Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/411

Rh of the Gilla Dacker", and Owain's combat with the knight of the fountain, expressed himself sceptical as to the possibility of any French Arthurian influence upon Irish story-telling. In view of the facts adduced above this scepticism is not justified. It is, however, impossible to dogmatise as to the extent of this influence before all the Irish Arthurian texts have been edited, translated, and critically examined.

Before leaving Irish soil I would fain linger for a moment over the fascinating volume in which Miss Stokes follows up the tracks of the wandering Irish monks who founded churches and monasteries in the Lombardy and Tuscany of the sixth and seventh centuries. No account of the development of the Irish race but must give its due weight to the fact that within a relatively short period after the introduction of Christianity into Ireland Irish missionaries were at work, respected and revered, through-out Western Europe. We should have to assume for pre-Christian Ireland, even if tradition did not assert its existence, a stage of advanced barbarism (practically the stage revealed to us by the oldest epic narratives) as a background to the achievements of Columba and his fellows. With a stage of savagery, such as some writers contend for, immediately preceding the introduction of Christianity, the missionary process is inexplicable.

Thus, in Gaelic philology, accumulation of fresh material rather than new and generally accepted critical theory has been the mark of the last two years. In Brythonic philology, on the other hand, criticism has been far more important than publication of texts. Before I proceed to discuss the great series of investigations by which Professor Zimmer has thrown so much light upon the origin and development of the Arthurian cycle, I may be allowed, in spite of my close connection with the work, to point out the significance