But say to sir Ryence, thou dwarf, quoth the king, That for his bold message I do him defye; And shortlye with basins and pans will him ring Out of North-gales; where he and I With swords, and not razors, quickly shall trye, 40 Whether he, or king Arthur will prove the best barbor: And therewith he shook his good sword Excalàbor. * * * * *
[+±+] Strada, in his _Prolusions_, has ridiculed the story of the Giant's Mantle, made of the Beards of Kings.
[48] _Largesse, Largesse._ The heralds resounded these words as oft as they received of the bounty of the knights. See _Memoires de la_ _Chevalerie_, tom. i. p. 99.--The expression is still used in the form of installing knights of the garter.
[53] _i.e._ set round the border, as furs are now round the gowns of Magistrates.
The subject of this ballad is evidently taken from the old romance _Morte Arthur_, but with some variations, especially in the concluding stanzas; in which the author seems rather to follow the traditions of the old Welsh Bards, who believed that King Arthur was not dead, "but conveied awaie by the Fairies into some pleasant place, where he should remaine for a time, and then returne againe and reign in as great authority as ever." Holinshed, b. 5, c. 14, or as it is expressed in an old Chronicle printed at Antwerp 1493, by Ger. de Leew, "The Bretons supposen, that he [K. Arthur]--shall come yet and conquere all Bretaigne, for certes this is the prophicye of Merlyn: He sayd, that his deth shall be doubteous; and sayd soth, for men thereof yet have doubte, and shullen for ever more,--for men wyt not whether that he lyveth or is dede." See more ancient testimonies in Selden's _Notes on Polyolbion, Song III._
This fragment being very incorrect and imperfect in the original MS. hath received some conjectural emendations, and even a supplement of three or four stanzas composed from the romance of _Morte Arthur_.
[The two ballads here entitled _King Arthur's Death_ and _The_ _Legend of King Arthur_ are united in the Folio MS. (ed. Hales and Furnivall, vol. i. p. 497), but they are evidently two distinct songs. The first ballad forms part ii. of the MS. copy, which has fourteen verses at the end not printed here. The last four verses are printed at the end of the next ballad. Percy has taken great liberties with his original, and has not left a single line unaltered, as will be seen by comparing it with the original printed at the end. Additional lines are also interpolated which are now enclosed within brackets, and it will be seen that these unnecessary amplifications do not improve the effect of the poem. It will also be seen that in vv. 41-44 the father and son of the original are changed into uncle and nephew.