AT THE CONQUEST. 101 



Siculus (lib. V.) says, that the largest of these 

 nations consisted of 200,000 men, besides women 

 and children, and the least of 50,000. Calcu- 

 lating, at a medium, we must, consequently, 

 admit of a population of from 180 to 200 millions 

 of people in that country, the population of 

 which does not, at present, exceed 40 millions. 



Nor will this number appear so extraordinary, 

 if we consider what was the state of society 

 among these people. Caesar says, Book 6th, 

 after speaking of the Gaulish Druids, ' the other 

 order of men is the Nobles, whose whole study 

 and occupation is war. Before Caesar's arrival 

 in Gaul, they were almost every year at war, 

 either offensive or defensive, and they judge of 

 the power and quality of their nobles, by the 

 vassals and the nimiber of men he keeps in his 

 pay, for they are the only marks of grandeur 

 they make any account of.* 



In such a state of society, and it appears to 

 have been common to both Gaul and Britain, 

 there would naturally be a dense population. 

 Up to a recent period, the comparatively barren 

 highlands of Scotland teemed with population, 

 because each noble, or land proprietor, endeavoured 

 to have as many men as he could keep, and to that 

 essential point every other consideration was sacri- 



