All who have any real knowledge of the Arthurian cycle are well aware that the Breton _lais_, representing as they do the popular tradition and folk-lore of the people among whom they were current, are of value as affording indications of the original form and meaning of much of the completed legend, but of how much or how little value has not yet been exactly determined. An earlier generation of scholars regarded them as of great, perhaps too great, importance. They were inclined indiscriminately to regard the Arthurian romances as being but a series of connected _lais_. A later school practically ignores them, and sees in the Arthurian romances the conscious production of literary invention, dealing with materials gathered from all sources, and remodelled by the genius of a Northern French poet. I believe, myself, that the eventual result of criticism will be to establish a position midway between these two points, and to show that though certain of the early Celticists exaggerated somewhat, they were, in the main, correct--their theory did not account for all the varied problems of the Arthurian story, but it was not for that to be lightly dismissed. The true note of the Arthurian legend is evolution _not_ invention; the roots of that goodly growth spring alike from history, myth, and faëry; whether the two latter were not, so far as the distinctively _Celtic_ elements of the legend are concerned, originally _one_, is a question which need not here be debated.[1] [1] In this connection, _cf._ Mr. Nutt's "Fairy Mythology of Shakespeare"--Popular Studies, No. 6. This much is quite certain; while the mythic element in the Arthurian story is yet a matter for discussion, while we are as yet undecided whether Arthur was, or was not, identical with the _Mercurius Artusius_ of the Gauls; whether he was, or was not, a _Culture Hero_; whether Gawain does, or does not, represent the same hero as Cuchullin, and both alike find origin in a solar myth; we at least know that both Arthur and Gawain are closely connected with, and as their final destination found rest in, Fairyland. It is, therefore, no matter for surprise if we find such definitely fairy stories as the _lais_ of _Guingamor_ and _Lanval_ (which, be it noted, represent a whole family of kindred tales) connected with the Arthurian cycle, and their heroes figuring as knights of Arthur's court.[2] [2] _Cf._ Dr. Schofield's studies of the _lais_ of _Guingamor_, _Graalent_, and _Lanval_, referred to in the Notes.