ction was soon verified, and Uther, adding his brother's name to his
own, remained sole king. His first care was to bury his brother, and he
implored Merlin to erect a suitable monument to his memory; so the
enchanter conveyed great stones from Ireland to England in the course of a
single night, and set them up at Stonehenge, where they can still be seen.

"How Merlin by his skill, and magic's wondrous might,
From Ireland hither brought the Stonendge in a night."
DRAYTON, _Polyolbion_.

[Sidenote: Round Table established by Merlin.] Proceeding now to Carduel
(Carlisle), Merlin, who is represented as a great architect and
wonder-worker, built Uther Pendragon a beautiful castle, and established
the Round Table, in imitation of the one which Joseph of Arimathea had once
instituted. There were places for a large number of knights around this
board (the number varying greatly with different writers), and a special
place was reserved for the Holy Grail, which, having vanished from Britain
because of the sinfulness of the people, the knights still hoped to have
restored when they became sufficiently pure.

"This table gan [began] Uther the wight;
Ac [but] it to ende had he no might.
For, theygh [though] alle the kinges under our lord
Hadde y-sitten [sat] at that bord,
Knight by knight, ich you telle,
The table might nought fulfille,
Till they were born that should do all
Fulfill the mervaile of the Greal."
ELLIS, _Merlin_.

A great festival was announced for the institution of the Round Table, and
all the knights came to Carduel, accompanied by their wives. Among the
latter the fairest was Yguerne, wife of Gorlois, Lord of Tintagel in
Cornwall, and with her Uther fell desperately in love.

"This fest was noble ynow, and nobliche y-do [done];
For mony was the faire ledy, that y-come was thereto.
Yguerne, Gorloys wyf, was fairest of echon [each one],
That was contasse of Cornewail, for so fair was there non."
ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER.

Yguerne had already three or four daughters, famous in the Arthurian
legends as mothers of the knights Gawain, Gravain, Ywain, and others. One
of the king's councilors, Ulfin, revealed the king's passion to Yguerne,
and she told her husband. Indignant at the insult offered him, Gorlois
promptly left court, locked his wife up in the impregnable