chapters, as well as the orthography, handwriting, and headings, are different. Generally, two or even three chapters of Add. make one in Harl. After fol. 94 verso a gap occurs in Add.; this passage corresponds to Harl. fol. 63 verso, col. ii., line 20 from the bottom. From here to fol. 64 verso Harl. enables us to fill up the gap in Add., but then it also breaks off, leaving us in the middle of the adventure of Palomydes and Corsabryn. Later on, folios 69 and 70 of Harl., relating the adventures of Palomydes and his brother Saphar, and an adventure of Dinadan before the tombs of the cheating merchants and the corrupt judge, correspond again to Add. fol. 107, col. 2, line 8 from the top to fol. 109, col. 2, line 20 from the bottom. Of MS. Add. 25434 the following folios treat of Alysaunder:-75 verso, 76, 77; 137 verso, 138, 139; 143, 144, 145, 146 recto, col. i. ; 166, 167; 182; 184. The last leaves are inserted in the wrong order, they ought to be thus arranged -183 must follow after 181; then there is one leaf missing, after that have to come 182, 184; here the MS. breaks off, and several leaves are missing. The tournament of Galahalt of Surluse is described in folios 77 verso, 78-88; 91 recto, 92, 93, 94.

The "Prophecies " are reproduced to a great extent, though in great disorder, in the third part of the printed editions of the "Merlin," but not the knightly adventures. As there will perhaps never occur a better opportunity of making these accessible to all scholars, I resolved to edit them as an Appendix to the present volume.1 I have in this edition not observed the sequence of chapters as found in the MSS., but arranged the chapters so that their contents follow one another; I have always stated the folios on which they occur in the MS.

As far as the text is concerned, it is an absolutely faithful reproduction of MS. Add. 25434, a specimen and some missing parts being supplied from Harl. MS. 1629, without any alterations, emendations, or conjectural readings. Parts of words or letters printed in italics are not to be found in the original, but represent the expanded abbreviations in the MSS.

Malory's account of the adventures of Alysaunder and the great tournament stands to that of the MSS. in the same relation as his Merlin-section to the Huth MS.-i.e., both vary in details but agree as to the adventures. As the chapters relating the tournament of Galahalt of Surluse are imperfect in either MS., Malory is for this portion the only existing authority.

1 I have not found these adventures in any other MS.; therefore I have said on the title of the Appendix, "from the only known MSS." There may very well exist somewhere another MS., and I hope it will be found some day.

CONCLUSION.

T the close of four years' arduous labour upon Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte Darthur," it is natural to ask what results have been achieved.

For the first time a reliable text of this great English classic, which has exercised such a wide and lasting influence upon the later development of English speech and poesy, has been made generally accessible to students of philology and literature, whilst its study has been greatly facilitated by the Glossary, the List of Names and Places, and the critical apparatus provided in the Introduction forming vol. ii.

As regards the present volume, I have already briefly indicated in the Preface the outcome of my investigations, but I may fittingly here recapitulate and extend what I there stated.

In the twelfth volume of Romania, M. Gaston Paris speaks of Malory's work as "a well-known compilation hitherto too little utilised for critical studies." I think I may fairly claim that it has now been utilised, and that, altogether apart from its interest as prose literature, it has been shown to occupy a most important place in the criticism of the Arthurian cycle.

The researches of M. Gaston Paris, of Professor W. Foerster, of Professor H. Zimmer, and of Professor Rhys have drawn the attention of the learned world afresh to the Arthurian legend and to the innumerable difficulties which it presents to the investigator. I claim that henceforward no researches can be regarded as exhaustive which disregard Malory's compilation, and, further, that his work is by far the best guide to the Arthurian romances in their entirety.

It may, I trust, be considered as finally settled that for several portions of the cycle Malory is our only authority. These are:

1. The last part of book iv.

2. The whole of book vii.

3. The lost "Suite de Lancelot."

4. The lost "Tristan" trilogy.

On the other hand, my examination of such portions of Malory as are common to him and to his sources will, I trust, enable students to discriminate what in him belongs to the older stratum of the Romancecycle and what are his own additions and modifications. It need hardly be pointed out how important this is in the case of investiga

tions which deal with early Celtic heroic and mythic legend.

Conclusions might otherwise be based upon what is simply a fact of Malory's own invention.

The most important critical result is, I need hardly say, the reconstruction of the "Suite de Lancelot." Although I have provisionally treated this as a modification and a development of the VulgateLancelot, it is quite possible that it may contain older as well as younger elements. I would also direct the attention of future investigators to the Tristan form of the "Quest of the Holy Grail."

As regards the special features of Malory's compilation, I trust I have succeeded in clearly exhibiting his merits and demerits as a writer. I have shown that he sometimes added small episodes of his own composition, though, as a rule, he contented himself with welding into one the diverse materials that were at his disposal, and that not infrequently he literally translated entire passages from his French, or made large transcripts from his English, sources.

We owe the worthy knight a deep debt of gratitude both for preserving the medieval romances in a form which enabled them to remain an integral portion of English literature, and for rescuing from oblivion certain French versions of great value to the critical student. But truth demands that we should not rate him too highly. To put it mildly, his work is very unequal-sometimes he excels, but often he falls beneath, oftener still, he servilely reproduces his originals. Nor can his selection of material be unreservedly praised. Difficulties in procuring certain MSS. may possibly have occurred of which we have nowadays no idea; yet, giving him the full benefit of this supposition, we must still say that he left out many of the most touching and admirable portions of the French romances, and that he has incorporated others of inferior quality. The most marked and distressing instance is his preference of the trivial and distasteful version of the Merlin and Niviene episode as found in the "Suite de Merlin" to the exquisite version of the Vulgate-Merlin, which, in its mingling of wild romance and delicate sentiment, is perhaps the most beautiful and characteristic story of medieval literature. Be this as it may, Malory must always be counted as an English classic. I shall be satisfied if what I have done be considered not unworthy his merits and his position in English literature.

APPENDIX.

THE

ADVENTURES OF ALYSAUNDER LE ORPHELYN

AND

THE GREAT TOURNAMENT OF GALAHALT OF SURLUSE.

FOR THE FIRST TIME EDITED FROM THE ONLY KNOWN MSS, ADD. 25,434 AND HARL. 1629 IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.