THE MORTE D' ARTHUR. 343 



designation 'Wiilsch' was applied in its primitive sense 

 by the Saxons to the Britons. 'Wilisc' is often met 

 with in the Anglo-Saxon laws, and denotes the Welsh. 

 Might not the Druid blacksmith be designated by the 

 ancient Germans, as the foreign or strange-land smith — 

 Welsch-lant-Schmid ? The slight change in the pro- 

 nunciation might readily occur in a short period. 



It may be mentioned, however, that Langley Mortier^ 

 concludes that the name ' Gallia ' was derived from TFal, 

 happy, and Land, country : ' Walland ' being the designa- 

 tion given to their territory by the Gauls. 



This mysterious smith, it would appear, was no other 

 than the traditionary armourer and farrier of the Celts 

 and Gauls, as well as of the German and Northern 

 nations. ' The sacred blacksmith, such as Wayland,' 

 remarks M. Castan, ' not only fashioned the weapons, but 

 he also shod the horses of the heroes.' ' 



At Winchester, or Silchester, we are told in the 

 ' Morte d' Arthur,' was a large stone, and ' in the myddes 

 therof was lyk an anvyld of steel a ffote of hyght, and 

 therein stake a fayre sword,' which only the heir to the 

 sovereignty of Britain could draw; a feat performed by 

 Arthur.3 This romance-invested prince was King of the 

 Silures, an ancient British tribe inhabiting the modern 

 counties of Hereford, Radnor, Brecknock, and Glamor- 

 gan, and fought most heroically against the Saxons, 

 Scots, and Picts, after the departure of the Romans. The 



' Etymologies Gauloises. ^ Les Tombelles Celtiques d'AIaise. 



3 With the Mongols, the anvil of Genghis Khan is still preserved 

 on Mount Darkan. It is made of a particular metal called ' Bouryn,' 

 says the tradition, which has the properties of iron and copper, being at 

 once hard and flexible. — Tinikou'ski. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 173. 



