had been any chrissom child." Map took the legend of Joseph of Arimathea, who also was said to be buried at Glastonbury, and to whom the monastery had a chapel consecrated, by additions of his own drew from it a symbol of the mystery of godliness, and by his genius associated this for all time with the animal romances. The simplest form of the tradition of Joseph of Arimathea is that about sixtythree years after the birth of Christ he was sent by the Apostle Philip, with eleven more of Philip's disciples, into Britain. The twelve, it was said, obtained leave from Arviragus, the British king, to settle in a small uncultivated island, afterwards known as Avalon, and the king gave each of them a hide of land for his subsistence, in a district long afterwards known as the "Twelve Hides of Glaston.' By them the religious house was founded, St. Joseph

flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth." Joseph answered, "That speech is like the speech of proud Goliath, who reproached the living God in speaking against David. But ye scribes and doctors know that God saith by the prophet, Vengeance is mine, and I will repay to you evi! equal to that which ye have threatened to me. The God whom you have hanged upon the cross, is able to deliver me out of your hands. All your wickedness will return upon you. For the governor, when he washed his hands, said, 'I am clear from the blood of this just person.' But ye answered and cried out, His blood be upon us and our children!' According as ye have said, may ye perish for ever." The elders of the Jews hearing these words, were exceedingly enraged; and seizing Joseph, they put him into a chamber where there was no window; they fastened the door, and put a seal upon the lock; and Annas and Caiaphas placed a guard upon it, and took counsel with the priests and Levites, that they should all meet after the sabbath, and they con

being its first abbot, and great privileges were obtained for it.

Of Joseph's history, after he had begged the body of Christ for burial, as told by all the four Evangelists, this was the account given in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, and familiarly known before Map's time :

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA.

Joseph, when he came to the Jews, said to them, "Why are ye angry with me for desiring the body of Jesus of Pilate ? Behold, I have put him in my tomb, and wrapped him up in clean linen, and put a stone at the door of the sepulchre I have acted rightly towards him; but ye have acted unjustly against that just person, in crucifying him, giving him vinegar to drink, crowning him with thorns, tearing his body with whips, and prayed down the guilt of his blood upon you." The Jews at the hearing of this were disquieted, and troubled; and they seized Joseph, and commanded him to be put in custody before the sabbath, and kept there till the sabbath was over. And they said to him, "Make confession; for at this time it is not lawful to do thee any harm, till the first day of the week come. But we know that thou wilt not be thought worthy of a burial; but we will give thy

trived to what death they should put Joseph. When they had done this, the rulers, Annas and Caiaphas, ordered Joseph to be brought forth.

In this place there is a portion of the narrative lost or omitted, which cannot be supplied.

When all the assembly heard this, they wondered and were astonished, because they found the same seal upon the lock of the chamber, and could not find Joseph. Then Annas and Caiaphas went forth, and while they were all wondering at Joseph's being gone, behold one of the soldiers, who kept the sepulchre of Jesus, spake in the assembly, that while they were guarding the sepulchre of Jesus, there was an earthquake; "and we saw an angel of God roll away the stone of the sepulchre and sit upon it; and his countenance was like lightning and his garment like snow; and we became through fear like persons dead. And we heard an angel saying to the women at the sepulchre of Jesus, 'Do not fear; I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified; he is risen, as he foretold. Come and see the place where he was laid; and go presently, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and he will go before you into Galilee; there ye shall sce him, as he told you.'' Then the Jews called together all the soldiers who kept the sepulchre of Jesus, and said to them, "Who are those women, to whom the angel spoke?

Why did ye not seize them?" The soldiers answered and said, "We know not who the women were; besides, we became as dead persons through fear, and how could we seize those women?" The Jews said to them, "As the Lord liveth, we do not believe you." The soldiers answering said to the Jews, "When ye saw and heard Jesus working so many miracles, and did not believe him, how should ye believe us? Ye well said, 'As the Lord liveth,' for the Lord truly does live. We have heard that ye shut up Joseph, who buried the body of Jesus, in a chamber, under a lock which was sealed; and when ye opened it, found him not there. Do ye then produce Joseph whom ye put under guard in the chamber, and we will produce Jesus whom we guarded in the sepulchre." The Jews answered and said, "We will produce Joseph, do ye produce Jesus. For Joseph is in his own city of Arimathæa." The soldiers replied, "If Joseph be in Arimathæa, Jesus also is in Galilee; we heard the angel tell the women." The Jews hearing this, were afraid, and said among themselves, If by any means these things should become public, then everybody will believe in Jesus. Then they gathered a large sum of money, and gave it to the soldiers, saying, "Do ye tell the people that the disciples of Jesus came in the night when ye were asleep, and stole away the body of Jesus; and if Pilate the governor should hear of this, we will satisfy him and secure you." The soldiers accordingly took the money, and said as they were instructed by the Jews: and their report was spread abroad among all the people. But a certain priest Phinees, Ada a schoolmaster, and a Levite, named Ageus, they three, came from Galilee to Jerusalem, and told the chief priests and all who were in the synagogues, saying, "We have seen Jesus, whom ye crucified, talking with his eleven disciples, and sitting in the midst of them in Mount Olivet, and saying to them, 'Go forth into the whole world, preach the Gospel to all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and whosoever shall believe and be baptised, shall be saved.' And when he had said these things to his disciples, we saw him ascending up to heaven." And they sent forth men, who sought for Jesus, but could not find him: and they returning, said, "We went all about, but could not find Jesus, but we have found Joseph in his city of Arimathæa." The rulers hearing this, and all the people, were glad, and praised the God of Israel, because Joseph was found, whom they had shut up in a chamber, and could not find. And when they had formed a large assembly, the chief priests said, "By what means shall we bring Joseph to us to speak with him?" And taking a piece of paper, they wrote to him, and said, "Peace be with thee, and all thy family. We know that we have offended against God and thee. Be pleased to give a visit to us thy fathers, for we were in utmost surprise at thine escape from prison. We know that it was malicious counsel which we took against thee, and that the Lord took care of thee, and the Lord himself delivered thee from our designs. Peace be unto thee, Joseph, who art honourable among all the people." And they chose seven of Joseph's friends, and said to them, "When ye come to Joseph, salute him in peace, and give him this letter." Accordingly, when the men came to Joseph, they did salute him in peace, and gave him the letter. And when Joseph had read it, he said, "Blessed be the Lord God, who didst deliver me from the Israelites, that they could not shed my blood. Blessed be God, who hast protected me under thy wings." And Joseph kissed them, and took them into his house. And on the morrow, Joseph mounted his ass, and went along with them to Jerusalem. And when all the Jews heard these things, they went out to meet him, and cried out, saying, "Peace attend thy coming hither, father Joseph!" To which he answered, “Prosperity from the Lord attend all

the people!" And they all kissed him; and Nicodemus took him to his house, having prepared a large entertainment. But on the morrow, being a preparation-day, Annas, and Caiaphas, and Nicodemus said to Joseph, "Make confession to the God of Israel, and answer to us all those questions which we shall ask thee; for we have been very much troubled, that thou didst bury the body of Jesus; and that when we had locked thee in a chamber, we could not find thee; and we have been afraid ever since, till this time of thy appearing among us. Tell us therefore before God, all that came to pass." Then Joseph answering, said, "Ye did indeed put me under confinement, on the day of preparation, till the morning. But while I was standing at prayer in the middle of the night, the house was surrounded with four angels; and I saw Jesus as the brightness of the sun, and fell down upon the earth for fear. But Jesus laying hold on my hand, lifted me from the ground, and the dew was then sprinkled upon me; but he, wiping my face, kissed me, and said unto me, 'Fear not, Joseph; look upon me, for it is I.' Then I looked upon him, and said, Rabboni Elias! He answered me, I am not Elias, but Jesus of Nazareth, whose body thou didst bury.' I said to him, Shew me the tomb in which I laid thee.' Then Jesus, taking me by the hand, led me unto the place where I laid him, and shewed me the linen clothes, and napkin which I put round his head. Then I knew that it was Jesus, and worshipped him, and said, 'Blessed be he who cometh in the name of the Lord.' Jesus again taking me by the hand, led me to Arimathæa, to my own house, and said to me, 'Peace be to thee; but go not out of thy house till the fortieth day; but I must go to my disciples.""

There is nothing here of the Holy Graal, nor is there evidence of any connection of that legend with growing traditions of St. Joseph, until Walter Map told of the appearance of St. Joseph to a certain hermit in the year 717, as a way of opening the story which was to introduce a new element into Arthurian romance :

PRELUDE TO THE FIRST ROMANCE OF THE ST. GRAAL.

He who accounts himself the least and most sinful of all, salutes, and begins this history to all those whose heart and faith is in the Holy Trinity. The name of him who wrote this history is not told at the beginning. But by the words that follow you may in a great measure perceive his name, country, and a great part of his lineage. But he would not disclose himself in the beginning. And he has three reasons for that. The first is that if he named himself, and said that God had revealed through him so high a history, the felon and envious would turn it into scoff. The second is that all who knew him, if they heard his name, would value the less his history, for being written by so mean a person. The third reason is, that if he put his name to the history, and any fault were found committed by him, or by a transcriber from one book into another, all the blame would fall on his name; for there are so many more mouths that speak evil than good, and a man gets more blame for a single fault than praise for a hundred merits. And however he may wish to cover it, it would be more seen than he should like. But he will tell quite openly how the History of the Saint Graal was commanded to him to be made manifest. It happened 717 years after the passion of Jesus Christ that I, the most sinful of all men, was in a place wilder than I can describe-

And then the story begins with the vision of Joseph, who tells how the Holy Graal, or dish from which the

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Last Supper was eaten, was taken by a Jew to Pilate, who gave it to Joseph of Arimathea, whom he knew to be one of the Saviour's devoted friends. When Joseph took the body of the Lord down from the cross he washed the wounds in the same dish. When the Jews, angered at the Resurrection, imprisoned Joseph, he is said to have been forty-two years in a dungeon preserved by sight of the Holy Graal miraculously placed in his hands. Released by Vespasian, Joseph quitted Jerusalem, and went with the Graal through France into Britain. Here he taught, and died at Glastonbury, and the Holy Graal was preserved in the treasury of one of the kings of the island, known as the Fisherman King. But it is so sacred that it is not visible to the impure. This made the Quest of the Graal by Arthur's knights a type of the striving to come near to God, the sight of the Graal an embodiment of the thought of the Psalmist, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart: who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully;" or of the words of Christ himself, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Beginning with this new legend of Joseph of Arimathea, Map took next from Geoffrey of Monmouth the prophecies of Merlin, then reproduced in a form of his own the fleshly charm of Arthurian romance in the story of Lancelot; gave Lancelot a son Galahad, pure as a maid; and in the Quest of the Graal, which Galahad especially accomplished, he caused men to find the charm of romance in religious teaching; then he went on to the close of the series, with the death of Arthur, adapting all to his design so perfectly that the Graal story became thenceforth inseparable from Arthurian legend. Although in conception and detail it was essentially poetical, Map seems to have worked out his scheme in Latin prose. Its several parts were then turned into French prose, and versified by many. Chrestien of Troyes, who was born, like Map, between the years 1140 and 1150, first sang the romance of Erec and Enid. Kyot, a Provençal poet, gave new development to the Graal story in his romance of Percival, and this was the groundwork of the " "Parzival" of Wolfram von Eschenbach, in which the conception of the Graal legend is developed with deep spiritual feeling. Wolfram von Eschenbach was a Bavarian knight of good family, who in and after the year 1204 was at the court of the Thuringian landgrave, Hermann, on the Wartburg, near Eisenach, then a centre of intellectual life, such as Weimar became 600 years later. Wolfram von Eschenbach had strength and depth rather than surface grace. He wrote but few lyrics, and was rather knight than scholar; though a poet born, having that large sense of the essentials of life which may be said, perhaps, to belong to the religious feeling of the Teuton, whether he be an English Walter or a German Wolfram. But Map's genius owed some of its vivacity to marriage of the Teuton with the Celt. It was long after Map's time that Sir Thomas Malory compiled his History of King Arthur. He is said to have ended the work in the ninth year of Edward IV. Fifteen years later, in 1485, it was first printed by Caxton, at

THE QUEST OF THE GRAAL.1

The king and all estates went home unto Camelot, and so went to evensong to the great minster. And so after upon that to supper, and every knight sat in his own place as they were toforehand. Then anon they heard cracking and crying of thunder, that them thought the place should all to-drive. In the midst of this blast entered a sun-beam more clearer by seven times than ever they saw day, and all they were alighted of the grace of the Holy Ghost. Then began every knight to behold other, and either saw other by their seeming fairer than ever they saw afore. Not for then there was no knight might speak one word a great while, and so they looked every man on other, as they had been dumb. Then there entered into the hall the holy Graile covered with white samite, but there was none might see it, nor who bare it. And there was all the hall full filled with good odours, and every knight had such meats and drinks as he best loved in this world; and when the holy Graile had been borne through the hall, then the holy vessel departed suddenly, that they wist not where it became. Then had they all breath to speak. And then the king yielded thankings unto God of his good grace that he had sent them. "Certes," said the king, "we ought to thank our Lord Jesu greatly, for that he hath shewed us this day at the reverence of this high feast of Pentecost." "Now," said Sir Gawaine, "we have been served this day of what meats and drinks we thought on; but one thing beguiled us, we might not see the holy Graile, it was so preciously covered: wherefore I will make here avow, that to-morn, without longer abiding, I shall labour in the quest of the Sancgreal, that I shall hold me out a twelvemonth and a day, or more if need be, and never shall I return again unto the court till I have seen it more openly than it hath been seen here: and if I may not speed, I shall return again as he that may not be against the will of our Lord Jesu Christ." When they of the Table Round heard Sir Gawaine say so, they arose up the most party, and made such avows as Sir Gawaine had made.

Anon as king Arthur heard this he was greatly displeased, for he wist well that they might not againsay their avows. Alas!" said king Arthur unto Sir Gawaine, "ye have nigh slain me with the avow and promise that ye have made. For through you ye have bereft me of the fairest fellowship and the truest of knighthood that ever were seen together in any realm of the world. For when they depart from hence, I am sure they all shall never meet more in this world, for they shall die many in the Quest."

But Sir Launcelot rode overthwart and endlong in a wild forest, and held no path, but as wild adventure led him. And at the last he came to a stony cross, which departed

"The History of King Arthur and of the Knights of the Round Table. Compiled by Sir Thomas Malory, Knt. Edited from the Text of the Edition of 1634, with Introduction and Notes, by Thomas Wright, M A., F.S.A," in three volumes of the "Library of Old Authors," published by J. R. Smith, is the most accessible edition of Sir Thomas Malory. The same text, with some abridgments, to make it suitable for general home use, is contained in one of the cheap volumes of the "Globe Editions" of English authors, published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co.

two ways in waste land, and by the cross was a stone that was of marble, but it was so dark that Sir Launcelot might not wit what it was. Then Sir Launcelot looked by him, and saw an old chapel, and there he wend to have found people. And Sir Launcelot tied his horse till a tree, and there he did off his shield, and hung it upon a tree. And then he went to the chapel door, and found it waste and broken. And within he found a fair altar full richly arrayed with cloth of clean silk, and there stood a fair clean candlestick which bare six great candles, and the candlestick was of silver. And when Sir Launcelot saw this light, he had great will for to enter the chapel, but he could find no place where he might enter: then was he passing heavy and dismayed. Then he returned and came to his horse, and did off his saddle and bridle, and let him pasture; and unlaced his helm, and ungirded his sword, and laid him down to sleep upon his shield tofore the cross.

And so he fell on sleep, and half waking and half sleeping, he saw come by him two palfreys all fair and white, the which bare a litter, therein lying a sick knight. And when he was nigh the cross, he there abode still. All this Sir Launcelot saw and beheld, for he slept not verily; and he heard him say, "Oh, sweet Lord, when shall this sorrow leave me and when shall the holy vessel come by me where through I shall be blessed? For I have endured thus long for little trespass." A full great while complained the knight thus, and always Sir Launcelot heard it. With that Sir Launcelot saw the candlestick with the six tapers come before the cross, and he saw nobody that brought it. Also there came a table of silver, and the holy vessel of the Sancgreal, which Sir Launcelot had seen aforetime in king Peschour's house. And therewith the sick knight set him up, and held up both his hands, and said, "Fair sweet Lord, which is here within this holy vessel, take heed unto me, that I may be whole of this malady." And therewith on his hands and on his knees he went so nigh that he touched the holy vessel, and kissed it, and anon he was whole, and then he said, "Lord God, I thank thee, for I am healed of this sickness." So when the holy vessel had been there a great while it went unto the chapel, with the chandelier and the light, so that Launcelot wist not where it was become, for he was overtaken with sin that he had no power to arise against the holy vessel; wherefore after that many men said of him shame, but he took repentance after that. Then the sick knight dressed him up, and kissed the cross. Anon his squire brought him his arms, and asked his lord how he did. Certes," said he, "I thank God right well, through the holy vessel I am healed. But I have great marvel of this sleeping knight, that had no power to awake when this holy vessel was brought hither." "I dare right well say," said the squire, "that he dwelleth in some deadly sin, whereof he was never confessed." 66 "By my faith," said the knight, "whatsoever he be he is unhappy, for as I deem he is of the fellowship of the Round Table, the which is entered into the Quest of the Sancgreal." "Sir," said the squire, "here I have brought you all your arms, save your helm and your sword, and therefore by my assent now may ye take this knight's helm and his sword." And so he did. And when he was clean armed he took Sir Launcelot's horse, for he was better than his own; and so departed they from the cross.

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Then anon Sir Launcelot waked, and set him up, and bethought him what he had seen there, and whether it were dreams or not. Right so heard he a voice that said, "Sir Launcelot, more harder than is the stone, and more bitter than is the wood, and more naked and barer than is the leaf of the fig-tree, therefore go thou from hence, and withdraw thee from this holy place." And when Sir Launcelot heard

this he was passing heavy, and wist not what to do, and so departed, sore weeping, and cursed the time that he was born. For then he deemed never to have had worship more. For those words went to his heart, till that he knew wherefore he was called so. Then Sir Launcelot went to the cross, and found his helm, his sword, and his horse taken away. And then he called himself a very wretch, and most unhappy of all knights: and there he said, My sin and my wickedness have brought me unto great dishonour. For when I sought worldly adventures for worldly desires I ever achieved them, and had the better in every place, and never was I discomfit in no quarrel, were it right or wrong. And now I take upon me the adventures of holy things, and now I see and understand that mine old sin hindereth me, and shameth me, so that I had no power to stir nor to speak when the holy blood appeared afore me." So thus he sorrowed till it was day, and heard the fowls sing; then somewhat he was comforted. But when Sir Launcelot missed his horse and his harness, then he wist well God was displeased with him. Then he departed from the cross on foot into a forest. And so by prime he came to an high hill, and found an hermitage, and an hermit therein, which was going unto mass. And then Launcelot kneeled down and cried on our Lord mercy for his wicked works. So when mass was done, Launcelot called him, and prayed him for charity for to hear his life. "With a good will," said the good man. "Sir," said he, "be ye of king Arthur's court, and of the fellowship of the Round Table?" "Yea forsooth, and my name is Sir Launcelot du Lake, that hath been right well said of, and now my good fortune is changed, for I am the most wretch of the world." The hermit beheld him, and had marvel how he was so abashed. "Sir," said the hermit, "ye ought to thank God more than any knight living; for He hath caused you to have more worldly worship than any knight that now liveth. And for your presumption to take upon you in deadly sin for to be in His presence, where His flesh and His blood was, that caused you ye might not see it with worldly eyes, for He will not appear where such sinners be, but if it be unto their great hurt, and unto their great shame. And there is no knight living now that ought to give God so great thanks as ye; for He hath given you beauty, seemliness, and great strength, above all other knights, and therefore ye are the more beholding unto God than any other man to love Him and dread Him; for your strength and manhood will little avail you and God be against you."

And here is a later adventure. Launcelot had entered a mystical ship:

So dwelled Launcelot and Galahad within that ship half a year, and served God daily and nightly with all their power. And often they arrived in isles far from folk, where there repaired none but wild beasts; and there they found many strange adventures and perilous, which they brought to an end. But because the adventures were with wild beasts, and not in the quest of the Sancgreal, therefore the tale maketh here no mention thereof, for it would be too long to tell of all those adventures that befell them.

So after, on a Monday, it befell that they arrived in the edge of a forest, tofore a cross, and then saw they a knight, armed all in white, and was richly horsed, and led in his right hand a white horse. And so he came to the ship, and saluted the two knights on the high Lord's behalf, and said, "Galahad, sir, ye have been long enough with your father, come out of the ship, and start upon this horse, and go where the adventures shall lead thee in the quest of the Sancgreal." Then he

went to his father, and kissed him sweetly, and said, "Fair sweet father, I wot not when I shall see you more, till I see the body of Jesu Christ." "I pray you," said Launcelot, pray you to the high Father that he hold me in His service." And so he took his horse; and there they heard a voice that said, "Think for to do well, for the one shall never see the other before the dreadful day of doom." "Now, son Galahad," said Launcelot, "since we shall depart, and never see other, I pray to the high Father to preserve both me and you both." "Sir," said Galahad, “no prayer availeth so much as yours." And therewith Galahad entered into the forest. And the wind arose, and drove Launcelot more than a month throughout the sea, where he slept but little, but prayed to God that he might see some tidings of the Sancgreal. So it befell on a night, at midnight he arrived afore a castle, on the back side, which was rich and fair. And there was a postern opened towards the sea, and was open without any keeping, save two lions kept the entry; and the moon shone clear. Anon Sir Launcelot heard a voice that said, "Launcelot, go out of this ship, and enter into the castle, where thou shalt see a great part of thy desire." Then he ran to his arms, and so armed him, and so he went to the gate, and saw the lions. Then set he hand to his sword, and drew it. Then there came a dwarf suddenly, and smote him on the arm so sore that the sword fell out of his hand. Then heard he a voice say, "O man of evil faith and poor belief, wherefore trowest thou more on thy harness than in thy Maker? for He might more avail thee than thine armour, in whose service thou art set." Then said Launcelot, "Fair Father Jesu Christ, I thank thee of thy great mercy, that thou reprovest me of my misdeed. Now see I well that ye hold me for your servant." Then took he again his sword, and put it up in his sheath, and made a cross in his forehead, and came to the lions, and they made semblant to do him harm. Notwithstanding he passed by them without hurt, and entered into the castle to the chief fortress, and there were they all at rest. Then Launcelot entered in so armed, for he found no gate nor door but it was open. And at the last he found a chamber whereof the door was shut, and he set his hand thereto to have opened it, but he might not.

Then he enforced him mickle to undo the door. Then he listened, and heard a voice which sang so sweetly that it seemed none earthly thing; and him thought the voice said, "Joy and honour be to the Father of Heaven!" Then Launcelot kneeled down tofore the chamber, for well wist he that there was the Sancgreal within that chamber. Then said he, "Fair sweet Father Jesu Christ, if ever I did thing that pleased the Lord, for thy pity have me not in despite for my sins done aforetime, and that thou shew me something of that I seek!" And with that he saw the chamber door open, and there came out a great clearness, that the house was as bright as all the torches of the world had been there. So came he to the chamber door, and would have entered. And anon a voice said to him, "Flee Launcelot, and enter not, for thou oughtest not to do it: and if thou enter thou shalt forthink it." Then he withdrew him aback right heavy. Then looked he up in the midst of the chamber, and saw a table of silver, and the holy vessel covered with red samite, and many angels about it, whereof one held a candle of wax burning, and the other held a cross, and the ornaments of an altar. And before the holy vessel he saw a good man clothed as a priest, and it seemed that he was at the sacring of the mass. And it seemed to Launcelot that above the priest's hands there were three men, whereof the two put the youngest by likeness between the priest's hands, and so he lift it up right high, and it seemed to show so to the people. And then Launcelot marvelled not

a little, for him thought that the priest was so greatly charged of the figure, that him seemed that he should fall to the earth. And when he saw none about him that would help him, then came he to the door a great pace, and said, "Fair Father Jesu Christ, ne take it for no sin though I help the good man, which hath great need of help." Right so entered he into the chamber, and came toward the table of silver; and when he came nigh he felt a breath that him thought it was intermeddled with fire, which smote him so sore in the visage that him thought it burnt his visage; and therewith he fell to the earth, and had no power to arise, as he that was so araged that had lost the power of his body, and his hearing, and his saying. Then felt he many hands about him, which took him up and bare him out of the chamber door, without any amending of his swoon, and left him there seeming dead to all people. So upon the morrow, when it was fair day, they within were arisen, and found Launcelot lying afore the chamber door. All they marvelled how that he came in. And so they looked upon him, and felt his pulse, to wit whether there were any life in him; and so they found life in him, but he might neither stand, nor stir no member that he had; and so they took him by every part of the body, and bare him into a chamber, and laid him in a rich bed, far from all folk, and so he lay four days. Then the one said he was on live, and the other said nay. "In the name of God," said an old man, “for I do you verily to wit he is not dead, but he is so full of life as the mightiest of you all, and therefore I counsel you that he be well kept till God send him life again."

Early in the reign of Henry II. there was an Englishman living in France named Hilarius. He had gone to France that he might study under Abelard, and he was a poet. From him we have the earliest extant example of a Miracle Play or Mystery. There were no such plays in this country before the Conquest, but after the Conquest they must have been soon introduced, for in the Chronicle of Matthew Paris there is chance reference to the acting of a Miracle Play of St. Katherine at Dunstable, before the year 1119, by the pupils of a learned Norman named Geoffrey, who afterwards became abbot of St. Alban's. We know also that the acting of Miracle Plays was established in London by Henry II.'s time; for William Fitzstephen, a clerk of Becket's household, who wrote the life of his patron, says in his Life of Becket that London, instead of the ancient shows of the theatre, "has entertainments of a more devout kind, either representations of those miracles which were wrought by holy confessors, or those passions and sufferings in which the martyrs so rigidly displayed their fortitude."

It will be observed that this description limits the representation to the acts of the saints-Miracle Plays. The Mystery Plays, which dealt with the sacred history itself, and drew from the Bible story representations of those incidents which are connected with the mysteries of faith, seem to have been acted abroad for some time before their introduction into this country. After they had been introduced, the old name of Miracle Play, which had become familiar when all our plays were such as Fitzstephen defined, remained common, and was