Page:The parochial history of Cornwall.djvu/375

Rh age, anno Dom. 515, fulfilling that saying in the Sacred Writings, "The same measure that ye mete shall be measured to you again, brimfull and running over." So that I shall conclude this history in the words of St. Paul, "O the height of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!"

After the death of King Uter Pendragon, his son and heir Arthur, begotten as aforesaid, succeeded to his dominion of Britain, anno Dom. 515, but as others say 518. He is therefore rightly named by some authors, Arthur Mab Uter Pendragon, viz. Arthur, the son of Uter Pendragon. Which name Arthur is probably derived from the British Arthou, a good or sharp pointed weapon. Of this King Arthur, long before his birth, had Merlin prophecied to King Vortigern:

"Aper etenim Cornubiæ succursum præstabit [si non potius erit] et colla eorum sub pedibus suis conculcabit, insulæ oceani potestati ipsius subdentur; et Galicanos saltus possidebit; tremebit Romulea Domus sevitiam ipsius; et exitus ejus dubius erit; in ore populorum cœlebrabitur, et actus ejus cibus erit narrantibus. Sex posteri ejus tenebunt sceptrum," &c.

Which in English amounts to this:

"That the boar of Cornwall shall bring aid and assistance, and shall tread the necks of our enemies under his feet, the islands of the ocean shall be subject to his power, and the Gaulish forests he shall possess, the house of Romulus shall tremble at his wrath. As for his death or end, it shall be doubtful or uncertain. His name shall be celebrated by the people, and his famous acts shall be food to those that do relate them. Six of his lineage shall sway the sceptre," &c.

King Arthur no sooner succeeded to his father's dominions but he applied himself with great piety and religion to administer law and justice to his people, the best expedients to establish a tottering sceptre. In the next place