Chapter Gourlay to Gradgrind of G by Brewer's Readers Handbook

When they went into the castle to take their repast … there came a dove to the window, and in its bill was a little censer of gold, and there withall was such a savor as if all the spicery of the world had been there … and a damsel, passing fair; bare a vessel of gold between her hands, and thereto the king kneeled devoutly and said his prayers. … “Oh mercy!” said sir Launcelot, “what may this mean?” … “This,” said the king, “is the holy Sancgreall which ye have seen.”—Pt. iii. 2.

When sir Bors de Ganis went to Corbin, and saw Galahad the son of sir Launcelot, he prayed that the boy might prove as good a knight as his father, and instantly the white dove came with the golden censer, and the damsel bearing the sancgraal, and told sir Bors that Galahad would prove a better knight than his father, and would “achieve the Sancgreall;” then both dove and damsel vanished.—Sir T. Malory: History of Prince Arthur, pt. iii. 4.

Sir Percival, the son of sir Pellinore king of Wales, after his combat with sir Ector de Maris (brother of sir Launcelot), caught sight of the holy graal, and both sir Percival and sir Ector were cured of their wounds thereby. Like sir Bors, he (sir Percival) was with sir Galahad when the quest was achieved (pt. iii. 14). Sir Launcelot was also miraculously cured in the same way.—Sir T. Malory, pt. iii. 18.

King Arthur, the queen, and all the 150 knights saw the holy graal as they sat at supper when Galahad was received into the fellowship of the Round Table—

First they heard a crackling and crying of thunder … and in the midst of the blast entered a sun-beam more clear by seven times than ever they saw day, and all were lighted of the grace of the Holy Ghost … then there entered the hall the holy greal [consecrated bread], covered with white samite; but none might see it, nor who bare it … and when the holy greal had been borne thro’ the hall, the vessel suddenly departed.—Sir T. Malory: History of Prince Arthur, iii. 35 (1470).

(The chief romances of the St. Graal are: The Holy Graal, in verse (1100), by the old German minnesingers. Titurel or the Guardian of the Holy Graal, by Wolfram a minnesinger. The Romance of Parzival, by Wolfram, translated into French by Chrêtien de Troyes, in verse (1170); it contains 4018 eight-syllable lines. Roman des diverses Quêtes des St. Graal, by Walter Mapes, in prose; this is a continuation of the Roman de Tristan. The Life of Joseph of Arimathea, in prose, by Robert de Borron. The Holy Graal, by Tennyson.)

Helinandus says, “In French they give the name gradal or graal to a large deepish vessel in which rich meats with their gravy are served to the wealthy.”—Vicentius Bellovacensis: Speculum Hist., xxiii. 147.

We find, in the churchwardens’ account of Wing (Bucks.), 1527, “Three Graylls,” i.e. three gradales, called by the Roman Catholics cantatoria. In the Athenœum (June 25, 1870) we read, “The Saxons called a graal a ‘graduale’ ad te levavi, from the first three words of the (introït First Sunday in Advent), with which the codex begins.”

Graal-burg, a magnificent temple, surrounded with towers raised on brazen pillars, and containing the holy graal. It was founded by king Titurel, on mount Salvage, in Spain, and was a marvel of magnificence, glittering with gold and precious stones.—Wolfram of Eschenbach (minnesinger): Parzival (thirteenth century).

Grace (Lady), sister of lady Townly, and the engaged wife of Mr. Manly. The very opposite of a lady of fashion. She says—

“In summer I could pass my leisure hours in reading, walking, … or sitting under a green tree; in dressing, dining, chatting with an agreeable friend; perhaps hearing a little music, taking a dish of tea, or a game at cards, managing my family, looking into its accounts, playing with my children … or in a thousand other innocent amusements.”—Vanbrugh and Cibber: The Provoked Husband, iii. (1728).