About the year 1147 all England was delighted with a narration which was published by Geoffrey of Monmouth, concerning the deeds of a glorious man whom Geoffrey declared to have been an old king of that country, and whose name he gave as Arthur. Geoffrey, who was a Welsh priest living in England at that time, declared that he had found this account of King Arthur in a Welsh book, and gave it as true history. Whether history or fable,--upon this modern opinion is divided,--his story of the great knight Arthur so charmed the people that the poets and prose-writers, not only of England, but of France, straightway took hold of it, turned it into verse, amplified it, added to it, retold it in long prose tales, and in various ways spread it abroad, until there came to be what is called a cycle--that is, a connected ring--of Arthurian romances. In this cycle all the prominent characters of the modern story made their appearance: besides King Arthur, the fascinated world read of Sir Lancelot du Lake, of Queen Guenever, of Sir Tristram, of Queen Isolde, of Merlin, of Sir Gawaine, of the Lady of the Lake, of Sir Galahad, and of the wonderful search for the Holy Cup called the “Saint Graal,” which was said to have received the blood that flowed from the wounds of our Saviour when he hung on the cross. I hope that every boy will hereafter become acquainted with the names of many of these old writers who contributed to the collection of romances that make up the Arthurian cycle; but for the present, without perplexing young minds with a long list, I wish to impress four of these names upon your memories. They are _Wace_, _Layamon_, _De Borron_, and _Walter Map_. I should wish particularly that my young readers would remember the name of Layamon, because he wrote his account of King Arthur in English, and is therefore to be reverenced as the sturdy poet who made a great stand for our native tongue after William the Conqueror had imposed his French dialect upon us.