30 NOVEMBER 1929, Page 32

Miss Lucy Allen Paton pays graceful tribute to Malory, and

it is no mean achievement to have made Malory live again throughout over three hundred pages of translation from the French sources of our Laneelot legend. It is an adinirable translation, scholarly without being pedantic, archaic without being archaistic, charming both to the eye and ear. Sir Lancelot of the Lake (Routledge, 18s.), delight- fully illustrated from medieval originals, is certainly a book to possess, and maintains the high standard of the Broadway Medieval Library. The material of this book has been judiciously selected and pieced together to give the history of Sir Lancelot's life and his achievements in the service of Queen -Guinevere, and in addition to its intrinsic interest and charm it gives a valuable picture of French chivalry of the thirteenth century.. The translation is prefaced by an intro- duction which gives a lucid account of the author's sources, but we remain obdurate in believing that Guinevere was something more than a fay, and the legend of Sir Lancelot something more than an exquisite myth.

• * *