THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY GRAIL.
IV.
An account has been given of prose romances in which a quest of the Grail is achieved by Perceval, grand-nephew of Joseph of Arimathæa. The chronology assumes that the Arthurian period belonged to the end of the first century. So ignorant a misconception could not long pass unchallenged; it was thought necessary to postpone the action by four hundred years; such extension of time was effected by insertion of a number of ancestors, described as protectors of the Grail and possessors of the country in which it was kept. Together with this alteration went a change more essential, in virtue of which the place of Perceval came to be filled by a hero to whom was given the name which in English orthography appears as Galahad. Tales making mention of this new actor belong to a time when efforts were made to bring into a connected whole the inconsistent narratives dealing with the fortunes of knights of the Round Table. This result was accomplished by means of a voluminous composition, in which the most important figure was Lancelot of the Lake, whose passion for Arthur's queen became the centre of the history. An introductory composition undertook to explain the descent of the chief Arthurian heroes from Joseph of Arimathæa; while the interval between the earlier history and the advent of Lancelot was filled by a biography of Merlin, now continued and expanded. In this manner the body of Arthurian narrative was brought into some sort of sequence; and it is only as forming integral parts of this extensive system of fiction that have survived tales dealing with Galahad as the accomplisher of the quest.
GRAND ST. GRAAL, OR NASCIEN.
This romance is a recast of the story of Joseph of Arimathæa composed by Robert de Boron; the remodeller chose to indicate Robert as author of his reconstruction. A modern editor, Hucher, accepting such statement as veritable, assumed that Robert had written two histories of the Grail, and printed the longer romance under the title of Grand St. Graal, designating the shorter composition as Petit St. Graal. For want of a better name, the misleading title has been retained; it would seem wiser to denominate the story according to the name of some one of its chief actors, preferably Nascien, who figures as ancestor of Lancelot and Galahad, The author called his story simply estoire du Graal.
The writer, who wishes to be thought a well-known hermit reluctant to give his name, audaciously describes his work as in the
