CHAP. I.
Of the Antiquities and Inventors of this Game.
DIverse are the opinions of the antiquity of this game of Chess. Some thinke that it was inven∣ted by Palamedes one of the chief Commanders of the Grae∣cian forces at the siege of Troy. Others that Xerxes the great King of Persia devised it: but the most received opinion is, that at that siege or some other place blocked up by their adversaries, by some of the most learned and experienced besiegers, meeting and clubbing their inventions together, this in∣imitable game was found out: and the rather, because who ever playes at it shall not be able to carry on any designe with any successe, or understand the plots of his adversary without his whole intention is fixed upon it, and he be ab∣stracted from all other contemplation.