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Gaul or Italy, fhe marry'd his nephew Mordred (whom the romance allfo makes his fón†); they haveing been left joint-regents of the kingdom by Arthur; upon whose return fhe fled from York to Chester, where she refolve'd to lead a chaste life, among the nuns, in the church of Julius the martyr, and enter herself one of their order. The romance, however, fuppofeës her to have takeën refuge in the tower of London, which was befiege'd by Mordred; and to have, afterward, become a nun at Ambresbury,* where she dye'd, and whence she was brought, by fir Lancelot, her former paramour, then a priest, and his eight fellows, to Glastonbury, to be there inter'd in one and the fame tomb with the king her husband. It appears from the inscription on the cross mention'd by Girald Barry, as found with her and her husbands remains, to have been Arthurs fecond wife: and the Welsh antiquarys, never deficient in abfurdity, asfert him to have had three wives, all of the name of Guenever.† We know, at the fame time, from better authority, that she was actually violateëd and ravish'd by Melvas, king of Estiva, or Somersetshire, and takeën to Glastonbury, as a place of fecurity, which Arthur besiege'd for a twelvemonth, til, by the mediation of the abbot, and Gildas, furname'd fapiens, the was peaceablely restore'd.

By his fister Margaufe, the wife of king Lot, whom he did not, however, at the time know to be fo. L. du lac, tome 3, fo. 16, b.

*The French romance of Launcelot does not name the nunnery to which the queen retire'd, and onely fays it was near London.

+ See Prifei Historia Britan. defenfio, P. 134, and Lewises History of Britain, P. 185,

See the life of St. Gildas, by Carádoc of Lancarvan (MSS. regia, 13 B VII). He calls her Guennimar. This Melvas, in all likelyhood, is the Meleagant of the old French romance, who achieves the queen in fingle combat with fir Kay, and carrys them both off to his fathers castle. In La mort d'Arthur, where the story is differently relateëd, he is call'd Meliagrance. He was, afterward, flain by fir Lancelot.

V. 55. Sir Dedyne and fir Segramore.]

Sir Dedyne is probablely the fame with Dynadam or Dinadan, furname'd de Eftranger, one of the knights of the round table.

Sagremors le desree, or Segramour le defirous, was allfo a knight of the round table, and is to be met with in Lancelot du lac, Mort d'Arthur, &c.

V. 56. Sir Gawayn and fir Kaye fat thore.]

This fir Kay, the Caius fenefchallus of Geoffrey of Monmouth, or fire Keux le fenefchall of the old French romanceës, was the fon of fir Ector, or Authon, young Arthurs tutor, and was, of course, that kings fosterbrother. He has the fame character in Mort d'Arthur (P. 1, C. 120, &c.) and is elsewhere call'd to his face "the shamefullest knight of his tongue" that was then liveing in the world.

V. 58. And Colgrevance of mekyl mayn.]

So, in Mort d'Arthur, where he is say'd to be a knight of the round table. In the French romance of Lancelot du lac, he is call'd Gallogrenant. In the former book (P. 3, C. 80), he is flain by fir Lionell: the fir Col. grevance of Gore, flain by fir Lancelot, in C. 145, being, apparently, a different perfon.

V. 85. Madame, he faid, by goddes dome.]

Oaths are frequent throughout these poems, and in

3

moft kinds of ancient poetry; being, manifeftly, in common use amongst our ancestours, and even with young ladys, and princefses of the blood-royal; by all of whom, it is prefume'd, they were regarded as perfectly innocent. Our ancient monarchs had their peculiar oaths: William the conquerour usually swore, By the refurrection of god; William the red, By gods face, By the holy face of faint Luke; John, by the feet of the lord; Henry the third, By gods head; Edward the firft, By the blood of god, As the lord liveëth; Edward the third, By gods foul; Edward the fourth, By gods blessed lady; Richard the third, By faint Paul; Henry the eighth was by no means fpareing; and his daughter Elizabeth had By god in her mouth as frequently as a fishwoman. Chaucers fellow-pilgrims have their several oaths, which are accurately enumerateëd by the historian of Engleish poetry: fee volume II, fig. f 3. Oaths and curfeës, in fact, are, at this day, common to most nations in the world, as they were, formerly, to the Greeks and Romans.

V. 368. Itoke the bacyn fone onane.

e.]

This incident is introduce'd into "The noble hystory of kyng Ponthus of Galyce," 1511, 4to. b. 1. (a translation from the French): "The knyght toke a cuppe of golde, and put it in the well, and wette the ftone withall; and the water fprang abrode; and it began to thonder and to hayle, and to be a stronge tempeft; but it dured not long; and moche mervaylled the ftraungers of that well, for alway he fpryncled it tofore that he went to fyghte."

V. 601. Than was he feker for to fe

The wel and the fayre tre

The chapel faw he at the laft
And theder hyed he ful faft.]

The poet, in this place, has either forgot himself, or mistakeën his original. Sir Ywain, according to fir Colgrevanceës relation, as wel as to the ftory, neither could, nor did, fee these wonders til afterward. See V.352. He means to say that fir Ywain came in fight of the palace or castle, where fir Colgrevance had been fo kindly entertain'd, and where he himself finds fo much curtesy and honour. The mistake may be, in part, corrected by reading castel for chapel.

V. 839. Als Lunet thar ftode in the thrang.]

Lynet is the name of the damfel, in Mort d'Arthur, fister of dame Liones, who comes for a champion to the court of king Arthur, where the obtains fir Beaumains, and accompanys him back. See Part 1, - C. 132.

V. 1420. And fo is fir Gawayne the curtayse.]

This line feems alludeëd to by Chaucer, where he speaks of

"Sir Gawain with his olde curtefie." It is, however, his conftant character.

V. 1651. Unto the wod the way he nome.]

A fimilar adventure is relateëd in Mort d'Arthur, from the old French romance of fir Tristram (P. 2, C. 59, &c.); and of fir Lancelot du lake (P. 3, C. 9, &c.) and to one or other of these storys was Ariosto indebted for the idea of Orlandos madness.

V. 1753. Morgan the wife gaf it to me.]

By Morgan the wife fhe probablely means Pelagius, the heretick, abbot of Bangor, and a man of great learning for his age, whose proper name was Morgan (Marigena), which, indeed, is, merely, latinife'd in Pelagius, implying, in the British tongue, one born from,

or upon, the fea, or, perhap, by the fea-fide. He is fay'd to have flourish'd in 418, and, consequently, must have been well ftricken in years when acquainted with this good lady.

V. 2181. For a knyght led oway the quene.]

Queen Guinever, haveing riden a maying, along with certain knights of the round-table, clothe'd all in green, was, after a sharp conflict, takeën prisoner by fir Meliagrance, and led away to his castle. See Mort d'Arthur, Part 3, chap. 129, &c.

V. 2428. Praied ful hertly for the knyght.]

Between this and the next line the MS. reads "Here es the myddes of this boke."

V. 2439. Thai helpid to lace him in his wede.]

This is an ordinary incident in old romanceës; in allufion to which don Quixote was disarm'd by the ladys of the castle. See B. 1, C. 2.

"Nunca fuera caballero

De damas tan bien fervido,
Como fuera don Quixote,
Quando de fu aldea vino
Doncellas curaban del,
Princefas de fu rocino."

Never was there cavalero

So wel ferved by a dame,
As the famous knight, don Quixote,
When he from his village came:
Care of him took damfels dainty,

Princesses of Rozinante.

* From mor, the fea, and gana, Armorican, to beget, procreate or bring forth. Thus Glamorganshire (anciently Morganwg) is fo call'd from its being upon the fea-coaft; and, in Baffe-Bretagne, a mermaid is call'd Mary-Morgan. See Ushers Antiquitates (folio), p. 112.

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