102 PAPERS, ETC. 
have been so, is not very evident, except that those 
who deny his existence might be rather puzzled to 
account for the discovery of his tomb,—contains a 
piece of internal evidence, which appears to me 
strongly to vindicate the veracity of the narrator. 
In the time of Henry II, the usual way of interring 
persons of importance, was to enclose the body in a 
stone coffin, and it seems probable that if Giraldus 
had invented the story, he would have represented 
the hero as buried in a coffin of that material; but 
he distinctly says, ““ a sepulchre ofoak made hollow,” 
not simply an oak coffin; and we can hardly suppose 
that, unless he had seen it, he would have described 
a mode of interment which modern research has 
proved to have been sometimes used among the 
Celtic tribes cognate with those of Britain, with 
whose customs Giraldus was most likely totally 
unacquainted. If my hearers should be inclined 
to smile at my credulity, I can only plead that it 
is very harmless, for it can hardly make a man a 
worse christian to believe that St. Paul preached 
in his native land, or less devoted to his country, 
to believe that Arthur was buried in his own 
county. At all events, Ido not envy that man, who 
would not run the risk of believing a little more 
than the truth, rather than lose, through too much 
caution, the pleasure of receiving as facts, many of 
the most heart-stirring events recorded in history. 
But however celebrated the Abbey of Glastonbury 
had by this time become, the names of only three 
