IT is a very curious heaven which stands around the infancy of romance-literature, and more than one warrant is required to constitute a full title for the interpretation of those strange signs and portents which are seen in some of its zones. The academies of official learning are consecrated places, and those who have graduated in other schools, and know well that they hold, within their own province, the higher authority, must be the first to recognise and respect the unsleeping vigilance and patience of students who are their colleagues and brothers in a different sphere. In the study of archaic literature, the external history of the texts and the criticisms thereto belonging are in the hands of a recognised college, and its authority is usually final; but the inward spirit of the literature is sometimes an essence which escapes the academical processes. At the same time, any school of criticism which should decide that some books of the Holy Graal do not put forward extraordinary claims of the evasive kind, and do not so far contain the suggestion of an inward purpose, must be held to have failed even within its own province. Having indicated after what manner the literature It is also on the external side a very melancholy legend; it is the passing of a great procession and a great sacrament,MYSTERIES OF THE HOLT GRAAL IN MANIFESTATION AND REMOVAL
I
A PRELIMINARY ACCOUNT OF CERTAIN ROOT-SECRETS INCLUDED IN THE WHOLE SUBJECT
Of the hunger and thirst of the heart."