Note 35 — Chapter I · SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS.

Woden in the gentile form of a horse, Hengest, equus admissarius, the brother of Hors, and father of a line in which names of horses form a distinguishing part of the royal appellatives. It is hardly necessary to remind the classical reader of Poseidon in his favourite shape, the shape in which he contended with Athene and mingled with Ceres. In these remarks on Geoffry and his sources, I do not mean to deny the obligation under which the reader of romance has been laid by him; only to reject everything like historical authority. It is from the countrymen of Geoffry that we have also gained the marvellous superstructure of imagination which has supplied the tales of that time, “when Charlemagne with all his peerage fell by Fontarabia,” and which is recognised by history in the very short entry, “In quo proelio Eggihardus regiae mensae praepositus, Anselmus comes palatii, et Hruodlandus Brittanici limitis praefectus, cum aliis compluribus interficiuntur.” Einhardi Vita Karoli, § 9. Pertz, ii. 448. Let us be grateful for the Orlando Innamorato and Furioso, but not make history of them.