Quotes from Thomas Bulfinch

It has, therefore, been a favorite boast of the people of Wales and Cornwall, that the original British stock flourishes in its unmixed purity only among them.

The word knight, which originally meant boy or servant, was particularly applied to a young man after he was admitted to the privilege of bearing arms.

For Mythology is the handmaid of literature; and literature is one of the best allies of virtue and promoters of happiness.

The other classes of which society was composed were, first, freemen, owners of small portions of land, independent, though they sometimes voluntarily became the vassals of their more opulent neighbors, whose power was necessary for their protection.

The Romans held Britain from the invasion of Julius Caesar till their voluntary withdrawal from the island, A.D. 420,- that is, about five hundred years.

Shields were generally made of wood, covered with leather, or some similar substance. To secure them, in some sort, from being cut through by the sword, they were surrounded with a hoop of metal.

Thus we hope to teach mythology not as a study, but as a relaxation from study; to give our work the charm of a story-book, yet by means of it to impart a knowledge of an important branch of education.

We thus see that the Greeks of the early ages knew little of any real people except those to the east and south of their own country, or near the coast of the Mediterranean.

Mail armor continued in general use till about the year 1300, when it was gradually supplanted by plate armor, or suits consisting of pieces or plates of solid iron, adapted to the different parts of the body.

The word Chivalry is derived from the French cheval, a horse.

Religion united its influence with those of loyalty and love, and the order of knighthood, endowed with all the sanctity and religious awe that attended the priesthood, became an object of ambition to the greatest sovereigns.

It was not till toward the end of the thirteenth century that the prose romances began to appear.

The preparatory education of candidates for knighthood was long and arduous.

Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated.

Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated.

For Mythology is the handmaid of literature and literature is one of the best allies of virtue and promoters of happiness.

If no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but that which helps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in society, then Mythology has no claim to the appellation.

Thus we hope to teach mythology not as a study, but as a relaxation from study to give our work the charm of a story-book, yet by means of it to impart a knowledge of an important branch of education.

Your arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but mine shall strike you.

Alas! For shame," said Sir Launcelot, "that ever one knight should betray another! But it is an old saw, a good man is never in danger, but when he is in danger of a coward.

So near the track of the stars are we, That oft, on night's pale beams, The distant sounds of their harmony Come to our ears, like dreams. The Moon, too, brings her world so nigh, That when the night-seer looks To that shadowless orb, in a vernal sky, He can number its hills and brooks. To the Sun god all our hearts and lyres, By day, by night, belong; And the breath we draw from his living fires We give him back in song

I come from a land in the sun-bright deep,         Where golden gardens glow,      Where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep,         Their conch shells never blow.

and since here we have passed our lives in love and concord, we wish that one and the same hour may take us both from life, that I may not live to see her grave, nor be laid in my own by her.

There is another deity who is described as the calumniator of the gods and the contriver of all fraud and mischief. His name is Loki. He is handsome and well made, but of a very fickle mood and most evil disposition. He is of the giant race, but forced himself into the company of the gods, and seems to take pleasure in bringing them into difficulties, and in extricating them out of the danger by his cunning, wit, and skill.