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Lancelot (Sir). The chief of knights and darling of the court. Elaine, the lily of Astolat, fell in love with him, but he returned not her love, and she died. (See Elaine .) (Tennyson: Idylls of the King; Elaine.) Lancelot or Launcelot Gobbo. Shylock's servant, famous for his soliloquy whether or not he should run away from his master. (Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice.) Lancelot du Lac One of the earliest romances of the Round Table (1494). Sir Lancelot was the son
of King Ban of Benwicke, but was stolen in infancy by Vivienne, called La Dame du Lac, who dwelt
en la marche de la petite Bretaigne; she plunged with the babe into the lake, and when her protégé was
grown into man's estate, presented him to King Arthur. The lake referred to was a sort of enchanted
delusion to conceal her demesnes. Hence the cognomen of du Lac given to the knight. Sir Lancelot
goes in search of the Grail or holy cup brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathe'a, and twice caught
sight of it. (See Graal .) Though always represented in the Arthurian romances as the model of chivalry,
Sir Lancelot was the adulterous lover of Guinevere, wife of King Arthur, his friend. At the close of his
life the adulterous knight became a hermit, and died in the odour of sanctity. |
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