New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE ARTHURIAN CYCLE.

THE TWO LOST CENTURIES OF britain; BY W. u
Babcock. l2mo, PIP. 239 Pmiade'ph"' % ="
Lippincott Co.
Mr. Babcoek like many others. has been fascinated
by the difficulties and obscurtes OF that perloo Vi
English history which lies between the departure VI
the Romans and the final conquest by the S'Aohs' anu
especially the fifth and sixth centuries. Inc svrias
for this period are of such character that the con-
clusions reached depend mainly upon the personal
tendencies and habit Of mind OF the student lie may
reject nearly everything as mere legeha OF ne may
accept the reality of events dimy shadowed iorth anu
endeavor to give substance and consistency 10 the rag
mcntary records by the free use OF analogy inference
and imagination The information to be derived from
Cildas Nennius and the Chronicles, Is, In many re-
spects as far from demonstrabity as that which is
presented by the Welsh Bards and Sir Thomas Mallory.
H. is indeed strange that of the alleged events OF
tbesa lost centuries so fixed themselves IT. the popular
1,nd that neither time nor change has been able to
shake or dtcredt them with the common people; that
whereas events regarding the reality Of which there is
no room for doubt have passed into oblivion. The
Arthurian Cycle, believed by many scholars to Ire
purely mythical has resisted all the usual solvents Of
tradition, and has made mark, not only upon Eng
ish but also uron European history, deep as that
impressed by the Carlovingian romances.
The general view taken by Mr.. Babcock of what hap
pened during the fifth and sixth centuries has the
merit Of offering Ineligible and comparatively
straightforward narrative. 1t is plausible and it meets
many difficulties. Proof, in the nature of the case,
there can be none. The most that be looked for
Is such general drift of suggestion as will TT In with
known facts when the firm ground Of real history Is
reached. Mr.. Babcock dispOses Of the chronological
and other contradictions which have arisen like
cloud about the making of England, by suppOsng that
a period of such anarchy nearly all the seemingly
rreconcilabe points referred to may have cOexiscd
But, broadly speaking, from the departure Of the
Romans the Brtons assumed to have been engaged
In prolonged struggle with the SaXons. whose nva-
sons proceeded very gradually who were often driven
back often held for years in place. but who by slow
degrees gained better foothold In the time of Am
brosius, who is supposed by the author 10 have
rupied the place of Imperator the SaxOns lost
ground After Ambr0siuS had passed away then arises
the debatabe period Of the Arthuan empire and here
Mr.. Babcock exhibits great deal of ingenuity. Among
the chief difficulties of this epoch is the ubquity Of
Arthur. His genius is a knotty point, and perhaps
Mr.. Babcock is the truth any one is likely
TO get in surmsng that he not Of priIcey birth,
but his kingdom for himself For it does not seem
possible to get the significance of the fact that
Uther, his alleged father is utterly ignored by the
earliest chronicles, while Of the early bars who
have written about Arthur say anything Of his ancestry
AT time when high lineage was Of the first conse-
Quence, such omissions almost equivalent 10
plict declarations that Arthur was not Of royal-per
haps not even of poble-descent What he was no
made himself, apparently, and the language of his
euogsts certainly warrants this Interpretation.
But il accept Arthur self made ruler,
are only at the beginning of difficulties For
next called upon to explain alleged activity his
part which apparently carried his victorious arms
not only England, south and north and Scotland
also, but into Brittany, where the persistence and
realism of the Arthuran legend has been, if possible,
even stronger than in the British Isles. Ii is true
that Nennus gives list of battles fought by Arthur
against the Saxons but unfortunately the utmost
researches of scholars have hitherto failed to determine
where these battles were fought. The names given by
the old chroncler correspond to known sites. and
the chronology of Arthur's campaigns is wholly
jectura the most diverse and incompatible conclusions
have been come TO- Some of his battles have been
located in half dozen different and widely separated
places and confusion COMPOUNDED characterizeS
all the speculatiOns upon the subject. Mr.. Babcook
has been at great pains restore something like
to the Arhurian period, and his arguments dis
tinguished by ingenuity and wide reading. 1t is
inevitable that in such discussion the phrase " it
may be- should appear frequently, and equally In
evtable that matter what theory is advanced, it
must be open to attack unhistorical. OF all
those who prefer to explain away King Arthur and his
Round Table Sun Myth will simply laugh to
any attempt to uDravel the obscues Of the old
chronicers. But we think the time has when by
general concensus of good authorities the reality Of
Arthur may be accepted. The arguments for his ex-
istence are at all events more thinkabe than those
the mythical side, and this consideration is sufficient to
give seriousness TO the discussion.
Mr.. Babcock goes so far as to suggest that Arthur
may have gone to Brittany; that in fact his absence
then may have afforded the opportunity which his
enemies and his tiaorous allies took to undermine
his empire; that the intelligence of Lanceots diloyal
amour with Gunevere probably reached him when
he abroad, and drove him home to fight hts
last battle Whatever may think OF the evidence
upon which this kind of supersmcture is built up ID
is at least nearly good have for anything
that happened during those lost centuries; and If the
modern imagination prefers to retain the picturesque
ness and nobility and herosm and chivalry of the
Arthuran cycle depleted in the old legends-onIy
looping away the supernatural eXcrescences which
have grown the original storics-therc is really
nothing to forbid or prevent indulgence in this pre-
possession. Arthur may have been in Brittany. He
may have been In Scotland lie may have fought at
the south and at the north. To reconcile all these
allegations it is only necessary to spread his cam
pagns a number of years and in doing that we
shall after all merely be reading the old Chronicle
its author meant il to be read Also we are justi
fed in believing that Arthur opposed principally
TO Cerdc the Saxon. and that he fought and beat that
red0ubtable chieftain in such series of important
battles that the Saxon power was paralyzed for a
time, and was compelled to remain shut up within
the boundaries prescribed by the conqueror. Curious
1t assuredy is that the passing of Arthur should be
surrounded by as much mystery as his advent and
Of this circumstance we must expect the myth-advo-
Gates TO make the most. But there may be sufficient
reasons even for this mystery.
With the death OF Arthur the British power may be
said to have collapsed There was fighting afterward
but that the beginning Of the end, and the con
quest OF the West the legitimate sequence Of his
fall Now. during the last stages of the decline
Of any people il has always been common Stratagem
for their leaders to conceal the death of of
consequence, to surround it with such mystery
may foster the suggestion OF the vanished ones
appearance. Arthur, according to the legend,
taken by the three Queens in the magic barge the
Vale Of Avilion, Avalon Sir Thomas Mallory. ii is
true, supplements this supernatural departure by a
story OF his burial forest hermitage; and II is
quite possible that the exoteric and the esoterc
sons are here united by the simplicity OF the chron
icler. story of the same kind told of Charlie
magne, and OF many Others but nobody pretends that
Charlemagne myth because myths grew up
around him. In any case. Mr. Babcock has written
q very interesting, ingenious and learned book, of
which 1t is a distinguishing merit that it reduces chaos