The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-01-16
KING ARTHUR.

back in the chronicles, to see what all this started from, you do not find great comfort. Here is a very frank confession of Godfrey of Monmouth, who wrote six hundred years after the time he said Arthur died.
 "While occupied on many and various studies, happened to light upon the his- tory of the kings of Britain and wondered that in the account which Gildas and Bede, in their elegant treatise have given of them, found nothing said of those kings who lived here before the lncarna- tion of Christ, nor of Arthur, and many others who succeeded after the Incarna- tion though their action both deserved immortal fame, and were also celebrated by many people in a pleasant manner and by heart, as if they had been written Whilst was intent upon these and such like thoughts, Walter, archdeacon Of Oxford, a man of great eloquence and learned in foreign histories, offe ed me a very ancient book in the British tongue which, in continued regular story and elegant style, related the actions of them all, from Brutus the first king of the Britsns, down to Cadawallader, the son of Cadwallo. At his request, therefore though had not made fne language my study, by collecting expressions from other authors, yet contented with my own hcmely style, l undertook the translation of the book into Latin"
 You see that this excellent Geoffrey was surprised that in the two best histories of England which he knew, the great King Arthur's name wassnot so much as men. toned. This is probably due to the fact that he belonged in romance and not in history. The truth is that there were, in those ages, many kings and many lords Where the Saxons landed and made raid, the Britons gathered and opposed them. But gradually the Saxons made head against them, and established their permanent colonies exactly as, later down, their descendants established Massachu. setts, and Providence plantations, and Maryland and Virginia in America. In after years, more or less was remembered of the British chieftans, and on this more or less, the romance writers, when the time for romances came, hung their stories.
 Dr. Lingard says of him: "We know neither the period when he lived, nor the district over which he reigned. He is said to have fought and to have gained twelve battles. In the most of these, from the names of the places, he seems to have been opposed to the Angles in Lincolnshire, from the last, at Mt Bacon, to the Saxons under Cerdic or Cynric This, whether it was fought under Arthur or not, was splendid and useful victory, which for forty years checked the ad- vance of the strangers. Perhaps when the reader has been told that Arthur was British chieftain, that he fought many battles, that he was murdered by his nephew, aud was buried in Glastonbury, where his remains were discovered in the reign of Henry the Second, he will have learned all that can be ascertained at the present day, respecting that celebrated warrior"
 It is good deal as you might read a good history of the United States for the first half of this century, and possibly not find the name of Tecumseh ; or as you might read one of the last half of this century which should not mention Sitting Bull But, if 8 hundred years hence, you went among spirited trite of Indians, who had advanced a century toward civ ilization, you might fad enthusiastic ac- counts of Sitting Bull and of Tecumseh preserved in ballads and stories. And these accounts, very likely, would sur. pass anything whicn was true or even possible in the real lives of those chiefs.
 l may say, Tn passing, that both Tecum- sch and Sitting Bull were men quite as accomplished as the real King Arthur was. As for weapons and arts they were quite in advance of him.
 Both Lord Tennyson and Lord Lytton in our time have felt that in this legend of AIthur was the best subject for a great English poem. Lord Lytton once said that he had more hope of being re nem- bered in another country, because he had written King Arthur" than for any fame which any of his novels would have then But you will find it hard to buy copy teddy, and there are good public libra ries which do not contain Bulwer's King Arthur" am afraid in truth Bull wer had "to pump" That is a phrase Mt. Emerson once used to me when he was speaking of another poet. The story is difficult to follow, it is long .winded, it is not founded on the real legends, and you cannot help feeling that Bulwer de- termined to write three verses a day, and wrote them regularly. Still there are noble passages in it. remember that dear Starr King was very fond of it, and | used to quote exquisite verses from it.
 But, as every boy knows, who will read | these lines, the tenderness, the vigor, the | and the truth of Lord Tenny- sons ldyls" have made men and women forget all other poetry about King | Arthur. The "ldyls" have been pub | lished at various times, and are uow pub lished in the chronological order of their | own story. But in the late editions you will find them in the order the author | means that they shall be read.