itaker, (Hist. of Manchester,
vol. ii. p. 31-71) had framed an interesting, and even probable,
narrative of the wars of Arthur: though it is impossible to allow the
reality of the round table. * Note: I presume that Gibbon means Llywarch
Hen, or the Aged.--The Elegies of this Welsh prince and bard have been
published by Mr. Owen; to whose works and in the Myvyrian Archaeology,
slumbers much curious information on the subject of Welsh tradition and
poetry. But the Welsh antiquarians have never obtained a hearing from
the public; they have had no Macpherson to compensate for his corruption
of their poetic legends by forcing them into popularity.--See also Mr.
Sharon Turner's Essay on the Welsh Bards.--M.]

[Footnote 141: The progress of romance, and the state of learning, in
the middle ages, are illustrated by Mr. Thomas Warton, 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. * Note: These valuable
dissertations should not now be read without the notes and preliminary
essay of the late editor, Mr. Price, which, in point of taste and
fulness of information, are worthy of accompanying and completing
those of Warton.--M.] Resistance, if it cannot avert, must increase the
miseries of conquest; and conquest has never appeared more dreadful
and destructive than in the hands of the Saxons; who hated the valor of
their enemies, disdained the faith of treaties, and violated, without
remorse, the most sacred objects of the Christian 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, without distinction of age or sex, was massacred, [142] in
the ruins of Anderida; [143] and the repetition of such calamities was
frequent and familiar under the Saxon heptarchy. The arts and religion,
the laws and language, which the Romans had so carefully planted in
Britain, were extirpated by their barbarous successors. After the
destruction of the principal churches, the bishops, who had declined
the crown of martyrdom, retired with the holy relics into Wales and
Armorica; the remains of their flocks were left destitute of any
spiritual food; the practice, and even the remembrance, of Christianity
were abolished; and the British clergy might obtain some comfort
from the damn