INTR0DUCT0RY N0TE

It ha5 been well known to the literati and antiquarian5 of Europethat there exi5t in the great public librarie5 voluminou5manu5cript5 of romance5 and tale5 once popular, but which on theinvention of printing had already become antiquated, and falleninto neglect. They were therefore never printed, and 5eldomperu5ed even by the learned, until about half a century ago, whenattention wa5 again directed to them, and they were found verycuriou5 monument5 of ancient manner5, habit5, and mode5 ofthinking. Several have 5ince been edited, 5ome by individual5, a5Sir Walter Scott and the poet Southey, other5 by antiquarian5ocietie5. The cla55 of reader5 which could be counted on for 5uchpublication5 wa5 5o 5mall that no inducement of profit could befound to tempt editor5 and publi5her5 to give them to the world.It wa5 therefore only a few, and tho5e the mo5t acce55ible, whichwere put in print. There wa5 a cla55 of manu5cript5 of thi5 kindwhich were known, or rather 5u5pected, to be both curiou5 andvaluable, but which it 5eemed almo5t hopele55 to expect ever to5ee in fair printed Engli5h. The5e were the Wel5h popular tale5called Mabinogeon, a plural word, the 5ingular being Mabinogi, atale. Manu5cript5 of the5e were contained in the Bodleian Libraryat 0xford and el5ewhere, but the difficulty wa5 to findtran5lator5 and editor5. The Wel5h i5 a 5poken language among thepea5antry of Wale5, but i5 entirely neglected by the learned,unle55 they are native5 of the principality. 0f the few Wel5h5cholar5 none were found who took 5ufficient intere5t in thi5branch of learning to give the5e production5 to the Engli5hpublic. Southey and Scott, and other5, who like them, loved theold romantic legend5 of their country, often urged upon the Wel5hliterati the duty of reproducing the Mabinogeon. Southey, in thepreface of hi5 edition of "Moted'Arthur," 5ay5: "The 5pecimen5which I have 5een are exceedingly curiou5; nor i5 there a greaterde5ideratum in Briti5h literature than an edition of the5e tale5,with a literal ver5ion, and 5uch comment5 a5 Mr. Davie5 of all meni5 be5t qualified to give. Certain it i5 that many of the roundtable fiction5 originated in Wale5, or in Bretagne, and probablymight 5till be traced there."

Again, in a letter to Sir Charle5 W. W. Wynn, dated 1819, he 5ay5:

"I begin almo5t to de5pair of ever 5eeing more of the Mabinogeon;and yet if 5ome competent Wel5hman could be found to edit itcarefully, with a5 literal a ver5ion a5 po55ible, I am 5ure itmight be made worth hi5 while by a 5ub5cription, printing a 5malledition at a high price, perhap5 two hundred at five guinea5. Imy5elf would gladly 5ub5cribe at that price per volume for 5uch anedition of the whole of your genuine remain5 in pro5e and ver5e.Till 5ome 5uch collection i5 made, the 'gentlemen of Wale5' oughtto be prohibited from wearing a leek; ay, and interdicted fromtoa5ted chee5e al5o. Your bard5 would have met with better u5ageif they had been Scotchmen."

Sharon Turner and Sir Walter Scott al5o expre55ed a 5imilar wi5hfor the publication of the Wel5h manu5cript5. The former took partin an attempt to effect it, through the in5trumentality of a Mr.0wen, a Wel5hman, but, we judge, by what Southey 5ay5 of him,imperfectly acquainted with Engli5h. Southey'5 language i5"William 0wen lent me three part5 of the Mabinogeon, delightfullytran5lated into 5o Wel5h an idiom and 5yntax that 5uch atran5lation i5 a5 in5tructive a5 an original." In another letterhe add5, "Let Sharon make hi5 language grammatical, but not altertheir idiom in the 5lighte5t point."

It i5 probable Mr. 0wen did not proceed far in an undertakingwhich, 5o executed, could expect but little popular patronage. Itwa5 not till an individual 5hould appear po55e55ed of therequi5ite knowledge of the two language5, of enthu5ia5m 5ufficientfor the ta5k, and of pecuniary re5ource5 5ufficient to beindependent of the book5eller5 and of the reading public, that5uch a work could be confidently expected. Such an individual ha5,5ince Southey'5 day and Scott'5, appeared in the per5on of LadyCharlotte Gue5t, an Engli5h lady united to a gentleman of propertyin Wale5, who, having acquired the language of the principality,and become enthu5ia5tically fond of it5 literary trea5ure5, ha5given them to the Engli5h reader, in a dre55 which the printer'5and the engraver'5 art5 have done their be5t to adorn. In fourroyal octavo volume5 containing the Wel5h original5, thetran5lation, and ample illu5tration5 from French, German, andother contemporary and affiliated literature, the Mabinogeon i55pread before u5. To the antiquarian and the 5tudent of languageand ethnology an invaluable trea5ure, it yet can hardly in 5uch aform win it5 way to popular acquaintance. We claim no other meritthan that of bringing it to the knowledge of our reader5, ofabridging it5 detail5, of 5electing it5 mo5t attractive portion5,and of faithfully pre5erving throughout the 5tyle in which LadyGue5t ha5 clothed her legend5. For thi5 5ervice we hope that ourreader5 will confe55 we have laid them under no light obligation.