insolence." Then Geraint arose, and they encountered immediately, and they broke a set of lances; and a second set; and a third; and they gave each other fierce and frequent strokes; and at last Geraint became enraged, and he urged on his horse, and rushed upon him, and gave him a thrust on the centre of his shield, so that it was split, and so that the head of his lance went through his armour, and his girths were broken, and he himself was borne headlong to the ground the length of Geraint's lance and arm, over his horse's crupper. "Oh, my Lord!" said he, "thy mercy, and thou shalt have what thou wilt." "I only desire," said Geraint, "that this game shall no longer exist here, nor the hedge of mist, nor magic, nor enchantment." "Thou shalt have this gladly, Lord," he replied. to disappear from this place," said Geraint. "Sound yonder horn," said he, "and when thou soundest it, the mist will vanish; but it will not go hence unless the horn be blown by the knight by whom I am vanquished." And sad and sorrowful was Enid where she remained, through anxiety concerning Geraint. Then Geraint went and sounded the horn. And at the first blast he gave, the mist vanished. And all the hosts came together, and they all became reconciled to each other.

"Cause, then, the mist

And the Earl invited Geraint and the Little King to stay with him that night. And the next morning they separated. And Geraint went towards his own dominions; and thenceforth he reigned prosperously, and his warlike fame and splendour lasted with renown and honour both to him and to Enid from that time forward.

NOTES TO GERAINT THE SON OF ERBIN.

EASTER-CHRISTMAS-WHITSUNTIDE.-PAGE 67.

RITSON, in a note to his "Metrical Romancëes," mentions, that our early historians, as Roger Hoveden, Matthew Paris, &c. often advert to the custom of the ancient monarchs of France and England, of holding a cour pleniere, or plenary court, at the three principal feasts of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. On those occasions "they were attended by the earls and barons of the kingdom, their ladys, and children; who dine'd at the royal table with great pomp and eclat; minstrels flocking thither from all parts; justs and tournaments being perform'd, and various other kinds of divertisements, which lasted several days."-III. 235.

These three principal festivals, or prifwyl, "Pasc, Nadolic, a Sulgwyn," are commemorated as such in one of the Triads, lvii.

CHURCHES WERE SET APART FOR MASS.-PAGE 68.

In another part of this work, the word Offeren is rendered offering; but here it has been thought advisable to use the more general term Mass, although the former seems to correspond best with the language of the day.

Thus Chaucer, in his description of the Wif of Bathe, tells us, that

"In all the parish wif ne was ther non,
That to the offring before hire shulde gon,
And if ther did, certain so wroth was she,
That she was out of alle charitee."

Pro. v. 451-4.

STEWARD OF THE HOUSEHOLD.-PAGE 68.

He was the chief of all the officers of the Court, who had each to pay him a fee of twenty-four pence upon their installation. On him devolved the important care of providing food for the kitchen, and liquor for the mead-cellar; and he had the charge of the king's share of booty, until the king desired to dispose of it, when he was allowed to chuse from it a steer, as his own share. It was his particular duty "to swear for the king." Besides his clothes, and four horse shoes, and various perquisites of the skins of beasts, he was entitled to a "male hawk, from the master of the hawks, every feast of St. Michael."-Welsh Laws.

MASTER OF THE HOUSEHOLD.-PAGE 68.

THE post of Master of the Household was one of much honour and distinction; and in the Laws of Howel Dda, it is ordained that it should be filled by the king's son or nephew, or one of dignity sufficient for so high a situation. Gwalchmai was therefore peculiarly eligible to it from the relation in which he stood to King Arthur.

The privileges attached to this office were important, while its duties do not appear to have been of a very arduous nature; one of them consisted in giving the harp into the hands of the domestic bard, at the three great festivals.

The Master of the Household had the largest and most central house in the town for his lodging. He was entitled to the second most honourable dish in the Court, and to be served first after the king; and his allowance was three dishes and three hornfuls of the best liquor in the Court. Besides other perquisites, some of which were in money, he claimed his clothes at the three great festivals, and also his horses, his dogs, his hawks, and his arms, from the king; and from the smith of the Court he had four horse shoes once a year, with their complement of nails.

GRYNN, AND PEN PIGHON, &c.-PAGE 68.

THESE personages appear to have received their names altogether from the office which they held; and we cannot expect to find any very

authentic records concerning "Sight the son of Seer," and "Ear the son of Hearer," which is the interpretation of Drem vab Dremhitid, and Clust vab Clustveinyd.

To these two worthies, however, the following allusion is made in a composition attributed to Iolo Goch, 1400.

"When will that be?

"When Bleuddyn Rabi Rhol is as quick sighted as Tremydd ap Tremhidydd, the man who could discern a mote in the sunbeam, in the four corners of the world.

"When the ears of deaf Deicin Fongam of Machynlleth are as good as those of Clustfain ap Clustfeinydd, the man who could hear the sound of the dewdrop in June falling from the grass stalk, in the four corners of the world."

It may be well to remark in this place, that several of the characters which are incidentally introduced in Geraint ab Erbin, appear again in others of the Mabinogion, where they will be more particularly noticed.

DIAPERED SATIN.-PAGE 69.

I HAVE ventured thus to translate the words "Pali caerawg," though the strict meaning of "caerawg" is "mural;" and Dr. O. Pughe, in his Dictionary, gives it the signification of "kersey-woven," as applied to a particular kind of cloth, and says that the epithet is derived "from the similitude of its texture to the work in stone walls." In speaking of satin, it seemed, however, more appropriate to use the term diapered, which Warton, who has a long note upon the subject, (Eng. Poe. II. 9, 1824,) believes, properly, to signify "embroidering on a rich ground, as tissue, cloth of gold," &c. Thus, in the Squire of Low Degree, the King of Hungary promises his daughter "clothes of fyne golde" for her head.

"With damaske whyte and asure blewe
Well dyaperd with lyllyes newe."