hundred knights and fifty. And as for an hundred good knights I
have myself, but I faute fifty, for so many have been slain in my
days. And so Leodegrance delivered his daughter Guenever unto
Merlin, and the Table Round with the hundred knights, and so they
rode freshly, with great royalty, what by water and what by land,
till that they came nigh unto London.



CHAPTER II

How the Knights of the Round Table were ordained and
their sieges blessed by the Bishop of Canterbury.

WHEN King Arthur heard of the coming of Guenever and the hundred
knights with the Table Round, then King Arthur made great joy for
her coming, and that rich present, and said openly, This fair
lady is passing welcome unto me, for I have loved her long, and
therefore there is nothing so lief to me. And these knights with
the Round Table please me more than right great riches. And in
all <81>haste the king let ordain for the marriage and the
coronation in the most honourable wise that could be devised.
Now, Merlin, said King Arthur, go thou and espy me in all this
land fifty knights which be of most prowess and worship. Within
short time Merlin had found such knights that should fulfil
twenty and eight knights, but no more he could find. Then the
Bishop of Canterbury was fetched, and he blessed the sieges with
great royalty and devotion, and there set the eight and twenty
knights in their sieges. And when this was done Merlin said,
Fair sirs, ye must all arise and come to King Arthur for to do