compress my remarks, you must excuse my passing rapidly from one to
the other.





I. THE ABORIGINES.


The aboriginal period is wrapped in darkness, and I cannot with
certainty say whether the system that prevailed was Celtic and
Tribal. An old French customary, in a MS. treating upon the
antiquity of tenures, says: "The first English king divided the
land into four parts. He gave one part to the ARCH FLAMENS to pray
for him and his posterity. A second part he gave to the earls and
nobility, to do him knight's service. A third part he divided among
husbandmen, to hold of him in socage. The fourth he gave to
mechanical persons to hold in burgage." The terms used apply to a
much more recent period and more modern ideas.

Caesar tells us "that the island of Britain abounds in cattle, and
the greatest part of those within the country never sow their land,
but live on flesh and milk. The sea-coasts are inhabited by
colonies from Belgium, which, having established themselves in
Britain, began to cultivate the soil."

Diodorus Siculus says, "The Britons, when they have reaped their
corn, by cutting the ears from the stubble, lay them up for
preservation in subterranean caves or granaries. From thence, they