The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights | Page 3

slim misericorde; while the Emperor himself might have been given the very suit of armour stripped from the Duke of Clarence before his fateful encounter with the butt of malmsey.
Did not even Shakespeare calmly give cannon to the Romans and suppose every continental city to lie majestically beside the sea? By the old writers, accuracy in these matters was disregarded, and anachronisms were not so much tolerated as unperceived.
In illustrating this edition of "The Legends of King Arthur and his Knights," it has seemed best, and indeed unavoidable if the text and the pictures are to tally, to draw what Malory describes, to place the fashion of the costumes and armour somewhere about A.D. 1460, and to arm the knights in accordance with the Tabard Period.
LANCELOT SPEED.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The Marriage of King Arthur
Then fell Sir Ector down upon his knees upon the ground before young Arthur, and Sir Key also with him.
The Lady of the Lake
The giant sat at supper, gnawing on a limb of a man, and baking his huge frame by the fire
The castle rocked and rove throughout, and all the walls fell crashed and breaking to the earth
Came forth twelve fair damsels, and saluted King Arthur by his name
Prianius was christened, and made a duke and knight of the Round Table
Sir Lancelot smote down with one spear five knights, and brake the backs of four, and cast down the King of Northgales
Beyond the chapel, he met a fair damsel, who said, "Sir Lancelot, leave that sword behind thee, or thou diest"
"Lady," replied Sir Beaumains, "a knight is little worth who may not bear with a damsel"
So he rode into the hall and alighted
Then they began the battle, and tilted at their hardest against each other
And running to her chamber, she sought in her casket for the piece of iron ... and fitted it in Tristram's sword
By the time they had finished drinking they loved each other so well that their love never more might leave them
Waving her hands and muttering the charm, and presently enclosed him fast within the tree
Galahad ... quickly lifted up the stone, and forthwith came out a foul smoke
"This girdle, lords," said she, "is made for the most part of mine own hair, which, while I was yet in the world, I loved full well"
At last the strange knight smote him to the earth, and gave him such a buffet on the helm as wellnigh killed him
Then was Sir Lancelot sent for, and the letter read aloud by a clerk
But still the knights cried mightily without the door, "Traitor, come forth!"

THE LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR
CHAPTER I
The Prophecies of Merlin, and the Birth of Arthur
King Vortigern the usurper sat upon his throne in London, when, suddenly, upon a certain day, ran in a breathless messenger, and cried aloud--
"Arise, Lord King, for the enemy is come; even Ambrosius and Uther, upon whose throne thou sittest--and full twenty thousand with them--and they have sworn by a great oath, Lord, to slay thee, ere this year be done; and even now they march towards thee as the north wind of winter for bitterness and haste."
At those words Vortigern's face grew white as ashes, and, rising in confusion and disorder, he sent for all the best artificers and craftsmen and mechanics, and commanded them vehemently to go and build him straightway in the furthest west of his lands a great and strong castle, where he might fly for refuge and escape the vengeance of his master's sons--"and, moreover," cried he, "let the work be done within a hundred days from now, or I will surely spare no life amongst you all."
Then all the host of craftsmen, fearing for their lives, found out a proper site whereon to build the tower, and eagerly began to lay in the foundations. But no sooner were the walls raised up above the ground than all their work was overwhelmed and broken down by night invisibly, no man perceiving how, or by whom, or what. And the same thing happening again, and yet again, all the workmen, full of terror, sought out the king, and threw themselves upon their faces before him, beseeching him to interfere and help them or to deliver them from their dreadful work.
Filled with mixed rage and fear, the king called for the astrologers and wizards, and took counsel with them what these things might be, and how to overcome them. The wizards worked their spells and incantations, and in the end declared that nothing but the blood of a youth born without mortal father, smeared on the foundations of the castle, could avail to make it stand. Messengers were therefore sent forthwith through all the land to find, if it were possible, such a child. And, as some of them went down a certain village street, they saw