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its infancy as well as manhood) should stop in the midst of so extraordinary a career, or confine themselves within the lists of the terra firma. From him therefore the Spanish romancers took the story of the British Arthur, and the knights of his round table, his wife Gueniver, and his conjurer Merlin. But still it was the same subject (essential to books of chivalry), the wars of Christians against Infidels. And, whether it was by blunder or design, they changed the Saxons into Saracens, I suspect by design; for chivalry, without a Saracen, was so very lame and imperfect a thing, that even that wooden image, which turned round on an axis, and served the knights to try their swords, and break their lances upon, was called, by the Italians and Spaniards, Saracino and Sarazino; so closely were these two ideas connected.

In these old romances there was much religious superstition mixed with their other extravagancies; as appears even from their very names and titles. The first romance of Launcelot of the Lake, and King Arthur and his Knights, is called the History of Saint Greaal. This saint Greaal was the famous relick of the holy blood pretended to be collected into a vessel by Joseph of Arimathea.

So another is call-
For in those days

ed Kyrie Eleison of Montauban. Deuteronomy and Paralipomenon were supposed to be the names of holy men. And as they made saints of their knights-errant, so they made knights-errant of their tutelary saints; and each nation advanced its own into the order of chivalry. Thus every thing in those

times being either a saint, or a devil, they never wanted for the marvellous.

In the old romance of Launcelot of the Lake, we have the doctrine and discipline of the church as formally delivered as in Bellarmine himself. "Là confession (says the preacher) ne vaut rien si le cœur n'est repentant; et si tu es moult & eloigné de l'amour de nostre Seigneur, tu ne peus estre recordé si non par trois choses premierement par la confession de bouche; secondement par une contrition de cœur ; tiercement par peine de cœur, & par œuvre d'aumône & charité. Telle est la droite voye d'aimer. Dieu. Or va & si te confesse en cette maniere & recois la discipline des mains de tes confesseurs, car c'est le signe de merite.-Or mande le roy ses evesques, dont grande partie avoit en l'ost, & vinrent tous en sa chapelle. Le roy devant eux tout nud en pleurant & tenant son plein point de vint menuës verges, si les jetta devant eux, & leur dit en soupirant, qu'ils prissent de luy vengeance, car je suis le plus vil pecheur, &c.-Après prinst discipline & d'eux & moult doucement la receut." Hence we. find the divinity-lectures of Don Quixote and the penance of his 'squire, are both of them in the ritual of chivalry. Lastly, we find the knight-errant, after much turmoil to himself, and disturbance to the world, frequently ended his course, like Charles V. of Spain, in a monastery; or turned hermit, and be came a saint in good earnest. And this again will let us into the spirit of those dialogues between Kiij Sancho

Sancho and his master, where it is gravely debated, whether he should not turn saint or archbishop.

There were several causes of this strange jumble of nonsense and religion. As first, the nature of the subject, which was a religious war or crusade; secondly, the quality of the first writers, who were religious men; and thirdly, the end of writing many of them, which was to carry on a religious purpose. We learn that Clement V. interdicted justs and tournaments, because he understood they had much hindered the crusade decreed in the council of Vienna. "Torneamenta ipsa & hastiludia sive juxtas in regnis Franciæ, Angliæ, & Almanniæ, & aliis nonnullis provinciis, in quibus ea consuevere frequentiùs exerceri, specialiter interdixit." Extrav. de Torneamentis C. unic temp. Ed. I. Religious men, I conceive, therefore, might think to forward the design of the crusades by turning the fondness for tilts and tournaments into that chan nel. Hence we see the books of knight-errantry so full of solemn justs and tournaments held at Trebi zonde, Bizance, Tripoly, &c. Which wise project, I apprehend, it was Cervantes's intention to ridicule, where he makes his knight propose it as the best means of subduing the Turk, to assemble all the knights-errant together by proclamation.

WARBURTON.

It is generally agreed, I believe, that this long note of Dr. Warburton's is, at least, very much misplaced. There is not a single passage in the character of Armado, that has the least relation to any story in

any

any romance of chivalry. With what propriety therefore a dissertation upon the origin and nature of those romances is here introduced, I cannot see; and I should humbly advise the next editor of Shakspere to omit it. That he may have the less scruple upon that head, I shall take this opportunity of throwing out a few remarks, which, I think, will be sufficient to shew, that the learned writer's hypothesis was formed upon a very hasty and imperfect view of the subject.

At setting out, in order to give a greater value to the information which is to follow, he tells us, that no other writer has given any tolerable account of this matter; and particularly-" that Monsieur Huet, the bishop of Avranches, who wrote a formal Treatise of the Origin of Romances, has said little or nothing of these [books of chivalry] in that superficial work." The fact is true, that Monsieur Huet has said very little of Romances of chivalry; but the imputation, with which Dr. W. proceeds to load him, of "putting the change upon his reader," and "dropping his proper subject" for another “that had no relation to it more than in the name," is unfounded.

It appears plainly from Huet's introductory address to De Segrais, that his object was to give some account of those romances which were then popular in France, such as Astrée of D'Urfe, the Grand Cyrus of De Scuderi, &c. He defines the Romances of which he means to treat, to be "filions des avantures amoureuses ;" and he excludes epick poems from the number,

number, because—" Enfin les poëmes ont pour sujec une action militaire ou politique et ne traitent d'amour que par occasion; les Romans au contraire ont l'amour pour sujeƐt principal, et ne traitent la politique et la guerre que par incident. Je parle des Romans réguliers; car la plûpart des vieux Romans, François, Italiens, et Espagnols sont bien moins amoureux que militaires." After this declaration, surely no one has a right to complain of the author for not treating more at large of the old romances of chivalry, or to stigmatise his work as superficial, upon account of that omission. I shall have occasion to remark below, that Dr. Warburton, who, in turning over this superficial work (as he is pleased to call it), seems to have shut his eyes against every ray of good sense and just observation, has condescended to borrow from it a very gross mistake..

Dr. W.'s own positions, to the support of which his subsequent facts and arguments might be expected to apply, are two; 1. That Romances of chivalry being of Spanish original, the heroes and the scene were generally of that country. 2. That the subject of these Romances were. the crusades of the European Christians against the Saracens of Asia and Africa. The first position, being complicated, should be divided into the two following; 1. That romances of chivalry were of Spanish original. 2. That the heroes and the scene of them were generally of that country.

Here are therefore three positions, to which I shall şay a few words in their order; but I think it proper to premise a sort of definition of a Romance of Chi,

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