8. _Le Morte Arthure_ is among the Harl. MSS 2252, § 49. This is judged to be a translation from the French; Mr. Wanley thinks it no older than the time of Henry VII., but it seems to be quoted in Syr Bevis, (Sign. K. ij. b.) It begins,
In the library of Bennet Coll. Cambridge, No. 351, is a MS. intitled in the catalogue _Acta Arthuris Metrico Anglicano_, but I know not its contents.
9. In the Editor's folio MS. are many songs and romances about King Arthur and his knights, some of which are very imperfect, as _King Arthur and the King of Cornwall_ (page 24) [pr. ed. vol. i. p. 61], in stanzas of four lines, beginning,
_The Turke and Gawain_ (p. 38) [pr. ed. vol. i. p. 90], in stanzas of six lines beginning thus:
but these are so imperfect that I do not make distinct articles of them. See also in this volume, Book I. No. I., II., IV., V.
In the same MS. p. 203 [pr. ed. vol. ii. p. 58], is the _Greene Knight_, in two parts, relating a curious adventure of Sir Gawain, in stanzas of six lines, beginning thus:--
10. _The Carle of Carlisle_ is another romantic tale about Sir Gawain, in the same MS. p. 448 [pr. ed. vol. iii. p. 277], in distichs:
In all these old poems the same set of knights are always represented with the same manners and characters; which seem to have been as well known, and as distinctly marked among our ancestors, as Homer's Heroes were among the Greeks: for, as _Ulysses_ is always represented crafty, _Achilles_ irascible, and _Ajax_ rough; so _Sir Gawain_ is ever courteous and gentle, _Sir Kay_ rugged and disobliging, &c. "_Sir Gawain with his olde curtesie_" is mentioned by Chaucer as noted to a proverb, in his _Squire's Tale_. _Canterb. Tales_, vol. ii. p. 104.
11. _Syr Launfal_, an excellent old romance concerning another of King Arthur's knights, is preserved in the Cotton Library, Calig. A 2, f. 33. This is a translation from the French[521], made by one _Thomas_ _Chestre_, who is supposed to have lived in the reign of Henry VI. (See Tanner's Biblioth.) It is in stanzas of six lines, and begins,
The above was afterwards altered by some minstrel into the romance of _Sir Lambewell_, in three parts, under which title it was more generally known[522]. This is the Editor's folio MS. p. 60 [pr. ed. vol. i. p. 144], beginning thus: