Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/188

178 an action: for it is continually occurring to the player, "If I move this piece, what will be the advantage of my new ſituation? what uſe can my adverſary make of it to annoy me? What other moves can I make to ſupport it, and defend myſelf from his attacks?"

II. Circumſpection, which ſurveys the whole cheſs-board, or ſcene of action, the relations of the ſeveral pieces and ſituations, the dangers they are reſpectively expoſed to, the ſeveral poſſibilities of their aiding each other, the probabilities that the adverſary may take this or that move, and attack this or the other piece, and what different means can be uſed to avoid his ſtroke, or turn its conſequences again it him.

III. Caution, not to make our moves too haſtily. This habit is beſt acquired by obſerving ſtrictly the laws of the game, ſuch as, "If you touch a piece, you muſt move it ſomewhere, if you ſet it down, you muſt let it ſtand:" and it is therefore beſt that theſe rules ſhould be obſerved, as the game thereby becomes more the image of human life, and particularly of war; in which, if you have incautiouſly put yourſelf into a bad and dangerous poſition, you cannot obtain your enemy's leave to withdraw your troops, and place them more ſecurely, but you muſt abide all the conſequences of your raſhneſs.

And, laſtly, we learn by cheſs the habit of not being diſcouraged by preſent bad appearances in the ſtate of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favourable change and that of perſevering in the ſearch of reſources. The game is ſo full of events there is ſuch a variety of turns in it, the fortune of it is ſo ſubject to ſudden viciſſitudes, and one ſo frequently, after long contemplation, diſcovers the means of extricating oneſelf from a ſuppoſed inſurmountable difficulty, that one is encouraged