It has been well known to the literati and antiquarians of Europe that there exist in the great public libraries voluminous manuscripts of romances and tales once popular, but which on the invention of printing had already become antiquated, and fallen into neglect.  They were therefore never printed, and seldom perused even by the learned, until about half a century ago, when attention was again directed to them, and they were found very curious monuments of ancient manners, habits, and modes of thinking.  Several have since been edited, some by individuals, as Sir Walter Scott and the poet Southey, others by antiquarian societies.  The class of readers which could be counted on for such publications was so small that no inducement of profit could be found to tempt editors and publishers to give them to the world.  It was therefore only a few, and those the most accessible, which were put in print.  There was a class of manuscripts of this kind which were known, or rather suspected, to be both curious and valuable, but which it seemed almost hopeless to expect ever to see in fair printed English.  These were the Welsh popular tales called Mabinogeon, a plural word, the singular being Mabinogi, a tale.  Manuscripts of these were contained in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and elsewhere, but the difficulty was to find translators and editors.  The Welsh is a spoken language among the peasantry of Wales, but is entirely neglected by the learned, unless they are natives of the principality.  Of the few Welsh scholars none were found who took sufficient interest in this branch of learning to give these productions to the English public.  Southey and Scott, and others, who like them, loved the old romantic legends of their country, often urged upon the Welsh literati the duty of reproducing the Mabinogeon.  Southey, in the preface of his edition of “Moted’Arthur,” says:  “The specimens which I have seen are exceedingly curious; nor is there a greater desideratum in British literature than an edition of these tales, with a literal version, and such comments as Mr. Davies of all men is best qualified to give.  Certain it is that many of the round table fictions originated in Wales, or in Bretagne, and probably might still be traced there.”

Again, in a letter to Sir Charles W. W. Wynn, dated 1819, he says: 

“I begin almost to despair of ever seeing more of the Mabinogeon; and yet if some competent Welshman could be found to edit it carefully, with as literal a version as possible, I am sure it might be made worth his while by a subscription, printing a small edition at a high price, perhaps two hundred at five guineas.  I myself would gladly subscribe at that price per volume for such an edition of the whole of your genuine remains in prose and verse.  Till some such collection is made, the ‘gentlemen of Wales’ ought to be prohibited from wearing a leek; ay, and interdicted from toasted cheese also.  Your bards would have met with better usage if they had been Scotchmen.”