If they can give us any single "French book"-- the reference to which is a commonplace of the subject--from which it was taken, let them; they have not yet.

If they point out (as they can) French and English books from which parts of it were taken, similar things may be done with Dante and Chaucer, with Shakespeare and Milton, and very probably could have been done with Homer.

It is what the artist does with his materials, not where he gets them, that is the question.

And Malory has done, with _his_ materials, a very great thing indeed.

He is working no doubt to a certain extent blindly; working much better than he knows, and sometimes as he would not work if he knew better; though whether he would work as well if he knew better is quite a different point.