hate, vertue & synne. Doo after the good & leve the
evyl & it shal brynge you to good fame & renommee."[22]

Everything, in fact, is to be found in Malory's book; everything, except
those marks of character which transform traditional types into living
personalities; everything except those analyses of feeling which are for
us the primary _raison d'etre_ of the modern novel and its chief
attraction. The old knight's book is a vast compilation in which he has
melted down and mixed together a large number of tales about Arthur,
Lancelot, Gawain, Galahad, Percival, and all the Knights of the Round
Table. An infinite number of short chapters, written in a clear and
quiet style, possessing no other charm than its simplicity, tell of the
loves and of the fights of these famous men; "of theyr marvaylous
enquestes and adventures," as Caxton has it, "thachyevyng of the
Sangraal, and in thende the dolorous deth and departyng out of thys
world of them al." Malory never made the slightest effort to reach a
grand style; he did not think that there could be any other method of
writing than that of putting on paper, without preparation, what first
came into his mind. Since he possessed neither a passionate temperament
nor a wandering imagination, he tells, without any apparent emotion, the
most important of his stories, even the last battle of his hero[23] and
his final disappearance, when he is borne by fairies into the Vale of
Avilion. It is for sensitive hearts to weep over these misfortunes, if
they choose. As for him, he goes on his way, telling tale after tale, in
the same clear and even voice; but very rarely giving us his confidence
or opening to us his heart.

[Illustration: ROBERT THE DEVIL, ABOUT 1510.]

Once in the whole length of this immense work he does impart to us his
personal opinion on a question of importance: in the twenty-fifth
chapter of his eighteenth book, Malory confesses what he thinks of love,
and lays aside his usual reserve: and thus furnishes the first attempt
at analysis of feeling to be found in the English prose romance. Malory
declares that every man should love God first and his mistress
afterwards; and so long as a man does love his God first, the other
love seems to him to be not only permissible but even commendable; it is
a virtue. "Therfore, as may moneth floreth & floryssheth in many
gardyns, soo in lyke wyse, lete every man of worship florysshe his herte
in this world, fyrst unto God & next