Britain to France at the time of the Celtic immigration into Brittany (between the fourth and sixth centuries). He professes to trace their beginnings from pre-Christian or Pagan times in Britain, but recognises that the Joseph of Arimathæa history is undoubtedly one of the conversion of Britain. Regarding this he writes: "If what may be called the Joseph of Arimathæa Early History be considered closely, it will be seen that in both its two main forms it is essentially a legend of the conversion of Britain. Both forms start with Joseph, but at a later stage go widely asunder. In Borron, it is kinsmen of Joseph, Brons, or Alain, or Petrus who are the leaders of the evangelising emigration: it is to them that the Holy Vessel is confided. In the Grand St. Graal Quête version Joseph's son, Josephes, is the leading spirit, and the fortunes of the Grail are bound up with those of Joseph's direct descendants or with the converted heathens Mordrains, Nasciens, and their kin. This second is the popular version, the one which affected the later stages of the Conte del Graal. The fact that what may be called the Vulgate Early History (whether in its Brons or Josephes form) is in reality a conversion of Britain legend is important when we recollect that the personages of the Conte del Graal and allied versions are British and that the scene of the story is Britain (pp. 39-40). Later on, in a somewhat lengthy argument, which it is very difficult to follow, Mr. Nutt appears to advance several theories in explanation of the Grail legends. None of these, however, are very illuminating or satisfactory, and although Mr. Nutt appears (in Celtic and mediæval romance) to acknowledge an historic King Arthur who "died in the first third of the sixth century," he attempts nowhere to explain that insistence on Hebrew lineage and wonderful atmosphere which may be regarded as among the distinguishing features

of the legends of the Holy Grail. In the "High History" this Hebrew relationship is relationship is repeatedly mentioned. Sir Perceval; his mother, Yglais; his sister, Dindrane; Sir Lancelot, the hermit knight; Joseus; King Pelles, the Fisher King; and the King of the Castle Mortal, are all represented as being directly of the lineage of Joseph, and in one or two passages this appears to include Gawain and King Arthur also. In the Grand St. Graal we read that Gawain was the son of Lot of Orcaine, and that King Lot was descended from Petrus. If so (as Gawain was the nephew of King Arthur), the king himself and nearly all his Table Round are represented as having Hebrew relationship and being for the most part of Hebrew lineage.

For my own part, after reading Mr. Nutt's book and heartily acknowledging his work and scholarship, I turn with greater confidence to the simple accounts given us in the old Histories.

If the mediæval writers had not found the historical groundwork of their writings already recorded for them, they would never have dreamed of Jewish characters as types of British knighthood. There was not so much love for the Jew in medieval times that his people or the descendants of Briton and Jew should be exalted as the greatest heroes of contemporary fiction. The mediæval romancers only invented new and prolonged adventures for recognised heroes whose reputed lineage and even names they did not dare to alter.

There is after all but little reason to disbelieve the tale we are told by the compiler of the "High History," viz., that the Latin original, written by a scribe named Josephus, was in the Abbey Library of the Isle of Avalon (or Glastonbury), where the bodies of King Arthur and Guinevere were buried, and that the names and See p. 251 (possibly wrongly translated?).

relationship of the chief actors and the main outlines of their adventures were regarded as historical and worthy of belief (see Appendix M).

"About 1280 the trouveur, Sarrazin, cites the Grail (li Graaus) in verification of the then accepted truism that King Arthur was at one time Lord of Great Britain. This appeal to the Grail as the authority for general belief shows that it was at that time recognised as a well-spring of authentic knowledge" (Sebastian Evans in his epilogue to the "High History of the Holy Grail").

THE CONNECTED STORY OF THE

LEGENDS

"Once in a dream I saw the flowers

That bud and bloom in Paradise ;
More fair hey are than waking eyes
Have seen in all this world of ours.
And faint the perfume-bearing rose,
And faint the lily on its stem,
And faint the perfect violet
Compared with them.

I saw the gate called Beautiful;

And looked, but scarce could look within ;
I saw the golden streets begin,
And outskirts of the glassy pool.
Oh harps, oh crowns of plenteous stars,
Oh green palm branches many-leaved—
Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard,
Nor heart conceived

I hope to see these things again,

But not as once in dreams by night;
To see them with my very sight,
And touch and handle and attain:
To have all heaven beneath my feet

For narrow way that once they trod;
To have my part with all the saints,
And with my God."

C. Rossetti.

N attempting to gather together the various threads of love, of sympathy, of work, and of adventure which run through the foregoing pages, I recognise

that it is quite impossible to form with them any perfect picture or story. There are serious breaks in the tapestry, and no one can tell with any certainty whether the threads should be continuous or whether some of the material may be patchwork of a later date. But one thing is clear to me no one is likely to read the picture aright who has not some real knowledge of Christian life and character, some definite appreciation of the great work done by unnoticed lives in the spread of the gospel of Jesus, some recognition of the profound truth contained in the passage, "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

The loom may be of this world, but the tapestry, the colours, and the inscription upon it are only partly of this world. They belong essentially to the spiritual and the heavenly.

We read the story of the Gospels and watch the slow unfolding of the spiritual character in the various disciples, and especially (apart from "Peter, James, and John ") in Salome, in Mary Cleopas, in Mary Magdalene, and Martha, in Lazarus and the man born blind, and cannot readily believe that all this had but little earthly sequel.

Somewhere, whether in East or West, God, who had called them, lived with them and taught them in the Person of His son, must have used them as His messengers and missioners. It was not in the Holy Land or in the immediate East, or we should read of them in the Acts of the Apostles or Epistles. The silences of history (as in the case of St. James the Greater) correspond with the voices of tradition.

We watch the "Seventy" proceeding two by two upon their journeys for some time previous to the crucifixion. We see them in the towns and villages of Galilee and Samaria, and in the Syro-Phoenician towns on the border.