The most exaggerated ideas of chivalry contained in the romances were adopted in actual life.  Knights and ladies took upon themselves adventures and cultivated manners, which vied in extravagance with those of imaginary beings.  The personality of King Arthur was so intensely realized, that for centuries it was believed that he would one day return from beyond the grave to resume his glorious rule.  On his tomb were supposed to be inscribed the words: 

      Hic jacet Arthurus rex, quondam rexque futurus.

Henry ii visited his legendary grave at Glastonbury, and named his grandson Arthur.  Edward I held a Round Table at Kenilworth.  Remarkable features of nature—­rocks, caves, and mounds were associated in the popular mind with the achievements of Arthur, and many are connected with them by name at the present day.

But the romances relating to Arthur were far more than the reflection of passing thoughts and customs destined to perish with the generations who read them.  They embodied the ideals of the English race six centuries ago, and although appearing in a different form, those ideals are still our own.  The examples presented in romantic fiction of manly courage, of self-sacrificing devotion, of simplicity of character, and of chivalric consideration for the weakness of the female sex, may excite our admiration and sympathy, as well as that of a fierce and untutored knighthood.  These tales were the product of the English mind in its boyhood, and it is to the youth of our day that they are best adapted and most attractive; but the rationalism of the nineteenth century may find in their spirit of simple faith, of unquestioning belief and trust, much that is beautiful in human life which modern thought and science have swept away.  It is on account of the enduring character of the ideals, of which the Arthurian legends were the spontaneous expression, that these works, although contained in a rude form, without artistic plan or literary merit to give them permanence, have never wholly passed from the acquaintance of men.  The rude force and beauty of mediaeval fiction has been deeply felt by many of the greatest minds which have contributed to modern literature.  To the perusal of the story of Launcelot and Guenever Dante ascribes the coming of Paolo and Francesca al doloroso passo.  While the other works of Ariosto have fallen into obscurity, his “Orlando Furioso” has achieved a lasting fame.  One of the greatest poems in the German language, the “Oberon” of Wieland, is almost a reproduction of a chivalric romance.  The reader of Milton is often reminded of

                              Uther’s son,
      Begirt with British and Armoric knights.