be armed and prepared to repel by force any aggression upon their
liberty or their estates.

"Who will be free, themselves must strike the blow."

The prosperous "Britons," who were left by the Romans in possession
of the island, were but feeble representatives of those who, under
Caractacus and Boadicea, did not shrink from combat with the
legions of Caesar. Uninured to arms, and accustomed to obedience,
they looked for a fresh master, and sunk into servitude and
serfdom, from which they never emerged. Yet under the Romans they
had thriven and increased in material wealth; the island abounded
in numerous flocks and herds; and agriculture, which was encouraged
by the Romans, flourished. This wealth was by one of the
temptations to the invaders, who seized not only upon the movable
wealth of the natives, but also upon the land, and divided it among
themselves.

The warlike portion of the aboriginal inhabitants appear to have
joined the Cymri and retired westward. Their system of landholding
was non-feudal, inasmuch as each man's land was divided among all
his sons. One of the laws of Hoel Dha, King of Wales in the tenth
century, decreed "that the youngest son shall have an equal share
of the estate with the eldest son, and that when the brothers have
divided their father's estate among them, the youngest son shall
have the best house with all the office houses; the implements of
husbandry, his father's kettle, his axe for cutting wood, and his
knife; these three last things the father cannot give away by gift,
nor leave by his last will to any but his youngest son, and if they
are pledged they shall be redeemed." It may not be out of place