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he added the name of the place to which he retreated, and so left the duke at liberty. The duke waited the arrival of the grand-master; but was so far from considering it as absolving him from his captivity, that no entreaties nor representations could stay him from acquitting his faith, by again putting himself into the hands of Arnold; with whom he remained a prisoner, till he was ransomed by his friends.

The quarrel betwixt King Lisuarte and Amadis, because he would not bestow upon Galvanes the hand of his captive Madasima, and the dominion of the island which she inherited, and which he had conquered; the manner in which Amadis and his kindred renounce the service of Lisuarte; the mutual defiances which are formally exchanged betwixt them; are all in the high tone of feudal solemnity, and are well worthy the attention of those who investigate the customs of the middle ages. The reader may compare the mode in which these defiances were received, with the deportment of the Black Prince, when he was served with a writ of summons to attend the Parliament at Paris:

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"When the prince had read this letter, he had great marvel, and shook his head, and beheld fiercely the Frenchmen; and when he had a little studied he answered in this manner: Sirs, we will gladly go to Paris to our uncle sith he hath sent thus for us; but I assure you, that it shall be with bassnet on our head, and sixty thousand men in our company.'"-FROISsart.

manners

We have dwelt the more fully upon the of this romance, because they correspond exactly with those of the period in which it was written. In the romances which were composed during the

declension of chivalry, the writers no longer painted from the life. The manners which they described were as fictitious as the adventures which they narrated; and the reader may look for such historical resemblances as we have noticed with as little success, as if he were to consult a map for the situation of Taprobana, or the Firm Island.

We have already observed, that the story of Amadis is constructed with singular ingenuity. The unvaried recurrence of the combat with the lance and the sword is indeed apt to try the patience of the modern reader; although the translator's compassion has spared them some details, and "consolidated," as he rather quaintly says, " many of those single blows which have no reference to armorial anatomy." But, in defiance of the similarity of combat and adventure, the march of the story engages our attention; and the successive events are well managed to support each other, and to bring on the final catastrophe. It is not our intention to give a detailed account of the story, but the following sketch may excite rather than forestall the curiosity of the reader.

Perion, King of Gaul, the guest of Garinter, King of Brittany, becomes enamoured of the fair Elisene, daughter of that monarch, obtains a private interview, and departs to his own kingdom. The princess becomes pregnant, and, to hide her disgrace, the child, afterwards the famous Amadis, is placed in a cradle, and launched into the sea. He is found by a knight of Scotland, and carried to that kingdom, where he is educated as the son of

his preserver. Mean while, Perion marries Elisene, and they have a second son, called Galaor, who is carried off by a giant, and brought up to feats of arms and chivalry. Amadis, in the interim, is brought by his foster-father to the court of Scotland, where he meets Oriana, daughter of Lisuarte, King of Britain. To her he becomes warmly attached, and, when knighted, prevails on her to receive him as her cavalier. Thus animated, he sets forth on his military career, to assist Perion of Gaul, who is only known to him as the ally of the Scottish monarch, against Abyes, King of Ireland, who had besieged Perion in his capital. But no knighterrant ever attains the direct place of his destination, when he happens to have one, without some by-battles. Several of these fall to Amadis's lot; and he is involved in many dangers, through which he is protected by the friendship of Urganda the Unknown, a mighty enchantress, the professed patroness of his house. Arriving at length at the capital of Gaul, he terminates the war, by the defeat and death of Abyes, whom he slays in single combat. After this exploit, by means of tokens which had been placed in his cradle, he is recognised and acknowledged as the son of Perion and Elisene. By this time Gandalac, the tutor of Galaor, conceived him to be ready to execute the purpose for which he had carried him off; namely, to maintain a battle on his account, against a brother giant who had injured him. Galaor having previously received the order of knighthood from his brother Amadis, though without knowing him, undertakes the com

bat, which terminates like all combats between giants and knights. Amadis, mean while, repairs to the court of Lisuarte, father of Oriana, and distinguishes himself by feats of chivalry, subduing all competitors by his courage, and attaching them to his person by his valour and liberality. Galaor runs a similar career, with this advantage over his brother, that he seldom fails to be repaid for his labours, by the distressed damozels whom he fortunes to relieve. At length Amadis, at the instigation of a certain dwarf, enters the castle of Arcalaus, whose captives he releases, and whom he defeats in single combat. Here, nevertheless, he is made prisoner by enchantment, and is in great peril, until released by the counter spells of his friend Urganda. The conjuror was, however, not to be provoked with impunity he contrives, by a trick already noticed, to get into his possession the lovely Oriana; and, by another device, had wellnigh slain her father Lisuarte, who was fortunately relieved by Galaor. An insurrection, fomented by Arcalaus, is also quelled, and Oriana is rescued from the enchanter, by the irresistible arm of Amadis. His faithful services are rewarded by possession of his mistress; and thus closes the first book of Amadis. Among other distressed princesses relieved by Amadis, chanced to be the lovely queen Briolania,1 who

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1 Although Cervantes states the dispute which occurred betwixt Don Quixote and Cardenio, in the Sierra Morena, to have respected the character of Queen Madasima; yet the person meant must have been this Queen Briolania. For Helisabad the surgeon, the person who gave the scandal, was the servant and attendant

became desperately enamoured of her deliverer (being the same, indeed, whose hopeless passion excited the compassion of the Prince of Portugal). Oriana, from an inaccurate account of this affair, becomes jealous, and despatches a severe and cruel message to Amadis. This reaches him, just as he had accomplished a notable adventure in the Firm Island, by entering an enchanted chamber, which could only be entered by the truest lover who lived upon earth. The message of Oriana drives him to distraction; he forswears arms, and becomes the companion of the hermit on the Poor Rock, where he does penance, till he is near death's door. The place of his residence at length comes to Oriana's knowledge, who, sensible of her injustice, recalls him to her presence, and of course to health and happiness. His return to the island of Windsor, where Lisuarte kept his court, is of the utmost importance to that prince, who reaps the advantage of his assistance, in a direful contest with Cildadan of Ireland, assisted by certain sons of Anak, whose names it would take us too much time to write, since few of them are under six syllables in length.

of Briolania, not of Madasima. Besides, the character of the latter was untainted (the story of her having twins by Amadis being altogether apocryphal); whereas even the knight of La Mancha could not have vouched for the chastity of Madasima, who was one of the numerous mistresses of Don Galaor, and otherwise a lady of light conditions. Don Galvanes is supposed to have married her only for her fortune, and had therefore the greater right to resent Lisuarte's attempt to deprive him of it. If this be not an accidental mistake of Cervantes, he referred to some history of Amadis, very different from that of Montalvo.

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