esolate, and did we not reflect that, but for such
vicissitudes, mankind must have attained a far greater degree of
excellence than has been reached at the present day.

The first kind of composition attempted by the mind of man is that which
expresses religious feelings, and the idea that there exists a being
greater than himself. That dim searching after something beyond
experience could seldom confine itself to its legitimate direction, but
by dreams and hopes, and by the love of the marvellous--that early
source of idealism--strayed into a variety of fabulous and legendary
mazes. Hence arose all the strange and grotesque myths about heathen
gods and Christian saints which occupy the shadowy borders between
chaos and history. The stories which were current in this country in
early times spoke of miracles worked by the Virgin, represented St.
Christopher as a giant twenty-four feet high, and related how "Seynt
Pateryk" banished the "wormes" from Ireland; or sometimes would draw
from the rich mine of Rabbinical tradition such allegorical fictions as
that, when Noah planted the vine, Satan was present and sacrificed a
sheep, a lion, an ape, and a sow, representing the different stages of
inebriety.[34]

But man's awakening thoughts turn not only to his Protector above, but
also to his enemies below, and thus the exploits of warlike heroes, who
generally combine the religious with the military character, easily
became tempting themes for the exercise of fancy.

There is reason to believe that the earliest British legends recorded
the glories of King Arthur--the defender of Christianity against the
worshippers of Odin. The origin of these accounts have been traced by
some to Scandinavian, by some to Arabian sources, but we may suppose
them to have arisen among those ancient British people who inhabited
Wales and Cornwall,[35] and passed over in the fifth and sixth centuries
to Brittany (Armorica). It matters little for our present purpose whence
they came, they were full of extravagant and supernatural occurrences.
The names of two shadowy warriors, Sir Bevis and Sir Guy, seem to have
been handed down from Saxon times, probably by oral tradition; the
former is said to have performed prodigies of valour in the South, and
the latter in the North of England. The literature which has come down
to us from this date (with the exception of an ode of triumph) is purely
of a religious character, and adorned with a variety of mir