An essay on the influence of Welsh tradition upon European literature

Published in 1840, this essay emerged during a period of intense Victorian interest in Celtic studies and the historical roots of European folklore. John Dorney Harding, a legal scholar and amateur antiquarian, sought to bridge the gap between classical literary criticism and the burgeoning fascination with the Mabinogion and other Welsh vernacular traditions. His work reflects the intellectual climate of the mid-nineteenth century, a time when scholars were actively attempting to categorize the cultural debt that Continental romances owed to the distinct oral and written legacies of Wales.

The 2010 edition by Read Books acts as a scholarly reprint intended to preserve such nineteenth-century observations for contemporary researchers. The design of the original material focuses on an academic argument regarding the transmission of themes like chivalry and courtly love from the Welsh poetic tradition into the broader European canon. While Harding was not a professional folklorist, his essay was received as a sincere attempt to elevate the status of British and Welsh literary history, providing a snapshot of the period's evolving methodologies in comparative literature.