P. 20, 1. 3. King Arthur's Table-that is, the company of 150 knights who had the right to sit at it. This institution was common in all the ages of chivalry. The Table itself was made by Merlin, the Wizard, for Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, who gave it to King Leodegrance, of Cameliard, and this king gave it back to Arthur when he married Guenever, daughter of King Leodegrance.

"Merlin made the Round Table in tokening of the roundness of the world, for by the Round Table is the world signified by right. For all the world, Christian and heathen, repair unto the Round Table, and when they are chosen to be of the fellowship of the Round Table, they think them more blessed, and more in worship, than if they had gotten half the world."-Morte d'Arthur, bk. xiv. ch. 2.

P. 20, 1. 4. Lyonness-a tract of country in Cornwall, sometimes supposed to lie between Land's End and the Scilly Isles, now fully forty fathoms under water. Lastly, the encroaching sea hath ravined from it the whole country of Lioness, together with divers other parcels of no little circuit; and that such a Lioness there was, these proofs are yet remaining. The space between Land's End and the Isles of Scilly, being about thirty miles, to this day retaineth that name, in Cornish Lethowsow, &c., &c."-CAREW's Survey of Cornwall, 1602.

P. 20, 1. 12. Water-the common old word for lake. Cf. the names Rydal Water, Crummock Water, Derwent Water,

&c.

P. 21, 1. 21. Camelot. Sir Thomas Malory says: "the city of Camelot, that is in English Winchester" (Morte d'Arthur, p. 63)—but his geography is often very vague and impossible, and the town was probably in Somersetshire, close to the villages which still bear the name of Camel.

P. 21, 1. 22. I perish by this people that I made = I perish through the people that I formed into a nation, and taught how to use their strength.

P. 21, 1. 23. Merlin-the great enchanter of the old Arthurian legends, half fiend, half man, and endowed with wonderful knowledge, and great manual skill. He was King Arthur's chief adviser, and support.

P. 21, 1. 23. I should come again. "Some men yet say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu in another place. And men say that he shall come again, and he shall win the holy Many men say that there is written up on his tomb this verse Hic jacet Arthurus, Rex quondam, Rexque futurus (Here lies Arthur, king once, and king again to be).-Morte d'Arthur, Bk. xxi. ch. 7.

cross.

....

P. 21, 1. 27. Brand a piece of wood burning or partly burnt; a sword which when waved glitters as if it flamed.

P. 21, 1. 27. Excalibur (= cut-steel) was Arthur's sword given him by the Lady of the Lake, to whom Merlin directed him to apply for it. (See Historie of Prince Arthur, bk. i. ch. 23.) The swords of heroes of romance usually had proper names; thus Morglay was the sword of Sir Bevis of Hampton, and Duridana of Orlando. "You talk of Morglay, Excalibur, of Duridana, or so; tut! I lend no credit to that. is fabled of them."-BEN JONSON, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 1. 162.

P. 21, 1. 31. Samite. The word is derived from the Greek hexamiton, thence examitum, xamitum. "To say of any silken tissue that it was examitum, or samit, meant that it was six-threaded,' and therefore costly and splendid.' Rock's Textile Fabrics (South Kensington Handbooks, p. 25. Cf. "In silken samite she was light array'd

6

And her fair locks were covered up in gold."

SPENSER, Faerie Queene, III. xii. 13. Samite, therefore = a rich kind of taffeta, or silk velvet. P. 21, 1. 37. Middle mere = middle of the mere. A Latin form of expression.

P. 21, 1. 38.

Lightly = readily, quickly.

Light=having

little weight, easily moved, active, ready, quick.

P. 21, 1. 43. Hest = command, injunction. Cf. behest. P. 21, 1. 51. Levels = smooth surface, or simply surface; apparently a literal translation of the Latin æquora.

P. 21, 1. 53. Winter moon-that is, the moon shining bright and clear as it does in the winter, particularly on a frosty night.

P. 22, 1. 57. Jacinth-work. The jacinth or hyacinth is a precious stone, a red variety of zircon. It is spoken of in Rev. xxi. 20 as forming one of the foundations of the walls of the New Jerusalem. "Jacinths, albeit they differ much from Amethysts in some respects, yet in lustre they approach very near: and this is only the difference between them, that the brave violet colour, which in the Amethyst is full and rich, in the Jacinth is delayed and weaker."HOLLAND'S Plinie, bk. xxvii. ch. 9.

P. 22, 1. 60. This way and that dividing the swift minddividing the mind, whose thoughts are so swift, between two courses; hesitating between two opinions. The line is an almost literal translation of

66 Atque animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc." VERGIL, Eneid, iv. 285, and viii. 20. Connington translates it: "This way and that he whirls his thought."

P. 22, 1. 64. That whistled stiff and dry about the marge= that growing about the edge of the water, and being stiff and dry, gave forth a whistling sound as the wind blew

The

through them. P. 22, 1. 71. Lapping = making the sound which an animal makes when licking up the water with its tongue. original has the word wap, which means to strike. P. 22, 1. 80. Lief= beloved, dear. Cf.—

"To have my sepulture

Near unto him, which was to me most lief."

Mirror for Magistrates.

For such repetitions as lief and dear compare the numerous pairs in the Collects of the Book of Common Prayer,—sore let and hindered, create and make, prepare and make ready, &c., &c. As a rule, one of the pair is either a Latin word, or a word already becoming unfamiliar.

P. 22, 1. 84. Counting the dewý pebbles, i.e., with eyes bent on the ground as if he were counting the pebbles.

=

P. 22, 1. 94. Obedience is the bond of rule obedience is that which keeps the authority of a ruler from falling to pieces. The idea is not peculiar to Tennyson, but it is a favourite one of his, and indeed is very prominent in Sir Thomas Malory's tale. In none we have it in the words of Pallas, who places highest

"To live by law,

Acting the law we live by without fear."

The virtue of noble, freehearted obedience Tennyson places above all others-what our Prayer Book calls "a service which is perfect freedom."

P. 22, 1. 99. Should be should there be. But = except. P. 23, 1. 102. Jousta coming together, the encounter of two knights on horseback at a tournament; connected with jostle, to knock against.

P. 23, 1. 105. Deeps. Cf. levels (1. 50), shallows, flats, &c. P. 23, 1. 109. Were would be-the old subjunctive imperfect.

P. 23, 1. 110. Conceit = a conception, or thing conceived in the mind; idea; fancy. "The fair conceit the king hath of you." (Hen. VIII. ii. 3. 74.) "A man wise in his own

conceit." (Proverbs xxvi. 12.)

P. 23, 1. 121. Authority forgets, &c.--Authority = recog nised power or influence: forgets = gets or puts away from the memory, neglects, forsakes.

P. 23, 1. 122. Widow'd literally deprived of a husband, then, deprived of a support, or anything of value.

Cf." And sees thee like the weak and widow'd vine."
MASON, Ode to Independence.

66

P. 23, 1. 123. I see thee what thou art. Compare such examples as "Mark King Richard, how he looks" (Rich. II. iii. 3. 61); "I see you what you are"(Twelfth Night, i. 4. 269); and so on. The idiom is common enough in English, and of constant occurrence also in Greek. Attention is called to that of which we are going to speak by naming it, and then the sentence is constructed independently.

P. 23, 1. 128. Giddy =ever varying, inconstant, of light value. Cf.

"For what miscarries

Shall be the general's fault, though he perform
To the utmost of a man, and giddy censure
Will then cry out, &c."

SHAKSPERE, Coriolanus, i. 1. 272.

P. 23, 1. 131. Spare to fling = forbear to fling. Cf. "Spare not to tell him that he hath wronged his honour." (Much Ado, ii. 2. 22); "He will not spare to gird the gods " (Coriol. i. 1. 260).

P. 23, 1. 139. A streamer of the northern morna long streak of light of the aurora borealis, which literally means northern morn.

P. 23, 1. 140.

P. 24, 1. 181.

Isles of winter = icebergs.

Clothed with his breath-his breath in the cold air hung round him like a cloud.

P. 25, 1. 192. The long glories of the winter moon = the long glorious streak of light which the winter-bright moon made on the level water.

P. 25, 1. 193. Hove = hovered about, loitered. Properly it should be hoved (see original), but the sound being that of a past tense, it has been used as such (see Dora, 1. 74). Cf.— "He far away espied

A couple (seeming well to be his twain)
Which hoved close under a forest side,

As if they lay in wait, or else themselves did hide."
SPENSER, Faerie Queene, iii. 10. 20.

P. 25, 1. 195. Ware aware. Cf.

"But that thou overheard'st it, ere I was ware." SHAKSPERE, Rom. and Jul. iii. 2. 103.

P. 25, 1. 196. Dense = crowded—a Latin expression. P. 25, 1. 199. A cry that... stars a cry that rose with shrill trembling sound to the stars, and made them thrill and throb.

P. 25, 1. 201. Shrills = gives forth a sharp vibrating sound. Rather a favourite word of Tennyson's. Cf.—

"The blood-red light of dawn

Flared on her face, she shrilling, 'Let me die!'" TENNYSON, Lancelot and Elaine, 1. 1020. "Break we our pipes that shrilled as loud as lark." SPENSER, Shepherd's Calendar, November, 1. 72. P. 25, 1. 210. Called him by his name = a Latin form of expression to express endearment.

P. 25, 214. Smote. See note on Hyperion, i. 290. [What is meant by the springing east? ]

=

P. 25, 215. Greaves =armour for the legs: French greve the shin; cuisses armour for the thigh: French cuisse = the thigh. Cf. "He had greaves of brass upon his legs." 1 Sam. xvii. 6.

"I saw young Harry with his beaver on,
His cuisses on his thighs."

SHAKSPERE, I. Hen. IV. iv. 1. 104. P. 25, 1. 216. Dash'd with drops of onset = splashed with blood of the battle.

=

P. 25, 1. 218. Daïs-throne - the throne on the daïs or raised platform at the end of a dining-hall or hall of state. P. 25, 1. 229. The true old times are dead. The lament for the chivalry of the "good old days has been common enough in every age. It is but another form of that gentle sorrow with which most of us, late in life, look back upon "the days that are no more "the feeling that for us these things have been, and will not be again. Perhaps the most celebrated lament is that of Burke in his Reflections on the Revolution in France, commencing "The age of chivalry is gone... Never, nevermore shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honour, which felt a stain like a wound."

P. 26, 1. 233.

[What does this refer to ?]

P. 26, 1. 240. The old order new. Cf. "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinth. v. 17.)

P. 26, 1. 242. Lest one good custom, &c. = lest one custom, though good, should by its being one, by its want of variety, lose its keen relish and so do harm-becoming an empty form. Hamlet calls custom "that monster, who all sense eats" (iii. 4. 161), while, on the other hand, Cowper says

"Variety's the very spice of life,

That gives it all its flavour."

Task, ii. 606.