From a MS in the Hengurt Collection pnevmu pebyll yn ystyl vfford. Augloys heb y berjum." pych ovell Duo autho da itt heb prarth. apvy vyt tl. .Get. heb y Gwalchy bybn.acce wod nyt ymdoelei atladı hedw.je heb prarf vuvaglyghoz viac.acarthynny enyo adoeth yuyd des arth. Achyfarch gooll 1996. Dub atotho da itthebyr arch. kymarce vn hyvllaoz.Acvu dekymerth. Och a eupdheb ef py gereet yohon.na on angloyd hebh.namyn du po mn kerdet vfford ykertho miten diolops heb yger maaon ymdeith Sau dy Gambyat.py leuve hymny hebyrarth. velly tvynet heb vrarchy ont ey yorffen dvaghen. Svadei of um vn@vahabdarnab.heb y Gulch.lk aeg at m heb vraith acvavtahymynyta efodyma hyny vo jach. Gozen oes genhyfi augloyd prgattur toyuym death. Haadaf profi adno hebvrártlf.dcvna vpenis ef salo arwowmyon ynerbyu exyd.de dovnyystauell denhoyfar. Mladenundenhbyfarargozagęd of orth. Igluret vmanchavakseyamamei.arodi arall ymda new.agaloarktonethaómc.uth-Acenthtyminiaww pebyli per aeroygon.Adsdiamaopen dickalvyd o pop pech mal y gofynmet dab.dhymiyaone battyrie ith doopn aporgan tut de difeyblon aomcator.acyno ybuarthaemferagofyvis ozch vedeomaethu ler.a Phan odgadnnvgnaotgan er-yoceth ar arthyarch cautat sevvnet yhynt. Nyomy abyetirabmachtet da.byfys gowanylovd heb y Ger.vt u de agredafi am hymwnamynvmedygon auu 62Appt.adyfyniuy medygon attabaoruc. Agofyn udunt aœd & hymy. Netherlift thes MANUSCRIPT OF GERAINT IN THE HENGWRT COLLECTION. THROUGH the kindness of Col. Vaughan, I have been enabled to have a Facsimile taken from a MS. of the Mabinogi of Geraint, in his possession. This Copy is a small 4to. written on vellum. In its present state it consists of 16 folios, or 32 pages, the commencement being wanting. EREC AND ENIDE. THE story of Geraint ab Erbin exists in a French Metrical Romance, entitled Erec and Enide, the production of Chrestien de Troyes, the same Trouveur to whom we are indebted for the French version of the "Iarlles y Ffynnawn." Of this Romance, several copies are preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi. Being informed that it is in course of publication by an eminent French Antiquarian, I have considered it unnecessary to print it at length in this place. I have, however, thought it right to give a short analysis of it, in order to shew the chief points in which it differs from the Welsh Mabinogi; and through the kindness of M. Le Comte de la Villemarqué, I am enabled to add considerable extracts from the Poem itself, which will give an idea of the style in which it is written. In some copies, the Romance commences with a sort of Prologue, consisting of twenty six lines, the first of which are, "Li vilain dit en son respit Que tel chose a on en despit Qui moult vaut mieux quon ne le cuide." Chrestien proceeds, in this Prologue, to announce Erec, the son of King Lac, as the subject of his Tale, which he declares that he took or translated from a "Conte daventure." "Porce dit Crestiens de Troies "D'Erec le fils Lac est le conte Cil qui contrerimoier veulent." In other copies, the Prologue is not given, but the incidents of the Tale are entered upon abruptly, and we at once find ourselves in the Court of Arthur, which, on that occasion, we are told, was held at Caradignan,* (Cardigan.) "Un jour de pasques an tems nouvel A Caradignan son castel Ot li rois Artur cour tenue Ains plus belle ne fut veue." Now Arthur was desirous of reviving a custom which had been much esteemed in the days of his ancestors, but had latterly fallen into disuse, of going to hunt the White Stag;t and he declared his intention to his assembled Knights. "Mais aincois que li cors fausist Li rois a ses chevaliers dist Qu'il iroit le blanc cerf chacier Pour la coustume rensaucier." But here, his nephew Gawain, (Gwalchmai,) steps forward, not, as in the Welsh, in consonance with his well-known character for cour *The Roman de Fregus et de Galienne ou du Chevalier au Bel Escu by Guillaume, Clerc de Normandie, (a Trouveur of the 12th and 13th Centuries,) opens with a similar incident. King Arthur holds his court at the Feast of St. John at "Caradignan." He proposes to his knights Gawain, Lancelot, Ywain, Erec, Perceval, &c. to go and hunt the White Stag. The animal is chased beyond the forests of " Glascou," and is finally captured by Perceval, who receives in reward the promised prize, a golden cup.-Hist. des Bardes, &c. Par. L'Abbé de la Rue. Caen. 1834. III. p. 14, 5. + St. Palaye is very particular in informing us, that this most royal hunt was no invention of the old Romance Writers, but that it still occasionally takes place in Germany He says that in 1748, a public announcement appeared of the hunt of a White Sta given by the Duke of Bavaria for the amusement of his Court.-Mem. de Chev. II. 241 |