contemporary authority. Alanus de Insulis
was born in 1109; and he informs us that
if any was heard in Bretagne to deny that
Arthur was then alive, he would be stoned;
and goes on to say that he is even more
known in Asia than in Britain, "as our
pilgrims returning from the East assure us.
But East and West talk of him. Egypt
and the Bosphorus are not silent; Rome,
the mistress of cities, sings his actions;
Antioch, Armenia, and Palestine celebrate
his deeds."

The history of this allegorical personage
is obscurely figured in the Mabinogion (a
sort of collection of nursery tales containing
many curious particulars respecting
the Welsh mythology), in some of which,
and particularly (says Mr.Owen) in that
of Culhwch and Olwen, we recognise
adventures which must have had a common
origin with those of Hercules and the
Argonautic voyage.

The other Arthur is well known to
Welsh history, being celebrated by several
poets, and recorded in the Triads as a
brave warrior, but without any exaggerated
praises. He was the son of Meirig ap
Tewdrig; appears to have succeeded, about
the year 510, to the throne of the Silures;
and having distinguished himself by a
number of actions against the Saxons at
the head of his own subjects, was elected
by the allied princes of Britain as leader
of the confederacy. In this position he
distinguished himself so much as to give,
by his military leadership, a temporary
preponderance to the British arms. But
in the year 540 his nephew, Modred, took
part against him; entered into a league
with the Saxons; and after two years of
contest with his uncle, risked his whole
forces in the battle of Camblan, which
proved fatal to the leaders of both armies,
but decided for ever the superiority of the
Saxons.

Whether we are to suppose that Arthur
was the real name of this warrior, or an
appellation conferred by British historians
and poets on the hero who for a time was
able to defend his country, and to shine
like the godlike owner of "Telyn Arthur,"
it may easily be believed that the identity
of name might tend to confuse the two
personages one with the other, and thus
introduce into history all the mythologic
extravagances of the Mabinogion.
Mr.Owen's explanation, therefore, may at least
be received for the present as an ingenious
and probable conjecture.

The learned Normans began, about the
reign of Stephen, to feel interested in the
history and antiquities of a country which,
they had learned to consider as their own.
There existed materials for the study of
these in the accounts of the Saxon
conquest of Britain written by the Saxons
themselves, and in the British chronicles
compiled by Gildas and Nennius; not to
mention a mass of Welsh traditions which
seem to have been offered in great
abundance to the Norman antiquaries.

Gildas died at an advanced age in the
year 570; so that his birth must be placed
quite at the beginning of the sixth century.
We need not concern ourselves much with
this gentleman, whose opportunities were
wasted; since, instead of describing for
the benefit of posterity those interesting
scenes and incidents of which he was an
eye-witness, he merely indulges in his book
of Lamentations over the Destruction of
Britain, in whining complaints, or frantic
satire on the miseries and vices of his
countrymen.

Nennius appears to have written about
the middle of the ninth century. He was
merely a compiler, and was credulously
willing to adopt every British tradition.
His accounts of Brut, or Brutus, and of
Merlin, are similar to those of Geoffrey of
Monmouth; and the details he gives of
Merlin's adventures have been amalgamated
by the romance writers with those given
by Geoffrey.

The British Chronicle, by Geoffrey of
Monmouth, was written in Latin in the
twelfth century. The history of its origin,
as given by the writer himself, is as
follows: Walter Calenius, Archdeacon of
Oxford, travelled in Armorica (the Modern
Brittany). While there he assiduously
collected a great mass of British materials,
which, on his return to England, he put
into the hands of Geoffrey of Monmouth,
with a request that he would translate and
publish them. This task he accomplished
by compiling a chronicle in Latin prose, as
has been stated, and a Life of Merlin in
Latin hexameters.

The fact of there being abundant
materials for Welsh (that is, British) history in
Armorica, is accounted for by many
circumstances; one of them being the
migration of the British clergy to Armorica.
Besides, the two people owned a common
stock of mythological traditions, languages
nearly related, and names that were almost
identical.

Geoffrey was a learned man for his day.
He is proved to have been familiar with