The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-02
The Character OF H.mmceIOt.


rank which for dignity and grace is second
enly 10 that of Arthur, and in tragic interest
IL hardly Yields even TO the kings. A brief
sketch OF such d character, as IL stands ia the
y romance, cannot be wholly uninteresting.
Oontrasted with the great heroic figures OF
the ancient epic it shows foroibly what
world OF change had been by the Christian
idea introduced into the region of the imagi-
nation And, as conception dating from
medieval sources, IL is proof how far the
'gernn and truest ideal of oivilizatOn-the
baSis in the individual of all that can really
make society move forward and move higher
may precede the actual development of
those conditions which the word civilization
now to us denotes. incidentally, review of
Iancelot's character cannot but bear on the
; magnificent series of poems which Mr.. Tenny-
son has lately completed. TO study what
must have formed the chief material for those
poems is to recognize with greater olearness
than before the genius which has been at
work upon them, the intuitive delicacy in Sc
lection, the power and the beauty, Whlch VIII
render them immortal.
Sir Lancelot is the son of King Ban OF
Benwicke, shadowy king of a still more
shadow kingdom In the legend, Benwicke
is defined only by the details that it is beyond
seas, and that when returning thence from
his wars with Lancelot after the final disrup-
ton of the Court, and on receiving news of
When first established as q knight of Ar
thurs Court. Lancelot is chosen as the fore
most warrior to conduct Queen Guinevere to
her marriage from the realm Of her father,
Leodogrance, of Cameliard. Then began the
love between them--the bond of true false
hood and of loyal dsloyalty- which lasted to
the end, and which made the tragic element
in Lancelot's life. Only on two occasions,
and on beth by the arts of an enchantress,
Iancelot is unwittingly drawn from his faith.
fulness to the Queen. By the first OF these
magical deceptions he became the father OF
Sir Galahad, and the whole matter was after
wards explained and confessed to the
Queen. When the deception was prac
tised second time, and on his appearing,
sinoe the affair was instantly known to Gui-
nevere, twice convicted in her eyes, Sir
Lancelot falls into the terrific two-year fit of
madness half raving half melancholy, which
makes an important episode in the romance
But he is heroic even in his detection and
his remorse. Being partly cured at last by
FIRST vision of the Sangreal, he settles in the
Joyous Ile under the feigned name OF LIE
Ohevalier Nal Fet, and his great deeds soon
bring Knights of the Round Table about him,
and lead to his restoration at Court. Then
follows the great quest of the Sangreal, of
which his own son Galahad is the moving
cause, and it is during the quest that, within
an ancient chapel, Lancelet has the second
dreamy sight (mentioned in Aarmt0n) of the
Beatifc Cup, when 55.
iSlumbering, he saw the vision high
He might not view with waking eye"
Before the quest was over, he met and con-
yersed long with his sanity and knightly son,
just before Sir Galahad's disappearance from
the world; and, being afterwards shriven, he
solemnly renounced the old otfense which had
80 long hung about his neck.
But when the remnant of old knights were
na - Ia - rho,x J.,
table had been replonished with new men,
and the disturbance caused by the quest was
wearing off, Lancelot and the Queen fell back
into the old ways. After clearing her name
and fame in many mortal combat, he is at
hast overborne by Gawaine, Agrawaine, and
Mordred, the three nephews Of Arthur, of
whom the first is more conspicuous as
IAncelot's mortal foe, the last as the plotter
against the King. Guinevere goes into sane
tuary at Almesbury, and Lancelot retires to
Benwicke beyond seas. But he does not quit
the Court without proffering the fullest terms
of satisfaction. His own request that Guine-
we're may be reinstated and he himself re-
eeiyed into accord is backed by an engage
ment to spend all his substance in founding
religious houses at every ten miles between
Sandwich and Carlisle, himself making the
whole pilgrimage barefoot, and Papal bulls
are sent to second this fair and pious pro-
posal. But Gawaine will hear of no compro-
mise; and Arthur, with that curious weakness
which in the romance is allowed to stand part
of his character, let's depart his best and
noblest, and follows him presently to Ben
wicke in battle array. There Gawaine re-
seives his mortal wound from Lancelot, and
she forces are recalled by the news that Nor
dred has usurped the kingdom. The ''great
battle in the West" then follows, which is
not described-but sung in splendid verse, in
''The Passing of Arthur"
But no sooner had Arthur withdrawn from
Benwicke than Lancelot prepared himself to
follow, not for reprisals, but that he might
aid his king and friend against Mordred. The
ghost of Gawaine, reconciled in death to
Lancelot, appeared to counsel delay till these
suecors should arrive, and it was slight and
unforeseen accident alone that prevented
obedience to the warning. After the battle
1ancelot betook himself to Almesbury, seek
ing an audience of the Queen. On learning
there her settled resolution to abide by q
holy life, he himself was received into the
eloister by the "Bishop of Canterbury, a her.
init, and renoanced forever his last hope OF
taking his old love away, beyond their com
mon sorrows, to the distant retreat of Joyous
Gard. When, after several years of the
silent life, he had been an admitted prizes
for near a twelvemonth, he was miracu
lously summoned to Almesbury, whence he
was 10 remove the body of the Queen,
then at the point of death, and to convey i
20 Glastonbury for a final resting place
During his journey, the Queen, in her dying
moments, spoke freely of him to the nuns
She had died but half an hour before hi
coming Sir Lancelot she said, had beer