The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-17
Foreign Literary Items.

-Arthurian students should look at NJ. Paulin
Paris Romans de Ia Table Ronde, mise en-
Nouveau Language Two volumes only are as
yet published-the first containing Joseph of
Arimathea" and the Saint Graal' the second,
Merlin and Artus." Vol. is to contain Ian
eelot of the Lake" and the "Quest of the Saint
Graal;" Vol. a. Tristan NJ. Paulln Paris evil
IDENTITY knows his MSS. thoroughly and has been
able to show clearly where the original romance
of Merlin" ends, and where the inconsistent
continuation of it, lie Roi Artus, begins. AS
Paris holds the prose "NIerln" and the prose
"Graal" not to be Robert of Borrons works. He
also as against Mr.. Furnivall holds that the
short first ''Estore dou Graal," in verse
(ed f. Michel, 1S41; reprint Furnivall,
1SGi), is Robert of Borron's. The passage
| in dispute Qines 3461-3514) is a very
| difficult one, and there is, unluckily, only one
| Ms. of the poem known; but NJ. Paris is able to
appeal to prose MS. which, he says, is nearly
| contemporary with the poem, in support of the
| Interpretation. NJ. Paris also makes Robert of
| Boron a Frenchman, as against Professor Pear
| sons suggestion that he was an Englshman, one
| OF Lord Byron ancestors. AS to the Grdat, NJ.
Paris believes that it did not originally the
| dish of the Last Supper in which Joseph of Ari-
| mathaa collected the blood of Christ, but the
| "Lber Gradalis,' or Book OF Degrees, areligious
service-book in which the legend of the found
| ing of the British Church by Joseph of Arima-
| thea and his possession of the precious dish,
| was written, about 12O A. ID. He thus connects
| the legend with the known quarrel about the
| independence oil the BRUSH Clurcl OF the
| Papacy, which Montalembert treats in his
| Monks of the West" NJ. Paris, in consequence,
believes as against Mr. Furniyall, that the
| "Joseph of Arimath2a' and the "Graal' (gene-
| rally incorporated as the "HiStOry of the Saint
| GTaal'D were written before and not after, the
| Merlin, etc The origin of all the Arthur Ro-
| mances NJ. Paris sees in the Breton lays sung
| by harpers in France put together and arranged
| by Godfrey of Monmouth, and seized on eagerly
| by the French rOmance-writers of the twelfth
century, tired of the ferceness of the earlier
ChanSOnS de GeSte of the Charlemagne cycle
and longing for more courteous, amOrous
chivalresque heroes and their danes. To
| Geoifrey, NJ. Paris also assigns the ''Vita Mer-
lini" and treats him most rightly rs the imme-
diate source of all the splendid stream of Arthu-
rian fiction wherever its hidden springs may
lie. NJ. Pariss theory is admirably worked out,
and his book is of the first importance to Ar
thurian students.
The historian, II. s. Border, has come for
ward with n defense OF the popular tradition
about William Tell, and conceiyes that he es-
tablishes the fact of the existence of Will
| liamus Tallo, renowned for his address and
| courage i'm an epoch of the Middle Ages before
the end of the twelfth century. But NJ. Rllliet
the learned author of the "Origines de Ia Con-
| federation Suisse, has answered hlm In Let
| tre n NJ. Henri Border" which leaves him and
William Tell not a leg to stand upon.
| "A second edition of the translation OF the
"Grettis Saga by NJ. Magnussen ana Mr.. Wm
Morris, is preparing the iirst having % oeen Soi|
out in six weeks. The translators lhlehd u
English other 1ee!andIc Sasas'