. The third
and last circle dealt with the epics of Merlin and Vivien, Uther and
Igerne, Gorlois, and Vortigern.

To give a complete outline of the adventures which befell all these
knights and ladies in the course of seventeen epics and romances,--of
which many versions exist, and to which each new poet added some
episode,--would require far more space than any one volume would
afford. A general outline will therefore be given of the two principal
themes, the Quest of the Holy Grail and King Arthur and his Round
Table, mentioning only the main features of the other epics as they
impinge upon these two great centres.

Some of the greatest writers of the Arthurian cycle have been Gildas,
Nennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, Robert de Borron, Marie de
France, Layamon, Chrestien de Troyes, Benoit de St. Maur, Gaucher,
Manessier, Gerbert, Knot de Provence, Wolfram von Eschenbach,
Gottfried von Strassburg, Hartmann von der Aue, Malory, Tennyson,
Swinburne, Howard Pyle, Matthew Arnold, and Wagner. Still, almost
every writer of note has had something to say on the subject, and thus
the Arthuriana has become almost as voluminous as the Shakespeariana.
The legend of Arthur, almost unknown before the twelfth century, so
rapidly became popular all over Europe, that it was translated into
every language and recited with endless variations at countless
firesides.

Robert de Borron is said to be mainly responsible for the tale of
Merlin, the real poet of that name having been a bard at the court,
first of Ambrosius Aurelianus and then of King Arthur. The Merlin of
the romances is reported to have owed his birth to the commerce of a
fiend with an unconscious nun. A priest, convinced of the woman's
purity of intention, baptized her child as soon as born, thus
defeating the plots of Satan, who had hoped the son of a fiend would
be able to outwit the plans of the Son of Man for human redemption. In
early infancy, already, this Merlin showed his miraculous powers, for
he testified in his mother's behalf when she was accused of
incontinency.

Meantime Constance, King of England, had left three sons, the eldest
of whom, Constantine, had entered a monastery, while the two others
were too young to reign. Drawn from his retirement to wear a crown,
Constantine proved incapable to maintain order, so his general,
Vortigern, with the aid of the Saxon leaders Hengist and Horsa,
usurped his throne. Some time after, wishing to construct an
imp