It may be that there are other data for determining the relative
superiority of the two Clubs; but we cannot admit the correctness
of any of those mentioned by the _Quarterly_ reviewer or Mr
Staunton. It is true, as these gentlemen say, that the Edinburgh
Club was comparatively inexperienced. It had only been instituted
in 1822, and the match was begun in 1824. It comprehended, almost
exclusively, professional gentlemen actively engaged in business,
who had not, generally speaking, much leisure or opportunity for
seeking antagonists out of their own little circle of chess-players
at home. On the other hand, it cannot be disputed that there is
to be found in the metropolis of England, in greater abundance
than anywhere else, that combination of leisure with intellectual
power, which gives the promise of good chess-playing. But these
circumstances do not lead our minds to the conclusion to which Mr
Staunton and the _Quarterly_ reviewer have come, that the winning of
the match by the Edinburgh Club was an accident. We should rather
be inclined to hold, considering the character of the contest as
explained by us above, that they are a proof of the greater natural
chess-playing capacity of the members of the Club which won the
match under such disadvantages. Again, Mr Staunton asks where are
the previous exploits to which the Edinburgh players could point,
such as those that the members of the London Club had performed? The
answer is, None. They never had, and never sought the opportunity
of performing any great chess exploit, except beating the London
Club. But in so doing they made their own all the previous victories
of the London Club. The event showed that they might, without
presumption, have expressed the sentiment of Prince Henry--
"Percy is but my factor, good, my lord,
To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
And I will call him to so strict account,
That he shall render every glory up.
* * * * *
And all the budding honours on his crest
I'd crop to make a garland for my head."
With which valorous quotation we draw our remarks to a close,
submitting that the members of the Edinburgh Club are bound to
invite us to a special sitting at a board, which shall be garnished
with some other material more soft and digestible than chessmen.
THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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