KING ARTHUR'S REMAINS. 131 



aestuaiy whicli at that time, probably, rau Inland on eitber 



side of Polden, was at tbe same time the safest and most 



easy for an invalid. The tradition presents itself in a 



very beautifui and poetical form in a MS. Latin poem 



in the British Museum, which bears the title of " Vita 



Merlini per Galfridum Monumetensum versu Heroico ad 



Rohertum Lincolniensemr (Cott. MSS. Vespasian E. iv.) 



About page 128 of the volume, the poet describes the 



favoured spot where we are now assembled as Insula 



pomoru7n, qucß fortunata vocatur, which is a literal transla- 



tion of the ancient British name, Ynys Avallonf' and he 



further describes the skill in the healing art possessed bj 



nine sisters who dwelt here, one of whom greatly excelled 



the rest, and whose fame had spread far and wide. I give 



the extracts from notes I made in the British Museum 



some years ago from the original : 



" Quarumque prior est fit doctior arte medendi 



Exceditque suas forma proestante sorores 



Morgen ei nomen." 



In Morgen we recognise the Morgana who forms so 



prominent a feature in all the romance literature — the 



name itself being Keltic, and signifying "beside the sea." 



The poet then describes the voyage from Camlan, on the 



Cornish coast, to "the blessed Island of Apple-groves," 



whither the wounded hing desired to be conveyed : 



" Illuc post bellum Camblani vulnere lesum 



Duximus Arcturum nos conducente Barintho 



Equora cui fuerant et Casli sydera nota 



Hoc rcctore ratis cum principe venimus illuc 



Et nos quo decuit Morgen suscepit honore 



* For the various names by wbich Glastonbury has been known, and 

 their signiGcation, see a paper On the Application of Philology to Archceo- 

 logical Investigation, by the vvriter of this paper in Froceedings of the 

 Society for 1854, vol. v. 



