and the open sky, and that solitude
resembles death. So here am I dressed and ready. My door opens; I am
rambling under the spacious porticoes of the street of Po; a thousand
charming phantoms dance before my eyes. Yes, this is her mansion, this
is the door; I tremble with anticipation.

* * * * *

SIR THOMAS MALORY

Morte d'Arthur

Little is known of Sir Thomas Malory, who, according to
Caxton, "did take out of certain French books a copy of the
noble histories of King Arthur and reduced it to English." We
learn from the text that "this book was finished in the ninth
year of the reign of King Edward the Fourth, by Sir Thomas
Malory, Knight." That would be in the year 1469. Malory is
said to have been a Welshman. The origin of the Arthurian
romance was probably Welsh. Its first literary form was in
Geoffrey of Monmouth's prose, in 1147. Translated into French
verse, and brightened in the process, these legends appear to
have come back to us, and to have received notable additions
from Walter Map (1137-1209), another Welshman. A second time
they were worked on and embellished by the French
romanticists, and from these later versions Malory appears to
have collated the materials for his immortal translation. The
story of Arthur and Launcelot is the thread of interest
followed in this epitome.

_I.--The Coming of Arthur_

It befell in the days of the noble Utherpendragon, when he was King of
England, there was a mighty and noble duke in Cornwall, named the Duke
of Tintagil, that held long war against him. And the duke's wife was
called a right fair lady, and a passing wise, and Igraine was her name.
And the duke, issuing out of the castle at a postern to distress the
king's host, was slain. Then all the barons, by one assent, prayed the
king of accord between the Lady Igraine and himself. And the king gave
them leave, for fain would he have accorded with her; and they were
married in a morning with great mirth and joy.

When the Queen Igraine grew daily nearer the time when the child Arthur
should be born, Merlin, by whose counsel the king had taken her to wife,
came to the king and said: "Sir, you must provide for the nourishing of
your child. I know a lord of yours that is a passing true man, and
faithful, and he shall have the nourishing of your child. His name is
Sir Ector, and he