Chap, xxxvni] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 163 fancy, of the. twelfth century. The progress of a Phrygian colony, from the Tiber to the Thames, was easily engrafted on the fable of the iEneid ; and the royal ancestors of Arthur de- rived their origin from Troy, and claimed their alliance with the Caesars. His trophies were decorated with captive provinces and Imperial titles ; and his Danish victories avenged the recent injuries of his country. The gallantry and superstition of the British hero, his feasts and tournaments, and the memor- able institution of his Knights of the Round Table were faith- fully copied from the reigning manners of chivalry ; and the fabulous exploits of Uther's son appear less incredible than the adventures which were achieved by the enterprising valour of the Normans. Pilgrimage and the holy wars introduced into Europe the specious miracles of Arabian magic. Fairies and giants, flying dragons and enchanted palaces, were blended with the more simple fictions of the West ; and the fate of Britain depended on the art, or the predictions, of Merlin. Every nation embraced and adorned the popular romance of Arthur and the Knights of the Bound Table ; their names were celebrated in Greece and Italy ; and the voluminous tales of Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristram were devoutly studied by the princes and nobles, who disregarded the , genuine heroes and historians of antiquity. At length the light of science and reason was rekindled ; the talisman was broken ; the visionary fabric melted into air ; and, by a natural, though unjust, reverse of the public opinion, the severity of the present age is inclined to question the existence of Arthur. 148 Eesistance, if it cannot avert, must increase the miseries of Desolation conquest ; and conquest has never appeared more dreadful and ° destructive than in the hands of the Saxons, who hated the valour of their enemies, disdained the faith of treaties, and violated, without remorse, the most sacred objects of the Chris- tian worship. The fields of battle might be traced, almost in every district, by monuments of bones ; the fragments of falling towers were stained with blood ; the last of the Britons, with- 148 The progress of romance, and the state of learning, in the middle ages are illustrated by Mr. Thomas Wharton, with the taste of a poet and the minute diligence of an antiquarian. I have derived much instruction from the two learned dissertations prefixed to the first volume of his History of English Poetry.
