AT THE CONQUEST. 107 



some degree, the spirit oi their institutions ; and 

 it is fair to infer, that the effects of those institu- 

 tions, would be traceable in their condition. 

 From the fifth and sixth centuries, when the 

 Saxons acquired possession of the greater part 

 of England, the Welsh maintained a constant 

 struggle in defence of their country, against the 

 Saxons, Danes, and Normans, until the 14th 

 century. Now there must have been something 

 in their institutions, calculated to keep up the 

 population to its full complement, and that popu- 

 lation must have been considerable, or such a 

 defence, for, from eight to nine hundred years, 

 could not have been made against the great 

 power of England. And it is reasonable to con- 

 clude that those institutions, (founded on the an- 

 cient customs of the country,) which kept up the 

 population of Wales during this period, made 

 ancient Britain both populous and powerful. 



Even down to a comparatively recent period, 

 Wales seems to have been very populous. Malkin, 

 in his account of South Wales, says, * one of 

 the reflections, which will most forcibly strike an 

 observing traveller in Wales, and scarcely meet 

 with credit, from those who have not visited this 

 country, is the height of improvement and gran- 

 deur to which it had attained, at an era looked 

 back upon as barbarous, through the delusive 



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