Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards

Edward Jones was harpist to the Prince of Wales, later George IV, and dedicated Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards to him, beginning with a letter in which Jones extols the Prince’s connection to the “country from which [he] derives [his] august title.” In addition to gathering previously unpublished musical and textual “relicks,” Jones’s work provides a history of the Bard, “revered by royalty” in his time. The frontispiece illustration, from a design by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg (now in the collection of the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University), is one of many depictions of the Bard produced in response to Thomas Gray’s poem of 1757, including versions by Paul Sandby, Benjamin West, Thomas Jones, and John Martin. All share similar elements, including the Bard’s heroic stature, wild hair and beard, and the rugged setting.