‘Ah, Launcelot, he said, thou were head of all christian knights;
and now I dare say, said Sir Ector, thou Sir Launcelot, there thou
liest, that thou were never matched of earthly knight’s hand; and
thou were the courtiest knight that ever bare shield; and thou were
the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrode horse; and thou
were the truest lover of a sinful man that ever loved woman; and
thou were the kindest man that ever strake with sword; and thou
were the goodliest person ever came among press of knights; and
thou was the meekest man and the gentlest that ever ate in hall
among ladies; and thou were the sternest knight to thy mortal foe
that ever put spear in the rest[1].’
The former passage is all Malory’s own: the beauty of the latter is
enhanced, if we set by its side the old version which he follows:—
‘Alas, sir [said] Bors, that I was born,
That ever I should see this indeed,
The beste knight his life hath lorn,
That ever in stoure [fight] bestrode a steed,
Jesu, that crowned was with thorn,
In heaven his soul foster and feed[2].’
Humour is akin to passion; and it may not be out of place to notice
here Malory’s vein of humour, as shown, for instance, in the way in
which he tells the adventures of La Cote Male Taile, and of Beaumains;
the pranks of the braver knights with Dinadan and Dagonet; the story of
Arthur’s wedding feast, when a lady who ‘cried and made great dole,’
was forcibly carried out of the hall by a strange knight, and Arthur
‘was glad, for she made such a noise,’ and was thereupon rebuked by
Merlin for thinking so lightly of his royal and knightly duties; or
that of the usurper Mordred and the Bishop of Canterbury, when after
each had defied the other, the bishop ‘did the curse in the most
orgulous wise that might be done,’ and then retired to live ‘in poverty
and holy prayers, for well he understood that mischievous war was at
hand.’