In the Second Book the story makes but little progress, nearly the whole of it being occupied by a long lecture or sermon delivered to Arthur by a “master,” named Amytans, on the duties of a king; the chief one being that a king should give presents to everybody--a duty which is insisted on with laborious tediousness. Lines 1320-2130 are almost entirely occupied with this subject, and will be found to be the driest part of the whole narrative. In the course of his lecture, Amytans explains at great length the obscure prophecy mentioned above, shewing that by the water-lion is meant God the Father, by the leech God the Son, and by the flower the Virgin Mary. Though the outline of a similar lecture exists in the old French text, there would seem to be a special reason for the length to which it is here expanded. Some lines certainly seem to hint at events passing in Scotland at the time when the poem was composed. Thus, “kings may be excused when of tender age” (l. 1658); but when they come to years of discretion should punish those that have wrested the law. Again we find (l. 1920) strong warnings against flatterers, concluding (l. 1940) with the expression, “Wo to the realme that havith sich o chans!” Such hints may remind us of the long minorities of James II. and James III.; and, whilst speaking on this subject, I may note a somewhat remarkable coincidence. When King Arthur, as related in Book I., asks the meaning of his dream, he is told that it signifies that “they in whom he most trusts will fail him” (l. 499); and he afterwards laments (l. 1151) how his “men fail him at need.” Now when we read that a story is current of a prophetess having told James III. that he was destined to “fall by the hands of his own kindred,”[P7] and that that monarch was in the habit of consulting _astrologers_[P8] (compare l. 432) as to the dangers that threatened him, it seems quite possible that the poem was really composed about the year 1478; and this supposition is consistent with the fact that the hand-writing of the present MS. copy belongs to the very end of the fifteenth century. [Footnote P7: Tytler’s History of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1841), vol. iv., p. 216.] [Footnote P8: The French text does not say anything about “astronomy.” We may especially note the following lines, as _not_ being in the French, viz., lines 1473-1496, 1523-1542, 1599-1644, 1658-1680, and the long passage 1752-1998.] Towards the end of the Second Book, we learn that the twelvemonth’s truce draws near its end, and that Sir Lancelot again obtains permission from the lady to be present in the approaching combat, choosing this time to be arrayed in “armys al of blak” (l. 2426).