Belfast Northern Whig

I came across the following article in the Chess Player's Chronicle of 1861. I thought it might raise a smile.

MARRIAGE VERSUS CHESS

Let it be understood that I call marriage an evil only as regards Chess; for your new-made wife is a sad drag on your ardent chess-player, and we have even known ladies, married for years, who still cry out loudly, as their lord's weekly Club-night comes round; for that night they make every possible kind of engagement - that night is the only one of the week on which they can entertain their friends, and for that night, of all others, they most gladly accept an invitation.

Then the great female failing is antagonistic to the silent game, and players are obliged to dispense with ladies' society at their meetings. This leads to bachelor parties, another great cause of conjugal offence. I entertain all possible love and reverence for the sex; but still, with this my experience, I cannot refrain from advising the bachelor chessplayer, contemplating matrimony, to pause before he take the fatal leap. He must choose for himself; but let him do it deliberately between his board and his wife - between his chess-box and her band-box. Except through many a matrimonial row, there is no middle way.

- Belfast Northern Whig.

"The Chess Player's Chronicle" lifted the piece from the "Belfast Northern Whig". This is but one of many pieces from this paper mentioned - so the chess scene in Belfast must have been extensive during this period.