The Exploits and Triumphs, in Europe, of Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion Part 11

What does the American Chess Monthly mean by calling this palpable oversight "an imperfect combination?"

Again we had to wait some time for Mr. Harrwitz. It must not be supposed that this gentleman used his frequent "leaves of absence" for the purpose of recruiting that health which he represented as so bad. No, he came daily to the _Regence_ at the usual hour, and played with anybody, but Morphy, until past midnight. He sat down now, in front of his adversary, for the eighth and last time, apparently in his ordinary health, and fought as tough a battle as any in the contest. The game lasted to the fifty-ninth move, and then Harrwitz resigned.

The score now stood, Morphy 5; Harrwitz 2; drawn 1. Next day Morphy received a verbal message that "Mr. Harrwitz resigns the match, on account of ill health." There was something like a row at the _Cafe de la Regence_ when this was known, for the Prussian amateur had not even deigned to consult his backers, or even to inform them of his intention. Mr.

Lequesne, his stake-holder, was requested by him to hand over the collected amount, two hundred and ninety francs, to our hero, and that gentleman forthwith called on Morphy at his hotel. Of course we got the fullest particulars from Mr. Lequesne. He informed us that Harrwitz's backers were furious, and that they, like himself, were confident that their princ.i.p.al was merely indisposed in the _morale_, not at all physically. Morphy replied that it never was his desire to play for stakes under any circ.u.mstances; and, taking into consideration the peculiar facts of the case, he would certainly decline receiving the money.

Some time afterwards, Mr. Lequesne returned, and stated that not merely were the different subscribers to the stakes desirous that Paul Morphy should receive what had been won by him, but that Mr. Harrwitz would, for the sake of appeasing his backers, play out the remainder of the match.

Morphy immediately returned answer, that "Mr. H. having resigned the contest, there was an end of the matter, but that he (Morphy) was ready to commence a second match immediately." Harrwitz had had enough of beating, and he unhesitatingly declined this proposition.

But a difficulty arose in consequence of Morphy's refusal to receive the stakes. Letters poured in from all quarters, complaining that bets on the result of the contest were influenced by the decision, and Morphy finally took the two hundred and ninety francs from Mr. Lequesne. He then caused it to be announced publicly, that the money was deposited with the proprietor of the _Cafe de la Regence_, that any of the subscribers to the amount were at perfect liberty to withdraw their subscriptions, and that the remainder should go towards defraying Herr Anderssen's expenses to Paris. And so the money was eventually used.

Will any of my readers think it possible that Mr. Harrwitz could, after all this, publish that "he had not lost the match, but that Mr. Morphy had consented to its being annulled?"

CHAPTER XII.

MORPHY IN SOCIETY.

All the Paris newspapers soon took to writing about our hero, from the _Moniteur_ to the _Charivari_. The latter, the oldest and most famous of all comic papers, gave cut after cut and article after article upon him; in fact, Morphy was its standing joke for a long period. One day there was a picture representing "Britannia, astonished at the _checks_ she was receiving in India, requesting the young American to get her out of the difficulty." Another represented an individual who declined entering the _Cafe de la Regence_ in company with his wife, "because there was inside a certain Mr. Morphy who would capture his queen from him." After the blindfold exhibition, the famous Taxile Delord wrote as follows:

"Well, let us have a game of chess. Shall I give you the rook? Sit down here, and I will place myself in this arm-chair."

"Oh, no! Now-a-days, no man who respects himself, thinks of playing with the board in front of him."

Upon this imaginary conversation, Delord lets loose a volley of fun, ending in this manner:

"I can understand _Ecarte_, I can appreciate _Picquet_, I can even rise to the grandeur of _Tric Trac_, but don't talk to me of _Chess_. That game will bring us back to tragedy."

What with the ill.u.s.trated papers giving Morphy's portraits, no two of which were ever alike, and the innumerable articles in the "dailies," he began to be notorious. Saint Amant wrote that he supplied a want which Paris had felt for a long time--the want of a hero. Monsieur Lequesne requested him to sit for his bust, and threw so much labor of love into the work, that he produced a _chef d'oeuvre_ which all Paris went to criticize and to praise. All these various occurrences could not but cause excitement in the _salons_, and invitations began to pour in from the Faubourgs St. Honore and St. Germain. The first came from the d.u.c.h.ess de T----. My readers must forgive me for not mentioning names where a lady is concerned. The d.u.c.h.ess stated that she had played at chess since a child, and that she was desirous of becoming acquainted with a gentleman whom fame heralded as so superior to all amateurs; but that she had no hope of proving an antagonist worthy of him. Well, Morphy waited on his fair challenger, and out of five games each won two, and one was drawn! Then the Princess M---- expressed a desire to play our hero, and other great dames followed; and knowing, as I do, the result, I solemnly declare that, in spite of my confidence in Morphy's powers of combination, I never would bet a cent upon him when his opponent is a lady.

I am not bound to silence when gentlemen are concerned, and I am glad to mention amongst chess amateurs, such names as the Duke of Brunswick and Counts Casabianca, Isouard, and Bastorot. These gentlemen are thorough veterans in the n.o.ble game, and chess works and periodicals are no strangers to their contests. Count Casabianca was "at home" every Friday night, and, whilst some of the company were at whist, ecarte, or other games _de la societe_, he would always be in a corner with the Duke of Brunswick, Count Isouard, Signor Preti, and other chess amateurs. Morphy played against the Duke and the Counts in consultation, and, although he almost invariably won, it was no easy matter.

H. R. H. the Duke of Brunswick is a thorough devotee to Ca.s.sa; we never saw him but he was playing chess with some one or other. We were frequent visitors to his box at the Italian Opera; he had got a chess-board even there, and played throughout the performance. On our first visit "Norma"

was performed. The Duke's box is right on the stage; so close, indeed, that you might kiss the _prima donna_ without any trouble. Morphy sat with his back to the stage, and the Duke and Count Isouard facing him. Now it must not be supposed that he was comfortable. Decidedly otherwise; for I have already stated that he is pa.s.sionately fond of music, and, under the circ.u.mstances, wished chess at Pluto. The game began and went on: his antagonists had heard _Norma_ so often that they could, probably, sing it through without prompting; they did not even listen to most of it, but went on disputing with each other as to their next move. Then Madame Penco, who represented the Druidical priestess, kept looking towards the box, wondering what was the cause of the excitement inside; little dreaming that Ca.s.sa was the only _Casta Diva_ the inmates cared about.

And those tremendous fellows, the "supes," who "did" the Druids, how they marched down the stage, chaunting fire and bloodshed against the Roman host, who, they appeared to think, were inside the Duke's box.

Some of the pleasantest hours pa.s.sed by Paul Morphy in the French capital were spent at the Baronne de L.'s. This lady, who has long ranked as one of the great beauties of Parisian society, is renowned as a patroness of the arts. Her friends.h.i.+p for the lamented Pradier has pa.s.sed into history, and her _salons_ are the weekly resort of the most celebrated sculptors, painters, and authors of France. And no wonder, for the Baronne is gloriously merry and witty, a true child of the sunny South. A Creole, from the French West Indies, she immediately took a liking to Morphy, "Because," said she, "he is another lazy Creole like myself;" and she invited all her acquaintances to come and see him. She would get Morphy opposite her, and St. Amant or Lequesne by her side to stop her when she was about making too serious a mistake, and would play game after game, making us all laugh the whole time with her charming anecdotes and _jeux d'esprit_. How she would amuse us when she declared that parties and late hours were killing her, and that _they did kill her last season_, and yet she was always as fresh as a newly plucked rose. When she found how fond Morphy was of music, the princ.i.p.al singers from the opera would be present. I remember one night she asked that finest of living _baritones_, "the honey-voiced" Graziani, to play our hero at the odds of the Queen.

Signor Graziani had caught the general enthusiasm, and was applying his leisure moments to chess with the energy of a Standigl, and had lately been taking lessons from Preti. He at first objected to play, from modesty, but the Baronne had determined he should, and she told him that, if he would play a game, Morphy would sing a _duo_ with him afterwards.

This was a sparkle of her fun, of course; but Graziani played, not one, but three games, and he then said: "If anybody asks me if I understand chess, I shall say, 'Oh, yes; I play sometimes with Mr. Morphy.'"

The United States minister, the Hon. Mr. Mason, took a warm interest in his young countryman, occasionally sitting at the board when Morphy was at play. The Judge is acquainted with the "Mystery of Chesse," and asked many pointed questions after the conclusion of the game, as to the why and the wherefore of different moves. It were scarcely right for the United States government to appoint a minister to the Court of the Tuileries who is ignorant of chess; it would be an insult to the memory of Franklin.

CHAPTER XIII.

MORPHY AND THE FRENCH AMATEURS.

Morphy's arrival in Paris, and his doings at the Cafe de la Regence, soon began to make him much sought after. The way in which some folks get lionized in the French capital is remarkable, and Morphy had to submit to it, not merely at the cafe, but even in his hotel. We soon found that continued residence at the _Hotel Meurice_ would be inconvenient, for many reasons; and within a day or two of our arrival, had located ourselves in the _Hotel Breteuil_, at the corner of the _Rues de Rivoli_ and _du Dauphine_, where we had a magnificent view of the palace and gardens of the Tuileries, and were within a stone's throw of the best quarters of Paris and the _Regence_. What was our surprise to learn, subsequently, that Harrwitz was residing next door to us; and that Saint Amant had, formerly, occupied the very apartments in which we had installed ourselves. We had not been long in our new abode before Morphy received a visit from the grandson of Philidor. They had a lengthy colloquy together, and of course Morphy asked his visitor if he played at chess. He replied, that he once gave some attention to the game, but found that he possessed little apt.i.tude for it, and therefore relinquished all further study; not thinking it right that any one bearing the name of Philidor should be looked upon as a _mazette_.

Our hero's installation at the Cafe de la Regence waked up all the slumbering embers of French chess, and men who had not been seen for years past came back to their early love. The well-known Polish amateur, Budzinsky, was amongst these, and Laroche, contemporary of Labourdonnais and Deschappelles. Then we found there such players as Mr. Eugene Rousseau, of New Orleans, on a visit to his family in Paris, and who had been so much "at home" in the cafe in other years. How proud he was of the fame and feats of his young fellow-townsman amidst the Gallic paladins!

and how desirous he was that Morphy should encounter Monsieur Laroche, whose game he characterized as sound to a terrible extent, characterizing that gentleman as "_un rude gaillard_." It was only after Mr. Rousseau's departure that Laroche and Morphy met, when we found that the former was "sound," but the latter "sounder." Mr. L. had not been seen at the Regence for a long period; some told us that he was settled in Bayonne, others that he had given up chess altogether: but the appearance in the chess heavens of this Star of the West, brought him back to the old battle-field, and no one could make even games with him but De Riviere and Harrwitz, the Prussian amateur merely winning a small majority.

Monsieur Journoud, one of the best known and strongest of French players, and a member of the Paris Committee of Co-operation on the International Tournament of 1851, played upwards of a dozen games at different times with Morphy; but though he came very near winning on one or two occasions, our hero always wriggled out at last at the right end of the horn.

Journoud once described his opponent's game as "disgustingly correct;"

Boden speaks of Morphy's "diabolical steadiness," which means pretty near the same thing.

De Riviere certainly made the best show against Morphy of all the players in Paris, having scored one game in good style, and having lost at least one which he ought to have gained. He had got his opponent into a position which might be termed "putting it to him," and Morphy, like the wolf, was--

"Dying in silence, biting hard,"

when he made a move "to please the gallery." Now Morphy never allows liberties to be taken with so serious a matter as check mate; he goes straight to the finish himself without fuss or nonsense, and expects others to do the same; he, therefore, worked clear out of his difficulties and forced his opponent ultimately to resign. De Riviere was mortified at the result, and states that he went home very angry with himself in consequence.

This gentleman is incontestably the most rising of the French players, and will make some amateurs tremble for their chess reputation ere long. In 1851, he did not know a move in the game, so that his progress has been rapid; and as he has not yet reached his thirtieth year, it is only probable that he will become much stronger; that is, if he will keep up his practice, which is not certain, inasmuch as he has lately become "mated" in a manner most agreeable to his feelings, and we have heard of ladies who object to their lords and masters making love to other nymphs--even though that nymph be Ca.s.sa. Let us hope that, in this instance, pater familias, whose "intentions are strictly honorable," may be allowed an occasional respite from the cradle and perambulator, and that "curtain lectures" will not deter him from hot pursuit after other men's queens.

It was soon found useless for any one to play Morphy even, as he scored almost every game. Meeting Monsieur Laroche at the cafe one morning, that gentleman asked me why our hero did not offer odds to everybody. I replied that no doubt many gentlemen would feel hurt at such a proposition being made to them, and I asked him--"Would you play Morphy at p.a.w.n and move?"

to which he unhesitatingly replied "Yes." M. Journoud was sitting beside him, and he expressed himself in like manner. On informing Paul Morphy of this conversation, he requested me to inform the proprietor of the cafe that, in future, he should play no one without giving odds; excepting, however, Herr Harrwitz. He was most desirous of again meeting the Prussian amateur, the latter having made some rather peculiar observations with regard to their match; as, for instance, that he had not lost the affair, Morphy having consented to annul it: that he was not a match player, and played much stronger off-hand: that Morphy did not beat him by combination, _but by sitting him out_, and so forth. But Harrwitz always took care to keep out of harm's way, and although Morphy came day after day to the cafe, with the avowed intention of meeting him, Herr H. had always got one or the other reason for not playing.

Laroche, Budzinsky, Devinck, and other leading amateurs tried their luck at p.a.w.n and move, with no better result than contending even. Others tried at p.a.w.n and two, as, for instance, Lequesne, Guibert, Lecrivain, and Delaunay. Who of my chess readers does not know this brilliant writer in the Palamede, who has kept everybody on the broad grin throughout his numerous articles? He is always full of fun and sparkling wit, and merrily did he display it with Morphy. The first time they played, Delaunay sacrificed piece after piece, in a way to terrify anybody but his young antagonist, and certainly seemed to occupy a position dangerous to Morphy's peace of mind. The latter made one of his peculiar moves, when Delaunay observed, eyeing the board with one eye, and the spectators with the other--"_Voila un coup du bon Dieu_," and then making his reply, which set our hero reflecting, he added--"_Et, en voila un du diable._" But it was all of no use, and Morphy soon turned the tables upon him. M. Delaunay styles himself "_un ca.s.se echiquier_," for he plays as though driving spike nails. At the London Divan some months since he astonished the spectators by breaking one of the p.a.w.ns, when he immediately cried out--"Oh, that's nothing; I break the rooks in Paris."

Morphy was easily approached by anybody, no matter what their strength, and I doubt much whether there is any frequenter of the Regence who did not play one or more games with him. As he invariably refused to play for any stake, this pleased them the more, and set them making comparisons between him and certain others, not at all complimentary to the latter.

But what pleased them most of all was the quiet un.o.btrusiveness of his behavior, and the courtesy with which he treated everybody. Where his skill gained one admirer, his manner made ten warm friends.

Some of my readers may complain that I am "laying it on rather thick," and ask "Why shouldn't he be quiet and un.o.btrusive?" I reply that I am not to be deterred from writing what I know to be the fact (having been a witness thereof for several months) by any accusation of toadyism. I write what George Walker, Saint Amant, Lowenthal, and all the chess editors Morphy has met, have written before me; and they wrote as I now write, because the circ.u.mstance is rather extraordinary. Chess players, generally, are a cla.s.s vain and imperious; and young players, like the young of all cla.s.ses, are apt to be carried away by success. How few eminent amateurs are there who do not give themselves certain airs when winning--aye, and losing too--lolling back in their seats, sticking their thumbs in their arm-holes, and regarding the spectators with a self-satisfied air, as much as to say--"There, my boys, what d'ye think of that?" One gentleman at the Regence had long bullied the gallery and his antagonists in this manner; no wonder, therefore, that Morphy made warm friends of those who were that man's enemies.

CHAPTER XIV.

MORPHY GETS BEATEN.

A few weeks after the resignation of the match by Herr Harrwitz, the amateurs of the Regence invited Herr Anderssen to visit Paris for the purpose of playing a match with Paul Morphy. Our hero originally intended making a visit to the princ.i.p.al chess clubs of Germany, and especially to Berlin, but having been an invalid since his arrival in the French capital, he feared to undertake the long journey by rail, and it was in consequence of this that the aforesaid invitation was sent. Herr Anderssen immediately replied, that his duties as mathematical professor at Breslau presented an insurmountable objection to his leaving, but that the Christmas vacation would enable him to meet the American player in Paris.

Morphy said, thereupon, that he should be deprived of the pleasure of crossing swords with the victor in the International Tournament, inasmuch as he must be at home before Christmas. On hearing this, I began to talk the matter over quietly with him, a.s.serting that his voyage to Europe was useless, if he did not play Anderssen. All was of no effect. Morphy did not appear to have the slightest ambition, say what I would to him. He must be at home in December; he had promised to be there, and home he would go. Very well; Morphy and I were at daggers drawn and we began our fight. He said he would go, and I said he shouldn't. He wanted to know how I could prevent him; I told him that all the clubs in Europe would stop him. "Very well," answered he, "I'll be stronger than all Europe."

"Bravo," says I, "that's spirited, at all events." Says he--says I--says I--says he--and Morphy went to sleep and I to work.

Without saying a word to anybody, I set to writing letters to all the leading Chess Clubs on the Continent and in England, informing them of the bad move Morphy was about to make, and requesting those in the interests of chess to induce him to remain, until at all events he had met Herr Anderssen. Now, the mere fact of Morphy staying, as the simple individual, was nothing; but it was something to make sure beyond all dispute that he was infallibly the best living player; and, in addition, to add many games to the finest pages of chess literature. I am happy to state that the different clubs thought as I did; so the result will prove.

After a week or two, Morphy began receiving letters from Amsterdam, Leipsic, Brussels, Berlin, Breslau, etc.; from the London and St. George's Chess Clubs; requisitions signed by the amateurs of the Cafe and Cercle de la Regence, expressing the earnest wish of all that he would remain throughout the winter. Herr Anderssen wrote him a lengthy epistle, in which he a.s.sured him he did not think it possible he could leave Europe without playing him, and adding his voice to the general cry.

Morphy thought he must go. Then the society in which our hero was so frequent a visitor began to declare that he really must remain, and it is hard work for any man to refuse when a request is backed by such sweet glances as make requests almost commands.