[1] The game of chess is repeatedly noticed in connection with various
historical incidents in the early history of Ireland. Theophilus
O’Flanagan, in a note to his translation of _Deirdri_, an ancient Irish
tale, published in the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Dublin,
speaks of it as “a military game that engages the mental faculties, like
mathematical science.” O’Flaherty’s Ogygia states that Cathir, the 120th
king of Ireland, left among his bequests to Crimthan “two chess-boards
with their chess-men distinguished with their specks and power; on which
account he was constituted master of the games in Leinster.”
In the first book of Homer’s Odyssey the suitors are described as amusing
themselves with the game of chess:--
_With rival art and ardour in their mien,_
_At chess they vie to captivate the queen,_
_Divining of their loves._
In Pope’s translation there is a learned note on the subject, to which
the curious reader is referred; and also to a passage in Vallancey’s
Essay on the Celtic Language.
[2] Literally, _as lime_.
[3] This will remind the reader of a similar question by Venus in the
first Eneid:--
----Heus inquit, juvenes monstrate mearum
Vidistis usquam hic errantem forte sororum
Succinctam pharetra, et maculosæ tegmine lyncis,
Aut spumantis apri cursum clamore prementem?--EN. I. 325.
Ho, strangers! have you lately seen, she said,
One of my sisters, like myself array’d,
Who cross’d the lawn or in the forest stray’d?
A painted quiver at her back she bore;
Varied with spots, a lynx’s hide she wore;
And at full cry pursued the tusky boar.--DRYDEN.
[4] A note in Miss Brooke’s translations informs us that “Finn was
reproached with deriving all his courage from his foreknowledge of
events, and chewing his thumb for prophetic information.”
[5] Quadrangular--the ancient cup of the Irish, called _meadar_.
Specimens of it may be seen in the Antiquarian Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy.
* * * * *
DISCRETION.--This is a nice perception of what is right and proper
under the circumstances in which a person is called to act. It may be
illustrated by the _feelers_ of the cat, which are long hairs placed
upon her nose, with which she readily measures the space between sticks
and stones through which she desires to pass, and thus determines, by a
delicate touch, whether it is sufficiently large to let her go through
without being scratched. Thus discretion appreciates difficulties,
dangers, and obstructions around, and enables a person to decide upon the
proper course of action. “There are many more shining qualities in the
mind of man, but there is none so useful as discretion. It is this which
gives a value to all the rest, which sets them at work, and turns them
to the advantage of the person who is possessed of them. Without it,
learning is pedantry and wit impertinence; nay, virtue itself often looks
like weakness. Discretion not only shows itself in words, but in all the
circumstances of action; and is like an agent of Providence, to guide
and direct us in the ordinary chances of life.” But how shall discretion
be cultivated in children? Chiefly by example. It is a virtue especially
committed to the cultivation of the mother. She may do much to promote
it, by rebuking acts of imprudence, and bestowing due encouragement upon
acts of discretion. Let the mother remember that discretion is important
to men, and see that she cherishes it in her sons; let her remember that
it is essential to women, and make sure of it in her daughters.--_Dr
Channing._