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86 CIIAPTER III. THE MATTER OF BRITAIN. ATTRACTIONS OF THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND DISCUSSIONS ON THF.IR SOURCESTHE PERSONALITY OP ARTHURTHE FOUR WITNESSES THEIR TESTIMONY THE VERSION OP GEOFFREY ITS LACUNAE HOW THE LEGEND GREWWACELAYAMONTHE ROMANCES PROPER WALTER MAP ROBERT DE BOHRON CHRESTIEN DE TROYES I'ROSE OR VERSE FIRST ?A LATIN QRAAL-BOOKTUB MABINOGION THE LEGEND ITSELF THE STORY OF JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA MERLINLANCELOTTHE LEGEND BECOMES DRAMATICSTORIES OF GAWAIN AND OTHER KNIGHTSSIR TRISTRAMHIS STORY ALMOST CERTAINLY CELTICSIR LANCELOTTHE MINOR KNIGHTSARTHUR GUINEVERETHE GRAALHOW IT PERFECTS THE STORYNATURE iIF THIS PERFECTIONNO SEQUEL POSSIBLELATIN EPISODESTHE LEGEND AS A WHOLE THE THEORIES OF ITS ORIGIN CELTIC FRENCHENGLISHLITERARYTHE CELTIC THEORYTHE FRENCH CLAIMSTHE THEORY OF GENERAL LITERARY GROWTHTHE ENG- LISH OR ANGLO-NORMAN PRETENSIONSATTEMPTED HYPOTHESIS. To English readers, and perhaps not to English readers only, the middle division of the three great romance- subjects 1 ought to he of far higher interest than the 1 See the quotation from Jean Bodel, p. 26, note. The literature of the Arthurian question is very large ; and besides the drawbacks referred to in the text, much of it is scattered in periodicals. The most useful recent things in English are Mr Nutt's Studies on the others; and that not merely, even in the English case, . for reasons of local patriotism. The medi- Auraetitnu oj "- the Arthurian aeval versions of classical story, though attractive to the highest degree as evidence of the extraordinary plastic power of the period, which could transform all art to its own image and guise, and though not destitute of individual charm here and there, must always bemainly ...