PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AND SURVIVAL. By James H. Hyslop, Ph.D., LL.D., Secretary of thenbsp;Psychical Research Society of America.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;{Ready

THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL. By Jessie L. Weston, Author of �The Legend of Sir Perceval,� � Sir Gawain at the Grail Castle,� etc. {Ready

JEWISH MYSTICISM. ByL. ABELSON,M.A.,Lit.D., Principal of Aria College, Portsmouth.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;{Ready

BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY. By C. A. F. Rhys Davids, M.A., F.B.A., Lecturer in Indian Philosophy, Manchester University.

THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM. By Reynold A. Nicholson, M.A., Litt.D., LL.D., Lecturer innbsp;Persian, Cambridge University.

Of the romantic literature of the Middle Ages none has exercised a greater fascinationnbsp;than the cycle of story and legend that setsnbsp;forth the Quest of the Holy Grail. Everynbsp;one has heard of the Grail, and made acquaintance, in some form or other, with thenbsp;perils and adventures of the knightly seekersnbsp;who went in quest of it. But few have anynbsp;idea of the wealth of the literature, or of thenbsp;many problems to which its contradictorynbsp;nature has given rise. InThe following pagesnbsp;Miss Jessie L. Westori^ffiMn whom we have nonbsp;scholar better versed in the texts and all thatnbsp;concerns them, has given the clearest accountnbsp;of the literature and the problems that hasnbsp;yet appeared, and has put forward a solutionnbsp;that deserves the most careful consideration,nbsp;for it is the only one yet advanced thatnbsp;takes us really to the heart of the matter.

In the following pages I have endeavovired to give, as clearly and concisely as possible, anbsp;description of the literature composing thenbsp;Grail cycle, an analysis of its content, andnbsp;a survey of the leading theories to which thisnbsp;perplexing body of romance has given rise.

Lacking as we do MS. evidence for the initial stages in the development of the story,nbsp;ignorant of the precise time and place of itsnbsp;birth as a theme for popular romance, it isnbsp;impossible to present a theory that shallnbsp;have behind it the weight and authority ofnbsp;established fact. There will always be toonbsp;many missing links, however skilfully thenbsp;chain be woven. But the theory set forthnbsp;in these pages is that which, after twenty yearsnbsp;spent in close and constant study of thenbsp;subject, I believe to be the only one capablenbsp;of meeting all the varied conditions of thenbsp;problem. It is not as yet complete, and innbsp;the absence of fresh discoveries in the field ofnbsp;MS, literature perhaps may never be entirelynbsp;so, but the fact that it places the question on

a new and wider basis, freeing it from the limits of mere literary critieism, introduces anbsp;new element of encouragement. If the studynbsp;of the Grail Quest fall, as I hold it does,nbsp;within the field of Comparative Religion, wenbsp;can call to our aid scholars whose interest liesnbsp;otherwise outside the fascinating, but to somenbsp;minds perhaps superficial, realm of romanticnbsp;literature.

The whole problem gains in depth and importance, it passes alike from those problems which are the province of the scholar versednbsp;in philology and the establishment of criticalnbsp;texts, alid from those which are the chosennbsp;playground of the enthusiastic amateur ; andnbsp;that will in itself be clear gain, for if the Grailnbsp;problem has suffered from the arid literalismnbsp;of the former, it has suffered even more fromnbsp;the fantastic speculations of the latter.

The � Secret of the Grail � I hold to be above all a � human � problem, a subject of profoundnbsp;human interest, and one which touches suchnbsp;deep springs of human thought and neednbsp;that it requires to be handled by those whosenbsp;interest lies in dealing with the workings ofnbsp;the soul, as much as with the expression ofnbsp;literary intelligence.

The real difficulty of the question lies in the fact that it is at once literary, religious.

and popular�^this latter inasmuch as it deals with the transmission from one age to another,nbsp;of a certain distinct and characteristic bodynbsp;of practice and belief. Its complete andnbsp;harmonious solution demands the active andnbsp;sympathetic co-operation of minds too aptnbsp;to stand aloof from one another, too apt tonbsp;view each other�s work with distrust, or evennbsp;contempt. There is need here for the trainednbsp;accuracy of the critic of incomplete, and oftennbsp;corrupt, texts ; of the zeal and industry ofnbsp;the collector and transcriber of popularnbsp;beliefs; above all, of the aid of the scholarnbsp;whose highest aim and keenest interest lienbsp;in ascertaining what men have believed, andnbsp;how, in their journey through the ages, theynbsp;have conceived and expressed their relationnbsp;to the Unseen. When these Seekers afternbsp;Truth will consent to work together in harmony, doing full justice each to the other�snbsp;view, then, and not till then, the � Secret ofnbsp;the Grail � will cease to be a secret.

If the Grail Quest were the offspring of mere literary imagination, however poeticnbsp;and picturesque, if its literature were merely anbsp;romantic cycle which in this twentieth centurynbsp;possessed nothing but an archaic interest,nbsp;it would have no place in this Quest Series.nbsp;It is precisely upon the view set forth in

these pages as to its origin and development, that it can base a claim to admission amongnbsp;themes of vital and enduring interest. Innbsp;the short space at my disposal it has beennbsp;impossible to give evidence and authoritiesnbsp;for all the statements made, but readers maynbsp;rest assured that there is nothing stated asnbsp;fact in these pages for which there is not amplenbsp;evidence, no hypothesis which is not basednbsp;upon sound and probable premises. Othersnbsp;may interpret the evidence somewhat differently, but it exists, and its importance andnbsp;extent will, I think, be a matter of surprise tonbsp;many readers. Among those readers therenbsp;may be some who, more at home than myselfnbsp;in those mysterious regions where pre-Christian touched with Christian belief, may benbsp;able to throw light on the most obscurenbsp;passages through which the fascinating legendnbsp;passed on its way to complete Christiannbsp;Mystic evolution.

THE qUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL

The end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries, a period covering, atnbsp;its utmost extent, not more than some fiftynbsp;years, witnessed the formation of a body ofnbsp;romantic literature, verse and prose, dealingnbsp;with the quest for, and attainment of, anbsp;mysterious Talisman, varying in provenance,nbsp;form, and effect, though known always bynbsp;the same name.

Thus, while that Talisman is always known as the Grail, the term may connote a mysterious and undescribed Food-providing Object, which comes and goes without visiblenbsp;agency; a Stone, endowed with food- andnbsp;life-giving properties, which also from timenbsp;fo time assumes the role of an oracle; anbsp;Holy � Object, the form of which is not

2 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL indicated, wrought of gold and preciousnbsp;stones, and emitting a brilliant light; anbsp;Reliquary; the Dish from whieh our Lordnbsp;and His Disciples ate the Pasehal Lamb atnbsp;the Last Supper, or the Cup of that Meal;nbsp;the Vessel (sometimes that just mentioned,nbsp;whether Cup or Dish, sometimes one speeiallynbsp;made for the purpose) in whieh Joseph ofnbsp;Arimathea reeeived the Blood whieh flowednbsp;from the Wounds of the Redeemer; finally,nbsp;a mysterious eombination of these two latternbsp;forms with the Chalice of the Eueharist.nbsp;Even in this final, highly ecelesiastized shapenbsp;the Grail retains traees of its earlier origin,nbsp;appearing and disappearing automatieallynbsp;and mysteriously, and, as one romaneenbsp;definitely states, being of no material sub-stanee whatsoever, � for of wood was it not,nbsp;nor of any kind of metal nor of stone was itnbsp;wrought, neither of horn, nor of bone.�

And as the Grail itself varies, so do also the results arising from a suecessful fulfilmentnbsp;of the Quest. At first the object is the eurenbsp;of the Guardian of the Talisman, an enig-matie personage, generally known as thenbsp;Fisher, or Maimed, King, who is helpless fromnbsp;the effeets either of a wound, of extreme oldnbsp;age, or of illness eaused by the failure of thenbsp;Quester, and with the eure of the ruler thenbsp;restoration of fertility to his land, whieh liesnbsp;waste while the Quest is unfulfilled. In thenbsp;final form the result of the Quest is rather the

attainment of spiritual enlightenment by the Quester, who, beholding the deep thingsnbsp;of God, passes at the moment of vision fromnbsp;the world�� and thenne sodenly his soulenbsp;departed to Jhesu Christ, and a grete multitude of Angels bare his soule up to heven.�

And if the content of the literature be thus varied and perplexing, not less so arenbsp;the external form and fortunes.

As indicated above, the Grail texts, as preserved to us, are restricted both in numbernbsp;and period. We have no text which, in itsnbsp;present form, can be dated earlier than thenbsp;last quarter of the twelfth century, or laternbsp;than the first quarter of the thirteenth, but,nbsp;whereas the material used by the verse-writers of the cycle is undoubtedly derivednbsp;from earlier and no longer existing versionsnbsp;of the theme, and the story itself is thereforenbsp;older than any form we now possess, so thatnbsp;the terminus a quo cannot be definitely fixed,nbsp;the terminus ad quern is certain.

After the early years of the thirteenth century no Grail romance was composed; for some reason or other the theme which had been sonbsp;potent a source of inspiration had suddenlynbsp;and completely lost its power. And yet itnbsp;had not lost its interest for the reader; for wenbsp;have fourteenth and fifteenth-century MSS.,nbsp;alike of the poems and prose romances, andnbsp;both were among the earliest subjects of thenbsp;printer�s art. In fact, that particular version

4 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL of the Grail Quest which owed its inceptionnbsp;to the popularity of the Lancelot story, andnbsp;now forms an integral portion of that lengthynbsp;romance, from whence it was taken over innbsp;an enlarged form into the Tristan, wasnbsp;reprinted over and over again (there arenbsp;eight or nine editions of the Lancelot and atnbsp;least six of the Tristan, not to mention thenbsp;Spanish and Portuguese translations, whichnbsp;accountforthree or four more editions apiece);nbsp;while the English translation, in Malory�snbsp;noble prose, remains a classic to this day.

Thus, in discussing the Grail literature, the student finds himself at the very outset confronted with not one, but a group of problems.nbsp;What are we to understand by � The Grail � ?nbsp;What is the real origin of the story ? Whatnbsp;was the cause of the initial popularity of thisnbsp;theme ? What the cause of its sudden disappearance from the field of literature ?nbsp;Should or should not the Quest of the Holynbsp;Grail be reckoned among those spiritualnbsp;� Quest � problems with which it is the objectnbsp;of this series to deal ? In the followingnbsp;pages we will endeavour, so far as the incomplete character of the evidence at ournbsp;disposal will permit, to suggest a satisfactorynbsp;answer to these questions.

The earliest version of the Grail story we possess, in point of MS. date, is the Perceval,nbsp;or Conte du Graal, of Chr�tien de Troyes, thenbsp;most famous of Northern French poets ofnbsp;the twelfth century. Sixteen MSS. of thenbsp;work have been preserved to us, but, withnbsp;the possible exception of a portion of thenbsp;� Riccardiana � text, none are earlier than thenbsp;first half of the thirteenth century.

A writer of great facility and considerable literary charm, Chretien was the author of anbsp;group of narrative poems dealing with thenbsp;heroes of Arthurian romantic tradition�nbsp;poems distinguished rather by fluency andnbsp;finish (a modern German critic has remarkednbsp;that Chretien, like a conjuror, � could shakenbsp;perfectly turned couplets out of his sleeves �)nbsp;than by poetical imagination, and depth ofnbsp;thought. Perceval, his last poem, is not,nbsp;from the literary point of view, his best work;nbsp;that distinction belongs rather to the Chevalier au Lion, or Yvain, a poem of whichnbsp;German, Icelandic, and English translations

exist, and which bears a close affinity to the Welsh Mabinogi of The Lady oj the Fountain.nbsp;It is to the subject-matter, rather than to thenbsp;style, that the Perceval owes its fame. Thenbsp;direct source, for the poem is no invention,nbsp;has not yet been discovered. Chr�tien statesnbsp;that he found the tale in a book given to himnbsp;by Philip, Count of Flanders, to whom thenbsp;work is dedicated. Left unfinished by thenbsp;author, the poem, already fairly long, overnbsp;10,000 lines, received subsequent additionsnbsp;from the hand of three independent writersnbsp;�Wauchier de Denain, otherwise known asnbsp;a translator of certain Lives oJ the Saints;nbsp;Manessier, who wrote at the command of thenbsp;Countess Jeanne of Flanders (in whose servicenbsp;W�^auchier, from evidence lately discovered,nbsp;also appears to have been); and Gerbert, whonbsp;is undoubtedly to be identified with Gerbertnbsp;de Montreuil, a well-known poet of the firstnbsp;quarter of the thirteenth century. The section due to Gerbert is inserted between thenbsp;continuations of Wauchier and Manessier, andnbsp;is only preserved in two MSS. The wholenbsp;length of the poem now extends to overnbsp;60,000 lines.

To students of the Grail literature the Perceval presents a most fascinating problem,nbsp;or rather, group of problems : the real naturenbsp;of Chretien�s source is unknown; while thenbsp;later writers are ostensibly completing hisnbsp;poem not one of the three shows the smallest

care to adhere to Chretien�s version, each betrays his knowledge of other, and widelynbsp;differing, forms of the story; so that the resultnbsp;of the work as a whole is in the highestnbsp;degree perplexing and contradictory.

Especially is this the case with the first continuator, Wauchier, who, as is now verynbsp;generally recognized, is drawing for hisnbsp;authority upon texts anterior to Chretien.nbsp;He not only knows a version of the Percevalnbsp;story differing widely from that utilized bynbsp;his predecessor, but he knows another, andnbsp;older, Grail Quester, in the person of Gawain.nbsp;Drawing on the version of a certain Bleheris,nbsp;who, he tells us, w^as born and bred in Wales,nbsp;he relates a story of Gawain�s adventures atnbsp;the Grail Castle so picturesque in form, sonbsp;vivid in narration, that, in spite of its brevity,nbsp;it ranks as one of the best of medi�evalnbsp;chivalric tales. And if the Perceval gives usnbsp;more than one Grail hero it also varies in itsnbsp;account of the Grail; Chr�tien, in mysteriousnbsp;fashion, tells us :

De fin or esmer�e esloit pi�res pressieuses avoitnbsp;el Graal de maintes manieres�

that it gives a light that outshines that of the tapers, and is a holy thing, � tante saintenbsp;cose est li Graaus.�� But what it is. Cup, Dish,nbsp;or Reliquary, and why � holy,� he never says,nbsp;nor does he explain the relation, if any.

existing between the Grail and the Bleeding Lance which forms a part of the same procession.

Wauchier, in his Gawain section, knows the Grail as � rich,� not � holy,� a mysterious, automatic, food-providing object, whichnbsp;comes and goes at will, and serves the guestsnbsp;at the feast in an unexplained and aweinspiring manner :

trop durement se merveilla de ce qu�il servoit ensi,nbsp;car ore est la, et ore est chi,nbsp;a trop grant merveiUe li tientnbsp;quil va si tost et revient.

This � rich � food-providing Grail is here quite other than the Cup which Gawain seesnbsp;later in the great hall of the Castle, intonbsp;which a stream of blood flows ceaselesslynbsp;from the point of a Lance fixed uprightnbsp;within it. This Lance is subsequently ex-

plained as being the weapon with which Longinus pierced the side of the Saviournbsp;as He hung on the Cross, and in a passagenbsp;interpolated in some of the later MSS. thenbsp;Grail of the feast is said to be the vesselnbsp;made by Joseph of Arimathea to receive thenbsp;Blood which flowed from the Sacred Wounds :

But this is obviously an addition, as the point of the whole story lies in Gawain�snbsp;failure to learn what the Grail may be.

It is noticeable that Wauchier also insists elsewhere on the mystery eoncering thenbsp;Grail, and the danger of speaking of it save atnbsp;a fitting time, and in a fitting place :

(He may have great pain and ill who undertakes to tell of itnbsp;otherwise than it should go�)

a Warning which in slightly varying forms is more than once repeated. In yet anothernbsp;passage Wauchier tells us none can speak ofnbsp;the mysteries of the Grail without tremblingnbsp;and changing colour. It is evident that thisnbsp;is drawing upon sources which regardnbsp;the Grail as something � uncanny � and evennbsp;dangerous, rather than as a � holy � object;

the term � taboo � best expresses the idea of the talisman derived from this section of thenbsp;Perceval.

To Manessier the Grail is quite simply that of the � Wauchier � interpolation; it isnbsp;the Vessel of Joseph of Arimathea, withoutnbsp;any perplexing feature attached to it.

Gerbert, whose contribution is manifestly derived from widely differing sources, contents himself in the first part, which henbsp;dignifies by the term � le vraie histoire,� withnbsp;the assertion that the Grail is � chose saint-isme,�� a � most holy thing,� and in the latternbsp;adopts the � Joseph � origin.

When we add that a fragmentary text, found in two instances prefixed to Chretien�snbsp;poem, and bearing the curious title ofnbsp;Elucidation, speaks of a sevenfold quest ofnbsp;the Grail, the mysteries of which, accordingnbsp;to � Master Blihis,� none may reveal, andnbsp;gives a brief summary of the visit to the Fishernbsp;King�s court in terms closely agreeing withnbsp;the Bleheris-Gawain visit, it will be realizednbsp;that in this one text of the Perceval as nownbsp;preserved to us, we have practically a compendium of the main problems besetting thenbsp;inquiry.

Of almost equal importance for critical purposes is the Parzival of Wolfram vonnbsp;Eschenbach, the famous Bavarian Minnesinger. The poem, written in the openingnbsp;years of the thirteenth century, probably be-

tween 1205-16, deals with the same subject-matter, and for much of its content covers the same ground as that of Chr�tien. It is, andnbsp;probably unless further MS. evidence shouldnbsp;be discovered, always will be, impossiblenbsp;definitely to determine the relationship between the two works; Wolfram himself distinctly states that his source was the worknbsp;of a certain Kiot, � the Proven gal,� andnbsp;blames Chr�tien for having mis-told the tale ;nbsp;at the same time the fact that no work by anbsp;poet of the name exists, and that the parallelnbsp;sections of the French and German poemsnbsp;show a close correspondence, have caused thenbsp;admirers of the French poet to assert thatnbsp;Kiot is a purely fictitious personage, and that,nbsp;beyond Chr�tien�s poem. Wolfram had nonbsp;source save his own imagination.

While fully admitting the resemblance between the two works, the variants, to anbsp;critical student, are such that they can withnbsp;difficulty be ascribed to a German imagination. The whole work has manifestly beennbsp;most carefully planned with the initial aimnbsp;of exalting the fame of the house of Anjou ;nbsp;there is a long and elaborate introduction,nbsp;filling two of the sixteen books, dealing withnbsp;the adventures of Parzival�s father, Gah-muret, an Angevin prince, which betrays annbsp;undoubted familiarity with the history andnbsp;traditions of that house ; the Grail, which isnbsp;here no Vessel but a Stone, possessing food-

bestowing and life-sustaining properties, is under the guardianship of an Order ofnbsp;knightly eelibates, Templeisen, elected bynbsp;the Grail itself, as children, their names appearing upon the Stone, which, in the samenbsp;way, indicates the chosen wife of the king,nbsp;who alone is allowed to marry. If any landnbsp;shall be torn with dissension for lack of anbsp;ruler, and the folk of that land pray to Heavennbsp;for aid, the Grail oracle will show the name ofnbsp;a knight who shall be sent forth � as king tonbsp;that kingless land.� The introduction of thisnbsp;detail, which paves the way for the subsequent connection of the Swan-Knight themenbsp;with the Grail legend, is an interestingnbsp;indication of the care with which the poemnbsp;has been planned. After the winning of thenbsp;Grail by Parzival, his half-brother, son ofnbsp;his father by a Saracen princess, weds thenbsp;Grail-bearer, and their son is Prester John !nbsp;Of Parzival�s twin sons the elder, Kardeiss,nbsp;inherits Anjou, the younger, Lohengrin, thenbsp;Grail kingdom; the latter is the hero of thenbsp;Swan-Knight tale in its most popular form.

Of none of these curious developments is there the least hint to be found in Chretien�snbsp;poem, and the Angevin connection, at least,nbsp;hardly seems likely to have suggested itselfnbsp;naturally to an untravelled Bavarian knightnbsp;such as we know Wolfram von Eschenbach tonbsp;have been, especially at a moment when thenbsp;fortunes of the house in question were dis-

tinctly on the wane. The solution of the main problem is probably to be found in thenbsp;aceeptance of Wolfram�s statement as to hisnbsp;source, and the view that Kiot�s poem was annbsp;amplified version of that handed to Chr�tiennbsp;by Count Philip, the French and Germannbsp;poems thus being independent versions of anbsp;common original; but other problems, notablynbsp;that of the Grail itself, and its Order ofnbsp;Guardian Knights, are not easily to be solved.

As a piece of constructive literature the Parzival ranks higher than any other worknbsp;of the cycle ; the whole lengthy story hasnbsp;been, as suggested above, well thought out,nbsp;and the connecting thread between the various sections continuously borne in mind.nbsp;Whereas in Chretien�s much shorter versionnbsp;the ostensible hero, Perceval, disappears fromnbsp;sight during the recital of Gawain�s adventures, and reappears in an arbitrary mannernbsp;to vanish from the scene as suddenly as henbsp;came, the German poem, even when relatingnbsp;the same sequence of incident, always keepsnbsp;him more or less in view; when Gawainnbsp;is occupying the foreground of the stagenbsp;Parzival hovers in the background, or passesnbsp;across the scene, and we have contant allusions to his actions�wherever Gawain goesnbsp;Parzival has passed before him, or follows innbsp;his steps. The ethical motive, the development of the hero�s character, � a hrave man,nbsp;yet slowly wise,� is well worked out, and though

the style is less finished than that of Chr�tien or of Wolfram�s German contemporaries,nbsp;there are passages of extraordinary poeticalnbsp;beauty. In fact, the respective merits andnbsp;characteristics of the French and Germannbsp;poets afford an interesting parallel to thenbsp;relation between Tennyson and Browning.nbsp;The one has the advantages of style, finish,nbsp;and command of language, with a certainnbsp;amount of insight into the workings of thenbsp;mind�Chr�tien�s self-communing passagesnbsp;are very curious and ingenious; the other possesses great depth and richness of thought,nbsp;a real insight into the human soul and itsnbsp;relation with the Unseen, and much power ofnbsp;poetical imagery, wedded to an extremelynbsp;abrupt and obscure literary style. The Par-zival is undoubtedly a work of genius, andnbsp;one that will well repay study ; it has beennbsp;edited and translated with a frequency thatnbsp;is in itself a testimony to its literary worthnbsp;and enduring interest.

As compared with these two remarkable poems the prose versions of the Grail Questnbsp;seem to the student somewhat banal andnbsp;uninteresting. The earliest, and from manynbsp;points of view the most important, is thatnbsp;by Robert de Borron, a writer whose identitynbsp;has not yet been determined. It here formsnbsp;the concluding portion of a trilogy, Josephnbsp;of Arimathea, Merlin, and Perceval, the firstnbsp;section of which is also preserved in a verse

form. It would probably be more correct to speak of this group as a tetralogy, for thenbsp;last part of the Perceval, subsequent to thenbsp;achievement of the Quest, is devoted to thenbsp;conquests and death of Arthur, which, in thenbsp;original version, must have been treated atnbsp;considerable length, and should of right benbsp;separately classed as a Mort Artus. Here wenbsp;find the Christian character of the Grail fullynbsp;developed; it is the Dish from which Ournbsp;Lord and His Disciples ate at the Lastnbsp;Supper, which, given to Joseph by Pilate,nbsp;Was used by him to receive the Blood whichnbsp;flowed from the Sacred Wounds, and, beingnbsp;brought to Joseph by Our Lord Himself innbsp;the prison to which the Jews had consignednbsp;fiiiu, miraculously sustained him during anbsp;captivity of forty years.

Brought to Britain by Joseph, the Grail 3^cts as an oracle, distinguishing between thenbsp;good and the evil; elects its own guardian;nbsp;and foretells the future course of events. Atnbsp;Joseph�s death the Grail is committed to thenbsp;charge of his brother-in-law. Brons, and shallnbsp;eventually pass to the care of his grandson,nbsp;of Alain. Thus there are to be threenbsp;Grail Keepers.

quot;Lficre are also three Tables : the Table of ^c Last Supper, the Grail Table, and thenbsp;Hound Table at Arthur�s court, with itsnbsp;erilous Seat, corresponding to the seat ofnbsp;udas at the original table.

Here, then, while we find the Christian character of the talisman fully emphasized,nbsp;and a mysterious threefold symbolism insisted upon, the whole story is closely connected with Arthur�s court, through thenbsp;agency of Merlin, whose story forms thenbsp;second stage of Borron�s trilogy. It isnbsp;Merlin who constructs the Round Table afternbsp;the model of its two predecessors; Merlinnbsp;who reveals to the knights of Arthur�s courtnbsp;the presence of the Grail in Britain and thenbsp;necessity for the Quest; how it is preservednbsp;in the house of Brons, the Fisher King, whonbsp;languishes in extreme old age, awaiting thenbsp;arrival of his grandson Perceval, who, bynbsp;asking concerning the Grail, shall restore himnbsp;to health and youth, and become Guardiannbsp;in his stead. When Perceval arrives atnbsp;Arthur�s court, and in company with othernbsp;knights sets forth on the Heaven-announcednbsp;Quest, Merlin watches over him, and, afternbsp;one abortive visit, directs him finally on thenbsp;road to his goal. In Borron�s trilogy wenbsp;have all the material for the later cyclicnbsp;development of the theme. It is of coursenbsp;obvious that we are here in the presencenbsp;of certain glaring inconsistencies; Borron isnbsp;possessed with the idea that his theme isnbsp;to be worked out on the basis of a mysticnbsp;threefold development, but to bring thisnbsp;about, while at the same time he unites thenbsp;story closely with Arthurian pseudo-historic

tradition, he is forced to set ail probability at defiance by prolonging the age of thenbsp;second Grail Keeper, Brons, beyond all naturalnbsp;limits, spanning by this one life the gulfnbsp;between the very beginning of the Christiannbsp;era and the days of Arthur�upwards ofnbsp;five hundred years !

And he in no way attempts to evade this point; on the contrary, in the better of thenbsp;only two existing MSS., the Modena text, henbsp;laakes Brons relate to his grandson, after hisnbsp;^ure, the whole story of his life : how he hadnbsp;seen our Lord as a Child, � comment ilnbsp;L^avoit v'�upetit Enfant,^ which would seem tonbsp;indicate that he himself had been born beforenbsp;the beginning of the Christian era ! At thenbsp;�^nie time we never have any indication thatnbsp;fife of Perceval�s father, even when considered as Brons� son, exceeded the ordinarynbsp;hmit of human life; as a rule he dies in thenbsp;nower of manhood. There can, I think, benbsp;little doubt that the attraction of thenbsp;Arthurian tradition has operated disastrouslynbsp;npon Borron�s original scheme of a Grailnbsp;romance, and that the form which he ulti-iwately gave to his work was quite other thannbsp;originally planned.

��^rron�s work was probably composed in e closing years of the twelfth century, andnbsp;formed the starting-point andnbsp;odel for the development of the combinednbsp;rail and Arthur themes as a formidable

body of cyclic romance. A very distinct note of difference between the poetical andnbsp;prose versions is the eomparative unimportance of the Arthurian element in thenbsp;former; Perceval certainly seeks Arthur�snbsp;court with the hope of obtaining knighthood,nbsp;but, once launched on his adventures, henbsp;makes only brief and occasional returnsnbsp;thither. His Grail Quest is quite unconnectednbsp;with Arthur, or the Round Table. Similarly,nbsp;although Gawain is an Arthurian knight,

� vom hause aus,�� at home there, and nowhere else, his Grail Quest is a purely independentnbsp;and personal experience, unshared by anynbsp;other knight.

It is quite otherwise in the prose romances : here the Quest of the Grail is announced atnbsp;Arthur�s court; it is no chance adventurenbsp;befalling one individual knight, but a formalnbsp;undertaking in whieh all participate undernbsp;certain fixed rules of time and procedure�anbsp;courtly quest is for a year and a day, thenbsp;knights must ride separately, or in pairs, andnbsp;on their return make public recital of theirnbsp;adventures�and the fulfilment is closelynbsp;connected with the ability to fill uninjured anbsp;vaeant seat at the Round Table, fraught withnbsp;direst peril to whomsoever shall wrongfullynbsp;occupy it.

But there is another element connected with the development of the Arthurian cyclicnbsp;Quest which, as yet hardly recognized, bids

fair, as the result of recent research, to become an important factor in our critical investigation of the literature�that is, thenbsp;growing importance of the Lancelot story.

To those who only know Arthurian romance through the medium of two English writers,nbsp;Malory and Tennyson, it will doubtless be anbsp;surprise to learn that the knight whose famenbsp;in the later stages of the cyclic developmentnbsp;practically overshadowed that of all others,nbsp;was but a late-comer into the charmed circle.nbsp;Chr�tien�s Perceval knows him not; thenbsp;Parzival makes but casual allusion to onenbsp;special adventure ; in neither poem is Lancelot a member of the gorgeous court surrounding the British king. The circumstancesnbsp;under which Lancelot first sprang into popularity do not affect our present inquiry, butnbsp;It seems quite certain that his story developednbsp;nt first outside the Arthurian cycle proper,nbsp;and on parallel lines�i.e. while Borron provided the historic Arthur tradition with anbsp;Grail Quest in which Lancelot played no part,nbsp;nn unknown writer added to the romanticnbsp;tale of the love of Lancelot for Arthur�snbsp;queen a Quest in which Lancelot shared withnbsp;Gawain and Perceval the honour of searchnbsp;and sight, though not of achievement.

This romance, which is generally known as the Perlesvaus from the peculiar form givennbsp;to the hero�s name, was for a long time anbsp;crux to the Arthurian critic; we did not

know where to place it. On the one hand, it showed obvious traces of influence by versions akin both to Chr�tien and Wolfram; onnbsp;the other, it as obviously knew nothing of thenbsp;final Galahad form of the story. The latenbsp;Mr. Alfred Nutt was so impressed by thenbsp;evidences of borrowing on the part of thenbsp;author, or compiler, that, in his Studies in thenbsp;Legend of the Holy Grail, he omitted the textnbsp;altogether from his classification and abstractnbsp;of romances ; it was, he held, too unoriginalnbsp;to be of use. On the other hand. Dr.nbsp;Sebastian Evans, in a fine translation of thenbsp;romance, published in the Temple Classicsnbsp;under the title of The High History of Thenbsp;Holy Grail, claimed for it the honour of beingnbsp;�the original story of Sir Perceval and thenbsp;Holy Grail, whole and incorrupt as it leftnbsp;the hands of its first author.�

As in most cases of exaggerated estimates, the truth lies midway between these twonbsp;extremes. Recent research has drawn attention to the fact that certain of the existingnbsp;Laneelot MSS. refer to that romance as formingnbsp;a part of the � Story of Perceval and thenbsp;Grail,� which � is head and end of all thenbsp;other stories.� Other texts retain the Perles-vaus form of the name, and refer to adventures found only in that romance, whilenbsp;the concluding passage of the Perlesvausnbsp;announces the beginning of the war againstnbsp;Claudas for the recovery of Lancelot�s patri-

mony. If we also note that the Perlesvaus records the death of Guenevere, it becomesnbsp;clear that this romance cannot have formednbsp;part of a cycle concluding in the orthodoxnbsp;manner with the death of Arthur as a consequence of the treachery of wife and nephew ;nbsp;the story must rather have formed part of anbsp;parallel group devoted to the fortunes of thenbsp;dispossessed hero, Lancelot, and concludingnbsp;with his return to his own land, the death ofnbsp;his royal � amie � having severed the linknbsp;which bound him to Arthur�s court. Thisnbsp;theory gains additional probability when wenbsp;note the fact that the Merlin section of thenbsp;ordinary cycle is paralleled by an abridgednbsp;Version of the life and adventures of thatnbsp;niysterious personage, inserted, tant Mennbsp;Que mal, in the earlier portion of thenbsp;Lancelot, while the Mort Artus proper hasnbsp;been drawn upon for the account of Arthur�snbsp;defeat of Frollo and conquest of Gaul, herenbsp;Combined with the expedition against Kingnbsp;Claudas, Also the Lanzelet of Ulrich vonnbsp;Zatzikhoven, a poem which is recognized asnbsp;representing an early form of the story, concludes in the manner suggested above�i.e.nbsp;With the reconquest of, and return of the heronbsp;his own hereditary kingdom.

We can thus, with comparative certainty, fix ybe position to be assigned to the Perlesvausnbsp;m Its present form, but its source as a Grailnbsp;romance, and relation to other texts of the

same family, are less easily to be determined. The Grail here is the Vessel in whieh Josephnbsp;of Arimathea eollected the Saered Blood, andnbsp;the Lance, the weapon of Longinus, but innbsp;actual fact the talismans correspond to thosenbsp;which, in the Gawain story, are differentiatednbsp;from the Grail proper�i.e. we have herenbsp;again a Lance bleeding into a Cup.

Nor does the hero achieve the original Quest, for although, by force of arms, henbsp;eventiially gains possession of the Grailnbsp;Kingdom, the Fisher King is already dead, asnbsp;a result of the illness caused by the deferrednbsp;question. There seems reason to believe thatnbsp;we have here the working over, not for thenbsp;first time, of a romance which, in its originalnbsp;verse form, was an early rendering of thenbsp;Christianized theme.

Christian and mystical to a high degree the Perlesvaus is, imbued with a fierce spirit ofnbsp;militant proselytism; the pagan opponentsnbsp;of the hero are, when overcome, confrontednbsp;with the ruthless alternative of conversionnbsp;or death; the unbaptized adherents of thenbsp;Old Law can hope for no mercy at the handsnbsp;of this exponent of forcible Christianity,nbsp;whose career is marked by hecatombs ofnbsp;slaughtered pagans ! The whole tone is mostnbsp;curiously difierent from that of the Parzival,nbsp;where the Saracens, knights and ladies alike,nbsp;are endowed with all chivalric virtues andnbsp;courtly graces; their conversion to Chris-

The Perlesvaus should, then, be considered as a Lancelot Quest, eontemporary, in itsnbsp;present prose form, with the Perceval ofnbsp;Robert de Borron. But when the Lancelotnbsp;romanee beeame finally, and definitely, incorporated with the Arthurian pseudo-historic cycle, a change in the Quest sectionnbsp;�Was necessary. Lancelot had become farnbsp;too popular and imposing a figure for hisnbsp;share in the great Quest to be any longer anbsp;subordinate and abortive one ; at the samenbsp;time, his relations with Guenevere, whichnbsp;Were the fons et origo of his connection withnbsp;the cycle, had been developed in a mannernbsp;which could not be ignored and must benbsp;retained. Yet these very relations forbadenbsp;him to become the hero of a Quest whichnbsp;the gradual process of literary evolution hadnbsp;endowed with a strongly spiritual and ethicalnbsp;character. There was only one solution ofnbsp;the difficulty: Lancelot must be providednbsp;with a son, by another than Guenevere, who,nbsp;equipped with all the qualifications, spiritualnbsp;9'nd chivalric, necessary for a Grail hero,nbsp;should achieve the Quest, and pass awaynbsp;in the achievement, leaving his father undisturbed in his position as premier Knightnbsp;of the court, with an added halo of glory asnbsp;father of the Grail-winner. That this is thenbsp;real object of the Galahad Queste is no longer

disputed; as it stands now it forms an excrescence on the cycle, adding nothing ofnbsp;necessity to its content, and, were it takennbsp;away, injuring in nowise its coherence. Thenbsp;Quest interlude over, Lancelot and Gueneverenbsp;fall back into their previous relations, andnbsp;the story progresses to its traditional andnbsp;inevitable end.

Thus, on the lines and with the object above defined, the Galahad Quite du Saintnbsp;Graal, the final romance of the cycle, wasnbsp;constructed, and this is the form in whichnbsp;the story, through the medium of Malory�snbsp;abridged translation of the cycle, and thenbsp;poems founded by Tennyson on that translation, is best known to English readers,nbsp;though, of late years, the fame of Wagner�snbsp;great music-drama, Parsifal, based largelynbsp;upon the poem of von Eschenbach, hasnbsp;made them aware of the fact that othernbsp;versions of the Grail story do, in fact, exist.

The Galahad Queste differs from the other Grail texts in being practically an independent form of the story, unrelated to anynbsp;preceding version ; the only romance withnbsp;which it is really organically connected isnbsp;the Lancelot. The fact that a new hero hadnbsp;to be invented�for Galahad, it must benbsp;emphasized, exists for, and in, the Quite dunbsp;Saint Graal only, and plays no part in anynbsp;other romance�^left the author free to arrangenbsp;for him a series of adventures unhampered

by any previously existing tradition. Here and there faint echoes of earlier themes arenbsp;heard ; Galahad comes to a Castle of Maidensnbsp;�so did Perceval, but under widely differingnbsp;circumstances ; Galahad visits a mysteriousnbsp;cemetery�so do other Arthurian heroes, butnbsp;with other object and other result; the kingnbsp;at whose court the Grail is wont to shownbsp;itself is still the Fisher King, but his land isnbsp;iio longer � waste � and the � maiming � hasnbsp;been transferred to two other personalities.nbsp;Perceval figures in the story; but he is nonbsp;longer the impetuous unrestrained lad whosenbsp;strongly marked individuality has impressednbsp;a curious stamp of reality on the earliernbsp;romances, but a correct and blameless knight,nbsp;as colourless as Galahad himself. Traces ofnbsp;bis earlier story may still be found in hisnbsp;possession of a recluse aunt, and a sisternbsp;whose character for devotion and sanctitynbsp;is on a par with that of the immaculate hero;nbsp;and some MSS. even retain allusions to thenbsp;loss of his father�s heritage, but very littlenbsp;trace of the earlier Perceval Quest remains.

And the earliest Grail hero, Gawain, fares still worse. If Perceval has been � improved �nbsp;out of knowledge, Gawain has been debasednbsp;beyond recognition; the knight sans peurnbsp;and sans reprocke of our old Finglish tradition,nbsp;of earlier cyclic fame, has become a hardenednbsp;reprobate, immoral, reckless, irreverent, inferior not only to Galahad and Perceval

but to the knights of later invention, and of Lancelot�s family, Bors and Hector.nbsp;Throughout the whole romance Gawain isnbsp;held up as the � awful example,� everything anbsp;good knight ought not to be!

In spite of some fine passages, such as that describing Lancelot�s experiences at Corbenic,nbsp;the romance, as a whole, is a lamentablenbsp;declension from the first poetical versions ofnbsp;the story. Numerous texts, both MS. andnbsp;printed editions, of the Queste exist, but nonenbsp;show variants other than those due to morenbsp;or less careful copying, and the impressionnbsp;left by the work is that of a � Tendenz-Schrift,''nbsp;a story invented at a special time, for a specialnbsp;purpose, and in no way dependent upon annbsp;earlier form.

In the final stage of the evolution of the Arthurian cycle, when its tentacles, stretchingnbsp;far and wide, had laid hold of the originallynbsp;quite independent Tristan theme, and drawnnbsp;it within the meshes of the Arthurian net,nbsp;the Galahad Quest became enlarged in ordernbsp;to permit of the participation, not only ofnbsp;Tristan himself, but also of other knights whonbsp;had become more or less closely connectednbsp;with him. Thus, in the interminable MSS.nbsp;(such as Bibl. Nat. Fonds Fran5ais, 112)nbsp;which represent the final stages of Arthuriannbsp;romance, we have an enlarged form of thenbsp;Queste, drawn out to wearisome length by thenbsp;interpolation of banal adventures. In this

final form the story passed the frontiers of France, and has been preserved in Spanish andnbsp;Portuguese translations. Italy apparentlynbsp;knew it earlier, for while the Tavola Ritondanbsp;gives the later Tristan form, the Chantari dinbsp;Lancilotto and a prose text, which had thenbsp;curious fate of being translated from Italiannbsp;into Hebrew, and is preserved in a MS. ofnbsp;the Vatican, follows the ordinary Mort Artusnbsp;form.

Standing in the same relation to the Galahad Quest as Borron�s Joseph of Ari-tnathea does to his Perceval, is the romancenbsp;known as the Grand Saint Graal; this isnbsp;simply the Joseph expanded by the insertionnbsp;of numerous adventures relating the fortunesnbsp;of Joseph�s son, Josephes, and his conversion mission, which eventually leads him tonbsp;Britain. The various heathen kings converted by him play more or less importantnbsp;parts in the story ; the genealogy of thenbsp;Grail Guardians, the descent of Lancelotnbsp;and Galahad from the chosen family, allnbsp;are carefully worked out, and the wholenbsp;wrought into a superficial harmony alikenbsp;with the prose Lancelot and the Quete dunbsp;Saint Graal. The work is in all probabilitynbsp;by the same hand as the last-named romance,nbsp;^nd it is distinctly the most wearisome andnbsp;least characteristic member of the entirenbsp;cycle.

or less interrelated body of literature, and show a gradual and progressive evolutionnbsp;from a chivalric romance, endowed with anbsp;certain element of mysterious adventure, tonbsp;a purely religious, and in its final stage highlynbsp;ecclesiasticized, treatise of edification. Therenbsp;still remains, however, one Grail text, whichnbsp;lies outside the general line of evohition,nbsp;and, though comparatively late in date, isnbsp;based upon elements contemporaneous withnbsp;the earliest stages of the story.

This is Diu Crone, by Heinrich von dem Turlin, a German writer of the first quarternbsp;of the thirteenth century. It is a long, rambling poem, devoted to the praise of Gawain,nbsp;and containing a mass of tradition relating tonbsp;that hero, parts of which are, undoubtedly,nbsp;of very early origin. Here Gawain not merelynbsp;seeks, but attains, the Grail, thereby releasing the Grail King from a spell whichnbsp;imposes upon him, though dead, the semblance of life�a curious consummation, metnbsp;with nowhere else. Here the Grail is anbsp;Reliquary, containing a Host, with which thenbsp;king is nourished, while he also partakes ofnbsp;the Blood which drops from the Lance, againnbsp;a unique feature. Diu Crone has, so far,nbsp;not been the subject of a careful and detailednbsp;study, and an opinion as to its true positionnbsp;in the cycle and real critical value cannotnbsp;safely be given. The material with which itnbsp;deals belongs, obviously, to an early stage of

the Arthurian tradition, and it is quite possible that the work may ultimately furnish us with valuable links in the chain ofnbsp;evidence.

The texts preserved to us may, then, be classed either according to their form, versenbsp;or prose, or according to the personality ofnbsp;the hero. In the first case we have two, innbsp;the second, three groups.

Of verse forms we have the Perceval of Chr�tien de Troyes, and his continuators,nbsp;which includes of course the Bleheris-Ga��aiwnbsp;version; the Parzival of Wolfram vonnbsp;Eschenbach; Diu Crone of Heinrich vonnbsp;dem T�rlin; and the verse form of Borron�snbsp;Joseph, preserved in a unique MS.

The prose texts are Robert de Borron�s trilogy, of which Perceval represents the Questnbsp;section; Perlesvaus; and the Qiiete du Saintnbsp;Graal, with its introduction, the Grand Saintnbsp;Graal.

Classed according to the hero, we have three groups: Gawain, in the Bleheris text,nbsp;preserved by Wauchier de Denain and Diunbsp;Crone ; Perceval, in the poem of Chretiennbsp;with its three continuations, the Parzival ofnbsp;von Eschenbach, the Perceval of Borron,nbsp;and the Perlesvaus; Galahad, in the Queste,nbsp;and in that romance only.

The discrepancy in the number of texts assigned to each hero points to the conclusionnbsp;that, while the Gawain form marks the first

appearance of the story as a popular tale, before it has become a recognized literarynbsp;theme, and therefore belongs rather to thenbsp;category of folk-tale than to that of romanticnbsp;literature, and the Galahad marks the stagenbsp;of final development, when the vitality of thenbsp;theme as a source of inspiration was waning,nbsp;the Perceval romances belong to the periodnbsp;of genuine popularity, and, in their varyingnbsp;forms, indicate the process of evolutionnbsp;followed by the tale in its development fromnbsp;the Gawain to the Galahad form. It may benbsp;as well to say, for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with the Arthurian tradition, thatnbsp;Gawain is the very earliest of Arthuriannbsp;heroes, figuring in the pseudo-historic textsnbsp;which know neither Perceval, Tristan, nornbsp;Lancelot, and that a version of which he isnbsp;the hero cannot have arisen at a period whennbsp;his fame had become obscured by the growingnbsp;popularity of knights later introduced intonbsp;the cycle.

The differing versions of the story, the elements which may be considered permanent as distinguished from those whichnbsp;are variable, and the light which they maynbsp;throw on the interpretation of the Quest, arenbsp;points which will be discussed in the nextnbsp;chapter.

The earliest form, so far as the subject-matter is concerned, is, as we have seen, that embodied by Waiichier de Denain in his continuation of the Perceval, where it is foundnbsp;among a number of stories having for heronbsp;Gawain, his son, or his brother, and attributed to a certain Bleheris, who, Wauchiernbsp;says, was � n� et engenuis � (born and bred) innbsp;Wales.

That Bleheris is identical with the Master Blihis, referred to in the Elucidation (a textnbsp;to which we shall have occasion to returnnbsp;later) as the source of the Grail story, is nownbsp;generally admitted. It is also highly probable that he is the same as the Br�ri tonbsp;whom Thomas, in his Tristan, attributes annbsp;unrivalled knowledge of

(all the feats and all the tales of all the kings and all the countsnbsp;who e�er had been in Britain;)

and who has, independently, been identified with the Bledhericus, � famosus ille fabulator �nbsp;(that famous story-teller), to whom Giraldusnbsp;Cambrensis refers as having lived not longnbsp;before his time.

Mr. Edward Owen, of the Cymmrodorion Soeiety, has recently published evidence innbsp;favour of the view that this personage maynbsp;well have been identical with a Welsh prince,nbsp;Bledri ap Cadivor, living between the yearsnbsp;1070-1150, who, for some unknown reason,nbsp;threw all his influence on the side of thenbsp;Norman invaders, and whose name appearsnbsp;in charters in company with Norman knights,nbsp;in the form of Bledhericus Latinarius, ornbsp;� the Interpreter.� According to Mr. Owen,nbsp;�it is possible that a section of the Brut ynbsp;Tywyssogion (Brut of the Princes), dealingnbsp;with events in which he took a personalnbsp;share, may also be from his pen.�

This identification, though plausible, is not absolutely proved, but in any case we nownbsp;know that the earliest extant form of thenbsp;Grail story came from Wales, and we havenbsp;reasonable ground for supposing that it wasnbsp;due to a writer who had passed away a quarternbsp;of a century before Chr�tien de Troyes composed his Grail poem, and who, in his lifetime, enjoyed an unrivalled reputation as anbsp;retailer of popular tales and traditions.

The story, which is only a short one, judged by the standard of mediaeval tales, relates

how Guenevere, and certain of her knights, have gone to a cross-road in a forest, to awaitnbsp;the return of the king from a warlike expedition. In the dusk of the evening annbsp;armed knight rides past the tents, withoutnbsp;drawing rein, or saluting the queen. Guenevere, incensed, sends Kay after him, tonbsp;demand his return; displaying his usualnbsp;rough discourtesy, and lack of tact, Kay isnbsp;unhorsed, and returns to the queen withnbsp;bitter complaints of the stranger�s rudeness.nbsp;Guenevere now dispatehes Gawain on thenbsp;errand, who, also in keeping with his character, addresses the stranger courteously, andnbsp;begs his return as a personal favour. Thenbsp;stranger, whose name is never given, demurs,nbsp;on the ground that he rides on a quest thatnbsp;will not brook delay, and which none but henbsp;can achieve; but when Gawain, revealingnbsp;his identity, pledges his honour that no evilnbsp;result shall befall him, he consents to returnnbsp;and pay his respects to the queen.

Before, however, they can reach the camp the knight utters a piercing cry, and fallsnbsp;wounded to death by a dart cast by annbsp;invisible hand. With his dying breath henbsp;bids Gawain don his armour, and ride on thenbsp;quest, w'hich he, perchance, may achieve.nbsp;The steed will carry him aright. Burningnbsp;with shame and indignation at this outragenbsp;on his knightly honour (he had promised thenbsp;knight safe conduct), Gawain sets forth. Henbsp;3

rides through a terrible night of storm and tempest, in the course of which he shelters innbsp;a mysterious chapel, where a Black Hand,nbsp;appearing from behind the altar, extinguishesnbsp;the light, and hideous voices make lamentation.

Gawain�s steed, terrified, carries him away, and we are told that but for his valour andnbsp;worth the knight would have died, but this is

du s�gr� du Graal, si fet grant pecki� et grant malnbsp;cil qui s�entremet de conternbsp;fors si comme il doit aler,

(of the secret of the Grail, he commits a great sin and a great wrongnbsp;who undertakes to tell the talenbsp;otherwise than as it should run.)

By the morning Gawain has passed the bounds of Arthur�s kingdom ; he rides ailnbsp;day through a land waste and desolate, andnbsp;at nightfall comes to the seashore ; he seesnbsp;a causeway, arched over by trees, leading outnbsp;into the water, and washed over by the waves;nbsp;at the end glimmers a light. Gawain wouldnbsp;fain draw bridle, and wait for the day, butnbsp;the steed, taking the bit in its teeth, dashesnbsp;down the path, and carries the knight to thenbsp;lighted doorway of a castle.

Here Gawain is received with great rejoicing, the folk assuring him they have long desired his coming; he enters, and is dis-

armed, when those around know him for a stranger�� this is not he whom we thought �nbsp;�and they leave him alone.

In the centre of the hall Gawain now sees the body of a gigantic knight on a bier,nbsp;covered with a crimson silk, a sword on hisnbsp;breast, and lighted candles at head and foot.nbsp;A procession, headed by a cross of silver,nbsp;enters, and clergy sing the Vespers of thenbsp;Dead amid general lamentation. This over,nbsp;tables are spread for a feast, the king of thenbsp;castle, entering, greets Gawain kindly, andnbsp;places him beside him, then follows thenbsp;mysterious appearance and service of thenbsp;� rich � Grail, commented upon above (p. 8).nbsp;Gawain is filled with awe and astonishment.nbsp;The feast over, all disappear, and Gawain isnbsp;again left alone. He now sees a lance, fixednbsp;upright in a silver cup, from the point ofnbsp;which flows a continuous stream of blood,nbsp;which is carried by a spout of emerald into anbsp;golden tube, and so without the hall.

While Gawain is looking at this the king enters, leads him to the bier, and, taking upnbsp;the broken sword, bids him fix the two halvesnbsp;together, which Gawain fails to do. Shakingnbsp;his head, the king tells him he cannot achievenbsp;the quest on which he has come thither. Henbsp;leads him to another chamber where therenbsp;are other knights, and tells him he may benbsp;able to return at some future time, but nonenbsp;who fail to rejoin the sword can achieve the

purpose of the quest. Nevertheless, Gawain has shown such valour in coming thithernbsp;that he may ask what he will and he shall benbsp;answered. He asks concerning the Lance ?nbsp;It is the Lance of Longinus, and shall bleednbsp;till the Day of Doom. Of the Sword ? Itnbsp;is the Sword of the Dolorous Stroke, by whichnbsp;Logres and all the country were destroyed.nbsp;The king will tell who smote the blow, andnbsp;who was slain by it; but, as he begins tonbsp;speak, weeping the while, Gawain, weariednbsp;out with his journey, falls asleep. He wakesnbsp;the next morning to find himself on thenbsp;seashore, his horse tied to a rock beside him,nbsp;and no trace of the castle to be seen. Butnbsp;now the land is no longer waste, but greennbsp;with verdure ; and as he rides on his way, allnbsp;the folk bless and curse him; for by askingnbsp;of the Lance he has partially restored thenbsp;land (�for so soon as Sir Gawain askednbsp;wherefore it bled thus freshly, the watersnbsp;flowed again through their channels, and allnbsp;the woods were turned to verdure �); hadnbsp;he asked of the Grail the land would havenbsp;been completely restored.

This is a very curious story, complete and picturesque in its details, and, as we shall see,nbsp;capable of an adequate and coherent explanation. Certain of the Perceval MSS.nbsp;interpolate, at an earlier point, another visitnbsp;by Gawain to the mysterious castle, whennbsp;the king is an old man lying on a couch, and

there is a formal Grail procession, consisting of a youth bearing the bleeding Lance, anbsp;maiden with a little silver platter (tailUor), anbsp;maiden, weeping bitterly, who carries thenbsp;Grail (here not an automatic object) in hernbsp;raised hands (we are told Gawain does notnbsp;know what it is she carries), and four ser-jeants with a bier on whieh lies a dead body,nbsp;and a broken sword. The adventure ends,nbsp;similarly, with Gawain�s failure to rejoin thenbsp;two halves of the weapon, his slumber andnbsp;awakening in the morning to find himselfnbsp;alone, this time in a morass. This versionnbsp;has evidently been contaminated by thenbsp;Perceval form.

In Diu Crone, Gawain, who has ridden long in search of the Grail, comes at last to anbsp;goodly land, � like unto a garden, green, andnbsp;of right sweet odour, it might well be held fornbsp;an earthly Paradise.� He passes a castle ofnbsp;glass, the entrance to which is guarded by anbsp;fiery sword, and eventually meets Lancelotnbsp;and Calogreant; the three together come tonbsp;the Grail Castle. In this version the king isnbsp;old, to all appearance ill, and is found in anbsp;goodly hall, all bestrown with roses, for itnbsp;is summer-time. His vesture is white,nbsp;cunningly wrought with diaper work of gold,nbsp;and he is watching two youths playing chessnbsp;when the knights enter. Gawain is made tonbsp;sit by the host on a cushion of rose-colourednbsp;silk. When the feast is set, Gawain and his

companions are plied with wine, the former having received a previous warning, refusesnbsp;to drink; Lancelot and Calogreant drinknbsp;freely, and fall asleep. When the Grail procession enters, Gawain recognizes the Grail-bearer as the maiden who had previously metnbsp;and warned him if he ever saw her again, withnbsp;other maidens in her company, not to fail tonbsp;ask what they did there. So soon as he putsnbsp;the question the king springs up with a cry ofnbsp;joy; he was dead, but retained a semblance ofnbsp;life till the Quest was achieved. At daybreaknbsp;he and his knights vanish, and only the Grail-bearer and her attendants remain. Theynbsp;were the only living beings in this dwellingnbsp;of the dead, and this was the cause of theirnbsp;grief, which has previously been emphasized.

A third version, found in the prose Lancelot, where Gawain fails, and is punished in anbsp;degrading manner for his failure, is noticeable,nbsp;first, for its reference to the non-materialnbsp;character of the Grail, quoted in Chapter I,,nbsp;and, secondly, for the fact that during thenbsp;night Gawain sees twelve maidens who weep,nbsp;and make bitter lamentation before the doornbsp;of the chamber fromw�uchThe Grail issuednbsp;forth. Later on the significance of thisnbsp;incident will become apparent.

To summarize the main features of the Gawain Quest : it differs from the Percevalnbsp;in being much more varied in incident andnbsp;setting ; and in the facts that: (a) Gawain

is never related to the lord of the castle; (amp;) the Grail is always invested with a peculiarnbsp;character of mystery (save in the Diu Cronenbsp;we do not know what it is, nor of whatnbsp;material, if any, it is wrought);nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;(c) the

presence of weeping women, the Grail-bearer, or others is always insisted upon ; (d) therenbsp;is always the presence of Death�either therenbsp;is a dead body on a bier, or the king himself ^is dead.

The Perceval romances, on the other hand, though numerous, exhibit far less variety ofnbsp;detail, so far as the Visit to the Grail Castlenbsp;is concerned; it seems highly probable that fornbsp;this incident all derive, in various measurenbsp;of directness, from one source. Whethernbsp;dwelt upon with elaborate and charmingnbsp;detail, as in the Parzival, or passed overnbsp;lightly, as in the prose romances, the initialnbsp;setting of the Perceval story is the same. Itnbsp;is the tale of a lad, whose father has diednbsp;before, or shortly after, his birth, and whonbsp;has been brought up in the woods by hisnbsp;widowed mother, far from the haunts ofnbsp;man, and in ignorance, not only of all knightlynbsp;accomplishments, but in some instances ofnbsp;the very existence of human beings othernbsp;than his mother and himself. Chance throwsnbsp;certain knights of Arthur�s court across hisnbsp;path, and, fascinated by their appearance,nbsp;he leaves his mother, against her will (therebynbsp;in some versions causing her death), and

presents himself, generally in the roughest garb, and with the most primitive equipmentnbsp;of steed and weapons, before the king,nbsp;peremptorily demanding knighthood at hisnbsp;hands.

His arrival coincides with an insult inflicted on king and queen by an hereditary foe ; the boy follows, slays the insulter, and,nbsp;donning his armour, rides off on a series ofnbsp;adventures of which the Grail visit forms one.nbsp;This introductory section affords scope fornbsp;most poetical treatment, and, in the Parzivalnbsp;especially, it is worked out with extremenbsp;charm. The lad�s love for the singing birds,nbsp;his mother�s jealousy which results in ordersnbsp;to trap them, orders revoked on seeing hernbsp;boy�s grief, the mother�s religious teaching�nbsp;all are admirably told.

*� Then the boy spake: � Now, sweet my mother, why trouble the birds so sore?

Forsooth, they can ne�er have harmed thee, ah! leave them in peace once more.�

Compare also the naivete with which the lad inquires the meaning and use of thenbsp;knights� armour :

Of this part of the tale, entirely independent of any Grail interest, we have not only a version of the Perceval story itself, innbsp;the English Syr Percyvelle of Galles, wherenbsp;there is no trace whatever of the Grail adventures, but also versions where the heronbsp;is known under another name, such as the

� Lai � of Tyolet, the early Italian poem of Carduino, and the Celtic lay of The Greatnbsp;Fool. The introductory section also of thenbsp;poems which treat of the adventures ofnbsp;Gawain�s son, Guinglain, or Li Beau Desconus,nbsp;bear such a resemblance to the Percevalnbsp;��enfances� that a common original for thenbsp;two has been postulated. The story is anbsp;charming and popular folk-tale, vivid andnbsp;picturesque, and nowhere more so than in thenbsp;form directly connected with Perceval. Thatnbsp;hero always preserves throughout his careernbsp;a certain atmosphere of vigorous and untamed manhood, which is particularly interesting. Perhaps the most individual heronbsp;of mediaeval romance, Perceval is never asnbsp;complete and polished a knight as are Gawain,nbsp;Tristan, or Lancelot; even in romancesnbsp;entirely apart from the Grail cycle, we findnbsp;allusions to his curious abruptness andnbsp;taciturnity. He is a fascinating and picturesque figure, and in his zeal for righteousnessnbsp;he may be � a true knight of the Holy Ghost,�nbsp;but from the chivalric point of view onenbsp;could hardly call him � a verray parfit gentilnbsp;knight.�

The setting of the Perceval Grail adventure varies, as suggested above, very little. Innbsp;the poems of Chr�tien and Wolfram, the hero,nbsp;after leaving Arthur�s court, finds his way tonbsp;the castle of an old knight, who receives himnbsp;kindly, and, shocked at his lack of knightly

breeding and accomplishments, does his best to impart to him a measure of skill in armgnbsp;and courtesy of manner�being far morenbsp;successful in the former than in the latternbsp;attempt! In both poems much is made ofnbsp;the lad�s obedience to certain counsels givennbsp;him by his mother, to the strict letter ofnbsp;which he rigidly adheres, till they are somewhat modified by the old knight�s advice,nbsp;which, in its turn, is taken for a rule ofnbsp;conduct.

After leaving the old knight, Gurnemanz, or Gornemans, he comes to the castle of anbsp;maiden, who proves to be niece to his latenbsp;host. She is besieged by an unwelcomenbsp;suitor, and almost reduced, through famine,nbsp;to the point of submission. In the night shenbsp;comes to Perceval�s couch, and beseechesnbsp;aid ; he consents, overthrows her enemies,nbsp;and either betrothes himself to, or weds, thenbsp;maiden. After a more or less prolonged staynbsp;at her castle he determines to seek his mother,nbsp;and rides forth with that object.

Towards nightfall he comes to a water where he sees men in a boat fishing; he asksnbsp;shelter for the night, and is directed by thenbsp;senior of the men to a castle which he findsnbsp;after some considerable difficulty. He is wellnbsp;received, and conducted to a hall, where henbsp;finds his host, who is identical with the oldnbsp;man of the boat, lying on a couch ; [he isnbsp;suffering either from the effects of a wound

(Chr�tien and Wolfram) or of extreme old age (prose Perceval). He is made weleome,nbsp;and in the poetical versions presented with anbsp;mysterious sword, sent by the niece of thenbsp;host; which sword will break either in anbsp;peril foreseen by him who forged it as one ofnbsp;three v/eapons�he never forged more (Chr�tien), or if used to deal a second blownbsp;(Wolfram). In both poems this sword is anbsp;perplexing feature ; and the only solution ofnbsp;the problem seems to be that from the firstnbsp;there was a sword in the Grail story, thenbsp;significance of which, as time went on,nbsp;ceased to be understood, and each writernbsp;accounted for the weapon as he thoughtnbsp;best.

Tables are spread for a feast, and a procession enters, preceded by a youth bearing a Bleeding Lance, the sight of which awakensnbsp;a storm of lamentation. In the processionnbsp;figure a silver tailUor, or two tailUors, silvernbsp;knives (Wolfram), lighted candles, and thenbsp;Grail, which varies between Chr�tien�s vaguenbsp;� something � of gold and precious stones.nbsp;Wolfram�s Stone, the Lance and Cup togethernbsp;of the Perlesvaus, and the Dish of Borron�snbsp;Perceval. There is a mysterious connectionnbsp;between the Grail and the feast, most clearlynbsp;emphasized by Wolfram, who asserts thatnbsp;the Grail provides the guests with the foodnbsp;and drink preferred by each ; but in no casenbsp;does the Grail possess any such automatic

power as we found in the Gawain form. Nor is there any dead body on the bier; thatnbsp;feature seems, in the Perceval texts, to havenbsp;been replaced by the Maimed King, borne onnbsp;the litter. There are never any Weepingnbsp;Women in the Perceval versions, nor, savingnbsp;in the incomplete conclusion given bynbsp;Wauchier to the story, is the hero asked tonbsp;resolder the sword as a test of his fitness tonbsp;learn the meaning of the marvels he beholds.nbsp;In fact, Perceval never attempts to ask fornbsp;an explanation, a failure accounted for bynbsp;the instructions he has received from the oldnbsp;knight, who has warned him against askingnbsp;questions. In Gerbert�s version, which, asnbsp;mentioned above, is inserted between Wauchier and Manessier, he is represented as having,nbsp;like Gawain, partially achieved the quest, andnbsp;by so doing restored the rivers to theirnbsp;channels, thereby earning the blessings of thenbsp;folk; but in the overwhelming majority ofnbsp;the texts his failure is absolute and complete, he requires a second visit to achievenbsp;his task.

One important point of divergence from the Gawain form is that Perceval is alwaysnbsp;closely related to the Grail King, being eithernbsp;his grandson, or his nephew. The relationship may be on the mother�s side, as innbsp;Chr�tien and Wolfram; on the father�s, asnbsp;in Borron; or on that of both, as in thenbsp;Perlesvaus. Gawain, on the contrary, is no

The fact that Chr�tien left his poem unfinished, thus recording the first and abortive visit only, and that the three writers who havenbsp;essayed a conclusion show a bewilderingnbsp;diversity of tradition, renders the conclusionnbsp;of the original Perceval Grail poem a highlynbsp;problematical question. The English Syrnbsp;Percyvelle alluded to above, in which therenbsp;is no mention of the Grail, concludes withnbsp;Perceval�s reunion with his mother, whom henbsp;takes to his wife�s castle (here, as in Wolfram,nbsp;he marries the besieged lady), and his subsequent journey to the Holy Land, where henbsp;dies. But how did the first Perceval Grailnbsp;poem end ? What was the precise form ofnbsp;the question he asked ? Was it, or was itnbsp;not, connected with an attempt to mend anbsp;broken sword ? The king was certainlynbsp;cured, but was he restored to youth, as fromnbsp;Wolfram and Borron there is reason to think ?nbsp;And did, or did not, the land share in thenbsp;revival of the king ? It is difficult fromnbsp;the versions before us to give a decided answernbsp;to these questions.

Thus, to sum up, we have as distinctive notes of the Perceval Grail version : (a) thenbsp;picturesque enfances of the hero, alwaysnbsp;present in the story, though not always relatednbsp;in detail; (b) the fact that he alw'ays finds thenbsp;lord of the Grail Castle engaged in fishing.

which points to a stage when it was thought necessary to explain, tant bien que mol, thenbsp;title of the � Fisher King,� and, we may surmise, to a period when the real meaning ofnbsp;that title had been largely forgotten; (c)nbsp;that the Fisher King is his near relative ;nbsp;{d) that he suffers under serious physicalnbsp;disability ; (e) the presence of a more or lessnbsp;stately and elaborate procession of which thenbsp;Grail forms a part�we may term it a � Solemnnbsp;Entry of the Grail � (in Wolfram this procession is of a most gorgeous character); andnbsp;(�) lastly, the absolute failure at his firstnbsp;visit of the Quester. It will be seen that,nbsp;while this is a much more developed form, itnbsp;adds nothing of real importance to the story.

In the version of which Galahad is the hero, the Quest, so far as he himself is concerned, is a quest in name only. His mothernbsp;is the daughter of the Grail King, and herselfnbsp;the Grail-bearer, who, through a ruse practised by her old nurse upon Laneelot, whonbsp;believes the lady to be Guenevere, is enablednbsp;to fulfil the prophecy which has marked hernbsp;out as the mother of the predestined Grail-winner. Galahad has grown up, first at thenbsp;court of Corbenic, then in a cloister, under thenbsp;very shadow of the Grail; he knows perfectly what it is, and where it may be found.nbsp;His first appearance at Arthur�s court isnbsp;coincident with that of a sword, fixed in anbsp;block of marble, which Galahad alone can

withdraw�an incident borrowed from the Merlin, where it forms the test which conclusively proves Arthur�s claim to the crown.nbsp;Here, as remarked above, all the knights takenbsp;part in the Quest, and when, after a long seriesnbsp;of adventures to which a forced symbolicalnbsp;interpretation is given, Galahad returns tonbsp;Corbenic, he is accompanied by Percevalnbsp;(who is here no longer a relative of the Grailnbsp;King, Galahad having supplanted him innbsp;this role) and Lancelot�s cousin, Bors. Theynbsp;are joined at the castle by nine other knights,nbsp;whose names are not given, and who play nonbsp;further role in the story. The twelve hold anbsp;mystic feast (the Grail King and his son beingnbsp;excluded), at which the Grail, here identifiednbsp;with the Holy Eucharist, yet, as we saw above,nbsp;still possessing its original automatic, foodproviding powers, appears, and by commandnbsp;of Heaven the three Arthurian knightsnbsp;follow it to the land of Sarras. Finally thenbsp;Grail is received up into Heaven, and nevernbsp;seen again of man.

It is evident that this version can in no way assist us in determining what was thenbsp;original character and significance of thenbsp;Quest. It is a definite terminus ad quern; andnbsp;the real problem is to decide how, and bynbsp;what stages, a story which made its firstnbsp;appearance in the wild and picturesque setting of the Bleheris-Gatcam form, arrived innbsp;the course of development at this highly

ecclesiasticized version. The gulf between the two is tremendous, yet both are genuinenbsp;Grail stories. That the Galahad form couldnbsp;possibly represent the original conceptionnbsp;and have become transmuted into the Gawainnbsp;is absolutely impossible. There is but onenbsp;link between the two, the automatic, foodproviding powers of the talisman, and thatnbsp;is precisely a feature which strikes us as outnbsp;of harmony with the general tone and symbolism of the Galahad Quest. What, then,nbsp;is the germ in that wild elusive folk-tale whichnbsp;rendered it of kinship with, and capable ofnbsp;development into, this presentment ofnbsp;Catholic sacramentalism in its most materialnbsp;form ? What is � the Secret of the Grail � ?

Modern interest in the legend of the Grail, and the literature in which that legend isnbsp;enshrined, may be said to have found itsnbsp;starting-point in San Marte�s (A. Schulz)nbsp;modern German edition of the Parzivalnbsp;(1836-42), and the accompanying detailednbsp;study on the sources of the legend. Hisnbsp;work was followed by Simrock�s better knownnbsp;translation, with full notes and a discussionnbsp;of sources. A few years later M. de lanbsp;Villemarqu� published his well-known studiesnbsp;on Breton legend and folk-lore (1846), andnbsp;from this date onward editions of the texts,nbsp;and studies on their probable inter-relationnbsp;and ultimate source, followed on each othernbsp;with bewildering rapidity.

It would be quite impossible, and indeed out of place, here to attempt a sketch of thenbsp;development of this critical literature, itsnbsp;inclination first to one solution, then tonbsp;another, the deflection of interest first intonbsp;one side channel, then into another, as sub-sidiar)'^ and isolated parallels were seized

upon and exaggerated into issues of primary importance. But it must be borne in mindnbsp;that, apart from editions and translations ofnbsp;the texts, and travaux d�ensemble, there havenbsp;been published countless brochures dealingnbsp;with this or that point in the story, some ofnbsp;them, such as those by Dr. Paul Hagen, beingnbsp;works of considerable critical value. Thenbsp;incomplete character of the MS. evidence, andnbsp;the fascination of the subject-matter, offer annbsp;irresistible attraction to the research studentnbsp;(unfortunately also to the irresponsible andnbsp;ingenious amateur !), and theory has followednbsp;upon theory with the resultant effect of anbsp;complex which none but a specialist will carenbsp;to grapple with. Could any one find thenbsp;leisure and the patience necessary to draw up,nbsp;and tabulate, a complete statement of all thenbsp;theories on the subject which have seen thenbsp;light of day, there is no doubt that the resultnbsp;would be a highly entertaining piece ofnbsp;literature.

For those desirous of obtaining a general view of the question, the two most usefulnbsp;works are still Professor Birch-Hirschfeld�snbsp;Die Sage vom Oral, and the late Mr. Alfrednbsp;Nutt�s Studies in the Legend of the Holynbsp;Grail, both of which contain full abstracts ofnbsp;the texts comprising the cycle, and a discussion of preceding works on the subject.nbsp;They are specially interesting because thenbsp;results arrived at differ, and represent the

two main theories of origin�^the Christian and the Folk-lore. The late Professornbsp;Heinzel�s study, Die Alt-Franz�sischen Gral-Bomanen, is less accessible, and though displaying a far wider range of learning thannbsp;either of the other works, suffers undernbsp;serious disadvantages of style and method ;nbsp;Professor Heinzel had little or no sense ofnbsp;literary form, and presented the result of hisnbsp;researches in a series of disconnected notesnbsp;rather than as a carefully considered andnbsp;organized whole. The work is extremelynbsp;difficult to read, and while essential for thenbsp;specialist, would drive an amateur to distraction. A small pamphlet published by Mr.nbsp;Nutt (in the little series of � Popular Studiesnbsp;on Romance and Folk-lore �), The Holy Grail,nbsp;gives the results of later investigation, butnbsp;does not contain the abstracts included innbsp;the earlier volume.

One point, however, must be borne in view with regard to these works, viz. the fact thatnbsp;the discovery of Bleheris as an authority fornbsp;early Arthurian tradition is of quite recentnbsp;date, being the result of an investigation intonbsp;the Perceval romances undertaken by thenbsp;present writer during the years 1902-05, andnbsp;made public first in the pages of Romanianbsp;for 1904, and then in vol. i. of The Legend ofnbsp;Sir Perceval (1906). Previous to that discovery the position of Gawain as Grail heronbsp;had been either altogether ignored, or treated

as of very minor importance ; e.g. Mr. Nutt considered him merely as an understudy tonbsp;the main hero, Perceval, The fact that, asnbsp;Dr. Brugger, the leading German critic ofnbsp;Arthurian literature, has frankly admitted,nbsp;we must henceforth take the Bleheris-Gaz�amnbsp;form as our starting-point of investigation,nbsp;must necessarily affect, more or less radically,nbsp;theroies constructed in ignorance of thenbsp;importance of this version.

As a brief summary of the controversy, we may say that, till within the last six or sevennbsp;years, scholars were divided into two sharplynbsp;opposed camps. The one held that thenbsp;Grail story was a purely Christian ecclesiastical legend, the work of monkish compilers,nbsp;its starting-point being the tradition of Josephnbsp;of Arimathea, and his connection with thenbsp;Vessel of the Last Supper, used later as anbsp;� Saint-Sang � relic. From this germ all laternbsp;developments, however complex, proceeded.

The advocates of the opposing theory maintained that the Grail, far from being a Christian relic, was simply the automatic, foodproviding talisman of popular tradition, and as such, of purely Folk-lore, preferably Celtic,nbsp;origin. This latter view, in one form ornbsp;another, is really the older, as both San Martenbsp;and Simrock inclined toward it; but the theorynbsp;of a specifically Christian origin, adopted bynbsp;Birch-Hirschfeld, has for so long held the fieldnbsp;that it may be well to discuss it first.

The latest, and quite a recent, development of this theory is that proposed by Professornbsp;Burdach and enthusiastically adopted bynbsp;Professor Golther, which sees in the Grailnbsp;procession simply the Eucharistic processionnbsp;of the Eastern Church ; as Golther puts it,nbsp;� What Perceval sees is the Byzantine Mass.�nbsp;But how the Byzantine Mass came to benbsp;celebrated in Northern France (for Professornbsp;Golther is one of those whom the merenbsp;suggestion that any one but Chr�tien denbsp;Troyes can be responsible for the Grailnbsp;story, reduces to incoherent indignation ; thenbsp;question, for him, cannot even be discussed),nbsp;and in an ordinary castle hall; or innbsp;what mysterious manner this Mass differsnbsp;from that at which Perceval assists innbsp;the Hermit�s cell, on Easter-Day, thesenbsp;distinguished authorities omit to explain.

But the obviously � airy � nature of this last phase of the theory is a fair illustrationnbsp;of its character as a whole. In the opinionnbsp;of the present writer the theory of the Christian origin of the story, in any form'whatever,nbsp;can only be met by a direct and uncompromising negative. As a simple matter of factnbsp;there is no ecclesiastical story which connectsnbsp;Joseph of Arimathea with the Vessel (Dish,nbsp;or Cup) of the Last Supper ; ecclesiasticalnbsp;tradition, as such, knows nothing whatevernbsp;of the Grail.

Mediaeval writers knew this well enough. As early as 1260 the Nederland poet, Jacobnbsp;van Maerlant, in his Merlin, denounced thenbsp;whole Grail history as mere lies, on the specificnbsp;ground that the Church knew nothing of thenbsp;story; and the chronicler Helinandus,nbsp;speaking of the Joseph Grail tradition, remarks naively: � Hanc historiam Latinenbsp;scriptam invenire non potui � (I was not ablenbsp;to find this story written in Latin). Thenbsp;story of Joseph�s imprisonment by the Jewsnbsp;is indeed recorded in the pseudo-GospeZ ofnbsp;Nicodemus, or Acta Pilati, but there is nonbsp;mention of the Grail in that text. Anynbsp;reader familiar with the Art Galleries ofnbsp;Europe will recognize that while Joseph ofnbsp;Arimathea and Nicodemus are constantly tonbsp;be found in representations of the Depositionnbsp;from the Cross, or Burial of our Lord, nowhere, not even in an anecdotal predella, isnbsp;there a record of Joseph and the Grail.nbsp;The story is the creation of romance, not anbsp;legend of the Church.

Nor, leaving the incidents of the story aside, can the Grail in any way be claimed asnbsp;a genuine relic. As Dr. Brugger has verynbsp;acutely remarked, such relics are � besucht,nbsp;nicht gesuchtf their whereabouts is wellnbsp;known and widely advertised; they arenbsp;objects of pilgrimage and profit to the churchnbsp;or city fortunate enough to possess them. Ifnbsp;there ever had been a genuine Grail Saint-

Sang relic, that relic would have been as well located, its fame as widely spread, as thenbsp;kindred relics of Bruges and Fescamp, ornbsp;the Volto Santo of Lucca. There is more thannbsp;a possibility, indeed, that it was precisely thenbsp;great reputation of the Fescamp relic whichnbsp;provided the initial suggestion and inspirationnbsp;for the formation of a kindred tradition atnbsp;Glastonbury.

As those conversant with the literature are now well aware, the Fescamp � Saint-Sang �nbsp;relic, like the Volto Santo of Lucca, is connected with Nicodemus ; he it was who collected the Sacred Blood, he who carved thenbsp;wondrous Crucifix, both were miraculouslynbsp;transported by water to their present shrine.

The fact that the canonical Gospels record the interview of Nicodemus with our Lordnbsp;would probably account for his being, innbsp;early Christian tradition, a more importantnbsp;figure than Joseph, concerning whom we havenbsp;no such evidence ; even the text upon whichnbsp;the whole fabric of the Joseph Grail story isnbsp;based is the Gospel, not of Joseph, but ofnbsp;Nicodemus. The Wauchier continuation,nbsp;speaking of a certain adventure of Perceval,nbsp;refers as authority to a text to be found atnbsp;Fescamp :

a passage which seems to point to a possible Percevcd Grail story, connected with thatnbsp;Abbey. The fact that Fescamp possessed anbsp;guild of minstrels attached to its foundation,nbsp;would render possible the construction of suchnbsp;a story, based on a combination of the popular Folk-tale of Perceval, and the Grail theme;nbsp;a combination which, given the antecedentnbsp;identification of the Grail with a Saint-Sangnbsp;Vessel, would fall quite within the limits ofnbsp;reasonable hypothesis. Such a compilationnbsp;might well ante-date any of our existing texts.

The presence of the � Saint-Sang � relic at Fescamp is affirmed in a treatise on thenbsp;subject dedicated to the third Abbot, whonbsp;died in 1107 ; thus it was certainly there bynbsp;the end of the preceding century. All thenbsp;legends connected with the building point tonbsp;the Abbey as having been founded to containnbsp;the relic ; there is no tradition of the relicnbsp;having been brought to an already existingnbsp;Abbey.

The Minstrel Confraternity, according to its charter which is still in existence, wasnbsp;founded by the first Abbot, who died innbsp;1031 ; and it may be assumed, from parallelnbsp;instances, that such a Confraternity, evennbsp;as the similar body connected with Saintnbsp;Guillaume du Desert, was organized with thenbsp;initial aim of spreading the reputation of thenbsp;Abbey, and its relic. Thus inferential evidence would point to the early years of the

eleventh, or even to the closing years of the tenth century, as the starting-point for talesnbsp;dealing with the Fescamp relic.

On the other hand, the connection of Joseph of Arimathea with Glastonbury wasnbsp;a tradition of late and slow growth. There isnbsp;no doubt that, from an early period, Glastonbury was associated by tradition with thenbsp;Celtic Avalon. A curious story was told of anbsp;certain Glast, or Glasteing, who, having lostnbsp;his (here, eight-footed !) swine, found themnbsp;on this spot under an apple tree. The oldnbsp;British name for apple being avalla, he namednbsp;the place Insula Avallonice, the marshes whichnbsp;surrounded Glastonbury rendering possiblenbsp;the description of the spot as an island.nbsp;According to William of Malmesbury it wasnbsp;also known as Ynis-gwitrin, the Isle of Glassnbsp;(also a name for the Other-world), and thenbsp;name Avallon, the chronicler remarks, maynbsp;have been derived from that of the earliestnbsp;inhabitant, Avalloc.

It is perfectly clear that early writers, while identifying Glastonbury with the old Celticnbsp;Paradise of Avalon, or the Isle of Glass, hadnbsp;no real knowledge of the origin�of the name;nbsp;but the place must, already, in pre-Christiannbsp;times, have enjoyed a local reputation fornbsp;sanctity; it was most probably the site ofnbsp;an early Celtic temple, or a burying-place.nbsp;The Glast story is of Irish origin, and, in thenbsp;opinion of M. Ferd. Lot (� Glastonbury and

Avalon,� Romania, vol. xxvii.), was attached to the plaee by Irish monks ; but one thing isnbsp;quite certain, no early writer bases the famenbsp;of Glastonbury upon the ground of its association with the earliest foundation of Christianity, through the person of a contemporarynbsp;of the Redeemer.

The first mention of Joseph of Arimathea, in this connection, is based upon an interpolation in a passage drawn from the Chronicle of Freculf, who states that S. Philip andnbsp;S. James sent forth twelve of their disciplesnbsp;to convert the island of Britain; the chronicler quotes Josephus as his authority. Innbsp;some twelfth-century MSS. Joseph appearsnbsp;as leader of the band; a change which maynbsp;be due either to the misunderstanding of anbsp;copyist, or the desire to have a well-knownnbsp;name for the leader. The interesting factnbsp;that the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus,nbsp;which, as'^^stated above, gives an account ofnbsp;the imprisonment of Joseph by the Jews, wasnbsp;well known in Britain in the eighth century,nbsp;whereas it was not generally current on thenbsp;continent till some four hundred years later,nbsp;would explain the popularity of Joseph innbsp;these islands, and the reason why, when anbsp;special Conversion legend was demanded, henbsp;should be selected as hero.

At first the Christian Abbey of Glastonbury was content to base its claims to honour on its being the burial-place of certain Irish

and Celtic saints. By the end of the eleventh century it had fallen on evil days, and lostnbsp;much of its renown. To recover its prestige,nbsp;and in order to provide a bulwark against thenbsp;growing power and authority of Canterbury,nbsp;the monks set to work to fabricate a series ofnbsp;diplomas and charters, purporting to be thenbsp;grants of early British and Saxon kings.nbsp;In the twelfth century Glastonbury becamenbsp;a veritable bureau for the fabrication ofnbsp;fictitious deeds of this character. Finallynbsp;the monks set the seal to their audacity bynbsp;claiming to be the earliest Church founded innbsp;Britain.

Now when we take into consideration the fact that the two Abbeys of Fescamp andnbsp;Glastonbury belonged to the same Order;nbsp;that the first was under the special protectionnbsp;of the Norman kings, by whose ancestors itnbsp;was founded ; that there was constant communication between Fescamp and Englandnbsp;(under the first Abbot a member of the royalnbsp;�Saxon�family of England was a membernbsp;of the Order; the second Abbot visited thenbsp;court of Edward the Confessor, and receivednbsp;donations from that monarch, afterwards confirmed by his successor; the fifth Abbot,nbsp;Henry de Sully, was nephew to King Stephen),nbsp;�when we have thus, on the one side of thenbsp;water Fescamp, with Nicodemus, the Saint-Sang, and Holy Fig-tree, it seems to me thatnbsp;the genesis of the corresponding sequence on

the other side of the channel, Glastonbury, Joseph, the Grail, and the Holy Thorn, is notnbsp;far to seek !

No direct evidence of this dependence exists, but the texts of the Perlesvaus, as wenbsp;now possess it, show distinct signs of anbsp;mingling of the traditions. The conclusionnbsp;of the story states that the original Latinnbsp;source was found � in the Isle of Avalon, innbsp;a holy house of religion that is placed at thenbsp;head of the adventurous marshes, there,nbsp;where lie King Arthur and Queen Guenevere �nbsp;�a description which points unmistakablynbsp;to Glastonbury, but can hardly antedate thenbsp;official � discovery � of the tombs of Arthurnbsp;and his queen, towards the end of the reignnbsp;of Henry II., i.e. within the last twenty yearsnbsp;of the twelfth century.

At the same time this very romance, and this romance alone, traces the hero�s genealogy to Nicodemus, as well as to Joseph; henbsp;descends on the father�s side from the former,nbsp;on the mother�s from the latter. We notednbsp;in the previous chapter that the Perlesvausnbsp;occupies a peculiar position in the literaturenbsp;of the cycle, showing traces of early originnbsp;combined with very late features; it hasnbsp;certainly undergone more than one redaction,nbsp;and the theory that we have here an earlynbsp;Perceval Grail romance, originally constructednbsp;at Fescamp, and later worked over in thenbsp;interests of the fellow-foundation at Glaston-

Is it not clear that, had Glastonbury really possessed a treasure of the twofold sanctitynbsp;to which the Grail, as alike Vessel of the Lastnbsp;Supper and Saint-Sang relic, could rightfullynbsp;lay claim, the monks who, as history proves,nbsp;were not slow to make capital of all thatnbsp;might bring fame to their Abbey, would certainly have exploited that treasure for allnbsp;that it was worth ? But when we considernbsp;the fact that, on the contrary, Glastonburynbsp;never asserted its possession of a relic thatnbsp;entitled it to rank, as a goal of pilgrimage,nbsp;with the shrines of Fescamp and Lucca (Inbsp;instance tliis latter as the Grail texts themselves refer to it), it seems to me that thenbsp;whole weight of evidence is in favour of thenbsp;Joseph Grail story being a mere literary invention of the latter part of the twelfthnbsp;century, inspired by the famous tradition ofnbsp;Fescamp, and based upon a romance originally constructed by the minstrels attachednbsp;to that foundation.

Another point which should not be ignored is that the Grail is a Saint-Sang relic innbsp;appearance, rather than in fact. Contrarynbsp;to what might, and ought, to be expected,nbsp;the interest of the story is centred on thenbsp;Vessel, the container, not on its content.nbsp;The Legend, the Romances, are the Grailnbsp;legend and romances. Now Grail, to the

minds of twelfth-century writers, most undoubtedly meant a Dish; the very MS. which gives us the best version of the Gawainnbsp;Grail story, in a section by the same hand,nbsp;relates how Gawain arrives at a certainnbsp;castle during the temporary absence of itsnbsp;lord, and finds a meal prepared awaiting hisnbsp;return. Among the viands are � boars�nbsp;heads on grails of silver.� Helinandus, innbsp;his chronicle referred to above, describes thenbsp;Grail as a Dish, � wide and somewhat deep.�nbsp;Evidently, then, in the Grail legend, wenbsp;are dealing with a tradition which centresnbsp;round a Vessel, independent of what thatnbsp;Vessel may contain. Even when the contenunbsp;is the most sacred thing on earth, the Bloodnbsp;of the Redeemer, the importance of the vesselnbsp;is such that it still dominates the situation ;nbsp;it is the Grail story after, as before.

It is obvious that later writers felt this difficulty; the talisman first took the prefixnbsp;of � Saint,� the � Saint-Graal,� which was laternbsp;written as one word, the � Sangraal.� Finally,nbsp;the ingenious etymology. Sang R�al, thenbsp;Royal Blood, was adopted as explanatory ofnbsp;the title. All eminently satisfactory, so longnbsp;as the original texts were unknown or ignored.nbsp;But they, unfortunately, lend no support tonbsp;this ingenious theory; rather do theynbsp;contradict it, for they invariably give thenbsp;word without a qualifying adjective, withoutnbsp;even always the definite article, Chr�tien

speaks of � uns Gr�aus� a Grail, and Wolfram von Eschenbach knew it as a � Stone.� Wenbsp;have no genuine Holy Blood relic here.

Further, the Grail possesses attributes not to be harmonized with the hypothesis of anbsp;genuine Christian origin. No recorded Saint-Sang relic, most certainly no Eucharisticnbsp;chalice, comes and goes in automatic fashion,nbsp;leaving rich food and drink in its train. Yetnbsp;even in the Galahad Queste, where the Grailnbsp;is surrounded by a halo of Christian sanctity,nbsp;its appearance at Arthur�s court means thatnbsp;� every knight had such meats and drinks asnbsp;he best loved in this world.� (It would benbsp;interesting to know if Professor Golthernbsp;holds this for a feature of the Byzantinenbsp;Liturgy ?)

And no hypothesis of a Christian origin can explain the mise en sc�ne of the story:nbsp;the lonely castle by the seashore (be it noted,nbsp;it is always a castle, never a temple; onlynbsp;in the very latest forms of the story is thenbsp;Grail kept in a chamber which might notnbsp;unfitly be described as a chapel); the Wastenbsp;Land, only to be restored with the restorationnbsp;of the King ; the Dead Knight; the Wailingnbsp;Women; the outburst of grief which accompanies the appearance of the Lance.nbsp;No, however attractive the theory of anbsp;Christian origin for the Grail story may appearnbsp;at first sight, it breaks down at every pointnbsp;when critically investigated. This special

solution of the problem must be dismissed, not merely as � not proven,� but as thoroughlynbsp;and completely discredited. Whatever thenbsp;Grail may be it is not a Christian relic;nbsp;whatever the source of the story, it is not annbsp;ecclesiastical legend.

If, then, the advocates of the Christian Grail theory have thus signally failed to make goodnbsp;their contention, how does the matter standnbsp;with regard to their opponents, the advocatesnbsp;of a Folk-lore origin ?

We may at once admit that they can put forward a much stronger, and better reasoned,nbsp;case. If their attempt to solve the problemnbsp;cannot be held to have fully succeeded, itnbsp;is rather because the solution proposed isnbsp;inadequate to meet all the conditions, thannbsp;that, like the Christian, it is radically unsound.

Thus, the advocates of the Folk-lore Talisman, those who hold the Grail to benbsp;ah origine what the German scholars termnbsp;a Wunsch-Gefass, can point to countlessnbsp;folk-tale records of similar food-supplyingnbsp;vessels, some, too, of a mythic rather than ofnbsp;a popular origin. Such was the cauldron ofnbsp;the Dagda, from which none ever went awaynbsp;unsatisfied, connected with the Tuatha de

of the Irish race. Such, again, was the cauldron of Bras, in the Mabinogi of Branwennbsp;the Daughter of Llyr, which possessed thenbsp;power of restoring the dead to life.

Or there is the mysterious and venomous Spear, the Luin of Celtchar, which emittednbsp;streams of fire, and required to be constantlynbsp;plunged in a cauldron of blood, to quell itsnbsp;venomous attributes.

The Four Treasures of these mysterious Tuatha de Danann were the Stone of Destiny,nbsp;which proclaimed the future king; the Sword;nbsp;the Spear ; and the Cauldron, above referrednbsp;to�talismans corresponding with singularnbsp;accuracy to those of the Grail Castle.

Again, advocates of this theory have no difficulty in proving the folk-lore andnbsp;traditional character of a tale such as thenbsp;Perceval enfances, a tale which, as the latenbsp;Mr. Alfred Nutt, following in the steps ofnbsp;J. G. von Hahn, has shown, finds its parallelsnbsp;amid all the Aryan peoples. It is, indeed,nbsp;easy to go further, and demonstrate thenbsp;general use of popular folk-tale themes in thenbsp;evolution of that body of romantic literaturenbsp;to which the Grail texts belong. Thus, Thenbsp;Three Days'' Tournament, a story in whichnbsp;the hero appears three consecutive days innbsp;different armour, a theme found all over thenbsp;world, is used over and over again innbsp;Arthurian romance, and there is strong reasonnbsp;to believe that it was this story, in one of its

most popular forms, which gave the initial suggestion for the immortal loves of Lancelotnbsp;and Guenevere, The Lanval story, of thenbsp;love of a knight for a fairy mistress, of whichnbsp;we have many variants, the story of Caradosnbsp;and the Serpent, the story of Merlin�allnbsp;these are notable instances. Small wonder,nbsp;then, that the theory of a folk-lore, and of anbsp;specifically Celtic folk-lore, origin for thenbsp;Grail legend, has won widespread acceptance.

And yet this theory cannot be said to satisfy, fully and completely, the conditionsnbsp;of the problem. The weak points, and unfortunately they are points of supremenbsp;importance, may be stated as follows :

If we cannot accept the theory that a definitely religious and Christian objectnbsp;could be credited with the attributes andnbsp;methods of procedure of a mere foodproviding talisman, it is equally difficult tonbsp;accept the converse�^that a purely Folk-lore,nbsp;food-providing vessel should be identifiednbsp;with the most sacred objects of the Christiannbsp;Faith, the Blood of the Redeemer, the Chalicenbsp;of the Eucharist; and that, not in storiesnbsp;which might be the result of popular growthnbsp;and ignorant misapprehension (there are nonbsp;Christian Grail folk-tales), but in lengthy andnbsp;detailed romances, obviously the work ofnbsp;knowledge and intelligence. This is a pointnbsp;which, as a rule, the advocates of this particular theory prefer not to face. They postu-

late the non-Christian, preferably Celtic, origin of the tale and suggest certain variednbsp;theories of that origin; they admit thenbsp;definitely Christian character of the laternbsp;forms of the romance, but the gulf between is,nbsp;as a rule, left unbridged.

Professor Wechssler did, indeed, some years ago, attempt to fulfil the required conditionsnbsp;by postulating a version of the Joseph ofnbsp;Arimathea story, in which that hero wasnbsp;miraculously sustained during his forty years�nbsp;captivity by an automatic, food-providingnbsp;talisman, which, for some unexplainednbsp;reason, received the name of Grail; but henbsp;omitted to explain why, if this were thenbsp;case, all mention of the talisman should havenbsp;been omitted from the texts recording thisnbsp;captivity. This idea he then combined withnbsp;a reconstructed version of the story, in whichnbsp;the hero�s name was Galahad, but the incidents were those of the Perceval form. Herenbsp;again we were left in ignorance of the processnbsp;by which the name of the later hero became,nbsp;permanently and indissolubly, attached tonbsp;the primitive incidents, while the genuinenbsp;hero was provided with an entirely new story,nbsp;not one incident of the original tale remainingnbsp;to his credit! The whole was complacentlynbsp;offered as a via media, which should solve allnbsp;the contradictions and difficulties, of thenbsp;cycle. The result was generally held to donbsp;more credit to Professor Wechssler�s ingenuity

than to his critical faculty, but the attempt is in itself a proof of the extreme complexitynbsp;and difficulty of the problem.

Thus, while admitting the full force of the folk-lore parallels and the validity of thenbsp;argument as regards many features of thenbsp;story, we are compelled to ask, what, grantingnbsp;the initial postulate, there could have beennbsp;about this special food-providing talismannbsp;that differentiated it from the great familynbsp;of similar talismans ? Why should this,nbsp;more than any other of its countless fellows,nbsp;have been so speedily, so radically. Christianized, and surrounded with sueh annbsp;atmosphere of mystic secrecy ? This is anbsp;point which cannot possibly be evaded ; itnbsp;is a point which has never been fairly met.

The second main objection is that here, even as in the Christian theory, the mise ennbsp;sc�ne is not satisfactorily explained. No onenbsp;has as yet brought forward a folk-tale corresponding in ineident and setting to the Grailnbsp;story. Explanations are indeed suggestednbsp;for isolated features. Thus, the Deadnbsp;Knight on the bier has been paralleled withnbsp;Arthur in Avalon; the Maimed King (withnbsp;reference to Wolfram�s explanation of thenbsp;character of the injury) to Kronos, in hisnbsp;Western Isle; the Waste Land, to an incidentnbsp;in the Mabinogi of Manawyddan, the son ofnbsp;Llyr. But these are all independent thenbsp;one of the other; a story that corresponds

in any detailed manner with either the Bleheris-Gateaiw story, or the Grail sectionnbsp;of the Perceval, is so far unknown. This isnbsp;the more suggestive in that, as Dr. Griffithnbsp;has recently shown, there exists a well-marked group of folk-tales curiously parallelnbsp;in incident and intention with the openingnbsp;phases of this latter form�^the forest education of the hero, his dramatic appearance atnbsp;court, the slaying of the Red Knight, etc. Thenbsp;hero follows a well-marked traditional pathnbsp;for the first part of his adventures; but thatnbsp;path never leads, as were the theory soundnbsp;it surely should lead, to the Grail Castle.

It is, of course, possible that certain of my readers may here ask. But what of the evidence of the Perronik ? Have we not herenbsp;a genuine folk-tale, paral] el to the Perceval-Grail story ? Have we not here the Diimm-ling hero, the Lance, and the Basin, or Cup ?nbsp;M. De la Villemarqu� thought he had foundnbsp;the source here, and his view has recentlynbsp;been revived and warmly championed bynbsp;Professor von Schroeder.

Now there is no doubt that in the Perronik we have a popular tale belonging to thenbsp;� Great Fool � group ; i.e. the hero is certainly a near relation of Perceval. Also, thenbsp;talismans he wins are strongly reminiscent ofnbsp;Lance and Grail. But in my view � reminiscent � is precisely the right word to use;nbsp;they were suggested by these objects, they

are not the objects themselves, far less are they their source. There are two unmistakable notes of a late origin which havenbsp;escaped the notice of those enamoured of thenbsp;tale. The manner in which alone the giantnbsp;can meet his death brings the tale into thenbsp;well-known group of the � Hidden Soul,� ofnbsp;which it is clearly a late variant. The factnbsp;that the giant is slain through the agency ofnbsp;the embodied Plague, the � Yellow Death,�nbsp;and also the references to the bells ringingnbsp;for the Feast of Corpus Christi, are proofsnbsp;that this particular version of the tale is laternbsp;than the introduction of these two featuresnbsp;into Europe. Neither were known before thenbsp;thirteenth century.

The weak point, and it is a fatally weak point, of the method employed by thenbsp;defenders of both Christian and Folk-lorenbsp;theory, is that both alike content themselvesnbsp;with a discussion of the nature and originnbsp;of the Grail, and its attendant talisman, thenbsp;Lance, each, as it ^ere, per se, and independentnbsp;of the other, and disregard, more or less, thenbsp;setting in which they are placed. Yet surelynbsp;no theory of the origin of the story can benbsp;considered really and permanently satisfactory, unless it can offer an explanation ofnbsp;the story as a whole; of the relations betweennbsp;the two chief talismans, and of the varyingnbsp;forms assumed by the Grail: why it shouldnbsp;be at one time a Food-providing object of

unexplained form, at another a Dish; at one moment the receptacle of streams of Bloodnbsp;from a Lance, at another, the Cup of thenbsp;Last Supper; here � Something � wrought ofnbsp;no material substance, there, a Stone; andnbsp;yet everywhere and always possess the samenbsp;essential significance; in each and everynbsp;form be rightly described as The Grail ?

As a rule, this, the real essence of the problem, has been evaded. Criticism has been content to find independent and unrelatednbsp;solutions for this or that aspect of thenbsp;Talisman: yet it is always and everywherenbsp;the Grail, and between its varying manifestations some definite principle of relationnbsp;should surely subsist.

The late Mr. Alfred Nutt endeavoured to find a solution of the main difficulty in anbsp;combination of two distinct Quest stories,nbsp;termed by him the Feud and the Unspellingnbsp;quests. The first would give us the Deadnbsp;Knight, the Sword, and the introductorynbsp;section of Manessier�s conclusion of thenbsp;Perceval, where the hero must avenge thenbsp;death of the Fisher King�s brother on hisnbsp;slayer, before that personage can be healed.nbsp;The second would account for the questionnbsp;which, rightly asked, brought about the restoration alike of King and Land. This latternbsp;feature Mr. Nutt connected with the Irishnbsp;geasa, or taboo, restrictions laid upon a heronbsp;to do, or refrain from doing, certain things.

But it is surely unnecessary to postulate a combination of themes, unless we are absolutely certain that no single hypothesis cannbsp;adequately meet the case.

The task, then, which modern scholarship must deliberately face is that of co-ordinatingnbsp;the varying versions of the legend, andnbsp;evolving a theory which shall explain, notnbsp;merely one form of the Grail, but all the varying forms, while at the same time it providesnbsp;an adequate explanation for the story-setting.nbsp;In the opinion of the present writer there isnbsp;one theory, and one alone, which will,nbsp;naturally, and without undue forcing of thenbsp;facts, explain the apparent enigma of thenbsp;Vessel and its surroundings, and do justice tonbsp;what is really sound and enduring in thenbsp;earlier and opposing theories of origin; fornbsp;in the Folk-lore theory, at least, there isnbsp;much that is sound. This, which we maynbsp;perhaps designate the Ritual theory, we willnbsp;now proceed to examine.

The theory to which we are now about to devote our attention was first suggested bynbsp;the present writer, in vol. i. of The Legend ofnbsp;Sir Perceval (� Grimm Library,� vol. xvii.),nbsp;and subsequently developed in a paper (� Thenbsp;Grail and the Rites of Adonis �) read beforenbsp;the Folk-lore Society, and published innbsp;vol. xviii. of Folk-lore. It was still morenbsp;fully treated in vol. ii. of The Legend of Sirnbsp;Perceval. The suggestions made in thesenbsp;works have, on the whole, been very favourably received, and while there has been anbsp;hesitation to accept, in its entirety, the suggested process of development, the initialnbsp;principle, has, in many quarters, been accepted as a sound basis of criticism.

As we have noted above, the weakest point in both Christian and Folk-lore theories isnbsp;that both alike fail to explain the combination of elements in the problem to benbsp;solved. On either hypothesis the presencenbsp;of features permitting, nay, inviting, thenbsp;formulation of the opposing theory is a very

76 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL grave objection. Thus, if the Grail were anbsp;purely Christian Vessel, it ought not tonbsp;behave like a mere food-providing talisman;nbsp;if it were a mere food-providing talisman, itnbsp;ought not to be surrounded with the atmosphere of mysterious sanctity befittingnbsp;the holiest of relics. The very existence ofnbsp;such contradictory elements in a form thatnbsp;can neither be ignored nor considered unjustified by the texts, demands the formulation of a theory that shall, by harmonizingnbsp;the apparent contradictions, at once explain,nbsp;and justify, their existence. The only viewnbsp;that will meet the case is to regard the Grailnbsp;as something which, while pre-Christian innbsp;origin, was an object of reverence and awe,nbsp;something which ah initio was found in suchnbsp;surroundings, was put to such a use, that itsnbsp;Christianization, and subsequent identification with the holiest symbols of our Faith,nbsp;could be brought about by a natural development from within, rather than by anbsp;forcible imposition from without.

Modern investigation, and the growing recognition of the importance of the comparative study of religion, have in recent yearsnbsp;familiarized us with forms of faith andnbsp;practice the knowledge of which was earliernbsp;confined to specialists, and, further, havenbsp;connected such forms of faith with modernnbsp;survivals of popular custom and superstitionnbsp;in a manner hitherto little suspected.

In the light of modern research, we now know that the most widespread method ofnbsp;symbolizing the annual natural processes ofnbsp;growth and decay was that which regardednbsp;the animating Spirit of Nature under annbsp;anthropomorphic form. The name of thenbsp;god varied in different lands ; the earliestnbsp;form of the cult which has left distinct tracesnbsp;is the Babylonian, which knew the deity asnbsp;Tammuz; but the best known form, andnbsp;that which has, in fact, persisted to our day,nbsp;is that which, taking its rise in Phoenicia,nbsp;spread through the Greek Islands on to thenbsp;mainland, and gained so strong a hold on thenbsp;Greek peoples that it was carried afield bynbsp;them, and became especially popular in theirnbsp;Egyptian colonies.

Here the god was known as Adonis (from the Syriac, adon, � lord,� thus not really anbsp;proper name, but an appellative), and wasnbsp;figured as a fair youth, the beloved of thenbsp;goddess Aphrodite. Dying a violent death,nbsp;as the result of the chase of a wild boar, henbsp;descended to the Nether-world, where henbsp;became the lover of the queen of Hades,nbsp;Persephone. Aphrodite, by her passionatenbsp;entreaties, prevailed upon Zeus to restore hernbsp;lover to life; and henceforward Adonis sharesnbsp;his existence between the Upper and thenbsp;Lower world, as the consort now of Aphrodite, now of Persephone.

Adonis to life, and his union with the goddess, was welcomed with every sign ofnbsp;popular rejoicing, his annual departurenbsp;to the Shades was the signal for widespread mourning, of a character and intensitynbsp;that has left a peculiar and enduring marknbsp;upon popular tradition.

Sometimes the return of Adonis was celebrated first; this was the case at Alexandria, where the nuptials of Adonis and Aphroditenbsp;were celebrated with the greatest pomp andnbsp;display. After two days an image, representing the god (sometimes merely a head,nbsp;made of papyrus), was committed to thenbsp;waves, and a period of mourning, varyingnbsp;from three to seven days, followed.

In other places the death of the god took precedence, and was followed by feastsnbsp;celebrating his restoration to life. Thisnbsp;latter seems to have been the more widelynbsp;spread form of the cult, and that corresponding the more closely to the survivals innbsp;modern folk-custom.

It is not essential for the purposes of this study to cite numerous examples of such survival. Those desirous of a fuller acquaintance with the subject have only to turn tonbsp;the pages of Mannhardt�s Baum- und Feld-Kultus or Frazer�s The Golden Bough, tonbsp;find more than sufficient proof of the

enduring character of these rites, but the following examples will illustrate my mean-ing.

Thus in Lausitz, on Laetare Sunday, women, veiled as mourners, carry a figure of straw,nbsp;dressed in a man�s shirt, on a bier to thenbsp;bounds of the next village. There they tearnbsp;the figure to pieces, and hang the shirt on anbsp;young and flourishing tree, which they cutnbsp;down and carry home with rejoicing. In thenbsp;I^echrain a man is dressed in women�s clothes,nbsp;laid on a bier, borne by four men, and bewailed by men dressed as professional womennbsp;mourners, � Klageweiber.� In this guise henbsp;is carried to the village dung-heap, where henbsp;is thrown down, drenched with water, andnbsp;buried in straw. More striking still is thenbsp;Russian custom. Here the Vegetation Spiritnbsp;is named Jarilo, and represented by a doll,nbsp;with phallic attributes. The figure is placednbsp;in a coffin, and carried through the streets atnbsp;sunset, by men, while drunken women surround the procession, making lamentation innbsp;the following remarkable terms : �Of whatnbsp;was he guilty ? He was so good. He willnbsp;rise no more. Oh ! How can we part fromnbsp;thee ? What is life to us when thou art nonbsp;more ? Arise ! If but for a moment. Butnbsp;he arises not, he arises not ! � Finally Jarilonbsp;is laid in the grave. These examples, selectednbsp;from among innumerable parallels given bynbsp;Mannhardt, are sufficient to show the per-

But what is of especial importance for the purposes of this investigation, is the fact thatnbsp;it is precisely this form of nature-ritual whichnbsp;in its earlier, and more eeremonial, shape,nbsp;provides us with a series of incidents eloselynbsp;corresponding to the mise en sc�ne of thenbsp;Grail story. Thus the dead body on thenbsp;bier, the Maimed King on the litter, eorre-spond with the god, dead, or wounded in suehnbsp;a manner that he is deprived of his reproductive powers. This is an analogy whiehnbsp;has hitherto been too much ignored, thoughnbsp;certain seholars have evidently been aware ofnbsp;its existence. Vellay and other writers pointnbsp;out that the term � thigh,� used in conneetionnbsp;with the wounding of Adonis, is merely anbsp;well-reeognized euphemism, of which theynbsp;give numerous instances; and, while thenbsp;majority of the Grail texts employ this termnbsp;for the wound of the Fisher King {parmi lesnbsp;cuisses), Wolfram von Eschenbach uses wordsnbsp;which leave us in no doubt that here, as elsewhere, the term is to be \mderstood in annbsp;euphemistie sense.

Thus we can now understand how the wasting of the land can be eonnected with,nbsp;and directly caused by, the death, or infirmity,nbsp;of the King, and how the achievement of thenbsp;Quest, by restoring to health (and some of thenbsp;Grail romances specifieally state, to youth)

the personage upon whose vitality the vitality of the land depends, can restore these wastesnbsp;to verdure. Some of the texts, e.g. thenbsp;'Bleheris-Gawain form, and the Gerbert continuation, say quite clearly that the achievingnbsp;of the Quest has restored the rivers to theirnbsp;channels, and caused the dried-up waters tonbsp;flow. This is precisely the feat which ournbsp;earliest Aryan forefathers ascribed to theirnbsp;divine hero, Indra; the � Freeing of thenbsp;Waters � is the greatest boon that can benbsp;bestowed upon man.

Now, too, we understand the insistence upon the mourning in general, and specifically, the importance assigned to the role ofnbsp;the Weeping Women. The position assignednbsp;to them in these celebrations was one of suchnbsp;prominence that an Arabic writer of the tenthnbsp;century gave to these rites the name ofnbsp;El-Bugdt or � The Festival of the Weepingnbsp;Women.� The terms in which Vellay, in hisnbsp;work on Adonis, describes their demeanour,nbsp;� elles sanglotent �perd�ment pendant lesnbsp;nuits� parallel closely the experience ofnbsp;Gawain as recorded in the prose Lancelot,nbsp;where, in the middle of the night, � Sirnbsp;Gawain hearkened, and heard the sound ofnbsp;bitter weeping and lamentations, he deemednbsp;well �twas the voice of women,� and beholdsnbsp;twelve maidens, � who made the greatestnbsp;lamentation in the world,� kneeling beforenbsp;the door of the chamber wherein the Grailnbsp;6

The interest of this passage lies in the fact that there is absolutely no reason for mourning of any kind here; the Fisher King is innbsp;full possession of his powers, the Grail is thenbsp;Grail of the Galahad Queste, and the dwellersnbsp;at Corbenic have everything that heart cannbsp;desire. This trait can only be explained as anbsp;survival from an earlier form the real significance of which has been forgotten. In anbsp;lengthy passage interpolated in the Percevalnbsp;MS. of the Heralds� College, we are told thatnbsp;as one result of the successful achievementnbsp;of the Quest, the hero shall learn � why thenbsp;maiden who carries the Grail weeps ceaselessly.� But in the poem to which this is annbsp;addition (Chr�tien�s), the Grail-bearer doesnbsp;not weep ! No unprejudiced critic of thenbsp;Grail literature can avoid the conclusion thatnbsp;in the Weeping Women of the texts we havenbsp;a feature the true meaning of which is nonbsp;longer understood by those who record it.

Again, the fact that, alike in classical times and in modern survivals, the figure representing the Spirit of Vegetation is thrown intonbsp;the water (into the sea, at Alexandria), willnbsp;enable us to understand why the Grail Castlenbsp;is invariably described as situated on thenbsp;sea-coast, or the banks of a great river.

It is not too much to claim that, alike in incident and intention, the ritual of the Adonis

cult provides us with the only real parallel to the mise en sc�ne of the Grail story we havenbsp;so far discovered.

But what of the Grail itself ? If we take, as its primary form, that which it bears in thenbsp;Bleheris-Gaz�am story, that which, as we havenbsp;noted, recurs over and over again in persistentnbsp;and perplexing fashion, even in the latestnbsp;and most highly Christianized forms, that ofnbsp;a food-providing Vessel, a rich rather thannbsp;a holy Grail, it may well have been, in thenbsp;first instance, the Vessel of the general ritualnbsp;meal, which formed a part of these celebrations, This would account at once fornbsp;the fact that it supplies food, and food of anbsp;specially rich and varied character. Why,nbsp;however, it should be regarded as automatic,nbsp;is a question less easy to answer.

We do not know precisely, in fact we know very slightly, what really took place atnbsp;these feasts ; but we do know that priestsnbsp;of these early faiths were often credited withnbsp;magical, or miraculous, powers, which thenbsp;science of later days has explained by theirnbsp;possible skill in mesmeric, or h3^pnotic, arts.nbsp;It is thus quite within the bounds of possibility that the service of these ritual feastsnbsp;naay have been marked by what, to thenbsp;simple-minded participant, bore the character of the marvellous; and within the boundsnbsp;of possibility, too, that a Vessel bearing suchnbsp;a character should gather to itself as accre-

tions, traits characteristic of the many foodproviding talismans of folk and fairy tale. But while these nature-cults, in their simplenbsp;and popular form, may very well explain thenbsp;origin of this � feeding � Grail, it must benbsp;admitted that they do not, in that popularnbsp;form, provide an explanation for its puzzlingnbsp;mutations. For an explanation of these wenbsp;must examine the material from anothernbsp;side.

In this branch of our investigation we are treading on less well-assured ground. Thenbsp;existence of these cults, their wide-spreadnbsp;character, their persistent survival, even tonbsp;the present day, the close parallel betweennbsp;their ritual and the incidents of the Grailnbsp;story�^all this, the initial basis of the Ritualnbsp;theory of origin, is now very generally acceptednbsp;by scholars, in fact it would be difficult ofnbsp;denial. But the further steps, the roadnbsp;followed by the tradition in its developmentnbsp;into a Christian mystical romance, are so farnbsp;a matter of hypothesis, and can be presentednbsp;only as such. Yet, to readers of this Series,nbsp;the hypothesis, in view of the character of thenbsp;facts and ideas with which it deals, may benbsp;expected to commend itself as essentiallynbsp;probable and satisfactory.

A point which cannot be overlooked in connection with these nature-cults in general,nbsp;and with the Adonis ritual in particular, isnbsp;the marked prevalence during these cele-

brations of practices which, to our modern views, are alike repellent and reprehensible.nbsp;But to our forefathers the bond uniting mennbsp;with Nature was far closer than it is with us.nbsp;The vital force which animated both was onenbsp;and the same, actions which issued in thenbsp;reproduction of human life might reasonablynbsp;be looked upon as calculated to stimulate anbsp;vigorous growth in Nature.

That this idea survives to the present day is amply demonstrated by the curious, and tonbsp;our minds unedifying, practices which constantly accompany these ceremonies, and ofnbsp;which abundant evidence can be found in thenbsp;books referred to. To sum up the position innbsp;a few words, � sympathetic magic � is an element the presence of which in all these cultsnbsp;must be held as fully proven.

Thus the Adonis and kindred cults were essentially � life � cults, their aim being tonbsp;preserve the life of the land, and of the folknbsp;dependent upon its fruits. But it is quitenbsp;obvious that while the general public mightnbsp;rest content with the outward expression�nbsp;the public mourning and rejoicing, the ritualnbsp;feast�and regard the whole celebrationnbsp;simply as a means of securing fruitfulness�nbsp;even as the Italian peasant of to-day looksnbsp;upon the successful performance of the ceremony of the Scoppio del Carro (an undoubtednbsp;nature-ritual survival) as a means of ensuringnbsp;an abundant harvest�and be content with

that, the priests assigned a different, and higher, significance to these ceremonies.nbsp;Vellay does not hesitate to assert that thesenbsp;rites had an inner, an esoteric, meaning. Henbsp;says :

� Les fetes publiques n�en sont qu^une parade ext�rieure, et comme artificielle � (ofnbsp;which the public did not understand, werenbsp;not meant to understand, the inner significance), � mais au dela, le sens esot�rique,nbsp;Vessence mythique, pour ainsi dire, s^y cris-tallise dans la tradition rituelle des pr�tres.^�

He goes on to remark that, at the moment this double current becomes historicallynbsp;noticeable (the popular side as shown in thenbsp;feasts, the esoteric in the teaching of thenbsp;priests), the rise of the Orphic doctrine hadnbsp;given to the earlier traditions a new life andnbsp;a deeper meaning. At the same time, thenbsp;Greek philosophy, carried to Alexandria, hadnbsp;there come into contact with Egyptian legendnbsp;and religion, and under this influence hasnbsp;assumed a character at once more subtle andnbsp;more profound. To put it concisely, Vellaynbsp;is clearly of opinion that, at a certain stage ofnbsp;development, the Adonis ritual assumed thenbsp;character of a mystery.

In the first of a series of most interesting articles, contributed to The Quest, and dealingnbsp;with ceremonial game-playing in church, anbsp;practice which survived into late mediaevalnbsp;times, Mr. G. R. S. Mead remarks that

� the ancient higher mystery-institutions had two main grades ; in the lower were shownnbsp;the mysteries of generation, or physical birthnbsp;and death ; in the higher, the mystery ofnbsp;regeneration, or of spiritual birth and life �nbsp;(vol iv. p. 109).

If we apply this principle to the cult under discussion, and postulate that the Adonisnbsp;rites, elevated to the rank of a mystery, conformed to this model, the presentation of thenbsp;Grail in a three-fold form becomes easilynbsp;explicable. The basis of instruction was ofnbsp;course the outward ritual, in which all thenbsp;worshippers unite, the central feature ofnbsp;which is the sacramental meal of which allnbsp;alike partake. This gives us the Grail in itsnbsp;primary form as Dish, the Grail as describednbsp;by Helinandus.

In his Chronicle, speaking of the revelation of the Grail made to a certain hermit innbsp;Britain, Helinandus explains the term asnbsp;follows :nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;� Gradalis autem, v�l Gradate,

Gallice dicitur scutella lata, et aliquantulum profunda, in qua preciosce dapes divitibusnbsp;solent apponi gradatim, unus morsellus postnbsp;alium in diver sis ordinibus.�

Does not this description in all its details fit admirably into the conception of thenbsp;central dish of a ritual feast, food of a richnbsp;and special quality, arranged on the dish innbsp;regular order, being offered to the worshippers, one morsel apportioned to each ?

I have already pointed out that, to the French writers of the twelfth century, Grailnbsp;did, most undoubtedly, connote Dish. Here,nbsp;then, we have the Grail as Feeding Vessel, thenbsp;� rich � Grail of the Bleheris-Gawain form ; itnbsp;is the dish in which food of a rich and variednbsp;character is offered to the worshippers.

But to those elect who desired to penetrate beneath the outer symbolism of the ritual tonbsp;its inner and hidden meaning, the Grail, thenbsp;Source and Food of Life, assumed a differentnbsp;form. Passing in natural sequence from thenbsp;lower to the higher, the aspirant would firstnbsp;be initiated into the mystery of the origin ofnbsp;physical life; and at this stage he mustnbsp;certainly have undergone a test correspondingnbsp;in character with the instruction for which itnbsp;was a preparation. In the Bleheris-Gawainnbsp;form we learn that the hero, on his road tonbsp;the castle, finds, and enters, a mysteriousnbsp;chapel, where a Hand, black and marvellous,nbsp;extinguishes the Altar light, and hideousnbsp;voices make lamentation; we are told thatnbsp;the hero was in danger of death, but of thesenbsp;marvels no one dare speak, for they appertainnbsp;to � the secret of the Grail.�

Now it is a point which has not yet been sufficiently studied, that a visit to a Perilousnbsp;Chapel, or Cemetery, is found in many of thenbsp;Grail romances ; the details differ, but thenbsp;adventure is always described as perilous innbsp;the extreme. In the Perlesvaus this motif is

developed in a most curious and significant form. Arthur, intending to ride forth withnbsp;early morning, has bidden his squire preparenbsp;horse and armour over-night and be ready tonbsp;ride with him at dawn. The squire does this,nbsp;and lies down to sleep in the hall. In hisnbsp;dream he imagines tliat he has overslept himself, and that the king has ridden forthnbsp;without him. He rises, and follows in haste,nbsp;coming, as he thinks, to a Chapel in anbsp;Cemetery wherein are many coffins. In thenbsp;Chapel lies a Dead Knight, on a bier, withnbsp;tapers in golden candlesticks burning atnbsp;head and foot. The squire takes one of thenbsp;golden candlesticks, and rides on after thenbsp;king. In the forest he meets a black man,nbsp;armed with a knife, who, on his refusal tonbsp;give up the candlestick, smites him in thenbsp;left side. The unfortunate youth awakes, tonbsp;find himself lying in the hall at Cardoil,nbsp;wounded to death, with the golden candlestick beside him !

Now � initiations � can, and do, take place while the aspirant is physically in a trancenbsp;condition ; and it seems to me by no meansnbsp;impossible that this curious story may benbsp;the survival of a genuine Grail tradition.nbsp;When Perceval faces the adventure of thenbsp;Chapel, as he does in Manessier, the Deadnbsp;Knight lies on the Altar, and he has to sustainnbsp;the onslaught of a demon, black and hideousnbsp;in the extreme.

I think we shall not go far astray if we conclude that the test preceding, and qualifying for, initiation into the secrets ofnbsp;physical life, consisted in being brought intonbsp;contact with the horrors of physical death,nbsp;and that the test was one which might wellnbsp;end disastrously for the aspirant.

Gawain had passed this test satisfactorily before his arrival at the Grail Castle, and isnbsp;congratulated by the King on the valour whichnbsp;has enabled him to reach that goal. Afternbsp;he, with other inhabitants of the castle, hasnbsp;partaken of the common feast, and beennbsp;served by the � rich � Grail, he is left alone innbsp;the hall, and then, and not before, he sees thenbsp;Vessel in its lower aspect, as a Cup, or Vase,nbsp;receiving the blood which flows from annbsp;upright Lance. Vase and Lance, in thisnbsp;conjunction, are well-known phallic symbols,nbsp;the Vase, or Cup, representing the female,nbsp;the Lance, or Spear, the male element,nbsp;while the blood is the Life.

This, the lower aspect of the esoteric teaching, then, supplies us with a secondnbsp;form of the talisman, the Cup, explains itsnbsp;association with the Igt;ance, and, by thenbsp;introduction of the blood flowing from thenbsp;latter, prepares the way for the � Saint-Sang �nbsp;developments.

The final stage is the initiation into the higher Secret of the Mysteries, that ofnbsp;regeneration and spiritual life. It is quite

obvious that here the experience must, of necessity, pass on a higher, a non-materialnbsp;plane, and the source of spiritual life must benbsp;other than a material, food-supplying Vessel.nbsp;And so we have the � Holy � Grail, which,nbsp;we are told, was � not of wood, nor of anynbsp;manner of metal, nor was it in any wise ofnbsp;stone, nor of horn, nor of bone, and thereforenbsp;was he (Sir Gawain) sore abashed.� Thenbsp;Grail, at this stage, is wrought of no materialnbsp;substance. The test here demanded of thenbsp;Quester is that he shall ask concerning thenbsp;nature and use of this mysterious Vessel;nbsp;but, as we have seen, he does not ask, often henbsp;falls asleep, and though instruction may benbsp;given, his ears are closed. Frequently, as innbsp;the Bleheris-Gawaw form, he is required tonbsp;re-weld a broken sword ; his failure to do thisnbsp;debars him from achievement.

Is it a far-fetched hypothesis to assume that here the Sword represents the willpower, which, welded to its hilt, the ^ pent-angle,� the mystic symbol which is supposed tonbsp;give power over the Other-world, will enablenbsp;the initiand to undergo the final test, that ofnbsp;retaining his consciousness during the Visionnbsp;of the � Holy � Grail, so that, the Vision passed,nbsp;he can, in full and clear remembrance of whatnbsp;he has seen, demand without fear of denialnbsp;what this mysterious Vessel is, and whom, ornbsp;what purpose, it serves ? As students arenbsp;well aware, the Sword of the Grail romances is

92 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL a very elusive and perplexing feature. Itnbsp;takes upon itself various forms ; it may be anbsp;broken sword, the re-welding of which is annbsp;essential condition of achieving the quest;nbsp;it may be a � presentation � sword, given tonbsp;the hero on his arrival at the Grail Castle, butnbsp;a gift of dubious value, as it will break, eithernbsp;after the first blow, or in an unspecified peril,nbsp;foreseen, however, by its original maker. Ornbsp;it may be the sword with which John thenbsp;Baptist was beheaded; or the sword of Judasnbsp;Maccabseus, gifted with self-acting powers;nbsp;or a mysterious sword as estranges ranges,nbsp;whieh may be identified with the precedingnbsp;weapon. In this later form we find that thenbsp;seabbard may bear the mysterious inscription, � memoire de sens � (the sense memory),nbsp;and one of the finest of our Gawain romances,nbsp;Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, assigns tonbsp;that hero, as his distinguishing badge, thenbsp;� pentangle.� Thus it seems to me that thenbsp;interpretation suggested above, though verging on the � occult,� yet lies well within thenbsp;acknowledged facts of the story.

This, then, in its main outlines, is the Ritual theory. And I think any fair-minded criticnbsp;will admit that it fulfils the conditions of thenbsp;problem in a manner which the older theoriesnbsp;failed to do ; for it explains, quite naturally,nbsp;the incidents, and mise en sc�ne of the tale,nbsp;and accounts for the divergent, and at firstnbsp;sight, contradictory, forms assumed by the

talisman. This last is a point to which sufficient importance has hardly been attached, Scholars have been too apt tonbsp;exercise a capricious selection between thenbsp;different forms of the Grail, and to decide innbsp;favour of the originality of that which bestnbsp;conforms to the conditions imposed by theirnbsp;particular theory ; but all and each is Thenbsp;Grail, and any sound theory of origins mustnbsp;recognize and admit them as such.

Other considerations lend further weight to the proposed interpretation. It is a curious,nbsp;and on other grounds inexplicable, fact thatnbsp;there is a persistent tradition of three Grailnbsp;Kings. The Perlesvaus designates the threenbsp;as the Boi Bescheur, the Boi de Basse Gent,nbsp;whose name was Pelles (probabty a laternbsp;addition), and the Boi del Chastel Mortel, innbsp;whom there was as much of evil as in thenbsp;others of good. Chr�tien and Wolfram knownbsp;two kings : the lord of the Grail Castle innbsp;their versions uniting the charaeters ofnbsp;Fisher, and Maimed, King, while his oldnbsp;father, preserved alive in extreme old age bynbsp;the sight of the Grail, or by a � host � contained in it, duplicates this latter role.nbsp;In a unique MS, of the Arthurian cycle, annbsp;extended Merlin, preserved in the Biblio-theque Nationale (Fonds Francais, 337), thenbsp;three kings are Alain, Pellinor, and Pelles, allnbsp;of whom are � Maimed.� In the prose versions we find generally the king Pelles, his

old father, and his son Eliezer, who, however, never sueeeeds as King and Guardian of thenbsp;Grail.

The tradition has become hopelessly confused and intricate, but it appears to point to an earlier stage at which each manifestation of the Grail was under the charge ofnbsp;an appropriate Guardian. In the esotericnbsp;interpretation this Guardian would representnbsp;the Life-Principle, and whereas the Maimednbsp;King would correspond closely with the Dead,nbsp;or Wounded, God, and in this character benbsp;present at the general ritual feast, the Fishernbsp;King, representing that personage in his fullnbsp;activity, would have charge of the spiritualnbsp;Vessel, the � Holy � Grail. The King of thenbsp;Chastel Mortel, which term can hardly connote other than the Body, the Flesh, would benbsp;Keeper of the Grail in its lowest form ; andnbsp;that this was indeed his role is indicated bynbsp;the fact that, in the one text in which thisnbsp;character has been preserved, the Perlesvaus,nbsp;he is making war upon the Fisher King fornbsp;possession of the Lance and the Grail�hisnbsp;own symbols which have here become Christianized and removed from his keeping.

The title of � Fisher � King, as applied to the Guardian of the Grail, is a somewhatnbsp;perplexing element in the tradition. Thenbsp;symbolism is beyond any doubt a � life �nbsp;symbolism. The Fish is a well-known emblemnbsp;of life, and is found alike in pre-Christian,

and Chiistian, iconography, while the title of � Fisher � has been bestowed upon more thannbsp;one early divinity. Thus Adapa the Wise,nbsp;the son of Ea, of Babylonian myth, is thenbsp;� Wise Fisher �; Buddha, is � The Fisher �;nbsp;it may be also Orpheus. The connection ofnbsp;this special symbolism with the form ofnbsp;nature-worship under discussion is not verynbsp;clear. The popular survivals of the Adonisnbsp;cult have preserved no trace of this nomenclature, and it may be tliat the title belongsnbsp;exclusively to the esoteric � mystery � development which has given us the Grailnbsp;tradition. But two points are assured : (a)nbsp;the � fish � symbolism is a � life � symbolism ;nbsp;(b) a personage bearing the title of � Fisher � isnbsp;never a mere man, it is a divine title, andnbsp;the person bearing it is either a divinity, ornbsp;the representative of a divinity. Regarded,nbsp;then, from the ritual point of view, it seemsnbsp;clear that the Grail Quest should be viewednbsp;primarily as an initiation story, as a searchnbsp;into the secret and mystery of life ; it is thenbsp;record of an initiation manqu�. The Quest,nbsp;properly speaking, begins only when thenbsp;hero, having failed at his first unpremeditatednbsp;visit to the Castle to fulfil the tests to whichnbsp;he has been subjected, sets out with thenbsp;deliberate intention of finding the vanishednbsp;Temple of the Grail, and fulfilling the conditions which shall qualify him to obtain anbsp;full knowledge of the marvels he has beheld.

This aspect of the problem had already presented itself to the acute intelligence ofnbsp;the late Professor Heinzel. Although he hadnbsp;not detected the close parallel existing between the Grail incidents and the details ofnbsp;popular nature-ritual, and was further hampered by his prepossession in favour of anbsp;Christian origin, yet he saw quite clearlynbsp;that the peculiarities of the story, the naturenbsp;of the test employed, the mysterious question,nbsp;all partook of the character of an initiation,nbsp;and he expressed his opinion that the storynbsp;contained certainly as one of its elements thenbsp;record of a failure to pass an initiatory test.

It is not also without interest, or significance, that readers of romances, unacquainted with the Grail literature in general biatnbsp;familiar with � occult � tradition and practice,nbsp;should invariably detect this element in thenbsp;story. More than once I have lent a translation of the Gawain Grail adventures tonbsp;friends whom I had reason to believe werenbsp;familiar with such subjects ; invariably thenbsp;result has been the same�the book has beennbsp;returned with the remark: � This is thenbsp;story of an initiation, told from the outside.�

If we accept this solution of the problem, it will lead us to the conclusion that thenbsp;Grail literature is not to be considered as anbsp;cycle dependent upon mere literary invention, the elaboration of a theme due,nbsp;originally, to the genius of this, or that, poet.

Literary invention has doubtless played a part in the development of the cycle; e.g.nbsp;such a poem as the Parzival of von Eschen-bach, with its elaborate � Oriental � introduction, the charming account of the life lednbsp;by mother and son in the wood, the amplification of the details of the Grail processionnbsp;into a gorgeous �Pageant of Fair Women,�nbsp;the knightly wanderings of Trevrezent�allnbsp;this is imaginative literature, and imaginativenbsp;literature of a high order. But the groundwork of the story, the � kernel � of the cycle,nbsp;is not invention, but tradition ; it is thenbsp;legendary record of something that reallynbsp;happened, of an experience at once terrifyingnbsp;and exalting, which left an indelible impression upon the mind of him who underwent it.nbsp;Where that experience Avas undergone, hownbsp;and by what steps the record assumed itsnbsp;final and distinctively Christian form, arenbsp;questions we will discuss in another chapter.

We see, then, that the Ritual theory of Grail origins, by whieh we mean the viewnbsp;that sees in the Grail tradition as preservednbsp;to us the confused and fragmentary recordnbsp;of a special form of nature-worship, which,nbsp;having been elevated to the dignity ofnbsp;a � mystery,� survived in the form of anbsp;tradition, offers the most complete solutionnbsp;of the problem hitherto proposed. For,nbsp;while the sequence of incident in thenbsp;Grail story corresponds with curious fidelitynbsp;to well-authenticated forms of ritual procedure, and the result to be obtained is innbsp;both cases the same, the � mystery � development explains, as no other theory has evennbsp;attempted to explain, the divergent formsnbsp;assumed alike by the Grail and its Guardian.

It may even be said that the evidence operates in two directions ; for if the theorynbsp;of � mystery � development accounts for thenbsp;triple character of the Grail, that triplenbsp;character, and the persistent tradition of

three Grail Kings, in their turn prove that the partieular form of nature-worship ofnbsp;which these romances preserve the traditionnbsp;must have been something more than thenbsp;simple popular celebration, whether mournfulnbsp;or joyous, with which works on comparativenbsp;religion have made us so familiar.

But if we accept this basic hypothesis we find ourselves confronted with a series ofnbsp;questions the answer to which is of primarynbsp;importance. What, we must ask, was thenbsp;path followed by this special tradition in itsnbsp;evolution from a non-Christian to a Christiannbsp;form ? Where did it originate ? What Averenbsp;the influences which converted this, hypothetically, religious, into a romantic theme ?nbsp;Who were the personages responsible for thenbsp;evolution ?

These questions invmlve a problem, or series of problems, of extreme complexity,nbsp;and in the absence of direct MS. evidence anbsp;complete and final answer is scarcely possible;nbsp;the line of research is new, and it involves thenbsp;consideration of questions the connection ofnbsp;which with the Grail literature has so farnbsp;been but imperfectly apprehended. Thenbsp;present writer is firmly convinced of thenbsp;essential soundness of the views here setnbsp;forth, but at the same time holds that, atnbsp;the present moment, they can only be putnbsp;forward as theories, and that their definitenbsp;establishment and acceptance as facts call

for the co-operation of workers whose interests, and sphere of labour, lie as a rulenbsp;outside the enchanted fields of mediaevalnbsp;romance.

We have of recent years learnt to recognize the fact that the beliefs and practices of ournbsp;remote ancestors enshrined a spirit of extraordinary persistence and vitality; that popular custom and practice to-day reflect withnbsp;startling and curious fidelity the popularnbsp;custom and practice of the past; we know,nbsp;too, that such continuity of custom andnbsp;practice is not purely secular, survivingnbsp;merely in popular celebrations, but may benbsp;found enshrined in the rites and ceremoniesnbsp;of the Church. Where this is not actuallynbsp;the case, the fact that the special folk-practices which are now recognized as nature-cult survivals, coincide frequently, if notnbsp;invariably, with the ecclesiastical feasts,nbsp;prove that the Church, where she did notnbsp;accept and adopt, extended not merelynbsp;tolerance but patronage.

Thus the Scoppio del Cano at Florence, alluded to above, takes place on Easter Eve.nbsp;At the singing of the Gloria at High Mass, anbsp;dove enveloped in fireworks flies down anbsp;wire reaching from the high altar to a car,nbsp;stationed outside the great west door, andnbsp;decorated with fireworks, while it is drawnnbsp;by white oxen with gilded horns and wreathsnbsp;of flowers. If the dove flies straight, and

arrives without mischance at the car, igniting the fireworks upon it, the ensuing harvestnbsp;will be good. Should it fail to reach the car,nbsp;a bad season may be expected. In manynbsp;parts of Germany on Palm Sunday, after thenbsp;customary procession, a priest is beaten bynbsp;another with rods, branches of willow, etc.nbsp;The blow from the � wand of life � is, as Mann-hardt points out, a means of quickening life,nbsp;animal and vegetable, and as such is a widespread Spring ceremony. The numerous survivals of the � Adonis � rites, the carryingnbsp;forth, and burial, by mourning women, ofnbsp;the dead Spirit of Vegetation, and the triumphant bringing in of the young Spirit ofnbsp;Spring, very generally fall on a Sunday, ornbsp;other Church festival such as Whitsuntide.nbsp;Such ceremonies are at the root of the surviving Ascension and Rogation-tide processions, and readers of The Quest will notnbsp;need to be reminded of the adoption of pre-Christian ritual ceremonies, within the verynbsp;precincts of the Church, to which Mr. Meadnbsp;has drawn attention in his most interestingnbsp;articles on � Ceremonial Game-playing innbsp;Mediaeval Churches.� The latter section ofnbsp;the first of these studies, that dealing withnbsp;�The Burial of Alleluia,�is of especial interestnbsp;to us, as supplying a most curious andnbsp;suggestive ritual parallel to the secularnbsp;practices referred to above.

Catholic Church, Roman or Anglican, are of course well aware that the festal responsenbsp;� Alleluia � is disused from Septuagesima tonbsp;the Thursday in Holy Week ; but previous tonbsp;the publication of Mr. Mead�s article theynbsp;were doubtless unaware of the fact that innbsp;mediaeval times, in French churches, and nonbsp;doubt elsewhere. Alleluia was treated as anbsp;feminine personification, and as such solemnlynbsp;interred and bewailed. I quote an extractnbsp;from the statutes of the Cathedral Church ofnbsp;Toul, in Lorraine, given by Mr. Mead in thenbsp;article referred to:

� On the Saturday of Septuagesima Sunday, at Nones, the choir boys are to assemble in the great vestry, in festal attire, and therenbsp;arrange the burial of Alleluia. And after thenbsp;last Benedicamus, they are to go in processionnbsp;with crosses, torehes, holy water, and incense,nbsp;and carrying a. clod of earth as at a funeral,nbsp;and are to proceed across the choir, and go tonbsp;the cloister, wailing, to the place where shenbsp;(Alleluia) is buried. And after one of themnbsp;has sprinkled the water, and a second censednbsp;the grave, they return by the same way.�

Mr. Mead further publishes the singularly beautiful office for Saturday in Septuagesima,nbsp;wherein Alleluia is invoked in terms whichnbsp;would befit a divine, or royal, personage:nbsp;� Alleluia, while she is present they entertainnbsp;her, and they greatly long for her while she

withdraws herself. And for evermore with head enerowned she triumphs it before thenbsp;Lord, Alleluia! � The Abb� Lebeuf, fromnbsp;whose letters to the Mercure de France ournbsp;information is derived, recognized that thisnbsp;solemn burial of Alleluia should be parallelednbsp;by a solemn and joyous ceremony of resurrection ; but he states that neither in thisnbsp;case, nor in that of a similar ceremony wherenbsp;a top with � Alleluia � painted round it wasnbsp;whipped out of the church by a choir boy,nbsp;could he find a record of a correspondingnbsp;ceremony of reintroduetion.

Now who, and what, is this mysterious � Alleluia,� the time and eircumstances ofnbsp;whose burial coincide so strangely withnbsp;the time and ceremonies accompanyingnbsp;the death and burial of the Vegetationnbsp;Deity ?

The history of the liturgical use of Alleluia by the Christian Church is a subject thatnbsp;would well repay further study. In a passagenbsp;from a treatise of Cardinal Joannes Bona,nbsp;cited in the article under discussion, thenbsp;phrase, �-the mystery of Alleluia� is employed,nbsp;and the modulation of the vowels referred tonbsp;as possessing a symbolic value and importance. Such vowel-modulation appears fromnbsp;the text of a curious, so-called, Mithraicnbsp;initiation ritual which has been preserved tonbsp;us, to have been a matter upon which muchnbsp;stress was laid in early mystery-ceremonies.

104 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL as being of effectual value in invoking thenbsp;presence of deity. Mr. Mead connects thenbsp;sex and personification of Alleluia with thenbsp;Gnostic personification Sophia, and thusnbsp;the � Alleluia � office of the Mediaeval Churchnbsp;with the remains of early Gnostic mystery-ritual.

On the other hand, a very curious fact is that the Abb� Lebeuf refers to a specially beautifulnbsp;MS. of an Alleluia office, as contained in anbsp;diptych, inlaid with panels of ivory, yellownbsp;with age, on which were to be seen the figures ofnbsp;� Bacchanals, of the goddess Ceres in her car,nbsp;of Cybele the mother of gods,� etc. (it is to benbsp;regretted that the good Abb� did not specifynbsp;further!), thus associating the ceremony withnbsp;the very groiip of Vegetation practices wenbsp;have been examining.

It looks very much as if we had here evidence of a nature-cult, developed uponnbsp;mystery-lines, and Christianized through thenbsp;medium of Gnostic ideas. The relationnbsp;existing between what we may term thenbsp;higher Paganism and the early Christiannbsp;Church is a subject to which, so far, insufficient attention has been devoted. Wenbsp;are too apt to reflect back our own view,nbsp;based on the records of mediaeval intolerancenbsp;and modern missionary literature, of thenbsp;position of those outside the Christian Creed,nbsp;to the early period of the foundation of ournbsp;faith, and fail to realize that in those early

days Christianity was less the representative of intellect and civilization than of a specialnbsp;ethic and method of relating the present tonbsp;the future dispensation. Tlie early Fathersnbsp;of the Church saw no such gulf betweennbsp;Christian and pre-Christian teaching as wenbsp;now postulate, and in especial they were atnbsp;pains to show that their own creed was innbsp;no way to be contemned on the ground thatnbsp;it made appeal to the uninstructed only.nbsp;Rather they claim that they are in no waynbsp;inferior to the older faiths, for if these hadnbsp;� mysteries � so had Christianity. Saintnbsp;Clement of Alexandria, in his Stromata, usesnbsp;a form of speech and argument widely opposed to the view of the modern orthodoxnbsp;Churchman. Tims he does not hesitate tonbsp;assert categorically that our Lord did notnbsp;� disclose to the many what did not belongnbsp;to the many, but to the few to whom Henbsp;knew that they belonged,� and that � secretnbsp;things are entrusted to speech, and not tonbsp;writing, as is the case with God � ; and reiterates more than once the principle thatnbsp;�the Mysteries of the Faith are not to benbsp;revealed to all.� What form precisely thenbsp;parallel to the � higher mysteries � of pre-Christian faiths assumed in the primitivenbsp;Church is now difficult to ascertain ; butnbsp;there is no doubt that what we now know asnbsp;Gnosticism enshrines in its few and fragmentary remains the tradition of a great

106 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL system of early Christian esoteric teachingnbsp;and practice.

There were early Christian mysteries; what relation they bore to the higher pagannbsp;teaching we cannot now decide. But, innbsp;face of the fact that Christianity undoubtedly adopted, with little or no change,nbsp;customs and practices, some of them of anbsp;very primitive and unedifying character, it isnbsp;most improbable that she ignored, or rejected, the higher spiritual � mystery � form.

Nor does it seem improbable that, given the adoption of such esoteric beliefs andnbsp;practices, the remembrance of them mightnbsp;be preserved in an incomplete and distortednbsp;form in romantic as in popular tradition.nbsp;Such, for example, may possibly be the originnbsp;of the famous tradition of Saint Patrick'snbsp;Purgatory, a story exceedingly popular innbsp;the Middle Ages and surviving in more thannbsp;one mediaeval English poem.

This story relates the adventure of a knight of King Stephen�s court, who, after leading anbsp;reckless and dissipated life, made atonementnbsp;for his sins by braving the dangers of anbsp;descent into Purgatory, the opening to whichnbsp;had been revealed in a vision to Saintnbsp;Patrick. Owain, the knight in question,nbsp;after fasting strictly for fifteen dasy, wasnbsp;led by the abbot and monks of thenbsp;church wherein the entrance to Purgatorynbsp;was found, to the cave, and entering, dis-

appeared from their ken for three days. During this time he traversed the differentnbsp;regions of punishment, and, though in gravenbsp;danger from the fiends who ruled in thisnbsp;nether world, passed in safety to the Terrestrial Paradise, where he was granted a foretaste of the joys of the Blessed. After thenbsp;expiration of the three days, he came forthnbsp;from the cave, attended by a glory of celestial light, a transformed and regeneratednbsp;character.

Now in the non-Christian, possibly also in Christian, mysteries the culminating point ofnbsp;initiation was reached in a trance, duringnbsp;which the candidate was supposed to passnbsp;through the dangers of the lower world andnbsp;receive definite instruction and enlightenment;nbsp;the soul, at the expiration of the trance,nbsp;which sometimes lasted three days, returning,nbsp;purified and regenerated, to reanimate thenbsp;body.

The parallel is singularly close ; and it is certainly a tempting theory to assume thatnbsp;this popular mediaeval story enshrines anbsp;reminiscence of an actual experience, possiblenbsp;in early Christian times.

Now is it possible that our Grail tradition also belongs to a similar category, and bearsnbsp;witness to a similar origin ?

From the evidence at our disposal, it seems certain that the earliest version of the storynbsp;came from Wales, and was related by the

Welsh story-teller Bleheris to his Freneh friends and allies. In the case of anothernbsp;Gawain adventure belonging to the samenbsp;group, we learn that Bleh^eris told it to thenbsp;Count of Poitiers, with whom that particularnbsp;tale was a special favourite. Of the earlynbsp;Welsh religion we do not, as yet, knownbsp;much. We know, however, the Druids tonbsp;have been nature-worshippers, and thatnbsp;liberality towards them would be rewardednbsp;by plentiful harvests; we also know thatnbsp;they taught reincarnation and the immortality of the soul; in fact, there was anbsp;tradition to the effect that Pythagoras hadnbsp;been their pupil. There exist collections ofnbsp;early Welsh poetry, the translation andnbsp;publication of which may possibly thrownbsp;more light on the precise character ofnbsp;Druidic life-teaching.

But the Welsh were closely akin to the Irish, and the gods of the Celtic pantheon arenbsp;common to both peoples. Of these earlynbsp;Irish deities, the Tuatha de Danann, we knownbsp;definitely that they were at the same timenbsp;Gods of Vegetation and Increase, and Lordsnbsp;and Masters of Life. According to the Irishnbsp;Annals, they came to Ireland from Greece,nbsp;and in the wars with the Syrians had aidednbsp;the Athenians by restoring their slain to life.nbsp;The late Mr. Alfred Nutt, in his study onnbsp;The Voyage of Bran, terms them �Mastersnbsp;over the essence and manifestation of Life.�

And the treasures of these mysterious Beings are the treasures of our Grail Castle : Cup,nbsp;Lance, Sword, and Stone!

Some modern Grail critics have been so much impressed by these facts that they havenbsp;sought in the Irish tradition the direct sourcenbsp;and origin of our Grail stories; but thenbsp;parallels are isolated, and nowhere do theynbsp;present us with a sequence of incident thatnbsp;can be accepted as the basis of our story.nbsp;There is most certainly a common traditionnbsp;at the root of both ; but direct interdependence has not, so far, been proved.

If we consider that we have a tradition that the deities worshipped alike by Irishnbsp;and Welsh were of Greek origin; thatnbsp;popular belief in both lands connected anbsp;system of agricultural nature-worship withnbsp;belief in the immortality of the soul and anbsp;form of reincarnation or rebirth; thatnbsp;survivals of the particular form of nature-worship most popular in Greece are foundnbsp;in these islands�it does not seem too farfetched an hypothesis to suggest that thisnbsp;latter cult may have been known also in itsnbsp;�mystery� form, and, surviving the introduction of Christianity, have been secretlynbsp;practised in lonely and inaccessible districtsnbsp;in Wales ; the mountain glens and fastnessesnbsp;of that country offering a shelter to thenbsp;worshippers of a dying faith.

Certain MSS. contain a very curious and fragmentary text, to which allusion hasnbsp;been made above, bearing the hitherto verynbsp;perplexing title of Blucidalion. It is nownbsp;found prefixed to the Perceval of Chr�tiennbsp;de Troyes, and has been treated by scholarsnbsp;as an introduction to that poem, presumablynbsp;by a later hand. This text professes to havenbsp;for authority a certain � Master Blihis,� anbsp;personage of whom for many years criticsnbsp;knew nothing, but who in the light of recentnbsp;discoveries can hardly be other than Bleheris.nbsp;It purports to give the origin of the Grailnbsp;tradition, and, from the close parallels between its version of the incidents and thenbsp;Wauchier section ascribed to Bleheris, itnbsp;seems probable that, in its original form, itnbsp;was composed as a formal introduction to thenbsp;group of Gawain adventures related by thatnbsp;story-teller.

Regarded from the point of view of a Christian origin of the Grail, this text isnbsp;utterly unintelligible; from a Folk-lore pointnbsp;of view it is interesting, but hardly illuminating ; from the Ritual point, however,nbsp;it possesses features of peculiar interest andnbsp;significance.

It starts with laying special stress upon the mysterious and dangerous character of thenbsp;subject with which it deals :

Car tel chose poroit monter Li contes aims quil fust tos disnbsp;Que tens horn en seroit mansnbsp;Qui ne I�aroit mie fouifait.

The story would tell how the land of Logres was destroyed. Aforetime there werenbsp;dwelling in the mountains maidens whonbsp;brought forth to the passing traveller food,nbsp;pasties, bread, and wine, until King Amangonsnbsp;did wrong to one among them, took away hernbsp;golden eup, and deprived her of her virginity,nbsp;an evil example whieh his knights were notnbsp;slow to follow.

Li autre vassal de V honor duant go virent de lor signornbsp;Quil enforgoit les damoiselesnbsp;La ou il les trovoit plus beles.

The other vassals of his court When they saw their lordnbsp;How he outraged the maidensnbsp;There, where he found them the fairest,

As a result of this conduct the springs dried up, the grass withered, the land becamenbsp;waste, and the court of the Rich Fisher,nbsp;whieh had filled the land with plenty, mightnbsp;no longer be found. The land lies waste fornbsp;a thousand years and more, till, in Kingnbsp;Arthur�s days his knights find maidensnbsp;wandering in the woods, each with hernbsp;attendant knight. They joust; and one,nbsp;Blihos-Bliheris (Bleheris?), vanquished bynbsp;Gawain, comes to court, and tells them thatnbsp;these maidens are the descendants of thosenbsp;ravished by King Amangons and his men, andnbsp;how, could the court of the Rich Fisher whonbsp;guards the Grail once more be found, prosperity would return to the land. We may herenbsp;note that we are told that this Blihos-Bliherisnbsp;was so good a story-teller that none in Arthur�snbsp;court were weary of listening to his tales :

Si tres bons conies savoit Que nus ne se p'�ust lassernbsp;De ses paroles escouter.

(So very good were the tales he knew That none could become wearynbsp;Of hearkening to his words.)

This recalls the reputation of Bledhericus, as � famosus ille fabulator,� and the fact thatnbsp;Br�ri knew

As the result of his stories Arthur�s knights set forth on the quest for the vanished court,nbsp;and we are told :

Mesire Gauvams le trova En icel tans q�Arlus regnanbsp;El fu a la cort par vr�t�,nbsp;fa avant vos ert hien cont�nbsp;La joie quit i gaegnanbsp;Do7it tons li regnes amenda.

But, we are told, Perceval had found it first�a manifest addition, introduced innbsp;order to bring the text into some sort ofnbsp;correspondence with the poem to which it isnbsp;the ostensible preface. An account of thenbsp;8

Grail visit follows, told in close agreement with the Bleheris-Gat�aw form, the details ofnbsp;whieh agree with no Perceval visit. The textnbsp;goes on to say that the eourt of the Richnbsp;Fisher was found seven times, and thenbsp;streams ran again, and the land was repeopled. A brief summary of these � findings �nbsp;is given ; each, it is said, has its own tale,nbsp;and these tales, it is worth noting, agree innbsp;more than one case with tales included innbsp;the Wauehier continuation.

Now the fact that this text is entitled Elucidation shows, I think, that to the mindnbsp;of the writer it did afford an explanation ofnbsp;the Grail problem; but so far that explanation has baffled the acumen of scholars.nbsp;It is obvious that from the point of view ofnbsp;the Christian origin of the story, that whichnbsp;connects the Grail with Joseph of Arimathea,nbsp;there is nothing to be made of it. From thenbsp;point of view of a Folk-lore origin, it is anbsp;fantastic and picturesque story, but one thatnbsp;cannot be elassed as a member of any knownnbsp;family or group of folk or fairy tale. Fromnbsp;the Ritual point of view it seems to be capablenbsp;of reasonable explanation.

Is it a far-fetched hypothesis to assume that we have here, couched in figurativenbsp;romance form, an account of the disappearance of a once-popular form of faithnbsp;and worship ? That at one time the nature-ritual, upon the due performance of which the

fertility of the land was held to depend, was celebrated publicly and generally ; but innbsp;consequence of the insults offered by anbsp;(probably local) chieftain and his men to thenbsp;priestesses of that cult, or may be to thenbsp;temple maidens, the open celebration ceased.nbsp;The tradition of these rites, their significance,nbsp;and their continued life in some secret stronghold, was, however, preserved in the familiesnbsp;of those who had been, perhaps still were,nbsp;officials of the cult. That Bleheris was anbsp;member of such a family, and, therefore,nbsp;in possession of the Grail tradition which, innbsp;the form of a romantic Arthurian tale, henbsp;told to his French friends. The tale wouldnbsp;thus be, as I have already on other groundsnbsp;assumed, the traditional record of a genuinenbsp;experience.

This view seems to me to meet all the conditions essential for the starting-point ofnbsp;our story. In the present state of our knowledge of the Druidic religion we cannot affirmnbsp;that nature-worship, in a � mystery � form,nbsp;was practised by them; but neither can wenbsp;deny it. We do know that they held viewsnbsp;on the origin and transmission of life of anbsp;profound and complicated character. Also,nbsp;besides the Greek origin claimed for thenbsp;Irish gods and the ascertained double character ascribed to them (at once deities ofnbsp;increase and fertility, and lords of life), wenbsp;have the fact of the Phoenician settlements on

British coasts, which would render possible the introduction of the Adonis cult by thenbsp;original founders. The postulates on whichnbsp;our hypothesis rests are, I submit, wellnbsp;within the bounds of historic possibility.

How, then, is the process of evolution into a Christian mystical romance to be traced ?nbsp;First, I think it is obvious that we have herenbsp;the result of two distinct and separate currents of influence. The material has beennbsp;remodelled from the outside by men who hadnbsp;no knowledge of what the story really meant;nbsp;it has been developed from the inside bynbsp;those who possessed that knowledge.

To the first group, the Talisman, in its lower form, the Cup, accompanied by thenbsp;Bleeding Lance, irresistibly recalled the instruments of the Passion. Be it rememberednbsp;that this was the period of the Crusades,nbsp;when the whole attention of Christendomnbsp;was concentrated on the effort to wrest thenbsp;Holy Places, the scene of the Life and Deathnbsp;of our Lord, from the hands of the Infidel.nbsp;Every prince or noble returning from thenbsp;Holy Land would bring with him a relic ofnbsp;more or less pronounced sanctity. None ofnbsp;these relics were of more importance than thenbsp;Holy Blood, which lent distinction to thenbsp;shrines of Bruges and Westminster, and helpednbsp;to exalt the reputation of the previouslynbsp;existing Saint-Sang of Fescamp. The discovery of the Holy Lance at Antioch, towards

the end of the twelfth eentury, had given an impetus to the formation of legends dealingnbsp;with its reputed owner, whether centurionnbsp;or soldier; there can be little doubt thatnbsp;hagiographical details connected with thenbsp;Lance of Longinus ultimately affected thenbsp;descriptions of the Grail Lance.

The process of Christianization, then, started at the lowest and most obvious pointnbsp;of contact, and there seems reason to believenbsp;that at its outset it aimed at, and effected, nonbsp;more than the identification of one specialnbsp;symbol with a Christian relic ; the Bleheris-Gawain form, in the best version extant,nbsp;remaining unaffected save in the identification of the Lance with the weapon of thenbsp;Passion; the Grail itself, and all the detailsnbsp;of the story retaining their original � popular �nbsp;character. From the interpolations in certain MSS., it seems probable that the nextnbsp;step was the connection of the Grail, asnbsp;feeding - vessel, with Christian tradition,nbsp;through the personality of Joseph of Ari-mathea. There can, I think, be little doubtnbsp;that the model for the Joseph story wasnbsp;found in the Fescamp legend; and, as wenbsp;have seen above, there is ground for suspecting that the first definitely Christiannbsp;Grail romance may have been due to the inventive talent of the Minstrel Guild attachednbsp;to that foundation. It was probably a version of this romance, worked over, and

118 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL modified in the interests of the kindrednbsp;foundation of Glastonbury, which definitelynbsp;associated the Grail with Joseph, as Apostlenbsp;of Britain.

We no longer have the Perlesvaus in its original form; and it is not easy to saynbsp;whether the original author did, or did not,nbsp;understand his material. The presence of thenbsp;Three Kings, of the Perilous Chapel, andnbsp;other minor incidents would seem to indicatenbsp;that he did; but in its present form thenbsp;Christian exoteric tradition is dominant.nbsp;We may note also that the prominentnbsp;position assigned to Gawain, and the courteous and chivalrous character he bears in thenbsp;romance, are certain indications of a comparatively early date, even for our redaction;nbsp;Lancelot has not yet ousted him from hisnbsp;position as first knight of the court.

At the same time his primacy as Grail hero has already been assailed, and he has beennbsp;forced to yield in pride of place to Perceval.nbsp;Whether there ever was a definite Christiannbsp;form of the Gawain Grail Quest is a difficultnbsp;question to decide. The character of thisnbsp;hero belongs to the very earliest stratum ofnbsp;Arthurian tradition, and is associated withnbsp;certain mythic conceptions closely akin tonbsp;those which find expression in nature-ritual,nbsp;but somewhat difficult to reconcile withnbsp;Christian teaching and ethic. Gawain isnbsp;beyond all doubt the original protagonist of

the Quest, in its primitive, pre-Christian form ; and it seems most probable that, asnbsp;sueh, an attempt was made to retain him innbsp;that original position by introdueing modi-fieations and interpolations into an alreadynbsp;existing story, such as we see introduced intonbsp;the Bleheris form. But the whole processnbsp;of Arthurian romantic evolution was in thenbsp;contrary direction ; Gawain not only couldnbsp;not be retained as Grail hero, but was forcednbsp;gradually to yield his position as Chivalricnbsp;hero to other knights. So far as the evidence of the texts preserved to us is concerned, the process of evolution of thenbsp;Christian Grail Quest is associated withnbsp;Perceval. Perceval, like Gawain, is originallynbsp;a Folk-lore hero; unlike Gawain, he nevernbsp;seems to have been connected with the Grailnbsp;in its pre-Christian form.

I have elsewhere {Legend of Sir Perceval, vol. ii.) discussed the question of the reasonsnbsp;determining the choice of Perceval asnbsp;Gawain�s successor ; they are not easy tonbsp;determine. I am inclined to hold that thenbsp;determining factor was the recognition ofnbsp;the Grail Quest as an Initiation story,nbsp;assisted by the fact that Perceval is alwaysnbsp;known as � the son of the Widow � (le fils denbsp;la veve dame), a well-known title for thenbsp;initiate. This would, of course, indicate thatnbsp;the author of the original Perceval Grailnbsp;Quest understood the true character of the

story; and if that original Perceval Quest were, as seems probable, the first form of thenbsp;Perlesvaus, we have on other grounds reasonnbsp;to come to the same conclusion.

On the other hand, there is no evidence that Chr�tien de Troyes, to whom one school ofnbsp;critics would fain ascribe the conception andnbsp;construction of the first Grail romance, hadnbsp;any idea whatever of the real character of thenbsp;story. There is no trace of any �occult�nbsp;significance in his presentation; the factnbsp;that while departing from the general tradition in making Perceval�s father survivenbsp;the birth of his son for some years (in thenbsp;original tale he dies before, or immediatelynbsp;after, his birth), he ascribes to him the woundnbsp;peculiar to the Fisher King, shows that henbsp;was handling his material without accurate knowledge of its character. The morenbsp;primitive features of the story, the Deadnbsp;Knight upon the bier, the Weeping Women,nbsp;are absent from Chr�tien�s version; and itnbsp;is to my mind impossible to resist the conclusion that to the French poet the story ofnbsp;the Grail Quest appealed as a romance ofnbsp;chivalric adventure, and as nothing more.

With Robert de Borron the case is different. This writer is certainly later than Chr�tien,nbsp;but as certainly he possessed knowledgenbsp;which he could not have derived fromnbsp;Chr�tien�s poem. He knew, and that fromnbsp;the inside, the material with which he was

dealing. To Borron this is no mere nature-ritual, on the performance of which the fertility of the land depends. He has retained the threefold symbolism, the threenbsp;successive Tables, the three Grail-Keepers,nbsp;but he lifts the interpretation on to a highernbsp;plane. For him the Grail is equated withnbsp;the Christian Eucharist. There can, I think,nbsp;be little doubt that he designed his versionnbsp;from the point of view of one familiar withnbsp;Christian esoteric teaching, one to whomnbsp;the threefold aspect of the Grail naturallynbsp;translated itself into the threefold significance of the Eucharist, as the Feast ofnbsp;Communion, the actual Body and Blood ofnbsp;the Lord, and the source of Spiritual Life.nbsp;It is more than possible that Borron was onenbsp;of those who would have joined with fullnbsp;understanding in the � Alleluia � office.

A very curious fact is that Borron was evidently familiar with the tradition of thenbsp;Ritual Fish-Meal as observed by the earlynbsp;Christian Church (cf. here Dr. Eisler�s articlenbsp;on � The Messianic Fish-Meal of the Primitivenbsp;Church,� The Quest, vol. iv.. No. 3), as isnbsp;proved by his story of Brons� capture of thenbsp;fish, of wliich no other Grail writer shows anbsp;knowledge. Again, his account of Alain, hisnbsp;pledge of virginity, and the fact that henbsp;becomes the father of the Grail-Winner, is innbsp;curious accord with the Narada story ofnbsp;world-origins, where the son of Brahma,

ordered by his father to wed and become the progenitor of the human race, steadfastlynbsp;refuses, reproaching his father with being anbsp;false teacher, yet is afterwards reckoned asnbsp;one of the Great Progenitors, and of all thenbsp;Indian sages the one whose teaching is ofnbsp;most importance. A strange fact is that thenbsp;parallel extends to the absence in each casenbsp;of any reason for the change of mind ; wenbsp;are never told why, and under what circumstances, Alain or Narada reconsiderednbsp;their pledge of virginity. In fact, the morenbsp;closely we study Borron�s version of the themenbsp;the more we become impressed with thenbsp;nature and extent of his knowledge.

The position of the writer of the Queste is less easy to determine. He certainly knewnbsp;the Grail to be the Source of Life, andnbsp;realized the fact that the end and aim ofnbsp;such a Quest was, and could only be, thenbsp;attainment of conscious union with thenbsp;Divine. His version is written from thenbsp;Christian � mystic � point of view�whethernbsp;he had any knowledge of the pre-Christiannbsp;� mystery � tradition on which the story wasnbsp;based is doubtful. It is true that he retainsnbsp;the automatic, food-providing character ofnbsp;the Grail, but he shows no knowledge of, ornbsp;care for, the traditional incidents of the story.nbsp;There is no abortive visit of the hero to thenbsp;Castle, no Grail procession, no Waste Land ;nbsp;the personality of the lord of the Castle and

his relationship to the hero are very confused. The standpoint of the writer is that of thenbsp;hagiographer rather than of a writer ofnbsp;chivalrio romance. Galahad�s feats are morenbsp;reminiscent of the marvels wrought by anbsp;saint of The Golden Legend than of annbsp;initiate of the Greater Mysteries; the aimnbsp;is spiritual indeed, but the method andnbsp;presentation are crudely materialistic. Thenbsp;version of the Queste presupposes that ofnbsp;Borron, but the author is inferior in knowledge and breadth of conception.

The same criticism applies even more forcibly to the Grand Saint Graal; but herenbsp;we are confronted with a curious elementnbsp;of heterodoxy. Josephe, the son of Joseph,nbsp;consecrated by Christ Himself as first Bishopnbsp;of His Church and Guardian of His Mysteries,nbsp;is a figure quite impossible to reconcile withnbsp;a loyal acceptance of the Petrine claims. Ifnbsp;the writer of this romance really shared anbsp;Christian � mystery � tradition it was onenbsp;which could not have been considered orthodox. He seems also to have had a considerable knowledge of sundry apocryphalnbsp;Acts, on which he drew for his � Conversion �nbsp;stories; the whole is a curious, and notnbsp;specially edifying, composition.

The case of the Parzival is quite different. At first sight it might seem that the writer.nbsp;Wolfram, or his source, had quite misunderstood his theme, but a closer knowledge

of the subject shows that the case is far otherwise. With the exception of the firstnbsp;Grail author, Bleheris, and, as we have seen,nbsp;probably also of Borron, no other writernbsp;betrays so thorough a knowledge of the realnbsp;meaning of the story. He knows what is thenbsp;real nature of the Grail King�s disability, andnbsp;he also knows that the result of the achievement of the Quest will be his restoration notnbsp;only to health, but also to youth. He knowsnbsp;that the Grail is the Source of Life, andnbsp;emphasizes that knowledge in a manner notnbsp;to be found elsewhere. Thus of the inhabitants of the Grail Castle he says definitely, � Sie lebent von einem steine � (Theynbsp;live by a stone), and none who look upon itnbsp;can die within seven days of that sight. Ifnbsp;he chooses to show his � occult � knowledge bynbsp;replacing one form of the Life Quest bynbsp;another, and representing the Grail not as anbsp;Vessel but as the Stone of the Alchemicalnbsp;Quest, that Stone is none the less �Thenbsp;Grail.� If an additional argument for thenbsp;correctness of the view which regards thenbsp;Grail tradition as the record of a Quest fornbsp;the Source of Life, be needed, it may surelynbsp;be found in the fact that it explains, as nonbsp;other theory has hitherto done, the peculiarnbsp;character here assumed by the Talisman, andnbsp;brings the poem naturally, and without anynbsp;straining of evidence, within the cycle ofnbsp;Grail ideas and traditions.

That the mind responsible for the change in the outward presentment of the objectnbsp;of the Quest was the same which wasnbsp;responsible for the structure of the poem, thenbsp;carefully designed historical connections, alikenbsp;with the house of Anjou and the descendants of the mythical Swan-Knight,�^thatnbsp;the peculiarity of the conception was thenbsp;outcome of the learning which embracednbsp;a knowledge of Arabic lore and siderealnbsp;cults,�seems more than probable. But I donbsp;not for a moment believe that such learningnbsp;was possessed by the simple Bavarian knight.nbsp;Wolfram von Eschenbach, who proclaimsnbsp;emphatically that he knows nothing of thenbsp;lore contained in books :

Who and what was the mysterious Kiot to whose authority he makes appeal, we donbsp;not, possibly we never shall, know, but therenbsp;seems little doubt that we may reckon himnbsp;among the small group of initiates who dealt,nbsp;knowitigly and understandingly, with their

great theme. Of these I hold there were, to our knowledge, three, who, eaeh in his turnnbsp;from a different standpoint, but each withnbsp;equal understanding, handled the � Secret ofnbsp;the Grail.�

Bleheris knew the pre-Christian mystery cult, its form and its intention, at the datenbsp;at which he lived, it may be, from traditionnbsp;only.

Borron knew the Christian � mystery � tradition, in its relation to the pre-Christian,nbsp;and understood perfectly how the symbolismnbsp;and terminology of the one could be translated into the symbolism and terminology ofnbsp;the other. The confusion Avhich has arisennbsp;in his version of the theme is due, not to anynbsp;lack of knowledge on his part, but, as I havenbsp;elsewhere shown, to the influence of a competing and powerful interest, in the shape ofnbsp;the Arthurian pseudo-historic tradition.

And if Borron knew the relation existing between Christian and pre-Christian mysterynbsp;ritual, Kiet knew the relation between thenbsp;different forms of the Life-Quest, and how,nbsp;while changing the outward imagery, thenbsp;inward meaning could still be preservednbsp;intact. He knew how two objects, so apparently different from each other as thenbsp;Chalice of the Eucharist and a precious Stone,nbsp;could, in fact, represent precisely the samenbsp;idea, could both of them be � The Grail.� Atnbsp;the same time there is in his version no trace

of the distinctively Christian � mystic � element, which, introduced by Borron, became so dominant in the Queste. If not heterodox, asnbsp;is the Grand Saint Graal, the Parzival is farnbsp;from being as militantly orthodox as are thenbsp;Queste or the Perlesvaus ; the poem, if markednbsp;by a genuine religious fervour, is also inspirednbsp;by a wide tolerance. It is impossible not tonbsp;feel that we are here dealing with an originalnbsp;and truly remarkable mind. I would submitnbsp;that, with the Ritual theory for our guide,nbsp;the apparent contradictions which mark thenbsp;extant forms of our story resolve themselvesnbsp;into a general harmony of conception.

Nor does the acceptance of this theory involve the rejection of Christian and popularnbsp;traditions as factors in the evolutionarynbsp;process. As we have seen, the identificationnbsp;of the Grail in its lowest form with a Saint-Sang relic opened the way for the introduction of Nicodemus and Joseph of Ari-mathea, and the construction, with the aidnbsp;of the pseudo-Gospel records, of an elaboratenbsp;� early-history � of the relic. On the Folklore side, we may conjecture that certainnbsp;peculiar features in the pre-Christian ritualnbsp;feast encouraged the identification of thenbsp;Grail, in its simplest, public form, with thenbsp;automatic food-providing talisman of popularnbsp;folk-tales. The introduction of such a feature as the mysterious disappearance of thenbsp;Castle could be rationally accounted for�the

128 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL aspirant, in a most probably artificiallynbsp;induced slumber, being conveyed to somenbsp;distant point. But the very fact that itnbsp;might happen, and therefore might well havenbsp;formed part of the genuine tradition, wouldnbsp;help to assimilate the tale to a folk-lorenbsp;model, where such marvellous experiencesnbsp;were not uncommon. It is quite certain that,nbsp;at a comparatively early stage of its evolution, the story of the Grail Quest becamenbsp;incorporated with a series of adventures ofnbsp;purely Folk-lore origin, the adventures of thenbsp;hero we know as Perceval, and the combination thus formed was productive ofnbsp;admirable results, alike from the standpointnbsp;of literary form and of interpretation.

It maybe well here to refer to the researches of an American scholar, Dr. Nitze, of Chicagonbsp;University, as that critic, while adopting thenbsp;theory of a Ritual origin for the story, hasnbsp;developed it upon lines differing from thosenbsp;indieated in this work. Thus Dr. Nitzenbsp;would seek the origin of the story rather innbsp;the Eleusinian Mysteries than in the Adonisnbsp;Cults. He believes the Grail story to be annbsp;integral part of the Perceval tradition, not annbsp;addition to that tale, and lays great stressnbsp;on the relationship existing in this versionnbsp;between the hero and the Grail King.

Now it is undoubtedly true that, at a certain stage of social development, amongnbsp;certain, we may probably say the majority

of peoples, the matriarchal system prevailed, and the sister�s son was the due and rightfulnbsp;successor to his uncle. The father, whosenbsp;identity was frequently doubtful, did notnbsp;count. It is also quite true that this is anbsp;very marked feature of the Perceval story,nbsp;where the identity of the father varies, andnbsp;he is never the equal of the mother, always anbsp;princess, or queen in her own right; emphatically, � a great lady,� It is also true thatnbsp;among many peoples great stress is laid onnbsp;the rites attending the attainment of pubertynbsp;and the admission of the youth into thenbsp;full privileges of manhood, rites whieh oftennbsp;assume the character of an initiation.

On the other hand, it is by no means proved that the matriarchal principle was a featurenbsp;of early Greek social organization ; it has, innbsp;fact, been strongly denied. Nor do we knownbsp;that the priestly rights reserved to the twonbsp;families, the Eumolpides and the Kerykes,nbsp;who were responsible for the due celebrationnbsp;of the Eleusinian ritual, descended from unclenbsp;to nephew and were not equally enjoyed bynbsp;all members of these clans. The fact thatnbsp;the inseription of a ehild as member ofnbsp;the family depended, as in other Atheniannbsp;families, upon a deelaration of paternitynbsp;made on oath by the reputed father, seemsnbsp;to point strongly against the existence ofnbsp;mother-right. Nor do the Eleusinian Mysteries offer us the required mise en sc�ne.

In my view the relationship of which Dr. Nitze makes so much, is to he regarded asnbsp;a purely social, not in any sense a ritual,nbsp;survival. It is a lingering trace of the socialnbsp;conditions prevailing at the time when thenbsp;Perceval story took form and shape, an interesting proof of the antiquity of the tale, quanbsp;tale. At the same time it is a feature whichnbsp;is shared by other romantic traditions. Innbsp;all our romantic cycles the hero is the nephewnbsp;of the ruling monarch, not his, but his sister�snbsp;son. This is the relation between Cuchullinnnbsp;and Conchobar, between Diarmid and Finn,nbsp;Gawain and Arthur, Roland and Charlemagne, Tristan and Mark ; and in this latternbsp;instance we have sufficient record of thenbsp;Pictish rulers to lend support to the view thatnbsp;we are here dealing with a genuine historicnbsp;tradition. But in none of these cases is therenbsp;the smallest trace of a ritual element, or signsnbsp;of anything in the least resembling our Grailnbsp;story. In my view, the facts upon which Dr.nbsp;Nitze relies in support of his theory that thenbsp;Grail is an integral part of the Perceval story,nbsp;are precisely facts which prove the contrary.

To my mind it is a significant point that while the Adonis ritual does provide us withnbsp;the necessary sequence of incident and intention, none of the popular survivals, nornbsp;their striking correspondent parallels innbsp;Indian Vedic tradition, ever regard thenbsp;� medicine man,� whose role it is to restore to

life the representative of the Vegetation Spirit, as in any way a relative; he is broughtnbsp;in from the outside. Also, among thosenbsp;peoples who have retained the primitive ideanbsp;of the dependence of the prosperity of thenbsp;folk, and of the fertility of the land, on thenbsp;health and vigour of the King, royalty is notnbsp;hereditary�facts which point rather to thenbsp;conclusion that versions in which the heronbsp;is, as in the case of Gawain, no relation to thenbsp;Grail King, represent more accurately thenbsp;primitive form. In this connection certainnbsp;passages, both in the poems of Chretien andnbsp;Wolfram and in other early Arthurian romances, which refer to Gawain�s knowledge ofnbsp;medicine and skill as physician, assume anbsp;new significance. Such knowledge forms nonbsp;part of the ordinary chivalric equipment,nbsp;and hitherto it has been difficult to accountnbsp;for its association with so purely romantic anbsp;hero as Gawain. If, however, we admit thatnbsp;Gawain was the original protagonist of thenbsp;Grail adventure, and that the source of thatnbsp;adventure was as suggested in these pages,nbsp;then these passages assume an entirely different and important evidential character.

Thus, while admitting the value of much of Dr. Nitze�s work, and the light it hasnbsp;thrown on certain features of the legend, Inbsp;cannot admit that the Eleusinian cult provides us with as satisfactory an explanationnbsp;of the peculiar features and incidents of the

But it becomes more and more impossible to look upon the poem of Chr�tien de Troyesnbsp;as in any sense the starting-point of the story,nbsp;more and more impossible to base upon thenbsp;donn�es of that poem any coherent theory ofnbsp;origins. There is no sign that Chr�tien knewnbsp;anything of the Grail in its � mystery � aspect;nbsp;he refers to it as � sainte �� tante sainte cosenbsp;est li Greaus � (so holy a thing is the Grail), anbsp;term which might well accord with his knowledge of the talisman as a Saint-Sang relic,nbsp;and as that alone; there is no evidence of anbsp;deeper knowledge. The interest of Chr�tien�snbsp;poem centres in the hero rather than in thenbsp;quest, which in this special form is only onenbsp;among many incidents, and really less important than Gawain�s adventures at thenbsp;Chastel Merveilleus. As remarked above,nbsp;the Perceval is a chivalric romance, not thenbsp;record of a spiritual adventure. I have abovenbsp;referred to Dr. Nitze�s work, and here it maynbsp;be interesting to draw attention to hisnbsp;criticism of a point of detail which hadnbsp;escaped the attention of other scholars, butnbsp;which may throw some light upon the sourcenbsp;whence Chr�tien�s version was derived.

When the hero arrives at the Grail Castle he finds the host in the great hall, recliningnbsp;on a couch before the fire which burns on anbsp;central hearth round which some four

hundred knights are seated. In the Parzival there are three such hearths round which thenbsp;couches for the knights are placed. Nownbsp;Dr. Nitze has very acutely remarked that nonbsp;French hall of that date had a central fireplace (by that time it had become the invariable practice to build the hearth againstnbsp;the wall, generally at one end of the hall),nbsp;and that the description of the internalnbsp;arrangements of the Grail hall, the centralnbsp;fires, and the seating of the knights correspond with remarkable fidelity to those prevailing in the famous hall of Tara, where thenbsp;outline of the hearths may still be traced.nbsp;Whether this arrangement of a central hearthnbsp;be genuinely Irish, or borrowed from thenbsp;Scandinavian during the period of the Vikingnbsp;occupation (there is no doubt as to its use innbsp;the North), is another matter ; what is quitenbsp;certain is that it is not French, and thereforenbsp;cannot be Chr�tien�s invention.

And if it is not easy to determine the nature and source of Chr�tien�s knowledge, it is fullynbsp;as difficult to determine what his continuatorsnbsp;knew of the Grail. All three alike, Wauchier,nbsp;Gerbert, and Manessier, drew from diversenbsp;sources, and were at no pains to harmonize the very divergent statements. Thusnbsp;Wauchier, while giving at full length thenbsp;Bleheris-Gawain visit, incorporates also anbsp;version in which the Fisher King nightlynbsp;journeys abroad, accompanied by the Grail,

134 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL which gives light for his progress and preserves all who behold it from sin. Thisnbsp;version receives support from an interestingnbsp;passage in the unique Merlin MS. (B.N.nbsp;Fonds Frang, 337), where sundry knights ofnbsp;Arthur�s court meet a Grail procession in anbsp;forest, the details of which correspond eloselynbsp;withWauchier�sindications. Again, Wauchiernbsp;knows Perceval�s sister, a maiden of saintlynbsp;life ; but Chr�tien�s hero has no sister. Thusnbsp;we may postulate on the part of Wauehier anbsp;knowledge of at least three Grail versions :nbsp;one of which Gawain was the hero, one innbsp;which Perceval had a sister (a form whichnbsp;would approach that known to Borron, andnbsp;the author of the Queste), and Chr�tien�snbsp;poem. The peripatetic Fisher King mightnbsp;belong to the second form. Gerbert, again,nbsp;knew several (probably four) versions. Thus,nbsp;that which he designates as the � vraienbsp;estoire � agrees with Wolfram, and maynbsp;very well preserve the source common to thenbsp;German and French poets, i.e, that used bynbsp;Kiot and Chretien, but with features absentnbsp;from the latter and in some instances fromnbsp;Wolfram. Other sections obviously derivenbsp;from a form of the Perlesvaus and the Queste;nbsp;and he of course knows Chretien. Manessier,nbsp;while he introduces his contribution to thenbsp;confused medley with a picturesque � Vengeance � tale which has no connection withnbsp;any other version of the story, concludes it in

a form showing strong affinity with Wolfram�s version. None of these writers show themselves in the least disturbed by the manifoldnbsp;discrepancies in their presentation, or appearnbsp;to possess such a definite and independentnbsp;knowledge of their subject as would havenbsp;enabled them to seize and co-ordinate thenbsp;features of real significance. We must consider them, I think, as story-tellers, and asnbsp;story-tellers only, and at the same time realizenbsp;that the Grail romances which have descended to us form but a small portion ofnbsp;those which were current in the closing yearsnbsp;of the twelfth and early years of the thirteenthnbsp;centuries.

And then the fount of inspiration seems suddenly to have run dry; as noted in thenbsp;opening chapter, the sudden cessation ofnbsp;interest in the theme is as remarkable as itsnbsp;sudden popularity. Why, after those opening years of the thirteenth century, did no onenbsp;write a Grail romance ? As noted above, theynbsp;would not have lacked readers. May it notnbsp;be that it was because the origin of the Grailnbsp;was, as here suggested, not merely pre-Christian, but non-Christian, associated innbsp;its essence with ideas and practices whichnbsp;the Church, all-powerful in those days, couldnbsp;not countenance ? That even in its professedly Christian form it had passed throughnbsp;the medium, and bore the impress, of a bodynbsp;of thought and idea, which, known by the

name of Gnosticism, was already under the Church�s ban ? That there were those amongnbsp;the ecclesiastical authorities who knew, quitenbsp;as well as did Bleheris, Borron, or Kiot, whatnbsp;the Grail was, and whence it derived, andnbsp;that such authorities steadily and silentlynbsp;discouraged the making of Grail romances ?

The Parzival suggests also the possible operation of other influences which wouldnbsp;have a deterrent effect. There we find thenbsp;Grail in the care of a body of semi-religious,nbsp;semi-militant knights, who bear the significant name of Templeisen. Now one of thenbsp;most interesting of unsolved historic problems is that connected with the fall of thenbsp;Templars. No doubt their wealth excitednbsp;the cupidity of the powers that be; butnbsp;what were the grounds on which it wasnbsp;possible to base an accusation of heresynbsp;sufficiently serious to bring about the destruction of so formidable and well-organizednbsp;a body ? Were the Templars idolaters ?nbsp;Were they Gnostics ? We cannot tell; butnbsp;I am strongly inclined to believe that thenbsp;connection between these knights and thenbsp;Grail, indicated by the Parzival and hintednbsp;at by the Perlesvaus (where we have a bodynbsp;of knightly hermits, bearing the Cross onnbsp;their robes), has a foundation in fact, andnbsp;that the same influences which brought aboutnbsp;the ruin of the one were responsible for thenbsp;disappearance of the other.

The whole question of the later evolution of the Grail theme is surrounded by difficulties ; the steps of external Christianizationnbsp;are easily traced, but the precise conditionsnbsp;of thought and practice which made thenbsp;Christianization from inside possible, whichnbsp;recognized alike the true character of thenbsp;higher mystery teaching, and its relation tonbsp;similar teaehing within the limits of thenbsp;Christian Faith, cannot be as readily determined. We know that the tradition ofnbsp;an esoteric doctrine persisted, and that,nbsp;while in the West the tradition adjustednbsp;itself to Orthodox demands, and, assumingnbsp;a contemplative and devotional character,nbsp;lived on in the works of those Christiannbsp;mystics whose writings we hold among ournbsp;most precious treasures, and whose kinshipnbsp;with the pre-Christian philosophers Dr. Ingenbsp;has demonstrated, in the East it retainednbsp;more or less its original character. Thenbsp;home of this objective tradition, we are told,nbsp;was mainly Byzantium, and the closer connection between East and West broughtnbsp;about by the Crusades maj/ well havenbsp;facilitated the infiltration of ideas and practices not indigenous to Western Christianity.

There is a stream of tradition, running as it were underground, which from time tonbsp;time rises to the surface, only to be relentlesslynbsp;suppressed. It may be the Troubadours,nbsp;the symbolical language of whose love poems

is held to convey another, and less innocent, meaning ; or the Albigenses, whose destruction the Church holds for a sacred duty.nbsp;Alchemy, whose Elixir of Life and Philosopher�s Stone are but names veiling a deepernbsp;and more spiritual meaning, belongs to thenbsp;same family. I have myself seen an illustrated treatise on Alchemy, where the endnbsp;sought is figured in a plate representingnbsp;the Soul, crowned and enthroned, swallowingnbsp;the Body. Of similar origin is that Free-Masonry which outside our own Islands isnbsp;even to-day reckoned as the greatest enemynbsp;of the Christian Faith, and which still employsnbsp;signs and symbols identical with those knownnbsp;and used in the Mysteries of long-vanishednbsp;faiths.

Whatever may be the significance of these facts, we know, and every student of medisevalnbsp;literature will bear the same witness, thatnbsp;there were strange currents stirring in thosenbsp;days, that more was believed, more wasnbsp;known, than the official guardians of faithnbsp;and morals cared to admit, and that much,nbsp;very much, of this undercurrent of yearningnbsp;and investigation was concerned with thenbsp;search for the source of Life�Life physical,nbsp;Life immortal.

It is no empty claim we make when we contend that the Grail romances are a survival of that period of unrest, that they arenbsp;to be treasured not merely as the remains,

poor and fragmentary, of what must have been a great and enthralling body of literature,nbsp;not merely as themselves literary monumentsnbsp;of no small value, as the works of Wolframnbsp;and Chr�tien and Malory�s noble renderingsnbsp;may well be reckoned, but as the record ofnbsp;a determined effort to attain, on the lowernbsp;plane, to a definite and personal knowledgenbsp;of the Secret of Life, on the higher, to thatnbsp;intimate and personal contact with thenbsp;Divine Source of Life, in which, in the viewnbsp;of the mystics of all ages, is to be found thenbsp;sole Reality.

It is from this point of view that the Search for the Grail is worthy of being reckonednbsp;among the great Quests, and of finding itsnbsp;place among the literature which deals withnbsp;the deepest, and most keenly felt, of allnbsp;human needs.

The following passages descriptive of the various appearances of the Grail may enablenbsp;the reader to understand more clearly thenbsp;contradictory character of the evidence,nbsp;and the difficulty of finding a solutionnbsp;which will harmonize such conflicting statements.

I give, in the original, French texts of which no adequate translation has been published ;nbsp;where such translations are easily accessiblenbsp;I cite these.

I begin with Chr�tien de Troyes, as his poem is still held by certain criticsnbsp;to be the source of all the other existingnbsp;versions.

In Chr�tien�s description, as the hero sits with the Fisher King and his knights in thenbsp;great hall of the Grail Castle, there enters anbsp;youth, bearing a Lance of � fer blanc,� fromnbsp;the point of which a single drop of bloodnbsp;runs down to the hand of the bearer; thennbsp;two more with golden candlesticks, each

Une damoisiele tenoit Qid avoec les varies venoitnbsp;Biele, gente, et acesm�e.

Quant ele Ju laiens entr�e Atout le graal quele tintnbsp;Une si grans clart�s i vintnbsp;Que si perdirent les candoilesnbsp;Lor clart� com font les estoilesnbsp;Quant li solans lieve ou la lune.nbsp;Apries igou en revint tinenbsp;Qui tint le tailleor d�argent.

Iqou VOS di veraiement De Jin or esmer�e estoit,

Pi�res pressieuses avoit

(A grail between her two hands A maiden held.

Who with the squires came. Fair, gracious, and richly clad.nbsp;When she had entered thereinnbsp;With the grail she held.

So great a light came there That the candles lostnbsp;Their light as do the starsnbsp;When sun or moon ariseth.

After this maiden came one Who bare the tailleor of silver;

I tell ye verily,

Of pure refined gold it was.

And precious stones it had.

APPENDIX

The richest and most precious That were in the world or on earth;nbsp;All other stones were surpassednbsp;By those of the grail, without doubt.)

The version of Wolfram von Eschenbach is much more detailed; the squire holdingnbsp;the Lance from which the blood ran fastnbsp;� adown to the hand of the holder till �twasnbsp;lost in his sleeve at last,� makes the circuitnbsp;of the hall and disappears before there is anynbsp;sign of the Grail procession. When it entersnbsp;it is ordered on this wise :

144 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL

And straight to the host they stepped them, and they bowed their fair heads low.

APPENDIX

No other text gives a Grail procession to compare with this in stately dignity. Laternbsp;on (Book ix.), we are told that the mysteriousnbsp;object is the Stone, � Lapis Exilis,�� by virtuenbsp;of which the Phoenix renews its youth ; none

can die within eight days of beholding it, and those who live in its service rejoice innbsp;perpetual youth : � Young they abide fornbsp;ever, and this Stone all men call The Grail �nbsp;(ix. 11. 626-40).

� Ensi com il seoient, et on lor aportoit le premier m�s, si virent d'une camhre issir unenbsp;damiesele molt ricement atir�e, et avoit unenbsp;touaile entor son col, et portoit en ses mainsnbsp;II. taill�ors d�argent. Apr�s vint uns voilesnbsp;qui aporta une lance, et sainoit par le fer III.nbsp;gouttes de sane, et entroietit en une camhre parnbsp;devant Perceval, et apr�s si vint uns voiles, etnbsp;portoit entre ses mains le vaissel que Nostrenbsp;Sire douna a Joseph en le prison, et le portanbsp;molt hautement entre ses mains; et quantnbsp;li sire le vit si Venclina, et rendi se cope,nbsp;et tot cil de Vostel autresV^ (Modena MS.,nbsp;p. 59).

(As they sat thus, and were served with the first meat, they saw issue from a chambernbsp;a maiden, very richly clad, with a towelnbsp;round her neck, and she bare in her hands twonbsp;little taill�ors of silver; after her came anbsp;squire, who bare a lance the blade of whichnbsp;bled three drops of blood ; and they enterednbsp;a chamber opposite to Perceval. And afternbsp;came a squire, who bare between his hands thenbsp;Vessel which Our Lord gave to Joseph in thenbsp;prison, and he bare it on high, betwixt his

hands, and when the lord saw it he bowed towards it, and beat his breast, and all thosenbsp;of the hostel did the like.)

It may be worth noting here that the tailUors which figure in some versions of thenbsp;procession are a veritable crux for the critic.nbsp;The word really means a platter on whichnbsp;meat is carved, and what such an object cannbsp;have to do with the Grail is not very clear.nbsp;It will be noted that Wolfram instead of twonbsp;silver tailUors has two silver knives, a pointnbsp;which has been seized upon by the advocatesnbsp;of the dependence of the German upon thenbsp;French poem, as a proof that he was following,nbsp;and misunderstanding, Chr�tien�s version.nbsp;He knew the word had some connection withnbsp;cutting, and translated tailUor as � knife.�nbsp;(It may be noted that while Chr�tien hasnbsp;one tailUor, Wolfram has two knives.) Butnbsp;as a matter of fact, it is easier to account fornbsp;the presence of two knives in the Grail procession, than for that of one, or two, platters.nbsp;The Feseamp � Saint-Sang � relic had itsnbsp;double in the knife with which Nicodemusnbsp;cleansed the dried blood from the woundsnbsp;of the Redeemer; the two were preservednbsp;together at Feseamp. A second knife wasnbsp;mysteriously brought thither and depositednbsp;upon the altar, during the dedication service,nbsp;by an angel in the garb of a pilgrim. If, asnbsp;I have suggested above, the original home of

the Christian Grail tradition was Fescamp, the two knives connected with that Abbeynbsp;may well have figured in the earlier versions.

In the Perlesvaus the abortive visit of the hero precedes the opening of the story, andnbsp;the proccession is witnessed by Gawain:

� Thereon, lo, you, two damsels that issue forth of a chapel, whereof the one holdeth innbsp;her hands the most Holy Grail, and the othernbsp;the Lance whereof the point bleedeth thereinto. And the one goeth beside the other innbsp;the midst of the hall where the knights andnbsp;Messire Gawain sat at meat, and so sweet anbsp;smell, and so holy, came to them therefromnbsp;that they forgat to eat. Messire Gawainnbsp;looketh at the Grail, and it seemed to himnbsp;that a chalice was therein, albeit none therenbsp;was as at this time, and he seeth the point ofnbsp;the Lance whence the red blood ran thereinto,nbsp;and it seemeth to him that he seeth two angels,nbsp;that bear two candlesticks of gold, filled withnbsp;candles. And the damsels pass before Messirenbsp;Gawain, and go into another chapel � {Highnbsp;History of the Holy Grail, vol. i. branch vi.nbsp;chap. xix.).

� At the last came, in fair procession as it were, four seneschals, and as the last passednbsp;the door was the palace filled�nor were it

fitting that I say more. In the sight of all there paced into the hall two maidens fairnbsp;and graceful, bearing two candlesticks ; behind each maid there came a youth, and thenbsp;twain held between them a sharp spear.nbsp;After these came other two maidens, fair innbsp;form, and richly clad, who bare a salver ofnbsp;gold and precious stones upon a silken cloth,nbsp;and behind them, treading soft and slow,nbsp;paced the fairest being whom since the worldnbsp;began God had wrought in woman�s wise,nbsp;perfect was she in form and feature, andnbsp;richly clad withal. Before her she held on anbsp;rich cloth of samite a jewel wrought of rednbsp;gold, in form of a base, whereon there stoodnbsp;another, of gold and gems, fashioned evennbsp;as a reliquary that standeth upon an altar.nbsp;This maiden bare upon her head a crown ofnbsp;gold, and behind her came another, wondrousnbsp;fair, who wept and made lament, but thenbsp;others spake never a word, only drew nighnbsp;unto the host, and bowed them low beforenbsp;him � {Sir Gawain at the Grail Castle, p. 40).

The Spear is laid upon the table and sheds three drops of blood into the salver placednbsp;beneath it.

In the prose Lancelot there is a � solemn entry � of the Grail, but the procession isnbsp;lacking. A white dove, with a golden censernbsp;in its beak, enters by the open window andnbsp;passes through the hall into a chamber; the

palace is filled with sweetest odours, and the folk, without speaking a word, prepare thenbsp;tables, and sit down, �in prayers and orisons.�

� With that there came forth from the chamber wherein the dove had entered anbsp;damsel, the fairest he (Sir Gawain) had beheldnbsp;any day of his life, and without fail was shenbsp;the fairest maiden then alive, nor was hernbsp;peer thereafter born. Her hair was cunninglynbsp;plaited, and her face was fair to look upon.nbsp;She was beautiful with all the beauty thatnbsp;pertaineth unto a woman, none fairer wasnbsp;ever seen on earth. She came forth fromnbsp;the chamber bearing in her hands the richestnbsp;vessel that might be beheld by the eye ofnbsp;mortal man. �Twas made in the semblancenbsp;of a chalice, and she held it on high above hernbsp;head, so that she ever bowed before it�nbsp;{Sir Gawain at the Grail Castle, p. 55).

(Then follows the passage cited above, p. 2, as to the mysterious nature of the Vessel.)

Certain of the Perceval MSS. contain a visit of Gawain to the castle, previous to thatnbsp;derived from Bleheris, and distinguished bynbsp;a Grail procession, the details of which agreenbsp;now with the Perceval now with the Gawainnbsp;tradition. It runs as follows :

As they sit at meat a very fair youth enters, bearing a Lance which bleeds ceaselessly,

152 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL

He passed through the hall, and then Gawain sees :

II. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;vallez Mesire Gauvainsnbsp;Qui portoit chandeliers plainsnbsp;De chandelles toutes ardans,

Moult estoit engr�s et ardans Mesire Gauvains de I�enquerrenbsp;Quel gent .se sont, et de quel teire;

Et, quant ele fu ens entr�e IIII. valles ont aport�enbsp;Une bi�re apr�s le Graalnbsp;Couverte d�un paile roial;

APPENDIX

(MS. Montpellier, printed by Potvin at end of vol. iii. of his edition of Chretien�snbsp;poem.)

But much she wept, and discomforted herself. Between her hands she bare aloftnbsp;A Grail, all uncovered.

In the curious unpublished Merlin MS., B.N. 337, certain knights of the Round Tablenbsp;meet the Grail procession passing through anbsp;forest; here it is composed of a white stag,nbsp;with a red cross on the forehead and lightednbsp;tapers on the horns, carrying on its back anbsp;Vessel, beneath a rich silken covering, andnbsp;followed by a white brachet, and a littlenbsp;maiden leading in a leash two small whitenbsp;beasts, the size of rabbits. The processionnbsp;is closed by a knight in a litter borne by fournbsp;little palefrois, while voices in the air abovenbsp;are heard singing: � Honour, and glory, andnbsp;power, and everlasting joy to the Destroyernbsp;of Death ! � I have suggested above (p. 134)nbsp;that the version from wliich this descriptionnbsp;was derived may have been known tonbsp;Wauchier.

In the Bleheris and Queste versions, the Grail, as we have seen, is automatic, andnbsp;requires no Bearer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Perceval or Le Conte du Graal. Chretien de Troyes. Ed. Ch. Potvin {Soci�t� des Bibliophiles de Mons), 6 vols., 1886-71.

Out of print and difficult to procure. The MS. of Mons represents a very inferior text, andnbsp;Potvin frequently misread his original, but itnbsp;comprises both the Wauehier and Manessiernbsp;continuations, and the editor has added annbsp;abstract of the Gerbert text. An edition ofnbsp;the Perceval MS. B.N. F. Fr. 794, to the endnbsp;of Chr�tien�s poem, has been published bynbsp;Professor Baist, for private circulation only.nbsp;Miss Mary Williams and M. Mario Roques arenbsp;preparing an edition of the Gerbert continuation from MS. B N. F. Fr. 12576, the bestnbsp;Perceval text, for publication in Les Classiquesnbsp;Frangais du Moyen Age, and it is to be hopednbsp;that the entire text will follow. A completenbsp;and reliable edition of Chr�tien�s poem isnbsp;greatly needed.

Perlesvaus.�The French text is contained in vol i. of Potvin�s edition. An English translationnbsp;by Dr. Sebastian EvansIus published innbsp;� The Temple Classics,� under the title of Thenbsp;High History of the Holy Grail.

From a literary point of view Dr. Evans� rendering is a fine piece of work, but he had

little knowledge of the literature of the cycle, and his views as to the origin of the Grail story,nbsp;the position of the romance in the cycle, andnbsp;its critical value as an authority, are franklynbsp;absurd. His theory of the origin of the story,nbsp;in especial, is an extreme instance of the fantastic ingenuity which has been lavished onnbsp;the problem. A critical edition of the Perles-vaus is being prepared by Dr. Nitze.

Parzival, Wolfeam von Eschenbach.�This poem has been several times edited. The mostnbsp;accessible text is that by Bartsch, in Deutschenbsp;Classiker des Mittelalters. There are criticalnbsp;editions by Lachmann, and Martin. It hasnbsp;been translated into modern German by K.nbsp;Simrock, and by W. Hertz. Simrock�s versionnbsp;is the closest to the original text, but Hertznbsp;was a real poet and a scholar of wide reading,nbsp;and his translation, with Notes and Appendices,nbsp;is a very useful and valuable work.

An English translation, by J, L. Weston, Parzival, A Knightly Epic, was published by Nutt in 1894. The Parzival is the only romance ofnbsp;the entire cycle which has been critically edited.

The prose Perceval, or � Didot � Perceval, was published by Hucher in vol. i. of his editionnbsp;of Le Grand Saint Graal {Le Saint Graal, 3 vols.,nbsp;1874), from the Firmin-Didot MS. The Josephnbsp;oj Arimathea will be found in the same edition.nbsp;The much superior Modena MS. was publishednbsp;by J. L. Weston, in vol, ii. of The Legend of Sirnbsp;Perceval (Nutt, 1906). Both texts obviouslynbsp;derive from a common, and much fuller,nbsp;original.

Roxburghe Club in 1864, and there has been no later edition. This is of less importance,nbsp;however, as Malory�s translation gives thenbsp;romance practically in extenso. It occupiesnbsp;Books xiii. to xvii., inclusive, of the Mortenbsp;Arthure.

Diu Crone was edited by Scholl, in 1852. The book is out of print and difficult to obtain.

Sir Gawain at the Grail Castle {Arthurian Romances, vi., Nutt, 1903) includes the Bleheris-Gawainnbsp;version, that of Diu Cr�ne, and that of thenbsp;prose Lancelot, translated from the originalnbsp;texts by J. L. Weston.

For a general survey of the literature, the books mentioned in Chapter II., Die Sage vom Gral,nbsp;Birch-Hirschfeld, and Studies in the Legend ojnbsp;the Holy Grail, Alfred Nutt, are to be recommended, as they include lengthy abstracts ofnbsp;the various texts. The last-named writer�snbsp;little brochure. The Holy Grail, in Popularnbsp;Studies on Romance and Folk-Lore (Nutt), is ofnbsp;later date, and gives a very useful summary.nbsp;Those who desire a more exact knowledgenbsp;should consult The Legend of Sir Perceval,nbsp;J. L. Weston, � Grimm Library,� vols. xvii. andnbsp;xix. (Nutt). Vol. i. contains an analysis of thenbsp;versions of Chretien and Wauchier, with anbsp;detailed description and classification of thenbsp;MSS. of the poem. Vol. ii. contains the Modenanbsp;prose text, and a study on the development ofnbsp;the Grail Legend, with a table showing thenbsp;probable relation between the different versions. There is also a bibliography, giving notnbsp;only the editions of the texts, but the principalnbsp;studies devoted to their elucidation.

INDEX

Q^�ESTS OLD AND NEW

G. R. S. MEAD

AUTHOR OF 'THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,� �FRAGMENTS OF A FAITH FORGOTTEN,� ETC, ETC.

� The Book of the Hidden Mysteries,� by Hierotheos. The Rising Psychic Tide.

.1019

A. G. van HAMEL

THE QUEST SERIES

THE qUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL

Ji

142 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL

having, at least, ten lighted eandles following them :

APPENDIX

�T

144 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL

APPENDIX

152 THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL

He passed through the hall, and then Gawain sees :

APPENDIX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

INDEX

58.

INDEX

INDEX

Q^�ESTS OLD AND NEW

G. R. S. MEAD