called Albania
(Scotland).

Albanact was not allowed to reign in peace, however, but was soon called
upon to war against Humber, King of the Huns. The latter was defeated, and
drowned in the stream which still bears his name. Locrine's daughter,
Sabrina, also met with a watery death, and gave her name to the Severn.

[Sidenote: King Leir.] The posterity of Brutus now underwent many other
vicissitudes. There was fighting at home and abroad; and after attributing
the founding of all the principal cities to some ruler of this line, the
historian relates the story of King Leir, the founder of Leicester. As this
monarch's life has been used by Shakespeare for one of his dramas,--the
tragedy of "King Lear,"--and is familiar to all students of English
literature, there is no need to outline Geoffrey of Monmouth's version of
the tale.

The chronicler then resumes the account of Brutus' illustrious descendants,
enumerating them all, and relating their adventures, till we come to the
reign of Cassivellaunus and the invasion of Britain by the Romans. Shortly
after, under the reign of Cymbelinus, he mentions the birth of Christ, and
then resumes the thread of his fabulous history, and brings it down to the
reign of Uther Pendragon, where it has been taken up in the Arthurian
cycle.

This chronicle, which gave rise to many romances, was still considered
reliable even in Shakespeare's time, and many poets have drawn freely from
it. The mediaeval poets long used it as a mental quarry, and it has been
further utilized by some more recent poets, among whom we must count
Drayton, who makes frequent mention of these ancient names in his poem
"Polyolbion," and Spenser, who immortalizes many of the old legends in his
"Faerie Queene."

There are, of course, many other mediaeval tales and romances; but our aim
has been to enable the reader to gain some general idea of the principal
examples, leaving him to pursue the study in its many branches if he wishes
a more complete idea of the literature of the past and of the influence it
has exerted and still exerts upon the writers of our own day.

INDEX TO POETICAL QUOTATIONS.

Ariosto, 141, 211.
Arnold, Matthew, 212, 243, 269.
Beowulf, (translations by Conybeare, Keary, Longfellow, Metcalfe), 9, 10,
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21.
Buchanan, 145, 146.
Bulwer Lytton, 219.
Burney, Dr. (translation), 141.
Byron, 150.
Chanson de Roland (translations by Rabillon), 144, 145