from the whole air and aspect of the history, the remarkable conciseness with which the notices are given, and the great ease with which the places are pointed out, the detail appears to have been drawn up at the distance only of a few years from the transactions, and when these little references were sufficiently understood."

Mr Whittaker proceeds to ascertain the scenes of Arthur's battles; after which he gives a relation of them with a surprising particularity. A severe critic might be apt to say, as Dr Kippis observes, that it requires all our faith in the author's judgment, as well as in his ingenuity and learning, not to suspect that he sometimes allows too much scope to fancy and conjecture. However, the whole of what he hath advanced is singularly curious, and deserves peculiar attention and consideration. And no one can help admiring the penetration with which he hath formed such a regular detail of facts, from the combined aid of history, romance, and tradition. According to Mr Whittaker, Arthur's principal exploits were against the northern Saxons, whilst he was only prince of the Silures, and Ambrosius was the dictator or pendragon of the Britons. "In a series probably of five campaigns, and in a succession certainly of eleven victories, this great commander had repelled the Saxons from the north of Flavia, dislodged them from all Maxima, and possessed them of all Valentia. And these were successes so unchequered with misfortunes, so great in themselves, and so beneficial to the public, that the name of Arthur claims the first rank in the list of military, and the better one of patriot, heroes." The twelfth battle of Arthur was fought in the south of England, after he was elected to the pendragonship, against Cedric the Saxon. "This (says Mr Whittaker) was a most extraordinary victory, and completes the circle of Arthur's military glories." In the author's account of this prince's conduct in peace, he asserts, that "Arthur saw that an appointment was wanted, which should at once be a more regular and more honourable signature of merit; by the certainty of the honour and the greatness of the dignity, call out all the worth of all the worthy in the nation, and collect it round the throne of the pendragon. Accordingly he established a military order. It was the first that had ever been instituted in the island; and it has since been imitated by all the nations on the continent. By means of this association, Arthur raised among the provincials a general glow of ingenious heroism, the first spirit of chivalry that ever appeared in Europe; that manly and honourable gallantry of soul, which has made him and his worthies the subject of romantic histories over all the west of it. By this, and this alone, could he have been what history represents him, the Revered Father of the British Heroes in general, even to the conclusion of the sixth century, and nearly the middle of the seventh. The order naturally survived its founder. And the members of it were denominated the Warriors of Arthur, though the persons were born half a century after his death." Mr Whittaker goes on to inform us, that under the prudent management of Arthur for 20 years together, a fair prospect dawned upon the Britons, and long scenes of future glories opened to their imaginations. "But the gay vision was destroyed at once by the commencement of a civil war. Many towns still remained in ruins, the memorial of the former wars, and the disgrace of the present. The diffused spirit of chivalry was turned upon the nation, and heroism became the tool of dissension. And the dreadful combination of civil evils was begun and consummated, at once, by the death of the renowned Arthur in battle. Thus died the incomparable hero in 542."

To these observations it may not be improper to add the following account of the discovery of Arthur's tomb, which appears to be tolerably well authenticated. Henry II. who was the first of the Plantagenet line, being, in the last year of his reign, at Pembroke, and hearing there a Welsh bard singing to his harp the story of Arthur, concluding with an account of his death, and burial in the churchyard of Glastonbury between two pyramids; the king instantly gave orders that the matter should be inquired into, and the body dug up. This was done as the king directed; and at the depth of seven feet was found a vast stone, whereon was fastened a leaden cross, with this inscription on the inside: *Hic Jacet Sepultus Inclytus Rex Arturius in Insula Avalonia*; i.e. "Here lies the famous King Arthur, buried in the isle of Avalon." Digging still lower, they found the king's body in the trunk of a tree, his beautiful queen lying by him, with long flowing hair, in colour bright as gold, which, however, sunk into dust when touched. The king's bones were very large sized; and in his skull there were ten wounds or more, all cicatrized, except that of which he died. This discovery was made in the year 1189, as Giraldus Cambrensis tells us, who saw these bones, and examined the whole matter carefully. There was also a table containing this story, set up in the monastery of Glastonbury, and the leaden cross with the inscription remained till the dissolution of the monastery, where it was seen by the great antiquary Leland; but what is become of it since does not appear.

Of the different places above alluded to as being distinguished by our hero's name, and serving to evince his existence, the following may be mentioned as one of the principal.

**Arthur's Seat**, a high hill in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, said to have been so denominated from a tradition that King Arthur surveyed the country from its summit, and had also defeated the Saxons in its neighbourhood. This hill rises by a steep and rugged ascent, till it terminates in a rocky point near 700 feet high from the base, being more than double the height of the cross on the top of St Paul's, London, which is 340 feet. On the south it is in many parts a perpendicular rock, composed of basaltic pillars regularly pentagonal or hexagonal, about three feet in diameter, and from 40 to 50 feet in height. Contiguous upon the west, and partly connected with it at the base, are Salisbury Crags, of inferior height, but exhibiting an appearance equally singular and grand. They present to the city an awful front of broken rocks and precipices, forming a sort of natural amphitheatre of solid rock; and backward from the craggy verge above, the hill forms an extensive irregular slope, the surface affording pasture to numerous flocks of sheep. The crags, besides ores, spars, rock plants, and here and there, it is said, some precious stones, afford an inexhaustible supply of stone for paving the streets. streets and other purposes. In quarrying, a part of the crags has been worn down into a spacious shelf, having the appearance of a lofty terrace, and stretching a considerable length. From hence is a near and distinct prospect of the city, with its environs and the adjacent country. But from the pinnacle called Arthur's Seat the view is more noble and extensive. The traveller may here sit and survey at his ease the centre of the kingdom; besides having a complete view of Edinburgh and its castle, on which he looks down as if seated among the clouds. In a word, the German ocean, the whole course of the Forth, the distant Grampians, and a large portion of the most populous and best cultivated part of Scotland, form a landscape sublime, various, and beautiful.

The denomination of this hill, derived as above, has been adduced as an argument against those who dispute the existence of the British Arthur. That derivation, however, though probable, is not without uncertainty. For Arthur's Seat is said to be derived, or rather corrupted, from A'rd Seir, a "place or field of arrows," where people shot at a mark: And this not improperly; for among these cliffs is a dell or reclusive valley, where the wind can scarcely reach, now called the Hunter's Bog, the bottom of it being a morass. The adjacent crags are supposed to have taken their name from the earl of Salisbury, who in the reign of Edward III. accompanied that prince in an expedition against the Scots.