. . . “I congratulate you upon the health of your
elephants—as an additional mouthful of provender for them, pray observe that
the tale of Sir Gawain’s Foul Ladie, in Percy’s Reliques, is
originally Scaldic, as you will see in the history of Hrolfe Kraka, edited by
Torfæus from the ancient Sagas
regarding that prince. I think I could give you some more crumbs of information
were I at home; but I am at present discharging the duties of quartermaster to
a regiment of volunteer cavalry—an office altogether inconsistent with romance;
for where do you read that Sir Tristrem
weighed out hay and corn; that Sir Launcelot du
Lac distributed billets; or that any Knight of the Round Table
condescended to higgle about a truss of straw? Such things were left for our
degenerate days, when no warder sounds his horn from the barbican as the
preux chevalier approaches to
claim hospitality. Bugles indeed we have; but it is only to scream us out of
bed at five in the morning—hospitality such as the seneschals of Don Quixote’s castles were wont to offer
him—and all to troopers, to whom, for valour eke and courtesy, Major Sturgeon himself might yield the palm. In
the midst of this scene of motley confusion, I long, like the hart for
water-brooks, for the arrival of your grande opus. The
nature of your researches animates me to proceed in mine (though of a much more
limited and local nature), even as iron sharpeneth iron. I am in utter despair
about some of the hunting terms in ‘Sir Tristrem.’ There is no copy of
Lady Juliana Berners’ work in
Scotland, and I would move heaven and earth to get a sight of it. But as I fear
this is utterly impossible, I must have recourse to your friendly assistance,
and communicate a set of doubts and queries,
| LETTERS TO ELLIS—1801. | 335 |
