[86] Hueil, and the cause of his quarrel with Arthur, are incidentally mentioned in _Kulhwch and Olwen_. Hueil, we there read, had stabbed his sister’s son Gwydre, “and hatred was between Hueil and Arthur because of the wound.” [87] Rhys, who doubts Caradoc’s authorship of the _Life of Gildas_, is “certain that the story” of Melwas “is ancient, for Chrétien de Troyes in his _Erec_ speaks of Maheloas as the Lord of the Glass Island--‘Li sire de l’isle de voirre.’” _Arthurian Legend_, p. 52. [88] Layamon’s _Brut_, ll. 42, 43. [89] The question of the mythological origin of the Round Table is one of the many indeterminate problems of Arthurian “criticism.” For a suggestive study of the question see Brown, _The Round Table before Wace_ (_Harvard Studies and Notes_, Vol. VII., 1900), where he confidently states that “the Round Table was a very early Pan-Celtic institution.” [90] _Brut_, ll. 19,254 _sqq._ (Madden’s edition). [91] ll. 28,610 _sqq._ [92] ll. 22,910 _sqq._ [93] See note _C_ on p. 138. [94] Camelot is, apparently, first heard of in Chrétien de Troyes’ _Chevalier de la Charrette_. [95] Tennyson, _Merlin and Vivien_. [96] See note _D_ on p. 138. [97] So much has been clearly proved in the case of _Peredur_, for instance, in a French essay on the composition of that romance recently published from Paris by Dr Mary Williams, formerly Fellow of the University of Wales. [98] This, of course, is an obvious variant of the story told in the _Life of Gildas_, already mentioned, of Guinevere’s abduction by Melwas. [99] _Nonne Prestes Tale_, l. 392. [100] See note _E_ on p. 139. [101] Matthew Arnold, _Tristram and Iseult_. [102] Swinburne, _Tristram of Lyonesse_. [103] M. Bédier, in his edition of Thomas’s _Tristan_, maintains that the original of all the various versions of the story was a single poem composed in England. This is a disputed point among scholars, but it is generally agreed that the story is of British origin. [104] See Tennyson, _The Passing of Arthur_. [105] A. Nutt, _The Legends of the Holy Grail_ (Popular Studies in Mythology and Folklore), p. 72. [106] For a learned and suggestive study of the various versions of the Grail legend, see Miss J. L. Weston’s _The Legend of Sir Perceval_ (2 vols.) in the Grimm Library (Nutt). Miss Weston there distinguishes three stages in the growth of the legend as “the Folklore, the Literary and the Mystical.” In the Mystical, an element which she holds to be “entirely foreign to the original tale,” viz., the Grail quest, “modified and finally transformed it.” The folk-tale “assumed an ecclesiastical and mystical character. The hero became a champion of Christianity and Holy Church, and as such displayed the qualities most approved by the religious views of the time: he became not merely chaste, but an ascetic celibate, and any connection with women was dropped altogether” (Vol. I. p. 117).