"The King himself is haughty care, Which overlooketh all his men, And when he seeth how they fare, He steps among them now and then; Whom, when his foe presumes to check, His servants stand to give the neck."

"The Queen is quaint and quick conceit, Which makes her walk which way she list, And roots them up that lie in wait To work her treason, ere she wist; Her force is such against her foes That whom she meets she overthrows."

"She sits at the top of the high places above the city. She is restless and determined. She girds her loins with strength. Her feet stay not in her house. She moves in every direction and into every corner. Her evolutions are wonderful, her spirit untiring. How comely are her footsteps as she moves diagonally, one step after another, from square to square!"

"The Knight is knowledge how to fight Against his Prince’s enemies. He never makes his walk outright, But leaps and skips, in wily wise, To take by sleight a trait’rous foe Might slily seek their overthrow."

"The Bishop he is witty brain That chooseth Crossest paths to pace, And evermore he pries with pain To see who seeks him most disgrace. Such stragglers when he finds astray, He takes them up, and throws away."

"The Rooks are reason on both sides, Which keep the corner-houses still, And warily stand to watch their tides, By secret art to work their will, To take sometime a thief unseen Might mischief mean to King or Queen."

"The Pawn before the King is peace, Which he desires to keep at home; Practice, the Queen’s, which doth not cease Amid the world abroad to roam, To find and fall upon each foe Whereas his mistress means to go.Before the Knight is peril placed, Which he, by skipping, overgoes, And yet that Pawn can work a cast To overthrow his greatest foes; The Bishop’s, prudence, prying still Which way to work his master’s will.The Rooks’ poor Pawns are silly swains, Which seldom serve, except by hap, And yet those Pawns can lay their trains To catch a great man in a trap: So that I see sometime a groom May not be spared from his room."

"The Pawns are the soul of Chess; upon their good or bad arrangement depends the gain or loss of the game."