THE Life of King Arthur: FROM ANCIENT HISTORIANS AND AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. BY JOSEPH RITSON, ESQ. Ne tut mençoigne, ne tut veir, Pur lur contes enbelir, Ke tuz les funt à fables tener. LE BRUT DE maistre WACE. No more our long-lost Arthur we bewail. GRAY. LONDON: PRINTED FOR PAYNE AND FOSS, PALL-MALL; AND HARDING, TRIPHOOK, AND LEPARD, FINSBURY SQUARE; BY WILLIAM NICOL, CLEVELAND-ROW, ST. JAMES'S. ADVERTISEMENT. THE Curious work now offered to the world was prepared for the press by Mr. Ritson, with a view to immediate publication, a short time before his death; and the character of the writer is sufficiently established to justify the editors hope of its favorable reception. The difficulty of the subject may be partly estimated from doubts having been actually entertained by the author, during his early researches, as to the identity of his hero, and fears lest the real Arthur might not, after all, be found: "So many of his shadows had he' met, And not the very king.” It is proper to add that the orthography latterly adopted by Mr. Ritson, however excellent, has not, on account of its singularity, been preserved. Stockton upon Tees, May 2, 1825. |