Note 24 — Chapter II
Reading edition
"Were there no other record of the existence of our own Richard I. than the Romaunt bearing his name, and composed within a century of his death, he would unquestionably have been numbered by the Mythists among their shadowy heroes; for among the superhuman feats performed by that pious crusader, we read, in the above mentioned authority, that having torn out the heart of a lion, he pressed out the blood, dipt it in salt, and ate it without bread; that being sick, and longing after pork (which in a land of Moslems and Jews was not to be had),
"They took a Sarezyne young and fat
And soden full hastely, With powder and with spysory, And with saffron of good colour."
Of this Apician dish 'the kyng eet the flesh and gnew the bones.' Richard afterwards feasts his infidel prisoners on a Saracen's head each, every head having the name of its late owner attached to it on a slip of parchment. Surely all this is as mythic as it is possible to be, and yet Richard is a really historic earth-born personage."
Yes, there was a truly historical Richard, as there doubtless was an Arthur, but the Richard and Arthur of romance, nevertheless, are not historical characters, in the strict sense of the word, and ought not to be confounded with them.