to follow Wace, he had independent access to the great body of Welsh
literature then current. Sir F. Madden has put this matter very
clearly, in his recent edition of Layamon. The Abbe de la Rue, also,
was of opinion that Gaimar, an Anglo-Norman, in the reign of Stephen,
usually regarded as a translator of Geoffrey of Monmouth, had access
to a Welsh independent authority.

In addition to these, is to be mentioned the English version of Sir
Tristrem, which Sir Walter Scott considered to be derived from a
distinct Celtic source, and not, like the later Amadis, Palmerin, and
Lord Berners's Canon of Romance, imported into English literature by
translation from the French. For the Auntours of Arthur, recently
published by the Camden Society, their Editor, Mr. Robson, seems to
hint at a similar claim.

Here then are various known channels, by which portions of Welsh and
Armoric fiction crossed the Celtic border, and gave rise to the more
ornate, and widely-spread romance of the Age of Chivalry. It is not
improbable that there may have existed many others. It appears then
that a large portion of the stocks of Mediaeval Romance proceeded
from Wales. We have next to see in what condition they are still
found in that country.

That Wales possessed an ancient literature, containing various lyric
compositions, and certain triads, in which are arranged historical
facts or moral aphorisms, has been shown by Sharon Turner, who has
established the high antiquity of many of these compositions.

The more strictly Romantic Literature of Wales has been less
fortunate, though not less deserving of critical attention. Small