CHAPTER XII THE FOUR ANCIENT BOOKS OF WALES The _Myvyrian Archaiology_—Oldest texts—The Black Book of Caermarthen—The Book of Aneurin—The Book of Taliessin—The Red Book of Hergest—Gildas and Nennius—The ancient Laws and Institutes—A great dialectic battle—The princes of song—“I Yscolan”—A Welsh Ossianic poem—Characteristics of the early poetry—The medieval romances—Their history—Modern translations of the Mabinogion—Two classes of tales—The legend of Taliessin—His curious odes—Kilhwch and Olwen—The Lady of the Fountain—Three striking features of the Arthurian romances—Their influence on Western Europe. The arrival of James Macpherson marks a great moment in the history of Celtic literature. It was the signal for a general resurrection. It would seem as if he sounded the trumpet, and the graves of ancient MSS. were opened, the books were read, and the dead were judged out of the things that were written in them. This is true not only of the Highland and Irish barderie, but also of the poetry of Wales. The sudden popularity of the Ossianic publications led to a desire on the part of the Welsh to show that they also were in possession of a body of native poems not less interesting, and with far better claims, as they thought, to authenticity. It is significant to note that though Edward Lhuyd gave an account of the Welsh MSS. in the _Archæologica Britannica_ as early as 1707, none of the poems were printed till the era of Macpherson. His famous _Fragments of Ancient Poetry Collected in the Highlands of Scotland_, 1760, was soon followed by a succession of rival publications from the sister country, such as _Specimens of the Poetry of the Ancient Welsh Bards_, 1764; _Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards_, 1784; “Poems of Taliessin,” in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, 1789–90; _The Heroic Elegies and other Pieces of Llywarch Hên_, 1792, and in the year 1801 the text of the whole of the poems. This latter figures as the now oft-quoted _Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales_, containing all the chief productions of Welsh literature, and was published in 1801–1807 by Owen Jones, a wealthy furrier in Thames Street, London. Interested scholars, among them Aneurin Owen, Thomas Price, William Rees, and John Jones set themselves to finish the work of the Myvyrian peasant. There was no lack of venerable MSS. from which to draw, for many transcripts had been made from time to time in the past. But the sources to which we must go for the oldest texts are mainly four, known as _The Four Ancient Books of Wales_, namely:— The Black Book of Caermarthen. The Book of Aneurin. The Book of Taliessin. The Red Book of Hergest.