nature of holy scripture written by the hand of God, who is said to have appeared in vision in the year 717 after the Passion, bringing the book, which on Ascension Day is to be taken up to heaven, and which the hermit is told to copy (of this book, as above observed, Robert de Boron is afterwards indicated as translator). After the preface narrating this vision are recited adventures of Joseph of Arimathæa, according to the model furnished by Robert, but with expansions. The romance then proceeds to deal, at great length, with the experience of certain converts of Joseph, namely, Evelach king of Sarras near Babylon, his brother-in-law Josephe, and Celidoine, son of the latter. At Sarras, by divine mandate, Josephe, son of Joseph, is consecrated as first Christian bishop, Christ himself performing the ordination: Evelach, who is at war with the king of Egypt, receives from Josephe a red-cross shield, with an injunction that it shall be uncovered only in time of mortal peril; this advice Evelach obeys, and in his utmost danger is saved by a (supernatural) white knight; he is baptized under the name of Mordrain, while Seraphe takes that of Nascien. In a vision, Mordrain sees his nephew Celidoine, son of Nascien, caught up to heaven, while nine rivers flow from his body; in eight of these a man from heaven washes his extremities, but in the ninth is completely immersed; the vision is expounded as having reference to the race of Celidoine, whose last descendants are Lancelot and Galahad.
The converts undergo a series of temptations and tribulations, being severally taken up by the Holy Ghost, and carried to rocky islets (the idea is borrowed from the temptation of Jesus); in this solitude Mordrain and Nascien suffer from assaults of the devil in feminine form, but are consoled by the daily visits of an old man (impersonating divine grace) who arrives in a self-sailing silver ship; eventually the three relations are brought together on a marvellous vessel, the ship of Solomon (emblematic of the Church), of which is given a curious and elaborately symbolic account.
Solomon having had an unfortunate experience of women, and indulging in satire of the sex, it is revealed to him that from his line shall come a virgin, through whom shall be made good the fall of our first parents; the race shall not end in this spotless maiden, but terminate in a virgin knight (Galahad), who shall deliver his people. Anxious to leave a memento for this descendant, Solomon, who in spite of his acrimony seems to be in the habit of taking the advice of his wife, constructs a wonderful vessel, in which he places a bed, with a crown at the head, and at the foot the sword of his father David, which for the purpose he furnishes with a new pommel; the hangings, supplied by Solomon's wife, are of tow, she declaring that they can be changed only by the daughter of a king (the sister
