matter was decidedly inferior to his pupil. Up to the time of his death, however, Legal maintained his rank as the fecond player of France. Philidor was the firil up to 1795. Of the fame period, and affociated with him, were the Syrian Stamma, the fo-called Ama- teurs, Leger, Carlier, and Bernard, and efpecially Ver- -doni. The contemporary Italians, Rio, Ponziani, and Lolli did not come into contaft with "the Chefs-mafters of Paris and London. We know nothing of any Spanifh players of that period. The annals of Chefs fay as little of any contemporary German celebrities. Count Briihl, to be fure, ( 1 737-1 809,) nephew of the Saxon Minifter, fo celebrated in the time of Frederic the Great, a Ger- man, but refident in England for the greater part of his life, is named among the beft of the Englilh players. Like them, however, he was decidedly inferior to Phili- dor. The tranfition from the laft to the prefent century is formed by Verdoni, Carlier, and Bernard. With thefe players, whofe celebrity dated from the former period, the earlieft. heroes of this century, Sarratt and Defcha- pelles were acquainted. To the fame clafs we lhould, perhaps, refer Hypolite du Bourblanc, who perifhed by ihipwreck in 1813. Sarratt, who had been on terms of " intimate and uninterrupted friendlhip" with him fince 1798, mentions, (1821, vol. i. p. 29,) that his "remark- able genius and brilliancy ot attack" were faid to be re- SUPPLEMENT. 151 produced in the ftyle of " the celebrated Guillaume le Preton" (meaning Defchapelles.) In Germany, Allgaier croffes the boundary-line of the two centuries. Next after him, about the year 1820, comes Mendheim, of Berlin. Neither of thefe eminent players ever meafured their ftrength with each other or with any of the foreign celebrities. Of Sarratt alfo no matches are known ; and, in like manner, the firft of the Ruffian great names, Pe- troff, has never — from the year 1824 to the prefent mo- ment — come into contaft with the Weft. It is only during the very laft years, that America has begun to be heard from in the world of Chefs. ' In France, Le Breton Defchapelles ranked for a long time as the firft player. He diftinguifhed himfelf, in 1 82 1, againft La Bourdonnais and Cochrane. During the fame year, he gave the odds of the Pawn and Move, in three games, to Mr. Lewis, but without fuccefs. Thefe three games were firft mMe public by Greenwood Walker, in 1836, from the original minutes of the Eng- lilh player. Mr. Lewis, however, has informed me, very lately,* that in writing down the games from me- mory, he had, unfortunately, tranfpofed fome of the moves in one of them. It is from this game, that the Pofition is taken, which is difcufled in the Schachzeitung for 1855, (p. 17.) It was expefted, that a fecond match would have been contefted between Lewis and Defcha- pelles, in 1836; but the negotiation was ultimately * A part of the only day (March 8th, 1858) fpent by the author in London, on his way to Rio Janeiro, was devoted to paying a vifit to Mr. Lewis. — Tk. 152 THE LIFE OF PHILIDOR. broken off. Since that time the death of the French player has occurred, and the Englilh mailer has with- drawn entirely from the pra&ice of the game. The two celebrated pupils of thefe great players refpedlively — La Bourdonnais, who was at the height of his fame in 1836, and M'Donnell — were prematurely loft to Chefs, by death, before their matters. We retain at the prefent moment, therefore, only one great living witnefs of the period, that has juft pafled away. The links, ftill untold, in the chain of my enumera- tion, are the players of the two laft decades of years, of whom fome are now dead, fome ftill on the ftage. Their names are too well known to need recital by me. APPENDIX. CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS. P. 4. Note *. See efpecially the article Des Mattrifes in a recent work, La Mujique a I'Eglife par M. J. d'Ortigue. Paris 1861. " Elles [les Maitrifes] les renvoyaient a l'abri du foyer domeftique .... pourvus d'une education le plus fouvent fuperieure a celle des populations au milieu defquelles ils vivaient, et qui leur permettait de trouver de furfiiants moyens d'exiftence dans l'exercice de quelque profeffion honorable." (P. 85.) P. 12. Pbilidor bimfelf -was living abroad at tbe time. So I in- ferred from Twifs's citation from the Encyclopedic ; but he had left out the clofing words of the article, viz., 77 eft maintcnant a Paris, which, however, have the appearance of being added after the body of the article had been written. P. 21. Philidor undoubtedly went with Lanza as a Singer. I find, in the Mercure francais for May 1770, that he fung one of his own Motetts in a Concert Spirituel of that year. P. 29. My friend, Mr. William R. Henry — whofe knowledge of problem-literature is abfolutely exhauftive — has pointed out to me an earlier Spiejfrutbenfpiel, than Don Pietro Petronio's, in Gianutio (1597) f. 48, Ottavo partito futtilijjimo di died tratti. P. 36. Thefe important fadts (unknown even to Twifs) are given by Gerber upon better authority than mere gomp and tradition : he found them in the Almanacbs and other authentic printed documents of the day. This I learn from my friend Mr. Thayer, (now in Vienna,) 39 i 5 4 APPENDIX. who has had occafion to colledt and ufe the fame documents for the Life of Beethoven, to which he has already devoted fo many years of ftudy and preparation. — In eftimating Philidor's pecuniary refources, (p. 89,) I neglected to mention the fafl:, that — befides being a penfioner of Louis XV. — he was alfo Maitrc de Chapelle to the Duke of Deux Ponts, an appointment to which, undoubtedly, fome falary was attached. This fafl: alfo refts upon the fole authority of Gerber; but we have feen that he is careful to "fpeak by the card;" and he is fuftained (to fome extent) by Philidor's dedication of his Tom Jones to S. A. S. Monfeigneur le Due Regnant des Deux Fonts, Prince Paiatin du Rbin, Due de Batiiirc, §c, $c. P. 58. Note. The career of a grandfon of Philidor's — Alphonfe, a violinift and pupil of Baillot — is beautifully traced by M. Scudo, in the fecond volume of his Critique et Litterature Mujicalcs. Pp. 66-8. I have made fad work, in my text, with the relations of Philidor and Gluck, becaufe the authorities, on which I was forced to rely, were all bent on being wrong in fome way : Fetis, in particular, who, in the fubftance of his defence, is certainly right, is inexcufably wrong in fome of the details ; and Sevelinges, who is effentially and wickedly wrong, in the gift and animus of his accufation, is, after all, right where Fetis is wrong. Now that I have the help of the original authority, Favart, I will try to put thefe matters to rights here. — A year before the reprefentation of Philidor's Sorcier — viz., early in 1763 — Gluck's friend, Count Durazzo, fent the fcore of the Orfeo to his correfpondent, Favart, to have it engraved in Paris. Favart applied to Duni to correfl: the proofs. This Duni pofitively refufed to do, on any terms ; becaufe, on examining the " copy," he found it full of errors, which he would not take the refponfibility or the trouble of correcting. At length, on the 19th of April, Favart writes to the Count : — " I have had the fcore mown to Philidor, and he does not prove by any means fo hard to deal with as the reft. He offers to make the preliminary corrections of the fcore gratis, and to fuperintend the engraving in perfon. He afks nothing of your Excellency but a copy of the work. While reading the fcore, at feveral places, he was affefted to tears. He always held the talents of the Chevalier Gluck APPENDIX. 155 in high efteem ; but now that he has come to know the Orfeo, his efteem has rifen to veneration." {Mimoires, t. ii. p. 102.) — Andre Philidor is, therefore, wrong : it was the engraving, and not the repre- fentation, of the Orfeo, (before it became the Orphic,) which his father fuperintended. Sevelinges is wrong (and, judging by the fpirit of his article, calumnioufly wrong) in charging, that Philidor ftole from the Orfeo, note for note, the romance, Objet de mon amour. Feds is right in refuting this charge of plagiarifm by appealing to an infpeftion of the two fcores, and thus demonftrating that the corpus delicli was a nonentity ; but he is wrong, in turn, when he fays, that Philidor could not have known the Orfeo in feafon to commit the theft. He is wrong, moreover, in faying, that Sevelinges charged Philidor with the plagiarifm on the authority of Favart : Sevelinges merely cites Favart to mow, that Philidor had in his hands the fcore of the Orfeo while at work on his own Sorcier* Fetis is alfo wrong, in fo far as he creates the impreflion, that Favart regarded Philidor as a plagiarift : Favart uniformly exprefles himfelf as the friend and admirer of Philidor. And, finally, Fetis is careleffly wrong in faying, (as he does, in his fecond edition,) that it was Duni who fuperintended the engraving of the Orfeo. P. 70. Note. More than this — Mr. Fiflce has fliown [Chefs Monthly for January 1861,) that Count Briihl went to Paris in Sep- tember 1755, (a year after Philidor's return home,) and lived there, as an attache of the Saxon embafly, until March 1759. The "laft vifit" was probably that which he made (according to Mr. Filke) in 1785. P. 74. I have fortunately difinterred, from the Mercure francais for Auguft 1 77 1, the original Profpeftus of Philidor's Second Edition. Confidering the date, it becomes highly probable, that Philidor's trip * Fetis would have done better fervice, if he had driven his ftake through Sevelinges, as a logical felo defe : the fliortfighted advocatus diaboli proves, namely, that Philidor muft certainly have committed the alleged theft, by proving that Philidor had, fix months before, put it in the power of every mufician and mufical critic in Paris to make inftant detection and expofure of the theft. 156 APPENDIX. to England in 1772 was made (under the encouragement of Count Briihl and other friends) for the fpecial purpofe of obtaining fubfcribers to his book, and that a part of the lift was formed before the Chefs-Club was organized, and the final arrangement made for his annual vifit. P. 75. Note "|\ Of courfe, I bafed my argument upon the belief, that " notre milord Goy" was fairly equal to " our Englifh - friend, Goy," who — being, in French parlance, a milord anglais — might be a Peer, and could not be lefs than a gentleman. I knew not whether to be more amazed or amufed, when I Humbled upon the evidence, in Walckenaer's Vie d'Horacc, (t. i. p. 383,) that " mylord Goy" was the fobriquet of a remarkable French farceur — an obligate appendage of the higheft Parifian fociety — of whom Favart (t. ii. p. 239) tells a ftrange anecdote. But fuch men take the beft care of themfelves — when they have money ; and my argument may ftill, perhaps, be as found as ever. rft\ I TB ►'S^ ^Lj rS* V v\ * MM **4 'M '" > R3 wjr' ' @f 4lf Bel a **-v "" ♦Al