526 
widow of the knight whom he had slain, 
to forgive him and marry him, that he 
may protect her against king Arthur’s 
coming ; for it seems, that to throw 
water upon that stone and raise a storm, 
was the method of declaring war against 
her country. Ywaine, now lord of the 
land, obeys the call, and surprises Ar- 
thur by his appearance: he feasts the 
king, and departs with him, by his lady’s 
leave, promising to return at the year’s 
end, on pain of losing her love if he 
broke his promise. The year passes 
away, and Sir Ywaine lets the day go 
by: his heart smites him; but a damsel 
comes into the court, demands from 
him ating, which his lady had given 
him, and accuses him of breach of pro- 
mise. With shame and remorse he 
loses his wits, and runs naked into the 
woods. 
A damsel who stands in need of a 
protector sees him lying asleep. She 
orders an ointment to be rubbed over 
him, which restores his senses: he is 
conveyed to her castle, and successfully 
defends her against her enemy. For 
this service she would have married him, 
but Ywaine departs. On his way he 
found a dragon and a lion engaged in 
fight . he rescues the lion, who, in gra- 
_titude for his deliverance, follows him. 
He comes to the well, and there begins 
to bewail his folly and fortune. It hap- 
pened that Lunet was confined in the 
chapel hard by, being, upon a false ac- 
cusation of treason. to be burnt next 
day, unless some knight should conquer 
her accusers. Ywaine of course suc- 
cours her. He dares not make himself 
known, having no hope of obtaining her 
forgiveness: so he continues to lead 
the life of an errant knight with his lion, 
redressing wrongs, till he is engaged in 
battle with Sir Gawin, neither knowing 
the other. They fight till the darkness 
obliges them to pause, and then Ywaine 
asks the name of his antagonist, and 
they embrace as the friends who: loved 
each other best. After this event 
Ywaine rides to the well, and throws 
water upon the stone. Lunet knowing 
that it must be his doing, prevails upon 
hér lady to ask assistance from the 
knight of the lion, saying that she knows 
that he wiil readily undertake her cause, 
if she will solemnly swear to do every 
thing in her power to reconcile him to 
his lady, with whom he is at variance. 
She takes the oath upon rich reliques, 
the chalice, and the mass book; and 
POETRY. 
then Lunet carries the tidings to Sir 
Ywaine,- who, from that time forth, — 
with Lunet, and the lady, and the lion, 
lived in joy and bliss. ‘This is an excel- 
lent romance. 
Mr. Ritson thinks that Ariosto was 
indebted to this story for the idea of 
Orlando’s madness, or to a similar ad- 
venture inthe Mort Arthur. The ori- 
ginal adventure seems, from a passage 
which he has quoted in his Disserta- 
tion, from Robert of Brunne, to have 
been related of Dan Waryn. Orlando, 
perhaps, more nearly resembles Her- 
cules, Furioso and Furens. The lion, who 
acts a principal part in Ywaine’s battle, 
was perhaps remembered by Spenser in 
his most delightful story of Una. Mor- 
gan the wise, who made the ointment 
whereby Ywaine’s senses were restored, 
is whimsically supposed to be Pelagius, 
the greatest of all the ae not even 
excepting Sir Henry. More probably 
Morgaine le Fay was meant, and 4e may 
have been written for she in mistake. 
Launfal, by Thomas Chestre, is the 
second in order: the French original is 
the work of Marie de France, 2 Norman 
poetess of the thirteenth century. The 
MSS. of the translation appears to have © 
been written in or about the reign of 
Henry VI. It is in stanzas of twelve 
lines ; the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth, 
of one rhyme. The orthography has a 
more modern cast than that of the pre- 
ceding poem, but the language is ruder. 
As this tale has been modernized in the 
well-known fabliaux of Messrs. Way and 
Ellis, we need not detail it. The parts 
which Mr. Ritson points out as additions 
by the translator, never improve, and 
sometimes injure, the story, which is, 
otherwise, excellently invented. It is 
remarkable that Oleron should here be 
selected for the kingdom of the king of 
the fairies. 
Of Lybeaus Disconus an analysis has 
been given in the Reliques. The manu- 
script is the same from which Launfal 
was printed; the French original un- 
known. _It is written in a twelve-lined 
stanza, but of more difficult structure 
than the last poem : the four ternal lines 
rhyming as in that, and also the two 
first couplets. There are many words | 
in this romance which have baffled the 
editor’s learning. as 
The Geste of Kyng Horn is believed 
to be the oldest romance that exists in 
the English language. ‘Fhe only copy 
extant appears to have been written 
