Sometime after this, Palmerin having walked to the sea-coast, accompanied by Selvian, the savage man's son, sees a galley strike on the shore. From this vessel Polendos, mentioned in the romance of Primaleon, disembarks, having come to England, with the other Greek knights, in quest of Duardos. With their consent he takes Palmerin and Selvian on board his ship, and sails with them to Constantinople. They are introduced to the emperor, who remains ignorant of the extraction of Palmerin, but is certified of his high rank by special letters from the Lady of the Lake. Palmerin was in consequence knighted, and had his sword girt on by Polinarda, the daughter of Primaleon. During his residence at court a tournament is held, in which he and an unknown knight, who bore for his device a savage leading two lions, chiefly distinguished themselves. The stranger departs without discovering himself, but he afterwards is found out to be Florian of the Desert, and is thenceforth denominated the Knight of the Savage.

Palmerin having become enamoured of Polinarda, the daughter of Primaleon, and having expressed his sentiments rather freely to the princess, she forbids him her presence. In the depth of despair he forsakes the Grecian court, and journeying towards England, under the name of the Knight of Fortune, succours on his way many injured ladies, and bears away the prize from many knights. He is always accompanied in these exploits by Selvian, who acted as his squire. Having arrived in England, while passing through a wood, they are met and recognised by the savage man. In the neighbourhood of London, Palmerin is received in a castle, of which the lady asks him to combat the Knight of the Savage, who had slain her son. On his arrival in London, the first business of Palmerin is to defy Florian of the Savage. It is customary in most of the Spanish romances to stake against each other the two brothers, who are the chief characters in the work. On the present occasion, however, the combat is interrupted at the entreaty of the princess Flerida. Nor is it ever resumed, for Palmerin having overcome Dramuziando, and set Duardos at liberty, the birth of the champions is revealed by Daliarte the magician, whose declaration is confirmed by the deposition of the savage man,

Florian and Palmerin now leave the court of England in company, but it is impossible to follow them through the long series of adventures in which they engage. The great proportion of the exploits in the romance are performed by the brothers, separately or united. Some of the adventures of Palmerin, particularly those in the Perilous Isle, possess considerable beauty and interest. A number of exploits are, however, attributed to subordinate characters, and a proper share is assigned to the giant Dramuziando, who, though he had been vanquished by Palmerin, is allowed to retain his castle, on account of his courtesy and good treatment of Duardos. Eutropa, however, still retains her ill will to the family of the Palmerins; and many of the incidents in the romance arise from her machinations, and those of other aggrieved giants, to avenge themselves on the brothers; but all their efforts are ultimately counteracted by the magician Daliarte.

The chief scene of adventure is the castle of Almourol. There, under care of a giant, dwelt the beautiful but haughty Miraguarda, whose portraiture was delineated on a shield, which hung over the gate of the castle. This picture was, in rotation, protected by knights, who had become enamoured of the original, against all other knights who had the audacity to maintain that the charms of their ladies were comparable to those of Miraguarda. At length, during a period when the picture was guarded by the giant Dramuziando, who was one of the adorers of the original, it is

- stolen by Albayzar, soldan of Babylon, who had been positively commanded to gain this trophy by his mistress the Lady Targiana, daughter of the Grand Turk.

Finally, all the knights being assembled at Constantinople, espouse their respective ladies. Palmerin is united to Polinarda, and his brother Florian to Leonarda, queen of Thrace, whose disenchantment had been one of the principal adventures of Palmerin.

The romance, however, does not conclude with these marriages. Florian, whose character resembles that of the younger brothers in the history of Amadis, while residing at the court of the Grand Turk, had run off with his daughter. That princess was now married to Albayzar, soldan of Babylon, who stole for her sake the portrait of Miraguarda; but as she still retained a strong resentment at the conduct of her former lover, she employed a magician to avenge her on the Queen of Thrace, who had been lately united to Florian. This queen, while disporting in a garden, is unexpectedly carried off by two enormous griffins, and conveyed to a magic castle, where she is confined in the image of a huge serpent. The attention of Florian is now occupied by the discovery and disen

chantment of his queen, in which he at length succeeds by the assistance of the magician Daliarte. The scheme of revenge having thus failed, Albayzar, on account of the affront which had been offered to his wife by Florian, and exasperated at the refusal of the emperor to deliver that prince into his power, invades the Greek territories with two hundred thousand men, and accompanied by all the kings and soldans of the east. Three desperate engagements are fought between the Christians and Turks, in which Albayzar is slain, and the paаgan army totally annihilated; not, however, without great loss on the other side, for though Palmerin, Primaleon, Dramuziando, and Florian survive, a large proportion of the Christian knights perished in these fatal encounters.

The fame and reputation of this romance, which divides the palm of popularity with Amadis de Gaul, has probably been, in some measure, owing to the commendations of Cervantes. For, if we may judge from the number of editions, Palmerin was less read in the age in which tales of chivalry were in fashion than many of its contemporaries; and hence its celebrity was probably the consequence of the extravagant eulogium of Cervantes. " And this Palm of England, let it be kept and preserved as a thing unique; and let another casket be made