doubt. Sir Dynas, the Seneschal, tells the Queen la Belle Isould that
Sir Tristram is near: "Thenne for very pure joye la Beale Isould
swouned, & whan she myghte speke, she said, gentyl knyghte Seneschall
help that I myghte speke with him, outher my herte will braste." They
meet, and then "to telle the joyes that were between la Beale Isoud and
sire Tristram, there is no tongue can telle it, nor herte thinke it,
nor pen wryte it." When Tristram thought Isoud unfaithful, he "made
grete sorowe in so much that he fell downe of his hors in a swoune, and
in suche sorowe he was in thre dayes and thre nyghtes." When he left
her, Isoud was found "seke in here bedde, makynge the grettest dole
that ever ony erthly woman made." "Sire Alysander beheld his lady Alys
on horsbak as he stood in her pauelione. And thenne was he soo
enamoured upon her that he wyst not whether he were on horsbak or on
foote." Sir Gareth falls in love at first sight: "and euer the more syr
Gareth behelde that lady, the more he loued her, and soo he burned in
loue that he was past himself in his reason, and forth toward nyghte
they wente unto supper, and sire Gareth myghte not ete for his loue was
soo hot that he wyst not wher he was."

The Roman war introduced into the "Morte d'Arthur" is a curious
illustration of the vagueness of the historical groundwork of the
romances of chivalry. The memory of Roman power was still too great to
permit a warrior to achieve greatness without having matched his
strength against that of Rome, and thus we have the singular spectacle
of King Arthur with his adventurous knights, clad in mail, passing
easily through "Almayne" into Italy, conquering giants by the way, and
reducing the Emperor Lucius to dependence.

The story of the Saint Gréal originally formed a distinct romance, but
it was the dull production of some ascetic monk, who thought that the