Some writers fay, that king Arthur firft inftituted the Round Table, at Cairleon, in Monmouthshire others, at Camelot, in Somersetshire. Both thefe are mentioned in La Morte d'Arthur, as places where Arthur kept his court, with his knights. In the Parish of Lanfannan, in Denbighshire, on the fide of a ftony rock is a circular area, cut out of the rock, having twenty-four feats, which they call Arthur's Round Table. However, its firft and original establishment is generally supposed to have been at Winchefter, Harding, in his Chronicle of English Kings from Brutus to Edward IV. in whofe reign he wrote, tells us, that Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, founded the Round Table at Winchefter, chiefly for the recovery of Sangreal, but in commemoration of his marriage with Igerne. Lond. 1543. edit. Grafton. fol. 61. Jofeph of Arimathea is likewife introduced on this occafion.

"And at the day he weddid her and cround,
"And fhe far forth with child was then begonne,
"To comfort her he fet the ROUND TABLE
"At Winchester, of worthieft knights alone,

Approved beft in knighthood of their fone,
"Which TABLE ROUND, Jofeph of Arimathie,
"For brother made of the Saint Gral only.
"In which he made the fige perilous,
"Where none should fit, without grete mischief,
"But ONE that fhould be most religious

"Of knights all, and of the round table CHIEF,
"The Saint Gral that fhould recover and acheve.

The ONE most religious, who alone was qualified to fit in the fige perilous, and who achieved and won the fangreal, is Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot's fon.

In Caxton's romance, king Arthur's dowry with queen Guenever, is faid to be the Round Table,

f 4

made by her father Uther. Her father, king Leodegrance, fays, "I fhall fend him a gift that fhall please him more, [than lands] for I fhall give him the Table Round, the which Uther Pendragon gave med",

There is another ancient romance, for fo it may be called, though written in verfe, which Spenfer apparently copies, in prince Arthur's combat with the dragon, F. Q. i. xi. 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. The miraculous manner in which the knight is healed, our author drew from this old poem, entitled, Sir Bevis of Southampton.

"What for weary, and what for faint,
"Sir Bevis was neere attaint:

"The dragon followed on Bevis fo hard,
"That as he would have fled backward,
“There was a well as I weene,
"And he ftumbled right therein.
"Then was Sir Bevis afraid and woe,
"Left the dragon fhould him floe:
"Or that he might away paffe,
"When that he in the well was.
"Then was the well of such vertu
"Through the might of Chrift Jefu,.
"For fometime dwelled in that land
"A virgin full of Chriftes fand,
"That had been bathed in that well,
"That ever after, as men can tell,

"Might no venomous worme come therein,

La Morte d'Arthur, i. 45. T. WARTON.

"And with Morglay, his brand
"Affailed the Dragon, I understand:

"On the Dragon he ftrucke fo faft, &c. e"

After which the Dragon strikes the knight with such violence, that he falls into a fwoon, and tumbles as it were lifelefs into the well, by whofe fovereign virtue he is revived.

"When Bevis was at the ground

"The water made him whole and found,
"And quenched all the venim away,
"This well faved Bevis that day."

And afterwards,

"But ever when Bevis was hurt fore,

"He went to the well and washed him thore;
"He was as whole as any man,

"And ever as fresh as when he began.'

66

It may be observed, that this poem of Sir Bevis is in that short meafure, which was frequently fung to the harp even in queen Elizabeth's time: a cuftom which probably defcended from the ancient bards. The author of The Arte of English poefie, printed in 1589, thus fpeaks of it. So on the other fide doth the overbufie and too fpeedy returne of one manner of tune, too much annoy, and, as it were, glut the eare, unless it be in small and popular mufickes fong by thefe cantabanqui upon benches and barrels heads, where they have none other audience than boyes, or country fellowes, that paffe by them in the streete; or elfe by blind harpers, or fuch like taverne-minftrels, that give a fit of mirth for a groat; and their matters being, for the most part, ftories of old time; as, the Tale of Sir Topas, the Reportes of Bevis of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, Adam Bell, and Clymme of the

We have much the fame Miracle in the Seven Champions. 1. 2. T. WARTON.

Clough, and fuch other old Romances or hiftorical Rhymes, made purposely for recreation of the common people at chriftmaffe diners, and brideales; and in tavernes, and alehoufes, and fuch places of bafe refort: alfo they be used in carols and rounds, and fuch light or lafcivious poemes, which are commonly more commodiously uttered by these buffoons and VICES in plays, than by any other perfon: such were the rimes of Skelton (ufurping the name of a poet laureate) being in deede but a rude rayling rimer, and all his doings ridiculous; he ufed both short distances and fhort measures, pleafing only the popular eare; in our courtly MAKER we banish them utterly." B. ii. c. 9. Hence it Hence it appears, that Chaucer's pieces, or at leaft legends drawn from him, were, at that time, fung to the harp; for the tale, or rime, of Sir Topas is a poem of Chaucer now extant: fo the Italians, at prefent, fing Taffo and Ariofto. Adam Bell and Clym of the Clough were two famous archers: the former of which is, on that account, alluded to by Shakspeare.

The fame author, in another place, fpeaks of this kind of entertainment, by which we may conjecture that it was not always confined to fo vulgar an audience. "We ourselves, who compiled this treatise, have written for pleasure, a little brief romance, or hiftorical ditty, in the English tong, of the ifle of Great-Britaine, in fhort and long meeters; and by breaches or divifions to be more commodioufly fung to the harpe in places of affembly, where the company fhall be defirous to hear of old adventures, and valiaunces of noble knights in times paft; as are

f two famous archers:] The fkill in archery of these two noted outlaws rendered them formerly as famous in the North of England, as Robin Hood and his companions were in the midland counties. See Percy's Reliques of Anc. Eng. Poetry, 4th ed. vol. i. p. 154. TODD.

thofe of king Arthur, and his knights of the round table; Sir Bevys of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, and fuch other like." B. i. c. 19.

But to return the circumftance of the 'Dragon not being able to approach within feven feet of this well, is imitated by our author, where he mentions another water, which in like manner preferves the knight, F. Q. i. xi. 49.

"But nigh thereto the ever-damned beast

"Durit not approache, for he was mortal made,
"And all that life preferved did deteft,

"Yet he it oft adventur'd to invade."

We feel a fort of malicious triumph in detecting the latent and obfcure fource, from whence an original author has drawn fome celebrated defcription: yet this, it must be granted, foon gives way to the rapture that naturally refults from contemplating the chymical energy of true genius, which can produce fo noble a tranfmutation; and whofe virtues are not less efficacious and vivifying in their nature, than thofe of the miraculous water here difplayed by Spenfer.

I take this opportunity of mentioning, by the way, that our author, in his Dragon-encounters, circumftantially adopts all the incidents which occur on this article in romances.

An ingenious correfpondent has communicated to me an old ballad, or metrical romance, called The Boy and the Mantle, on which Spenfer's conceit of Florimel's girdle is evidently founded. A boy brings into king Arthur's hall, at Cairleon, a magical mantle, by which trial is made of the fidelity of each of the ladies of the several knights.

Manufcript Collection of old Ballads, No. 89. T. WARTON. The Boy and the Mantle is now the first piece in the third volume of Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry; to whom the Manufcript collection belongs. TODD.