nvasion of the Romans,
Cereales, their general, attacked the proper Brigantes of Yorkshire and
Durham, and freed the Sistuntii of Lancashire from their dominion, but
reserved the former to incur the Roman yoke. In A.D. 79, this British
hold was changed into a Roman castrum, garrisoned by the first Frisian
cohort, who erected from the old materials a new fort on the Roman
construction, part of the vallum remaining to this day. New roads were
made, and the British were invited to form themselves into the little
communities of cities, to check the spirit of independence kept alive in
the uncivilised abodes of deserted forests. The Romans possessed the
fortress for nearly 300 years, when they were summoned away to form part
of the army intended to repel the myriads of barbarians that threatened
to overrun Europe.

"By contributing to their refinement, and protecting them from the
inroads of the Picts and Scots, the Romans were regarded in a friendly
light by the ancient inhabitants, and their departure was much
regretted. It became necessary, however, that the Britons should elect a
chief from their own nation. Their military positions were strengthened;
and as the Roman model of a fortress did not suit their military taste,
instead of one encircled with walls only seven or eight feet high, and
furnishing merely pavilions for soldiers within, they preferred
erecting, on the sites of stations, large buildings of stone, whose
chambers should contain more convenient barracks for the garrison. An
infinite number of these castles existed within a century after the
departure of the Romans, of which our Castle at Manchester was one,
carried to a great height, erected in a good taste, secured at the
entrances with gates, and flanked at the sides with towers.

"The Britons, however, unable of themselves to cope with their foes,
imprudently invited the Saxons, who, after subduing the Caledonians,
laid waste the country of the Britons with fire and sword. The Castle of
Manchester surrendered A.D. 488."

We have endeavoured to preserve the character and manner of the ancient
chroniclers, and even their fanciful etymologies, in the following
record, of which the quaint but not inelegant style, in some measure,
almost unavoidably adapts itself to the subject.

* * * * *

Sir Lancelot of the Lake, as it is related by the older chronicles, was
the son of Ban, King of Benoit, in Brittany. Flying from hi