Glocester was educated. Provincial barbarisms are naturally the growth of extreme counties, and of such as are situated at a distance from the metropolis; and it is probable that the Saxon heptarchy, which consisted of a cluster of seven independent states, contributed to produce as many different provincial dialects. Ir. the mean time it is to be considered, that writers of all ages and languages have their affectations and singularities, which occasion in each a peculiar phraseology.

Robert of Gloucester thus describes the sports and solemnities which followed king Arthur's coronation.

The kyng was to ys paleys, tho the servyse was y do3,
Ylad wyth his menye, and the quene to hire also.
Vor hii hulde the olde usages, that men wyth men were
By them sulve, and wymmen by hem sulve also there".
Tho hii were echone ysett, as yt to her stat bycom,
Kay, king of Aungeo, a thousand knytes nome

Of noble men, yclothed in ermyne echone

Of on sywete, and servede at thys noble fest anon.
Bedwer the botyler, kyng of Normandye,

Nom also in ys half a vayr companye

Of one sywyte' worto servy of the botelerye.
Byvore the quene yt was also of al suche cortesye,
Vorto telle al the noblye thet ther was ydo,

They my tonge were of stel, me ssolde noght dure therto.
Wymmen ne kepte of no kyngt as in druery *,

Bote he were in armys wel yproved, and atte leste thrye'.
That made, lo, the wymmen the chastore lyf lede,

And the kyngtes the stalwordorę", and the betere in her dede.
Sone after thys noble mete", as ryght was of such tyde,
The kynghts atyled hem aboute in eche syde,

"when the service in the church was finished."

1 66 They kept the antient custom at festivals, of placing the men and women separate. Kay, king of Anjou, brought a thousand noble knights cloathed in ermine of one suit, or secta."

1 thrice.

"brought also, on his part, a fair company cloathed uniformly." *modesty, decorum [gallantry]. more brave. "Soon after this noble feast, which was proper at such an occasion, the knights accoutred themselves."

In feldys and in medys to prove her bachelerye°.

Somme wyth lance, some wyth suerd, wythoute vylenye,
Wyth pleyinge at tables, other atte chekere",

Wyth castynge, other wyth ssettinge, other in some ogyrt

manere.

And wuch so of eny game adde the maystrye,

The kyng hem of ys gyfteth dyde large cortysye.

Upe the alurs of the castles the laydes thanne stode,
And byhulde thys noble game, and wyche kyngts were god.
All the thre hexte dawes' ylaste thys nobleye

In halles and in veldes, of mete and eke of pleye.

Thys men com the verthes day byvore the kynge there,
And he gef hem large gyftys, evere as hii werthe were.
Bisshopryches and cherches clerkes he gef somme,
And castles and townes kyngtes that were ycome."

Many of these lines are literally translated from Geoffry of Monmouth. In king Arthur's battle with the giant at Barbesfleet, there are no marks of Gothic painting. But there is an effort at poetry in the description of the giant's fall.

Tho grislych yal the ssrewe tho, that grislych was his bere,
He vel doung as a gret ok, that bynethe ycorve were,
That it thogte that al hul myd the vallynge ssok."

That is, "This cruel giant yelled so horribly, and so vehement was his fall, that he fell down like an oak cut through at the

chivalry, courage, or youth.

P chess. It is remarkable, that among the nine exercises, or accomplishments, mentioned by Kolson, an ancient northern chief, one is playing at chess. Bartholin. ii. c. 8. p. 420. This game was familiarised to the Europeans after the Crusades. The romances which followed those expeditions are full of it. Kolson, above mentioned, had made a pilgrimage into the Holy Land. But from the principles advanced in the first INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION, this game might have been known in the North before,

bottom, and all the hill shook while he fell." But this stroke is copied from Geoffry of Monmouth; who tells the same miraculous story, and in all the pomp with which it was perhaps dressed up by his favourite fablers. "Exclamavit vero invisus ille; et velut quercus ventorum viribus eradicata, cum maximo sonitu corruit." It is difficult to determine which is most blameable, the poetical historian, or the prosaic poet.

It was a tradition invented by the old fablers, that giants brought the stones of Stonehenge from the most sequestered deserts of Africa, and placed them in Ireland; that every stone was washed with juices of herbs, and contained a medical power; and that Merlin the magician, at the request of king Arthur, transported them from Ireland, and erected them in circles on the plain of Amesbury, as a sepulchral monument for the Britons treacherously slain by Hengist. This fable is thus delivered, without decoration, by Robert of Glocester.

"Sire kyng," quoth Merlin tho, "suche thynges y wis
Ne bethe for to schewe nogt, but wen gret nede ys,
For gef iche seid in bismare, other bute it ned were,
Sone from me he wold wende the gost, that doth me lere":"
The kyng, tho non other nas, bod hym som quoyntise
Bithinke about thilk cors that so noble were and wysex.
"Sire kyng," quoth Merlin tho, "gef thou wolt here caste
In the honour of men, a worke that ever schal ylaste,
To the hul of Kylar send in to Yrlond,

Aftur the noble stones that ther habbet lenge ystonde;
That was the treche of giandes", for a quoynte work ther ys
Of stones al wyth art ymad, in the world such non ys,

If I should say any thing out of wantonness or vanity, the spirit, or demon, which teaches me, would immiediately leave me. "Nain si ea in derisionem, sive vanitatem, proferrem, taceret Spiritus qui me docet, et, cum opus superveniret, recederet." Galfrid. Mon. viii. 10.

"bade him use his cunning, for the

sake of the bodies of those noble and wise Britons."

"if you would build, to their honour, a lasting monument.'

"To the hill of Kildare."

a have.

b"the dance of giants." The name of this wonderful assembly of immense

stones.

Ne ther nys nothing that me scholde myd strengthe adoune cast. Stode heo here, as heo doth there ever a wolde last."

The kyng somdele to lyghed, tho he herde this tale, "How mygte," he seyde, "suche stones so grete and so fale*, Be ybrogt of so fer lond? And get mist of were,

Me wolde wene, that in this londe no ston to wonke nere."

Syre kyng," quoth Merlyn, "ne make noght an ydel such lyghyng.

For yt nys an ydel noght that ich tell this tythyng'.
For in the farreste stude of Affric giands while fette

Thike stones for medycyne and in Yrlond hem sette,
While heo wonenden in Yrlond to make here bathes there,
Ther undir forto bathi wen thei syk were.

For heo wuld the stones wasch and ther enne bathe ywis.
For
ys no ston ther among that of gret vertu nysh."
The kyng and ys conseil radde the stones forto fette,
And with gret power of batail gef any more hem lette
Uter the kynges brother, that Ambrose hett also,
In another name ychose was therto,

And fifteene thousant men this dede for to do
And Merlyn for his quointise thider went also*.

* "Grandes sunt lapides, nec est aliquis cujus virtuti cedant. Quod si co modo, quo ibi positi sunt, circa plateam locabuntur, stabunt in æternum. Galfrid. Mon. viii. x. 11. d somewhat laughed. so great and so many. f tyding.

"Giants once brought them from the farthest part of Africa, &c."

"Lavabant namque lapides et infra balnea diffundebant, unde ægroti curabantur. Miscebant etiam cum herbarum confectionibus, unde vulnerati sanabantur. Non est ibi lapis qui medicamento careat." Galfrid. Mon. ibid.

rode [advised or counselled].

Pag. 145. 146. 147. That Stonehenge is a British monument, erected in memory of Hengist's massacre, rests, I believe, on the sole evidence of Geoffry of Monmouth, who had it from the British bards. But why should not the

testimony of the British bards be allowed on this occasion? For they did not invent facts, so much as fables. In the present case, Hengist's massacre is an allowed event. Remove all the apparent fiction, and the bards only say, that an immense pile of stones was raised on the plain of Ambresbury in memory of that event. They lived too near the time to forge this origin of Stonehenge. The whole story was recent, and, from the immensity of the work itself, must have been still more notorious. Therefore their forgery would have been too glaring. It may be objected, that they were fond of referring every thing stupendous to their favourite hero Arthur. This I grant: but not when known authenticated facts stood in their way, and while the real cause was remembered. Even to this day, the massacre of Hengist, as I have partly hinted, is an undisputed piece of history.

If any thing engages our attention in this passage, it is the wildness of the fiction; in which however the poet had no share.

I will here add Uther's intrigue with Ygerne.

At the fest of Estre tho kyng sende ys sonde,

That heo comen alle to London the hey men of this londe,

And the levedys al so god, to ys noble fest wyde,

For he schulde crowne here, for the hye tyde.

Alle the noble men of this lond to the noble fest come,
And heore wyves and heore dogtren with hem mony nome,
This fest was noble ynow, and nobliche y do;

For mony was the faire ledy, that y come was therto.
Ygerne, Gorloys wyf, was fairest of echon,

That was contasse of Cornewail, for so fair nas ther non.
The kyng by huld hire faste y now, and ys herte on hire caste,
And thogte, thay heo were wyf, to do folye atte last.
He made hire semblant fair y now, to non other so gret.
The erl nas not ther with y payed, tho he yt under get.
Aftur mete he nom ys wyfe myd stordy med y now,
And, with oute leve of the kyng, to ys contrei drow.
The kyng sende to hym tho, to by leve al nygt,
For he moste of gret consel habbe som insygt.
That was for nogt.

sonde.

Wolde he nogt the kyng sende get ys

That he by levede at ys parlemente, for nede of the londe.
The kyng was, tho he nolde nogt, anguyssous and wroth.
For despyte he wolde a wreke be he swor ys oth,

Why should not the other part of the
story be equally true? Besides the si-
lence of Nennius, I am aware that this
hypothesis is still attended with many
difficulties and improbabilities. And so
are all the systems and conjectures ever
yet framed about this amazing monu-
ment. It appears to me to be the work
of a rude people who had some ideas of
art: such as we may suppose the Ro-
mans left behind them among the Bri-
tons. In the mean time I do not re-
member, that in the very controverted

etymology of the word Stonehenge the name of HENGIST has been properly or sufficiently considered.

[The etymology referred to by Mr. Ritson is evidently the most plausible that has been suggested: S: an-hengehanging stone: Observations, &c. In addition to this it is supported by an authority of high antiquity:

Stanheng ont non en Anglois,
Pierres pendues en François.
Wace's Brut.-EDIT.]