3* 



April \\th, 1885. 



W. H. Patterson, Esq., in the Chair. 



The Rev. Robert Workman, B.D., read a Paper on 



LAND TENURE AND CULTURE IN ANCIENT 

 IRELAND. 



The Rev. Mr. Workman in the first half of his paper endeavoured 

 to show that all the peoples of Christendom originally held the 

 land in common, and that the institution now known as " the 

 village community" prevailed amongst them. This, he said, 

 was originally the condition of Ireland. In Ireland every 

 "community" became a clan, and the chief soon gained a position 

 of great power. In the primitive period, the members of the 

 clan were comparatively independent of the chief, who was 

 merely their headman or leader ; but by the sixteenth century 

 the chief had become chief lord and absolute owner of the land, 

 which he rack-rented. Having referred to the circumstances 

 which brought about this change, Mr. Workman made a 

 lengthened and interesting reference to some curious customs 

 pertaining to agriculture that existed among the ancient Irish. 

 It was perfectly evident, he said, that only a small part of Ireland 

 was cultivated during the 16th century. If they were to credit 

 the high authority of Sir W. Petty, the population at that period 

 could not have been very much above a million. Such a 

 population did not require a large area of tilled land, and no 

 works of supererogation were performed by them. From an 

 early period, moreover, Ireland was a country of forests. In 



