Chapter 3 - Page 2

No princess veiled in azure vest
Snatched him, by Merlin's powerful spell,
In groves of golden bliss to dwell;
But when he fell, with winged speed,
His champions, on a milk-white steed,
From the battle's hurricane
Bore him to Joseph's towered fane,* In the fair vale of Avalon;
There, with chanted orison
And the long blaze of tapers clear,
The stoled fathers met the bier;
Through the dim aisles, in order dread
Of martial woe, the chief they led,
And deep entombed in holy ground,
Before the altar's solemn bound." * Glastonbury Abbey, said to be founded by Joseph of Arimathea, in a
spot anciently called the island or valley of Avalonia.
Tennyson, in his Palace of Art, alludes to the legend of Arthur's
rescue by the Fairy queen, thus:- "Or mythic Uther's deeply wounded son,
In some fair space of sloping greens,
Lay dozing in the vale of Avalon,
And watched by weeping queens." It must not be concealed, that the very existence of Arthur has been
denied by some. Milton says of him: "As to Arthur, more renowned in
songs and romances than in true stories, who he was, and whether
ever any such reigned in Britain, hath been doubted heretofore, and
may again, with good reason." Modern critics, however, admit that
there was a prince of this name, and find proof of it in the
frequent mention of him in the writings of the Welsh bards. But the
Arthur of romance, according to Mr. Owen, a Welsh scholar and
antiquarian, is a mythological person. "Arthur," he says, "is the
Great Bear, as the name literally implies (Arctos, Arcturus), and
perhaps this constellation, being so near the pole, and visibly
describing a circle in a small space, is the origin of the famous
Round Table." Let us now turn to the history of King Arthur, as
recorded by the romantic chroniclers.
Constans, king of Britain, had three sons, Moines, Ambrosius,
otherwise called Uther, and Pendragon. Moines, soon after his
accession to the crown, was vanquished by the Saxons, in consequence
of the treachery of his seneschal, Vortigern, and growing unpopular
through misfortune, he was killed by his subjects, and the traitor
Vortigern chosen in his place.
Vortigern was soon after defeated in a great battle by Uther and
Pendragon, the surviving brothers of Moines, and Pendragon ascended
the throne.
This prince had great confidence in the wisdom of Merlin, and made
him his chief adviser. About this time a dreadful war arose between
the Saxons and Britons. Merlin obliged the royal brothers to swear
fidelity to each other, but predicted that one of them must fall in
the first battle. The Saxons were routed, and Pendragon, being
slain, was succeeded by Uther, who now assumed, in addition to his own
name, the