6 
titude for maintaining and extending the 
independence of his country againft the Sa- 
racens of the fouth, and the Germans of 
the eat: and among the pendragons of 
Britain, Arthur won the like celebrity 
again the Piksof thenorth, and the’Sax- 
ons of the eaft. A furvey of romantic li- 
terature willevince that thefe two herces 
and thew companions were principally ex- 
tolled. 
The romances of chivalry may be ar- 
ranged in four main clafles. 4. Thofe 
which relate to Amadis of Gaul and his 
fellows. Thefe wereall written originally 
in <prole, are nearly cotemporary with the 
_ Introduction of printing, and are therefore 
comparatively modern. z. Thofe which 
relate to Arthur* and the Knights of the 
Round Table, or to Chariemayne and his 
peers. Thefe were mofly publifhed m 
yprofe during the firft century of printing, 
but pre-exifted in metre, and were recited 
an that form by the minftrels of the middle 
ages. 3. Thole which afcribe to religious 
worthies the manners of chivalry; as the 
Seven Champions of Chriffendom, -the 
Lives of the Saints, and the Vifion of 
Pieree Plowman. © Such romances moftly 
occur, both in profe, in metre, and in 
Menkith Latin, from which laneuage the 
various vernacular metrical verfions feem 
to have been made fer'the convenience of 
the pilgrim’s memory. 4. Thefe which 
aferibe the manners of chivalry to the he- - 
roes of clafiical antiquity ; rehearfing the 
hese of Troy, or the exploits of Thefeus 
5 > ; P 
and’ef Alexander, with the moral coftume 
of knighthood. Thele moftly occur in 
wernacular metre, and in Monkifh Latin 
verfe.. 
From the modern imitations of the pro- 
per romances of chivalry,’ no conclufien 
can be drawn relative to the patrial foil of 
the originals. From the fecond clafs, it 
pa 
SEE SS DEES Se aE ea TES ne 
* Treflan, indeed, fays, (Difcours pré4 
liminaire, p. 15.) ¢¢ Tous les anciens Ro- 
mans de la Table-ronde, tir és par les Bretons 
des anciennes & fabuieufes chroniques de 
Melchin et de Telezin, furent écrits en Latin 
_par Rufticien de Puife.” But the paflage 
implies that the Latin verfions were either 
from the Norman-French, or from the fill 
prior romances ofthe Bretons. This Telezin 
is probably the fame with-the Tyrfilio of the 
Welth. Chaucer fays very truly. (v. 11021) 
Thife olde genth Bretonsin hir dayes 
Ordiverfe aventures maden-layes 
Rimeyed in hir fire Breton tongue, 
Which layes with inftruments they fonge. 
and he nodoubt tranfcribed this tradition from 
fome Norman-French poem which he was 
sefafhioning. 
The Enquirer. 
would naturally be inferred, that the coun- 
ry of Arthur, and the country ef Cherle- 
mayne, gave birth to thefe compofitions. 
“But it may be doubted, whether the ro- 
mances, concerning Charlemayne do in 
fact relate io this Emperor. They afcribe 
to him a father named Pepin, who “has 
four tons; exploits in the foreft of Ar- 
Genpe 3 wars againft the Saxons; the re- 
pulfien of the Saracens, in confeyuence of 
a vickory at Poitiers ; the inftitution of an 
order of knighthood ; the depofition of the 
Duke of Aquitain; an embafly from the 
Pope; and the gift of the facred territory 
to the fee of Rome. All thefe circum- 
ftances are hiftorically* true of Charles 
Martel. The names are the more likely 
[Feb s, 
to have been confounded through the mes - 
dium of an Armorican dialect, as eur 
fignifies great, le mayne; and morra, a 
mattock, #arte/, in tiiatlanguage, fo that — 
Charlemar would be the Britannian name 
oi both. Paffing on to the third and fourth 
clafics ;-the Lives of the Saints, the Troy- 
book, the Story ef Alexander, and the 
Geita Romanorum, are obvioufly modifica- 
tions of the later remnants of Latin cul- 
ture: they can, by no plan of inference, 
be referred toan Arabic or a Scandinavian 
origin. ' They muft either be deduced 
from the Etalian literature of the middle 
ages ; or from the veftiges of ancient li- 
terature, whica in Armorica and Britain. 
furvived the feparation of thefe countries 
irom the Roman Empire. But they do 
not derive from Italy, becaufe that country 
has no native legends in which the manners 
of chivalry are afcribed to the champions 
of religion; and becaufe William of Bri- 
tany, Walter Chatillon, and others, pre- 
ceded Guido Colonna and the Italian 
romancers in the chivalrization ef ancient 
eponceas.. Itremains probable, therefore, 
that even thefe ftories received firft in 
Armorica their chevalerefque garb. 
IV. Rime derives from Armorican 
lancuage. The fpeech of Armorica and 
‘of Brita, during the fifth, fixth, feventh, 
and eighth centuries, which include the 
period of their connexion and independence, 
muft have refembled clofely that of the 
older Welch bards. 
tany, Cornwall, and Wales are kindred 
dialects} of the Cimbric tongue, differing 
radically from the Gaelic or Irifh, and 
from the Gothic or Saxon idioms of their 
weitern and eaftern neighbours, but agree- 
ing minutely with the few remaining mo- 

* Veliy’s Hiftoire de France, val. I. 
+ Lhuyd’s Arehzologia. ae 
f numents | 
The patois of Bri- 
