in this island was to express that dialect of
the French introduced among us by the
Norman Conquest. Afterwards it came to
signify all words composed in that dialect,
and finally became exclusively appropriated
to tales of chivalry. These latter
may, for our purpose, be roughly divided
into two classes, those, namely, of which
the Norman minstrels brought the materials
with them to England (such, for example,
as the Chanson de Roland, sung by Taillefer
at the battle of Hastings), and those for
which they found subjects in the ancient
British chronicles of this island.

As regards the so-called romances of
chivalry, although learned opinions differ
widely as to the remote origin of the legends
on which they are founded, it is sufficient
for our present purpose to state that
many of the best authorities agree in
attributing the introduction into Normandy of
the principal chivalric heroes, Ollivier,
Roland, &c., to the Norsemen. These wild
rovers brought, together with their
barbarous valour, vigorous blood, and
somewhat ungovernable energy, the wild and
often highly-poetic traditions of their
northern Skalds into the land they wedded
themselves to after a wooing rougher than
that of a Roman seizing on his Sabine bride.

The adventures of Charlemagne and his
imaginary peers were translated into
Norman-French from the Latin chronicle of
Turpin during the latter half of the twelfth
century. Many other similar romances* of
that period are still extant. The words, for
example, of Wace, Benoìt de St. More,
Alexandre de Paris, and others, profess to
be chronicles, or true histories, and are
known to be translated or imitated from
the Latin.
* The words " roman," "fabliau," and "lai" are
used indifferently by the old French writers. But I
believe that the word "roman" particularly applies to
such works as were supposed to be strictly historical.
Such are the romances of Arthur, Charlemagne,
Alexander, the Trojan War, &c.—ELLIS'S SPECIMENS.

One curious point to the English reader
about these romances is, that several learned
French writers consider them to have
originated in England at the court of
the Conqueror and his immediate
successors. One good reason for this opinion
(seeing that the same, or nearly the same,
language was at this period spoken at
the courts of London and Paris) is the
fact that in these works everything is
introduced which can contribute to the
glory of the court and throne of England.
The subjects were not such as
were likely to interest the French, whilst
the English princes and knights always
play a brilliant part in the piece. One
writer, M. le Comte de Tressan, bitterly
complains of the injustice done to Charlemagne
in some of these earlier romances,
and declares that "we cannot behold,
without some sentiments of indignation, the
greatest of mankind degraded far below
the rank which he occupies in real history."
In short, it is a case of Perfide Albion,
"always interested," as M. le Comte goes
on to say, "in casting a shade over the
splendour of the French court and monarchy."

But the subject of the present paper is
more especially the legends relative to King
Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table. And these appear to have had a
different origin from the other
Anglo-Norman romances. Arthur indeed was a
British hero, if not, moreover, a Greek,
Asiatic, Aryan hero! For some of his
exploits, as the echoes of them linger in
ancient Bardic mythology, distinctly recal
those of Hercules. But a learned Welshman,
Mr.Owen, has suggested a hypothesis
with respect to Arthur which explains the
contradictions and monstrous absurdities of
his history as commonly received. According
to Mr.Owen there were two Arthurs.
The first was a mythological personage;
the son of Uthyr Pendragon, or "Wonder,
the supreme leader," and Eigyr, "the
creating power." He was the Arcturus,
or great bear, and proprietor of the
constellation Lyra, which the Britons call
"Telyn Arthur," or Arthur's Harp. Many
ancient monuments and British memorial
stones, which in many parts of Britain still
retain his name, are the mystical records of
his attributes. Nor are such monuments
confined to our island. Near Huelgoat, in
Brittany (France), tradition preserves the
fame of the enormous Castle of Arthur.
At least tradition did preserve it as late as
the year 1795, for a Breton antiquarian,
M.le Chevalier de Frémenville, in a work
written at that date on the department of
Finisterre, speaks of "the piled-up granite
rocks near Huelgoat, which give some
notion of its vast walls. Treasures are
said to be buried there, guarded by demons.
These demons often pass through the air
under the guise of lightnings or dancing
marsh-fires, uttering fearful yells, which
are prolonged and repeated in the
surrounding gorges and forests."

As to the mythological Arthur's fame
having already acquired gigantic
proportions in the twelfth century, we have a