diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:17:51 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:17:51 -0700 |
| commit | 06f6a92c2ff06b2c220d68eca9c29dd0575f8528 (patch) | |
| tree | a873f79efb05b77a51ceb9886558607862027d8f | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25571-0.txt | 3492 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25571-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 81402 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25571-8.txt | 3491 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25571-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 81349 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25571-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 85179 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25571-h/25571-h.htm | 3770 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25571.txt | 3491 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25571.zip | bin | 0 -> 81323 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/25571-h.htm.2021-01-25 | 3769 |
12 files changed, 18029 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/25571-0.txt b/25571-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2dde02c --- /dev/null +++ b/25571-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3492 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Manx Nation - 1891 + +Author: Hall Caine + +Release Date: May 23, 2008 [EBook #25571] +Last Updated: October 6, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE LITTLE MANX NATION + +By Hall Caine + +Published by William Heinemann - 1891 + + +To the REVEREND T. S. BROWN, M.A. + +You see what I send you--my lectures at the Royal Institution in the +Spring. In making a little book of them I have thought it best to +leave them as they were delivered, with all the colloquialisms that are +natural to spoken words frankly exposed to cold print. This does not +help them to any particular distinction as literature, but perhaps it +lends them an ease and familiarity which may partly atone to you and to +all good souls for their plentiful lack of dignity. I have said so often +that I am not an historian, that I ought to add that whatever history +lies hidden here belongs to Train, our only accredited chronicler, +and, even at the risk of bowing too low, I must needs protest, in our +north-country homespun, that he shall have the pudding if he will +also take the pudding-bag. You know what I mean. At some points our +history--especially our early history--is still so vague, so dubious, +so full of mystery. It is all the fault of little Mannanan, our ancient +Manx magician, who enshrouded our island in mist. Or should I say it +is to his credit, for has he not left us through all time some shadowy +figures to fight about, like "rael, thrue, reg'lar" Manxmen. As for the +stories, the "yarns" that lie like flies--like blue-bottles, like bees, +I trust not like wasps--in the amber of the history, you will see that +they are mainly my own. On second thought it occurs to me that maybe +they are mainly yours. Let us say that they are both yours and mine, +or perhaps, if the world finds anything good in them, any humour, any +pathos, any racy touches of our rugged people, you will permit me to +determine their ownership in the way of this paraphrase of Coleridge's +doggerel version of the two Latin hexameters-- + +"They're mine and they are likewise yours, But an if that will not do, +Let them be mine, good friend! for I Am the poorer of the two." + +Hawthorns, Keswick, June 1891. + + + + +CONTENTS + +THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS + +Islanders--Our Island--The Name of our Island--Our History--King +Orry--The Tynwald--The Lost Saga--The Manx Macbeth--The Manx +Glo'ster--Scotch and English Dominion--The Stanley Dynasty--Iliam +Dhoan--The Athol Dynasty--Smuggling and Wrecking--The Revestment--Home +Rule--Orry's Sons + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS + +The Druids--Conversion to Christianity--The Early Bishops of +Man--Bishops of the Welsh Dynasty--Bishops of the Norse Dynasty--Sodor +and Man--The Early Bishops of the House of Stanley--Tithes in +Kind--The Gambling Bishop--The Deemsters--The Bishopric Vacant--Bishop +Wilson--Bishop Wilson's Censures--The Great Corn Famine--The Bishop at +Court--Stories of Bishop Wilson--Quarrels of Church and State--Some +Old Ordeals--The Herring Fishery--The Fishermen's Service--Some Old +Laws--Katherine Kinrade--Bishop Wilson's last Days--The Athol Bishops. + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE + +The Manx Language--Manx Names--Manx imagination--Manx Proverbs--Manx +Ballads--Manx Carols--Decay of the Manx Language--Manx +Superstitions--Manx Stories--Manx "Characters"--Manx +Characteristics--Manx Types--Literary Associations--Manx +Progress--Conclusion + + + + +THE LITTLE MANX NATION + + + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS + +There are just two ideas which are associated in the popular imagination +with the first thought of the Isle of Man. The one is that Manxmen have +three legs, and the other that Manx cats have no tails. But whatever +the popular conception, or misconception, of Man and its people, I shall +assume that what you ask from me is that simple knowledge of simple +things which has come to me by the accident of my parentage. I must +confess to you at the outset that I am not much of a hand at grave +history. Facts and figures I cannot expound with authority. But I know +the history of the Isle of Man, can see it clear, can see it whole, and +perhaps it will content you if I can show you the soul of it and make +it to live before you. In attempting to traverse the history I feel like +one who carries a dark lantern through ten dark centuries. I turn the +bull's eye on this incident and that, take a peep here and there, a +white light now, and then a blank darkness. Those ten centuries are +full of lusty fights, victories, vanquishments, quarrels, peacemaking, +shindies big and little, rumpus solemn and ridiculous, clouds of dust, +regal dust, political dust, and religious dust--you know the way of it. +But beneath it all and behind it all lies the real, true, living human +heart of Manxland. I want to show it to you, if you will allow me to +spare the needful time from facts and figures. It will get you close to +Man and its people, and it is not to be found in the history books. + + +ISLANDERS + +And now, first, we Manxmen are islanders. It is not everybody who lives +on an island that is an islander. You know what I mean. I mean by an +islander one whose daily life is affected by the constant presence of +the sea. This is possible in a big island if it is far enough away from +the rest of the world, Iceland, for example, but it is inevitable in a +little one. The sea is always present with Manxmen. Everything they do, +everything they say, gets the colour and shimmer of the sea. The sea +goes into their bones, it comes out at their skin. Their talk is full of +it. They buy by it, they sell by it, they quarrel by it, they fight by +it, they swear by it, they pray by it. Of course they are not conscious +of this. Only their degenerate son, myself to wit, a chiel among them +takin' notes, knows how the sea exudes from the Manxmen. Say you ask if +the Governor is at home. If he is not, what is the answer? "He's not on +the island, sir." You inquire for the best hotel. "So-and-so is the +best hotel on the island, sir." You go to a Manx fair and hear a farmer +selling a cow. "Aw," says he, "she's a ter'ble gran' craythuer for +milkin', sir, and for butter maybe there isn' the lek of her on the +island, sir." Coming out of church you listen to the talk of two old +Manxwomen discussing the preacher. "Well, well, ma'am, well, well! Aw, +the voice at him! and the prayers! and the beautiful texes! There isn' +the lek of him on the island at all, at all!" Always the island, the +island, the island, or else the boats, and going out to the herrings. +The sea is always present. You feel it, you hear it, you see it, you can +never forget it. It dominates you. Manxmen are all sea-folk. + +You will think this implies that Manxmen stick close to their island. +They do more than that. I will tell you a story. Five years ago I went +up into the mountains to seek an old Manx bard, last of a race of whom I +shall have something to tell you in their turn. All his life he had been +a poet. I did not gather that he had read any poetry except his own. Up +to seventy he had been a bachelor. Then this good Boaz had lit on his +Ruth and married, and had many children. I found him in a lonely glen, +peopled only in story, and then by fairies. A bare hill side, not a bush +in sight, a dead stretch of sea in front, rarely brightened by a sail. I +had come through a blinding hail-storm. The old man was sitting in the +chimney nook, a little red shawl round his head and knotted under his +chin. Within this aureole his face was as strong as Savonarola's, long +and gaunt, and with skin stretched over it like parchment. He was no +hermit, but a farmer, and had lived on that land, man and boy, nearly +ninety years. He had never been off the island, and had strange notions +of the rest of the world. Talked of England, London, theatres, palaces, +king's entertainments, evening parties. He saw them all through the +mists of rumour, and by the light of his Bible. He had strange notions, +some of them bad shots for the truth, some of them startlingly true. I +dare not tell you what they were. A Royal Institution audience would +be aghast. They had, as a whole, a strong smell of sulphur. But the old +bard was not merely an islander, he belonged to his land more than his +land belonged to him. The fishing town nearest to his farm was Peel, the +great fishing centre on the west coast. It was only five miles away. +I asked how long it was since he had been there? "Fifteen years," he +answered. The next nearest town was the old capital, on the east coast, +Castletown, the home of the Governor, of the last of the Manx lords, the +place of the Castle, the Court, the prison, the garrison, the College. +It was just six miles away. How long was it since he had been there? +"Twenty years." The new capital, Douglas, the heart of the island, its +point of touch with the world, was nine miles away. How long since he +had been in Douglas? "Sixty years," said the old bard. God bless him, +the sweet, dear old soul! Untaught, narrow, self-centred, bred on his +byre like his bullocks, but keeping his soul alive for all that, caring +not a ha'porth for the things of the world, he was a true Manxman, and +I'm proud of him. One thing I have to thank him for. But for him, and +the like of him, we should not be here to-day. It is not the cultured +Manxman, the Manxman that goes to the ends of the earth, that makes the +Manx nation valuable to study. Our race is what it is by virtue of +the Manxman who has had no life outside Man, and so has kept alive our +language, our customs, our laws and our patriarchal Constitution. + + +OUR ISLAND + +It lies in the middle of the Irish Sea, at about equal distances from +England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Seen from the sea it is a lovely +thing to look upon. It never fails to bring me a thrill of the heart as +it comes out of the distance. It lies like a bird on the waters. You +see it from end to end, and from water's edge to topmost peak, often +enshrouded in mists, a dim ghost on a grey sea; sometimes purple against +the setting sun. Then as you sail up to it, a rugged rocky coast, grand +in its beetling heights on the south and west, and broken into the +sweetest bays everywhere. The water clear as crystal and blue as the sky +in summer. You can see the shingle and the moss through many fathoms. +Then mountains within, not in peaks, but round foreheads. The colour of +the island is green and gold; its flavour is that of a nut. Both colour +and flavour come of the gorse. This covers the mountains and moorlands, +for, except on the north, the island has next to no trees. But O, the +beauty and delight of it in the Spring! Long, broad stretches glittering +under the sun with the gold of the gorse, and all the air full of the +nutty perfume. There is nothing like it in the world. Then the glens, +such fairy spots, deep, solemn, musical with the slumberous waters, clad +in dark mosses, brightened by the red fuchsia. The fuchsia is everywhere +where the gorse is not. At the cottage doors, by the waysides, in the +gardens. If the gorse should fail the fuchsia might even take its place +on the mountains. Such is Man, but I am partly conscious that it is Man +as seen by a Manxman. You want a drop of Manx blood in you to see it +aright. Then you may go the earth over and see grander things a thousand +times, things more sublime and beautiful, but you will come back to +Manxland and tramp the Mull Hills in May, long hour in, and long hour +out, and look at the flowering gorse and sniff its flavour, or lie by +the chasms and listen to the screams of the sea-birds, as they whirl and +dip and dart and skim over the Sugar-loaf Rock, and you'll say after +all that God has smiled on our little island, and that it is the fairest +spot in His beautiful world, and, above all, that it is _ours_. + + +THE NAME OF OUR ISLAND + +This is a matter in dispute among philologists, and I am no authority. +Some say that Caesar meant the Isle of Man when he spoke of Mona; others +say he meant Anglesea. The present name is modern. So is Elian Vannin, +its Manx equivalent. In the Icelandic Sagas the island is called Mon. +Elsewhere it is called Eubonia. One historian thinks the island derives +its name from Mannin--in being an old Celtic word for island, therefore +Meadhon-in (pronounced Mannin) would signify: The middle island. That +definition requires that the Manxman had no hand in naming Man. He would +never think of describing its geographical situation on the sea. +Manxmen say the island got its name from a mythical personage called +Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Learr, Little Mannanan, son of Learr. This man was +a sort of Prospero, a magician, and the island's first ruler. The story +goes that if he dreaded an enemy he would enshroud the island in mist, +"and that by art magic." Happy island, where such faith could ever +exist! Modern science knows that mist, and where it comes from. + + +OUR HISTORY + +It falls into three periods, first, a period of Celtic rule, second of +Norse rule, third of English dominion. Manx history is the history of +surrounding nations. We have no Sagas of our own heroes. The Sagas are +all of our conquerors. Save for our first three hundred recorded years +we have never been masters in our own house. The first chapter of our +history has yet to be written. We know we were Celts to begin with, but +how we came we have never learnt, whether we walked dry-shod from Wales +or sailed in boats from Ireland. To find out the facts of our early +history would be like digging up the island of Prospero. Perhaps we had +better leave it alone. Ten to one we were a gang of political exiles. +Perhaps we left our country for our country's good. Be it so. It was the +first and last time that it could be said of us. + + +KING ORRY + +Early in the sixth century Man became subject to the kings and princes +of Wales, who ruled from Anglesea. There were twelve of them in +succession, and the last of them fell in the tenth century. We know next +to nothing about them but their names. Then came the Vikings. The young +bloods of Scandinavia had newly established their Norse kingdom in +Iceland, and were huckstering and sea roving about the Baltic and among +the British Isles. They had been to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and +Faroes, perhaps to Ireland, certainly to the coast of Cumberland, making +Scandinavian settlements everywhere. So they came to Mön early in the +tenth century, led by one Orry, or Gorree. Some say this man was +nothing but a common sea-rover. Others say he was a son of the Danish or +Norwegian monarch. It does not matter much. Orry had a better claim to +regard than that of the son of a great king. He was himself a great +man. The story of his first landing is a stirring thing. It was night, +a clear, brilliant, starry night, all the dark heavens lit up. Orry's +ships were at anchor behind him; and with his men he had touched the +beach, when down came the Celts to face him, and to challenge him. They +demanded to know where he came from. Then the red-haired sea-warrior +pointed to the milky way going off towards the North. "That is the way +of my country," he answered. The Celts went down like one man in awe +before him. He was their born king. It is what the actors call a fine +moment. Still, nobody has ever told us how Orry and the Celts understood +one another, speaking different tongues. Let us not ask. + +King Orry had come to stay, and sea-warriors do not usually bring their +women over tempestuous seas. So the Norsemen married the Celtic women, +and from that union came the Manx people. Thus the Manxman to begin with +was half Norse, half Celt. He is much the same still. Manxmen usually +marry Manx women, and when they do not, they often marry Cumberland +women. As the Norseman settled in Cumberland as well as in Man the race +is not seriously affected either way. So the Manxman, such as he is, +taken all the centuries through, is thoroughbred. + +Now what King Orry did in the Isle of Man was the greatest work that +ever was done there. He established our Constitution. It was on the +model of the Constitution just established in Iceland. The government +was representative and patriarchal. The Manx people being sea-folk, +living by the sea, a race of fishermen and sea-rovers, he divided the +island into six ship-shires, now called Sheadings. Each ship-shire +elected four men to an assemblage of law-makers. This assemblage, +equivalent to the Icelandic Logretta, was called the House of Keys. +There is no saying what the word means. Prof. Rhys thinks it is derived +from the Manx name _Kiare-as-Feed_, meaning the four-and-twenty. Train +says the representatives were called Taxiaxi, signifying pledges or +hostages, and consequently were styled Keys. Vigfusson's theory was +that Keys is from the Norse word _Keise_, or chosen men. The common Manx +notion, the idea familiar to my own boyhood, is, that the twenty-four +members of the House of Keys are the twenty-four material keys whereby +the closed doors of the law are unlocked. But besides the sea-folk of +the ship-shires King Orry remembered the Church. He found it on the +island at his coming, left it where he found it, and gave it a voice +in the government. He established a Tynwald Court, equivalent to +the Icelandic All Moot, where Church and State sat together. Then he +appointed two law-men, called Deemsters, one for the north and the other +for the south. These were equivalent to his Icelandic Lögsögumadur, +speaker of the law and judge of all offences. Finally, he caused to +be built an artificial Mount of Laws, similar in its features to the +Icelandic Logberg at Thingvellir. Such was the machinery of the Norse +Constitution which King Orry established in Man. The working of it was +very simple. The House of Keys, the people's delegates, discussed all +questions of interest to the people, and sent up its desires to the +Tynwald Court. This assembly of people and Church in joint session +assented, and the desires of the people became Acts of Tynwald. These +Acts were submitted to the King. Having obtained the King's sanction +they were promulgated on the Tynwald Hill on the national day in the +presence of the nation. The scene of that promulgation of the laws was +stirring and impressive. Let me describe it. + + +THE TYNWALD + +Perhaps there were two Tynwald Hills in King Orry's time, but I shall +assume that there was one only. It stood somewhere about midway in +the island. In the heart of a wide range of hill and dale, with a long +valley to the south, a hill to the north, a table-land to the east, and +to the west the broad Irish Sea. Not, of course, a place to be compared +with the grand and gloomy valley of the Logberg, where in a vast +amphitheatre of dark hills and great jökulls tipped with snow, with deep +chasms and yawning black pits, one's heart stands still. But the place +of the Manx Tynwald was an impressive spot. The Hill itself was a +circular mount cut into broad steps, the apex being only a few feet in +diameter. About it was a flat grass plot. Near it, just a hundred and +forty yards away, connected with the mount by a beaten path, was a +chapel. All around was bare and solitary, perhaps as bleak and stark as +the lonely plains of Thingvellir. + +Such was the scene. Hither came the King and his people on Tynwald +Day. It fell on the 24th of June, the first of the seven days of the +Icelandic gathering of the Althing. What occurred in Iceland occurred +also in Man. The King with his Keys and his clergy gathered in the +chapel. Thence they passed in procession to the law-rock. On the top +round of the Tynwald the King sat on a chair and faced to the east. His +sword was held before him, point upwards. His barons and beneficed men, +his deemsters, knights, esquires, coroners, and yeomen, stood on the +lower steps of the mount. On the grass plot beyond the people were +gathered in crowds. Then the work of the day began. The coroners +proclaimed a warning. No man should make disturbance at Tynwald on pain +of death. Then the Acts of Tynwald were read or recited aloud by the +deemsters; first in the language of the laws, and next in the language +of the people. After other formalities the procession of the King +returned to the chapel, where the laws were signed and attested, and so +the annual Tynwald ended. + +Now this primitive ceremonial, begun by King Orry early in the tenth +century, is observed to this day. On Midsummer-day of this year of grace +a ceremony similar in all its essentials will be observed by the present +Governor, his Keys, clergy, deemsters, coroners, and people, on or near +the same spot. It is the old Icelandic ordinance, but it has gone +from Iceland. The year 1800 saw the last of it on the lava law-rock of +Thingvellir. It is gone from every other Norse kingdom founded by the +old sea-rovers among the Western Isles. Manxmen alone have held on to +it. Shall we also let it go? Shall we laugh at it as a bit of mummery +that is useless in an age of books and newspapers, and foolish and +pompous in days of frock-coats and chimney-pot hats? I think not. We +cannot afford to lose it. Remember, it is the last visible sign of our +independence as a nation. It is our hand-grasp with the past. Our little +nation is the only Norse nation now on earth that can shake hands with +the days of the Sagas, and the Sea-Kings. Then let him who will laugh at +our primitive ceremonial. It is the badge of our ancient liberty, and we +need not envy the man who can look on it unmoved. + + +THE LOST SAGA + +Of King Orry himself we learn very little. He was not only the first of +our kings, but also the greatest. We may be sure of that; first, by what +we know; and next, by what we do not know. He was a conqueror, and yet +we do not learn that he ever attempted to curtail the liberties of his +subjects. He found us free men, and did not try to make us slaves. On +the contrary, he gave us a representative Constitution, which has +lasted a thousand years. We might call him our Manx King Alfred, if the +indirections of history did not rather tempt us to christen him our Manx +King Lear. His Saga has never been written, or else it is lost. Would +that we could recover it! Oh, that imagination had the authority of +history to vitalise the old man and his times! I seem to see him as he +lived. There are hints of his character in his laws, that are as stage +directions, telling of the entrances and exits of his people, though the +drama of their day is gone. For example, in that preliminary warning +of the coroner at Tynwald, there is a clause which says that none shall +"bawl or quarrel or lye or lounge or sit." Do you not see what that +implies? Again, there is another clause which forbids any man, "on paine +of life and lyme," to make disturbance or stir in the time of Tynwald, +or any murmur or rising in the king's presence. Can you not read between +the lines of that edict? Once more, no inquest of a deemster, no judge +or jury, was necessary to the death-sentence of a man who rose against +the king or his governor on his seat on Tynwald. Nobody can miss the +meaning of that. Once again, it was a common right of the people to +present petitions at Tynwald, a common privilege of persons unjustly +punished to appeal against judgment, and a common prerogative of outlaws +to ask at the foot of the Tynwald Mount on Tynwald Day for the removal +of their outlawry. All these old rights and regulations came from +Iceland, and by the help of the Sagas it needs no special imagination +to make the scenes of their action live again. I seem to see King Orry +sitting on his chair on the Tynwald with his face towards the east. He +has long given up sea-roving. + +His long red hair is become grey or white. But the old lion has the +muscles and fiery eye of the warrior still. His deemsters and barons +are about him, and his people are on the sward below. They are free +men; they mean to have their rights, both from him and from each other. +Disputes run high, there are loud voices, mighty oaths, sometimes blows, +fights, and terrific hurly-burlies. Then old Orry comes down with a +great voice and a sword, and ploughs a way through the fighters and +scatters them. No man dare lift his hand on the king. Peace is restored, +and the king goes back to his seat. + +Then up from the valley comes a woe-begone man in tatters, grim and +gaunt and dirty, a famished and hunted wolf. He is an outlaw, has killed +a man, is pursued in a blood-feud, and asks for relief of his outlawry. +And so on and so on, a scene of rugged, lusty passions, hate and +revenge, but also love and brotherhood; drinking, laughing, swearing, +fighting, savage vices but also savage virtues, noble contempt of death, +and magnificent self-sacrifice. + +The chapter is lost, but we know what it must have been. King Orry was +its hero. Our Manx Alfred, our Manx Arthur, our Manx Lear. Then room for +him among our heroes! he must stand high. + + +THE MANX MACBETH + +The line of Orry came to an end at the beginning of the eleventh +century. Scotland was then under the sway of the tyrant Macbeth, and, +oddly enough, a parallel tragedy to that of Duncan and his kinsman was +being enacted in Man. A son of Harold the Black, of Iceland, Goddard +Crovan, a mighty soldier, conquered the island and took the crown by +treachery, coming first as a guest of the Manx king. Treachery breeds +treachery, duplicity is a bad seed to sow for loyalty, and the Manx +people were divided in their allegiance. About twenty years after +Crovan's conquest the people of the south of the island took up arms +against the people of the north, and the story goes that, when victory +wavered, the women of the north rushed out to the help of their +husbands, and so won the fight. For that day's work, the northern wives +were given the right to half of all their husband's goods immovable, +while the wives of the south had only a third. The last of the line of +Goddard Crovan died in 1265, and so ended the dynasty of the Norsemen in +Man. They had been three hundred years there. They found us a people +of the race and language of the people of Ireland, and they left us +Manxmen. They were our only true Manx kings, and when they fell, our +independence as a nation ceased. + + +THE MANX GLO'STER + +Then the first pretender to the throne was one Ivar, a murderer, a sort +of Richard III., not all bad, but nearly all; said to possess virtues +enough to save the island and vices enough to ruin it. The island +was surrendered to Scotland by treaty with Norway. The Manx hated the +Scotch. They knew them as a race of pirates. Some three centuries later +there was one Cutlar MacCullock, whose name was a terror, so merciless +were his ravages. Over the cradles of their infants the Manx mothers +sang this song:-- + + God keep the good corn, the sheep and the bullocks, + From Satan, from sin and from Cutlar MacCullock. + +Bad as Ivar was, the Scotch threatened to be worse. + +So the Manx, fearing that their kingdom might become a part of the +kingdom of Scotland, supported Ivar. They were beaten. Ivar was a brave +tiger, and died fighting. + + +SCOTCH AND ENGLISH DOMINION + +Man was conquered, and the King of Scotland appointed a lieutenant to +rule the island. But the Manx loved the Scotch no better as masters than +as pirates, and they petitioned the English king, Edward I., to take +them under his protection. He came, and the Scotch were driven out. But +King Robert Bruce reconquered the island for the Scotch. Yet again the +island fell to English dominion. This was in the time of Henry IV. It is +a sorry story. Henry gave the island to the Earl of Salisbury. Salisbury +sold it to one Sir William le Scroop. A copy of the deed of sale exists. +It puts a Manxman's teeth on edge. "With all the right of being crowned +with a golden crown." Scroop was beheaded by Henry, who confiscated his +estate, and gave the island to the Earl of Northumberland. It is a silly +inventory, but let us get through with it. Northumberland was banished, +and finally Henry made a grant of the island to Sir John de Stanley. +This was in 1407. Thus there had been four Kings of Man--not one of whom +had, so far as I know, set foot on its soil--three grants of the island, +and one miserable sale. Where the carcase is, there will the eagles be +gathered together. + + +THE STANLEY DYNASTY + +When the crown came to Sir John Stanley he was in no hurry to put it on. +He paid no heed to his Manx subjects, and never saw his Manx kingdom. I +dare say he thought the gift horse was something of a white elephant. No +wonder if he did, for words could not exaggerate the wretched condition +of the island and its people. The houses of the poor were hovels built +of sod, with floors of clay, and sooty rafters of briar and straw and +dried gorse. The people were hardly better fed than their beasts. +So Stanley left the island alone. It will be interesting to mark how +different was the mood of his children, and his children's children. The +second Stanley went over to Man and did good work there. He promulgated +our laws, and had them written down for the first time--they had +hitherto been locked in the breasts of the deemsters in imitation of the +practice of the Druids. The line of the Stanleys lasted more than three +hundred years. Their rule was good for the island. They gave the tenants +security of tenure, and the landowners an act of settlement. They lifted +the material condition of our people, gave us the enjoyment of our +venerable laws, and ratified our patriarchal Constitution. Honour to the +Stanleys of the Manx dynasty! They have left a good mark on Man. + + +ILIAM DHOAN + +And now I come to the one incident in modern Manx history which shares, +with the three legs of Man and the Manx cat, the consciousness of +everybody who knows anything about our island and its people. This is +the incident of the betrayal of Man and the Stanleys to the Parliament +in the time of Cromwell. It was a stirring drama, and though the curtain +has long fallen on it, the dark stage is still haunted by the ghosts +of its characters. Chief among these was William Christian, the Manxman +called Iliam Dhoan, Brown William, a familiar name that seems to hint +of a fine type of man. You will find him in "Peveril of the Peak." He is +there mixed up with Edward Christian, a very different person, just as +Peel Castle is mixed up with Castle Rushen, consciously no doubt, and +with an eye to imaginative effects, for Scott had a brother in the Isle +of Man who could have kept him from error if fact had been of any great +consequence in the novelist's reckoning. + +Christian was Receiver-General, a sort of Chancellor of the Exchequer, +for the great Earl of Derby. The Earl had faith in him, and put nearly +everything under his command that fell within the province of his +lordship. Then came the struggle with Rigby at Latham House, and the +imprisonment of the Earl's six children by Fairfax. The Manx were +against the Parliament, and subscribed £500, probably the best part of +the money in the island, in support of the king. Then the Earl of Derby +left the island with a body of volunteers, and in going away committed +his wife to the care of Christian. You know what happened to him. He +was taken prisoner in Lancashire, charged with bearing arms for Charles +Stuart and holding the Isle of Man against the Commons, condemned, and +executed at Bolton. + +With the forfeiture of the Earl the lordship of the island was granted +by Parliament to Lord Fairfax. He sent an army to take possession, but +the Countess-Dowager still held the island. Christian commanded the Manx +militia. At this moment the Manx people showed signs of disaffection. +They suddenly remembered two grievances, one was a grievance of +land tenure, the other was that a troop of soldiers was kept at free +quarterage. I cannot but wish they had bethought them of both a little +earlier. They formed an association, and broke into rebellion against +the Countess-Dowager within eight days of the Earl's execution. Perhaps +they did not know of the Earl's death, for news travelled slowly over +sea in those days. But at least they knew of his absence. As a Manxman I +am not proud of them. + +During these eight days Mr. Receiver-General had begun to trim his +sails. He had a lively wit, and saw which way things were going. Rumour +says he was at the root of the secret association. Be that as it may, he +carried the demands of the people to the Countess. She had no choice but +to yield. The troops were disbanded. It was a bad victory. + +A fortnight before, when her husband lay under his death sentence, the +Countess had offered the island in exchange for his life. So now Mr. +Receiver-General used this act of love against her. He seized some of +the forts, saying the Countess was selling the island to the Parliament. +Then the army of the Parliament landed, and Christian straightway +delivered the island up to it, protesting that he had taken the forts +on its behalf. Some say the Countess was imprisoned in the vaults of the +Castle. Others say she had a free pass to England. So ended act one. + +When the act-drop rose on act two, Mr. Receiver-General was in office +under the Parliament. From the place of Receiver-General he was promoted +to the place of Governor. He had then the money of the island under his +control, and he used it badly. Deficits were found in his accounts. +He fled to London, was arrested for a large debt, and clapped into the +Fleet. Then the Commonwealth fell, the Dowager Countess went upstairs +again, and Charles II. restored the son of the great Earl to the +lordship of Man. After that came the Act of Indemnity, a general pardon +for all who had taken part against the royal cause. Thereupon Christian +went back to the Isle of Man, was arrested on a charge of treason to +the Countess-Dowager of Derby, pleaded the royal act of general pardon +against all proceedings libelled against him, was tried by the House of +Keys, and condemned to death. So ended act two. + +Christian had a nephew, Edward Christian, who was one of the two +deemsters. This man dissented from the voice of the court, and hastened +to London to petition the king. Charles is said to have heard his plea, +and to have sent an order to suspend sentence. Some say the order came +too late; some say the Governor had it early enough and ignored it. +At all events Christian was shot. He protested that he had never been +anything but a faithful servant to the Derbys, and made a brave end. +The place of his execution was Hango Hill, a bleak, bare stretch of +land with the broad sea Under it. The soldiers wished to bind Christian. +"Trouble not yourselves for me," he said, "for I that dare face death +in whatever shape he comes, will not start at your fire and bullets." +He pinned a piece of white paper on his breast, and said: "Hit this, and +you do your own work and mine." Then he stretched forth his arms as a +signal, was shot through the heart, and fell. Such was the end of Brown +William. He may have been a traitor, but he was no coward. + +When the chief actor in the tragedy had fallen, King Charles appeared, +as Fortinbras appears in "Hamlet," to make a review and a reckoning, and +to take the spoils. He ordered the Governor, the remaining Deemsters, +and three of the Keys to be brought before him, pronounced the execution +of Christian to be a violation of his general pardon, and imposed severe +penalties of fine and imprisonment. "The rest" in this drama has not +been "silence." One long clamour has followed. Christian's guilt has +been questioned, the legality of his trial has been disputed, the +validity of Charles's censure of the judges has been denied. The case +is a mass of tangle, as every case must be that stands between the two +stools of the Royal cause and the Commonwealth. But I shall make bold to +summarise the truth in a very few words: + +First, that Christian was untrue to the house of Derby is as clear as +noonday. If he had been their loyal servant he could never have taken +office under the Parliament. + +Second, though untrue to the Countess-Dowager, Christian could not be +guilty of treason to her, because she had ceased to be the sovereign +when her husband was executed. Fairfax was then the Lord of Man, and +Christian was guilty of no treason to him. + +Third, whether true or untrue to the Countess-Dowager, the act of pardon +had nothing on earth to do with Christian, who was not charged with +treason to King Charles, but to the Manx reigning family. The Isle of +Man was not a dominion of England, and if Charles's order had arrived +before Christian's execution, the Governor, Keys, and Deemster would +have been fully justified in shooting the man in defiance of the king. + +I feel some diffidence in offering this opinion, but I can have none +whatever in saying what I think of Christian. My fellow Manxmen are +for the most part his ardent supporters. They affirm his innocence, and +protest that he was a martyr-hero, declaring that at least he met his +fate by asserting the rights of his countrymen. I shall not hesitate to +say that I read the facts another way. This is how I see the man: + +First, he was a servant of the Derbys, honoured, empowered, entrusted +with the care of his mistress, the Countess, when his master, the Earl, +left the island to fight for the king. Second, eight days after his +master's fate, he rose in rebellion against his mistress and seized some +of the forts of defence. Third, he delivered the island to the army of +the Parliament, and continued to hold his office under it. Fourth, he +robbed the treasury of the island and fled from his new masters, the +Parliament. Fifth, when the new master fell he chopped round, became a +king's man once more, and returned to the island on the strength of the +general pardon. Sixth, when he was condemned to death he, who had held +office under the Parliament, protested that he had never been anything +but a faithful servant to the Derbys. + +Such is Christian. _He_ a hero! No, but a poor, sorry, knock-kneed +time-server. A thing of rags and patches. A Manx Vicar of Bray. Let us +talk of him as little as we may, and boast of him not at all. Man and +Manxmen have no need ol him. No, thank God, we can tell of better men. +Let us turn his picture to the wall. + + +THE ATHOL DYNASTY + +The last of the Stanleys of the Manx dynasty died childless in 1735, and +then the lordship of Man devolved by the female line on the second Duke +of Athol by right of his grandmother, who was a daughter of the great +Earl of Derby. There is little that is good to say of the Lords of the +House of Athol except that they sold the island. Almost the first, and +quite the best, thing they did on coming to Man, was to try to get out +of it. Let us make no disguise of the clear truth. The Manx Athols were +bad, and nearly everything about them was bad. Never was the condition +of the island so abject as during their day. Never were the poor so +poor. Never was the name of Manxman so deservedly a badge of disgrace. +The chief dishonour was that of the Athols. They kept a swashbuckler +court in their little Manx kingdom. Gentlemen of the type of Barry +Lyndon overran it. Captain Macheaths, Jonathan Wilds, and worse, were +masters of the island, which was now a refuge for debtors and felons. +Roystering, philandering, gambling, fighting, such was the order of +things. + +What days they had! What nights! His Grace of Athol was himself in the +thick of it all. He kept a deal of company, chiefly rogues and rascals. +For example, among his "lord captains" was one Captain Fletcher. This +Blue Beard had a magnificent horse, to which, when he was merry, he made +his wife, who was a religious woman, kneel down and say her prayers. The +mother of my friend, the Reverend T. E. Brown, came upon the dead body +of one of these Barry Lyndons, who had fallen in a duel, and the blue +mark was on the white forehead, where the pistol shot had been. I +remember to have heard of another Sir Lucius O'Trigger, whose body lay +exposed in the hold of a fishing-smack, while a parson read the burial +service from the quay. This was some artifice to prevent seizure for +debt. Oh, these good old times, with their soiled and dirty splendours! +There was no lively chronicler, no Pepys, no Walpole then, to give us a +picture of the Court of these Kings of Man. What a picture it must +have been! Can you not see it? The troops of gentlemen debtors from +the Coffee Houses of London, with their periwigs, their canes, and +fine linen; down on their luck, but still beruffled, besnuffed, and +red-heeled. I can see them strutting with noses up, through old Douglas +market-place on market morning, past the Manx folk in their homespun, +their curranes and undyed stockings. Then out at Mount Murray, the home +of the Athols, their imitations of Vauxhall, torches, dancings, bows and +congés, bankrupt shows, perhaps, but the bankrupt Barrys making the +best of them--one seems to see it all. And then again, their genteel +quarrels--quarrels were easily bred in that atmosphere. "Sir, I have the +honour to tell you that you are a pimp, lately escaped from the Fleet." +"My lord, permit me to say that you lie, that you are the son of a lady, +and were born in a sponging-house." Then out leapt the weapons, and +presently two men were crossing swords under the trees, and by-and-by +one of them was left under the moonlight, with the shadow of the leaves +playing on his white face. + +Poor gay dogs, they are dead! The page of their history is lost. Perhaps +that is just as well. It must have been a dark page, maybe a little red +too, even as blood runs red. You can see the scene of their revelries. +It is an inn now. The walls seem to echo to their voices. But the tables +they ate at are like themselves--worm-eaten. + +Good-bye to them! They have gone over the Styx. + + +SMUGGLING AND WRECKING + +Meanwhile, what of the Manx people? Their condition was pitiful. An +author who wrote fifty years after the advent of the Athols gives a +description of such misery that one's flesh creeps as one reads it. +Badly housed, badly clad, badly fed, and hardly taught at all, the very +poor were in a state of abjectness unfit for dogs. Treat men as dogs and +they speedily acquire the habits of dogs, the vices of dogs, and none of +their virtues. That was what happened to a part of the Manx people; they +developed the instincts of dogs, while their masters, the other dogs, +the gay dogs, were playing their bad game together. Smuggling became +common on the coasts of Man. Spirits and tobacco were the goods chiefly +smuggled, and the illicit trade rose to a great height. There was no +way to check it. The island was an independent kingdom. My lord of Athol +swept in the ill-gotten gains, and his people got what they could. It +was a game of grab. Meantime the trade of the surrounding countries, +England, Wales, and Ireland, was suffering grievously. The name of the +island must have smelt strong in those days. + +But there was a fouler odour than that of smuggling. Wrecking was not +unknown. The island lent itself naturally to that evil work. The mists +of Little Mannanan, son of Lear, did not forsake our island when Saint +Patrick swept him out of it. They continued to come up from the south, +and to conspire with the rapid currents from the north to drive ships on +to our rocks. Our coasts were badly lighted, or lighted not at all. An +open flare stuck out from a pole at the end of a pier was often all +that a dangerous headland had to keep vessels away from it. Nothing was +easier than for a fishing smack to run down pole and flare together, as +if by accident, on returning to harbour. But there was a worse danger +than bad lights, and that was false lights. It was so easy to set them. +Sometimes they were there of themselves, without evil intention of any +human soul, luring sailors to their destruction. Then when ships came +ashore it was so easy to juggle with one's conscience and say it was the +will of God, and no bad doings of any man's. The poor sea-going men were +at the bottom of the sea by this time, and their cargo was drifting up +with the tide, so there was nothing to do but to take it. Such was the +way of things. The Manxman could find his excuses. He was miserably +poor, he had bad masters, smuggling was his best occupation, his coasts +were indifferently lighted, ships came ashore of themselves--what was he +to do? That the name of Manxman did not become a curse, an execration, +and a reproach in these evil days of the Athols seems to say that +behind all this wicked work there were splendid virtues doing noble duty +somewhere. The real sap, the true human heart of Manxland, was somehow +kept alive. Besides cut-throats in ruffles, and wreckers in homespun, +there were true, sweet, simple-hearted people who would not sell their +souls to fill their mouths. + +Does it surprise you that some of all this comes within the memory of +men still living? I am myself well within the period of middle life, +and, though too young to touch these evil days, I can remember men +and women who must have been in the thick of them. On the north of the +island is Kirk Maughold Head, a bold, rugged headland going far out into +the sea. Within this rocky foreland lie two bays, sweet coverlets of +blue waters, washing a shingly shore under shelter of dark cliffs. One +of these bays is called Port-y-Vullin, and just outside of it, +between the mainland and the head, is a rock, known as the Carrick, a +treacherous grey reef, visible at low water, and hidden at flood-tide. +On the low _brews_ of Port-y-Vullin stood two houses, the one a mill, +worked by the waters coming down from the near mountain of Barrule, +the other a weaver's cottage. Three weavers lived together there, all +bachelors, and all old, and never a woman or child among them--Jemmy of +eighty years, Danny of seventy, and Billy of sixty something. Year in, +year out, they worked at their looms, and early or late, whenever you +passed on the road behind, you heard the click of them. Fishermen coming +back to harbour late at night always looked for the light of their +windows. "Yander's Jemmy-Danny-Billy's," they would say, and steer home +by that landmark. But the light which guided the native seamen misled +the stranger, and many a ship in the old days was torn to pieces on the +jagged teeth of that sea-lion, the Carrick. Then, hearing loud human +cries above the shrieks of wind and wave, the three helpless old men +would come tottering down to the beach, like three innocent witches, +trembling and wailing, holding each other's hands like little children, +and never once dreaming of what bad work the candles over their looms +had done. + +But there were those who were not so guileless. Among them was a sad old +salt, whom I shall call Hommy-Billy-mooar, Tommy, son of big Billy. Did +I know him, or do I only imagine him as I have heard of him? I cannot +say, but nevertheless I see him plainly. One of his eyes was gone, and +the other was badly damaged. His face was of stained mahogany, one side +of his mouth turned up, the other side turned down, he could laugh and +cry together. He was half landsman, tilling his own croft, half seaman, +going out with the boats to the herrings. In his youth he had sailed +on a smuggler, running in from Whitehaven with spirits. The joy of "the +trade," as they called smuggling, was that a man could buy spirits at +two shillings a gallon for sale on the island, and drink as much as he +"plazed abooard for nothin'." When Hommy married, he lived in a house +near the church, the venerable St. Maughold away on the headland, with +its lonely churchyard within sound of the sea. + +There on tempestuous nights the old eagle looked out from his eyrie on +the doings of the sea, over the back of the cottage of the old weavers +to the Carrick. If anything came ashore he awakened his boys, scurried +over to the bay, seized all they could carry, stole back home, hid his +treasures in the thatch of the roof, or among the straw of the loft, +went off to bed, and rose in the morning with an innocent look, and +listened to the story of last night's doings with a face full of +surprise. They say that Hommy carried on this work for years, and though +many suspected, none detected him, not even his wife, who was a good +Methodist. The poor woman found him out at last, and, being troubled +with a conscience, she died, and Hommy buried her in Kirk Maughold +churchyard, and put a stone over her with a good inscription. Then he +went on as before. But one morning there was a mighty hue and cry. A +ship had been wrecked on the Carrick, and the crew who were saved had +seen some rascals carrying off in the darkness certain rolls of Irish +cloth which they had thrown overboard. Suspicion lit on Hommy and his +boys. Hommy was quite hurt. "Wrecking was it? Lord a-massy! To think, +to think!" Revenue officers were to come to-morrow to search his house. +Those rolls of Irish cloth were under the thatch, above the dry gorse +stored up on the "lath" in his cowhouse. That night he carried them off +to the churchyard, took up the stone from over his wife's grave, dug the +grave open and put in the cloth. Next day his one eye wept a good deal +while the officers of revenue made their fruitless search. "Aw well, +well, did they think because a man was poor he had no feelings?" +Afterwards he pretended to become a Methodist, and then he removed the +cloth from his wife's grave because he had doubts about how she could +rise in the resurrection with such a weight on her coffin. Poor old +Hommy, he came to a bad end. He spent his last days in jail in Castle +Rushen. A one-eyed mate of his told me he saw him there. Hommy was +unhappy. He said "Castle Rushen wasn't no place for a poor man when he +was gettin' anyways ould." + + +THE REVESTMENT + +It is hardly a matter for much surprise that the British Government did +what it could to curb the smuggling that was rife in Man in the days of +the Athols. The bad work had begun in the days of the Derbys, when an +Act was passed which authorised the Earl of Derby to dispose of his +royalty and revenue in the island, and empowered the Lords of the +Treasury to treat with him for the sale of it. The Earl would not sell, +and when the Duke of Athol was asked to do so, he tried to put matters +off. But the evil had by this time grown so grievously that the British +Government threatened to strip the Duke without remuneration. Then he +agreed to accept £70,000 as compensation for the absolute surrender of +the island. He was also to have £2000 out of the Irish revenue, which, +as well as the English revenue, was to benefit by the suppression of the +clandestine trade. This was in exchange for some £6000 a year which +was the Duke's Manx revenue, much of it from duties and customs paid +in goods which were afterwards smuggled into England, Ireland, and +Scotland. So much for his Grace of Athol. Of course the Manx people got +nothing. The thief was punished, the receiver was enriched; it is the +way of the world. + +In our history of Man, we call this sweet transaction, which occurred in +1765, "The Revestment," meaning the revesting of the island in the +crown of England. Our Manx people did not like it at all. I have heard a +rugged old song on the subject sung at Manx inns: + + For the babes unborn shall rue the day + When the Isle of Man was sold away; + And there's ne'er an old wife that loves a dram + But she will lament for the Isle of Man. + +Clearly drams became scarce when "the trade" was put down. But, indeed, +the Manx had the most strange fears and ludicrous sorrows. The one came +of their anxiety about the fate of their ancient Constitution, the other +came of their foolish generosity. They dreaded that the government of +the island would be merged into that of England, and they imagined that +because the Duke of Athol had been compelled to surrender, he had been +badly treated. Their patriotism was satisfied when the Duke of Athol was +made Governor-in-Chief under the English crown, for then it was clear +that they were to be left alone; but their sympathy was moved to see him +come back as servant who had once been lord. They had disliked the Duke +of Athol down to that hour, but they forgot their hatred in sight of his +humiliation, and when he landed in his new character, they received +him with acclamations. I am touched by the thought of my countrymen's +unselfish conduct in that hour; but I thank God I was not alive to +witness it. + +I should have shrieked with laughter. The absurdity of the situation +passes the limits even of a farce. A certain Duke, who had received +£6000 a year, whereof a large part came of an immoral trade, had been +to London and sold his interest in it for £70,000, because if he had +not taken that, he would probably have got nothing. With thirteen +years' purchase of his insecure revenue in his pocket, and £2000 a year +promised, and his salary as Governor-in-Chief besides, he returns to the +island where half the people are impoverished by his sale of the island, +and nobody else has received a copper coin, and everybody is doomed to +pay back interest on what the Duke has received! What is the picture? +The Duke lands at the old jetty, and there his carriage is waiting to +take him to the house, where he and his have kept swashbuckler courts, +with troops of fine gentlemen debtors from London. The Manxmen forget +everything except that his dignity is reduced. They unyoke his horses, +get into his shafts, drag him through the streets, toss up their caps +and cry hurrah! hurrah! One seems to see the Duke sitting there with +his arms folded, and his head on his breast. He can't help laughing. The +thing is too ridiculous. Oh, if Swift had been there to see it, what a +scorching satire we should have had! + +But the Athols soon spirited away their popularity. First they clamoured +for a further sum on account of the lost revenues, and they got it. Then +they tried to appropriate part of the income of the clergy. Again, they +put members of their family into the bishopric, and one of them sold his +tithes to a factor who tried to extort them by strong measures, which +led to green crop riots. In the end, their gross selfishness, which +thought of their own losses but forgot the losses of the people, raised +such open marks of aversion in the island that they finally signified to +the king their desire to sell all their remaining rights, their land +and manorial rights. This they did in 1829, receiving altogether, for +custom, revenue, tithes, patronage of the bishopric, and quit rents, +the sum of £416,000. Such was the value to the last of the Athols of the +Manx dynasty, of that little hungry island of the Irish Sea, which Henry +IV. gave to the Stanleys, and Sir John de Stanley did not think worth +while to look at. So there was an end of the House of Athol. Exit the +House of Athol! The play goes on without them. + + +HOME RULE + +It might be said that with the final sale of 1829 the history of the +Isle of Man came to a close. Since then we have been in the happy +condition of the nation without a history. Man is now a dependency of +the English crown. The crown is represented by a Lieutenant-Governor. +Our old Norse Constitution remains. We have Home Rule, and it works +well. The Manx people are attached to the throne of England, and her +Majesty has not more loyal subjects in her dominions. We are deeply +interested in Imperial affairs, but we have no voice in them. I do not +think we have ever dreamt of a day when we should send representatives +to Westminster. Our sympathies as a nation are not altogether, I think, +with the party of progress. We are devoted to old institutions, and +hold fast to such of them as are our own. All this is, perhaps, what you +would expect of a race of islanders with our antecedents. + +Our social history has not been brilliant. I do not gather that the Isle +of Man was ever Merry Man. Not even in its gayest days do we catch any +note of merriment amid the rumpus of its revelries. It is an odd thing +that woman plays next to no part whatever in the history of the island. +Surely ours is the only national pie in which woman has not had a +finger. In this respect the island justifies the ungallant reading of +its name--it is distinctly the Isle of Man. Not even amid the glitter +and gewgaws of our Captain Macheaths do you catch the glint of the gown +of a Polly. No bevy of ladies, no merry parties, no pageants worthy of +the name. No, our social history gives no idea of Merry Man. + +Our civil history is not glorious. We are compelled to allow that it +has no heroism in it. There has been no fight for principle, no brave +endurance of wrong. Since the days of Orry, we have had nothing to tell +in Saga, if the Sagaman were here. We have played no part in the work of +the world. The great world has been going on for ten centuries without +taking much note of us. We are a little nation, but even little nations +have held their own. We have not. + +One great king we have had, King Orry. He gave us our patriarchal +Constitution, and it is a fine thing. It combines most of the best +qualities of representative government. Its freedom is more free than +that of some republics. The people seem to be more seen, and their voice +more heard, than in any other form of government whose operation I have +witnessed. Yet there is nothing noisy about our Home Rule. And this +Constitution we have kept alive for a thousand years, while it has died +out of every other Norse kingdom. That is, perhaps, our highest national +honour. We may have played a timid part; we may have accepted rulers +from anywhere; we may never have made a struggle for independence; and +no Manxman may ever have been strong enough to stand up alone for his +people. It is like our character that we have taken things easily, and +instead of resisting our enemies, or throwing them from our rocky +island into the sea, we have been law abiding under lawless masters +and peaceful under oppression. But this one thing we have done: we +have clung to our patriarchal Constitution, not caring a ha'p'orth +who administered our laws so long as the laws were our own. That is +something; I think it is a good deal. It means that through many changes +undergone by the greater peoples of the world, we are King Orry's men +still. Let me in a last word tell you a story which shows what that +description implies. + +ORRY'S SONS + +On the west coast of the Isle of Man stands the town of Peel. It is a +little fishing port, looking out on the Irish Sea. To the north of +it there is a broad shore, to the south lies the harbour with a rocky +headland called Contrary Head; in front--until lately divided from the +mainland by a narrow strait--is a rugged island rock. On this rock stand +the broken ruins of a castle, Peel Castle, and never did castle stand +on a grander spot. The sea flows round it, beating on the jagged cliffs +beneath, and behind it are the wilder cliffs of Contrary. In the water +between and around Contrary contrary currents flow, and when the wind +is high they race and prance there like an unbroken horse. It is a grand +scene, but a perilous place for ships. + +One afternoon in October of 1889 a Norwegian ship (strange chance!), the +_St George_ (name surely chosen by the Fates!), in a fearful tempest was +drifting on to Contrary Head. She was labouring hard in the heavy +sea, rearing, plunging, creaking, groaning, and driving fast through +clamouring winds and threshing breakers on to the cruel, black, steep +horns of rock. All Peel was down at the beach watching her. Flakes of +sea-foam were flying around, and the waves breaking on the beach were +scooping up the shingle and flinging it through the air like sleet. + +Peel has a lifeboat, and it was got out. There were so many volunteers +that the harbour-master had difficulties of selection. The boat got off; +the coxswain was called Charlie Cain; one of his crew was named Gorry, +otherwise Orry. It was a perilous adventure. The Norwegian had lost her +masts, and her spars were floating around her in the snow-like surf. She +was dangerous to approach, but the lifeboat reached her. Charlie cried +out to the Norwegian captain: "How many of you?" The answer came back, +"Twenty-two!" Charlie counted them as they hung on at the ship's side, +and said: "I only see twenty-one; not a man shall leave the ship until +you bring the odd one on deck." The odd one, a disabled man, had been +left below to his fate. Now he was brought up, and all were taken aboard +the lifeboat. + +On landing at Peel there was great excitement, men cheering and women +crying. The Manx women spotted a baby among the Norwegians, fought for +it, one woman got it, and carried it off to a fire and dry clothing. It +was the captain's wife's baby, and an hour afterwards the poor captain's +wife, like a creature distracted, was searching for it all over the +town. And to heighten the scene, report says that at that tremendous +moment a splendid rainbow spanned the bay from side to side. That ought +to be true if it is not. + +It was a brilliant rescue, but the moving part of the story is yet to +tell. The Norwegian Government, touched by the splendid heroism of the +Manxmen, struck medals for the lifeboat men and sent them across to the +Governor. These medals were distributed last summer on the island rock +within the ruins of old Peel Castle. Think of it! One thousand years +before, not far from that same place, Orry the Viking came ashore from +Denmark or Norway. And now his Manx sons, still bearing his very name, +Orry, save from the sea the sons of the brethren he left behind, and +down the milky way, whence Orry himself once came, come now to the +Manxmen the thanks and the blessings of their kinsmen, Orry's father's +children. + +Such a story as this thrills one to the heart. It links Manxmen to the +great past. What are a thousand years before it? Time sinks away, and +the old sea-warrior seems to speak to us still through the surf of that +storm at Peel. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS + +Some years ago, in going down the valley of Foxdale, towards the mouth +of Glen Rushen, I lost my way on a rough and unbeaten path under the +mountain called Slieu Whallin. There I was met by a typical old Manx +farmer, who climbed the hillside some distance to serve as my guide. +"Aw, man," said he, "many a Sunday I've crossed these mountains in +snow and hail together." I asked why on Sunday. "You see," said the old +fellow, "I'm one of those men that have been guilty of what St. Paul +calls the foolishness of preaching." It turned out that he was a local +preacher to the Wesleyans, and that for two score years or more, in all +seasons, in all weathers, every Sunday, year in, year out, he had made +the journey from his farm in Foxdale to the western villages of Kirk +Patrick, where his voluntary duty lay. He left me with a laugh and +a cheery word. "Ask again at the cottage at the top of the brew," he +shouted. "An ould widda lives there with her gel." At the summit of the +hill, just under South Barrule, with Cronk-ny-arrey-Lhaa to the west, I +came upon a disused lead mine, called the old Cross Vein, its shaft open +save for a plank or two thrown across it, and filled with water almost +to the surface of the ground. And there, under the lee of the roofless +walls of the ruined engine-house, stood the tiny one-story cottage where +I had been directed to inquire my way again. I knocked, and then saw the +outer conditions of an existence about as miserable as the mind of man +can conceive. The door was opened by a youngish woman, having a thin, +white face, and within the little house an elderly woman was breaking +scraps of vegetables into a pot that swung from a hook above a handful +of turf fire, which burned on the ground. They were the widow and +daughter. Their house consisted of two rooms, a living room and a +sleeping closet, both open to the thatch, which was sooty with smoke. +The floor was of bare earth, trodden hard and shiny. There was one +little window in each apartment, but after the breakages of years, +the panes were obscured by rags stuffed into the gaps to keep out the +weather. The roof bore traces of damp, and I asked if the rain came into +the house. "Och, yes, and bad, bad, bad!" said the elder woman. "He left +us, sir, years ago." That was her way of saying that her husband was +dead, and that since his death there had been no man to do an odd +job about the place. The two women lived by working in the fields, at +weeding, at planting potatoes, at thinning cabbages, and at the hay in +its season. Their little bankrupt barn belonged to them, and it was all +they had. In that they lived, or lingered, on the mountain top, a +long stretch of bare hillside, away from any neighbour, alone in their +poverty, with mountains before and behind, the broad grey sea, without +ship or sail, down a gully to the west, nothing visible to the east +save the smoke from the valley where lay the habitations of men, nothing +audible anywhere but the deep rumble of the waves' bellow, or the chirp +of the birds overhead, or, perhaps, when the wind was southerly, the +church bells on Sunday morning. Never have I looked upon such lonely +penury, and yet there, even there, these forlorn women kept their souls +alive. "Yes," they said, "we're working when we can get the work, and +trusting, trusting, trusting still." + +I have lingered too long over this poor adventure of losing my way to +Glen Rushen, but my little sketch may perhaps get you close to that side +of Manx life whereon I wish to speak to-day. I want to tell the history +of religion in Man, so far as we know it; and better, to my thinking, +than a grave or solid disquisition on the ways and doings of Bishops or +Spiritual Barons, are any peeps into the hearts and home lives of the +Manx, which will show what is called the "innate religiosity" of the +humblest of the people. To this end also, when I have discharged my +scant duty to church history, or perhaps in the course of my hasty +exposition of it, I shall dwell on some of those homely manners and +customs, which, more than prayer-books and printed services, tell us +what our fathers believed, what we still believe, and how we stand +towards that other life, that inner life, that is not concerned with +what we eat and what we drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed. + + +THE DRUIDS + +And now, just as the first chapter of our Manx civil history is lost, +so the first chapter of our church history is lost. That the Druids +occupied the island seems to some people to be clear from many Celtic +names and some remains, such as we are accustomed to call Druidical, +and certain customs still observed. Perhaps worthy of a word is the +circumstance that in the parish where the Bishop now lives, and has +always lived, Kirk Michael, there is a place called by a name which in +the Manx signifies Chief Druid. Strangely are the faiths of the ages +linked together. + + +CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY + +We do not know, with any certainty, at what time the island was +converted to Christianity. The accepted opinion is that Christianity was +established in Man by St. Patrick about the middle of the fifth century. +The story goes that the Saint of Ireland was on a voyage thither from +England, when a storm cast him ashore on a little islet on the western +coast of Man. This islet was afterwards called St. Patrick's Isle. St. +Patrick built his church on it. The church was rebuilt eight centuries +later within the walls of a castle which rose on the same rocky site. It +became the cathedral church of the island. When the Norwegians came they +renamed the islet Holm Isle. Tradition says that St. Patrick's coming +was in the time of Mannanan, the magician, our little Manx Prospero. It +also says that St. Patrick drove Mannanan away, and that St. Patrick's +successor, St. Germain, followed up the good work of exterminating evil +spirits by driving out of the island all venomous creatures whatever. We +sometimes bless the memory of St. Germain, and wish he would come again. + + +THE EARLY BISHOPS OF MAN + +After St. Germain came St. Maughold. This Bishop was a sort of +transfigured Manx Caliban. I trust the name does him no wrong. He had +been an Irish prince, had lived a bad, gross life as a robber at the +head of a band of robbers, had been converted by St. Patrick, and, +resolving to abandon the temptations of the world, had embarked on the +sea in a wicker boat without oar or helm. Almost he had his will at +once, but the north wind, which threatened to remove him from the +temptations of this world, cast him ashore on the north of the Isle of +Man. There he built his church, and the rocky headland whereon it stands +is still known by his name. High on the craggy cliff-side, looking +towards the sea, is a seat hewn out of the rock. This is called St. +Maughold's Chair. Not far away there is a well supposed to possess +miraculous properties. It is called St. Maughold's Well. Thus tradition +has perpetuated the odour of his great sanctity, which is the more +extraordinary in a variation of his legend, which says that it was not +after his conversion, and in submission to the will of God, that he put +forth from Ireland in his wicker boat, but that he was thrust out thus, +with hands and feet bound, by way of punishment for his crimes as a +captain of banditti. + +But if Maughold was Caliban in Ireland, he was more than Prospero in +Man. Rumour of his piety went back to Ireland, and St. Bridget, who had +founded a nunnery at Kildare, resolved on a pilgrimage to the good +man's island. She crossed the water, attended by her virgins, called +her daughters of fire, founded a nunnery near Douglas, worked miracles +there, touched the altar in testimony of her virginity, whereupon it +grew green and flourished. This, if I may be pardoned the continued +parallel, is our Manx Miranda. And indeed it is difficult to shake off +the idea that Shakespeare must have known something of the early +story of Man, its magicians and its saints. We know the perfidy of +circumstance, the lying tricks that fact is always playing with us, too +well and painfully to say anything of the kind with certainty. But the +angles of resemblance are many between the groundwork of the "Tempest" +and the earliest of Manx records. Mannanan-beg-Mac-y-Lear, the magician +who surrounded the island with mists when enemies came near in ships; +Maughold, the robber and libertine, bound hand and foot, and driven +ashore in a wicker boat; and then Bridget, the virgin saint. Moreover, +the stories of Little Man-nanan, of St. Patrick, and of St. Maughold +were printed in Manx in the sixteenth century. Truly that is not +enough, for, after all, we have no evidence that Shakespeare, who knew +everything, knew Manx. But then Man has long been famous for its seamen. +We had one of them at Trafalgar, holding Nelson in his arms when he +died. The best days, or the worst days--which?--of the trade of the West +Coast of Africa saw Manx captains in the thick of it. Shall I confess to +you that in the bad days of the English slave trade the four merchantmen +that brought the largest black cargo to the big human auction mart at +the Goree Piazza at Liverpool were commanded by four Manxmen! They were +a sad quartet. One of them had only one arm and an iron hook; another +had only one arm and one eye; a third had only one leg and a stump; the +fourth was covered with scars from the iron of the chains of a slave +which he had worn twelve months at Barbadoes. Just about enough humanity +in the four to make one complete man. But with vigour enough, fire +enough, heart enough--I daren't say soul enough--in their dismembered +old trunks to make ten men apiece; born sea-rovers, true sons of Orry, +their blood half brine. Well, is it not conceivable that in those +earlier days of treasure seeking, when Elizabeth's English captains were +spoiling the Spaniard in the Indies, Manx sailors were also there? +If so, why might not Shakespeare, who must have ferreted out many a +stranger creature, have found in some London tavern an old Manx sea-dog, +who could tell him of the Manx Prospero, the Manx Caliban, and the Manx +Miranda? + +But I have rambled on about my sailors; I must return to my Bishops. +They seem to have been a line of pious, humble, charitable, godly men +at the beginning. Irishmen, chiefly, living the lives of hermits +and saints. Apparently they were at first appointed by the people +themselves. Would it be interesting to know the grounds of selection? +One was selected for his sanctity, a natural qualification, but another +was chosen because he had a pleasant face, and a fine portly figure; +not bad qualifications, either. Thus things went on for about a hundred +years, and, for all we know, Celtic Bishops and Celtic people lived +together in their little island in peace, hearing nothing of the loud +religious hubbub that was disturbing Europe. + + +BISHOPS OF THE WELSH DYNASTY + +Then came the rule of the Welsh kings, and, though we know but little +with certainty, we seem to realise that it brought great changes to the +religious' life of Man. The Church began to possess itself of lands: the +baronial territories of the island fell into the hands of the clergy; +the early Bishops became Barons. This gave the Church certain powers +of government. The Bishops became judges, and as judges they possessed +great power over the person of the subject. Sometimes they stood in the +highest place of all, being also Governor to the Welsh Kings. Then they +were called Sword-Bishops. Their power at such times, when the crosier +and sword were in the two hands of one man, must have been portentous, +and even terrible. We have no records that picture what came of that. +But it is not difficult to imagine the condition. The old order of +things had passed away. The hermit-saints, the saintly hermits, had +gone, and in their place were monkish barons, living in abbeys and +monasteries, whipping the poor bodies of their people, as well as +comforting their torn hearts, fattening on broad lands, praying each +with his lips: "Give us this day our daily bread," but saying each to +his soul: "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine +ease; eat, drink, and be merry." + + +BISHOPS OF THE NORSE DYNASTY + +Little as we know of these times, we see that things must have come to +a pretty pass, for when the Scandinavian dynasty came in the +ecclesiastical authorities were forbidden to exercise civil control over +any subjects of the king that were not also the tenants of their own +baronies. So the Bishops were required to confine themselves to keeping +their own house in order. The Norse Constitution established in Man by +King Orry made no effort to overthrow the Celtic Church founded by St. +Patrick, and corrupted by his Welsh successors, but it curtailed its +liberties, and reduced its dignity. It demanded as an act of fealty that +the Bishop or chief Baron should hold the stirrup of the King's saddle, +as he mounted his horse at Tynwald. But it still suffered the Bishop and +certain of his clergy to sit in the highest court of the legislature. +The Church ceased to be purely Celtic; it became Celto-Scandinavian, +otherwise Manx. It was under the Archbishop of Drontheim for its +Metropolitan, and its young clergy were sent over to Drontheim to be +educated. Its revenues were apportioned after the most apostolic manner; +one-third of the tithes to the Bishop for his maintenance, the support +of his courts, his churches, and (miserable conclusion! ) his prisons; +one-third to the priests, and the remaining third to the relief of the +poor and the education of youth. It is a curious and significant fact +that when the Reformation came the last third was seized by the lord. +Good old lordly trick, we know it well! + + +SODOR AND MAN + +The Bishopric of the island was now no longer called the Bishopric of +Man, but Sodor and Man. The title has given rise to much speculation. +One authority derives it from _Soterenssis_, a name given by Danish +writers to the western islands, and afterwards corrupted to _Soderensk_. +Another authority derives it from _Sudreyjas_, signifying in the +Norwegian the Southern Isles. A third derives it from the Greek _Soter_, +Saviour, to whose name the cathedral of Iona was dedicated. And yet a +fourth authority derives it from the supposed third name of the little +islet rock called variously Holm Isle, Sodor, Peel, and St. Patrick's +Isle, whereon St. Patrick or St. Germain built his church, I can claim +no right to an opinion where these good doctors differ, and shall +content myself with saying that the balance of belief is in favour of +the Norwegian derivation, which offers this explanation of the title of +Bishop of Sodor and Man, that the Isle of Man was not included by the +Norsemen in the southern cluster of islands called the Sudereys, and +that the Bishop was sometimes called the Bishop of Man and the Isles, +and sometimes Bishop of the Sudereys and the Isle of Man. Only one +warning note shall I dare, as an ignorant layman, to strike on that +definition, and it is this: that the title of Bishop of Sodor dates back +to the seventh century certainly, and that the Norseman did not come +south until three centuries later. + + +THE EARLY BISHOPS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY + +But now I come to matters whereon I have more authority to speak. When +the Isle of Man passed to the Stanley family, the Bishopric fell to +their patronage, and they lost no time in putting their own people into +it. It was then under the English metropolitan of Canterbury, but early +in the sixteenth century it became part of the province of York. About +that time the baronies, the abbeys, and the nunneries were suppressed. +It does not appear that the change of metropolitan had made much +change of religious life. Apparently the clergy kept the Manx people in +miserable ignorance. It was not until the seventeenth century that the +Book of Common Prayer was translated into the Manx language. The Gospels +and the Acts were unknown to the Manx until nearly a century later. Nor +was this due to ignorance of the clergy of the Manx tongue, for most +of them must have been Manxmen, and several of the Bishops were Manxmen +also. But grievous abuses had by this time attached themselves to the +Manx Church, and some of them were flagrant and wicked, and some were +impudent and amusing. + + +TITHES IN KIND + +Naturally the more outrageous of the latter sort gathered about the +process of collecting tithes. + +Tithes were paid in kind in those days. It was not until well within our +own century that they were commuted to a money payment. The Manxman paid +tithe on everything. He began to pay tithe before coming into the world, +and he went on paying tithe even after he had gone out of it. This is +a hard saying, but nevertheless a simple truth. Throughout his +journey from the cradle to the grave, the Manxman paid tithe on all he +inherited, on all he had, on all he did, on all his wife did, and on +all he left behind him. We have the equivalent of this in England at +the present hour, but it was yet more tyrannical, and infinitely more +ludicrous, in the Isle of Man down to the year 1839. It is only vanity +and folly and vexation of spirit to quarrel with the modern English +taxgatherer; you are sure to go the wall, with humiliation and with +disgrace. It was not always so when taxes were paid in kind. There was, +at least, the satisfaction of cheating. The Manx people could not always +deny themselves that satisfaction. For instance, they were required to +pay tithe of herring as soon as the herring boats were brought above +full sea mark, and there were ways of counting known to the fishermen +with which the black-coated arithmeticians of the Church were not able +to cope. A man paid tithe on such goods and even such clothes as his +wife possessed on their wedding day, and young brides became wondrous +wise in the selection for the vicarage of the garments that were out of +fashion. A corpse-present was demanded over the grave of a dead man out +of the horses and cattle whereof he died possessed, and dying men left +verbal wills which consigned their broken-winded horses and dry cows to +the mercy and care of the clergyman. You will not marvel much that such +dealings led to disputes, sometimes to quarrels, occasionally to riots. +In my boyhood I heard old people over the farm-house fire chuckle +and tell of various wise doings, to outwit the parson. One of these +concerned the oats harvest. When the oats were in sheaf, the parson's +cart came up, driven by the sumner, the parson's official servant. The +gate of the field was thrown open, and honestly and religiously one +sheaf out of every ten was thrown into the cart. But the husbandman had +been thrifty in advance. The parson's sheaves had all been grouped thick +about the gate, and they were the shortest, and the thinnest, and the +blackest, and the dirtiest, and the poorest that the field had yielded. +Similar were the doings at the digging of the potatoes, but the scenes +of recrimination which often ensued were usually confined to the farmer +and the sumner. More outrageous contentions with the priest himself +sometimes occurred within the very walls of the church. It was the +practice to bring tithe of butter and cheese and eggs, and lay it on the +altar on Sunday. This had to be done under pain of exclusion from the +communion, and that was a penalty most grievous to material welfare. So +the Manxmen and Manxwomen were compelled to go to church much as they +went to market, with their butter- and egg-baskets over their arms. It +is a ludicrous picture, as one sees it in one's mind's eye, but what +comes after reaches the extremity of farce. Say the scene is Maughold +old church, once the temple of the saintly hermit. It is Sunday morning, +the bells are ringing, and Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, a rascally old +skinflint, is coming along with a basket. It contains some butter that +he could not sell at Ramsey market yesterday because it was rank, and a +few eggs which he knows to be stale and addled--the old hen has sat on +them, and they have brought forth nothing. These he places reverently on +the altar. But the parson knows Juan, and proceeds to examine his tithe. +May I take so much liberty with history, and with the desecrated old +church, as to imagine the scene which follows? + +Priest, pointing contemptuously towards the altar: +"Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, what is this?" "Butter and eggs, so plaze your +reverence." "Pig-swill and chalk you mean, man!" "Aw 'deed if I'd known +your reverence was so morthal partic'lar the ould hen herself should +have been layin' some fresh eggs for your reverence." + +"Take them away, you thief of the Church! Do you think what isn't fit +for your pig is good enough for your priest? Bring better, or never let +me look on your wizened old wicked face again." + +Exit Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, perhaps with butter and eggs flying after +his retreating figure. + + +THE GAMBLING BISHOP + +This is an imaginary picture, but no less outrageous things happened +whereof the records remain. A demoralised laity usually co-exists with +a demoralised clergy, and there are some bad stories of the Bishops who +preceded the Reformation. There is one story of a Bishop of that period, +who was a gross drunkard and notorious gambler. He played with his +clergy as long as they had anything to lose, and then he played with a +deemster and lost five hundred pounds himself. Poor little island, that +had two such men for its masters, the one its master in the things of +this world, the other its master in the things of the world to come! If +anything is needful to complete the picture of wretchedness in which +the poor Manx people must have existed then, it is the knowledge of what +manner of man a deemster was in those days, what his powers were, and +how he exercised them. + + +THE DEEMSTERS + +The two deemsters--a name of obvious significance, deem-sters, such as +deem the laws--were then the only judges of the island, all other legal +functionaries being of more recent date. On entering into office, the +deemster took an oath, which is sworn by all deemsters to this day, +declaring by the wonderful works which God hath miraculously wrought in +six days and seven nights, that he would execute the laws of the island +justly "betwixt party and party, as indifferently as the herring's +backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish." But these laws down to the +time of the second Stanley existed only in the breasts of the deemsters +themselves, being therefore called Breast Laws, and thus they were +supposed to be handed down orally from deemster to deemster. The +superstition fostered corruption as well as incapacity, and it will not +be wronging the truth to say that some of the deemsters of old time were +both ignorant and unprincipled. Their jurisdiction was absolute in all +that were then thought to be temporal affairs, beginning with a debt +of a shilling, and going up to murder. They kept their courts in the +centres of their districts, one of them being in the north of the +island, the other in the south, but they were free to hold a court +anywhere, and at any time. A deemster riding from Ramsey to Peel might +find his way stopped by a noisy claimant, who held his defendant by the +lug, having dragged him bodily from the field to the highway, to receive +instant judgment from the judge riding past. Or at midnight, in his +own home, a deemster might be broken in upon by a clamorous gang of +disputants and their witnesses, who came from the pot-house for the +settlement of their differences. On such occasions, the deemster +invariably acted on the sound old legal maxim, once recognised by an Act +of Parliament, that suits not likely to bear good costs should always be +settled out of court. First, the deemster demanded his fee. If neither +claimant nor defendant could give it, he probably troubled himself no +further than to take up his horse-whip and drive both out into the road. +I dare say there were many good men among deemsters of the old order, +who loved justice for its own sake, and liked to see the poor and the +weak righted, but the memory of deemsters of this kind is not green. The +bulk of men are not better than their opportunities, and the temptations +of the deemsters of old were neither few nor slight. + + +THE BISHOPRIC VACANT + +With such masters in the State, and such masters in the Church, the +island fell low in material welfare, and its poverty reacted on both. +Within fifty years the Bishopric was nineteen years vacant, though it +may be that at the beginning of the seventeenth century this was partly +due to religious disturbances. Then in 1697, with the monasteries and +nunneries dispersed, the abbeys in ruins, the cathedral church a wreck, +the clergy sunk in sloth and ignorance, there came to the Bishopric, +four years vacant, a true man whose name on the page of Manx Church +history is like a star on a dark night, when only one is shining--Bishop +Thomas Wilson. He was a strange and complex creature, half angel, +only half man, the serenest of saints, and yet almost the bitterest of +tyrants. Let me tell you about him. + + +BISHOP WILSON + +Thomas Wilson was from Trinity College, Dublin, and became domestic +chaplain to William, Earl of Derby, and preceptor to the Earl's son, who +died young. While he held this position, the Bishopric of Sodor and +Man became vacant, and it was offered to him. He declined it, thinking +himself unworthy of so high a trust. The Bishopric continued vacant. +Perhaps the candidates for it were few; certainly the emoluments +were small; perhaps the patron was slothful--certainly he gave little +attention to the Church. At length complaint was made to the King that +the spiritual needs of the island were being neglected. The Earl was +commanded to fill the Bishopric, and once again he offered it to his +chaplain. Then Wilson yielded. He took possession in 1698, and was +enthroned at Peel Castle. The picture of his enthronement must have been +something to remember. Peel Castle was already tumbling to its fall, and +the cathedral church was a woful wreck. It is even said that from a +hole in the roof the soil and rain could enter, and blades of grass were +shooting up on the altar. The Bishop's house at Kirk Michael, which +had been long shut up, was in a similar plight; damp, mouldy, +broken-windowed, green with moss within and without. What would one give +to turn back the centuries and look on at that primitive ceremony in +St. Germain's Chapel in April 1698! There would be the clergy, a +sorry troop, with wise and good men among them, no doubt, but a poor, +battered, bedraggled, neglected lot, chiefly learned in dubious arts +of collecting tithes. And the Bishop himself, the good chaplain of Earl +Derby, the preceptor of his son, what a face he must have had to watch +and to study, as he stood there that April morning, and saw for the +first time what work he had come to tackle! + + +BISHOP WILSON'S CENSURES + +But Bishop Wilson set about his task with a strong heart, and a resolute +hand. He found himself in a twofold trust. Since the Reformation, the +monasteries and nunneries had been dispersed, and all the baronies had +been broken up, save one, the barony of the Bishop. Thus Bishop Wilson +was the head of the court of his barony. This was a civil court with +power, of jurisdiction over felonies. Its separate criminal control came +to an end in 1777, Such was Bishop Wilson's position as last and sole +Baron of Man. Then as head of the Church he had powers over offences +which were once called offences against common law. Irregular behaviour, +cursing, quarrelling, and drinking, as well as transgressions of the +moral code, adultery, seduction, prostitution, and the like, were +punishable by the Church and the Church courts. The censures of Bishop +Wilson on such offences did not err on the side of clemency. He was +the enemy of sin, and no "gentle foe of sinners." He was a believer +in witchcraft, and for suspicion of commerce with evil spirits and +possession of the evil eye he punished many a blameless old body. For +open and convicted adultery he caused the offenders to stand for an hour +at high fair at each of the market-places of Douglas, Peel, Ramsey, and +Castletown, bearing labels on their breasts calling on all people +to take warning lest they came under the same Church censure. Common +unchastity he punished by exposure in church at full congregation, when +the guilty man or the poor victimised girl stepped up from the west +porch to the altar, covered from neck to heels in a white sheet. +Slanderers and evil speakers he clapped into the Peel, or perhaps the +whipping-stocks, with tongue in a noose of leather, and when after a +lapse of time the gag was removed the liberated tongue was obliged to +denounce itself by saying thrice, clearly, boldly, probably with good +accent and discretion, "False tongue, thou hast lied." + +It is perhaps as well that some of us did not live in Bishop Wilson's +time. We might not have lived long. If the Church still held and +exercised the same powers over evil speakers we should never hear our +own ears in the streets for the din of the voices of the penitents; and +if it still punished unchastity in a white sheet the trade of the linen +weaver would be brisk. + +You will say that I have justified my statement that Bishop Wilson was +the bitterest of tyrants. Let me now establish my opinion that he was +also the serenest of saints. I have told you how low was the condition +of the Church, how lax its rule, how deep its clergy lay in sloth and +ignorance, and perhaps also in vice, when Bishop Wilson came to Man in +1698. Well, in 1703, only five years later, the Lord Chancellor King +said this: "If the ancient discipline of the Church were lost elsewhere +it might be found in all its force in the Isle of Man." This points +first to force and vigour on the Bishop's part, but surely it also +points to purity of character and nobility of aim. Bishop Wilson began +by putting his own house in order. His clergy ceased to gamble and to +drink, and they were obliged to collect their tithes with mercy. He once +suspended a clergyman for an opinion on a minor point, but many times he +punished his clergy for offences against the moral law and the material +welfare of the poor. In a stiff fight for integrity of life and purity +of thought, he spared none. I truly believe that if he had caught +himself in an act of gross injustice he would have clambered up into +the pillory. He was a brave, strong-hearted creature, of the build of +a great man. Yes! In spite of all his contradictions, he _was_ a great +man. We Manxmen shall never look upon his like again! + + +THE GREAT CORN FAMINE + +Towards 1740 a long and terrible corn famine fell upon our island. The +fisheries had failed that season, and the crops had been blighted +two years running. Miserably poor at all times, ill-clad, ill-housed, +ill-fed at the best, the people were in danger of sheer destitution. In +that day of their bitter trouble the poorest of the poor trooped off to +Bishop's court. The Bishop threw open his house to them all, good and +bad, improvident and thrifty, lazy and industrious, drunken and sober; +he made no distinctions in that bad hour. He asked no man for his name +who couldn't give it, no woman for her marriage lines who hadn't got +them, no child whether it was born in wedlock. That they were all +hungry was all he knew, and he saved their lives in thousands. He bought +ship-loads of English corn and served it out in bushels; also tons of +Irish potatoes, and served them out in _kischens_. He gave orders that +the measure was to be piled as high as it would hold, and never smoothed +flat again. Yet he was himself a poor man. While he had money he spent +it. When every penny was gone he pledged his revenue in advance. +After his credit was done he begged in England for his poor people in +Man--_he_ begged for _us_ who would not have held out his hat to save his +own life! God bless him! But we repaid him. Oh yes, we repaid him. +His money he never got back, but gold is not the currency of the other +world. Prayers and blessings are the wealth that is there, and these +went up after him to the great White Throne from the swelling throats of +his people. + + +THE BISHOP AT COURT + +Not of Bishop Wilson could it be said, as it was said of another, that +he "flattered princes in the temple of God." One day, when he was coming +to Court, Queen Caroline saw him and said to a company of Bishops and +Archbishops that surrounded her, "See, my lords, here is a Bishop who +does not come for a translation." "No, indeed, and please your Majesty," +said Bishop Wilson, "I will not leave my wife in her old age because she +is poor." When Bishop Wilson was an old man, Cardinal Fleury sent over +to ask after his age and health, saying that they were the two oldest +and poorest Bishops in the world. At the same time he got an order that +no French privateer should ever ravage the Isle of Man. The order has +long lapsed, but I am told that to this day French seamen respect a +Manxman. It touches me to think of it that thus does the glory of this +good man's life shine on our faces still. + + +STORIES OF BISHOP WILSON + +How his people must have loved him! Many of the stories told of him are +of rather general application, but some of them ought to be true if they +are not. + +One day in the old three-cornered market-place at Ramsey a little +maiden of seven crossed his path. She was like sunshine, rosy-cheeked, +bright-eyed, bare-footed and bare-headed, and for love of her sweetness +the grey old Bishop patted her head and blest her. "God bless you, my +child; God bless you," he said. The child curtseyed and answered, "God +bless you, too, sir." "Thank you, child, thank you," the Bishop said +again; "I dare say your blessing will be as good as mine." + +It was customary in those days, and indeed down to my own time, when +a suit of clothes was wanted, to have the journeyman tailor at home to +make it. One, Danny of that ilk, was once at Bishop's Court making +a long walking coat for the Bishop. In trying it on in its nebulous +condition, that leprosy of open white seams and stitches, Danny made +numerous chalk marks to indicate the places of the buttons. "No, no, +Danny," said the Bishop, "no more buttons than enough to fasten it--only +one, that will do. It would ill become a poor priest like me to go +a-glitter with things like those." Now, Danny had already bought his +buttons, and had them at that moment in his pocket. So, pulling a +woful face, he said, "Mercy me, my lord, what would happen to the poor +button-makers, if everybody was of your opinion?" "Button it all over, +Danny," said the Bishop. A coat of Bishop Wilson's still exists. Would +that we had that one of the numerous buttons, and could get a few more +made of the same pattern! It would be out of fashion--Danny's progeny +have taken care of that. There are not many of us that it would fit--we +have few men of Bishop Wilson's build nowadays. But human kindliness is +never old-fashioned, and there are none of us that the garment of sweet +grace would not suit. + + +QUARRELS OF CHURCH AND STATE + +So far from "flattering princes in the temple of God," Bishop Wilson was +even morbidly jealous of the authority of the Church, and he resisted +that of the State when the civil powers seemed to encroach upon it. More +than once he came into collision with the State's highest functionary, +the Lieutenant-Governor, representative of the Lord of Man himself. One +day the Governor's wife falsely defamed a lady, and the lady appealed +to the Bishop. Thereupon the Bishop interdicted the Governor's wife +from receiving the communion. But the Governor's chaplain admitted +her. Straightway the Bishop suspended the Governor's chaplain. Then the +Governor fined the Bishop in the sum of fifty pounds. The Bishop refused +to pay, and was committed to Castle Rushen, and lay there two months. +They show us his cell, a poor, dingy little box, so damp in his day that +he lost the use of some of his fingers. After that the Bishop appealed +to the Lord, who declared the imprisonment illegal. The Bishop was +liberated, and half the island went to the prison gate to fetch him +forth in triumph. The only result was that the Bishop lost £500, whereof +£300 were subscribed by the people. One hardly knows whether to laugh +or cry at it all. It is a sorry and silly farce. Of course it made +a tremendous hurly-burly in its day, but it is gone now, and doesn't +matter a ha'porth to anybody. Nevertheless because Gessler's cap goes up +so often nowadays, and so many of us are kneeling to it, it is good and +wholesome to hear of a poor Bishop who was brave enough to take a shot +at it instead. + + +SOME OLD ORDEALS + +Notwithstanding Bishop Wilson's severity, his tyranny, his undue pride +in the authority of the Church, and his morbid jealousy of the powers +of the State, his rule was a wise and just one, and he was a spiritual +statesman, who needed not to be ashamed. He raised the tone of life in +the Isle of Man, made it possible to accept a man's _yea_ and _nay_, +even in those perilous issues of life where the weakness and meanness +of poor humanity reveals itself in lies and subterfuges. This he did by +making false swearing a terror. One ancient ordeal of swearing he set +his face against, but another he encouraged, and often practised, let me +describe both. + +In the old days, when a man died intestate, leaving no record of his +debts, a creditor might establish a claim by going with the Bishop to +the grave of the dead man at midnight, stretching himself on it with +face towards heaven and a Bible on his breast, and then saying solemnly, +"I swear that So-and-so, who lies buried here, died in my debt by so +much." After that the debt was allowed. What warning the Bishop first +pronounced I do not know, but the scene is a vivid one, even if we think +of the creditor as swearing truly, and a startling and terrible one if +we think of him as about to swear to what is false. The dark night, the +dark figures moving in it, the churchyard, the debtor's grave, the sham +creditor, who had been loud in his protests under the light of the inn +of the village, now quaking and trembling as the Bishop's warning comes +out of the gloom, then stammering, and breaking down, and finally, with +ghostly visions of a dead hand clutching at him from the grave, starting +up, shrieking, and flying away. It is a nightmare. Let us not remember +it when the candles are put out. + +This ordeal was in force until the seventeenth century, but Bishop +Wilson judged it un-Christian, and never practised it. The old Roman +canon law of Purgation, a similar ordeal, he used not rarely. It was +designed to meet cases of slander in which there was no direct and +positive evidence. If a good woman had been accused of unchastity in +that vague way of rumour which is always more damaging and devilish than +open accusation, she might of her own free choice, or by compulsion of +the Bishop, put to silence her false accusers by appearing in church, +with witnesses ready to take oath that they believed her, and there +swearing at the altar that common fame and suspicion had wronged her. If +a man doubted her word he had to challenge it, or keep silence for ever +after. The severest censures of the Church were passed upon those who +dared to repeat an unproved accusation after the oaths of Purgation and +Compurgation had been taken unchallenged. It is a fine, honest ordeal, +very old, good for the right, only bad for the wrong, giving strength to +the weak and humbling the mighty. But it would be folly and mummery in +our day. The Church has lost its powers over life and limb, and no one +capable of defaming a pure woman would care a brass penny about the +Church's excommunication. Yet a woman's good name is the silver thread +that runs through the pearl chain of her virtues. Pity that nowadays it +can be so easily snapped. Conversation at five o'clock tea is enough to +do that. The ordeal of compulsory Purgation was abolished in Man as late +as 1737. + + +THE HERRING FISHERY + +Bishop Wilson began, or revived, a form of service which was so +beautiful, so picturesque, and withal so Manx that I regret the loss of +scarce any custom so much as the discontinuance of this one. It was the +fishermen's service on the shore at the beginning of the herring-season. +But in order to appreciate it you must first know something of the +herring fishing itself. It is the chief industry of the island. Half the +population is connected with it in some way. A great proportion of the +men of the humbler classes are half seamen, half landsmen, tilling their +little crofts in the spring and autumn, and going out with the herring +boats in summer. The herring is the national fish. The Manxman swears +by its flavour. The deemsters, as we have seen, literally swear by its +backbone. Potatoes and herrings constitute a common dish of the country +people. They are ready for it at any hour of the day or night. I have +had it for dinner, I have taken it for supper, I have seen it for tea, +and even known it for breakfast. It is served without ceremony. In the +middle of the table two great crocks, one of potatoes boiled in their +jackets, the other of herrings fresh or salted; a plate and a bowl +of new milk at every seat, and lumps of salt here and there. To be a +Manxman you must eat Manx herrings; there is a story that to transform +himself into a Manxman one of the Dukes of Athol ate twenty-four of them +at breakfast, a herring for every member of his House of Keys. + +The Manx herring fishery is interesting and very picturesque. You know +that the herrings come from northern latitudes, Towards mid-winter a +vast colony of them set out from the arctic seas, closely pursued by +innumerable sea-fowl, which deal death among the little emigrants. They +move in two divisions, one westward towards the coasts of America, the +other eastward in the direction of Europe. They reach the Shetlands in +April and the Isle of Man about June. The herring is fished at night. To +be out with the herring boats is a glorious experience on a calm night. +You have set sail with the fleet of herring boats about sun-down, and +you are running before a light breeze through the dusk. The sea-gulls +are skimming about the brown sails of your boat. They know what you are +going to do, and have come to help you, Presently you come upon a flight +of them wheeling and diving in the gathering darkness. Then you know +that you have lit on the herring shoal. The boat is brought head to the +wind and left to drift. By this time the stars are out, perhaps the moon +also--though too much moon is not good for the fishing--and you can just +descry the dim outline of the land against the dark blue of the sky. + +Luminous patches of phosphorescent light begin to move in the water, +"The mar-fire's rising," say the fishermen, the herring are stirring. +"Let's make a shot; up with the gear," cries the skipper, and nets are +hauled from below, passed over the bank-board, and paid out into the +sea--a solid wall of meshes, floating upright, nine feet deep and a +quarter of a mile long. It is a calm, clear night, just light enough +to see the buoys on the back of the first net. The lamp is fixed on the +mitch-board. All is silence, only the steady plash, plash, plash of the +slow waters on the boat's side; no singing among the men, no chaff, no +laughter, all quiet aboard, for the fishermen believe that the fish can +hear; all quiet around, where the deep black of the watery pavement +is brightened by the reflection of stars. Then out of the white +phosphorescent patches come minute points of silver and countless faint +popping sounds, The herrings are at play about the nets. You see them in +numbers exceeding imagination, shoals on shoals. "Pull up now, there's +a heavy strike," cries the skipper, and the nets are hauled up, and come +in white and moving--a solid block of fish, cheep, cheep, cheeping like +birds in the early morning. At the grey of dawn the boats begin to run +for home, and the sun is shining as the fleet makes the harbour. Men and +women are waiting there to buy the night's catch. The quay is full of +them, bustling, shouting, laughing, quarrelling, counting the herrings, +and so forth. + + +THE FISHERMEN'S SERVICE + +Such is the herring fishery of Man. Bishop Wilson knew how bitter a +thing it could be if this industry failed the island even for a single +season. So, with absolute belief in the Divine government of the world, +he wrote a Service to be held on the first day of the herring season, +asking for God's blessing on the harvest of the sea. The scene of that +service must have been wondrously beautiful and impressive. Why does not +some great painter paint it? Let me, by the less effectual vehicle of +words, attempt to realise what it must have been. + +The place of it was Peel bay, a wide stretch of beach, with a gentle +slope to the left, dotted over with grey houses; the little town farther +on, with its nooks and corners, its blind alleys and dark lanes, its +narrow, crabbed, crooked streets. Behind this the old pier and the +herring boats rocking in the harbour, with their brown sails half set, +waiting for the top of the tide. In the distance the broad breast of +Contrary Head, and, a musket-shot outside of it, the little rocky islet +whereon stand the stately ruins of the noble old Peel Castle. The +beach is dotted over with people--old men, in their curranes and undyed +stockings, leaning on their sticks; children playing on the shingle; +young women in groups, dressed in sickle-shaped white sun-bonnets, and +with petticoats tucked up; old women in long blue homespun cloaks. But +these are only the background of the human picture. In the centre of +it is a wide circle of fishermen, men and boys, of all sizes and sorts, +from the old Admiral of the herring fleet to the lad that helps the +cook--rude figures in blue and with great sea-boots. They are on their +knees on the sand, with their knitted caps at their rusty faces, and +in the middle of them, standing in an old broken boat, is the Bishop +himself, bareheaded, white-headed, with upturned face praying for +the fishing season that is about to begin. The June day is sweet and +beautiful, and the sun is going down behind the castle. Some sea-gulls +are disporting on the rock outside, and, save for their jabbering cries, +and the boom of the sea from the red horizon, and the gentle plash of +the wavelets on the pebbles of the shore, nothing is heard but the slow +tones of the Bishop and the fishermen's deep _Amen_. Such was Bishop +Wilson's fishermen's service. It is gone; more's the pity. + + +SOME OLD LAWS + +The spiritual laws of Man were no dead letters when Bishop Wilson +presided over its spiritual courts. He was good to illegitimate +children, making them legitimate if their parents married within two +years of their birth, and often putting them on the same level with +their less injured brothers and sisters where inheritance was in +question. But he was unmerciful to the parents themselves. There is +one story of his treatment of a woman which passes all others in its +tyranny. It is, perhaps, the only deep stain on his character. I thank +God that it can never have come to the ears of Victor Hugo. Told as Hugo +would have told it, surely it must have blasted for ever the name of a +good man. It is the dark story of Katherine Kinrade. + + +KATHERINE KINRADE + +She was a poor ruin of a woman, belonging to Kirk Christ, but wandering +like a vagrant over the island. The fact of first consequence is, that +she was only half sane. In the language of the clergy of the time, she +"had a degree of unsettledness and defect of understanding." Thus she +was the sort of human wreck that the world finds it easy to fling away. +Katherine fell victim to the sin that was not her own. A child was born. +The Church censured her. She did penance in a white sheet at the church +doors. But her poor, dull brain had no power to restrain her. A second +child was born. Then the Bishop committed her for twenty-one days to +his prison at the Peel. Let me tell you what the place is like. It is +a crypt of the cathedral church. You enter it by a little door in the +choir, leading to a tortuous flight of steep steps going down. It is +a chamber cut out of the rock of the little island, dark, damp, and +noisome. A small aperture lets in the light, as well as the sound of +the sea beating on the rocks below. The roof, if you could see it in the +gloom, is groined and ribbed, and above it is the mould of many graves, +for in the old days bodies were buried in the choir. Can you imagine a +prison more terrible for any prisoner, the strongest man or the bravest +soldier? Think of it on a tempestuous night in winter. The lonely islet +rock, with the swift seas rushing around it; the castle half a ruin, its +guard-room empty, its banqueting hall roofless, its sally port silent; +then the cathedral church falling to decay; and under the floor of its +choir, where lie the graves of dead men, this black, grim, cold cell, +silent as the graves themselves, save for the roar of the sea as it +beats in the darkness on the rocks outside! But that is not enough. +We have to think of this gloomy pile as inhabited on such a night of +terrors by only one human soul--this poor, bedraggled, sin-laden woman +with "the defect of understanding." Can anything be more awful? Yet +there is worse to follow. The records tell us that Katherine Kinrade +submitted to her punishment "with as much discretion as could be +expected of the like of her." But such punishments do not cleanse the +soul that is "drenched with unhallowed fire." Perhaps Katherine did not +know that she was wronged; nevertheless God's image was being trodden +out of her. She went from bad to worse, became a notorious strumpet, +strolled about the island, and led "a scandalous life on other +accounts." A third child was born. Then the Bishop concluded that for +the honour of the Christian name, "to prevent her own utter destruction, +and for the example of others," a timely and thorough reformation must +be made by a further and severer punishment. It was the 15th day of +March, and he ordered that on the 17th day, being the fair of St. +Patrick, at the height of the market, the said Katherine Kinrade +should be taken to Peel Town in charge of the general sumner, and the +constables and soldiers of the garrison, and there dragged after a boat +in the sea! Think of it! On a bitter day in March this wretched woman +with the "defect of understanding" was to be dragged through the sea by +a rope tied to the tail of a boat! And if any owner, master, and crew of +any boat proved refractory by refusing to perform this service for the +restraining of vice, they were to be subject to fine and imprisonment! +When St. Patrick's Day came the weather was so stormy that no boat +could live in the bay, but on St. Germain's Day, about the height of the +market, the censure was performed. After undergoing the punishment the +miserable soul was apparently penitent, "according to her capacity," +took the communion, and was "received into the peace of the Church." +Poor human ruin, defaced image of a woman, begrimed and buried soul, +unchaste, misshapen, incorrigible, no "juice of God's distilling" ever +"dropped into the core of her life," to such punishment she was doomed +by the tribunal of that saintly man, Bishop Thomas Wilson! She has met +him at another tribunal since then; not where she has crouched before +him, but where she has stood by his side. She has carried her great +account against him, to Him before whom the proudest are as chaff. + + None spake when Wilson stood before + The Throne; + And He that sat thereon + Spake not; and all the presence-floor + Burnt deep with blushes, and the angels cast + Their faces downwards.--Then, at last, + Awe-stricken, he was ware + How on the emerald stair + A woman sat divinely clothed in white, + And at her knees four cherubs bright + That laid + Their heads within her lap. Then, trembling, he essayed + To speak--"Christ's mother, pity me!" + Then answered she, + "Sir, I am Katherine Kinrade." {*} + + * Unpublished poem by the author of ''Fo'c's'le Yarns." + + +BISHOP WILSON'S LAST DAYS + +Have I dashed your faith in my hero? Was he indeed the bitterest of +tyrants as well as the serenest of saints? Yet bethink you of the other +good men who have done evil deeds? King David and the wife of Uriah, +Mahomet and his adopted son; the gallery of memory is hung round with +many such portraits. Poor humanity, weak at the strongest, impure at +the purest; best take it as it is, and be content. Remember that a good +man's vices are generally the excess of his virtues. It was so with +Bishop Wilson. Remember, too, that it is not for what a man does, but +for what he means to do, that we love him or hate him in the end. And +in the end the Manx people loved Bishop Wilson, and still they bless his +memory. + +We have a glimpse of his last days, and it is full of tender beauty. +True to his lights, simple and frugal of life, God-fearing and strong +of heart, he lived to be old. Very feeble, his beautiful face grown +mellower even as his heart was softer for his many years, tottering on +his staff, drooping like a white flower, he went in and out among his +people, laying his trembling hands on the children's heads and blessing +them, remembering their fathers and their fathers' fathers. Beloved by +the young, reverenced by the old, honoured by the great, worshipped by +the poor, living in sweet patience, ready to die in hope. His day was +done, his night was near, and the weary toiler was willing to go to his +rest. Thus passed some peaceful years. He died in 1755, and was followed +to his grave by the whole Manx nation. His tomb is our most sacred +shrine. We know his faults, but we do not speak of them there. Call a +truce over the place of the old man's rest. There he lies, who was once +the saviour of our people. God bless him! He was our fathers' bishop, +and his saintly face still shines on our fathers' children. + + +THE ATHOL BISHOPS + +Let me in a last clause attempt a sketch of the history of the Manx +Church in the century or more that has followed Bishop Wilson's death. +The last fifty years of it are featureless, save for an attempt to +abolish the Bishopric. This foolish effort first succeeded and then +failed, and was a poor bit of mummery altogether, ending in nothing +but waste of money and time, and breath and temper. The fifty years +immediately succeeding Bishop Wilson were full of activity. But so far +as the Church was concerned, the activity was not always wholesome. If +religion was kept alive in Man in those evil days, and the soul hunger +of the poor Manx people was satisfied, it was not by the masters of the +Manx Church, the Pharisees who gave alms in the streets to the sound +of a trumpet going before them, or by the Levites who passed by on +the other side when a man had fallen among thieves. It was partly by +dissent, which was begun by Wesley in 1775 (after Quakerism had been +suppressed), and partly by a small minority of the Manx clergy, who kept +going the early evangelicalism of Newton and Cowper and Cecil--dear, +sunny, simple-hearted old Manx vicars, who took sweet counsel together +in their old-fashioned homes, where you found grace in all senses of the +word, purity of soul, the life of the mind, and gentle courtliness of +manners. + +Bishop Wilson's successor was Doctor Mark Hildlesley, in all respects +a worthy man. He completed the translation of the Scriptures into Manx, +which had been begun by his predecessor, and established Sunday-schools +in Man before they had been commenced in any other country. But after +him came a line of worthless prelates, Dr. Richmond, remembered for his +unbending haughtiness; Dr. Mason, disgraced by his debts; and Claudius +Cregan, a bishop unfit to be a curate. Do you not read between the +broad lines of such facts? The Athol dynasty was now some thirty years +established in Man, and the swashbuckler Court of fine gentlemen was +in full swing. In that costume drama of soiled lace and uproarious +pleasures, what part did the Church play? Was it that of the man clad +in camel's skin, living on locusts and wild honey, and calling on the +generation of revellers to flee from the wrath to come? No; but that +of the lover of cakes and ale. The records of this period are few and +scanty, but they are full enough to show that some of the clergy of the +Athols knew more of backgammon than of theology. While they pandered to +the dissolute Court they lived under, going the errands of their masters +in the State, fetching and carrying for them, and licking their shoes, +they tyrannised over the poor ignorant Manx people and fleeced them +unmercifully. Perhaps this was in a way only natural. Corruption was in +the air throughout Europe. Dr. Youngs were grovelling for preferments +at the feet of kings' mistresses, and Dr. Warners were kissing the +shoebuckles of great ladies for sheer love of their faces, plastered red +and white, The parasites of the Manx clergy were not far behind some +of their English brethren. There is a story told of their life among +themselves which casts lurid light on their character and ways of life. +It is said that two of the Vicars-general summoned a large number of the +Manx people to Bishop's Court on some business of the spiritual court, +Many of the people had come long distances, chiefly a-foot, without +food, and probably without money. After a short sitting the court was +adjourned for dinner. The people had no dinner, and they starved. The +Vicars-general went into the palace to dine with the Bishop. Some hours +passed. The night was gathering. Then a message came out to say that no +more business could be done that day. Some of the poor people were old, +and had to travel fifteen miles to their homes. The record tells us that +the Bishop gave his guests "most excellent wine." What of a scene like +that? Outside, a sharp day in Spring, two score famished folks tramping +the glen and the gravel-path, the gravel-path and the glen, to and +fro, to and fro, minute after minute, hour after hour. Inside, my +lord Bishop, drenched in debt, dining with his clergy, drinking +"most excellent wine" with them, unbending his mighty mind with them, +exchanging boisterous stories with them, jesting with them, laughing +with them, until his face grows as red as the glowing turf on his +hearth. Presently a footfall on the gravel, and outside the window a +hungry, pinched, anxious face looking nervously into the room. Then this +colloquy: + +"Ah, the court, plague on't, I'd forgotten it." + +"Adjourn it, gentlemen." + +"Wine like yours, my lord, would make a man forget Paradise." + +"Sit down again, gentlemen. Juan, go out and tell the people to come +back to-morrow." + +"Your right good health, my lord!" + +"And yours, gentlemen both!" + +Oh, if there is any truth in religion, if this world is God's, if a day +is coming when the weak shall be exalted and the mighty laid low, what +a reckoning they have gone to whose people cried for bread and they gave +them a stone! And if there is not, if the hope is vain, if it is all a +sham and a mockery, still the justice of this world is sure. Where are +they now, these parasites? Their game is played out. They are bones and +ashes; they are in their forgotten graves. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE + + +THE MANX LANGUAGE + +A friend asked me the other day if there was any reason why I should not +deliver these lectures in Manx. I answered that there were just forty +good and sufficient reasons. The first was that I did not speak Manx. +Like the wise queen in the story of the bells, he then spared me the +recital of the remaining nine-and-thirty. But there is at least one of +the number that will appeal strongly to most of my hearers. What that +is you shall judge for yourselves after I have braved the pitfalls of +pronunciation in a tongue I do not know, and given you some clauses of +the Lord's Prayer in Manx. + + Ayr ain t'ayns niait, + (Father our who art in heaven.) + + Caskerick dy row dty ennym. + (Holy be Thy name.) + + Dy jig dty reeriaght. + (Come Thy kingdom.) + + Dty aigney dy row jeant er y thalloo mry te ayns niau. + (Thy will be done on the earth even as in heaven.) + +***** + + Son dy bragh, as dy bragh, Amen. + (For ever and ever. Amen.) + +I asked a friend--it was Mr. Wilson Barrett--if in its fulness, its fine +chest-notes, its force and music, this old language did not sound like +Italian. + +"Well, no," he answered, "it sounds more like hard swearing." + +I think you must now understand why the greater part of these lectures +should be delivered in English. + +Manx is a dialect mainly Celtic, and differing only slightly from the +ancient Scottish Gaelic. I have heard my father say that when he was +a boy in Ramsey, sixty years ago, a Scotch ship came ashore on the +Carrick, and next morning after the wreck a long, lank, bony creature, +with bare legs, and in short petticoats, came into the marketplace and +played a tune on a little shrieking pair of smithy bellows, and then +sang a song. It was a Highland piper, and he sang in his Gaelic, but the +Manx boys and girls who gathered round him understood almost every word +of his song, though they thought his pronunciation bad. Perhaps they +took him for a poor old Manxman, somehow strayed and lost, a sort of +Manx Rip Van Winkle who had slept a century in Scotland, and thereby +lost part of his clothes. + +You will wonder that there is not more Norse in our language, +remembering how much of the Norse is in our blood. But the predominance +of the Celtic is quite natural. Our mothers were Celts, speaking Celtic, +before our Norse-fathers came. Was it likely that our Celtic mothers +should learn much of the tongue of their Norse husbands? Then, is it not +our mother, rather than our father, who teaches us to speak when we are +children? So our Celtic mothers taught us Celtic, and thus Celtic became +the dominant language of our race. + + +MANX NAMES + +But though our Norse fathers could not impose their Norse tongue on +their children, they gave them Norse names, and to the island they +gave Norse place-names. Hence we find that though Manx names show +a preponderance of the Celtic, yet that the Norse are numerous and +important. Thus we have many _dales, fells, garths_, and _ghylls_. +Indeed, we have many pure Scandinavian surnames and place-names. When +I was in Iceland I sometimes found myself face to face with names which +almost persuaded me that I was at home in our little island of the Irish +Sea. There is, for example, a Snaefell in Man as well as in Iceland. +Then, our Norwegian surnames often took Celtic prefixes, such as _Mac_, +and thus became Scandio-Gaelic. But this is a subject on which I have +no right to speak with authority. You will find it written down with +learning and judgment in the good book of my friend Mr. A. W. Moore, +of Cronkbourne. What concerns me more than the scientific aspect of the +language is its literary character. I seem to realise that it was the +language of a poetic race. The early generations of a people are often +poetic. They are child-like, and to be like a child is the best half of +being like a poet. They name their places by help of their observatory +powers. These are fresh and full of wonder, and Nature herself is +beautiful or strange until man tampers with her. + +So when an untaught and uncorrupted mind looks upon a new scene and +bethinks itself of a name to fit it, the name is almost certainly full +of charm or rugged power. Thus we find in Man such mixed Norse and +Celtic names as: _Booildooholly_ (Black fold of the wood), _Douglas_ +(Black stream), _Soderick_ (South creek), _Trollaby_ (Troll's farm), +_Gansy_ (Magic isle), _Cronk-y-Clagh Bane_ (Hill of the white stone), +_Cronk-ny-hey_ (Hill of the grave), _Cronk-ny-arrey-lhaa_ (Hill of the +day watch). + + +MANX IMAGINATION + +This poetic character of the place-names of the island is a standing +reproach to us as a race. We have degenerated in poetic spirit since +such names were the natural expression of our feelings. I tremble to +think what our place-names would be if we had to make them now. Our few +modern Christenings set my teeth on edge. We are not a race of poets. +We are the prosiest of the prosy. I have never in my life met with any +race, except Icelanders and Norwegians, who are so completely the slave +of hard fact. It is astounding how difficult the average Manxman finds +it to put himself into the mood of the poet. That anything could come +out of nothing, that there is such a thing as imagination, that any +human brother of an honest man could say that a thing had been, which +had not been, and yet not lie--these are bewildering difficulties to +the modern Manxman. That a novel can be false and yet true--that, well +that's foolishness. I wrote a Manx romance called "The Deemster;" and I +did not expect my fellow-countrymen of the primitive kind to tolerate it +for a moment. It was merely a fiction, and the true Manxman of the old +sort only believes in what is true. He does not read very much, and when +he does read it is not novels. But he could not keep his hands off this +novel, and on the whole, and in the long run, he liked it--that is, as +he would say, "middling," you know! But there was only one condition on +which he could take it to his bosom--it must be true. There was the rub, +for clearly it transgressed certain poor little facts that were patent +to everybody. + +Never mind, Hall Caine did not know poor Man, or somebody had told +him wrong. But the story itself! The Bishop, Dan, Ewan, Mona, the body +coming ashore at the Mooragh, the poor boy under the curse by the Calf, +lord-a-massy, that was thrue as gospel! What do you think happened? I +have got the letters by me, and can show them to anybody. A good Manxman +wrote to remonstrate with me for calling the book a "romance." How dare +I do so? It was all true. Another wrote saying that maybe I would like +to know that in his youth he knew my poor hero, Dan Mylrea, well. They +often drank together. In fact, they were the same as brothers. For +his part he had often warned poor Dan the way he was going. After the +murder, Dan came to him and gave him the knife with which he had killed +Ewan. He had got it still! + +Later than the "Deemster," I published another Manx romance, "The +Bondman." In that book I mentioned, without thought of mischief, certain +names that must have been lying at the back of my head since my boyhood. +One of them becomes in the book the name of an old hypocrite who in the +end cheats everybody and yet prays loudly in public. Now it seems that +there is a man up in the mountains who owns that name. When he first +encountered it in the newspapers, where the story was being published as +a serial, he went about saying he was in the "Bondman," that it was +all thrue as gospel, so it was, that he knew me when I was a boy, over +Ramsey way, and used to give me rides on his donkey, so he did. This was +before the hypocrite was unmasked; and when that catastrophe occurred, +and his villany stood naked before all the island, his anger knew +no limits. I am told that he goes about the mountains now like a +thunder-cloud, and that he wants to meet me. I had never heard of the +man before in all my life. + +What I say is true only of the typical Manxman, the natural-man among +Manxmen, not of the Manxman who is Manxman plus man of the world, the +educated Manxman, who finds it as easy as anybody else to put himself +into a position of sympathy with works of pure imagination. But you must +go down to the turf if you want the true smell of the earth. Education +levels all human types, as love is said to level all ranks; and to +preserve your individuality and yet be educated seems to want a strain +of genius, or else a touch of madness. + +The Manx must have been the language of a people with few thoughts +to express, but such thoughts as they had were beautiful in their +simplicity and charm, sometimes wise and shrewd, and not rarely full of +feeling. Thus _laa-noo_ is old Manx for child, and it means literally +half saint--a sweet conception, which says the best of all that +is contained in Wordsworth's wondrous "Ode on the Intimations of +Immortality." _Laa-bee_ is old Manx for bed, literally half-meat, a +profound commentary on the value of rest. The old salutation at the door +of a Manx cottage before the visitor entered was this word spoken +from the porch: _Vel peccaghs thie?_ Literally: Any sinner within? All +humanity being sinners in the common speech of the Manx people. + + +MANX PROVERBS + +Nearly akin to the language of a race are its proverbs, and some of the +Manx proverbs are wise, witty, and racy of the soil. Many of them are +the common possession of all peoples. Of such kind is "There's many +a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." Here is one which sounds like an +Eastern saying: "Learning is fine clothes for the rich man, and riches +for the poor man." But I know of no foreign parentage for a proverb like +this: "A green hill when far away; bare, bare when it is near." + +That may be Eastern also. It hints of a long weary desert; no grass, +no water, and then the cruel mirage that breaks down the heart of the +wayfarer at last. On the other hand, it is not out of harmony with +the landscape of Man, where the mountains look green sometimes from a +distance when they are really bare and stark, and so typify that waste +of heart when life is dry of the moisture of hope, and all the world is +as a parched wilderness. However, there is one proverb which is so Manx +in spirit that I could almost take oath on its paternity, so exactly +does it fit the religious temper of our people, though it contains a +word that must strike an English ear as irreverent: "When one poor man +helps another poor man, God himself laughs." + + +MANX BALLADS + +Next to the proverbs of a race its songs are the best expression of its +spirit, and though Manx songs are few, some of them are full of Manx +character. Always their best part is the air. A man called Barrow +compiled the Manx tunes about the beginning of the century, but his book +is scarce. In my ignorance of musical science I can only tell you how +the little that is left of Manx music lives in the ear of a man who does +not know one note from another. Much of it is like a wail of the wind in +a lonely place near to the sea, sometimes like the soughing of the long +grass, sometimes like the rain whipping the panes of a window as +with rods. Nearly always long-drawn like a moan rarely various, never +martial, never inspiriting, often sad and plaintive, as of a people +kept under, but loving liberty, poor and low down, but with souls alive, +looking for something, and hoping on,--full of the brine, the salt foam, +the sad story of the sea. Nothing would give you a more vivid sense of +the Manx people than some of our old airs. They would seem to take you +into a little whitewashed cottage with sooty rafters and earthen floor, +where an old man who looks half like a sailor and half like a landsman +is dozing before a peat fire that is slumbering out. Have I in my +musical benightedness conveyed an idea of anything musical? If not, let +me, by the only vehicle natural to me, give you the rough-shod words of +one or two of our old ballads. There is a ballad, much in favour, called +_Ny kirree fo niaghey_, the Sheep under the Snow. Another, yet better +known, is called _Myle Charaine_. This has sometimes been called the +Manx National Air, but that is a fiction. The song has nothing to do +with the Manx as a nation. Perhaps it is merely a story of a miser +and his daughter's dowry. Or perhaps it tells of pillage, probably of +wrecking, basely done, and of how the people cut the guilty one off from +all intercourse with them. + + O, Myle Charaine, where got you your gold? + Lone, lone, you have left me here, + O, not in the curragh, deep under the mould, + Lone, lone, and void of cheer. + +This sounds poor enough, but it would be hard to say how deeply this +ballad, wedded to its wailing music, touches and moves a Manxman. Even +to my ear as I have heard it in Manx, it has seemed to be one of the +weirdest things in old ballad literature, only to be matched by some of +the old Irish songs, and by the gruesome ditty which tells how "the sun +shines fair on Carlisle wa'." + + +MANX CAROLS + +The paraphrase I have given you was done by George Borrow, who once +visited the island. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown met him and showed +him several collections of Manx carols, and he pronounced them all +translations from the English, not excepting our famous _Drogh Vraane_, +or carol of every bad woman whose story is told in the Bible, beginning +with the story of mother Eve herself. And, indeed, you will not be +surprised that to the shores of our little island have drifted all +kinds of miscellaneous rubbish, and that the Manxmen, from their very +simplicity and ignorance of other literatures, have had no means of +sifting the flotsam and assigning value to the constituents. Besides +this, they are so irresponsible, have no literary conscience, and +accordingly have appropriated anything and everything. This is true of +some Manx ballads, and perhaps also of many Manx carols. The carols, +called Carvals in Manx, serve in Man, as in other countries, the purpose +of celebrating the birth of Jesus, but we have one ancient custom +attached to them which we can certainly claim for our own, so Manx is +it, so quaint, so grimly serious, and withal so howlingly ludicrous. + +It is called the service of Oiel Verree, probably a corruption of +_Feaill Vorrey_, literally the Feast of Mary, and it is held in the +parish church near to midnight on Christmas Eve. Scott describes it in +"Peveril of the Peak," but without personal knowledge. + +Services are still held in many churches on Christmas Eve; and I think +they are called Oiel Verree, but the true Oiel Verree, the real, pure, +savage, ridiculous, sacrilegious old Oiel Verree, is gone. I myself just +came in time for it; I saw the last of it, nevertheless I saw it at its +prime, for I saw it when it was so strong that it could not live any +longer. Let me tell you what it was. + +The story carries me back to early boyish years, when, from the lonely +school-house on the bleak top of Maughold Head, I was taken in secret, +one Christmas Eve, between nine and ten o'clock, to the old church of +Kirk Maughold, a parish which longer than any other upheld the rougher +traditions. My companion was what is called an original. His name was +Billy Corkill. We were great chums. I would be thirteen, he was about +sixty. Billy lived alone in a little cottage on the high-road, and +worked in the fields. He had only one coat all the years I knew him. It +seemed to have been blue to begin with, but when it had got torn Billy +had patched it with anything that was handy, from green cloth to red +flannel. He called it his Joseph's coat of many colours. Billy was a +poet and a musical composer. He could not read a word, but he would +rather have died than confess his ignorance. He kept books and +newspapers always about him, and when he read out of them, he usually +held them upside down. If any one remarked on that, he said he could +read them any way up--that was where his scholarship came in. Billy was +a great carol singer. He did not know a note, but he never sang except +from music. His tunes were wild harmonies that no human ear ever heard +before. It will be clear to you that old Billy was a man of genius. + +Such was my comrade on that Christmas Eve long ago. It had been a bitter +winter in the Isle of Man, and the ground was covered with snow. But the +church bells rang merrily over the dark moorland, for Oiel Verree was +peculiarly the people's service, and the ringers were ringing in the one +service of the year at which the parishioners supplanted the Vicar, and +appropriated the old parish church. In spite of the weather, the church +was crowded with a motley throng, chiefly of young folks, the young men +being in the nave, and the girls (if I remember rightly) in the little +loft at the west end. Most of the men carried tallow dips, tied +about with bits of ribbon in the shape of rosettes, duly lighted, and +guttering grease at intervals on to the book-ledge or the tawny fingers +of them that held them. It appeared that there had been an ordinary +service before we arrived, and the Vicar was still within the rails +of the communion. From there he addressed some parting words of solemn +warning to the noisy throng of candle-carriers. As nearly as I can +remember, the address was this: "My good people, you are about to +celebrate an old custom. For my part, I have no sympathy with such +customs, but since the hearts of my parishioners seem to be set on +this one, I have no wish to suppress it. But tumultuous and disgraceful +scenes have occurred on similar occasions in previous years, and I +beg you to remember that you are in God's house," &c. &c. The grave +injunction was listened to in silence, and when it ended, the Vicar, a +worthy but not very popular man, walked towards the vestry. To do so, +he passed the pew where I sat under the left arm of my companion, and he +stopped before him, for Billy had long been a notorious transgressor at +Oiel Verree. + +"See that you do not disgrace my church to-night," said the Vicar. But +Billy had a biting tongue. + +"Aw, well," said he, "I'm thinking the church is the people's." + +"The people are as ignorant as goats," said the Vicar. + +"Aw, then," said Billy, "you are the shepherd, so just make sheeps of +them." + +At that the Vicar gave us the light of his countenance no more. The last +glimpse of his robe going through the vestry door was the signal for a +buzz of low gossip, and straightway the business of Oiel Verree began. + +It must have been now approaching eleven o'clock, and two old greybeards +with tousled heads placed themselves abreast at the door of the west +porch. There they struck up a carol in a somewhat lofty key. It was a +most doleful ditty. Certainly I have never since heard the like of it. +I remember that it told the story of the Crucifixion in startling +language, full of realism that must have been horribly ghastly, if it +had not been so comic. At the end of each verse the singers made one +stride towards the communion. There were some thirty verses, and every +mortal verse did these zealous carollers give us. They came to an end at +length, and then another old fellow rose in his pew and sang a ditty +in Manx. It told of the loss of the herring-fleet in Douglas Bay in the +last century. After that there was yet another and another carol--some +that might be called sacred, others that would not be badly wronged with +the name of profane. As I recall them now, they were full of a burning +earnestness, and pictured the dangers of the sinner and the punishment +of the damned. They said nothing about the joys of heaven, or the +pleasures of life. Wherever these old songs came from they must have +dated from some period of religious revival. The Manxman may have +appropriated them, but if he did so he was in a deadly earnest mood. It +must have been like stealing a hat-band. + +My comrade had been silent all this time, but in response to various +winks, nods, and nudges, he rose to his feet. Now, in prospect of Oiel +Verree I had written the old man a brand new carol. It was a mighty +achievement in the sentimental vein. I can remember only one of its +couplets: + + Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in a holy union. + +I am not very sure what this may mean, and Billy must have been in the +same uncertainty. Shall I ever forget what happened? Billy standing in +the pew with my paper in his hand the wrong way up. Myself by his side +holding a candle to him. Then he began to sing. It was an awful tune--I +think he called it sevens--but he made common-sense of my doggerel by +one alarming emendation. When he came to the couplet I have given you, +what do you think he sang? + + "Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in--a hollow onion!" + +Billy must have been a humorist. He is long dead, poor old Billy. God +rest him! + + +DECAY OF THE MANX LANGUAGE + +If in this unscientific way I have conveyed my idea of Manx carvals, +Manx ballads, or Manx proverbs, you will not be surprised to hear me say +that I do not think that any of these, can live long apart from the Manx +language. We may have stolen most of them; they may have been wrecked on +our coast, and we may have smuggled them; but as long as they wear our +native homespun clothes they are ours, and as soon as they put it off +they cease to belong to us. A Manx proverb is no longer a Manx proverb +when it is in English. The same is true of a Manx ballad translated, and +of a Manx carval turned into an English carol. What belongs to us, +our way of saying things, in a word, our style, is gone. The spirit is +departed, and that which remains is only an English ghost flitting about +in Manx grave-clothes. + +Now this is a sad fact, for it implies that little as we have got of +Manx literature, whether written or oral, we shall soon have none at +all. Our Manx language is fast dying out. If we had any great work in +the Manx tongue, that work alone would serve to give our language a +literary life at least. But we have no such great work, no fine Manx +poem, no good novel in Manx, not even a Manx sermon of high mark. Thus +far our Manx language has kept alive our pigmies of Manx literature; but +both are going down together. The Manx is not much spoken now. In +the remoter villages, like Cregnesh, Ballaugh, Kirk Michael, and Kirk +Andreas, it may still be heard. Moreover, the Manxman may hear Manx a +hundred times for every time an Englishman hears it. But the younger +generation of Manx folk do not speak Manx, and very often do not +understand it. This is a rapid change on the condition of things in my +own boyhood. Manx is to me, for all practical uses, an unknown tongue. +I cannot speak it, I cannot follow it when spoken, I have only a sort +of nodding acquaintance with it out of door, and yet among my earliest +recollections is that of a household where nothing but Manx was ever +spoken except to me. A very old woman, almost bent double over a +spinning wheel, and calling me Hommy-Veg, and _baugh-millish_, and so +forth. This will suggest that the Manx people are themselves responsible +for the death of the Manx language. That is partly true. The Manx tongue +was felt to be an impediment to intercourse with the English people. +Then the great English immigration set in, and the Isle of Man became a +holiday resort. That was the doomster of the Manx language. In another +five-and-twenty years the Manx language will be as dead as a Manx +herring. + +One cannot but regret this certain fate. I dare not say that the +language itself is so good that it ought to live. Those who know it +better say that "it's a fine old tongue, rich and musical, full of +meaning and expression." {*} I know that it is at least forcible, and +loud and deep in sound. I will engage two Manxmen quarrelling in Manx +to make more noise in a given time than any other two human brethren in +Christendom, not excepting two Irishmen. Also I think the Manx must be +capable of notes of sweet feeling, and I observe that a certain higher +lilt in a Manx woman's voice, suggesting the effort to speak about the +sound of the sea, and the whistle of the wind in the gorse, is lost in +the voices of the younger women who speak English only. But apart from +tangible loss, I regret the death of the Manx tongue on grounds of +sentiment. In this old tongue our fathers played as children, bought and +sold as men, prayed, preached, gossiped, quarrelled, and made love. It +was their language at Tynwald; they sang their grim carvals in it, and +their wailing, woful ballads. + + * The Rev. T. E. Brown. + +When it is dead more than half of all that makes us Manxmen will be +gone. Our individuality will be lost, the greater barrier that separates +us from other peoples will be broken down. Perhaps this may have its +advantages, but surely it is not altogether a base desire not to be +submerged into all the races of the earth. The tower of Babel is built, +the tongues of the builders are confounded, and we are not all anxious +to go back and join the happy family that lived in one ark. + +But aside from all lighter thoughts there is something very moving and +pathetic in the death of an old language. Permit me to tell you, not +as a philologist, a character to which I have no claim, but as an +imaginative writer, how the death of an ancient tongue affects me. It is +unlike any other form of death, for an unwritten language is even as a +breath of air which when it is spent leaves no trace behind. A nation +may die, yet its history remains, and that is the tangible part of its +past. A city may fall to decay and lie a thousand years under the sands +of the desert, yet its relics revivify its life. But a language that is +dead, a tongue that has no life in its literature, is a breath of wind +that is gone. A little while and it went from lip to lip, from lip to +ear; it came we know not whence; it has passed we know not where. It was +an embodied spirit of all man's joys and sorrows, and like a spirit it +has vanished away. + +Then if this old language has been that of our own people its death is a +loss to our affections. Indeed, language gets so close to our heart that +we can hardly separate it from our emotions. If you do not speak the +Italian language, ask yourself whether Dante comes as close to you as +Shakespeare, all questions of genius and temperament apart. And if Dante +seems a thousand miles away, and Shakespeare enters into your closest +chamber, is it not first of all because the language of Shakespeare is +your own language, alive with the life that is in your own tongue, vital +with your own ways of thought and even tricks and whims of speech? Let +English die, and Shakespeare goes out of your closet, and passes away +from you, and is then your brother-Englishman only in name. So close is +the bond of language, so sweet and so mysterious. + +But there is yet a more sacred bond with the language of our fathers +when it can have no posthumous life in books. This is the bond of love. +Think what it is that you miss first and longest when death robs you of +a friend. Is it not the living voice? The living face you can bring back +in memory, and in your dark hours it will shine on you still; the good +deed can never die; the noble thought lives for ever. Death is not +conqueror over such as these, but the human voice, the strange and +beautiful part of us that is half spirit in life, is lost in death. For +a while it startles us as an echo in an empty chamber, and then it is +gone, and not all the world's wealth could bring one note of it back. +And such as the vanishing away of the voice of the friend we loved is +the death of the old tongue which our fathers spoke. _It is the death of +the dead_. + + +MANX SUPERSTITIONS + +When the Manx tongue is dead there will remain, however, just one badge +of our race--our superstition. I am proud to tell you that we are the +most superstitious people now left among the civilised nations of the +world. This is a distinction in these days when that poetry of life, +as Goethe names it, is all but gone from the face of the earth. Manxmen +have not yet taken the poetry out of the moon and the stars, and the +mist of the mountains and the wail of the sea. Of course we are ashamed +of the survival of our old beliefs and try to hide them, but let nobody +say that as a people we believe no longer in charms, and the evil eye, +and good spirits and bad. I know we do. It would be easy to give you a +hundred illustrations. I remember an ill-tempered old body living on +the Curragh, who was supposed to possess the evil eye. If a cow died at +calving, she had witched it. If a baby cried suddenly in its sleep, +the old witch must have been going by on the road. If the potatoes +were blighted, she had looked over the hedge at them. There was a charm +doctor in Kirk Andreas, named Teare-Ballawhane. He was before my time, +but I recall many stories of him. When a cow was sick of the witching of +the woman of the Curragh, the farmer fled over to Kirk Andreas for the +charm of the charm-doctor. From the moment Teare-Ballawhane began to +boil his herbs the cow recovered. If the cow died after all, there was +some fault in the farmer. I remember a child, a girl, who twenty years +ago had a birth-mark on her face--a broad red stain like a hand on her +cheek. Not long since, I saw her as a young woman, and the stain was +either gone entirely or hidden by her florid complexion. When I asked +what had been done for her, I heard that a good woman had charmed her. +"Aw, yes," said the girl's mother, "a few good words do no harm anyway." +Not long ago I met an old fellow in Onchan village who believed in the +Nightman, an evil spirit who haunts the mountains at night predicting +tempests and the doom of ships, the _dooinney-oie_ of the Manx, akin to +the _banshee_ of the Irish. "Aw, man," said he, "it was up Snaefell way, +and I was coming from Kirk Michael over, and it was black dark, and I +heard the Nightman after me, shoutin' and wailin' morthal, _how-la-a, +how-a-a_. But I didn't do nothin', no, and he came up to me lek a besom, +and went past me same as a flood, _who-o-o!_ And I lerr him! Aw, yes, +man, yes!" + +I remember many a story of fairies, some recited half in humour, +others in grim earnest. One old body told me that on the night of her +wedding-day, coming home from the Curragh, whither she had stolen away +in pursuit of a belated calf, she was chased in the moonlight by a +troop of fairies. They held on to her gown, and climbed on her back, and +perched on her shoulders, and clung to her hair. There were "hundreds +and tons" of them; they were about as tall as a wooden broth-ladle, and +all wore cocked-hats and velvet jackets. + +A good fairy long inhabited the Isle of Man. He was called in Manx the +Phynnodderee. It would appear that he had two brothers of like +features with himself, one in Scotland called the Brownie, the other in +Scandinavia called the Swart-alfar. + +I have often heard how on a bad night the Manx folk would go off to bed +early so that the Phynnodderee might come in out of the cold. Before +going upstairs they built up the fire, and set the kitchen table with +crocks of milk and pecks of oaten cake for the entertainment of their +guest. Then while they slept the Phynnodderee feasted, yet he always +left the table exactly as he found it, eating the cake and drinking the +milk, but filling up the peck and the crock afresh. Nobody ever intruded +upon him, so nobody ever saw him, save the Manx Peeping Tom. I remember +hearing an old Manxman say that his curiosity overcame his reverence, +and he "leff the wife," stepped out of bed, crept to the head of the +stairs, and peeped over the banisters into the kitchen. There he saw +the Phynnodderee sitting in his own arm-chair, with a great company of +brother and sister fairies about him, baking bread on the griddle, and +chattering together like linnets in spring. But he could not understand +a word they were saying. + +I have told you that the Manxman is not built by nature for a gallant. +He has one bad fairy, and she is the embodied spirit of a beautiful +woman. Manx folk-lore, like Manx carvals, Manx ballads, and Manx +proverbs, takes it for a bad sign of a woman's character that she has +personal beauty. If she is beautiful, ten to one she is a witch. That is +how it happens that there are so many witches in the Isle of Man. + +The story goes that a beautiful wicked witch entrapped the men of the +island. They would follow her anywhere. So she led them into the sea, +and they were all drowned. Then the women of the island went forth to +punish her, and, to escape from them, she took the form of a wren and +flew away. That is how it comes about that the poor little wren is +hunted and killed on St. Stephen's Day. The Manx lads do it, though +surely it ought to be the Manx maidens. At midnight they sally forth in +great companies, armed with sticks and carrying torches. They beat the +hedges until they light on a wren's nest, and, having started the wren +and slaughtered it, they suspend the tiny mite to the middle of a long +pole, which is borne by two lads from shoulder to shoulder. They then +sing a rollicking native ditty, of which one version runs:-- + + We'll hunt the wren, says Robbin the Bobbin; + We'll hunt the wren, says Richard the Robbin; + We'll hunt the wren, says Jack of the Lan'; + We'll hunt the wren, says every one. + +But Robbin the Bobbin and Richard the Robbin are not the only creatures +who have disappeared into the sea. The fairies themselves have also gone +there. They inhabit Man no more. A Wesleyan preacher declared some years +ago that he witnessed the departure of all the Manx fairies from the Bay +of Douglas. They went away in empty rum puncheons, and scudded before +the wind as far as the eye could reach, in the direction of Jamaica. So +we have done with them, both good and bad. + +However, among the witches whom we have left to us in remote corners of +the island is the very harmless one called the Queen of the Mheillia. +Her rural Majesty is a sort of first cousin of the Queen of the May. The +Mheillia is the harvest-home. It is a picturesque ceremonial, observed +differently in different parts. Women and girls follow the reapers +to gather and bind the corn after it has fallen to the swish of the +sickles. A handful of the standing corn of the last of the farmer's +fields is tied about with ribbon. Nobody but the farmer knows where that +handful is, and the girl who comes upon it by chance is made the Queen +of the Mheillia. She takes it to the highest eminence near, and waves +it, and her fellow-reapers and gleaners shout huzzas. Their voices are +heard through the valley, where other farmers and other reapers +and gleaners stop in their work and say, "So-and-so's Mheillia!" +"Ballamona's Mheillia's took!" That night the farmer gives a feast in +his barn to celebrate the getting in of his harvest, and the close of +the work of the women at the harvesting. Sheep's heads for a change on +Manx herrings, English ale for a change on Manx jough; then dancing led +by the mistress, to the tune of a fiddle, played faster and wilder +as the night advances, reel and jig, jig and reel. This pretty rural +festival is still observed, though it has lost much of its quaintness. I +think I can just remember to have heard the shouts of the Mheillia from +the breasts of the mountains. + +You will have gathered that in no part of the world could you find +a more reckless and ill-conditioned breeding-ground of suppositions, +legends, traditions, and superstitions than in the Isle of Man. The +custom of hunting the wren is widely spread throughout Ireland; and if +I were to tell you of Manx wedding customs, Manx burial customs, Manx +birth customs, May day, Lammas, Good Friday, New Year, and Christmas +customs, you would recognise in the Manxman the same irresponsible +tendency to appropriate whatever flotsam drifts to his shore. What I +have told you has come mainly of my own observation, but for a complete +picture of Manx manners and customs, beliefs and superstitions, I will +refer you to William Kennish's "Mona's Isle, and other Poems," a rare +book, with next to no poetic quality, and containing much that is +worthless, but having a good body of real native stuff in it, such as +cannot be found elsewhere. A still better anthology is likely to be soon +forthcoming from the pen of Mr. A. W. Moore (the excellent editor of +"Manx Names") and the press of Mr. Nutt. + +It is easy to laugh at these old superstitions, so childish do they +seem, so foolish, so ignorant. But shall we therefore set ourselves so +much above our fathers because they were slaves to them, and we believe +them not? Bethink you. Are we so much wiser, after all? How much farther +have we got? We know the mists of Mannanan. They are only the vapours +from the south, creeping along the ridge of our mountains, going north. +Is that enough to know? We know the cold eye of the evil man, whose mere +presence hurts us, and the warm eye of the born physician, whose mere +presence heals us. Does that tell us everything? We hear the moans which +the sea sends up to the mountains, when storms are coming, and ships are +to be wrecked, and we do not call them the voices of the Nightman, but +only the voices of the wind. We have changed the name; but we have taken +none of the mystery and marvel out of the thing itself. It is the Wind +for us; it was the Nightman for our fathers. That is nearly all. +The wind bloweth where it listeth. We are as far off as ever. Our +superstitions remain, only we call them Science, and try not to be +afraid of them. But we are as little children after all, and the best of +us are those that, being wisest, see plainest that, before the wonders +and terrors of the great world we live in, we are children, walking +hand-in-hand in fear. + + +MANX STORIES + +You will say that there ought to be many good stories of a people like +the Manx; and here again I have to confess to you that the absence of +all literary conscience, all perception of keeping and relation, all +sense of harmony and congruity in the Manxman has so demoralised our +anecdotal _ana_ that I hesitate to offer you certain of the best of +our Manx yarns from fear that they may be venerable English, Irish, and +Scotch familiars. I will content myself with a few that bear undoubted +Manx lineaments. As an instance of Manx hospitality, simple and rude, +but real and hearty, I think you would go the world over to match this. +The late Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown, a Manxman, brother of the most famous +of living Manxmen, and himself our North-country Spurgeon, with his +wife, his sister, and his mother, were belated one evening up Baldwin +Glen, and stopped at a farm-house to inquire their way. But the farmer +would not hear of their going a step further. "Aw, nonsense!" he said. +"What's the use of talkin', man? You'll be stoppin' with us to-night. +Aw 'deed ye will, though. The women can get along together aisy, and +_you're a clane lookin' sort o' chap; you'll be sleepin' with me!_" + +In the old days of, say, two steamboats a week to England the old Manx +captains of the Steamboat Company were notorious soakers. There is a +story of one of them who had the Archdeacon of the island aboard in a +storm. It was night. The reverend Archdeacon was in an agony of pain and +terror. He inquired anxiously of the weather. The captain, very drunk, +answered, "If it doesn't mend we'll all be in heaven before morning, +Archdeacon!" "Oh, God forbid, captain," cried the Archdeacon. + +I have said what true work for religion Nonconformity must have done +in those evil days when the clergy of the Athols were more busy with +backgammon than with theology. But the religion of the old type of Manx +Methodist was often an amusing mixture of puritanism and its opposite, +a sort of grim, white-faced sanctity, that was never altogether free of +the suspicion of a big boisterous laugh behind it. The Methodist local +preachers have been the real guardians and repositories of one side +of the Manx genius, a curious, hybrid thing, deadly earnest, often +howlingly ludicrous, simple, generally sincere, here and there +audaciously hypocritical. Among local preachers I remember some of the +sweetest, purest, truest men that ever walked this world of God; but +I also remember a > man who was brought home from market on Saturday +night, dead drunk, across the bottom of his cart drawn by his faithful +horse, and I saw him in the pulpit next morning, and heard his sermon on +the evils of backsliding. There is a story of the jealousy of two local +preachers. The one went to hear the other preach. The preacher laid out +his subject under a great many heads, firstly, secondly, thirdly, up to +tenthly. His rival down below in the pew spat and _haw'd_ and _tchut'd_ +a good deal, and at last, quite impatient of getting no solid religious +food, cried aloud, "Give us mate, man, give us mate!" Whereupon the +preacher leaned over the pulpit cushion, and said, "Hould on, man, till +I've done with the carving." + +But to tell of Happy Dan, and his wondrous sermon on the Prodigal Son +at the Clover Stones, Lonan, and his discourse on the swine possessed +of devils who went "triddle-traddle, triddle-traddle down the brews and +were clane drownded;" and of the marvellous account of how King David +remonstrated in broadest Manx _patois_ with the "pozzle-tree," for being +blown down; and then of the grim earnestness of a good man who could +never preach on a certain text without getting wet through to the +waistcoat with perspiration--to open the flood-gates of this kind of +Manx story would be to liberate a reservoir that would hardly know an +end, so I must spare you. + + +MANX "CHARACTERS" + +At various points of my narrative I have touched on certain of our +eccentric Manx "characters." But perhaps more interesting than any such +whom I have myself met with are some whom I have known only by repute. +These children of Nature are after all the truest touchstones of a +nation's genius. Crooked, distorted, deformed, they nevertheless, and +perhaps therefore, show clearly the bent of their race. If you are +without brake or curb you may be blind, but you must know when you are +going down hill. The curb of education, and the brake of common-sense +are the surest checks on a people's individuality. And these poor +halfwits of the Manx race, wiser withal than many of the Malvolios who +smile on them so demurely, exhibit the two great racial qualities of +the Manx people--the Celtic and the Norse--in vivid companionship and +contrast. It is an amusing fact that in some wild way the bardic spirit +breaks out in all of them. They are all singers, either of their own +songs, or the songs of others. That surely is the Celtic strain in them. +But their songs are never of the joys of earth or of love, or yet of +war; never, like the rustic poetry of the Scotch, full of pawky humour; +never cynical, never sarcastic; only concerned with the terrors of +judgment and damnation and the place of torment. That, also, may be a +fierce and dark development of the Celtic strain, but I see more of the +Norse spirit in it. When my ancient bard in Glen Rushen took down his +thumb-marked, greasy, discoloured poems from the "lath" against the +open-timbered ceiling, and read them aloud to me in his broad Manx +dialect, with a sing-song of voice and a swinging motion of body, while +the loud hailstorm pelted the window pane and the wind whistled round +the house, I found they were all startling and almost ghastly appeals to +the sinner to shun his evil courses. One of them ran like this: + + +HELL IS HOT. + + O sinner, see your dangerous state, + And think of hell ere 'tis too late; + When worldly cares would drown each thought, + Pray call to mind that hell is hot. + Still to increase your godly fears, + Let this be sounding in your ears, + Still bear in mind that hell is hot, + Remember and forget it not. + + +There was another poem about a congregation of the dead in the region of +the damned: + + I found a reverend parson there, + A congregation too, + Bowed on their bended knees at prayer, + As they were wont to do. + But soon my heart was struck with pain, + I thought it truly odd, + The parson's prayer did not contain + A word concerning God. + +You will remember the Danish book called "Letters from Hell," containing +exactly the same idea, and conclude that the Manx bard was poking fun at +some fashionable yet worldly-minded preacher. But no; he was too much a +child of Nature for that. + +There is not much satire in the Manx character, and next to no cynicism +at all. The true Manxman is white-hot. I have heard of one, John Gale, +called the Manx Burns, who lampooned the upstarts about him, and also of +one, Tom the Dipper, an itinerant Manx bard, who sang at fairs; but in a +general way the Manx bard has been a deadly earnest person, most at home +in churchyards. There was one such, akin in character to my old friend +Billy of Maughold, but of more universal popularity, a quite privileged +pet of everybody, a sort of sacred being, though as crazy as man may be, +called Chalse-a-Killey. Chaise was scarcely a bard, but a singer of +the songs of bards. He was a religious monomaniac, who lived before his +time, poor fellow; his madness would not be seen in him now. The idol +of his crazed heart was Bishop Wilson. He called him _dear_ and _sweet_, +vowed he longed to die, just that he might meet him in heaven; then +Wilson would take him by the hand, and he would tell him all his mind, +and together they would set up a printing press, with the types of +diamonds, and print hymns, and send them back to the Isle of Man. Poor, +'wildered brain, haunted by "half-born thoughts," not all delusions, but +quaint and grotesque. Full of valiant fury, Chaise was always ready to +fight for his distorted phantom of the right. When an uncle of my +own died, whose name I bear, Chaise shocked all the proprieties by +announcing his intention of walking in front of the funeral procession +through the streets and singing his terrible hymns. He would yield to +no persuasion, no appeals, and no threats. He had promised the dead man +that he would do this, and he would not break his oath to save his life. +It was agony to the mourners, but they had to submit. Chaise fulfilled +his vow, walked ten yards in front, sang his fierce music with the tears +streaming from his wild eyes down his quivering face. But the spectacle +let loose no unseemly mirth. Nobody laughed, and surely if the heaven +that Chaise feared was listening and looking down, his crazy voice was +not the last to pierce the dome of it. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown +has written a touching and beautiful poem, "To Chaise in Heaven": + + So you are gone, dear Chaise! + Ah well; it was enough-- + The ways were cold, the ways were rough, + O Heaven! O home! + No more to roam, + Chaise, poor Chaise! + And now it's all so plain, dear Chaise! + So plain-- + The 'wildered brain, + The joy, the pain + The phantom shapes that haunted, + The half-born thoughts that daunted: + All, all is plain, + Dear Chaise! + All is plain. + +***** + + Ah now, dear Chaise! of all the radiant host, + Who loves you most? + I think I know him, kneeling on his knees; + Is it Saint Francis of Assise? + Chaise, poor Chaise. + + +MANX CHARACTERISTICS + +I have rambled on too long about my eccentric Manx characters, and left +myself little space for a summary of the soberer Manx characteristics. +These are independence, modesty, a degree of sloth, a non-sanguine +temperament, pride, and some covetousness. This uncanny combination of +characteristics is perhaps due to our mixed Celtic and Norse blood. Our +independence is pure Norse. I have never met the like of it, except in +Norway, where a Bergen policeman who had hunted all the morning for my +lost umbrella would not take anything for his pains; and in Iceland, +where a poor old woman in a ragged woollen dress, a torn hufa on her +head, torn skin shoes on her feet, and with rheumatism playing visible +havoc all over her body, refused a kroner with the dignity, grave look, +stiffened lips, and proud head that would have become a duchess. But the +Manxman's independence almost reaches a vice. He is so unwilling to owe +anything to any man that he is apt to become self-centred and cold, +and to lose one of the sweetest joys of life--that of receiving great +favours from those we greatly love, between whom and ourselves there is +no such thing as an obligation, and no such thing as a debt. There is +something in the Manxman's blood that makes him hate rank; and though he +has a vast respect for wealth, it must be his own, for he will take off +his hat to nobody else's. + +The modesty of the Manxman reaches shyness, and his shyness is capable +of making him downright rude. One of my friends tells a charming story, +very characteristic of our people, of a conversation with the men of the +herring-fleet. "We were comin' home from the Shetland fishing, ten boats +of us; and we come to an anchor in a bay. And there was a tremenjis fine +castle there, and a ter'ble great lady. Aw, she was a ter'ble kind lady; +she axed the lot of us (eighty men and boys, eight to each boat) to come +up and have dinner with her. So the day come--well, none of us went! +That shy!" My friend reproved them soundly, and said he wished he knew +who the lady was that he might write to her and apologise. Then followed +a long story of how a breeze sprung up and eight of the boats sailed. +After that the crew of the remaining two boats, sixteen men and boys, +went up to the tremenjis great castle, and the ter'ble great lady, and +had tea. If any lady here present knows a lady on the north-west coast +of Scotland who a year or two back invited eighty Manx men and boys to +dinner, and received sixteen to tea, she will redeem the character of +our race if she will explain that it was not because her hospitality was +not appreciated that it was not accepted by our foolish countrymen. + +There is nothing that more broadly indicates the Norse strain in the +Manx character than the non-sanguine temperament of the Manxmen. Where +the pure Celt will hope anything and promise everything, the Manxman +will hope not at all and promise nothing. "Middling" is the commonest +word in a Manxman's mouth. Hardly anything is entirely good, or wholly +bad, but nearly everything is middling. It's a middling fine day, or a +middling stormy one; the sea is middling smooth or middling rough; the +herring harvest is middling big or middling little; a man is never much +more, than middling tired, or middling well, or middling hungry, or +middling thirsty, and the place you are travelling to is alwaya middling +near or middling far. The true Manxman commits himself to nothing. +When Nelson was shot down at Trafalgar, Cowle, a one-armed Manx +quartermaster, caught him in his remaining arm. This was Cowle's story: +"He fell right into my arms, sir. 'Mr. Cowle,' he says, 'do you think I +shall recover?' 'I think, my lord,' I says, 'we had better wait for the +opinion of the medical man.'" Dear old Cowle, that cautious word showed +you were no Irishman, but a downright middling Manxman. + +I have one more story to tell, and that is of Manx pride, which is a +wondrous thing, usually-very ludicrous. A young farming girl who will go +about barefoot throughout the workdays of the week would rather perish +than not dress in grand attire, after her own sort, on Sunday afternoon. +But Manx pride in dress can be very touching and human. When the +lighthouse was built on the Chickens Rock, the men who were to live in +it were transferred from two old lighthouses on the little islet +called the Calf of Man, but their families were left in the disused +lighthouses. Thus the men were parted from their wives and children, but +each could see the house of the other, and on Sunday mornings the wives +in their old lighthouses always washed and dressed the children and made +them "nice" and paraded them to and fro on the platforms in front of +the doors, and the men in their new lighthouse always looked across the +Sound at their little ones through their powerful telescopes. + + +MANX TYPES + +Surely that is a lovely story, full of real sweetness and pathos. +It reminds me that amid many half-types of dubious quality, selfish, +covetous, quarrelsome, litigious, there are at least two types of Manx +character entirely charming and delightful. The one is the best type of +Manx seaman, a true son of the sea, full of wise saws and proverbs, full +of long yarns and wondrous adventures, up to anything, down to anything, +pragmatical, a mighty moralist in his way, but none the less equal to +a round ringing oath; a sapient adviser putting on the airs of a +philosopher, but as simple as the baby of a girl--in a word, dear old +Tom Baynes of "Fo'c's'le Yarns," old salt, old friend, old rip. The +other type is that of the Manx parish patriarch. This good soul it +would be hard to beat among all the peoples of earth. He unites the best +qualities of both sexes; he is as soft and gentle as a dear old woman, +and as firm of purpose as a strong man. Garrulous, full of platitudes, +easily moved to tears by a story of sorrow and as easily taken in, but +beloved and trusted and reverenced by all the little world about him. +I have known him as a farmer, and seen him sitting at the head of his +table in the farm kitchen, with his sons and daughters and men-servants +and women-servants about him, and, save for ribald gossip, no one of +whatever condition abridged the flow of talk for his presence. I have +known him as a parson, when he has been the father of his parish, the +patriarch of his people, the "ould angel" of all the hillside round +about. Such sweetness in his home life, such nobility, such gentle, +old-fashioned ceremoniousness, such delightful simplicity of manners. +Then when two of these "ould angels" met, two of these Parson Adamses, +living in content on seventy pounds a year, such high talk on great +themes, long hour after long hour in the little low-ceiled Vicarage +study, with no light but the wood fire, which glistened on the diamond +window-pane! And when midnight came seeing each other home, spending +half the night walking to and fro from Vicarage to Vicarage, or turning +out to saddle the horse in the field, but (far away "in wandering mazes +lost") going blandly up to the old cow and putting on the blinkers and +saying, "Here he is, sir." Have we anything like all this in England? +Their type is nearly extinct even in the Isle of Man, where they have +longest survived. And indeed they are not the only good things that are +dying out there. + + +LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS + +The island has next to no literary associations, but it would be +unpardonable in a man of letters if he were to forget the few it can +boast. Joseph Train, our historian, made the acquaintance of Scott in +1814, and during the eighteen years following he rendered important +services to "The Great Unknown" as a collector of some of the legendary +stories used as foundations for what were then called the Scotch Novels. +But it is a common error that Train found the groundwork of the Manx +part of "Peveril of the Peak." It was Scott who directed Train to the +Isle of Man as a fine subject for study. Scott's brother Thomas lived +there, and no doubt this was the origin of Scott's interest in the +island. Scott himself never set foot on it. Wordsworth visited the +island about 1823, and he recorded his impressions in various sonnets, +and also in the magnificent lines on Peel Castle--"I was thy neighbour +once, thou rugged pile." He also had a relative living there--Miss +Hutchinson, his sister-in-law. A brother of this lady, a mariner, lies +buried in Braddan churchyard, and his tombstone bears an epitaph which +Wordsworth indited. The poet spent a summer at Peel, pitching his tent +above what is now called Peveril Terrace. One of my friends tried long +ago to pump up from this sapless soil some memory of Wordsworth, but no +one could remember anything about him. Shelley is another poet of whom +there remains no trace in the Isle of Man. He visited the island early +in 1812, being driven into Douglas harbour by contrary winds on his +voyage from Cumberland to Ireland. He was then almost unknown; Harriet +was still with him, and his head was full of political reforms. The +island was in a state of some turmoil, owing to the unpopularity of +the Athols, who still held manorial rights and the patronage of the +Bishopric. The old Norse Constitution was intact, and the House of Keys +was then a self-elected chamber. It is not wonderful that Shelley made +no impression on Man in 1812, but it is surprising that Man seems to +have made no impression on Shelley. It made a very sensible impression +on Hawthorne, who left his record in the "English Note Book." + + +MANX PROGRESS + +I am partly conscious that throughout these lectures I have kept my face +towards the past. That has been because I have been loth to look at the +present, and almost afraid to peep into the future. The Isle of Man is +not now what it was even five-and-twenty years ago. It has become +too English of late. The change has been sudden. Quite within my own +recollection England seemed so far away that there was something beyond +conception moving and impressive in the effect of it and its people upon +the imagination of the Manx. There were only about two steamers a week +between England and the Isle of Man at that time. Now there are about +two a day. There are lines of railway on this little plot of land, which +you might cross on foot between breakfast and lunch, and cover from +end to end in a good day's walk. This is, of course, a necessity of the +altered conditions, as also, no doubt, are the parades, and esplanades, +and promenades, and iron piers, and marine carriage drives, and Eiffel +Tower, and old castles turned into Vauxhall Gardens, and fairy glens +into "happy day" Roshervilles. God forbid that I should grudge the +factory hand his breath of the sea and glimpse of the gorse-bushes; but +I know what price we are paying that we may entertain him. + +Our young Manxman is already feeling the English immigration on his +character. He is not as good a man as his father was before him. I dare +say that in his desire to make everything English that is Manx, he +may some day try to abolish the House of Keys, or at least dig up the +Tynwald Hill. In one fit of intermittent mania, he has already attempted +to "restore" the grand ruins of Peel Castle, getting stones from +Whitehaven, filling up loop-holes, and doing other indecencies with +the great works of the dead. All this could be understood if the young +Manxman were likely to be much the richer for the changes he is bringing +about. But he is not; the money that comes from England is largely taken +by English people, and comes back to England. + + +CONCLUSION + +From these ungracious thoughts let me turn again, in a last word, to +the old island itself, the true Mannin-veg-Veen of the real Manxman. In +these lectures you have seen it only as in flashes from a dark lantern. +I am conscious that an historian would have told you so much more of +solid fact that you might have carried away tangible ideas. Fact is not +my domain, and I shall have to be content if in default of it I have got +you close to that less palpable thing, the living heart of Manx-land, +shown you our island, helped you to see its blue waters and to scent its +golden gorse, and to know the Manxman from other men. Sometimes I have +been half ashamed to ask you to look at our countrymen, so rude are they +and so primitive--russet-coated, currane-shod men and women, untaught, +superstitious, fishing the sea, tilling their stony land, playing next +to no part in the world, and only gazing out on it as a mystery far +away, whereof the rumour comes over the great waters. No great man among +us, no great event in our history, nothing to make us memorable. But I +have been re-assured when I have remembered that, after all, to look on +a life so simple and natural might even be a tonic. Here we are in the +heart of the mighty world, which the true Manxman knows only by vague +report; millions on millions huddled together, enough to make five +hundred Isles of Man, more than all the Manxmen that have lived since +the days of Orry, more than all that now walk on the island, added to +all that rest under it; streets on streets of us, parks on parks, living +a life that has no touch of Nature in the ways of it; save only in our +own breasts, which often rebel against our surroundings, struggling +with weariness under their artificiality, and the wild travesty of what +we are made for. Do what we will, and be what we may, sometimes we feel +the falseness of our ways of life, and surely it is then a good and +wholesome thing to go back in thought to such children of Nature as my +homespun Manx people, and see them where Nature placed them, breathing +the free air of God's proper world, and living the right lives of His +servants, though so simple, poor, and rude. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + +***** This file should be named 25571-0.txt or 25571-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/7/25571/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/25571-0.zip b/25571-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..76ffd4e --- /dev/null +++ b/25571-0.zip diff --git a/25571-8.txt b/25571-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6b0a73 --- /dev/null +++ b/25571-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3491 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Manx Nation - 1891 + +Author: Hall Caine + +Release Date: May 23, 2008 [EBook #25571] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE LITTLE MANX NATION + +By Hall Caine + +Published by William Heinemann - 1891 + + +To the REVEREND T. S. BROWN, M.A. + +You see what I send you--my lectures at the Royal Institution in the +Spring. In making a little book of them I have thought it best to +leave them as they were delivered, with all the colloquialisms that are +natural to spoken words frankly exposed to cold print. This does not +help them to any particular distinction as literature, but perhaps it +lends them an ease and familiarity which may partly atone to you and to +all good souls for their plentiful lack of dignity. I have said so often +that I am not an historian, that I ought to add that whatever history +lies hidden here belongs to Train, our only accredited chronicler, +and, even at the risk of bowing too low, I must needs protest, in our +north-country homespun, that he shall have the pudding if he will +also take the pudding-bag. You know what I mean. At some points our +history--especially our early history--is still so vague, so dubious, +so full of mystery. It is all the fault of little Mannanan, our ancient +Manx magician, who enshrouded our island in mist. Or should I say it +is to his credit, for has he not left us through all time some shadowy +figures to fight about, like "rael, thrue, reg'lar" Manxmen. As for the +stories, the "yarns" that lie like flies--like blue-bottles, like bees, +I trust not like wasps--in the amber of the history, you will see that +they are mainly my own. On second thought it occurs to me that maybe +they are mainly yours. Let us say that they are both yours and mine, +or perhaps, if the world finds anything good in them, any humour, any +pathos, any racy touches of our rugged people, you will permit me to +determine their ownership in the way of this paraphrase of Coleridge's +doggerel version of the two Latin hexameters-- + +"They're mine and they are likewise yours, But an if that will not do, +Let them be mine, good friend! for I Am the poorer of the two." + +Hawthorns, Keswick, June 1891. + + + + +CONTENTS + +THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS + +Islanders--Our Island--The Name of our Island--Our History--King +Orry--The Tynwald--The Lost Saga--The Manx Macbeth--The Manx +Glo'ster--Scotch and English Dominion--The Stanley Dynasty--Iliam +Dhoan--The Athol Dynasty--Smuggling and Wrecking--The Revestment--Home +Rule--Orry's Sons + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS + +The Druids--Conversion to Christianity--The Early Bishops of +Man--Bishops of the Welsh Dynasty--Bishops of the Norse Dynasty--Sodor +and Man--The Early Bishops of the House of Stanley--Tithes in +Kind--The Gambling Bishop--The Deemsters--The Bishopric Vacant--Bishop +Wilson--Bishop Wilson's Censures--The Great Corn Famine--The Bishop at +Court--Stories of Bishop Wilson--Quarrels of Church and State--Some +Old Ordeals--The Herring Fishery--The Fishermen's Service--Some Old +Laws--Katherine Kinrade--Bishop Wilson's last Days--The Athol Bishops. + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE + +The Manx Language--Manx Names--Manx imagination--Manx Proverbs--Manx +Ballads--Manx Carols--Decay of the Manx Language--Manx +Superstitions--Manx Stories--Manx "Characters"--Manx +Characteristics--Manx Types--Literary Associations--Manx +Progress--Conclusion + + + + +THE LITTLE MANX NATION + + + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS + +There are just two ideas which are associated in the popular imagination +with the first thought of the Isle of Man. The one is that Manxmen have +three legs, and the other that Manx cats have no tails. But whatever +the popular conception, or misconception, of Man and its people, I shall +assume that what you ask from me is that simple knowledge of simple +things which has come to me by the accident of my parentage. I must +confess to you at the outset that I am not much of a hand at grave +history. Facts and figures I cannot expound with authority. But I know +the history of the Isle of Man, can see it clear, can see it whole, and +perhaps it will content you if I can show you the soul of it and make +it to live before you. In attempting to traverse the history I feel like +one who carries a dark lantern through ten dark centuries. I turn the +bull's eye on this incident and that, take a peep here and there, a +white light now, and then a blank darkness. Those ten centuries are +full of lusty fights, victories, vanquishments, quarrels, peacemaking, +shindies big and little, rumpus solemn and ridiculous, clouds of dust, +regal dust, political dust, and religious dust--you know the way of it. +But beneath it all and behind it all lies the real, true, living human +heart of Manxland. I want to show it to you, if you will allow me to +spare the needful time from facts and figures. It will get you close to +Man and its people, and it is not to be found in the history books. + + +ISLANDERS + +And now, first, we Manxmen are islanders. It is not everybody who lives +on an island that is an islander. You know what I mean. I mean by an +islander one whose daily life is affected by the constant presence of +the sea. This is possible in a big island if it is far enough away from +the rest of the world, Iceland, for example, but it is inevitable in a +little one. The sea is always present with Manxmen. Everything they do, +everything they say, gets the colour and shimmer of the sea. The sea +goes into their bones, it comes out at their skin. Their talk is full of +it. They buy by it, they sell by it, they quarrel by it, they fight by +it, they swear by it, they pray by it. Of course they are not conscious +of this. Only their degenerate son, myself to wit, a chiel among them +takin' notes, knows how the sea exudes from the Manxmen. Say you ask if +the Governor is at home. If he is not, what is the answer? "He's not on +the island, sir." You inquire for the best hotel. "So-and-so is the +best hotel on the island, sir." You go to a Manx fair and hear a farmer +selling a cow. "Aw," says he, "she's a ter'ble gran' craythuer for +milkin', sir, and for butter maybe there isn' the lek of her on the +island, sir." Coming out of church you listen to the talk of two old +Manxwomen discussing the preacher. "Well, well, ma'am, well, well! Aw, +the voice at him! and the prayers! and the beautiful texes! There isn' +the lek of him on the island at all, at all!" Always the island, the +island, the island, or else the boats, and going out to the herrings. +The sea is always present. You feel it, you hear it, you see it, you can +never forget it. It dominates you. Manxmen are all sea-folk. + +You will think this implies that Manxmen stick close to their island. +They do more than that. I will tell you a story. Five years ago I went +up into the mountains to seek an old Manx bard, last of a race of whom I +shall have something to tell you in their turn. All his life he had been +a poet. I did not gather that he had read any poetry except his own. Up +to seventy he had been a bachelor. Then this good Boaz had lit on his +Ruth and married, and had many children. I found him in a lonely glen, +peopled only in story, and then by fairies. A bare hill side, not a bush +in sight, a dead stretch of sea in front, rarely brightened by a sail. I +had come through a blinding hail-storm. The old man was sitting in the +chimney nook, a little red shawl round his head and knotted under his +chin. Within this aureole his face was as strong as Savonarola's, long +and gaunt, and with skin stretched over it like parchment. He was no +hermit, but a farmer, and had lived on that land, man and boy, nearly +ninety years. He had never been off the island, and had strange notions +of the rest of the world. Talked of England, London, theatres, palaces, +king's entertainments, evening parties. He saw them all through the +mists of rumour, and by the light of his Bible. He had strange notions, +some of them bad shots for the truth, some of them startlingly true. I +dare not tell you what they were. A Royal Institution audience would +be aghast. They had, as a whole, a strong smell of sulphur. But the old +bard was not merely an islander, he belonged to his land more than his +land belonged to him. The fishing town nearest to his farm was Peel, the +great fishing centre on the west coast. It was only five miles away. +I asked how long it was since he had been there? "Fifteen years," he +answered. The next nearest town was the old capital, on the east coast, +Castletown, the home of the Governor, of the last of the Manx lords, the +place of the Castle, the Court, the prison, the garrison, the College. +It was just six miles away. How long was it since he had been there? +"Twenty years." The new capital, Douglas, the heart of the island, its +point of touch with the world, was nine miles away. How long since he +had been in Douglas? "Sixty years," said the old bard. God bless him, +the sweet, dear old soul! Untaught, narrow, self-centred, bred on his +byre like his bullocks, but keeping his soul alive for all that, caring +not a ha'porth for the things of the world, he was a true Manxman, and +I'm proud of him. One thing I have to thank him for. But for him, and +the like of him, we should not be here to-day. It is not the cultured +Manxman, the Manxman that goes to the ends of the earth, that makes the +Manx nation valuable to study. Our race is what it is by virtue of +the Manxman who has had no life outside Man, and so has kept alive our +language, our customs, our laws and our patriarchal Constitution. + + +OUR ISLAND + +It lies in the middle of the Irish Sea, at about equal distances from +England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Seen from the sea it is a lovely +thing to look upon. It never fails to bring me a thrill of the heart as +it comes out of the distance. It lies like a bird on the waters. You +see it from end to end, and from water's edge to topmost peak, often +enshrouded in mists, a dim ghost on a grey sea; sometimes purple against +the setting sun. Then as you sail up to it, a rugged rocky coast, grand +in its beetling heights on the south and west, and broken into the +sweetest bays everywhere. The water clear as crystal and blue as the sky +in summer. You can see the shingle and the moss through many fathoms. +Then mountains within, not in peaks, but round foreheads. The colour of +the island is green and gold; its flavour is that of a nut. Both colour +and flavour come of the gorse. This covers the mountains and moorlands, +for, except on the north, the island has next to no trees. But O, the +beauty and delight of it in the Spring! Long, broad stretches glittering +under the sun with the gold of the gorse, and all the air full of the +nutty perfume. There is nothing like it in the world. Then the glens, +such fairy spots, deep, solemn, musical with the slumberous waters, clad +in dark mosses, brightened by the red fuchsia. The fuchsia is everywhere +where the gorse is not. At the cottage doors, by the waysides, in the +gardens. If the gorse should fail the fuchsia might even take its place +on the mountains. Such is Man, but I am partly conscious that it is Man +as seen by a Manxman. You want a drop of Manx blood in you to see it +aright. Then you may go the earth over and see grander things a thousand +times, things more sublime and beautiful, but you will come back to +Manxland and tramp the Mull Hills in May, long hour in, and long hour +out, and look at the flowering gorse and sniff its flavour, or lie by +the chasms and listen to the screams of the sea-birds, as they whirl and +dip and dart and skim over the Sugar-loaf Rock, and you'll say after +all that God has smiled on our little island, and that it is the fairest +spot in His beautiful world, and, above all, that it is _ours_. + + +THE NAME OF OUR ISLAND + +This is a matter in dispute among philologists, and I am no authority. +Some say that Caesar meant the Isle of Man when he spoke of Mona; others +say he meant Anglesea. The present name is modern. So is Elian Vannin, +its Manx equivalent. In the Icelandic Sagas the island is called Mon. +Elsewhere it is called Eubonia. One historian thinks the island derives +its name from Mannin--in being an old Celtic word for island, therefore +Meadhon-in (pronounced Mannin) would signify: The middle island. That +definition requires that the Manxman had no hand in naming Man. He would +never think of describing its geographical situation on the sea. +Manxmen say the island got its name from a mythical personage called +Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Learr, Little Mannanan, son of Learr. This man was +a sort of Prospero, a magician, and the island's first ruler. The story +goes that if he dreaded an enemy he would enshroud the island in mist, +"and that by art magic." Happy island, where such faith could ever +exist! Modern science knows that mist, and where it comes from. + + +OUR HISTORY + +It falls into three periods, first, a period of Celtic rule, second of +Norse rule, third of English dominion. Manx history is the history of +surrounding nations. We have no Sagas of our own heroes. The Sagas are +all of our conquerors. Save for our first three hundred recorded years +we have never been masters in our own house. The first chapter of our +history has yet to be written. We know we were Celts to begin with, but +how we came we have never learnt, whether we walked dry-shod from Wales +or sailed in boats from Ireland. To find out the facts of our early +history would be like digging up the island of Prospero. Perhaps we had +better leave it alone. Ten to one we were a gang of political exiles. +Perhaps we left our country for our country's good. Be it so. It was the +first and last time that it could be said of us. + + +KING ORRY + +Early in the sixth century Man became subject to the kings and princes +of Wales, who ruled from Anglesea. There were twelve of them in +succession, and the last of them fell in the tenth century. We know next +to nothing about them but their names. Then came the Vikings. The young +bloods of Scandinavia had newly established their Norse kingdom in +Iceland, and were huckstering and sea roving about the Baltic and among +the British Isles. They had been to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and +Faroes, perhaps to Ireland, certainly to the coast of Cumberland, making +Scandinavian settlements everywhere. So they came to Mön early in the +tenth century, led by one Orry, or Gorree. Some say this man was +nothing but a common sea-rover. Others say he was a son of the Danish or +Norwegian monarch. It does not matter much. Orry had a better claim to +regard than that of the son of a great king. He was himself a great +man. The story of his first landing is a stirring thing. It was night, +a clear, brilliant, starry night, all the dark heavens lit up. Orry's +ships were at anchor behind him; and with his men he had touched the +beach, when down came the Celts to face him, and to challenge him. They +demanded to know where he came from. Then the red-haired sea-warrior +pointed to the milky way going off towards the North. "That is the way +of my country," he answered. The Celts went down like one man in awe +before him. He was their born king. It is what the actors call a fine +moment. Still, nobody has ever told us how Orry and the Celts understood +one another, speaking different tongues. Let us not ask. + +King Orry had come to stay, and sea-warriors do not usually bring their +women over tempestuous seas. So the Norsemen married the Celtic women, +and from that union came the Manx people. Thus the Manxman to begin with +was half Norse, half Celt. He is much the same still. Manxmen usually +marry Manx women, and when they do not, they often marry Cumberland +women. As the Norseman settled in Cumberland as well as in Man the race +is not seriously affected either way. So the Manxman, such as he is, +taken all the centuries through, is thoroughbred. + +Now what King Orry did in the Isle of Man was the greatest work that +ever was done there. He established our Constitution. It was on the +model of the Constitution just established in Iceland. The government +was representative and patriarchal. The Manx people being sea-folk, +living by the sea, a race of fishermen and sea-rovers, he divided the +island into six ship-shires, now called Sheadings. Each ship-shire +elected four men to an assemblage of law-makers. This assemblage, +equivalent to the Icelandic Logretta, was called the House of Keys. +There is no saying what the word means. Prof. Rhys thinks it is derived +from the Manx name _Kiare-as-Feed_, meaning the four-and-twenty. Train +says the representatives were called Taxiaxi, signifying pledges or +hostages, and consequently were styled Keys. Vigfusson's theory was +that Keys is from the Norse word _Keise_, or chosen men. The common Manx +notion, the idea familiar to my own boyhood, is, that the twenty-four +members of the House of Keys are the twenty-four material keys whereby +the closed doors of the law are unlocked. But besides the sea-folk of +the ship-shires King Orry remembered the Church. He found it on the +island at his coming, left it where he found it, and gave it a voice +in the government. He established a Tynwald Court, equivalent to +the Icelandic All Moot, where Church and State sat together. Then he +appointed two law-men, called Deemsters, one for the north and the other +for the south. These were equivalent to his Icelandic Lögsögumadur, +speaker of the law and judge of all offences. Finally, he caused to +be built an artificial Mount of Laws, similar in its features to the +Icelandic Logberg at Thingvellir. Such was the machinery of the Norse +Constitution which King Orry established in Man. The working of it was +very simple. The House of Keys, the people's delegates, discussed all +questions of interest to the people, and sent up its desires to the +Tynwald Court. This assembly of people and Church in joint session +assented, and the desires of the people became Acts of Tynwald. These +Acts were submitted to the King. Having obtained the King's sanction +they were promulgated on the Tynwald Hill on the national day in the +presence of the nation. The scene of that promulgation of the laws was +stirring and impressive. Let me describe it. + + +THE TYNWALD + +Perhaps there were two Tynwald Hills in King Orry's time, but I shall +assume that there was one only. It stood somewhere about midway in +the island. In the heart of a wide range of hill and dale, with a long +valley to the south, a hill to the north, a table-land to the east, and +to the west the broad Irish Sea. Not, of course, a place to be compared +with the grand and gloomy valley of the Logberg, where in a vast +amphitheatre of dark hills and great jökulls tipped with snow, with deep +chasms and yawning black pits, one's heart stands still. But the place +of the Manx Tynwald was an impressive spot. The Hill itself was a +circular mount cut into broad steps, the apex being only a few feet in +diameter. About it was a flat grass plot. Near it, just a hundred and +forty yards away, connected with the mount by a beaten path, was a +chapel. All around was bare and solitary, perhaps as bleak and stark as +the lonely plains of Thingvellir. + +Such was the scene. Hither came the King and his people on Tynwald +Day. It fell on the 24th of June, the first of the seven days of the +Icelandic gathering of the Althing. What occurred in Iceland occurred +also in Man. The King with his Keys and his clergy gathered in the +chapel. Thence they passed in procession to the law-rock. On the top +round of the Tynwald the King sat on a chair and faced to the east. His +sword was held before him, point upwards. His barons and beneficed men, +his deemsters, knights, esquires, coroners, and yeomen, stood on the +lower steps of the mount. On the grass plot beyond the people were +gathered in crowds. Then the work of the day began. The coroners +proclaimed a warning. No man should make disturbance at Tynwald on pain +of death. Then the Acts of Tynwald were read or recited aloud by the +deemsters; first in the language of the laws, and next in the language +of the people. After other formalities the procession of the King +returned to the chapel, where the laws were signed and attested, and so +the annual Tynwald ended. + +Now this primitive ceremonial, begun by King Orry early in the tenth +century, is observed to this day. On Midsummer-day of this year of grace +a ceremony similar in all its essentials will be observed by the present +Governor, his Keys, clergy, deemsters, coroners, and people, on or near +the same spot. It is the old Icelandic ordinance, but it has gone +from Iceland. The year 1800 saw the last of it on the lava law-rock of +Thingvellir. It is gone from every other Norse kingdom founded by the +old sea-rovers among the Western Isles. Manxmen alone have held on to +it. Shall we also let it go? Shall we laugh at it as a bit of mummery +that is useless in an age of books and newspapers, and foolish and +pompous in days of frock-coats and chimney-pot hats? I think not. We +cannot afford to lose it. Remember, it is the last visible sign of our +independence as a nation. It is our hand-grasp with the past. Our little +nation is the only Norse nation now on earth that can shake hands with +the days of the Sagas, and the Sea-Kings. Then let him who will laugh at +our primitive ceremonial. It is the badge of our ancient liberty, and we +need not envy the man who can look on it unmoved. + + +THE LOST SAGA + +Of King Orry himself we learn very little. He was not only the first of +our kings, but also the greatest. We may be sure of that; first, by what +we know; and next, by what we do not know. He was a conqueror, and yet +we do not learn that he ever attempted to curtail the liberties of his +subjects. He found us free men, and did not try to make us slaves. On +the contrary, he gave us a representative Constitution, which has +lasted a thousand years. We might call him our Manx King Alfred, if the +indirections of history did not rather tempt us to christen him our Manx +King Lear. His Saga has never been written, or else it is lost. Would +that we could recover it! Oh, that imagination had the authority of +history to vitalise the old man and his times! I seem to see him as he +lived. There are hints of his character in his laws, that are as stage +directions, telling of the entrances and exits of his people, though the +drama of their day is gone. For example, in that preliminary warning +of the coroner at Tynwald, there is a clause which says that none shall +"bawl or quarrel or lye or lounge or sit." Do you not see what that +implies? Again, there is another clause which forbids any man, "on paine +of life and lyme," to make disturbance or stir in the time of Tynwald, +or any murmur or rising in the king's presence. Can you not read between +the lines of that edict? Once more, no inquest of a deemster, no judge +or jury, was necessary to the death-sentence of a man who rose against +the king or his governor on his seat on Tynwald. Nobody can miss the +meaning of that. Once again, it was a common right of the people to +present petitions at Tynwald, a common privilege of persons unjustly +punished to appeal against judgment, and a common prerogative of outlaws +to ask at the foot of the Tynwald Mount on Tynwald Day for the removal +of their outlawry. All these old rights and regulations came from +Iceland, and by the help of the Sagas it needs no special imagination +to make the scenes of their action live again. I seem to see King Orry +sitting on his chair on the Tynwald with his face towards the east. He +has long given up sea-roving. + +His long red hair is become grey or white. But the old lion has the +muscles and fiery eye of the warrior still. His deemsters and barons +are about him, and his people are on the sward below. They are free +men; they mean to have their rights, both from him and from each other. +Disputes run high, there are loud voices, mighty oaths, sometimes blows, +fights, and terrific hurly-burlies. Then old Orry comes down with a +great voice and a sword, and ploughs a way through the fighters and +scatters them. No man dare lift his hand on the king. Peace is restored, +and the king goes back to his seat. + +Then up from the valley comes a woe-begone man in tatters, grim and +gaunt and dirty, a famished and hunted wolf. He is an outlaw, has killed +a man, is pursued in a blood-feud, and asks for relief of his outlawry. +And so on and so on, a scene of rugged, lusty passions, hate and +revenge, but also love and brotherhood; drinking, laughing, swearing, +fighting, savage vices but also savage virtues, noble contempt of death, +and magnificent self-sacrifice. + +The chapter is lost, but we know what it must have been. King Orry was +its hero. Our Manx Alfred, our Manx Arthur, our Manx Lear. Then room for +him among our heroes! he must stand high. + + +THE MANX MACBETH + +The line of Orry came to an end at the beginning of the eleventh +century. Scotland was then under the sway of the tyrant Macbeth, and, +oddly enough, a parallel tragedy to that of Duncan and his kinsman was +being enacted in Man. A son of Harold the Black, of Iceland, Goddard +Crovan, a mighty soldier, conquered the island and took the crown by +treachery, coming first as a guest of the Manx king. Treachery breeds +treachery, duplicity is a bad seed to sow for loyalty, and the Manx +people were divided in their allegiance. About twenty years after +Crovan's conquest the people of the south of the island took up arms +against the people of the north, and the story goes that, when victory +wavered, the women of the north rushed out to the help of their +husbands, and so won the fight. For that day's work, the northern wives +were given the right to half of all their husband's goods immovable, +while the wives of the south had only a third. The last of the line of +Goddard Crovan died in 1265, and so ended the dynasty of the Norsemen in +Man. They had been three hundred years there. They found us a people +of the race and language of the people of Ireland, and they left us +Manxmen. They were our only true Manx kings, and when they fell, our +independence as a nation ceased. + + +THE MANX GLO'STER + +Then the first pretender to the throne was one Ivar, a murderer, a sort +of Richard III., not all bad, but nearly all; said to possess virtues +enough to save the island and vices enough to ruin it. The island +was surrendered to Scotland by treaty with Norway. The Manx hated the +Scotch. They knew them as a race of pirates. Some three centuries later +there was one Cutlar MacCullock, whose name was a terror, so merciless +were his ravages. Over the cradles of their infants the Manx mothers +sang this song:-- + + God keep the good corn, the sheep and the bullocks, + From Satan, from sin and from Cutlar MacCullock. + +Bad as Ivar was, the Scotch threatened to be worse. + +So the Manx, fearing that their kingdom might become a part of the +kingdom of Scotland, supported Ivar. They were beaten. Ivar was a brave +tiger, and died fighting. + + +SCOTCH AND ENGLISH DOMINION + +Man was conquered, and the King of Scotland appointed a lieutenant to +rule the island. But the Manx loved the Scotch no better as masters than +as pirates, and they petitioned the English king, Edward I., to take +them under his protection. He came, and the Scotch were driven out. But +King Robert Bruce reconquered the island for the Scotch. Yet again the +island fell to English dominion. This was in the time of Henry IV. It is +a sorry story. Henry gave the island to the Earl of Salisbury. Salisbury +sold it to one Sir William le Scroop. A copy of the deed of sale exists. +It puts a Manxman's teeth on edge. "With all the right of being crowned +with a golden crown." Scroop was beheaded by Henry, who confiscated his +estate, and gave the island to the Earl of Northumberland. It is a silly +inventory, but let us get through with it. Northumberland was banished, +and finally Henry made a grant of the island to Sir John de Stanley. +This was in 1407. Thus there had been four Kings of Man--not one of whom +had, so far as I know, set foot on its soil--three grants of the island, +and one miserable sale. Where the carcase is, there will the eagles be +gathered together. + + +THE STANLEY DYNASTY + +When the crown came to Sir John Stanley he was in no hurry to put it on. +He paid no heed to his Manx subjects, and never saw his Manx kingdom. I +dare say he thought the gift horse was something of a white elephant. No +wonder if he did, for words could not exaggerate the wretched condition +of the island and its people. The houses of the poor were hovels built +of sod, with floors of clay, and sooty rafters of briar and straw and +dried gorse. The people were hardly better fed than their beasts. +So Stanley left the island alone. It will be interesting to mark how +different was the mood of his children, and his children's children. The +second Stanley went over to Man and did good work there. He promulgated +our laws, and had them written down for the first time--they had +hitherto been locked in the breasts of the deemsters in imitation of the +practice of the Druids. The line of the Stanleys lasted more than three +hundred years. Their rule was good for the island. They gave the tenants +security of tenure, and the landowners an act of settlement. They lifted +the material condition of our people, gave us the enjoyment of our +venerable laws, and ratified our patriarchal Constitution. Honour to the +Stanleys of the Manx dynasty! They have left a good mark on Man. + + +ILIAM DHOAN + +And now I come to the one incident in modern Manx history which shares, +with the three legs of Man and the Manx cat, the consciousness of +everybody who knows anything about our island and its people. This is +the incident of the betrayal of Man and the Stanleys to the Parliament +in the time of Cromwell. It was a stirring drama, and though the curtain +has long fallen on it, the dark stage is still haunted by the ghosts +of its characters. Chief among these was William Christian, the Manxman +called Iliam Dhoan, Brown William, a familiar name that seems to hint +of a fine type of man. You will find him in "Peveril of the Peak." He is +there mixed up with Edward Christian, a very different person, just as +Peel Castle is mixed up with Castle Rushen, consciously no doubt, and +with an eye to imaginative effects, for Scott had a brother in the Isle +of Man who could have kept him from error if fact had been of any great +consequence in the novelist's reckoning. + +Christian was Receiver-General, a sort of Chancellor of the Exchequer, +for the great Earl of Derby. The Earl had faith in him, and put nearly +everything under his command that fell within the province of his +lordship. Then came the struggle with Rigby at Latham House, and the +imprisonment of the Earl's six children by Fairfax. The Manx were +against the Parliament, and subscribed £500, probably the best part of +the money in the island, in support of the king. Then the Earl of Derby +left the island with a body of volunteers, and in going away committed +his wife to the care of Christian. You know what happened to him. He +was taken prisoner in Lancashire, charged with bearing arms for Charles +Stuart and holding the Isle of Man against the Commons, condemned, and +executed at Bolton. + +With the forfeiture of the Earl the lordship of the island was granted +by Parliament to Lord Fairfax. He sent an army to take possession, but +the Countess-Dowager still held the island. Christian commanded the Manx +militia. At this moment the Manx people showed signs of disaffection. +They suddenly remembered two grievances, one was a grievance of +land tenure, the other was that a troop of soldiers was kept at free +quarterage. I cannot but wish they had bethought them of both a little +earlier. They formed an association, and broke into rebellion against +the Countess-Dowager within eight days of the Earl's execution. Perhaps +they did not know of the Earl's death, for news travelled slowly over +sea in those days. But at least they knew of his absence. As a Manxman I +am not proud of them. + +During these eight days Mr. Receiver-General had begun to trim his +sails. He had a lively wit, and saw which way things were going. Rumour +says he was at the root of the secret association. Be that as it may, he +carried the demands of the people to the Countess. She had no choice but +to yield. The troops were disbanded. It was a bad victory. + +A fortnight before, when her husband lay under his death sentence, the +Countess had offered the island in exchange for his life. So now Mr. +Receiver-General used this act of love against her. He seized some of +the forts, saying the Countess was selling the island to the Parliament. +Then the army of the Parliament landed, and Christian straightway +delivered the island up to it, protesting that he had taken the forts +on its behalf. Some say the Countess was imprisoned in the vaults of the +Castle. Others say she had a free pass to England. So ended act one. + +When the act-drop rose on act two, Mr. Receiver-General was in office +under the Parliament. From the place of Receiver-General he was promoted +to the place of Governor. He had then the money of the island under his +control, and he used it badly. Deficits were found in his accounts. +He fled to London, was arrested for a large debt, and clapped into the +Fleet. Then the Commonwealth fell, the Dowager Countess went upstairs +again, and Charles II. restored the son of the great Earl to the +lordship of Man. After that came the Act of Indemnity, a general pardon +for all who had taken part against the royal cause. Thereupon Christian +went back to the Isle of Man, was arrested on a charge of treason to +the Countess-Dowager of Derby, pleaded the royal act of general pardon +against all proceedings libelled against him, was tried by the House of +Keys, and condemned to death. So ended act two. + +Christian had a nephew, Edward Christian, who was one of the two +deemsters. This man dissented from the voice of the court, and hastened +to London to petition the king. Charles is said to have heard his plea, +and to have sent an order to suspend sentence. Some say the order came +too late; some say the Governor had it early enough and ignored it. +At all events Christian was shot. He protested that he had never been +anything but a faithful servant to the Derbys, and made a brave end. +The place of his execution was Hango Hill, a bleak, bare stretch of +land with the broad sea Under it. The soldiers wished to bind Christian. +"Trouble not yourselves for me," he said, "for I that dare face death +in whatever shape he comes, will not start at your fire and bullets." +He pinned a piece of white paper on his breast, and said: "Hit this, and +you do your own work and mine." Then he stretched forth his arms as a +signal, was shot through the heart, and fell. Such was the end of Brown +William. He may have been a traitor, but he was no coward. + +When the chief actor in the tragedy had fallen, King Charles appeared, +as Fortinbras appears in "Hamlet," to make a review and a reckoning, and +to take the spoils. He ordered the Governor, the remaining Deemsters, +and three of the Keys to be brought before him, pronounced the execution +of Christian to be a violation of his general pardon, and imposed severe +penalties of fine and imprisonment. "The rest" in this drama has not +been "silence." One long clamour has followed. Christian's guilt has +been questioned, the legality of his trial has been disputed, the +validity of Charles's censure of the judges has been denied. The case +is a mass of tangle, as every case must be that stands between the two +stools of the Royal cause and the Commonwealth. But I shall make bold to +summarise the truth in a very few words: + +First, that Christian was untrue to the house of Derby is as clear as +noonday. If he had been their loyal servant he could never have taken +office under the Parliament. + +Second, though untrue to the Countess-Dowager, Christian could not be +guilty of treason to her, because she had ceased to be the sovereign +when her husband was executed. Fairfax was then the Lord of Man, and +Christian was guilty of no treason to him. + +Third, whether true or untrue to the Countess-Dowager, the act of pardon +had nothing on earth to do with Christian, who was not charged with +treason to King Charles, but to the Manx reigning family. The Isle of +Man was not a dominion of England, and if Charles's order had arrived +before Christian's execution, the Governor, Keys, and Deemster would +have been fully justified in shooting the man in defiance of the king. + +I feel some diffidence in offering this opinion, but I can have none +whatever in saying what I think of Christian. My fellow Manxmen are +for the most part his ardent supporters. They affirm his innocence, and +protest that he was a martyr-hero, declaring that at least he met his +fate by asserting the rights of his countrymen. I shall not hesitate to +say that I read the facts another way. This is how I see the man: + +First, he was a servant of the Derbys, honoured, empowered, entrusted +with the care of his mistress, the Countess, when his master, the Earl, +left the island to fight for the king. Second, eight days after his +master's fate, he rose in rebellion against his mistress and seized some +of the forts of defence. Third, he delivered the island to the army of +the Parliament, and continued to hold his office under it. Fourth, he +robbed the treasury of the island and fled from his new masters, the +Parliament. Fifth, when the new master fell he chopped round, became a +king's man once more, and returned to the island on the strength of the +general pardon. Sixth, when he was condemned to death he, who had held +office under the Parliament, protested that he had never been anything +but a faithful servant to the Derbys. + +Such is Christian. _He_ a hero! No, but a poor, sorry, knock-kneed +time-server. A thing of rags and patches. A Manx Vicar of Bray. Let us +talk of him as little as we may, and boast of him not at all. Man and +Manxmen have no need ol him. No, thank God, we can tell of better men. +Let us turn his picture to the wall. + + +THE ATHOL DYNASTY + +The last of the Stanleys of the Manx dynasty died childless in 1735, and +then the lordship of Man devolved by the female line on the second Duke +of Athol by right of his grandmother, who was a daughter of the great +Earl of Derby. There is little that is good to say of the Lords of the +House of Athol except that they sold the island. Almost the first, and +quite the best, thing they did on coming to Man, was to try to get out +of it. Let us make no disguise of the clear truth. The Manx Athols were +bad, and nearly everything about them was bad. Never was the condition +of the island so abject as during their day. Never were the poor so +poor. Never was the name of Manxman so deservedly a badge of disgrace. +The chief dishonour was that of the Athols. They kept a swashbuckler +court in their little Manx kingdom. Gentlemen of the type of Barry +Lyndon overran it. Captain Macheaths, Jonathan Wilds, and worse, were +masters of the island, which was now a refuge for debtors and felons. +Roystering, philandering, gambling, fighting, such was the order of +things. + +What days they had! What nights! His Grace of Athol was himself in the +thick of it all. He kept a deal of company, chiefly rogues and rascals. +For example, among his "lord captains" was one Captain Fletcher. This +Blue Beard had a magnificent horse, to which, when he was merry, he made +his wife, who was a religious woman, kneel down and say her prayers. The +mother of my friend, the Reverend T. E. Brown, came upon the dead body +of one of these Barry Lyndons, who had fallen in a duel, and the blue +mark was on the white forehead, where the pistol shot had been. I +remember to have heard of another Sir Lucius O'Trigger, whose body lay +exposed in the hold of a fishing-smack, while a parson read the burial +service from the quay. This was some artifice to prevent seizure for +debt. Oh, these good old times, with their soiled and dirty splendours! +There was no lively chronicler, no Pepys, no Walpole then, to give us a +picture of the Court of these Kings of Man. What a picture it must +have been! Can you not see it? The troops of gentlemen debtors from +the Coffee Houses of London, with their periwigs, their canes, and +fine linen; down on their luck, but still beruffled, besnuffed, and +red-heeled. I can see them strutting with noses up, through old Douglas +market-place on market morning, past the Manx folk in their homespun, +their curranes and undyed stockings. Then out at Mount Murray, the home +of the Athols, their imitations of Vauxhall, torches, dancings, bows and +congés, bankrupt shows, perhaps, but the bankrupt Barrys making the +best of them--one seems to see it all. And then again, their genteel +quarrels--quarrels were easily bred in that atmosphere. "Sir, I have the +honour to tell you that you are a pimp, lately escaped from the Fleet." +"My lord, permit me to say that you lie, that you are the son of a lady, +and were born in a sponging-house." Then out leapt the weapons, and +presently two men were crossing swords under the trees, and by-and-by +one of them was left under the moonlight, with the shadow of the leaves +playing on his white face. + +Poor gay dogs, they are dead! The page of their history is lost. Perhaps +that is just as well. It must have been a dark page, maybe a little red +too, even as blood runs red. You can see the scene of their revelries. +It is an inn now. The walls seem to echo to their voices. But the tables +they ate at are like themselves--worm-eaten. + +Good-bye to them! They have gone over the Styx. + + +SMUGGLING AND WRECKING + +Meanwhile, what of the Manx people? Their condition was pitiful. An +author who wrote fifty years after the advent of the Athols gives a +description of such misery that one's flesh creeps as one reads it. +Badly housed, badly clad, badly fed, and hardly taught at all, the very +poor were in a state of abjectness unfit for dogs. Treat men as dogs and +they speedily acquire the habits of dogs, the vices of dogs, and none of +their virtues. That was what happened to a part of the Manx people; they +developed the instincts of dogs, while their masters, the other dogs, +the gay dogs, were playing their bad game together. Smuggling became +common on the coasts of Man. Spirits and tobacco were the goods chiefly +smuggled, and the illicit trade rose to a great height. There was no +way to check it. The island was an independent kingdom. My lord of Athol +swept in the ill-gotten gains, and his people got what they could. It +was a game of grab. Meantime the trade of the surrounding countries, +England, Wales, and Ireland, was suffering grievously. The name of the +island must have smelt strong in those days. + +But there was a fouler odour than that of smuggling. Wrecking was not +unknown. The island lent itself naturally to that evil work. The mists +of Little Mannanan, son of Lear, did not forsake our island when Saint +Patrick swept him out of it. They continued to come up from the south, +and to conspire with the rapid currents from the north to drive ships on +to our rocks. Our coasts were badly lighted, or lighted not at all. An +open flare stuck out from a pole at the end of a pier was often all +that a dangerous headland had to keep vessels away from it. Nothing was +easier than for a fishing smack to run down pole and flare together, as +if by accident, on returning to harbour. But there was a worse danger +than bad lights, and that was false lights. It was so easy to set them. +Sometimes they were there of themselves, without evil intention of any +human soul, luring sailors to their destruction. Then when ships came +ashore it was so easy to juggle with one's conscience and say it was the +will of God, and no bad doings of any man's. The poor sea-going men were +at the bottom of the sea by this time, and their cargo was drifting up +with the tide, so there was nothing to do but to take it. Such was the +way of things. The Manxman could find his excuses. He was miserably +poor, he had bad masters, smuggling was his best occupation, his coasts +were indifferently lighted, ships came ashore of themselves--what was he +to do? That the name of Manxman did not become a curse, an execration, +and a reproach in these evil days of the Athols seems to say that +behind all this wicked work there were splendid virtues doing noble duty +somewhere. The real sap, the true human heart of Manxland, was somehow +kept alive. Besides cut-throats in ruffles, and wreckers in homespun, +there were true, sweet, simple-hearted people who would not sell their +souls to fill their mouths. + +Does it surprise you that some of all this comes within the memory of +men still living? I am myself well within the period of middle life, +and, though too young to touch these evil days, I can remember men +and women who must have been in the thick of them. On the north of the +island is Kirk Maughold Head, a bold, rugged headland going far out into +the sea. Within this rocky foreland lie two bays, sweet coverlets of +blue waters, washing a shingly shore under shelter of dark cliffs. One +of these bays is called Port-y-Vullin, and just outside of it, +between the mainland and the head, is a rock, known as the Carrick, a +treacherous grey reef, visible at low water, and hidden at flood-tide. +On the low _brews_ of Port-y-Vullin stood two houses, the one a mill, +worked by the waters coming down from the near mountain of Barrule, +the other a weaver's cottage. Three weavers lived together there, all +bachelors, and all old, and never a woman or child among them--Jemmy of +eighty years, Danny of seventy, and Billy of sixty something. Year in, +year out, they worked at their looms, and early or late, whenever you +passed on the road behind, you heard the click of them. Fishermen coming +back to harbour late at night always looked for the light of their +windows. "Yander's Jemmy-Danny-Billy's," they would say, and steer home +by that landmark. But the light which guided the native seamen misled +the stranger, and many a ship in the old days was torn to pieces on the +jagged teeth of that sea-lion, the Carrick. Then, hearing loud human +cries above the shrieks of wind and wave, the three helpless old men +would come tottering down to the beach, like three innocent witches, +trembling and wailing, holding each other's hands like little children, +and never once dreaming of what bad work the candles over their looms +had done. + +But there were those who were not so guileless. Among them was a sad old +salt, whom I shall call Hommy-Billy-mooar, Tommy, son of big Billy. Did +I know him, or do I only imagine him as I have heard of him? I cannot +say, but nevertheless I see him plainly. One of his eyes was gone, and +the other was badly damaged. His face was of stained mahogany, one side +of his mouth turned up, the other side turned down, he could laugh and +cry together. He was half landsman, tilling his own croft, half seaman, +going out with the boats to the herrings. In his youth he had sailed +on a smuggler, running in from Whitehaven with spirits. The joy of "the +trade," as they called smuggling, was that a man could buy spirits at +two shillings a gallon for sale on the island, and drink as much as he +"plazed abooard for nothin'." When Hommy married, he lived in a house +near the church, the venerable St. Maughold away on the headland, with +its lonely churchyard within sound of the sea. + +There on tempestuous nights the old eagle looked out from his eyrie on +the doings of the sea, over the back of the cottage of the old weavers +to the Carrick. If anything came ashore he awakened his boys, scurried +over to the bay, seized all they could carry, stole back home, hid his +treasures in the thatch of the roof, or among the straw of the loft, +went off to bed, and rose in the morning with an innocent look, and +listened to the story of last night's doings with a face full of +surprise. They say that Hommy carried on this work for years, and though +many suspected, none detected him, not even his wife, who was a good +Methodist. The poor woman found him out at last, and, being troubled +with a conscience, she died, and Hommy buried her in Kirk Maughold +churchyard, and put a stone over her with a good inscription. Then he +went on as before. But one morning there was a mighty hue and cry. A +ship had been wrecked on the Carrick, and the crew who were saved had +seen some rascals carrying off in the darkness certain rolls of Irish +cloth which they had thrown overboard. Suspicion lit on Hommy and his +boys. Hommy was quite hurt. "Wrecking was it? Lord a-massy! To think, +to think!" Revenue officers were to come to-morrow to search his house. +Those rolls of Irish cloth were under the thatch, above the dry gorse +stored up on the "lath" in his cowhouse. That night he carried them off +to the churchyard, took up the stone from over his wife's grave, dug the +grave open and put in the cloth. Next day his one eye wept a good deal +while the officers of revenue made their fruitless search. "Aw well, +well, did they think because a man was poor he had no feelings?" +Afterwards he pretended to become a Methodist, and then he removed the +cloth from his wife's grave because he had doubts about how she could +rise in the resurrection with such a weight on her coffin. Poor old +Hommy, he came to a bad end. He spent his last days in jail in Castle +Rushen. A one-eyed mate of his told me he saw him there. Hommy was +unhappy. He said "Castle Rushen wasn't no place for a poor man when he +was gettin' anyways ould." + + +THE REVESTMENT + +It is hardly a matter for much surprise that the British Government did +what it could to curb the smuggling that was rife in Man in the days of +the Athols. The bad work had begun in the days of the Derbys, when an +Act was passed which authorised the Earl of Derby to dispose of his +royalty and revenue in the island, and empowered the Lords of the +Treasury to treat with him for the sale of it. The Earl would not sell, +and when the Duke of Athol was asked to do so, he tried to put matters +off. But the evil had by this time grown so grievously that the British +Government threatened to strip the Duke without remuneration. Then he +agreed to accept £70,000 as compensation for the absolute surrender of +the island. He was also to have £2000 out of the Irish revenue, which, +as well as the English revenue, was to benefit by the suppression of the +clandestine trade. This was in exchange for some £6000 a year which +was the Duke's Manx revenue, much of it from duties and customs paid +in goods which were afterwards smuggled into England, Ireland, and +Scotland. So much for his Grace of Athol. Of course the Manx people got +nothing. The thief was punished, the receiver was enriched; it is the +way of the world. + +In our history of Man, we call this sweet transaction, which occurred in +1765, "The Revestment," meaning the revesting of the island in the +crown of England. Our Manx people did not like it at all. I have heard a +rugged old song on the subject sung at Manx inns: + + For the babes unborn shall rue the day + When the Isle of Man was sold away; + And there's ne'er an old wife that loves a dram + But she will lament for the Isle of Man. + +Clearly drams became scarce when "the trade" was put down. But, indeed, +the Manx had the most strange fears and ludicrous sorrows. The one came +of their anxiety about the fate of their ancient Constitution, the other +came of their foolish generosity. They dreaded that the government of +the island would be merged into that of England, and they imagined that +because the Duke of Athol had been compelled to surrender, he had been +badly treated. Their patriotism was satisfied when the Duke of Athol was +made Governor-in-Chief under the English crown, for then it was clear +that they were to be left alone; but their sympathy was moved to see him +come back as servant who had once been lord. They had disliked the Duke +of Athol down to that hour, but they forgot their hatred in sight of his +humiliation, and when he landed in his new character, they received +him with acclamations. I am touched by the thought of my countrymen's +unselfish conduct in that hour; but I thank God I was not alive to +witness it. + +I should have shrieked with laughter. The absurdity of the situation +passes the limits even of a farce. A certain Duke, who had received +£6000 a year, whereof a large part came of an immoral trade, had been +to London and sold his interest in it for £70,000, because if he had +not taken that, he would probably have got nothing. With thirteen +years' purchase of his insecure revenue in his pocket, and £2000 a year +promised, and his salary as Governor-in-Chief besides, he returns to the +island where half the people are impoverished by his sale of the island, +and nobody else has received a copper coin, and everybody is doomed to +pay back interest on what the Duke has received! What is the picture? +The Duke lands at the old jetty, and there his carriage is waiting to +take him to the house, where he and his have kept swashbuckler courts, +with troops of fine gentlemen debtors from London. The Manxmen forget +everything except that his dignity is reduced. They unyoke his horses, +get into his shafts, drag him through the streets, toss up their caps +and cry hurrah! hurrah! One seems to see the Duke sitting there with +his arms folded, and his head on his breast. He can't help laughing. The +thing is too ridiculous. Oh, if Swift had been there to see it, what a +scorching satire we should have had! + +But the Athols soon spirited away their popularity. First they clamoured +for a further sum on account of the lost revenues, and they got it. Then +they tried to appropriate part of the income of the clergy. Again, they +put members of their family into the bishopric, and one of them sold his +tithes to a factor who tried to extort them by strong measures, which +led to green crop riots. In the end, their gross selfishness, which +thought of their own losses but forgot the losses of the people, raised +such open marks of aversion in the island that they finally signified to +the king their desire to sell all their remaining rights, their land +and manorial rights. This they did in 1829, receiving altogether, for +custom, revenue, tithes, patronage of the bishopric, and quit rents, +the sum of £416,000. Such was the value to the last of the Athols of the +Manx dynasty, of that little hungry island of the Irish Sea, which Henry +IV. gave to the Stanleys, and Sir John de Stanley did not think worth +while to look at. So there was an end of the House of Athol. Exit the +House of Athol! The play goes on without them. + + +HOME RULE + +It might be said that with the final sale of 1829 the history of the +Isle of Man came to a close. Since then we have been in the happy +condition of the nation without a history. Man is now a dependency of +the English crown. The crown is represented by a Lieutenant-Governor. +Our old Norse Constitution remains. We have Home Rule, and it works +well. The Manx people are attached to the throne of England, and her +Majesty has not more loyal subjects in her dominions. We are deeply +interested in Imperial affairs, but we have no voice in them. I do not +think we have ever dreamt of a day when we should send representatives +to Westminster. Our sympathies as a nation are not altogether, I think, +with the party of progress. We are devoted to old institutions, and +hold fast to such of them as are our own. All this is, perhaps, what you +would expect of a race of islanders with our antecedents. + +Our social history has not been brilliant. I do not gather that the Isle +of Man was ever Merry Man. Not even in its gayest days do we catch any +note of merriment amid the rumpus of its revelries. It is an odd thing +that woman plays next to no part whatever in the history of the island. +Surely ours is the only national pie in which woman has not had a +finger. In this respect the island justifies the ungallant reading of +its name--it is distinctly the Isle of Man. Not even amid the glitter +and gewgaws of our Captain Macheaths do you catch the glint of the gown +of a Polly. No bevy of ladies, no merry parties, no pageants worthy of +the name. No, our social history gives no idea of Merry Man. + +Our civil history is not glorious. We are compelled to allow that it +has no heroism in it. There has been no fight for principle, no brave +endurance of wrong. Since the days of Orry, we have had nothing to tell +in Saga, if the Sagaman were here. We have played no part in the work of +the world. The great world has been going on for ten centuries without +taking much note of us. We are a little nation, but even little nations +have held their own. We have not. + +One great king we have had, King Orry. He gave us our patriarchal +Constitution, and it is a fine thing. It combines most of the best +qualities of representative government. Its freedom is more free than +that of some republics. The people seem to be more seen, and their voice +more heard, than in any other form of government whose operation I have +witnessed. Yet there is nothing noisy about our Home Rule. And this +Constitution we have kept alive for a thousand years, while it has died +out of every other Norse kingdom. That is, perhaps, our highest national +honour. We may have played a timid part; we may have accepted rulers +from anywhere; we may never have made a struggle for independence; and +no Manxman may ever have been strong enough to stand up alone for his +people. It is like our character that we have taken things easily, and +instead of resisting our enemies, or throwing them from our rocky +island into the sea, we have been law abiding under lawless masters +and peaceful under oppression. But this one thing we have done: we +have clung to our patriarchal Constitution, not caring a ha'p'orth +who administered our laws so long as the laws were our own. That is +something; I think it is a good deal. It means that through many changes +undergone by the greater peoples of the world, we are King Orry's men +still. Let me in a last word tell you a story which shows what that +description implies. + +ORRY'S SONS + +On the west coast of the Isle of Man stands the town of Peel. It is a +little fishing port, looking out on the Irish Sea. To the north of +it there is a broad shore, to the south lies the harbour with a rocky +headland called Contrary Head; in front--until lately divided from the +mainland by a narrow strait--is a rugged island rock. On this rock stand +the broken ruins of a castle, Peel Castle, and never did castle stand +on a grander spot. The sea flows round it, beating on the jagged cliffs +beneath, and behind it are the wilder cliffs of Contrary. In the water +between and around Contrary contrary currents flow, and when the wind +is high they race and prance there like an unbroken horse. It is a grand +scene, but a perilous place for ships. + +One afternoon in October of 1889 a Norwegian ship (strange chance!), the +_St George_ (name surely chosen by the Fates!), in a fearful tempest was +drifting on to Contrary Head. She was labouring hard in the heavy +sea, rearing, plunging, creaking, groaning, and driving fast through +clamouring winds and threshing breakers on to the cruel, black, steep +horns of rock. All Peel was down at the beach watching her. Flakes of +sea-foam were flying around, and the waves breaking on the beach were +scooping up the shingle and flinging it through the air like sleet. + +Peel has a lifeboat, and it was got out. There were so many volunteers +that the harbour-master had difficulties of selection. The boat got off; +the coxswain was called Charlie Cain; one of his crew was named Gorry, +otherwise Orry. It was a perilous adventure. The Norwegian had lost her +masts, and her spars were floating around her in the snow-like surf. She +was dangerous to approach, but the lifeboat reached her. Charlie cried +out to the Norwegian captain: "How many of you?" The answer came back, +"Twenty-two!" Charlie counted them as they hung on at the ship's side, +and said: "I only see twenty-one; not a man shall leave the ship until +you bring the odd one on deck." The odd one, a disabled man, had been +left below to his fate. Now he was brought up, and all were taken aboard +the lifeboat. + +On landing at Peel there was great excitement, men cheering and women +crying. The Manx women spotted a baby among the Norwegians, fought for +it, one woman got it, and carried it off to a fire and dry clothing. It +was the captain's wife's baby, and an hour afterwards the poor captain's +wife, like a creature distracted, was searching for it all over the +town. And to heighten the scene, report says that at that tremendous +moment a splendid rainbow spanned the bay from side to side. That ought +to be true if it is not. + +It was a brilliant rescue, but the moving part of the story is yet to +tell. The Norwegian Government, touched by the splendid heroism of the +Manxmen, struck medals for the lifeboat men and sent them across to the +Governor. These medals were distributed last summer on the island rock +within the ruins of old Peel Castle. Think of it! One thousand years +before, not far from that same place, Orry the Viking came ashore from +Denmark or Norway. And now his Manx sons, still bearing his very name, +Orry, save from the sea the sons of the brethren he left behind, and +down the milky way, whence Orry himself once came, come now to the +Manxmen the thanks and the blessings of their kinsmen, Orry's father's +children. + +Such a story as this thrills one to the heart. It links Manxmen to the +great past. What are a thousand years before it? Time sinks away, and +the old sea-warrior seems to speak to us still through the surf of that +storm at Peel. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS + +Some years ago, in going down the valley of Foxdale, towards the mouth +of Glen Rushen, I lost my way on a rough and unbeaten path under the +mountain called Slieu Whallin. There I was met by a typical old Manx +farmer, who climbed the hillside some distance to serve as my guide. +"Aw, man," said he, "many a Sunday I've crossed these mountains in +snow and hail together." I asked why on Sunday. "You see," said the old +fellow, "I'm one of those men that have been guilty of what St. Paul +calls the foolishness of preaching." It turned out that he was a local +preacher to the Wesleyans, and that for two score years or more, in all +seasons, in all weathers, every Sunday, year in, year out, he had made +the journey from his farm in Foxdale to the western villages of Kirk +Patrick, where his voluntary duty lay. He left me with a laugh and +a cheery word. "Ask again at the cottage at the top of the brew," he +shouted. "An ould widda lives there with her gel." At the summit of the +hill, just under South Barrule, with Cronk-ny-arrey-Lhaa to the west, I +came upon a disused lead mine, called the old Cross Vein, its shaft open +save for a plank or two thrown across it, and filled with water almost +to the surface of the ground. And there, under the lee of the roofless +walls of the ruined engine-house, stood the tiny one-story cottage where +I had been directed to inquire my way again. I knocked, and then saw the +outer conditions of an existence about as miserable as the mind of man +can conceive. The door was opened by a youngish woman, having a thin, +white face, and within the little house an elderly woman was breaking +scraps of vegetables into a pot that swung from a hook above a handful +of turf fire, which burned on the ground. They were the widow and +daughter. Their house consisted of two rooms, a living room and a +sleeping closet, both open to the thatch, which was sooty with smoke. +The floor was of bare earth, trodden hard and shiny. There was one +little window in each apartment, but after the breakages of years, +the panes were obscured by rags stuffed into the gaps to keep out the +weather. The roof bore traces of damp, and I asked if the rain came into +the house. "Och, yes, and bad, bad, bad!" said the elder woman. "He left +us, sir, years ago." That was her way of saying that her husband was +dead, and that since his death there had been no man to do an odd +job about the place. The two women lived by working in the fields, at +weeding, at planting potatoes, at thinning cabbages, and at the hay in +its season. Their little bankrupt barn belonged to them, and it was all +they had. In that they lived, or lingered, on the mountain top, a +long stretch of bare hillside, away from any neighbour, alone in their +poverty, with mountains before and behind, the broad grey sea, without +ship or sail, down a gully to the west, nothing visible to the east +save the smoke from the valley where lay the habitations of men, nothing +audible anywhere but the deep rumble of the waves' bellow, or the chirp +of the birds overhead, or, perhaps, when the wind was southerly, the +church bells on Sunday morning. Never have I looked upon such lonely +penury, and yet there, even there, these forlorn women kept their souls +alive. "Yes," they said, "we're working when we can get the work, and +trusting, trusting, trusting still." + +I have lingered too long over this poor adventure of losing my way to +Glen Rushen, but my little sketch may perhaps get you close to that side +of Manx life whereon I wish to speak to-day. I want to tell the history +of religion in Man, so far as we know it; and better, to my thinking, +than a grave or solid disquisition on the ways and doings of Bishops or +Spiritual Barons, are any peeps into the hearts and home lives of the +Manx, which will show what is called the "innate religiosity" of the +humblest of the people. To this end also, when I have discharged my +scant duty to church history, or perhaps in the course of my hasty +exposition of it, I shall dwell on some of those homely manners and +customs, which, more than prayer-books and printed services, tell us +what our fathers believed, what we still believe, and how we stand +towards that other life, that inner life, that is not concerned with +what we eat and what we drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed. + + +THE DRUIDS + +And now, just as the first chapter of our Manx civil history is lost, +so the first chapter of our church history is lost. That the Druids +occupied the island seems to some people to be clear from many Celtic +names and some remains, such as we are accustomed to call Druidical, +and certain customs still observed. Perhaps worthy of a word is the +circumstance that in the parish where the Bishop now lives, and has +always lived, Kirk Michael, there is a place called by a name which in +the Manx signifies Chief Druid. Strangely are the faiths of the ages +linked together. + + +CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY + +We do not know, with any certainty, at what time the island was +converted to Christianity. The accepted opinion is that Christianity was +established in Man by St. Patrick about the middle of the fifth century. +The story goes that the Saint of Ireland was on a voyage thither from +England, when a storm cast him ashore on a little islet on the western +coast of Man. This islet was afterwards called St. Patrick's Isle. St. +Patrick built his church on it. The church was rebuilt eight centuries +later within the walls of a castle which rose on the same rocky site. It +became the cathedral church of the island. When the Norwegians came they +renamed the islet Holm Isle. Tradition says that St. Patrick's coming +was in the time of Mannanan, the magician, our little Manx Prospero. It +also says that St. Patrick drove Mannanan away, and that St. Patrick's +successor, St. Germain, followed up the good work of exterminating evil +spirits by driving out of the island all venomous creatures whatever. We +sometimes bless the memory of St. Germain, and wish he would come again. + + +THE EARLY BISHOPS OF MAN + +After St. Germain came St. Maughold. This Bishop was a sort of +transfigured Manx Caliban. I trust the name does him no wrong. He had +been an Irish prince, had lived a bad, gross life as a robber at the +head of a band of robbers, had been converted by St. Patrick, and, +resolving to abandon the temptations of the world, had embarked on the +sea in a wicker boat without oar or helm. Almost he had his will at +once, but the north wind, which threatened to remove him from the +temptations of this world, cast him ashore on the north of the Isle of +Man. There he built his church, and the rocky headland whereon it stands +is still known by his name. High on the craggy cliff-side, looking +towards the sea, is a seat hewn out of the rock. This is called St. +Maughold's Chair. Not far away there is a well supposed to possess +miraculous properties. It is called St. Maughold's Well. Thus tradition +has perpetuated the odour of his great sanctity, which is the more +extraordinary in a variation of his legend, which says that it was not +after his conversion, and in submission to the will of God, that he put +forth from Ireland in his wicker boat, but that he was thrust out thus, +with hands and feet bound, by way of punishment for his crimes as a +captain of banditti. + +But if Maughold was Caliban in Ireland, he was more than Prospero in +Man. Rumour of his piety went back to Ireland, and St. Bridget, who had +founded a nunnery at Kildare, resolved on a pilgrimage to the good +man's island. She crossed the water, attended by her virgins, called +her daughters of fire, founded a nunnery near Douglas, worked miracles +there, touched the altar in testimony of her virginity, whereupon it +grew green and flourished. This, if I may be pardoned the continued +parallel, is our Manx Miranda. And indeed it is difficult to shake off +the idea that Shakespeare must have known something of the early +story of Man, its magicians and its saints. We know the perfidy of +circumstance, the lying tricks that fact is always playing with us, too +well and painfully to say anything of the kind with certainty. But the +angles of resemblance are many between the groundwork of the "Tempest" +and the earliest of Manx records. Mannanan-beg-Mac-y-Lear, the magician +who surrounded the island with mists when enemies came near in ships; +Maughold, the robber and libertine, bound hand and foot, and driven +ashore in a wicker boat; and then Bridget, the virgin saint. Moreover, +the stories of Little Man-nanan, of St. Patrick, and of St. Maughold +were printed in Manx in the sixteenth century. Truly that is not +enough, for, after all, we have no evidence that Shakespeare, who knew +everything, knew Manx. But then Man has long been famous for its seamen. +We had one of them at Trafalgar, holding Nelson in his arms when he +died. The best days, or the worst days--which?--of the trade of the West +Coast of Africa saw Manx captains in the thick of it. Shall I confess to +you that in the bad days of the English slave trade the four merchantmen +that brought the largest black cargo to the big human auction mart at +the Goree Piazza at Liverpool were commanded by four Manxmen! They were +a sad quartet. One of them had only one arm and an iron hook; another +had only one arm and one eye; a third had only one leg and a stump; the +fourth was covered with scars from the iron of the chains of a slave +which he had worn twelve months at Barbadoes. Just about enough humanity +in the four to make one complete man. But with vigour enough, fire +enough, heart enough--I daren't say soul enough--in their dismembered +old trunks to make ten men apiece; born sea-rovers, true sons of Orry, +their blood half brine. Well, is it not conceivable that in those +earlier days of treasure seeking, when Elizabeth's English captains were +spoiling the Spaniard in the Indies, Manx sailors were also there? +If so, why might not Shakespeare, who must have ferreted out many a +stranger creature, have found in some London tavern an old Manx sea-dog, +who could tell him of the Manx Prospero, the Manx Caliban, and the Manx +Miranda? + +But I have rambled on about my sailors; I must return to my Bishops. +They seem to have been a line of pious, humble, charitable, godly men +at the beginning. Irishmen, chiefly, living the lives of hermits +and saints. Apparently they were at first appointed by the people +themselves. Would it be interesting to know the grounds of selection? +One was selected for his sanctity, a natural qualification, but another +was chosen because he had a pleasant face, and a fine portly figure; +not bad qualifications, either. Thus things went on for about a hundred +years, and, for all we know, Celtic Bishops and Celtic people lived +together in their little island in peace, hearing nothing of the loud +religious hubbub that was disturbing Europe. + + +BISHOPS OF THE WELSH DYNASTY + +Then came the rule of the Welsh kings, and, though we know but little +with certainty, we seem to realise that it brought great changes to the +religious' life of Man. The Church began to possess itself of lands: the +baronial territories of the island fell into the hands of the clergy; +the early Bishops became Barons. This gave the Church certain powers +of government. The Bishops became judges, and as judges they possessed +great power over the person of the subject. Sometimes they stood in the +highest place of all, being also Governor to the Welsh Kings. Then they +were called Sword-Bishops. Their power at such times, when the crosier +and sword were in the two hands of one man, must have been portentous, +and even terrible. We have no records that picture what came of that. +But it is not difficult to imagine the condition. The old order of +things had passed away. The hermit-saints, the saintly hermits, had +gone, and in their place were monkish barons, living in abbeys and +monasteries, whipping the poor bodies of their people, as well as +comforting their torn hearts, fattening on broad lands, praying each +with his lips: "Give us this day our daily bread," but saying each to +his soul: "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine +ease; eat, drink, and be merry." + + +BISHOPS OF THE NORSE DYNASTY + +Little as we know of these times, we see that things must have come to +a pretty pass, for when the Scandinavian dynasty came in the +ecclesiastical authorities were forbidden to exercise civil control over +any subjects of the king that were not also the tenants of their own +baronies. So the Bishops were required to confine themselves to keeping +their own house in order. The Norse Constitution established in Man by +King Orry made no effort to overthrow the Celtic Church founded by St. +Patrick, and corrupted by his Welsh successors, but it curtailed its +liberties, and reduced its dignity. It demanded as an act of fealty that +the Bishop or chief Baron should hold the stirrup of the King's saddle, +as he mounted his horse at Tynwald. But it still suffered the Bishop and +certain of his clergy to sit in the highest court of the legislature. +The Church ceased to be purely Celtic; it became Celto-Scandinavian, +otherwise Manx. It was under the Archbishop of Drontheim for its +Metropolitan, and its young clergy were sent over to Drontheim to be +educated. Its revenues were apportioned after the most apostolic manner; +one-third of the tithes to the Bishop for his maintenance, the support +of his courts, his churches, and (miserable conclusion! ) his prisons; +one-third to the priests, and the remaining third to the relief of the +poor and the education of youth. It is a curious and significant fact +that when the Reformation came the last third was seized by the lord. +Good old lordly trick, we know it well! + + +SODOR AND MAN + +The Bishopric of the island was now no longer called the Bishopric of +Man, but Sodor and Man. The title has given rise to much speculation. +One authority derives it from _Soterenssis_, a name given by Danish +writers to the western islands, and afterwards corrupted to _Soderensk_. +Another authority derives it from _Sudreyjas_, signifying in the +Norwegian the Southern Isles. A third derives it from the Greek _Soter_, +Saviour, to whose name the cathedral of Iona was dedicated. And yet a +fourth authority derives it from the supposed third name of the little +islet rock called variously Holm Isle, Sodor, Peel, and St. Patrick's +Isle, whereon St. Patrick or St. Germain built his church, I can claim +no right to an opinion where these good doctors differ, and shall +content myself with saying that the balance of belief is in favour of +the Norwegian derivation, which offers this explanation of the title of +Bishop of Sodor and Man, that the Isle of Man was not included by the +Norsemen in the southern cluster of islands called the Sudereys, and +that the Bishop was sometimes called the Bishop of Man and the Isles, +and sometimes Bishop of the Sudereys and the Isle of Man. Only one +warning note shall I dare, as an ignorant layman, to strike on that +definition, and it is this: that the title of Bishop of Sodor dates back +to the seventh century certainly, and that the Norseman did not come +south until three centuries later. + + +THE EARLY BISHOPS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY + +But now I come to matters whereon I have more authority to speak. When +the Isle of Man passed to the Stanley family, the Bishopric fell to +their patronage, and they lost no time in putting their own people into +it. It was then under the English metropolitan of Canterbury, but early +in the sixteenth century it became part of the province of York. About +that time the baronies, the abbeys, and the nunneries were suppressed. +It does not appear that the change of metropolitan had made much +change of religious life. Apparently the clergy kept the Manx people in +miserable ignorance. It was not until the seventeenth century that the +Book of Common Prayer was translated into the Manx language. The Gospels +and the Acts were unknown to the Manx until nearly a century later. Nor +was this due to ignorance of the clergy of the Manx tongue, for most +of them must have been Manxmen, and several of the Bishops were Manxmen +also. But grievous abuses had by this time attached themselves to the +Manx Church, and some of them were flagrant and wicked, and some were +impudent and amusing. + + +TITHES IN KIND + +Naturally the more outrageous of the latter sort gathered about the +process of collecting tithes. + +Tithes were paid in kind in those days. It was not until well within our +own century that they were commuted to a money payment. The Manxman paid +tithe on everything. He began to pay tithe before coming into the world, +and he went on paying tithe even after he had gone out of it. This is +a hard saying, but nevertheless a simple truth. Throughout his +journey from the cradle to the grave, the Manxman paid tithe on all he +inherited, on all he had, on all he did, on all his wife did, and on +all he left behind him. We have the equivalent of this in England at +the present hour, but it was yet more tyrannical, and infinitely more +ludicrous, in the Isle of Man down to the year 1839. It is only vanity +and folly and vexation of spirit to quarrel with the modern English +taxgatherer; you are sure to go the wall, with humiliation and with +disgrace. It was not always so when taxes were paid in kind. There was, +at least, the satisfaction of cheating. The Manx people could not always +deny themselves that satisfaction. For instance, they were required to +pay tithe of herring as soon as the herring boats were brought above +full sea mark, and there were ways of counting known to the fishermen +with which the black-coated arithmeticians of the Church were not able +to cope. A man paid tithe on such goods and even such clothes as his +wife possessed on their wedding day, and young brides became wondrous +wise in the selection for the vicarage of the garments that were out of +fashion. A corpse-present was demanded over the grave of a dead man out +of the horses and cattle whereof he died possessed, and dying men left +verbal wills which consigned their broken-winded horses and dry cows to +the mercy and care of the clergyman. You will not marvel much that such +dealings led to disputes, sometimes to quarrels, occasionally to riots. +In my boyhood I heard old people over the farm-house fire chuckle +and tell of various wise doings, to outwit the parson. One of these +concerned the oats harvest. When the oats were in sheaf, the parson's +cart came up, driven by the sumner, the parson's official servant. The +gate of the field was thrown open, and honestly and religiously one +sheaf out of every ten was thrown into the cart. But the husbandman had +been thrifty in advance. The parson's sheaves had all been grouped thick +about the gate, and they were the shortest, and the thinnest, and the +blackest, and the dirtiest, and the poorest that the field had yielded. +Similar were the doings at the digging of the potatoes, but the scenes +of recrimination which often ensued were usually confined to the farmer +and the sumner. More outrageous contentions with the priest himself +sometimes occurred within the very walls of the church. It was the +practice to bring tithe of butter and cheese and eggs, and lay it on the +altar on Sunday. This had to be done under pain of exclusion from the +communion, and that was a penalty most grievous to material welfare. So +the Manxmen and Manxwomen were compelled to go to church much as they +went to market, with their butter- and egg-baskets over their arms. It +is a ludicrous picture, as one sees it in one's mind's eye, but what +comes after reaches the extremity of farce. Say the scene is Maughold +old church, once the temple of the saintly hermit. It is Sunday morning, +the bells are ringing, and Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, a rascally old +skinflint, is coming along with a basket. It contains some butter that +he could not sell at Ramsey market yesterday because it was rank, and a +few eggs which he knows to be stale and addled--the old hen has sat on +them, and they have brought forth nothing. These he places reverently on +the altar. But the parson knows Juan, and proceeds to examine his tithe. +May I take so much liberty with history, and with the desecrated old +church, as to imagine the scene which follows? + +Priest, pointing contemptuously towards the altar: +"Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, what is this?" "Butter and eggs, so plaze your +reverence." "Pig-swill and chalk you mean, man!" "Aw 'deed if I'd known +your reverence was so morthal partic'lar the ould hen herself should +have been layin' some fresh eggs for your reverence." + +"Take them away, you thief of the Church! Do you think what isn't fit +for your pig is good enough for your priest? Bring better, or never let +me look on your wizened old wicked face again." + +Exit Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, perhaps with butter and eggs flying after +his retreating figure. + + +THE GAMBLING BISHOP + +This is an imaginary picture, but no less outrageous things happened +whereof the records remain. A demoralised laity usually co-exists with +a demoralised clergy, and there are some bad stories of the Bishops who +preceded the Reformation. There is one story of a Bishop of that period, +who was a gross drunkard and notorious gambler. He played with his +clergy as long as they had anything to lose, and then he played with a +deemster and lost five hundred pounds himself. Poor little island, that +had two such men for its masters, the one its master in the things of +this world, the other its master in the things of the world to come! If +anything is needful to complete the picture of wretchedness in which +the poor Manx people must have existed then, it is the knowledge of what +manner of man a deemster was in those days, what his powers were, and +how he exercised them. + + +THE DEEMSTERS + +The two deemsters--a name of obvious significance, deem-sters, such as +deem the laws--were then the only judges of the island, all other legal +functionaries being of more recent date. On entering into office, the +deemster took an oath, which is sworn by all deemsters to this day, +declaring by the wonderful works which God hath miraculously wrought in +six days and seven nights, that he would execute the laws of the island +justly "betwixt party and party, as indifferently as the herring's +backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish." But these laws down to the +time of the second Stanley existed only in the breasts of the deemsters +themselves, being therefore called Breast Laws, and thus they were +supposed to be handed down orally from deemster to deemster. The +superstition fostered corruption as well as incapacity, and it will not +be wronging the truth to say that some of the deemsters of old time were +both ignorant and unprincipled. Their jurisdiction was absolute in all +that were then thought to be temporal affairs, beginning with a debt +of a shilling, and going up to murder. They kept their courts in the +centres of their districts, one of them being in the north of the +island, the other in the south, but they were free to hold a court +anywhere, and at any time. A deemster riding from Ramsey to Peel might +find his way stopped by a noisy claimant, who held his defendant by the +lug, having dragged him bodily from the field to the highway, to receive +instant judgment from the judge riding past. Or at midnight, in his +own home, a deemster might be broken in upon by a clamorous gang of +disputants and their witnesses, who came from the pot-house for the +settlement of their differences. On such occasions, the deemster +invariably acted on the sound old legal maxim, once recognised by an Act +of Parliament, that suits not likely to bear good costs should always be +settled out of court. First, the deemster demanded his fee. If neither +claimant nor defendant could give it, he probably troubled himself no +further than to take up his horse-whip and drive both out into the road. +I dare say there were many good men among deemsters of the old order, +who loved justice for its own sake, and liked to see the poor and the +weak righted, but the memory of deemsters of this kind is not green. The +bulk of men are not better than their opportunities, and the temptations +of the deemsters of old were neither few nor slight. + + +THE BISHOPRIC VACANT + +With such masters in the State, and such masters in the Church, the +island fell low in material welfare, and its poverty reacted on both. +Within fifty years the Bishopric was nineteen years vacant, though it +may be that at the beginning of the seventeenth century this was partly +due to religious disturbances. Then in 1697, with the monasteries and +nunneries dispersed, the abbeys in ruins, the cathedral church a wreck, +the clergy sunk in sloth and ignorance, there came to the Bishopric, +four years vacant, a true man whose name on the page of Manx Church +history is like a star on a dark night, when only one is shining--Bishop +Thomas Wilson. He was a strange and complex creature, half angel, +only half man, the serenest of saints, and yet almost the bitterest of +tyrants. Let me tell you about him. + + +BISHOP WILSON + +Thomas Wilson was from Trinity College, Dublin, and became domestic +chaplain to William, Earl of Derby, and preceptor to the Earl's son, who +died young. While he held this position, the Bishopric of Sodor and +Man became vacant, and it was offered to him. He declined it, thinking +himself unworthy of so high a trust. The Bishopric continued vacant. +Perhaps the candidates for it were few; certainly the emoluments +were small; perhaps the patron was slothful--certainly he gave little +attention to the Church. At length complaint was made to the King that +the spiritual needs of the island were being neglected. The Earl was +commanded to fill the Bishopric, and once again he offered it to his +chaplain. Then Wilson yielded. He took possession in 1698, and was +enthroned at Peel Castle. The picture of his enthronement must have been +something to remember. Peel Castle was already tumbling to its fall, and +the cathedral church was a woful wreck. It is even said that from a +hole in the roof the soil and rain could enter, and blades of grass were +shooting up on the altar. The Bishop's house at Kirk Michael, which +had been long shut up, was in a similar plight; damp, mouldy, +broken-windowed, green with moss within and without. What would one give +to turn back the centuries and look on at that primitive ceremony in +St. Germain's Chapel in April 1698! There would be the clergy, a +sorry troop, with wise and good men among them, no doubt, but a poor, +battered, bedraggled, neglected lot, chiefly learned in dubious arts +of collecting tithes. And the Bishop himself, the good chaplain of Earl +Derby, the preceptor of his son, what a face he must have had to watch +and to study, as he stood there that April morning, and saw for the +first time what work he had come to tackle! + + +BISHOP WILSON'S CENSURES + +But Bishop Wilson set about his task with a strong heart, and a resolute +hand. He found himself in a twofold trust. Since the Reformation, the +monasteries and nunneries had been dispersed, and all the baronies had +been broken up, save one, the barony of the Bishop. Thus Bishop Wilson +was the head of the court of his barony. This was a civil court with +power, of jurisdiction over felonies. Its separate criminal control came +to an end in 1777, Such was Bishop Wilson's position as last and sole +Baron of Man. Then as head of the Church he had powers over offences +which were once called offences against common law. Irregular behaviour, +cursing, quarrelling, and drinking, as well as transgressions of the +moral code, adultery, seduction, prostitution, and the like, were +punishable by the Church and the Church courts. The censures of Bishop +Wilson on such offences did not err on the side of clemency. He was +the enemy of sin, and no "gentle foe of sinners." He was a believer +in witchcraft, and for suspicion of commerce with evil spirits and +possession of the evil eye he punished many a blameless old body. For +open and convicted adultery he caused the offenders to stand for an hour +at high fair at each of the market-places of Douglas, Peel, Ramsey, and +Castletown, bearing labels on their breasts calling on all people +to take warning lest they came under the same Church censure. Common +unchastity he punished by exposure in church at full congregation, when +the guilty man or the poor victimised girl stepped up from the west +porch to the altar, covered from neck to heels in a white sheet. +Slanderers and evil speakers he clapped into the Peel, or perhaps the +whipping-stocks, with tongue in a noose of leather, and when after a +lapse of time the gag was removed the liberated tongue was obliged to +denounce itself by saying thrice, clearly, boldly, probably with good +accent and discretion, "False tongue, thou hast lied." + +It is perhaps as well that some of us did not live in Bishop Wilson's +time. We might not have lived long. If the Church still held and +exercised the same powers over evil speakers we should never hear our +own ears in the streets for the din of the voices of the penitents; and +if it still punished unchastity in a white sheet the trade of the linen +weaver would be brisk. + +You will say that I have justified my statement that Bishop Wilson was +the bitterest of tyrants. Let me now establish my opinion that he was +also the serenest of saints. I have told you how low was the condition +of the Church, how lax its rule, how deep its clergy lay in sloth and +ignorance, and perhaps also in vice, when Bishop Wilson came to Man in +1698. Well, in 1703, only five years later, the Lord Chancellor King +said this: "If the ancient discipline of the Church were lost elsewhere +it might be found in all its force in the Isle of Man." This points +first to force and vigour on the Bishop's part, but surely it also +points to purity of character and nobility of aim. Bishop Wilson began +by putting his own house in order. His clergy ceased to gamble and to +drink, and they were obliged to collect their tithes with mercy. He once +suspended a clergyman for an opinion on a minor point, but many times he +punished his clergy for offences against the moral law and the material +welfare of the poor. In a stiff fight for integrity of life and purity +of thought, he spared none. I truly believe that if he had caught +himself in an act of gross injustice he would have clambered up into +the pillory. He was a brave, strong-hearted creature, of the build of +a great man. Yes! In spite of all his contradictions, he _was_ a great +man. We Manxmen shall never look upon his like again! + + +THE GREAT CORN FAMINE + +Towards 1740 a long and terrible corn famine fell upon our island. The +fisheries had failed that season, and the crops had been blighted +two years running. Miserably poor at all times, ill-clad, ill-housed, +ill-fed at the best, the people were in danger of sheer destitution. In +that day of their bitter trouble the poorest of the poor trooped off to +Bishop's court. The Bishop threw open his house to them all, good and +bad, improvident and thrifty, lazy and industrious, drunken and sober; +he made no distinctions in that bad hour. He asked no man for his name +who couldn't give it, no woman for her marriage lines who hadn't got +them, no child whether it was born in wedlock. That they were all +hungry was all he knew, and he saved their lives in thousands. He bought +ship-loads of English corn and served it out in bushels; also tons of +Irish potatoes, and served them out in _kischens_. He gave orders that +the measure was to be piled as high as it would hold, and never smoothed +flat again. Yet he was himself a poor man. While he had money he spent +it. When every penny was gone he pledged his revenue in advance. +After his credit was done he begged in England for his poor people in +Man--_he_ begged for _us_ who would not have held out his hat to save his +own life! God bless him! But we repaid him. Oh yes, we repaid him. +His money he never got back, but gold is not the currency of the other +world. Prayers and blessings are the wealth that is there, and these +went up after him to the great White Throne from the swelling throats of +his people. + + +THE BISHOP AT COURT + +Not of Bishop Wilson could it be said, as it was said of another, that +he "flattered princes in the temple of God." One day, when he was coming +to Court, Queen Caroline saw him and said to a company of Bishops and +Archbishops that surrounded her, "See, my lords, here is a Bishop who +does not come for a translation." "No, indeed, and please your Majesty," +said Bishop Wilson, "I will not leave my wife in her old age because she +is poor." When Bishop Wilson was an old man, Cardinal Fleury sent over +to ask after his age and health, saying that they were the two oldest +and poorest Bishops in the world. At the same time he got an order that +no French privateer should ever ravage the Isle of Man. The order has +long lapsed, but I am told that to this day French seamen respect a +Manxman. It touches me to think of it that thus does the glory of this +good man's life shine on our faces still. + + +STORIES OF BISHOP WILSON + +How his people must have loved him! Many of the stories told of him are +of rather general application, but some of them ought to be true if they +are not. + +One day in the old three-cornered market-place at Ramsey a little +maiden of seven crossed his path. She was like sunshine, rosy-cheeked, +bright-eyed, bare-footed and bare-headed, and for love of her sweetness +the grey old Bishop patted her head and blest her. "God bless you, my +child; God bless you," he said. The child curtseyed and answered, "God +bless you, too, sir." "Thank you, child, thank you," the Bishop said +again; "I dare say your blessing will be as good as mine." + +It was customary in those days, and indeed down to my own time, when +a suit of clothes was wanted, to have the journeyman tailor at home to +make it. One, Danny of that ilk, was once at Bishop's Court making +a long walking coat for the Bishop. In trying it on in its nebulous +condition, that leprosy of open white seams and stitches, Danny made +numerous chalk marks to indicate the places of the buttons. "No, no, +Danny," said the Bishop, "no more buttons than enough to fasten it--only +one, that will do. It would ill become a poor priest like me to go +a-glitter with things like those." Now, Danny had already bought his +buttons, and had them at that moment in his pocket. So, pulling a +woful face, he said, "Mercy me, my lord, what would happen to the poor +button-makers, if everybody was of your opinion?" "Button it all over, +Danny," said the Bishop. A coat of Bishop Wilson's still exists. Would +that we had that one of the numerous buttons, and could get a few more +made of the same pattern! It would be out of fashion--Danny's progeny +have taken care of that. There are not many of us that it would fit--we +have few men of Bishop Wilson's build nowadays. But human kindliness is +never old-fashioned, and there are none of us that the garment of sweet +grace would not suit. + + +QUARRELS OF CHURCH AND STATE + +So far from "flattering princes in the temple of God," Bishop Wilson was +even morbidly jealous of the authority of the Church, and he resisted +that of the State when the civil powers seemed to encroach upon it. More +than once he came into collision with the State's highest functionary, +the Lieutenant-Governor, representative of the Lord of Man himself. One +day the Governor's wife falsely defamed a lady, and the lady appealed +to the Bishop. Thereupon the Bishop interdicted the Governor's wife +from receiving the communion. But the Governor's chaplain admitted +her. Straightway the Bishop suspended the Governor's chaplain. Then the +Governor fined the Bishop in the sum of fifty pounds. The Bishop refused +to pay, and was committed to Castle Rushen, and lay there two months. +They show us his cell, a poor, dingy little box, so damp in his day that +he lost the use of some of his fingers. After that the Bishop appealed +to the Lord, who declared the imprisonment illegal. The Bishop was +liberated, and half the island went to the prison gate to fetch him +forth in triumph. The only result was that the Bishop lost £500, whereof +£300 were subscribed by the people. One hardly knows whether to laugh +or cry at it all. It is a sorry and silly farce. Of course it made +a tremendous hurly-burly in its day, but it is gone now, and doesn't +matter a ha'porth to anybody. Nevertheless because Gessler's cap goes up +so often nowadays, and so many of us are kneeling to it, it is good and +wholesome to hear of a poor Bishop who was brave enough to take a shot +at it instead. + + +SOME OLD ORDEALS + +Notwithstanding Bishop Wilson's severity, his tyranny, his undue pride +in the authority of the Church, and his morbid jealousy of the powers +of the State, his rule was a wise and just one, and he was a spiritual +statesman, who needed not to be ashamed. He raised the tone of life in +the Isle of Man, made it possible to accept a man's _yea_ and _nay_, +even in those perilous issues of life where the weakness and meanness +of poor humanity reveals itself in lies and subterfuges. This he did by +making false swearing a terror. One ancient ordeal of swearing he set +his face against, but another he encouraged, and often practised, let me +describe both. + +In the old days, when a man died intestate, leaving no record of his +debts, a creditor might establish a claim by going with the Bishop to +the grave of the dead man at midnight, stretching himself on it with +face towards heaven and a Bible on his breast, and then saying solemnly, +"I swear that So-and-so, who lies buried here, died in my debt by so +much." After that the debt was allowed. What warning the Bishop first +pronounced I do not know, but the scene is a vivid one, even if we think +of the creditor as swearing truly, and a startling and terrible one if +we think of him as about to swear to what is false. The dark night, the +dark figures moving in it, the churchyard, the debtor's grave, the sham +creditor, who had been loud in his protests under the light of the inn +of the village, now quaking and trembling as the Bishop's warning comes +out of the gloom, then stammering, and breaking down, and finally, with +ghostly visions of a dead hand clutching at him from the grave, starting +up, shrieking, and flying away. It is a nightmare. Let us not remember +it when the candles are put out. + +This ordeal was in force until the seventeenth century, but Bishop +Wilson judged it un-Christian, and never practised it. The old Roman +canon law of Purgation, a similar ordeal, he used not rarely. It was +designed to meet cases of slander in which there was no direct and +positive evidence. If a good woman had been accused of unchastity in +that vague way of rumour which is always more damaging and devilish than +open accusation, she might of her own free choice, or by compulsion of +the Bishop, put to silence her false accusers by appearing in church, +with witnesses ready to take oath that they believed her, and there +swearing at the altar that common fame and suspicion had wronged her. If +a man doubted her word he had to challenge it, or keep silence for ever +after. The severest censures of the Church were passed upon those who +dared to repeat an unproved accusation after the oaths of Purgation and +Compurgation had been taken unchallenged. It is a fine, honest ordeal, +very old, good for the right, only bad for the wrong, giving strength to +the weak and humbling the mighty. But it would be folly and mummery in +our day. The Church has lost its powers over life and limb, and no one +capable of defaming a pure woman would care a brass penny about the +Church's excommunication. Yet a woman's good name is the silver thread +that runs through the pearl chain of her virtues. Pity that nowadays it +can be so easily snapped. Conversation at five o'clock tea is enough to +do that. The ordeal of compulsory Purgation was abolished in Man as late +as 1737. + + +THE HERRING FISHERY + +Bishop Wilson began, or revived, a form of service which was so +beautiful, so picturesque, and withal so Manx that I regret the loss of +scarce any custom so much as the discontinuance of this one. It was the +fishermen's service on the shore at the beginning of the herring-season. +But in order to appreciate it you must first know something of the +herring fishing itself. It is the chief industry of the island. Half the +population is connected with it in some way. A great proportion of the +men of the humbler classes are half seamen, half landsmen, tilling their +little crofts in the spring and autumn, and going out with the herring +boats in summer. The herring is the national fish. The Manxman swears +by its flavour. The deemsters, as we have seen, literally swear by its +backbone. Potatoes and herrings constitute a common dish of the country +people. They are ready for it at any hour of the day or night. I have +had it for dinner, I have taken it for supper, I have seen it for tea, +and even known it for breakfast. It is served without ceremony. In the +middle of the table two great crocks, one of potatoes boiled in their +jackets, the other of herrings fresh or salted; a plate and a bowl +of new milk at every seat, and lumps of salt here and there. To be a +Manxman you must eat Manx herrings; there is a story that to transform +himself into a Manxman one of the Dukes of Athol ate twenty-four of them +at breakfast, a herring for every member of his House of Keys. + +The Manx herring fishery is interesting and very picturesque. You know +that the herrings come from northern latitudes, Towards mid-winter a +vast colony of them set out from the arctic seas, closely pursued by +innumerable sea-fowl, which deal death among the little emigrants. They +move in two divisions, one westward towards the coasts of America, the +other eastward in the direction of Europe. They reach the Shetlands in +April and the Isle of Man about June. The herring is fished at night. To +be out with the herring boats is a glorious experience on a calm night. +You have set sail with the fleet of herring boats about sun-down, and +you are running before a light breeze through the dusk. The sea-gulls +are skimming about the brown sails of your boat. They know what you are +going to do, and have come to help you, Presently you come upon a flight +of them wheeling and diving in the gathering darkness. Then you know +that you have lit on the herring shoal. The boat is brought head to the +wind and left to drift. By this time the stars are out, perhaps the moon +also--though too much moon is not good for the fishing--and you can just +descry the dim outline of the land against the dark blue of the sky. + +Luminous patches of phosphorescent light begin to move in the water, +"The mar-fire's rising," say the fishermen, the herring are stirring. +"Let's make a shot; up with the gear," cries the skipper, and nets are +hauled from below, passed over the bank-board, and paid out into the +sea--a solid wall of meshes, floating upright, nine feet deep and a +quarter of a mile long. It is a calm, clear night, just light enough +to see the buoys on the back of the first net. The lamp is fixed on the +mitch-board. All is silence, only the steady plash, plash, plash of the +slow waters on the boat's side; no singing among the men, no chaff, no +laughter, all quiet aboard, for the fishermen believe that the fish can +hear; all quiet around, where the deep black of the watery pavement +is brightened by the reflection of stars. Then out of the white +phosphorescent patches come minute points of silver and countless faint +popping sounds, The herrings are at play about the nets. You see them in +numbers exceeding imagination, shoals on shoals. "Pull up now, there's +a heavy strike," cries the skipper, and the nets are hauled up, and come +in white and moving--a solid block of fish, cheep, cheep, cheeping like +birds in the early morning. At the grey of dawn the boats begin to run +for home, and the sun is shining as the fleet makes the harbour. Men and +women are waiting there to buy the night's catch. The quay is full of +them, bustling, shouting, laughing, quarrelling, counting the herrings, +and so forth. + + +THE FISHERMEN'S SERVICE + +Such is the herring fishery of Man. Bishop Wilson knew how bitter a +thing it could be if this industry failed the island even for a single +season. So, with absolute belief in the Divine government of the world, +he wrote a Service to be held on the first day of the herring season, +asking for God's blessing on the harvest of the sea. The scene of that +service must have been wondrously beautiful and impressive. Why does not +some great painter paint it? Let me, by the less effectual vehicle of +words, attempt to realise what it must have been. + +The place of it was Peel bay, a wide stretch of beach, with a gentle +slope to the left, dotted over with grey houses; the little town farther +on, with its nooks and corners, its blind alleys and dark lanes, its +narrow, crabbed, crooked streets. Behind this the old pier and the +herring boats rocking in the harbour, with their brown sails half set, +waiting for the top of the tide. In the distance the broad breast of +Contrary Head, and, a musket-shot outside of it, the little rocky islet +whereon stand the stately ruins of the noble old Peel Castle. The +beach is dotted over with people--old men, in their curranes and undyed +stockings, leaning on their sticks; children playing on the shingle; +young women in groups, dressed in sickle-shaped white sun-bonnets, and +with petticoats tucked up; old women in long blue homespun cloaks. But +these are only the background of the human picture. In the centre of +it is a wide circle of fishermen, men and boys, of all sizes and sorts, +from the old Admiral of the herring fleet to the lad that helps the +cook--rude figures in blue and with great sea-boots. They are on their +knees on the sand, with their knitted caps at their rusty faces, and +in the middle of them, standing in an old broken boat, is the Bishop +himself, bareheaded, white-headed, with upturned face praying for +the fishing season that is about to begin. The June day is sweet and +beautiful, and the sun is going down behind the castle. Some sea-gulls +are disporting on the rock outside, and, save for their jabbering cries, +and the boom of the sea from the red horizon, and the gentle plash of +the wavelets on the pebbles of the shore, nothing is heard but the slow +tones of the Bishop and the fishermen's deep _Amen_. Such was Bishop +Wilson's fishermen's service. It is gone; more's the pity. + + +SOME OLD LAWS + +The spiritual laws of Man were no dead letters when Bishop Wilson +presided over its spiritual courts. He was good to illegitimate +children, making them legitimate if their parents married within two +years of their birth, and often putting them on the same level with +their less injured brothers and sisters where inheritance was in +question. But he was unmerciful to the parents themselves. There is +one story of his treatment of a woman which passes all others in its +tyranny. It is, perhaps, the only deep stain on his character. I thank +God that it can never have come to the ears of Victor Hugo. Told as Hugo +would have told it, surely it must have blasted for ever the name of a +good man. It is the dark story of Katherine Kinrade. + + +KATHERINE KINRADE + +She was a poor ruin of a woman, belonging to Kirk Christ, but wandering +like a vagrant over the island. The fact of first consequence is, that +she was only half sane. In the language of the clergy of the time, she +"had a degree of unsettledness and defect of understanding." Thus she +was the sort of human wreck that the world finds it easy to fling away. +Katherine fell victim to the sin that was not her own. A child was born. +The Church censured her. She did penance in a white sheet at the church +doors. But her poor, dull brain had no power to restrain her. A second +child was born. Then the Bishop committed her for twenty-one days to +his prison at the Peel. Let me tell you what the place is like. It is +a crypt of the cathedral church. You enter it by a little door in the +choir, leading to a tortuous flight of steep steps going down. It is +a chamber cut out of the rock of the little island, dark, damp, and +noisome. A small aperture lets in the light, as well as the sound of +the sea beating on the rocks below. The roof, if you could see it in the +gloom, is groined and ribbed, and above it is the mould of many graves, +for in the old days bodies were buried in the choir. Can you imagine a +prison more terrible for any prisoner, the strongest man or the bravest +soldier? Think of it on a tempestuous night in winter. The lonely islet +rock, with the swift seas rushing around it; the castle half a ruin, its +guard-room empty, its banqueting hall roofless, its sally port silent; +then the cathedral church falling to decay; and under the floor of its +choir, where lie the graves of dead men, this black, grim, cold cell, +silent as the graves themselves, save for the roar of the sea as it +beats in the darkness on the rocks outside! But that is not enough. +We have to think of this gloomy pile as inhabited on such a night of +terrors by only one human soul--this poor, bedraggled, sin-laden woman +with "the defect of understanding." Can anything be more awful? Yet +there is worse to follow. The records tell us that Katherine Kinrade +submitted to her punishment "with as much discretion as could be +expected of the like of her." But such punishments do not cleanse the +soul that is "drenched with unhallowed fire." Perhaps Katherine did not +know that she was wronged; nevertheless God's image was being trodden +out of her. She went from bad to worse, became a notorious strumpet, +strolled about the island, and led "a scandalous life on other +accounts." A third child was born. Then the Bishop concluded that for +the honour of the Christian name, "to prevent her own utter destruction, +and for the example of others," a timely and thorough reformation must +be made by a further and severer punishment. It was the 15th day of +March, and he ordered that on the 17th day, being the fair of St. +Patrick, at the height of the market, the said Katherine Kinrade +should be taken to Peel Town in charge of the general sumner, and the +constables and soldiers of the garrison, and there dragged after a boat +in the sea! Think of it! On a bitter day in March this wretched woman +with the "defect of understanding" was to be dragged through the sea by +a rope tied to the tail of a boat! And if any owner, master, and crew of +any boat proved refractory by refusing to perform this service for the +restraining of vice, they were to be subject to fine and imprisonment! +When St. Patrick's Day came the weather was so stormy that no boat +could live in the bay, but on St. Germain's Day, about the height of the +market, the censure was performed. After undergoing the punishment the +miserable soul was apparently penitent, "according to her capacity," +took the communion, and was "received into the peace of the Church." +Poor human ruin, defaced image of a woman, begrimed and buried soul, +unchaste, misshapen, incorrigible, no "juice of God's distilling" ever +"dropped into the core of her life," to such punishment she was doomed +by the tribunal of that saintly man, Bishop Thomas Wilson! She has met +him at another tribunal since then; not where she has crouched before +him, but where she has stood by his side. She has carried her great +account against him, to Him before whom the proudest are as chaff. + + None spake when Wilson stood before + The Throne; + And He that sat thereon + Spake not; and all the presence-floor + Burnt deep with blushes, and the angels cast + Their faces downwards.--Then, at last, + Awe-stricken, he was ware + How on the emerald stair + A woman sat divinely clothed in white, + And at her knees four cherubs bright + That laid + Their heads within her lap. Then, trembling, he essayed + To speak--"Christ's mother, pity me!" + Then answered she, + "Sir, I am Katherine Kinrade." {*} + + * Unpublished poem by the author of ''Fo'c's'le Yarns." + + +BISHOP WILSON'S LAST DAYS + +Have I dashed your faith in my hero? Was he indeed the bitterest of +tyrants as well as the serenest of saints? Yet bethink you of the other +good men who have done evil deeds? King David and the wife of Uriah, +Mahomet and his adopted son; the gallery of memory is hung round with +many such portraits. Poor humanity, weak at the strongest, impure at +the purest; best take it as it is, and be content. Remember that a good +man's vices are generally the excess of his virtues. It was so with +Bishop Wilson. Remember, too, that it is not for what a man does, but +for what he means to do, that we love him or hate him in the end. And +in the end the Manx people loved Bishop Wilson, and still they bless his +memory. + +We have a glimpse of his last days, and it is full of tender beauty. +True to his lights, simple and frugal of life, God-fearing and strong +of heart, he lived to be old. Very feeble, his beautiful face grown +mellower even as his heart was softer for his many years, tottering on +his staff, drooping like a white flower, he went in and out among his +people, laying his trembling hands on the children's heads and blessing +them, remembering their fathers and their fathers' fathers. Beloved by +the young, reverenced by the old, honoured by the great, worshipped by +the poor, living in sweet patience, ready to die in hope. His day was +done, his night was near, and the weary toiler was willing to go to his +rest. Thus passed some peaceful years. He died in 1755, and was followed +to his grave by the whole Manx nation. His tomb is our most sacred +shrine. We know his faults, but we do not speak of them there. Call a +truce over the place of the old man's rest. There he lies, who was once +the saviour of our people. God bless him! He was our fathers' bishop, +and his saintly face still shines on our fathers' children. + + +THE ATHOL BISHOPS + +Let me in a last clause attempt a sketch of the history of the Manx +Church in the century or more that has followed Bishop Wilson's death. +The last fifty years of it are featureless, save for an attempt to +abolish the Bishopric. This foolish effort first succeeded and then +failed, and was a poor bit of mummery altogether, ending in nothing +but waste of money and time, and breath and temper. The fifty years +immediately succeeding Bishop Wilson were full of activity. But so far +as the Church was concerned, the activity was not always wholesome. If +religion was kept alive in Man in those evil days, and the soul hunger +of the poor Manx people was satisfied, it was not by the masters of the +Manx Church, the Pharisees who gave alms in the streets to the sound +of a trumpet going before them, or by the Levites who passed by on +the other side when a man had fallen among thieves. It was partly by +dissent, which was begun by Wesley in 1775 (after Quakerism had been +suppressed), and partly by a small minority of the Manx clergy, who kept +going the early evangelicalism of Newton and Cowper and Cecil--dear, +sunny, simple-hearted old Manx vicars, who took sweet counsel together +in their old-fashioned homes, where you found grace in all senses of the +word, purity of soul, the life of the mind, and gentle courtliness of +manners. + +Bishop Wilson's successor was Doctor Mark Hildlesley, in all respects +a worthy man. He completed the translation of the Scriptures into Manx, +which had been begun by his predecessor, and established Sunday-schools +in Man before they had been commenced in any other country. But after +him came a line of worthless prelates, Dr. Richmond, remembered for his +unbending haughtiness; Dr. Mason, disgraced by his debts; and Claudius +Cregan, a bishop unfit to be a curate. Do you not read between the +broad lines of such facts? The Athol dynasty was now some thirty years +established in Man, and the swashbuckler Court of fine gentlemen was +in full swing. In that costume drama of soiled lace and uproarious +pleasures, what part did the Church play? Was it that of the man clad +in camel's skin, living on locusts and wild honey, and calling on the +generation of revellers to flee from the wrath to come? No; but that +of the lover of cakes and ale. The records of this period are few and +scanty, but they are full enough to show that some of the clergy of the +Athols knew more of backgammon than of theology. While they pandered to +the dissolute Court they lived under, going the errands of their masters +in the State, fetching and carrying for them, and licking their shoes, +they tyrannised over the poor ignorant Manx people and fleeced them +unmercifully. Perhaps this was in a way only natural. Corruption was in +the air throughout Europe. Dr. Youngs were grovelling for preferments +at the feet of kings' mistresses, and Dr. Warners were kissing the +shoebuckles of great ladies for sheer love of their faces, plastered red +and white, The parasites of the Manx clergy were not far behind some +of their English brethren. There is a story told of their life among +themselves which casts lurid light on their character and ways of life. +It is said that two of the Vicars-general summoned a large number of the +Manx people to Bishop's Court on some business of the spiritual court, +Many of the people had come long distances, chiefly a-foot, without +food, and probably without money. After a short sitting the court was +adjourned for dinner. The people had no dinner, and they starved. The +Vicars-general went into the palace to dine with the Bishop. Some hours +passed. The night was gathering. Then a message came out to say that no +more business could be done that day. Some of the poor people were old, +and had to travel fifteen miles to their homes. The record tells us that +the Bishop gave his guests "most excellent wine." What of a scene like +that? Outside, a sharp day in Spring, two score famished folks tramping +the glen and the gravel-path, the gravel-path and the glen, to and +fro, to and fro, minute after minute, hour after hour. Inside, my +lord Bishop, drenched in debt, dining with his clergy, drinking +"most excellent wine" with them, unbending his mighty mind with them, +exchanging boisterous stories with them, jesting with them, laughing +with them, until his face grows as red as the glowing turf on his +hearth. Presently a footfall on the gravel, and outside the window a +hungry, pinched, anxious face looking nervously into the room. Then this +colloquy: + +"Ah, the court, plague on't, I'd forgotten it." + +"Adjourn it, gentlemen." + +"Wine like yours, my lord, would make a man forget Paradise." + +"Sit down again, gentlemen. Juan, go out and tell the people to come +back to-morrow." + +"Your right good health, my lord!" + +"And yours, gentlemen both!" + +Oh, if there is any truth in religion, if this world is God's, if a day +is coming when the weak shall be exalted and the mighty laid low, what +a reckoning they have gone to whose people cried for bread and they gave +them a stone! And if there is not, if the hope is vain, if it is all a +sham and a mockery, still the justice of this world is sure. Where are +they now, these parasites? Their game is played out. They are bones and +ashes; they are in their forgotten graves. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE + + +THE MANX LANGUAGE + +A friend asked me the other day if there was any reason why I should not +deliver these lectures in Manx. I answered that there were just forty +good and sufficient reasons. The first was that I did not speak Manx. +Like the wise queen in the story of the bells, he then spared me the +recital of the remaining nine-and-thirty. But there is at least one of +the number that will appeal strongly to most of my hearers. What that +is you shall judge for yourselves after I have braved the pitfalls of +pronunciation in a tongue I do not know, and given you some clauses of +the Lord's Prayer in Manx. + + Ayr ain t'ayns niait, + (Father our who art in heaven.) + + Caskerick dy row dty ennym. + (Holy be Thy name.) + + Dy jig dty reeriaght. + (Come Thy kingdom.) + + Dty aigney dy row jeant er y thalloo mry te ayns niau. + (Thy will be done on the earth even as in heaven.) + +***** + + Son dy bragh, as dy bragh, Amen. + (For ever and ever. Amen.) + +I asked a friend--it was Mr. Wilson Barrett--if in its fulness, its fine +chest-notes, its force and music, this old language did not sound like +Italian. + +"Well, no," he answered, "it sounds more like hard swearing." + +I think you must now understand why the greater part of these lectures +should be delivered in English. + +Manx is a dialect mainly Celtic, and differing only slightly from the +ancient Scottish Gaelic. I have heard my father say that when he was +a boy in Ramsey, sixty years ago, a Scotch ship came ashore on the +Carrick, and next morning after the wreck a long, lank, bony creature, +with bare legs, and in short petticoats, came into the marketplace and +played a tune on a little shrieking pair of smithy bellows, and then +sang a song. It was a Highland piper, and he sang in his Gaelic, but the +Manx boys and girls who gathered round him understood almost every word +of his song, though they thought his pronunciation bad. Perhaps they +took him for a poor old Manxman, somehow strayed and lost, a sort of +Manx Rip Van Winkle who had slept a century in Scotland, and thereby +lost part of his clothes. + +You will wonder that there is not more Norse in our language, +remembering how much of the Norse is in our blood. But the predominance +of the Celtic is quite natural. Our mothers were Celts, speaking Celtic, +before our Norse-fathers came. Was it likely that our Celtic mothers +should learn much of the tongue of their Norse husbands? Then, is it not +our mother, rather than our father, who teaches us to speak when we are +children? So our Celtic mothers taught us Celtic, and thus Celtic became +the dominant language of our race. + + +MANX NAMES + +But though our Norse fathers could not impose their Norse tongue on +their children, they gave them Norse names, and to the island they +gave Norse place-names. Hence we find that though Manx names show +a preponderance of the Celtic, yet that the Norse are numerous and +important. Thus we have many _dales, fells, garths_, and _ghylls_. +Indeed, we have many pure Scandinavian surnames and place-names. When +I was in Iceland I sometimes found myself face to face with names which +almost persuaded me that I was at home in our little island of the Irish +Sea. There is, for example, a Snaefell in Man as well as in Iceland. +Then, our Norwegian surnames often took Celtic prefixes, such as _Mac_, +and thus became Scandio-Gaelic. But this is a subject on which I have +no right to speak with authority. You will find it written down with +learning and judgment in the good book of my friend Mr. A. W. Moore, +of Cronkbourne. What concerns me more than the scientific aspect of the +language is its literary character. I seem to realise that it was the +language of a poetic race. The early generations of a people are often +poetic. They are child-like, and to be like a child is the best half of +being like a poet. They name their places by help of their observatory +powers. These are fresh and full of wonder, and Nature herself is +beautiful or strange until man tampers with her. + +So when an untaught and uncorrupted mind looks upon a new scene and +bethinks itself of a name to fit it, the name is almost certainly full +of charm or rugged power. Thus we find in Man such mixed Norse and +Celtic names as: _Booildooholly_ (Black fold of the wood), _Douglas_ +(Black stream), _Soderick_ (South creek), _Trollaby_ (Troll's farm), +_Gansy_ (Magic isle), _Cronk-y-Clagh Bane_ (Hill of the white stone), +_Cronk-ny-hey_ (Hill of the grave), _Cronk-ny-arrey-lhaa_ (Hill of the +day watch). + + +MANX IMAGINATION + +This poetic character of the place-names of the island is a standing +reproach to us as a race. We have degenerated in poetic spirit since +such names were the natural expression of our feelings. I tremble to +think what our place-names would be if we had to make them now. Our few +modern Christenings set my teeth on edge. We are not a race of poets. +We are the prosiest of the prosy. I have never in my life met with any +race, except Icelanders and Norwegians, who are so completely the slave +of hard fact. It is astounding how difficult the average Manxman finds +it to put himself into the mood of the poet. That anything could come +out of nothing, that there is such a thing as imagination, that any +human brother of an honest man could say that a thing had been, which +had not been, and yet not lie--these are bewildering difficulties to +the modern Manxman. That a novel can be false and yet true--that, well +that's foolishness. I wrote a Manx romance called "The Deemster;" and I +did not expect my fellow-countrymen of the primitive kind to tolerate it +for a moment. It was merely a fiction, and the true Manxman of the old +sort only believes in what is true. He does not read very much, and when +he does read it is not novels. But he could not keep his hands off this +novel, and on the whole, and in the long run, he liked it--that is, as +he would say, "middling," you know! But there was only one condition on +which he could take it to his bosom--it must be true. There was the rub, +for clearly it transgressed certain poor little facts that were patent +to everybody. + +Never mind, Hall Caine did not know poor Man, or somebody had told +him wrong. But the story itself! The Bishop, Dan, Ewan, Mona, the body +coming ashore at the Mooragh, the poor boy under the curse by the Calf, +lord-a-massy, that was thrue as gospel! What do you think happened? I +have got the letters by me, and can show them to anybody. A good Manxman +wrote to remonstrate with me for calling the book a "romance." How dare +I do so? It was all true. Another wrote saying that maybe I would like +to know that in his youth he knew my poor hero, Dan Mylrea, well. They +often drank together. In fact, they were the same as brothers. For +his part he had often warned poor Dan the way he was going. After the +murder, Dan came to him and gave him the knife with which he had killed +Ewan. He had got it still! + +Later than the "Deemster," I published another Manx romance, "The +Bondman." In that book I mentioned, without thought of mischief, certain +names that must have been lying at the back of my head since my boyhood. +One of them becomes in the book the name of an old hypocrite who in the +end cheats everybody and yet prays loudly in public. Now it seems that +there is a man up in the mountains who owns that name. When he first +encountered it in the newspapers, where the story was being published as +a serial, he went about saying he was in the "Bondman," that it was +all thrue as gospel, so it was, that he knew me when I was a boy, over +Ramsey way, and used to give me rides on his donkey, so he did. This was +before the hypocrite was unmasked; and when that catastrophe occurred, +and his villany stood naked before all the island, his anger knew +no limits. I am told that he goes about the mountains now like a +thunder-cloud, and that he wants to meet me. I had never heard of the +man before in all my life. + +What I say is true only of the typical Manxman, the natural-man among +Manxmen, not of the Manxman who is Manxman plus man of the world, the +educated Manxman, who finds it as easy as anybody else to put himself +into a position of sympathy with works of pure imagination. But you must +go down to the turf if you want the true smell of the earth. Education +levels all human types, as love is said to level all ranks; and to +preserve your individuality and yet be educated seems to want a strain +of genius, or else a touch of madness. + +The Manx must have been the language of a people with few thoughts +to express, but such thoughts as they had were beautiful in their +simplicity and charm, sometimes wise and shrewd, and not rarely full of +feeling. Thus _laa-noo_ is old Manx for child, and it means literally +half saint--a sweet conception, which says the best of all that +is contained in Wordsworth's wondrous "Ode on the Intimations of +Immortality." _Laa-bee_ is old Manx for bed, literally half-meat, a +profound commentary on the value of rest. The old salutation at the door +of a Manx cottage before the visitor entered was this word spoken +from the porch: _Vel peccaghs thie?_ Literally: Any sinner within? All +humanity being sinners in the common speech of the Manx people. + + +MANX PROVERBS + +Nearly akin to the language of a race are its proverbs, and some of the +Manx proverbs are wise, witty, and racy of the soil. Many of them are +the common possession of all peoples. Of such kind is "There's many +a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." Here is one which sounds like an +Eastern saying: "Learning is fine clothes for the rich man, and riches +for the poor man." But I know of no foreign parentage for a proverb like +this: "A green hill when far away; bare, bare when it is near." + +That may be Eastern also. It hints of a long weary desert; no grass, +no water, and then the cruel mirage that breaks down the heart of the +wayfarer at last. On the other hand, it is not out of harmony with +the landscape of Man, where the mountains look green sometimes from a +distance when they are really bare and stark, and so typify that waste +of heart when life is dry of the moisture of hope, and all the world is +as a parched wilderness. However, there is one proverb which is so Manx +in spirit that I could almost take oath on its paternity, so exactly +does it fit the religious temper of our people, though it contains a +word that must strike an English ear as irreverent: "When one poor man +helps another poor man, God himself laughs." + + +MANX BALLADS + +Next to the proverbs of a race its songs are the best expression of its +spirit, and though Manx songs are few, some of them are full of Manx +character. Always their best part is the air. A man called Barrow +compiled the Manx tunes about the beginning of the century, but his book +is scarce. In my ignorance of musical science I can only tell you how +the little that is left of Manx music lives in the ear of a man who does +not know one note from another. Much of it is like a wail of the wind in +a lonely place near to the sea, sometimes like the soughing of the long +grass, sometimes like the rain whipping the panes of a window as +with rods. Nearly always long-drawn like a moan rarely various, never +martial, never inspiriting, often sad and plaintive, as of a people +kept under, but loving liberty, poor and low down, but with souls alive, +looking for something, and hoping on,--full of the brine, the salt foam, +the sad story of the sea. Nothing would give you a more vivid sense of +the Manx people than some of our old airs. They would seem to take you +into a little whitewashed cottage with sooty rafters and earthen floor, +where an old man who looks half like a sailor and half like a landsman +is dozing before a peat fire that is slumbering out. Have I in my +musical benightedness conveyed an idea of anything musical? If not, let +me, by the only vehicle natural to me, give you the rough-shod words of +one or two of our old ballads. There is a ballad, much in favour, called +_Ny kirree fo niaghey_, the Sheep under the Snow. Another, yet better +known, is called _Myle Charaine_. This has sometimes been called the +Manx National Air, but that is a fiction. The song has nothing to do +with the Manx as a nation. Perhaps it is merely a story of a miser +and his daughter's dowry. Or perhaps it tells of pillage, probably of +wrecking, basely done, and of how the people cut the guilty one off from +all intercourse with them. + + O, Myle Charaine, where got you your gold? + Lone, lone, you have left me here, + O, not in the curragh, deep under the mould, + Lone, lone, and void of cheer. + +This sounds poor enough, but it would be hard to say how deeply this +ballad, wedded to its wailing music, touches and moves a Manxman. Even +to my ear as I have heard it in Manx, it has seemed to be one of the +weirdest things in old ballad literature, only to be matched by some of +the old Irish songs, and by the gruesome ditty which tells how "the sun +shines fair on Carlisle wa'." + + +MANX CAROLS + +The paraphrase I have given you was done by George Borrow, who once +visited the island. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown met him and showed +him several collections of Manx carols, and he pronounced them all +translations from the English, not excepting our famous _Drogh Vraane_, +or carol of every bad woman whose story is told in the Bible, beginning +with the story of mother Eve herself. And, indeed, you will not be +surprised that to the shores of our little island have drifted all +kinds of miscellaneous rubbish, and that the Manxmen, from their very +simplicity and ignorance of other literatures, have had no means of +sifting the flotsam and assigning value to the constituents. Besides +this, they are so irresponsible, have no literary conscience, and +accordingly have appropriated anything and everything. This is true of +some Manx ballads, and perhaps also of many Manx carols. The carols, +called Carvals in Manx, serve in Man, as in other countries, the purpose +of celebrating the birth of Jesus, but we have one ancient custom +attached to them which we can certainly claim for our own, so Manx is +it, so quaint, so grimly serious, and withal so howlingly ludicrous. + +It is called the service of Oiel Verree, probably a corruption of +_Feaill Vorrey_, literally the Feast of Mary, and it is held in the +parish church near to midnight on Christmas Eve. Scott describes it in +"Peveril of the Peak," but without personal knowledge. + +Services are still held in many churches on Christmas Eve; and I think +they are called Oiel Verree, but the true Oiel Verree, the real, pure, +savage, ridiculous, sacrilegious old Oiel Verree, is gone. I myself just +came in time for it; I saw the last of it, nevertheless I saw it at its +prime, for I saw it when it was so strong that it could not live any +longer. Let me tell you what it was. + +The story carries me back to early boyish years, when, from the lonely +school-house on the bleak top of Maughold Head, I was taken in secret, +one Christmas Eve, between nine and ten o'clock, to the old church of +Kirk Maughold, a parish which longer than any other upheld the rougher +traditions. My companion was what is called an original. His name was +Billy Corkill. We were great chums. I would be thirteen, he was about +sixty. Billy lived alone in a little cottage on the high-road, and +worked in the fields. He had only one coat all the years I knew him. It +seemed to have been blue to begin with, but when it had got torn Billy +had patched it with anything that was handy, from green cloth to red +flannel. He called it his Joseph's coat of many colours. Billy was a +poet and a musical composer. He could not read a word, but he would +rather have died than confess his ignorance. He kept books and +newspapers always about him, and when he read out of them, he usually +held them upside down. If any one remarked on that, he said he could +read them any way up--that was where his scholarship came in. Billy was +a great carol singer. He did not know a note, but he never sang except +from music. His tunes were wild harmonies that no human ear ever heard +before. It will be clear to you that old Billy was a man of genius. + +Such was my comrade on that Christmas Eve long ago. It had been a bitter +winter in the Isle of Man, and the ground was covered with snow. But the +church bells rang merrily over the dark moorland, for Oiel Verree was +peculiarly the people's service, and the ringers were ringing in the one +service of the year at which the parishioners supplanted the Vicar, and +appropriated the old parish church. In spite of the weather, the church +was crowded with a motley throng, chiefly of young folks, the young men +being in the nave, and the girls (if I remember rightly) in the little +loft at the west end. Most of the men carried tallow dips, tied +about with bits of ribbon in the shape of rosettes, duly lighted, and +guttering grease at intervals on to the book-ledge or the tawny fingers +of them that held them. It appeared that there had been an ordinary +service before we arrived, and the Vicar was still within the rails +of the communion. From there he addressed some parting words of solemn +warning to the noisy throng of candle-carriers. As nearly as I can +remember, the address was this: "My good people, you are about to +celebrate an old custom. For my part, I have no sympathy with such +customs, but since the hearts of my parishioners seem to be set on +this one, I have no wish to suppress it. But tumultuous and disgraceful +scenes have occurred on similar occasions in previous years, and I +beg you to remember that you are in God's house," &c. &c. The grave +injunction was listened to in silence, and when it ended, the Vicar, a +worthy but not very popular man, walked towards the vestry. To do so, +he passed the pew where I sat under the left arm of my companion, and he +stopped before him, for Billy had long been a notorious transgressor at +Oiel Verree. + +"See that you do not disgrace my church to-night," said the Vicar. But +Billy had a biting tongue. + +"Aw, well," said he, "I'm thinking the church is the people's." + +"The people are as ignorant as goats," said the Vicar. + +"Aw, then," said Billy, "you are the shepherd, so just make sheeps of +them." + +At that the Vicar gave us the light of his countenance no more. The last +glimpse of his robe going through the vestry door was the signal for a +buzz of low gossip, and straightway the business of Oiel Verree began. + +It must have been now approaching eleven o'clock, and two old greybeards +with tousled heads placed themselves abreast at the door of the west +porch. There they struck up a carol in a somewhat lofty key. It was a +most doleful ditty. Certainly I have never since heard the like of it. +I remember that it told the story of the Crucifixion in startling +language, full of realism that must have been horribly ghastly, if it +had not been so comic. At the end of each verse the singers made one +stride towards the communion. There were some thirty verses, and every +mortal verse did these zealous carollers give us. They came to an end at +length, and then another old fellow rose in his pew and sang a ditty +in Manx. It told of the loss of the herring-fleet in Douglas Bay in the +last century. After that there was yet another and another carol--some +that might be called sacred, others that would not be badly wronged with +the name of profane. As I recall them now, they were full of a burning +earnestness, and pictured the dangers of the sinner and the punishment +of the damned. They said nothing about the joys of heaven, or the +pleasures of life. Wherever these old songs came from they must have +dated from some period of religious revival. The Manxman may have +appropriated them, but if he did so he was in a deadly earnest mood. It +must have been like stealing a hat-band. + +My comrade had been silent all this time, but in response to various +winks, nods, and nudges, he rose to his feet. Now, in prospect of Oiel +Verree I had written the old man a brand new carol. It was a mighty +achievement in the sentimental vein. I can remember only one of its +couplets: + + Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in a holy union. + +I am not very sure what this may mean, and Billy must have been in the +same uncertainty. Shall I ever forget what happened? Billy standing in +the pew with my paper in his hand the wrong way up. Myself by his side +holding a candle to him. Then he began to sing. It was an awful tune--I +think he called it sevens--but he made common-sense of my doggerel by +one alarming emendation. When he came to the couplet I have given you, +what do you think he sang? + + "Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in--a hollow onion!" + +Billy must have been a humorist. He is long dead, poor old Billy. God +rest him! + + +DECAY OF THE MANX LANGUAGE + +If in this unscientific way I have conveyed my idea of Manx carvals, +Manx ballads, or Manx proverbs, you will not be surprised to hear me say +that I do not think that any of these, can live long apart from the Manx +language. We may have stolen most of them; they may have been wrecked on +our coast, and we may have smuggled them; but as long as they wear our +native homespun clothes they are ours, and as soon as they put it off +they cease to belong to us. A Manx proverb is no longer a Manx proverb +when it is in English. The same is true of a Manx ballad translated, and +of a Manx carval turned into an English carol. What belongs to us, +our way of saying things, in a word, our style, is gone. The spirit is +departed, and that which remains is only an English ghost flitting about +in Manx grave-clothes. + +Now this is a sad fact, for it implies that little as we have got of +Manx literature, whether written or oral, we shall soon have none at +all. Our Manx language is fast dying out. If we had any great work in +the Manx tongue, that work alone would serve to give our language a +literary life at least. But we have no such great work, no fine Manx +poem, no good novel in Manx, not even a Manx sermon of high mark. Thus +far our Manx language has kept alive our pigmies of Manx literature; but +both are going down together. The Manx is not much spoken now. In +the remoter villages, like Cregnesh, Ballaugh, Kirk Michael, and Kirk +Andreas, it may still be heard. Moreover, the Manxman may hear Manx a +hundred times for every time an Englishman hears it. But the younger +generation of Manx folk do not speak Manx, and very often do not +understand it. This is a rapid change on the condition of things in my +own boyhood. Manx is to me, for all practical uses, an unknown tongue. +I cannot speak it, I cannot follow it when spoken, I have only a sort +of nodding acquaintance with it out of door, and yet among my earliest +recollections is that of a household where nothing but Manx was ever +spoken except to me. A very old woman, almost bent double over a +spinning wheel, and calling me Hommy-Veg, and _baugh-millish_, and so +forth. This will suggest that the Manx people are themselves responsible +for the death of the Manx language. That is partly true. The Manx tongue +was felt to be an impediment to intercourse with the English people. +Then the great English immigration set in, and the Isle of Man became a +holiday resort. That was the doomster of the Manx language. In another +five-and-twenty years the Manx language will be as dead as a Manx +herring. + +One cannot but regret this certain fate. I dare not say that the +language itself is so good that it ought to live. Those who know it +better say that "it's a fine old tongue, rich and musical, full of +meaning and expression." {*} I know that it is at least forcible, and +loud and deep in sound. I will engage two Manxmen quarrelling in Manx +to make more noise in a given time than any other two human brethren in +Christendom, not excepting two Irishmen. Also I think the Manx must be +capable of notes of sweet feeling, and I observe that a certain higher +lilt in a Manx woman's voice, suggesting the effort to speak about the +sound of the sea, and the whistle of the wind in the gorse, is lost in +the voices of the younger women who speak English only. But apart from +tangible loss, I regret the death of the Manx tongue on grounds of +sentiment. In this old tongue our fathers played as children, bought and +sold as men, prayed, preached, gossiped, quarrelled, and made love. It +was their language at Tynwald; they sang their grim carvals in it, and +their wailing, woful ballads. + + * The Rev. T. E. Brown. + +When it is dead more than half of all that makes us Manxmen will be +gone. Our individuality will be lost, the greater barrier that separates +us from other peoples will be broken down. Perhaps this may have its +advantages, but surely it is not altogether a base desire not to be +submerged into all the races of the earth. The tower of Babel is built, +the tongues of the builders are confounded, and we are not all anxious +to go back and join the happy family that lived in one ark. + +But aside from all lighter thoughts there is something very moving and +pathetic in the death of an old language. Permit me to tell you, not +as a philologist, a character to which I have no claim, but as an +imaginative writer, how the death of an ancient tongue affects me. It is +unlike any other form of death, for an unwritten language is even as a +breath of air which when it is spent leaves no trace behind. A nation +may die, yet its history remains, and that is the tangible part of its +past. A city may fall to decay and lie a thousand years under the sands +of the desert, yet its relics revivify its life. But a language that is +dead, a tongue that has no life in its literature, is a breath of wind +that is gone. A little while and it went from lip to lip, from lip to +ear; it came we know not whence; it has passed we know not where. It was +an embodied spirit of all man's joys and sorrows, and like a spirit it +has vanished away. + +Then if this old language has been that of our own people its death is a +loss to our affections. Indeed, language gets so close to our heart that +we can hardly separate it from our emotions. If you do not speak the +Italian language, ask yourself whether Dante comes as close to you as +Shakespeare, all questions of genius and temperament apart. And if Dante +seems a thousand miles away, and Shakespeare enters into your closest +chamber, is it not first of all because the language of Shakespeare is +your own language, alive with the life that is in your own tongue, vital +with your own ways of thought and even tricks and whims of speech? Let +English die, and Shakespeare goes out of your closet, and passes away +from you, and is then your brother-Englishman only in name. So close is +the bond of language, so sweet and so mysterious. + +But there is yet a more sacred bond with the language of our fathers +when it can have no posthumous life in books. This is the bond of love. +Think what it is that you miss first and longest when death robs you of +a friend. Is it not the living voice? The living face you can bring back +in memory, and in your dark hours it will shine on you still; the good +deed can never die; the noble thought lives for ever. Death is not +conqueror over such as these, but the human voice, the strange and +beautiful part of us that is half spirit in life, is lost in death. For +a while it startles us as an echo in an empty chamber, and then it is +gone, and not all the world's wealth could bring one note of it back. +And such as the vanishing away of the voice of the friend we loved is +the death of the old tongue which our fathers spoke. _It is the death of +the dead_. + + +MANX SUPERSTITIONS + +When the Manx tongue is dead there will remain, however, just one badge +of our race--our superstition. I am proud to tell you that we are the +most superstitious people now left among the civilised nations of the +world. This is a distinction in these days when that poetry of life, +as Goethe names it, is all but gone from the face of the earth. Manxmen +have not yet taken the poetry out of the moon and the stars, and the +mist of the mountains and the wail of the sea. Of course we are ashamed +of the survival of our old beliefs and try to hide them, but let nobody +say that as a people we believe no longer in charms, and the evil eye, +and good spirits and bad. I know we do. It would be easy to give you a +hundred illustrations. I remember an ill-tempered old body living on +the Curragh, who was supposed to possess the evil eye. If a cow died at +calving, she had witched it. If a baby cried suddenly in its sleep, +the old witch must have been going by on the road. If the potatoes +were blighted, she had looked over the hedge at them. There was a charm +doctor in Kirk Andreas, named Teare-Ballawhane. He was before my time, +but I recall many stories of him. When a cow was sick of the witching of +the woman of the Curragh, the farmer fled over to Kirk Andreas for the +charm of the charm-doctor. From the moment Teare-Ballawhane began to +boil his herbs the cow recovered. If the cow died after all, there was +some fault in the farmer. I remember a child, a girl, who twenty years +ago had a birth-mark on her face--a broad red stain like a hand on her +cheek. Not long since, I saw her as a young woman, and the stain was +either gone entirely or hidden by her florid complexion. When I asked +what had been done for her, I heard that a good woman had charmed her. +"Aw, yes," said the girl's mother, "a few good words do no harm anyway." +Not long ago I met an old fellow in Onchan village who believed in the +Nightman, an evil spirit who haunts the mountains at night predicting +tempests and the doom of ships, the _dooinney-oie_ of the Manx, akin to +the _banshee_ of the Irish. "Aw, man," said he, "it was up Snaefell way, +and I was coming from Kirk Michael over, and it was black dark, and I +heard the Nightman after me, shoutin' and wailin' morthal, _how-la-a, +how-a-a_. But I didn't do nothin', no, and he came up to me lek a besom, +and went past me same as a flood, _who-o-o!_ And I lerr him! Aw, yes, +man, yes!" + +I remember many a story of fairies, some recited half in humour, +others in grim earnest. One old body told me that on the night of her +wedding-day, coming home from the Curragh, whither she had stolen away +in pursuit of a belated calf, she was chased in the moonlight by a +troop of fairies. They held on to her gown, and climbed on her back, and +perched on her shoulders, and clung to her hair. There were "hundreds +and tons" of them; they were about as tall as a wooden broth-ladle, and +all wore cocked-hats and velvet jackets. + +A good fairy long inhabited the Isle of Man. He was called in Manx the +Phynnodderee. It would appear that he had two brothers of like +features with himself, one in Scotland called the Brownie, the other in +Scandinavia called the Swart-alfar. + +I have often heard how on a bad night the Manx folk would go off to bed +early so that the Phynnodderee might come in out of the cold. Before +going upstairs they built up the fire, and set the kitchen table with +crocks of milk and pecks of oaten cake for the entertainment of their +guest. Then while they slept the Phynnodderee feasted, yet he always +left the table exactly as he found it, eating the cake and drinking the +milk, but filling up the peck and the crock afresh. Nobody ever intruded +upon him, so nobody ever saw him, save the Manx Peeping Tom. I remember +hearing an old Manxman say that his curiosity overcame his reverence, +and he "leff the wife," stepped out of bed, crept to the head of the +stairs, and peeped over the banisters into the kitchen. There he saw +the Phynnodderee sitting in his own arm-chair, with a great company of +brother and sister fairies about him, baking bread on the griddle, and +chattering together like linnets in spring. But he could not understand +a word they were saying. + +I have told you that the Manxman is not built by nature for a gallant. +He has one bad fairy, and she is the embodied spirit of a beautiful +woman. Manx folk-lore, like Manx carvals, Manx ballads, and Manx +proverbs, takes it for a bad sign of a woman's character that she has +personal beauty. If she is beautiful, ten to one she is a witch. That is +how it happens that there are so many witches in the Isle of Man. + +The story goes that a beautiful wicked witch entrapped the men of the +island. They would follow her anywhere. So she led them into the sea, +and they were all drowned. Then the women of the island went forth to +punish her, and, to escape from them, she took the form of a wren and +flew away. That is how it comes about that the poor little wren is +hunted and killed on St. Stephen's Day. The Manx lads do it, though +surely it ought to be the Manx maidens. At midnight they sally forth in +great companies, armed with sticks and carrying torches. They beat the +hedges until they light on a wren's nest, and, having started the wren +and slaughtered it, they suspend the tiny mite to the middle of a long +pole, which is borne by two lads from shoulder to shoulder. They then +sing a rollicking native ditty, of which one version runs:-- + + We'll hunt the wren, says Robbin the Bobbin; + We'll hunt the wren, says Richard the Robbin; + We'll hunt the wren, says Jack of the Lan'; + We'll hunt the wren, says every one. + +But Robbin the Bobbin and Richard the Robbin are not the only creatures +who have disappeared into the sea. The fairies themselves have also gone +there. They inhabit Man no more. A Wesleyan preacher declared some years +ago that he witnessed the departure of all the Manx fairies from the Bay +of Douglas. They went away in empty rum puncheons, and scudded before +the wind as far as the eye could reach, in the direction of Jamaica. So +we have done with them, both good and bad. + +However, among the witches whom we have left to us in remote corners of +the island is the very harmless one called the Queen of the Mheillia. +Her rural Majesty is a sort of first cousin of the Queen of the May. The +Mheillia is the harvest-home. It is a picturesque ceremonial, observed +differently in different parts. Women and girls follow the reapers +to gather and bind the corn after it has fallen to the swish of the +sickles. A handful of the standing corn of the last of the farmer's +fields is tied about with ribbon. Nobody but the farmer knows where that +handful is, and the girl who comes upon it by chance is made the Queen +of the Mheillia. She takes it to the highest eminence near, and waves +it, and her fellow-reapers and gleaners shout huzzas. Their voices are +heard through the valley, where other farmers and other reapers +and gleaners stop in their work and say, "So-and-so's Mheillia!" +"Ballamona's Mheillia's took!" That night the farmer gives a feast in +his barn to celebrate the getting in of his harvest, and the close of +the work of the women at the harvesting. Sheep's heads for a change on +Manx herrings, English ale for a change on Manx jough; then dancing led +by the mistress, to the tune of a fiddle, played faster and wilder +as the night advances, reel and jig, jig and reel. This pretty rural +festival is still observed, though it has lost much of its quaintness. I +think I can just remember to have heard the shouts of the Mheillia from +the breasts of the mountains. + +You will have gathered that in no part of the world could you find +a more reckless and ill-conditioned breeding-ground of suppositions, +legends, traditions, and superstitions than in the Isle of Man. The +custom of hunting the wren is widely spread throughout Ireland; and if +I were to tell you of Manx wedding customs, Manx burial customs, Manx +birth customs, May day, Lammas, Good Friday, New Year, and Christmas +customs, you would recognise in the Manxman the same irresponsible +tendency to appropriate whatever flotsam drifts to his shore. What I +have told you has come mainly of my own observation, but for a complete +picture of Manx manners and customs, beliefs and superstitions, I will +refer you to William Kennish's "Mona's Isle, and other Poems," a rare +book, with next to no poetic quality, and containing much that is +worthless, but having a good body of real native stuff in it, such as +cannot be found elsewhere. A still better anthology is likely to be soon +forthcoming from the pen of Mr. A. W. Moore (the excellent editor of +"Manx Names") and the press of Mr. Nutt. + +It is easy to laugh at these old superstitions, so childish do they +seem, so foolish, so ignorant. But shall we therefore set ourselves so +much above our fathers because they were slaves to them, and we believe +them not? Bethink you. Are we so much wiser, after all? How much farther +have we got? We know the mists of Mannanan. They are only the vapours +from the south, creeping along the ridge of our mountains, going north. +Is that enough to know? We know the cold eye of the evil man, whose mere +presence hurts us, and the warm eye of the born physician, whose mere +presence heals us. Does that tell us everything? We hear the moans which +the sea sends up to the mountains, when storms are coming, and ships are +to be wrecked, and we do not call them the voices of the Nightman, but +only the voices of the wind. We have changed the name; but we have taken +none of the mystery and marvel out of the thing itself. It is the Wind +for us; it was the Nightman for our fathers. That is nearly all. +The wind bloweth where it listeth. We are as far off as ever. Our +superstitions remain, only we call them Science, and try not to be +afraid of them. But we are as little children after all, and the best of +us are those that, being wisest, see plainest that, before the wonders +and terrors of the great world we live in, we are children, walking +hand-in-hand in fear. + + +MANX STORIES + +You will say that there ought to be many good stories of a people like +the Manx; and here again I have to confess to you that the absence of +all literary conscience, all perception of keeping and relation, all +sense of harmony and congruity in the Manxman has so demoralised our +anecdotal _ana_ that I hesitate to offer you certain of the best of +our Manx yarns from fear that they may be venerable English, Irish, and +Scotch familiars. I will content myself with a few that bear undoubted +Manx lineaments. As an instance of Manx hospitality, simple and rude, +but real and hearty, I think you would go the world over to match this. +The late Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown, a Manxman, brother of the most famous +of living Manxmen, and himself our North-country Spurgeon, with his +wife, his sister, and his mother, were belated one evening up Baldwin +Glen, and stopped at a farm-house to inquire their way. But the farmer +would not hear of their going a step further. "Aw, nonsense!" he said. +"What's the use of talkin', man? You'll be stoppin' with us to-night. +Aw 'deed ye will, though. The women can get along together aisy, and +_you're a clane lookin' sort o' chap; you'll be sleepin' with me!_" + +In the old days of, say, two steamboats a week to England the old Manx +captains of the Steamboat Company were notorious soakers. There is a +story of one of them who had the Archdeacon of the island aboard in a +storm. It was night. The reverend Archdeacon was in an agony of pain and +terror. He inquired anxiously of the weather. The captain, very drunk, +answered, "If it doesn't mend we'll all be in heaven before morning, +Archdeacon!" "Oh, God forbid, captain," cried the Archdeacon. + +I have said what true work for religion Nonconformity must have done +in those evil days when the clergy of the Athols were more busy with +backgammon than with theology. But the religion of the old type of Manx +Methodist was often an amusing mixture of puritanism and its opposite, +a sort of grim, white-faced sanctity, that was never altogether free of +the suspicion of a big boisterous laugh behind it. The Methodist local +preachers have been the real guardians and repositories of one side +of the Manx genius, a curious, hybrid thing, deadly earnest, often +howlingly ludicrous, simple, generally sincere, here and there +audaciously hypocritical. Among local preachers I remember some of the +sweetest, purest, truest men that ever walked this world of God; but +I also remember a > man who was brought home from market on Saturday +night, dead drunk, across the bottom of his cart drawn by his faithful +horse, and I saw him in the pulpit next morning, and heard his sermon on +the evils of backsliding. There is a story of the jealousy of two local +preachers. The one went to hear the other preach. The preacher laid out +his subject under a great many heads, firstly, secondly, thirdly, up to +tenthly. His rival down below in the pew spat and _haw'd_ and _tchut'd_ +a good deal, and at last, quite impatient of getting no solid religious +food, cried aloud, "Give us mate, man, give us mate!" Whereupon the +preacher leaned over the pulpit cushion, and said, "Hould on, man, till +I've done with the carving." + +But to tell of Happy Dan, and his wondrous sermon on the Prodigal Son +at the Clover Stones, Lonan, and his discourse on the swine possessed +of devils who went "triddle-traddle, triddle-traddle down the brews and +were clane drownded;" and of the marvellous account of how King David +remonstrated in broadest Manx _patois_ with the "pozzle-tree," for being +blown down; and then of the grim earnestness of a good man who could +never preach on a certain text without getting wet through to the +waistcoat with perspiration--to open the flood-gates of this kind of +Manx story would be to liberate a reservoir that would hardly know an +end, so I must spare you. + + +MANX "CHARACTERS" + +At various points of my narrative I have touched on certain of our +eccentric Manx "characters." But perhaps more interesting than any such +whom I have myself met with are some whom I have known only by repute. +These children of Nature are after all the truest touchstones of a +nation's genius. Crooked, distorted, deformed, they nevertheless, and +perhaps therefore, show clearly the bent of their race. If you are +without brake or curb you may be blind, but you must know when you are +going down hill. The curb of education, and the brake of common-sense +are the surest checks on a people's individuality. And these poor +halfwits of the Manx race, wiser withal than many of the Malvolios who +smile on them so demurely, exhibit the two great racial qualities of +the Manx people--the Celtic and the Norse--in vivid companionship and +contrast. It is an amusing fact that in some wild way the bardic spirit +breaks out in all of them. They are all singers, either of their own +songs, or the songs of others. That surely is the Celtic strain in them. +But their songs are never of the joys of earth or of love, or yet of +war; never, like the rustic poetry of the Scotch, full of pawky humour; +never cynical, never sarcastic; only concerned with the terrors of +judgment and damnation and the place of torment. That, also, may be a +fierce and dark development of the Celtic strain, but I see more of the +Norse spirit in it. When my ancient bard in Glen Rushen took down his +thumb-marked, greasy, discoloured poems from the "lath" against the +open-timbered ceiling, and read them aloud to me in his broad Manx +dialect, with a sing-song of voice and a swinging motion of body, while +the loud hailstorm pelted the window pane and the wind whistled round +the house, I found they were all startling and almost ghastly appeals to +the sinner to shun his evil courses. One of them ran like this: + + +HELL IS HOT. + + O sinner, see your dangerous state, + And think of hell ere 'tis too late; + When worldly cares would drown each thought, + Pray call to mind that hell is hot. + Still to increase your godly fears, + Let this be sounding in your ears, + Still bear in mind that hell is hot, + Remember and forget it not. + + +There was another poem about a congregation of the dead in the region of +the damned: + + I found a reverend parson there, + A congregation too, + Bowed on their bended knees at prayer, + As they were wont to do. + But soon my heart was struck with pain, + I thought it truly odd, + The parson's prayer did not contain + A word concerning God. + +You will remember the Danish book called "Letters from Hell," containing +exactly the same idea, and conclude that the Manx bard was poking fun at +some fashionable yet worldly-minded preacher. But no; he was too much a +child of Nature for that. + +There is not much satire in the Manx character, and next to no cynicism +at all. The true Manxman is white-hot. I have heard of one, John Gale, +called the Manx Burns, who lampooned the upstarts about him, and also of +one, Tom the Dipper, an itinerant Manx bard, who sang at fairs; but in a +general way the Manx bard has been a deadly earnest person, most at home +in churchyards. There was one such, akin in character to my old friend +Billy of Maughold, but of more universal popularity, a quite privileged +pet of everybody, a sort of sacred being, though as crazy as man may be, +called Chalse-a-Killey. Chaise was scarcely a bard, but a singer of +the songs of bards. He was a religious monomaniac, who lived before his +time, poor fellow; his madness would not be seen in him now. The idol +of his crazed heart was Bishop Wilson. He called him _dear_ and _sweet_, +vowed he longed to die, just that he might meet him in heaven; then +Wilson would take him by the hand, and he would tell him all his mind, +and together they would set up a printing press, with the types of +diamonds, and print hymns, and send them back to the Isle of Man. Poor, +'wildered brain, haunted by "half-born thoughts," not all delusions, but +quaint and grotesque. Full of valiant fury, Chaise was always ready to +fight for his distorted phantom of the right. When an uncle of my +own died, whose name I bear, Chaise shocked all the proprieties by +announcing his intention of walking in front of the funeral procession +through the streets and singing his terrible hymns. He would yield to +no persuasion, no appeals, and no threats. He had promised the dead man +that he would do this, and he would not break his oath to save his life. +It was agony to the mourners, but they had to submit. Chaise fulfilled +his vow, walked ten yards in front, sang his fierce music with the tears +streaming from his wild eyes down his quivering face. But the spectacle +let loose no unseemly mirth. Nobody laughed, and surely if the heaven +that Chaise feared was listening and looking down, his crazy voice was +not the last to pierce the dome of it. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown +has written a touching and beautiful poem, "To Chaise in Heaven": + + So you are gone, dear Chaise! + Ah well; it was enough-- + The ways were cold, the ways were rough, + O Heaven! O home! + No more to roam, + Chaise, poor Chaise! + And now it's all so plain, dear Chaise! + So plain-- + The 'wildered brain, + The joy, the pain + The phantom shapes that haunted, + The half-born thoughts that daunted: + All, all is plain, + Dear Chaise! + All is plain. + +***** + + Ah now, dear Chaise! of all the radiant host, + Who loves you most? + I think I know him, kneeling on his knees; + Is it Saint Francis of Assise? + Chaise, poor Chaise. + + +MANX CHARACTERISTICS + +I have rambled on too long about my eccentric Manx characters, and left +myself little space for a summary of the soberer Manx characteristics. +These are independence, modesty, a degree of sloth, a non-sanguine +temperament, pride, and some covetousness. This uncanny combination of +characteristics is perhaps due to our mixed Celtic and Norse blood. Our +independence is pure Norse. I have never met the like of it, except in +Norway, where a Bergen policeman who had hunted all the morning for my +lost umbrella would not take anything for his pains; and in Iceland, +where a poor old woman in a ragged woollen dress, a torn hufa on her +head, torn skin shoes on her feet, and with rheumatism playing visible +havoc all over her body, refused a kroner with the dignity, grave look, +stiffened lips, and proud head that would have become a duchess. But the +Manxman's independence almost reaches a vice. He is so unwilling to owe +anything to any man that he is apt to become self-centred and cold, +and to lose one of the sweetest joys of life--that of receiving great +favours from those we greatly love, between whom and ourselves there is +no such thing as an obligation, and no such thing as a debt. There is +something in the Manxman's blood that makes him hate rank; and though he +has a vast respect for wealth, it must be his own, for he will take off +his hat to nobody else's. + +The modesty of the Manxman reaches shyness, and his shyness is capable +of making him downright rude. One of my friends tells a charming story, +very characteristic of our people, of a conversation with the men of the +herring-fleet. "We were comin' home from the Shetland fishing, ten boats +of us; and we come to an anchor in a bay. And there was a tremenjis fine +castle there, and a ter'ble great lady. Aw, she was a ter'ble kind lady; +she axed the lot of us (eighty men and boys, eight to each boat) to come +up and have dinner with her. So the day come--well, none of us went! +That shy!" My friend reproved them soundly, and said he wished he knew +who the lady was that he might write to her and apologise. Then followed +a long story of how a breeze sprung up and eight of the boats sailed. +After that the crew of the remaining two boats, sixteen men and boys, +went up to the tremenjis great castle, and the ter'ble great lady, and +had tea. If any lady here present knows a lady on the north-west coast +of Scotland who a year or two back invited eighty Manx men and boys to +dinner, and received sixteen to tea, she will redeem the character of +our race if she will explain that it was not because her hospitality was +not appreciated that it was not accepted by our foolish countrymen. + +There is nothing that more broadly indicates the Norse strain in the +Manx character than the non-sanguine temperament of the Manxmen. Where +the pure Celt will hope anything and promise everything, the Manxman +will hope not at all and promise nothing. "Middling" is the commonest +word in a Manxman's mouth. Hardly anything is entirely good, or wholly +bad, but nearly everything is middling. It's a middling fine day, or a +middling stormy one; the sea is middling smooth or middling rough; the +herring harvest is middling big or middling little; a man is never much +more, than middling tired, or middling well, or middling hungry, or +middling thirsty, and the place you are travelling to is alwaya middling +near or middling far. The true Manxman commits himself to nothing. +When Nelson was shot down at Trafalgar, Cowle, a one-armed Manx +quartermaster, caught him in his remaining arm. This was Cowle's story: +"He fell right into my arms, sir. 'Mr. Cowle,' he says, 'do you think I +shall recover?' 'I think, my lord,' I says, 'we had better wait for the +opinion of the medical man.'" Dear old Cowle, that cautious word showed +you were no Irishman, but a downright middling Manxman. + +I have one more story to tell, and that is of Manx pride, which is a +wondrous thing, usually-very ludicrous. A young farming girl who will go +about barefoot throughout the workdays of the week would rather perish +than not dress in grand attire, after her own sort, on Sunday afternoon. +But Manx pride in dress can be very touching and human. When the +lighthouse was built on the Chickens Rock, the men who were to live in +it were transferred from two old lighthouses on the little islet +called the Calf of Man, but their families were left in the disused +lighthouses. Thus the men were parted from their wives and children, but +each could see the house of the other, and on Sunday mornings the wives +in their old lighthouses always washed and dressed the children and made +them "nice" and paraded them to and fro on the platforms in front of +the doors, and the men in their new lighthouse always looked across the +Sound at their little ones through their powerful telescopes. + + +MANX TYPES + +Surely that is a lovely story, full of real sweetness and pathos. +It reminds me that amid many half-types of dubious quality, selfish, +covetous, quarrelsome, litigious, there are at least two types of Manx +character entirely charming and delightful. The one is the best type of +Manx seaman, a true son of the sea, full of wise saws and proverbs, full +of long yarns and wondrous adventures, up to anything, down to anything, +pragmatical, a mighty moralist in his way, but none the less equal to +a round ringing oath; a sapient adviser putting on the airs of a +philosopher, but as simple as the baby of a girl--in a word, dear old +Tom Baynes of "Fo'c's'le Yarns," old salt, old friend, old rip. The +other type is that of the Manx parish patriarch. This good soul it +would be hard to beat among all the peoples of earth. He unites the best +qualities of both sexes; he is as soft and gentle as a dear old woman, +and as firm of purpose as a strong man. Garrulous, full of platitudes, +easily moved to tears by a story of sorrow and as easily taken in, but +beloved and trusted and reverenced by all the little world about him. +I have known him as a farmer, and seen him sitting at the head of his +table in the farm kitchen, with his sons and daughters and men-servants +and women-servants about him, and, save for ribald gossip, no one of +whatever condition abridged the flow of talk for his presence. I have +known him as a parson, when he has been the father of his parish, the +patriarch of his people, the "ould angel" of all the hillside round +about. Such sweetness in his home life, such nobility, such gentle, +old-fashioned ceremoniousness, such delightful simplicity of manners. +Then when two of these "ould angels" met, two of these Parson Adamses, +living in content on seventy pounds a year, such high talk on great +themes, long hour after long hour in the little low-ceiled Vicarage +study, with no light but the wood fire, which glistened on the diamond +window-pane! And when midnight came seeing each other home, spending +half the night walking to and fro from Vicarage to Vicarage, or turning +out to saddle the horse in the field, but (far away "in wandering mazes +lost") going blandly up to the old cow and putting on the blinkers and +saying, "Here he is, sir." Have we anything like all this in England? +Their type is nearly extinct even in the Isle of Man, where they have +longest survived. And indeed they are not the only good things that are +dying out there. + + +LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS + +The island has next to no literary associations, but it would be +unpardonable in a man of letters if he were to forget the few it can +boast. Joseph Train, our historian, made the acquaintance of Scott in +1814, and during the eighteen years following he rendered important +services to "The Great Unknown" as a collector of some of the legendary +stories used as foundations for what were then called the Scotch Novels. +But it is a common error that Train found the groundwork of the Manx +part of "Peveril of the Peak." It was Scott who directed Train to the +Isle of Man as a fine subject for study. Scott's brother Thomas lived +there, and no doubt this was the origin of Scott's interest in the +island. Scott himself never set foot on it. Wordsworth visited the +island about 1823, and he recorded his impressions in various sonnets, +and also in the magnificent lines on Peel Castle--"I was thy neighbour +once, thou rugged pile." He also had a relative living there--Miss +Hutchinson, his sister-in-law. A brother of this lady, a mariner, lies +buried in Braddan churchyard, and his tombstone bears an epitaph which +Wordsworth indited. The poet spent a summer at Peel, pitching his tent +above what is now called Peveril Terrace. One of my friends tried long +ago to pump up from this sapless soil some memory of Wordsworth, but no +one could remember anything about him. Shelley is another poet of whom +there remains no trace in the Isle of Man. He visited the island early +in 1812, being driven into Douglas harbour by contrary winds on his +voyage from Cumberland to Ireland. He was then almost unknown; Harriet +was still with him, and his head was full of political reforms. The +island was in a state of some turmoil, owing to the unpopularity of +the Athols, who still held manorial rights and the patronage of the +Bishopric. The old Norse Constitution was intact, and the House of Keys +was then a self-elected chamber. It is not wonderful that Shelley made +no impression on Man in 1812, but it is surprising that Man seems to +have made no impression on Shelley. It made a very sensible impression +on Hawthorne, who left his record in the "English Note Book." + + +MANX PROGRESS + +I am partly conscious that throughout these lectures I have kept my face +towards the past. That has been because I have been loth to look at the +present, and almost afraid to peep into the future. The Isle of Man is +not now what it was even five-and-twenty years ago. It has become +too English of late. The change has been sudden. Quite within my own +recollection England seemed so far away that there was something beyond +conception moving and impressive in the effect of it and its people upon +the imagination of the Manx. There were only about two steamers a week +between England and the Isle of Man at that time. Now there are about +two a day. There are lines of railway on this little plot of land, which +you might cross on foot between breakfast and lunch, and cover from +end to end in a good day's walk. This is, of course, a necessity of the +altered conditions, as also, no doubt, are the parades, and esplanades, +and promenades, and iron piers, and marine carriage drives, and Eiffel +Tower, and old castles turned into Vauxhall Gardens, and fairy glens +into "happy day" Roshervilles. God forbid that I should grudge the +factory hand his breath of the sea and glimpse of the gorse-bushes; but +I know what price we are paying that we may entertain him. + +Our young Manxman is already feeling the English immigration on his +character. He is not as good a man as his father was before him. I dare +say that in his desire to make everything English that is Manx, he +may some day try to abolish the House of Keys, or at least dig up the +Tynwald Hill. In one fit of intermittent mania, he has already attempted +to "restore" the grand ruins of Peel Castle, getting stones from +Whitehaven, filling up loop-holes, and doing other indecencies with +the great works of the dead. All this could be understood if the young +Manxman were likely to be much the richer for the changes he is bringing +about. But he is not; the money that comes from England is largely taken +by English people, and comes back to England. + + +CONCLUSION + +From these ungracious thoughts let me turn again, in a last word, to +the old island itself, the true Mannin-veg-Veen of the real Manxman. In +these lectures you have seen it only as in flashes from a dark lantern. +I am conscious that an historian would have told you so much more of +solid fact that you might have carried away tangible ideas. Fact is not +my domain, and I shall have to be content if in default of it I have got +you close to that less palpable thing, the living heart of Manx-land, +shown you our island, helped you to see its blue waters and to scent its +golden gorse, and to know the Manxman from other men. Sometimes I have +been half ashamed to ask you to look at our countrymen, so rude are they +and so primitive--russet-coated, currane-shod men and women, untaught, +superstitious, fishing the sea, tilling their stony land, playing next +to no part in the world, and only gazing out on it as a mystery far +away, whereof the rumour comes over the great waters. No great man among +us, no great event in our history, nothing to make us memorable. But I +have been re-assured when I have remembered that, after all, to look on +a life so simple and natural might even be a tonic. Here we are in the +heart of the mighty world, which the true Manxman knows only by vague +report; millions on millions huddled together, enough to make five +hundred Isles of Man, more than all the Manxmen that have lived since +the days of Orry, more than all that now walk on the island, added to +all that rest under it; streets on streets of us, parks on parks, living +a life that has no touch of Nature in the ways of it; save only in our +own breasts, which often rebel against our surroundings, struggling +with weariness under their artificiality, and the wild travesty of what +we are made for. Do what we will, and be what we may, sometimes we feel +the falseness of our ways of life, and surely it is then a good and +wholesome thing to go back in thought to such children of Nature as my +homespun Manx people, and see them where Nature placed them, breathing +the free air of God's proper world, and living the right lives of His +servants, though so simple, poor, and rude. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + +***** This file should be named 25571-8.txt or 25571-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/7/25571/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/25571-8.zip b/25571-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..428fa7d --- /dev/null +++ b/25571-8.zip diff --git a/25571-h.zip b/25571-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0268808 --- /dev/null +++ b/25571-h.zip diff --git a/25571-h/25571-h.htm b/25571-h/25571-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..666a932 --- /dev/null +++ b/25571-h/25571-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3770 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + The Little Manx Nation, by Hall Caine + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Manx Nation - 1891 + +Author: Hall Caine + +Release Date: May 23, 2008 [EBook #25571] +Last Updated: October 6, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE LITTLE MANX NATION + </h1> + <h2> + By Hall Caine + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Published by William Heinemann - 1891 + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary=""> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_TOC"> DETAILED CONTENTS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>THE LITTLE MANX NATION</b></big> + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_CONC"> CONCLUSION </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + To the REVEREND T. S. BROWN, M.A. + </h3> + <p> + You see what I send you—my lectures at the Royal Institution in the + Spring. In making a little book of them I have thought it best to leave + them as they were delivered, with all the colloquialisms that are natural + to spoken words frankly exposed to cold print. This does not help them to + any particular distinction as literature, but perhaps it lends them an + ease and familiarity which may partly atone to you and to all good souls + for their plentiful lack of dignity. I have said so often that I am not an + historian, that I ought to add that whatever history lies hidden here + belongs to Train, our only accredited chronicler, and, even at the risk of + bowing too low, I must needs protest, in our north-country homespun, that + he shall have the pudding if he will also take the pudding-bag. You know + what I mean. At some points our history—especially our early history—is + still so vague, so dubious, so full of mystery. It is all the fault of + little Mannanan, our ancient Manx magician, who enshrouded our island in + mist. Or should I say it is to his credit, for has he not left us through + all time some shadowy figures to fight about, like “rael, thrue, reg’lar” + Manxmen. As for the stories, the “yarns” that lie like flies—like + blue-bottles, like bees, I trust not like wasps—in the amber of the + history, you will see that they are mainly my own. On second thought it + occurs to me that maybe they are mainly yours. Let us say that they are + both yours and mine, or perhaps, if the world finds anything good in them, + any humour, any pathos, any racy touches of our rugged people, you will + permit me to determine their ownership in the way of this paraphrase of + Coleridge’s doggerel version of the two Latin hexameters— + </p> + <p> + “They’re mine and they are likewise yours, But an if that will not do, Let + them be mine, good friend! for I Am the poorer of the two.” + </p> + <p> + Hawthorns, Keswick, June 1891. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_TOC" id="link2H_TOC"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + DETAILED CONTENTS + </h2> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS </a> + </p> + <p> + THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS <br /> Islanders—Our Island—The + Name of our Island—Our History—King <br /> Orry—The + Tynwald—The Lost Saga—The Manx Macbeth—The Manx <br /> + Glo’ster—Scotch and English Dominion—The Stanley Dynasty—Iliam + <br /> Dhoan—The Athol Dynasty—Smuggling and Wrecking—The + Revestment—Home <br /> Rule—Orry’s Sons <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS </a> + </p> + <p> + THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS <br /> The Druids—Conversion to + Christianity—The Early Bishops of <br /> Man—Bishops of the + Welsh Dynasty—Bishops of the Norse Dynasty—Sodor <br /> and + Man—The Early Bishops of the House of Stanley—Tithes in + <br /> Kind—The Gambling Bishop—The Deemsters—The + Bishopric Vacant—Bishop <br /> Wilson—Bishop Wilson’s + Censures—The Great Corn Famine—The Bishop at <br /> Court—Stories + of Bishop Wilson—Quarrels of Church and State—Some <br /> Old + Ordeals—The Herring Fishery—The Fishermen’s Service—Some + Old <br /> Laws—Katherine Kinrade—Bishop Wilson’s last Days—The + Athol Bishops. <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE </a> + </p> + <p> + THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE <br /> The Manx Language—Manx Names—Manx + imagination—Manx Proverbs—Manx <br /> Ballads—Manx + Carols—Decay of the Manx Language—Manx <br /> Superstitions—Manx + Stories—Manx “Characters”—Manx <br /> Characteristics—Manx + Types—Literary Associations—Manx <br /> Progress—Conclusion + <br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE LITTLE MANX NATION + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS + </h2> + <p> + There are just two ideas which are associated in the popular imagination + with the first thought of the Isle of Man. The one is that Manxmen have + three legs, and the other that Manx cats have no tails. But whatever the + popular conception, or misconception, of Man and its people, I shall + assume that what you ask from me is that simple knowledge of simple things + which has come to me by the accident of my parentage. I must confess to + you at the outset that I am not much of a hand at grave history. Facts and + figures I cannot expound with authority. But I know the history of the + Isle of Man, can see it clear, can see it whole, and perhaps it will + content you if I can show you the soul of it and make it to live before + you. In attempting to traverse the history I feel like one who carries a + dark lantern through ten dark centuries. I turn the bull’s eye on this + incident and that, take a peep here and there, a white light now, and then + a blank darkness. Those ten centuries are full of lusty fights, victories, + vanquishments, quarrels, peacemaking, shindies big and little, rumpus + solemn and ridiculous, clouds of dust, regal dust, political dust, and + religious dust—you know the way of it. But beneath it all and behind + it all lies the real, true, living human heart of Manxland. I want to show + it to you, if you will allow me to spare the needful time from facts and + figures. It will get you close to Man and its people, and it is not to be + found in the history books. + </p> + <p> + ISLANDERS + </p> + <p> + And now, first, we Manxmen are islanders. It is not everybody who lives on + an island that is an islander. You know what I mean. I mean by an islander + one whose daily life is affected by the constant presence of the sea. This + is possible in a big island if it is far enough away from the rest of the + world, Iceland, for example, but it is inevitable in a little one. The sea + is always present with Manxmen. Everything they do, everything they say, + gets the colour and shimmer of the sea. The sea goes into their bones, it + comes out at their skin. Their talk is full of it. They buy by it, they + sell by it, they quarrel by it, they fight by it, they swear by it, they + pray by it. Of course they are not conscious of this. Only their + degenerate son, myself to wit, a chiel among them takin’ notes, knows how + the sea exudes from the Manxmen. Say you ask if the Governor is at home. + If he is not, what is the answer? “He’s not on the island, sir.” You + inquire for the best hotel. “So-and-so is the best hotel on the island, + sir.” You go to a Manx fair and hear a farmer selling a cow. “Aw,” says + he, “she’s a ter’ble gran’ craythuer for milkin’, sir, and for butter + maybe there isn’ the lek of her on the island, sir.” Coming out of church + you listen to the talk of two old Manxwomen discussing the preacher. + “Well, well, ma’am, well, well! Aw, the voice at him! and the prayers! and + the beautiful texes! There isn’ the lek of him on the island at all, at + all!” Always the island, the island, the island, or else the boats, and + going out to the herrings. The sea is always present. You feel it, you + hear it, you see it, you can never forget it. It dominates you. Manxmen + are all sea-folk. + </p> + <p> + You will think this implies that Manxmen stick close to their island. They + do more than that. I will tell you a story. Five years ago I went up into + the mountains to seek an old Manx bard, last of a race of whom I shall + have something to tell you in their turn. All his life he had been a poet. + I did not gather that he had read any poetry except his own. Up to seventy + he had been a bachelor. Then this good Boaz had lit on his Ruth and + married, and had many children. I found him in a lonely glen, peopled only + in story, and then by fairies. A bare hill side, not a bush in sight, a + dead stretch of sea in front, rarely brightened by a sail. I had come + through a blinding hail-storm. The old man was sitting in the chimney + nook, a little red shawl round his head and knotted under his chin. Within + this aureole his face was as strong as Savonarola’s, long and gaunt, and + with skin stretched over it like parchment. He was no hermit, but a + farmer, and had lived on that land, man and boy, nearly ninety years. He + had never been off the island, and had strange notions of the rest of the + world. Talked of England, London, theatres, palaces, king’s + entertainments, evening parties. He saw them all through the mists of + rumour, and by the light of his Bible. He had strange notions, some of + them bad shots for the truth, some of them startlingly true. I dare not + tell you what they were. A Royal Institution audience would be aghast. + They had, as a whole, a strong smell of sulphur. But the old bard was not + merely an islander, he belonged to his land more than his land belonged to + him. The fishing town nearest to his farm was Peel, the great fishing + centre on the west coast. It was only five miles away. I asked how long it + was since he had been there? “Fifteen years,” he answered. The next + nearest town was the old capital, on the east coast, Castletown, the home + of the Governor, of the last of the Manx lords, the place of the Castle, + the Court, the prison, the garrison, the College. It was just six miles + away. How long was it since he had been there? “Twenty years.” The new + capital, Douglas, the heart of the island, its point of touch with the + world, was nine miles away. How long since he had been in Douglas? “Sixty + years,” said the old bard. God bless him, the sweet, dear old soul! + Untaught, narrow, self-centred, bred on his byre like his bullocks, but + keeping his soul alive for all that, caring not a ha’porth for the things + of the world, he was a true Manxman, and I’m proud of him. One thing I + have to thank him for. But for him, and the like of him, we should not be + here to-day. It is not the cultured Manxman, the Manxman that goes to the + ends of the earth, that makes the Manx nation valuable to study. Our race + is what it is by virtue of the Manxman who has had no life outside Man, + and so has kept alive our language, our customs, our laws and our + patriarchal Constitution. + </p> + <p> + OUR ISLAND + </p> + <p> + It lies in the middle of the Irish Sea, at about equal distances from + England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Seen from the sea it is a lovely + thing to look upon. It never fails to bring me a thrill of the heart as it + comes out of the distance. It lies like a bird on the waters. You see it + from end to end, and from water’s edge to topmost peak, often enshrouded + in mists, a dim ghost on a grey sea; sometimes purple against the setting + sun. Then as you sail up to it, a rugged rocky coast, grand in its + beetling heights on the south and west, and broken into the sweetest bays + everywhere. The water clear as crystal and blue as the sky in summer. You + can see the shingle and the moss through many fathoms. Then mountains + within, not in peaks, but round foreheads. The colour of the island is + green and gold; its flavour is that of a nut. Both colour and flavour come + of the gorse. This covers the mountains and moorlands, for, except on the + north, the island has next to no trees. But O, the beauty and delight of + it in the Spring! Long, broad stretches glittering under the sun with the + gold of the gorse, and all the air full of the nutty perfume. There is + nothing like it in the world. Then the glens, such fairy spots, deep, + solemn, musical with the slumberous waters, clad in dark mosses, + brightened by the red fuchsia. The fuchsia is everywhere where the gorse + is not. At the cottage doors, by the waysides, in the gardens. If the + gorse should fail the fuchsia might even take its place on the mountains. + Such is Man, but I am partly conscious that it is Man as seen by a + Manxman. You want a drop of Manx blood in you to see it aright. Then you + may go the earth over and see grander things a thousand times, things more + sublime and beautiful, but you will come back to Manxland and tramp the + Mull Hills in May, long hour in, and long hour out, and look at the + flowering gorse and sniff its flavour, or lie by the chasms and listen to + the screams of the sea-birds, as they whirl and dip and dart and skim over + the Sugar-loaf Rock, and you’ll say after all that God has smiled on our + little island, and that it is the fairest spot in His beautiful world, + and, above all, that it is <i>ours</i>. + </p> + <p> + THE NAME OF OUR ISLAND + </p> + <p> + This is a matter in dispute among philologists, and I am no authority. + Some say that Caesar meant the Isle of Man when he spoke of Mona; others + say he meant Anglesea. The present name is modern. So is Elian Vannin, its + Manx equivalent. In the Icelandic Sagas the island is called Mon. + Elsewhere it is called Eubonia. One historian thinks the island derives + its name from Mannin—in being an old Celtic word for island, + therefore Meadhon-in (pronounced Mannin) would signify: The middle island. + That definition requires that the Manxman had no hand in naming Man. He + would never think of describing its geographical situation on the sea. + Manxmen say the island got its name from a mythical personage called + Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Learr, Little Mannanan, son of Learr. This man was a + sort of Prospero, a magician, and the island’s first ruler. The story goes + that if he dreaded an enemy he would enshroud the island in mist, “and + that by art magic.” Happy island, where such faith could ever exist! + Modern science knows that mist, and where it comes from. + </p> + <p> + OUR HISTORY + </p> + <p> + It falls into three periods, first, a period of Celtic rule, second of + Norse rule, third of English dominion. Manx history is the history of + surrounding nations. We have no Sagas of our own heroes. The Sagas are all + of our conquerors. Save for our first three hundred recorded years we have + never been masters in our own house. The first chapter of our history has + yet to be written. We know we were Celts to begin with, but how we came we + have never learnt, whether we walked dry-shod from Wales or sailed in + boats from Ireland. To find out the facts of our early history would be + like digging up the island of Prospero. Perhaps we had better leave it + alone. Ten to one we were a gang of political exiles. Perhaps we left our + country for our country’s good. Be it so. It was the first and last time + that it could be said of us. + </p> + <p> + KING ORRY + </p> + <p> + Early in the sixth century Man became subject to the kings and princes of + Wales, who ruled from Anglesea. There were twelve of them in succession, + and the last of them fell in the tenth century. We know next to nothing + about them but their names. Then came the Vikings. The young bloods of + Scandinavia had newly established their Norse kingdom in Iceland, and were + huckstering and sea roving about the Baltic and among the British Isles. + They had been to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and Faroes, perhaps to + Ireland, certainly to the coast of Cumberland, making Scandinavian + settlements everywhere. So they came to Mön early in the tenth century, + led by one Orry, or Gorree. Some say this man was nothing but a common + sea-rover. Others say he was a son of the Danish or Norwegian monarch. It + does not matter much. Orry had a better claim to regard than that of the + son of a great king. He was himself a great man. The story of his first + landing is a stirring thing. It was night, a clear, brilliant, starry + night, all the dark heavens lit up. Orry’s ships were at anchor behind + him; and with his men he had touched the beach, when down came the Celts + to face him, and to challenge him. They demanded to know where he came + from. Then the red-haired sea-warrior pointed to the milky way going off + towards the North. “That is the way of my country,” he answered. The Celts + went down like one man in awe before him. He was their born king. It is + what the actors call a fine moment. Still, nobody has ever told us how + Orry and the Celts understood one another, speaking different tongues. Let + us not ask. + </p> + <p> + King Orry had come to stay, and sea-warriors do not usually bring their + women over tempestuous seas. So the Norsemen married the Celtic women, and + from that union came the Manx people. Thus the Manxman to begin with was + half Norse, half Celt. He is much the same still. Manxmen usually marry + Manx women, and when they do not, they often marry Cumberland women. As + the Norseman settled in Cumberland as well as in Man the race is not + seriously affected either way. So the Manxman, such as he is, taken all + the centuries through, is thoroughbred. + </p> + <p> + Now what King Orry did in the Isle of Man was the greatest work that ever + was done there. He established our Constitution. It was on the model of + the Constitution just established in Iceland. The government was + representative and patriarchal. The Manx people being sea-folk, living by + the sea, a race of fishermen and sea-rovers, he divided the island into + six ship-shires, now called Sheadings. Each ship-shire elected four men to + an assemblage of law-makers. This assemblage, equivalent to the Icelandic + Logretta, was called the House of Keys. There is no saying what the word + means. Prof. Rhys thinks it is derived from the Manx name <i>Kiare-as-Feed</i>, + meaning the four-and-twenty. Train says the representatives were called + Taxiaxi, signifying pledges or hostages, and consequently were styled + Keys. Vigfusson’s theory was that Keys is from the Norse word <i>Keise</i>, + or chosen men. The common Manx notion, the idea familiar to my own + boyhood, is, that the twenty-four members of the House of Keys are the + twenty-four material keys whereby the closed doors of the law are + unlocked. But besides the sea-folk of the ship-shires King Orry remembered + the Church. He found it on the island at his coming, left it where he + found it, and gave it a voice in the government. He established a Tynwald + Court, equivalent to the Icelandic All Moot, where Church and State sat + together. Then he appointed two law-men, called Deemsters, one for the + north and the other for the south. These were equivalent to his Icelandic + Lögsögumadur, speaker of the law and judge of all offences. Finally, he + caused to be built an artificial Mount of Laws, similar in its features to + the Icelandic Logberg at Thingvellir. Such was the machinery of the Norse + Constitution which King Orry established in Man. The working of it was + very simple. The House of Keys, the people’s delegates, discussed all + questions of interest to the people, and sent up its desires to the + Tynwald Court. This assembly of people and Church in joint session + assented, and the desires of the people became Acts of Tynwald. These Acts + were submitted to the King. Having obtained the King’s sanction they were + promulgated on the Tynwald Hill on the national day in the presence of the + nation. The scene of that promulgation of the laws was stirring and + impressive. Let me describe it. + </p> + <p> + THE TYNWALD + </p> + <p> + Perhaps there were two Tynwald Hills in King Orry’s time, but I shall + assume that there was one only. It stood somewhere about midway in the + island. In the heart of a wide range of hill and dale, with a long valley + to the south, a hill to the north, a table-land to the east, and to the + west the broad Irish Sea. Not, of course, a place to be compared with the + grand and gloomy valley of the Logberg, where in a vast amphitheatre of + dark hills and great jökulls tipped with snow, with deep chasms and + yawning black pits, one’s heart stands still. But the place of the Manx + Tynwald was an impressive spot. The Hill itself was a circular mount cut + into broad steps, the apex being only a few feet in diameter. About it was + a flat grass plot. Near it, just a hundred and forty yards away, connected + with the mount by a beaten path, was a chapel. All around was bare and + solitary, perhaps as bleak and stark as the lonely plains of Thingvellir. + </p> + <p> + Such was the scene. Hither came the King and his people on Tynwald Day. It + fell on the 24th of June, the first of the seven days of the Icelandic + gathering of the Althing. What occurred in Iceland occurred also in Man. + The King with his Keys and his clergy gathered in the chapel. Thence they + passed in procession to the law-rock. On the top round of the Tynwald the + King sat on a chair and faced to the east. His sword was held before him, + point upwards. His barons and beneficed men, his deemsters, knights, + esquires, coroners, and yeomen, stood on the lower steps of the mount. On + the grass plot beyond the people were gathered in crowds. Then the work of + the day began. The coroners proclaimed a warning. No man should make + disturbance at Tynwald on pain of death. Then the Acts of Tynwald were + read or recited aloud by the deemsters; first in the language of the laws, + and next in the language of the people. After other formalities the + procession of the King returned to the chapel, where the laws were signed + and attested, and so the annual Tynwald ended. + </p> + <p> + Now this primitive ceremonial, begun by King Orry early in the tenth + century, is observed to this day. On Midsummer-day of this year of grace a + ceremony similar in all its essentials will be observed by the present + Governor, his Keys, clergy, deemsters, coroners, and people, on or near + the same spot. It is the old Icelandic ordinance, but it has gone from + Iceland. The year 1800 saw the last of it on the lava law-rock of + Thingvellir. It is gone from every other Norse kingdom founded by the old + sea-rovers among the Western Isles. Manxmen alone have held on to it. + Shall we also let it go? Shall we laugh at it as a bit of mummery that is + useless in an age of books and newspapers, and foolish and pompous in days + of frock-coats and chimney-pot hats? I think not. We cannot afford to lose + it. Remember, it is the last visible sign of our independence as a nation. + It is our hand-grasp with the past. Our little nation is the only Norse + nation now on earth that can shake hands with the days of the Sagas, and + the Sea-Kings. Then let him who will laugh at our primitive ceremonial. It + is the badge of our ancient liberty, and we need not envy the man who can + look on it unmoved. + </p> + <p> + THE LOST SAGA + </p> + <p> + Of King Orry himself we learn very little. He was not only the first of + our kings, but also the greatest. We may be sure of that; first, by what + we know; and next, by what we do not know. He was a conqueror, and yet we + do not learn that he ever attempted to curtail the liberties of his + subjects. He found us free men, and did not try to make us slaves. On the + contrary, he gave us a representative Constitution, which has lasted a + thousand years. We might call him our Manx King Alfred, if the + indirections of history did not rather tempt us to christen him our Manx + King Lear. His Saga has never been written, or else it is lost. Would that + we could recover it! Oh, that imagination had the authority of history to + vitalise the old man and his times! I seem to see him as he lived. There + are hints of his character in his laws, that are as stage directions, + telling of the entrances and exits of his people, though the drama of + their day is gone. For example, in that preliminary warning of the coroner + at Tynwald, there is a clause which says that none shall “bawl or quarrel + or lye or lounge or sit.” Do you not see what that implies? Again, there + is another clause which forbids any man, “on paine of life and lyme,” to + make disturbance or stir in the time of Tynwald, or any murmur or rising + in the king’s presence. Can you not read between the lines of that edict? + Once more, no inquest of a deemster, no judge or jury, was necessary to + the death-sentence of a man who rose against the king or his governor on + his seat on Tynwald. Nobody can miss the meaning of that. Once again, it + was a common right of the people to present petitions at Tynwald, a common + privilege of persons unjustly punished to appeal against judgment, and a + common prerogative of outlaws to ask at the foot of the Tynwald Mount on + Tynwald Day for the removal of their outlawry. All these old rights and + regulations came from Iceland, and by the help of the Sagas it needs no + special imagination to make the scenes of their action live again. I seem + to see King Orry sitting on his chair on the Tynwald with his face towards + the east. He has long given up sea-roving. + </p> + <p> + His long red hair is become grey or white. But the old lion has the + muscles and fiery eye of the warrior still. His deemsters and barons are + about him, and his people are on the sward below. They are free men; they + mean to have their rights, both from him and from each other. Disputes run + high, there are loud voices, mighty oaths, sometimes blows, fights, and + terrific hurly-burlies. Then old Orry comes down with a great voice and a + sword, and ploughs a way through the fighters and scatters them. No man + dare lift his hand on the king. Peace is restored, and the king goes back + to his seat. + </p> + <p> + Then up from the valley comes a woe-begone man in tatters, grim and gaunt + and dirty, a famished and hunted wolf. He is an outlaw, has killed a man, + is pursued in a blood-feud, and asks for relief of his outlawry. And so on + and so on, a scene of rugged, lusty passions, hate and revenge, but also + love and brotherhood; drinking, laughing, swearing, fighting, savage vices + but also savage virtues, noble contempt of death, and magnificent + self-sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + The chapter is lost, but we know what it must have been. King Orry was its + hero. Our Manx Alfred, our Manx Arthur, our Manx Lear. Then room for him + among our heroes! he must stand high. + </p> + <p> + THE MANX MACBETH + </p> + <p> + The line of Orry came to an end at the beginning of the eleventh century. + Scotland was then under the sway of the tyrant Macbeth, and, oddly enough, + a parallel tragedy to that of Duncan and his kinsman was being enacted in + Man. A son of Harold the Black, of Iceland, Goddard Crovan, a mighty + soldier, conquered the island and took the crown by treachery, coming + first as a guest of the Manx king. Treachery breeds treachery, duplicity + is a bad seed to sow for loyalty, and the Manx people were divided in + their allegiance. About twenty years after Crovan’s conquest the people of + the south of the island took up arms against the people of the north, and + the story goes that, when victory wavered, the women of the north rushed + out to the help of their husbands, and so won the fight. For that day’s + work, the northern wives were given the right to half of all their + husband’s goods immovable, while the wives of the south had only a third. + The last of the line of Goddard Crovan died in 1265, and so ended the + dynasty of the Norsemen in Man. They had been three hundred years there. + They found us a people of the race and language of the people of Ireland, + and they left us Manxmen. They were our only true Manx kings, and when + they fell, our independence as a nation ceased. + </p> + <p> + THE MANX GLO’STER + </p> + <p> + Then the first pretender to the throne was one Ivar, a murderer, a sort of + Richard III., not all bad, but nearly all; said to possess virtues enough + to save the island and vices enough to ruin it. The island was surrendered + to Scotland by treaty with Norway. The Manx hated the Scotch. They knew + them as a race of pirates. Some three centuries later there was one Cutlar + MacCullock, whose name was a terror, so merciless were his ravages. Over + the cradles of their infants the Manx mothers sang this song:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + God keep the good corn, the sheep and the bullocks, + From Satan, from sin and from Cutlar MacCullock. +</pre> + <p> + Bad as Ivar was, the Scotch threatened to be worse. + </p> + <p> + So the Manx, fearing that their kingdom might become a part of the kingdom + of Scotland, supported Ivar. They were beaten. Ivar was a brave tiger, and + died fighting. + </p> + <p> + SCOTCH AND ENGLISH DOMINION + </p> + <p> + Man was conquered, and the King of Scotland appointed a lieutenant to rule + the island. But the Manx loved the Scotch no better as masters than as + pirates, and they petitioned the English king, Edward I., to take them + under his protection. He came, and the Scotch were driven out. But King + Robert Bruce reconquered the island for the Scotch. Yet again the island + fell to English dominion. This was in the time of Henry IV. It is a sorry + story. Henry gave the island to the Earl of Salisbury. Salisbury sold it + to one Sir William le Scroop. A copy of the deed of sale exists. It puts a + Manxman’s teeth on edge. “With all the right of being crowned with a + golden crown.” Scroop was beheaded by Henry, who confiscated his estate, + and gave the island to the Earl of Northumberland. It is a silly + inventory, but let us get through with it. Northumberland was banished, + and finally Henry made a grant of the island to Sir John de Stanley. This + was in 1407. Thus there had been four Kings of Man—not one of whom + had, so far as I know, set foot on its soil—three grants of the + island, and one miserable sale. Where the carcase is, there will the + eagles be gathered together. + </p> + <p> + THE STANLEY DYNASTY + </p> + <p> + When the crown came to Sir John Stanley he was in no hurry to put it on. + He paid no heed to his Manx subjects, and never saw his Manx kingdom. I + dare say he thought the gift horse was something of a white elephant. No + wonder if he did, for words could not exaggerate the wretched condition of + the island and its people. The houses of the poor were hovels built of + sod, with floors of clay, and sooty rafters of briar and straw and dried + gorse. The people were hardly better fed than their beasts. So Stanley + left the island alone. It will be interesting to mark how different was + the mood of his children, and his children’s children. The second Stanley + went over to Man and did good work there. He promulgated our laws, and had + them written down for the first time—they had hitherto been locked + in the breasts of the deemsters in imitation of the practice of the + Druids. The line of the Stanleys lasted more than three hundred years. + Their rule was good for the island. They gave the tenants security of + tenure, and the landowners an act of settlement. They lifted the material + condition of our people, gave us the enjoyment of our venerable laws, and + ratified our patriarchal Constitution. Honour to the Stanleys of the Manx + dynasty! They have left a good mark on Man. + </p> + <p> + ILIAM DHOAN + </p> + <p> + And now I come to the one incident in modern Manx history which shares, + with the three legs of Man and the Manx cat, the consciousness of + everybody who knows anything about our island and its people. This is the + incident of the betrayal of Man and the Stanleys to the Parliament in the + time of Cromwell. It was a stirring drama, and though the curtain has long + fallen on it, the dark stage is still haunted by the ghosts of its + characters. Chief among these was William Christian, the Manxman called + Iliam Dhoan, Brown William, a familiar name that seems to hint of a fine + type of man. You will find him in “Peveril of the Peak.” He is there mixed + up with Edward Christian, a very different person, just as Peel Castle is + mixed up with Castle Rushen, consciously no doubt, and with an eye to + imaginative effects, for Scott had a brother in the Isle of Man who could + have kept him from error if fact had been of any great consequence in the + novelist’s reckoning. + </p> + <p> + Christian was Receiver-General, a sort of Chancellor of the Exchequer, for + the great Earl of Derby. The Earl had faith in him, and put nearly + everything under his command that fell within the province of his + lordship. Then came the struggle with Rigby at Latham House, and the + imprisonment of the Earl’s six children by Fairfax. The Manx were against + the Parliament, and subscribed £500, probably the best part of the money + in the island, in support of the king. Then the Earl of Derby left the + island with a body of volunteers, and in going away committed his wife to + the care of Christian. You know what happened to him. He was taken + prisoner in Lancashire, charged with bearing arms for Charles Stuart and + holding the Isle of Man against the Commons, condemned, and executed at + Bolton. + </p> + <p> + With the forfeiture of the Earl the lordship of the island was granted by + Parliament to Lord Fairfax. He sent an army to take possession, but the + Countess-Dowager still held the island. Christian commanded the Manx + militia. At this moment the Manx people showed signs of disaffection. They + suddenly remembered two grievances, one was a grievance of land tenure, + the other was that a troop of soldiers was kept at free quarterage. I + cannot but wish they had bethought them of both a little earlier. They + formed an association, and broke into rebellion against the + Countess-Dowager within eight days of the Earl’s execution. Perhaps they + did not know of the Earl’s death, for news travelled slowly over sea in + those days. But at least they knew of his absence. As a Manxman I am not + proud of them. + </p> + <p> + During these eight days Mr. Receiver-General had begun to trim his sails. + He had a lively wit, and saw which way things were going. Rumour says he + was at the root of the secret association. Be that as it may, he carried + the demands of the people to the Countess. She had no choice but to yield. + The troops were disbanded. It was a bad victory. + </p> + <p> + A fortnight before, when her husband lay under his death sentence, the + Countess had offered the island in exchange for his life. So now Mr. + Receiver-General used this act of love against her. He seized some of the + forts, saying the Countess was selling the island to the Parliament. Then + the army of the Parliament landed, and Christian straightway delivered the + island up to it, protesting that he had taken the forts on its behalf. + Some say the Countess was imprisoned in the vaults of the Castle. Others + say she had a free pass to England. So ended act one. + </p> + <p> + When the act-drop rose on act two, Mr. Receiver-General was in office + under the Parliament. From the place of Receiver-General he was promoted + to the place of Governor. He had then the money of the island under his + control, and he used it badly. Deficits were found in his accounts. He + fled to London, was arrested for a large debt, and clapped into the Fleet. + Then the Commonwealth fell, the Dowager Countess went upstairs again, and + Charles II. restored the son of the great Earl to the lordship of Man. + After that came the Act of Indemnity, a general pardon for all who had + taken part against the royal cause. Thereupon Christian went back to the + Isle of Man, was arrested on a charge of treason to the Countess-Dowager + of Derby, pleaded the royal act of general pardon against all proceedings + libelled against him, was tried by the House of Keys, and condemned to + death. So ended act two. + </p> + <p> + Christian had a nephew, Edward Christian, who was one of the two + deemsters. This man dissented from the voice of the court, and hastened to + London to petition the king. Charles is said to have heard his plea, and + to have sent an order to suspend sentence. Some say the order came too + late; some say the Governor had it early enough and ignored it. At all + events Christian was shot. He protested that he had never been anything + but a faithful servant to the Derbys, and made a brave end. The place of + his execution was Hango Hill, a bleak, bare stretch of land with the broad + sea Under it. The soldiers wished to bind Christian. “Trouble not + yourselves for me,” he said, “for I that dare face death in whatever shape + he comes, will not start at your fire and bullets.” He pinned a piece of + white paper on his breast, and said: “Hit this, and you do your own work + and mine.” Then he stretched forth his arms as a signal, was shot through + the heart, and fell. Such was the end of Brown William. He may have been a + traitor, but he was no coward. + </p> + <p> + When the chief actor in the tragedy had fallen, King Charles appeared, as + Fortinbras appears in “Hamlet,” to make a review and a reckoning, and to + take the spoils. He ordered the Governor, the remaining Deemsters, and + three of the Keys to be brought before him, pronounced the execution of + Christian to be a violation of his general pardon, and imposed severe + penalties of fine and imprisonment. “The rest” in this drama has not been + “silence.” One long clamour has followed. Christian’s guilt has been + questioned, the legality of his trial has been disputed, the validity of + Charles’s censure of the judges has been denied. The case is a mass of + tangle, as every case must be that stands between the two stools of the + Royal cause and the Commonwealth. But I shall make bold to summarise the + truth in a very few words: + </p> + <p> + First, that Christian was untrue to the house of Derby is as clear as + noonday. If he had been their loyal servant he could never have taken + office under the Parliament. + </p> + <p> + Second, though untrue to the Countess-Dowager, Christian could not be + guilty of treason to her, because she had ceased to be the sovereign when + her husband was executed. Fairfax was then the Lord of Man, and Christian + was guilty of no treason to him. + </p> + <p> + Third, whether true or untrue to the Countess-Dowager, the act of pardon + had nothing on earth to do with Christian, who was not charged with + treason to King Charles, but to the Manx reigning family. The Isle of Man + was not a dominion of England, and if Charles’s order had arrived before + Christian’s execution, the Governor, Keys, and Deemster would have been + fully justified in shooting the man in defiance of the king. + </p> + <p> + I feel some diffidence in offering this opinion, but I can have none + whatever in saying what I think of Christian. My fellow Manxmen are for + the most part his ardent supporters. They affirm his innocence, and + protest that he was a martyr-hero, declaring that at least he met his fate + by asserting the rights of his countrymen. I shall not hesitate to say + that I read the facts another way. This is how I see the man: + </p> + <p> + First, he was a servant of the Derbys, honoured, empowered, entrusted with + the care of his mistress, the Countess, when his master, the Earl, left + the island to fight for the king. Second, eight days after his master’s + fate, he rose in rebellion against his mistress and seized some of the + forts of defence. Third, he delivered the island to the army of the + Parliament, and continued to hold his office under it. Fourth, he robbed + the treasury of the island and fled from his new masters, the Parliament. + Fifth, when the new master fell he chopped round, became a king’s man once + more, and returned to the island on the strength of the general pardon. + Sixth, when he was condemned to death he, who had held office under the + Parliament, protested that he had never been anything but a faithful + servant to the Derbys. + </p> + <p> + Such is Christian. <i>He</i> a hero! No, but a poor, sorry, knock-kneed + time-server. A thing of rags and patches. A Manx Vicar of Bray. Let us + talk of him as little as we may, and boast of him not at all. Man and + Manxmen have no need ol him. No, thank God, we can tell of better men. Let + us turn his picture to the wall. + </p> + <p> + THE ATHOL DYNASTY + </p> + <p> + The last of the Stanleys of the Manx dynasty died childless in 1735, and + then the lordship of Man devolved by the female line on the second Duke of + Athol by right of his grandmother, who was a daughter of the great Earl of + Derby. There is little that is good to say of the Lords of the House of + Athol except that they sold the island. Almost the first, and quite the + best, thing they did on coming to Man, was to try to get out of it. Let us + make no disguise of the clear truth. The Manx Athols were bad, and nearly + everything about them was bad. Never was the condition of the island so + abject as during their day. Never were the poor so poor. Never was the + name of Manxman so deservedly a badge of disgrace. The chief dishonour was + that of the Athols. They kept a swashbuckler court in their little Manx + kingdom. Gentlemen of the type of Barry Lyndon overran it. Captain + Macheaths, Jonathan Wilds, and worse, were masters of the island, which + was now a refuge for debtors and felons. Roystering, philandering, + gambling, fighting, such was the order of things. + </p> + <p> + What days they had! What nights! His Grace of Athol was himself in the + thick of it all. He kept a deal of company, chiefly rogues and rascals. + For example, among his “lord captains” was one Captain Fletcher. This Blue + Beard had a magnificent horse, to which, when he was merry, he made his + wife, who was a religious woman, kneel down and say her prayers. The + mother of my friend, the Reverend T. E. Brown, came upon the dead body of + one of these Barry Lyndons, who had fallen in a duel, and the blue mark + was on the white forehead, where the pistol shot had been. I remember to + have heard of another Sir Lucius O’Trigger, whose body lay exposed in the + hold of a fishing-smack, while a parson read the burial service from the + quay. This was some artifice to prevent seizure for debt. Oh, these good + old times, with their soiled and dirty splendours! There was no lively + chronicler, no Pepys, no Walpole then, to give us a picture of the Court + of these Kings of Man. What a picture it must have been! Can you not see + it? The troops of gentlemen debtors from the Coffee Houses of London, with + their periwigs, their canes, and fine linen; down on their luck, but still + beruffled, besnuffed, and red-heeled. I can see them strutting with noses + up, through old Douglas market-place on market morning, past the Manx folk + in their homespun, their curranes and undyed stockings. Then out at Mount + Murray, the home of the Athols, their imitations of Vauxhall, torches, + dancings, bows and congés, bankrupt shows, perhaps, but the bankrupt + Barrys making the best of them—one seems to see it all. And then + again, their genteel quarrels—quarrels were easily bred in that + atmosphere. “Sir, I have the honour to tell you that you are a pimp, + lately escaped from the Fleet.” “My lord, permit me to say that you lie, + that you are the son of a lady, and were born in a sponging-house.” Then + out leapt the weapons, and presently two men were crossing swords under + the trees, and by-and-by one of them was left under the moonlight, with + the shadow of the leaves playing on his white face. + </p> + <p> + Poor gay dogs, they are dead! The page of their history is lost. Perhaps + that is just as well. It must have been a dark page, maybe a little red + too, even as blood runs red. You can see the scene of their revelries. It + is an inn now. The walls seem to echo to their voices. But the tables they + ate at are like themselves—worm-eaten. + </p> + <p> + Good-bye to them! They have gone over the Styx. + </p> + <p> + SMUGGLING AND WRECKING + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, what of the Manx people? Their condition was pitiful. An author + who wrote fifty years after the advent of the Athols gives a description + of such misery that one’s flesh creeps as one reads it. Badly housed, + badly clad, badly fed, and hardly taught at all, the very poor were in a + state of abjectness unfit for dogs. Treat men as dogs and they speedily + acquire the habits of dogs, the vices of dogs, and none of their virtues. + That was what happened to a part of the Manx people; they developed the + instincts of dogs, while their masters, the other dogs, the gay dogs, were + playing their bad game together. Smuggling became common on the coasts of + Man. Spirits and tobacco were the goods chiefly smuggled, and the illicit + trade rose to a great height. There was no way to check it. The island was + an independent kingdom. My lord of Athol swept in the ill-gotten gains, + and his people got what they could. It was a game of grab. Meantime the + trade of the surrounding countries, England, Wales, and Ireland, was + suffering grievously. The name of the island must have smelt strong in + those days. + </p> + <p> + But there was a fouler odour than that of smuggling. Wrecking was not + unknown. The island lent itself naturally to that evil work. The mists of + Little Mannanan, son of Lear, did not forsake our island when Saint + Patrick swept him out of it. They continued to come up from the south, and + to conspire with the rapid currents from the north to drive ships on to + our rocks. Our coasts were badly lighted, or lighted not at all. An open + flare stuck out from a pole at the end of a pier was often all that a + dangerous headland had to keep vessels away from it. Nothing was easier + than for a fishing smack to run down pole and flare together, as if by + accident, on returning to harbour. But there was a worse danger than bad + lights, and that was false lights. It was so easy to set them. Sometimes + they were there of themselves, without evil intention of any human soul, + luring sailors to their destruction. Then when ships came ashore it was so + easy to juggle with one’s conscience and say it was the will of God, and + no bad doings of any man’s. The poor sea-going men were at the bottom of + the sea by this time, and their cargo was drifting up with the tide, so + there was nothing to do but to take it. Such was the way of things. The + Manxman could find his excuses. He was miserably poor, he had bad masters, + smuggling was his best occupation, his coasts were indifferently lighted, + ships came ashore of themselves—what was he to do? That the name of + Manxman did not become a curse, an execration, and a reproach in these + evil days of the Athols seems to say that behind all this wicked work + there were splendid virtues doing noble duty somewhere. The real sap, the + true human heart of Manxland, was somehow kept alive. Besides cut-throats + in ruffles, and wreckers in homespun, there were true, sweet, + simple-hearted people who would not sell their souls to fill their mouths. + </p> + <p> + Does it surprise you that some of all this comes within the memory of men + still living? I am myself well within the period of middle life, and, + though too young to touch these evil days, I can remember men and women + who must have been in the thick of them. On the north of the island is + Kirk Maughold Head, a bold, rugged headland going far out into the sea. + Within this rocky foreland lie two bays, sweet coverlets of blue waters, + washing a shingly shore under shelter of dark cliffs. One of these bays is + called Port-y-Vullin, and just outside of it, between the mainland and the + head, is a rock, known as the Carrick, a treacherous grey reef, visible at + low water, and hidden at flood-tide. On the low <i>brews</i> of + Port-y-Vullin stood two houses, the one a mill, worked by the waters + coming down from the near mountain of Barrule, the other a weaver’s + cottage. Three weavers lived together there, all bachelors, and all old, + and never a woman or child among them—Jemmy of eighty years, Danny + of seventy, and Billy of sixty something. Year in, year out, they worked + at their looms, and early or late, whenever you passed on the road behind, + you heard the click of them. Fishermen coming back to harbour late at + night always looked for the light of their windows. “Yander’s + Jemmy-Danny-Billy’s,” they would say, and steer home by that landmark. But + the light which guided the native seamen misled the stranger, and many a + ship in the old days was torn to pieces on the jagged teeth of that + sea-lion, the Carrick. Then, hearing loud human cries above the shrieks of + wind and wave, the three helpless old men would come tottering down to the + beach, like three innocent witches, trembling and wailing, holding each + other’s hands like little children, and never once dreaming of what bad + work the candles over their looms had done. + </p> + <p> + But there were those who were not so guileless. Among them was a sad old + salt, whom I shall call Hommy-Billy-mooar, Tommy, son of big Billy. Did I + know him, or do I only imagine him as I have heard of him? I cannot say, + but nevertheless I see him plainly. One of his eyes was gone, and the + other was badly damaged. His face was of stained mahogany, one side of his + mouth turned up, the other side turned down, he could laugh and cry + together. He was half landsman, tilling his own croft, half seaman, going + out with the boats to the herrings. In his youth he had sailed on a + smuggler, running in from Whitehaven with spirits. The joy of “the trade,” + as they called smuggling, was that a man could buy spirits at two + shillings a gallon for sale on the island, and drink as much as he “plazed + abooard for nothin’.” When Hommy married, he lived in a house near the + church, the venerable St. Maughold away on the headland, with its lonely + churchyard within sound of the sea. + </p> + <p> + There on tempestuous nights the old eagle looked out from his eyrie on the + doings of the sea, over the back of the cottage of the old weavers to the + Carrick. If anything came ashore he awakened his boys, scurried over to + the bay, seized all they could carry, stole back home, hid his treasures + in the thatch of the roof, or among the straw of the loft, went off to + bed, and rose in the morning with an innocent look, and listened to the + story of last night’s doings with a face full of surprise. They say that + Hommy carried on this work for years, and though many suspected, none + detected him, not even his wife, who was a good Methodist. The poor woman + found him out at last, and, being troubled with a conscience, she died, + and Hommy buried her in Kirk Maughold churchyard, and put a stone over her + with a good inscription. Then he went on as before. But one morning there + was a mighty hue and cry. A ship had been wrecked on the Carrick, and the + crew who were saved had seen some rascals carrying off in the darkness + certain rolls of Irish cloth which they had thrown overboard. Suspicion + lit on Hommy and his boys. Hommy was quite hurt. “Wrecking was it? Lord + a-massy! To think, to think!” Revenue officers were to come to-morrow to + search his house. Those rolls of Irish cloth were under the thatch, above + the dry gorse stored up on the “lath” in his cowhouse. That night he + carried them off to the churchyard, took up the stone from over his wife’s + grave, dug the grave open and put in the cloth. Next day his one eye wept + a good deal while the officers of revenue made their fruitless search. “Aw + well, well, did they think because a man was poor he had no feelings?” + Afterwards he pretended to become a Methodist, and then he removed the + cloth from his wife’s grave because he had doubts about how she could rise + in the resurrection with such a weight on her coffin. Poor old Hommy, he + came to a bad end. He spent his last days in jail in Castle Rushen. A + one-eyed mate of his told me he saw him there. Hommy was unhappy. He said + “Castle Rushen wasn’t no place for a poor man when he was gettin’ anyways + ould.” + </p> + <p> + THE REVESTMENT + </p> + <p> + It is hardly a matter for much surprise that the British Government did + what it could to curb the smuggling that was rife in Man in the days of + the Athols. The bad work had begun in the days of the Derbys, when an Act + was passed which authorised the Earl of Derby to dispose of his royalty + and revenue in the island, and empowered the Lords of the Treasury to + treat with him for the sale of it. The Earl would not sell, and when the + Duke of Athol was asked to do so, he tried to put matters off. But the + evil had by this time grown so grievously that the British Government + threatened to strip the Duke without remuneration. Then he agreed to + accept £70,000 as compensation for the absolute surrender of the island. + He was also to have £2000 out of the Irish revenue, which, as well as the + English revenue, was to benefit by the suppression of the clandestine + trade. This was in exchange for some £6000 a year which was the Duke’s + Manx revenue, much of it from duties and customs paid in goods which were + afterwards smuggled into England, Ireland, and Scotland. So much for his + Grace of Athol. Of course the Manx people got nothing. The thief was + punished, the receiver was enriched; it is the way of the world. + </p> + <p> + In our history of Man, we call this sweet transaction, which occurred in + 1765, “The Revestment,” meaning the revesting of the island in the crown + of England. Our Manx people did not like it at all. I have heard a rugged + old song on the subject sung at Manx inns: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + For the babes unborn shall rue the day + When the Isle of Man was sold away; + And there’s ne’er an old wife that loves a dram + But she will lament for the Isle of Man. +</pre> + <p> + Clearly drams became scarce when “the trade” was put down. But, indeed, + the Manx had the most strange fears and ludicrous sorrows. The one came of + their anxiety about the fate of their ancient Constitution, the other came + of their foolish generosity. They dreaded that the government of the + island would be merged into that of England, and they imagined that + because the Duke of Athol had been compelled to surrender, he had been + badly treated. Their patriotism was satisfied when the Duke of Athol was + made Governor-in-Chief under the English crown, for then it was clear that + they were to be left alone; but their sympathy was moved to see him come + back as servant who had once been lord. They had disliked the Duke of + Athol down to that hour, but they forgot their hatred in sight of his + humiliation, and when he landed in his new character, they received him + with acclamations. I am touched by the thought of my countrymen’s + unselfish conduct in that hour; but I thank God I was not alive to witness + it. + </p> + <p> + I should have shrieked with laughter. The absurdity of the situation + passes the limits even of a farce. A certain Duke, who had received £6000 + a year, whereof a large part came of an immoral trade, had been to London + and sold his interest in it for £70,000, because if he had not taken that, + he would probably have got nothing. With thirteen years’ purchase of his + insecure revenue in his pocket, and £2000 a year promised, and his salary + as Governor-in-Chief besides, he returns to the island where half the + people are impoverished by his sale of the island, and nobody else has + received a copper coin, and everybody is doomed to pay back interest on + what the Duke has received! What is the picture? The Duke lands at the old + jetty, and there his carriage is waiting to take him to the house, where + he and his have kept swashbuckler courts, with troops of fine gentlemen + debtors from London. The Manxmen forget everything except that his dignity + is reduced. They unyoke his horses, get into his shafts, drag him through + the streets, toss up their caps and cry hurrah! hurrah! One seems to see + the Duke sitting there with his arms folded, and his head on his breast. + He can’t help laughing. The thing is too ridiculous. Oh, if Swift had been + there to see it, what a scorching satire we should have had! + </p> + <p> + But the Athols soon spirited away their popularity. First they clamoured + for a further sum on account of the lost revenues, and they got it. Then + they tried to appropriate part of the income of the clergy. Again, they + put members of their family into the bishopric, and one of them sold his + tithes to a factor who tried to extort them by strong measures, which led + to green crop riots. In the end, their gross selfishness, which thought of + their own losses but forgot the losses of the people, raised such open + marks of aversion in the island that they finally signified to the king + their desire to sell all their remaining rights, their land and manorial + rights. This they did in 1829, receiving altogether, for custom, revenue, + tithes, patronage of the bishopric, and quit rents, the sum of £416,000. + Such was the value to the last of the Athols of the Manx dynasty, of that + little hungry island of the Irish Sea, which Henry IV. gave to the + Stanleys, and Sir John de Stanley did not think worth while to look at. So + there was an end of the House of Athol. Exit the House of Athol! The play + goes on without them. + </p> + <p> + HOME RULE + </p> + <p> + It might be said that with the final sale of 1829 the history of the Isle + of Man came to a close. Since then we have been in the happy condition of + the nation without a history. Man is now a dependency of the English + crown. The crown is represented by a Lieutenant-Governor. Our old Norse + Constitution remains. We have Home Rule, and it works well. The Manx + people are attached to the throne of England, and her Majesty has not more + loyal subjects in her dominions. We are deeply interested in Imperial + affairs, but we have no voice in them. I do not think we have ever dreamt + of a day when we should send representatives to Westminster. Our + sympathies as a nation are not altogether, I think, with the party of + progress. We are devoted to old institutions, and hold fast to such of + them as are our own. All this is, perhaps, what you would expect of a race + of islanders with our antecedents. + </p> + <p> + Our social history has not been brilliant. I do not gather that the Isle + of Man was ever Merry Man. Not even in its gayest days do we catch any + note of merriment amid the rumpus of its revelries. It is an odd thing + that woman plays next to no part whatever in the history of the island. + Surely ours is the only national pie in which woman has not had a finger. + In this respect the island justifies the ungallant reading of its name—it + is distinctly the Isle of Man. Not even amid the glitter and gewgaws of + our Captain Macheaths do you catch the glint of the gown of a Polly. No + bevy of ladies, no merry parties, no pageants worthy of the name. No, our + social history gives no idea of Merry Man. + </p> + <p> + Our civil history is not glorious. We are compelled to allow that it has + no heroism in it. There has been no fight for principle, no brave + endurance of wrong. Since the days of Orry, we have had nothing to tell in + Saga, if the Sagaman were here. We have played no part in the work of the + world. The great world has been going on for ten centuries without taking + much note of us. We are a little nation, but even little nations have held + their own. We have not. + </p> + <p> + One great king we have had, King Orry. He gave us our patriarchal + Constitution, and it is a fine thing. It combines most of the best + qualities of representative government. Its freedom is more free than that + of some republics. The people seem to be more seen, and their voice more + heard, than in any other form of government whose operation I have + witnessed. Yet there is nothing noisy about our Home Rule. And this + Constitution we have kept alive for a thousand years, while it has died + out of every other Norse kingdom. That is, perhaps, our highest national + honour. We may have played a timid part; we may have accepted rulers from + anywhere; we may never have made a struggle for independence; and no + Manxman may ever have been strong enough to stand up alone for his people. + It is like our character that we have taken things easily, and instead of + resisting our enemies, or throwing them from our rocky island into the + sea, we have been law abiding under lawless masters and peaceful under + oppression. But this one thing we have done: we have clung to our + patriarchal Constitution, not caring a ha’p’orth who administered our laws + so long as the laws were our own. That is something; I think it is a good + deal. It means that through many changes undergone by the greater peoples + of the world, we are King Orry’s men still. Let me in a last word tell you + a story which shows what that description implies. + </p> + <p> + ORRY’S SONS + </p> + <p> + On the west coast of the Isle of Man stands the town of Peel. It is a + little fishing port, looking out on the Irish Sea. To the north of it + there is a broad shore, to the south lies the harbour with a rocky + headland called Contrary Head; in front—until lately divided from + the mainland by a narrow strait—is a rugged island rock. On this + rock stand the broken ruins of a castle, Peel Castle, and never did castle + stand on a grander spot. The sea flows round it, beating on the jagged + cliffs beneath, and behind it are the wilder cliffs of Contrary. In the + water between and around Contrary contrary currents flow, and when the + wind is high they race and prance there like an unbroken horse. It is a + grand scene, but a perilous place for ships. + </p> + <p> + One afternoon in October of 1889 a Norwegian ship (strange chance!), the + <i>St George</i> (name surely chosen by the Fates!), in a fearful tempest + was drifting on to Contrary Head. She was labouring hard in the heavy sea, + rearing, plunging, creaking, groaning, and driving fast through clamouring + winds and threshing breakers on to the cruel, black, steep horns of rock. + All Peel was down at the beach watching her. Flakes of sea-foam were + flying around, and the waves breaking on the beach were scooping up the + shingle and flinging it through the air like sleet. + </p> + <p> + Peel has a lifeboat, and it was got out. There were so many volunteers + that the harbour-master had difficulties of selection. The boat got off; + the coxswain was called Charlie Cain; one of his crew was named Gorry, + otherwise Orry. It was a perilous adventure. The Norwegian had lost her + masts, and her spars were floating around her in the snow-like surf. She + was dangerous to approach, but the lifeboat reached her. Charlie cried out + to the Norwegian captain: “How many of you?” The answer came back, + “Twenty-two!” Charlie counted them as they hung on at the ship’s side, and + said: “I only see twenty-one; not a man shall leave the ship until you + bring the odd one on deck.” The odd one, a disabled man, had been left + below to his fate. Now he was brought up, and all were taken aboard the + lifeboat. + </p> + <p> + On landing at Peel there was great excitement, men cheering and women + crying. The Manx women spotted a baby among the Norwegians, fought for it, + one woman got it, and carried it off to a fire and dry clothing. It was + the captain’s wife’s baby, and an hour afterwards the poor captain’s wife, + like a creature distracted, was searching for it all over the town. And to + heighten the scene, report says that at that tremendous moment a splendid + rainbow spanned the bay from side to side. That ought to be true if it is + not. + </p> + <p> + It was a brilliant rescue, but the moving part of the story is yet to + tell. The Norwegian Government, touched by the splendid heroism of the + Manxmen, struck medals for the lifeboat men and sent them across to the + Governor. These medals were distributed last summer on the island rock + within the ruins of old Peel Castle. Think of it! One thousand years + before, not far from that same place, Orry the Viking came ashore from + Denmark or Norway. And now his Manx sons, still bearing his very name, + Orry, save from the sea the sons of the brethren he left behind, and down + the milky way, whence Orry himself once came, come now to the Manxmen the + thanks and the blessings of their kinsmen, Orry’s father’s children. + </p> + <p> + Such a story as this thrills one to the heart. It links Manxmen to the + great past. What are a thousand years before it? Time sinks away, and the + old sea-warrior seems to speak to us still through the surf of that storm + at Peel. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS + </h2> + <p> + Some years ago, in going down the valley of Foxdale, towards the mouth of + Glen Rushen, I lost my way on a rough and unbeaten path under the mountain + called Slieu Whallin. There I was met by a typical old Manx farmer, who + climbed the hillside some distance to serve as my guide. “Aw, man,” said + he, “many a Sunday I’ve crossed these mountains in snow and hail + together.” I asked why on Sunday. “You see,” said the old fellow, “I’m one + of those men that have been guilty of what St. Paul calls the foolishness + of preaching.” It turned out that he was a local preacher to the + Wesleyans, and that for two score years or more, in all seasons, in all + weathers, every Sunday, year in, year out, he had made the journey from + his farm in Foxdale to the western villages of Kirk Patrick, where his + voluntary duty lay. He left me with a laugh and a cheery word. “Ask again + at the cottage at the top of the brew,” he shouted. “An ould widda lives + there with her gel.” At the summit of the hill, just under South Barrule, + with Cronk-ny-arrey-Lhaa to the west, I came upon a disused lead mine, + called the old Cross Vein, its shaft open save for a plank or two thrown + across it, and filled with water almost to the surface of the ground. And + there, under the lee of the roofless walls of the ruined engine-house, + stood the tiny one-story cottage where I had been directed to inquire my + way again. I knocked, and then saw the outer conditions of an existence + about as miserable as the mind of man can conceive. The door was opened by + a youngish woman, having a thin, white face, and within the little house + an elderly woman was breaking scraps of vegetables into a pot that swung + from a hook above a handful of turf fire, which burned on the ground. They + were the widow and daughter. Their house consisted of two rooms, a living + room and a sleeping closet, both open to the thatch, which was sooty with + smoke. The floor was of bare earth, trodden hard and shiny. There was one + little window in each apartment, but after the breakages of years, the + panes were obscured by rags stuffed into the gaps to keep out the weather. + The roof bore traces of damp, and I asked if the rain came into the house. + “Och, yes, and bad, bad, bad!” said the elder woman. “He left us, sir, + years ago.” That was her way of saying that her husband was dead, and that + since his death there had been no man to do an odd job about the place. + The two women lived by working in the fields, at weeding, at planting + potatoes, at thinning cabbages, and at the hay in its season. Their little + bankrupt barn belonged to them, and it was all they had. In that they + lived, or lingered, on the mountain top, a long stretch of bare hillside, + away from any neighbour, alone in their poverty, with mountains before and + behind, the broad grey sea, without ship or sail, down a gully to the + west, nothing visible to the east save the smoke from the valley where lay + the habitations of men, nothing audible anywhere but the deep rumble of + the waves’ bellow, or the chirp of the birds overhead, or, perhaps, when + the wind was southerly, the church bells on Sunday morning. Never have I + looked upon such lonely penury, and yet there, even there, these forlorn + women kept their souls alive. “Yes,” they said, “we’re working when we can + get the work, and trusting, trusting, trusting still.” + </p> + <p> + I have lingered too long over this poor adventure of losing my way to Glen + Rushen, but my little sketch may perhaps get you close to that side of + Manx life whereon I wish to speak to-day. I want to tell the history of + religion in Man, so far as we know it; and better, to my thinking, than a + grave or solid disquisition on the ways and doings of Bishops or Spiritual + Barons, are any peeps into the hearts and home lives of the Manx, which + will show what is called the “innate religiosity” of the humblest of the + people. To this end also, when I have discharged my scant duty to church + history, or perhaps in the course of my hasty exposition of it, I shall + dwell on some of those homely manners and customs, which, more than + prayer-books and printed services, tell us what our fathers believed, what + we still believe, and how we stand towards that other life, that inner + life, that is not concerned with what we eat and what we drink, and + wherewithal we shall be clothed. + </p> + <p> + THE DRUIDS + </p> + <p> + And now, just as the first chapter of our Manx civil history is lost, so + the first chapter of our church history is lost. That the Druids occupied + the island seems to some people to be clear from many Celtic names and + some remains, such as we are accustomed to call Druidical, and certain + customs still observed. Perhaps worthy of a word is the circumstance that + in the parish where the Bishop now lives, and has always lived, Kirk + Michael, there is a place called by a name which in the Manx signifies + Chief Druid. Strangely are the faiths of the ages linked together. + </p> + <p> + CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY + </p> + <p> + We do not know, with any certainty, at what time the island was converted + to Christianity. The accepted opinion is that Christianity was established + in Man by St. Patrick about the middle of the fifth century. The story + goes that the Saint of Ireland was on a voyage thither from England, when + a storm cast him ashore on a little islet on the western coast of Man. + This islet was afterwards called St. Patrick’s Isle. St. Patrick built his + church on it. The church was rebuilt eight centuries later within the + walls of a castle which rose on the same rocky site. It became the + cathedral church of the island. When the Norwegians came they renamed the + islet Holm Isle. Tradition says that St. Patrick’s coming was in the time + of Mannanan, the magician, our little Manx Prospero. It also says that St. + Patrick drove Mannanan away, and that St. Patrick’s successor, St. + Germain, followed up the good work of exterminating evil spirits by + driving out of the island all venomous creatures whatever. We sometimes + bless the memory of St. Germain, and wish he would come again. + </p> + <p> + THE EARLY BISHOPS OF MAN + </p> + <p> + After St. Germain came St. Maughold. This Bishop was a sort of + transfigured Manx Caliban. I trust the name does him no wrong. He had been + an Irish prince, had lived a bad, gross life as a robber at the head of a + band of robbers, had been converted by St. Patrick, and, resolving to + abandon the temptations of the world, had embarked on the sea in a wicker + boat without oar or helm. Almost he had his will at once, but the north + wind, which threatened to remove him from the temptations of this world, + cast him ashore on the north of the Isle of Man. There he built his + church, and the rocky headland whereon it stands is still known by his + name. High on the craggy cliff-side, looking towards the sea, is a seat + hewn out of the rock. This is called St. Maughold’s Chair. Not far away + there is a well supposed to possess miraculous properties. It is called + St. Maughold’s Well. Thus tradition has perpetuated the odour of his great + sanctity, which is the more extraordinary in a variation of his legend, + which says that it was not after his conversion, and in submission to the + will of God, that he put forth from Ireland in his wicker boat, but that + he was thrust out thus, with hands and feet bound, by way of punishment + for his crimes as a captain of banditti. + </p> + <p> + But if Maughold was Caliban in Ireland, he was more than Prospero in Man. + Rumour of his piety went back to Ireland, and St. Bridget, who had founded + a nunnery at Kildare, resolved on a pilgrimage to the good man’s island. + She crossed the water, attended by her virgins, called her daughters of + fire, founded a nunnery near Douglas, worked miracles there, touched the + altar in testimony of her virginity, whereupon it grew green and + flourished. This, if I may be pardoned the continued parallel, is our Manx + Miranda. And indeed it is difficult to shake off the idea that Shakespeare + must have known something of the early story of Man, its magicians and its + saints. We know the perfidy of circumstance, the lying tricks that fact is + always playing with us, too well and painfully to say anything of the kind + with certainty. But the angles of resemblance are many between the + groundwork of the “Tempest” and the earliest of Manx records. + Mannanan-beg-Mac-y-Lear, the magician who surrounded the island with mists + when enemies came near in ships; Maughold, the robber and libertine, bound + hand and foot, and driven ashore in a wicker boat; and then Bridget, the + virgin saint. Moreover, the stories of Little Man-nanan, of St. Patrick, + and of St. Maughold were printed in Manx in the sixteenth century. Truly + that is not enough, for, after all, we have no evidence that Shakespeare, + who knew everything, knew Manx. But then Man has long been famous for its + seamen. We had one of them at Trafalgar, holding Nelson in his arms when + he died. The best days, or the worst days—which?—of the trade + of the West Coast of Africa saw Manx captains in the thick of it. Shall I + confess to you that in the bad days of the English slave trade the four + merchantmen that brought the largest black cargo to the big human auction + mart at the Goree Piazza at Liverpool were commanded by four Manxmen! They + were a sad quartet. One of them had only one arm and an iron hook; another + had only one arm and one eye; a third had only one leg and a stump; the + fourth was covered with scars from the iron of the chains of a slave which + he had worn twelve months at Barbadoes. Just about enough humanity in the + four to make one complete man. But with vigour enough, fire enough, heart + enough—I daren’t say soul enough—in their dismembered old + trunks to make ten men apiece; born sea-rovers, true sons of Orry, their + blood half brine. Well, is it not conceivable that in those earlier days + of treasure seeking, when Elizabeth’s English captains were spoiling the + Spaniard in the Indies, Manx sailors were also there? If so, why might not + Shakespeare, who must have ferreted out many a stranger creature, have + found in some London tavern an old Manx sea-dog, who could tell him of the + Manx Prospero, the Manx Caliban, and the Manx Miranda? + </p> + <p> + But I have rambled on about my sailors; I must return to my Bishops. They + seem to have been a line of pious, humble, charitable, godly men at the + beginning. Irishmen, chiefly, living the lives of hermits and saints. + Apparently they were at first appointed by the people themselves. Would it + be interesting to know the grounds of selection? One was selected for his + sanctity, a natural qualification, but another was chosen because he had a + pleasant face, and a fine portly figure; not bad qualifications, either. + Thus things went on for about a hundred years, and, for all we know, + Celtic Bishops and Celtic people lived together in their little island in + peace, hearing nothing of the loud religious hubbub that was disturbing + Europe. + </p> + <p> + BISHOPS OF THE WELSH DYNASTY + </p> + <p> + Then came the rule of the Welsh kings, and, though we know but little with + certainty, we seem to realise that it brought great changes to the + religious’ life of Man. The Church began to possess itself of lands: the + baronial territories of the island fell into the hands of the clergy; the + early Bishops became Barons. This gave the Church certain powers of + government. The Bishops became judges, and as judges they possessed great + power over the person of the subject. Sometimes they stood in the highest + place of all, being also Governor to the Welsh Kings. Then they were + called Sword-Bishops. Their power at such times, when the crosier and + sword were in the two hands of one man, must have been portentous, and + even terrible. We have no records that picture what came of that. But it + is not difficult to imagine the condition. The old order of things had + passed away. The hermit-saints, the saintly hermits, had gone, and in + their place were monkish barons, living in abbeys and monasteries, + whipping the poor bodies of their people, as well as comforting their torn + hearts, fattening on broad lands, praying each with his lips: “Give us + this day our daily bread,” but saying each to his soul: “Soul, thou hast + much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease; eat, drink, and be + merry.” + </p> + <p> + BISHOPS OF THE NORSE DYNASTY + </p> + <p> + Little as we know of these times, we see that things must have come to a + pretty pass, for when the Scandinavian dynasty came in the ecclesiastical + authorities were forbidden to exercise civil control over any subjects of + the king that were not also the tenants of their own baronies. So the + Bishops were required to confine themselves to keeping their own house in + order. The Norse Constitution established in Man by King Orry made no + effort to overthrow the Celtic Church founded by St. Patrick, and + corrupted by his Welsh successors, but it curtailed its liberties, and + reduced its dignity. It demanded as an act of fealty that the Bishop or + chief Baron should hold the stirrup of the King’s saddle, as he mounted + his horse at Tynwald. But it still suffered the Bishop and certain of his + clergy to sit in the highest court of the legislature. The Church ceased + to be purely Celtic; it became Celto-Scandinavian, otherwise Manx. It was + under the Archbishop of Drontheim for its Metropolitan, and its young + clergy were sent over to Drontheim to be educated. Its revenues were + apportioned after the most apostolic manner; one-third of the tithes to + the Bishop for his maintenance, the support of his courts, his churches, + and (miserable conclusion! ) his prisons; one-third to the priests, and + the remaining third to the relief of the poor and the education of youth. + It is a curious and significant fact that when the Reformation came the + last third was seized by the lord. Good old lordly trick, we know it well! + </p> + <p> + SODOR AND MAN + </p> + <p> + The Bishopric of the island was now no longer called the Bishopric of Man, + but Sodor and Man. The title has given rise to much speculation. One + authority derives it from <i>Soterenssis</i>, a name given by Danish + writers to the western islands, and afterwards corrupted to <i>Soderensk</i>. + Another authority derives it from <i>Sudreyjas</i>, signifying in the + Norwegian the Southern Isles. A third derives it from the Greek <i>Soter</i>, + Saviour, to whose name the cathedral of Iona was dedicated. And yet a + fourth authority derives it from the supposed third name of the little + islet rock called variously Holm Isle, Sodor, Peel, and St. Patrick’s + Isle, whereon St. Patrick or St. Germain built his church, I can claim no + right to an opinion where these good doctors differ, and shall content + myself with saying that the balance of belief is in favour of the + Norwegian derivation, which offers this explanation of the title of Bishop + of Sodor and Man, that the Isle of Man was not included by the Norsemen in + the southern cluster of islands called the Sudereys, and that the Bishop + was sometimes called the Bishop of Man and the Isles, and sometimes Bishop + of the Sudereys and the Isle of Man. Only one warning note shall I dare, + as an ignorant layman, to strike on that definition, and it is this: that + the title of Bishop of Sodor dates back to the seventh century certainly, + and that the Norseman did not come south until three centuries later. + </p> + <p> + THE EARLY BISHOPS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY + </p> + <p> + But now I come to matters whereon I have more authority to speak. When the + Isle of Man passed to the Stanley family, the Bishopric fell to their + patronage, and they lost no time in putting their own people into it. It + was then under the English metropolitan of Canterbury, but early in the + sixteenth century it became part of the province of York. About that time + the baronies, the abbeys, and the nunneries were suppressed. It does not + appear that the change of metropolitan had made much change of religious + life. Apparently the clergy kept the Manx people in miserable ignorance. + It was not until the seventeenth century that the Book of Common Prayer + was translated into the Manx language. The Gospels and the Acts were + unknown to the Manx until nearly a century later. Nor was this due to + ignorance of the clergy of the Manx tongue, for most of them must have + been Manxmen, and several of the Bishops were Manxmen also. But grievous + abuses had by this time attached themselves to the Manx Church, and some + of them were flagrant and wicked, and some were impudent and amusing. + </p> + <p> + TITHES IN KIND + </p> + <p> + Naturally the more outrageous of the latter sort gathered about the + process of collecting tithes. + </p> + <p> + Tithes were paid in kind in those days. It was not until well within our + own century that they were commuted to a money payment. The Manxman paid + tithe on everything. He began to pay tithe before coming into the world, + and he went on paying tithe even after he had gone out of it. This is a + hard saying, but nevertheless a simple truth. Throughout his journey from + the cradle to the grave, the Manxman paid tithe on all he inherited, on + all he had, on all he did, on all his wife did, and on all he left behind + him. We have the equivalent of this in England at the present hour, but it + was yet more tyrannical, and infinitely more ludicrous, in the Isle of Man + down to the year 1839. It is only vanity and folly and vexation of spirit + to quarrel with the modern English taxgatherer; you are sure to go the + wall, with humiliation and with disgrace. It was not always so when taxes + were paid in kind. There was, at least, the satisfaction of cheating. The + Manx people could not always deny themselves that satisfaction. For + instance, they were required to pay tithe of herring as soon as the + herring boats were brought above full sea mark, and there were ways of + counting known to the fishermen with which the black-coated arithmeticians + of the Church were not able to cope. A man paid tithe on such goods and + even such clothes as his wife possessed on their wedding day, and young + brides became wondrous wise in the selection for the vicarage of the + garments that were out of fashion. A corpse-present was demanded over the + grave of a dead man out of the horses and cattle whereof he died + possessed, and dying men left verbal wills which consigned their + broken-winded horses and dry cows to the mercy and care of the clergyman. + You will not marvel much that such dealings led to disputes, sometimes to + quarrels, occasionally to riots. In my boyhood I heard old people over the + farm-house fire chuckle and tell of various wise doings, to outwit the + parson. One of these concerned the oats harvest. When the oats were in + sheaf, the parson’s cart came up, driven by the sumner, the parson’s + official servant. The gate of the field was thrown open, and honestly and + religiously one sheaf out of every ten was thrown into the cart. But the + husbandman had been thrifty in advance. The parson’s sheaves had all been + grouped thick about the gate, and they were the shortest, and the + thinnest, and the blackest, and the dirtiest, and the poorest that the + field had yielded. Similar were the doings at the digging of the potatoes, + but the scenes of recrimination which often ensued were usually confined + to the farmer and the sumner. More outrageous contentions with the priest + himself sometimes occurred within the very walls of the church. It was the + practice to bring tithe of butter and cheese and eggs, and lay it on the + altar on Sunday. This had to be done under pain of exclusion from the + communion, and that was a penalty most grievous to material welfare. So + the Manxmen and Manxwomen were compelled to go to church much as they went + to market, with their butter- and egg-baskets over their arms. It is a + ludicrous picture, as one sees it in one’s mind’s eye, but what comes + after reaches the extremity of farce. Say the scene is Maughold old + church, once the temple of the saintly hermit. It is Sunday morning, the + bells are ringing, and Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, a rascally old skinflint, + is coming along with a basket. It contains some butter that he could not + sell at Ramsey market yesterday because it was rank, and a few eggs which + he knows to be stale and addled—the old hen has sat on them, and + they have brought forth nothing. These he places reverently on the altar. + But the parson knows Juan, and proceeds to examine his tithe. May I take + so much liberty with history, and with the desecrated old church, as to + imagine the scene which follows? + </p> + <p> + Priest, pointing contemptuously towards the altar: + “Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, what is this?” “Butter and eggs, so plaze your + reverence.” “Pig-swill and chalk you mean, man!” “Aw ‘deed if I’d known + your reverence was so morthal partic’lar the ould hen herself should have + been layin’ some fresh eggs for your reverence.” + </p> + <p> + “Take them away, you thief of the Church! Do you think what isn’t fit for + your pig is good enough for your priest? Bring better, or never let me + look on your wizened old wicked face again.” + </p> + <p> + Exit Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, perhaps with butter and eggs flying after + his retreating figure. + </p> + <p> + THE GAMBLING BISHOP + </p> + <p> + This is an imaginary picture, but no less outrageous things happened + whereof the records remain. A demoralised laity usually co-exists with a + demoralised clergy, and there are some bad stories of the Bishops who + preceded the Reformation. There is one story of a Bishop of that period, + who was a gross drunkard and notorious gambler. He played with his clergy + as long as they had anything to lose, and then he played with a deemster + and lost five hundred pounds himself. Poor little island, that had two + such men for its masters, the one its master in the things of this world, + the other its master in the things of the world to come! If anything is + needful to complete the picture of wretchedness in which the poor Manx + people must have existed then, it is the knowledge of what manner of man a + deemster was in those days, what his powers were, and how he exercised + them. + </p> + <p> + THE DEEMSTERS + </p> + <p> + The two deemsters—a name of obvious significance, deem-sters, such + as deem the laws—were then the only judges of the island, all other + legal functionaries being of more recent date. On entering into office, + the deemster took an oath, which is sworn by all deemsters to this day, + declaring by the wonderful works which God hath miraculously wrought in + six days and seven nights, that he would execute the laws of the island + justly “betwixt party and party, as indifferently as the herring’s + backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish.” But these laws down to the + time of the second Stanley existed only in the breasts of the deemsters + themselves, being therefore called Breast Laws, and thus they were + supposed to be handed down orally from deemster to deemster. The + superstition fostered corruption as well as incapacity, and it will not be + wronging the truth to say that some of the deemsters of old time were both + ignorant and unprincipled. Their jurisdiction was absolute in all that + were then thought to be temporal affairs, beginning with a debt of a + shilling, and going up to murder. They kept their courts in the centres of + their districts, one of them being in the north of the island, the other + in the south, but they were free to hold a court anywhere, and at any + time. A deemster riding from Ramsey to Peel might find his way stopped by + a noisy claimant, who held his defendant by the lug, having dragged him + bodily from the field to the highway, to receive instant judgment from the + judge riding past. Or at midnight, in his own home, a deemster might be + broken in upon by a clamorous gang of disputants and their witnesses, who + came from the pot-house for the settlement of their differences. On such + occasions, the deemster invariably acted on the sound old legal maxim, + once recognised by an Act of Parliament, that suits not likely to bear + good costs should always be settled out of court. First, the deemster + demanded his fee. If neither claimant nor defendant could give it, he + probably troubled himself no further than to take up his horse-whip and + drive both out into the road. I dare say there were many good men among + deemsters of the old order, who loved justice for its own sake, and liked + to see the poor and the weak righted, but the memory of deemsters of this + kind is not green. The bulk of men are not better than their + opportunities, and the temptations of the deemsters of old were neither + few nor slight. + </p> + <p> + THE BISHOPRIC VACANT + </p> + <p> + With such masters in the State, and such masters in the Church, the island + fell low in material welfare, and its poverty reacted on both. Within + fifty years the Bishopric was nineteen years vacant, though it may be that + at the beginning of the seventeenth century this was partly due to + religious disturbances. Then in 1697, with the monasteries and nunneries + dispersed, the abbeys in ruins, the cathedral church a wreck, the clergy + sunk in sloth and ignorance, there came to the Bishopric, four years + vacant, a true man whose name on the page of Manx Church history is like a + star on a dark night, when only one is shining—Bishop Thomas Wilson. + He was a strange and complex creature, half angel, only half man, the + serenest of saints, and yet almost the bitterest of tyrants. Let me tell + you about him. + </p> + <p> + BISHOP WILSON + </p> + <p> + Thomas Wilson was from Trinity College, Dublin, and became domestic + chaplain to William, Earl of Derby, and preceptor to the Earl’s son, who + died young. While he held this position, the Bishopric of Sodor and Man + became vacant, and it was offered to him. He declined it, thinking himself + unworthy of so high a trust. The Bishopric continued vacant. Perhaps the + candidates for it were few; certainly the emoluments were small; perhaps + the patron was slothful—certainly he gave little attention to the + Church. At length complaint was made to the King that the spiritual needs + of the island were being neglected. The Earl was commanded to fill the + Bishopric, and once again he offered it to his chaplain. Then Wilson + yielded. He took possession in 1698, and was enthroned at Peel Castle. The + picture of his enthronement must have been something to remember. Peel + Castle was already tumbling to its fall, and the cathedral church was a + woful wreck. It is even said that from a hole in the roof the soil and + rain could enter, and blades of grass were shooting up on the altar. The + Bishop’s house at Kirk Michael, which had been long shut up, was in a + similar plight; damp, mouldy, broken-windowed, green with moss within and + without. What would one give to turn back the centuries and look on at + that primitive ceremony in St. Germain’s Chapel in April 1698! There would + be the clergy, a sorry troop, with wise and good men among them, no doubt, + but a poor, battered, bedraggled, neglected lot, chiefly learned in + dubious arts of collecting tithes. And the Bishop himself, the good + chaplain of Earl Derby, the preceptor of his son, what a face he must have + had to watch and to study, as he stood there that April morning, and saw + for the first time what work he had come to tackle! + </p> + <p> + BISHOP WILSON’S CENSURES + </p> + <p> + But Bishop Wilson set about his task with a strong heart, and a resolute + hand. He found himself in a twofold trust. Since the Reformation, the + monasteries and nunneries had been dispersed, and all the baronies had + been broken up, save one, the barony of the Bishop. Thus Bishop Wilson was + the head of the court of his barony. This was a civil court with power, of + jurisdiction over felonies. Its separate criminal control came to an end + in 1777, Such was Bishop Wilson’s position as last and sole Baron of Man. + Then as head of the Church he had powers over offences which were once + called offences against common law. Irregular behaviour, cursing, + quarrelling, and drinking, as well as transgressions of the moral code, + adultery, seduction, prostitution, and the like, were punishable by the + Church and the Church courts. The censures of Bishop Wilson on such + offences did not err on the side of clemency. He was the enemy of sin, and + no “gentle foe of sinners.” He was a believer in witchcraft, and for + suspicion of commerce with evil spirits and possession of the evil eye he + punished many a blameless old body. For open and convicted adultery he + caused the offenders to stand for an hour at high fair at each of the + market-places of Douglas, Peel, Ramsey, and Castletown, bearing labels on + their breasts calling on all people to take warning lest they came under + the same Church censure. Common unchastity he punished by exposure in + church at full congregation, when the guilty man or the poor victimised + girl stepped up from the west porch to the altar, covered from neck to + heels in a white sheet. Slanderers and evil speakers he clapped into the + Peel, or perhaps the whipping-stocks, with tongue in a noose of leather, + and when after a lapse of time the gag was removed the liberated tongue + was obliged to denounce itself by saying thrice, clearly, boldly, probably + with good accent and discretion, “False tongue, thou hast lied.” + </p> + <p> + It is perhaps as well that some of us did not live in Bishop Wilson’s + time. We might not have lived long. If the Church still held and exercised + the same powers over evil speakers we should never hear our own ears in + the streets for the din of the voices of the penitents; and if it still + punished unchastity in a white sheet the trade of the linen weaver would + be brisk. + </p> + <p> + You will say that I have justified my statement that Bishop Wilson was the + bitterest of tyrants. Let me now establish my opinion that he was also the + serenest of saints. I have told you how low was the condition of the + Church, how lax its rule, how deep its clergy lay in sloth and ignorance, + and perhaps also in vice, when Bishop Wilson came to Man in 1698. Well, in + 1703, only five years later, the Lord Chancellor King said this: “If the + ancient discipline of the Church were lost elsewhere it might be found in + all its force in the Isle of Man.” This points first to force and vigour + on the Bishop’s part, but surely it also points to purity of character and + nobility of aim. Bishop Wilson began by putting his own house in order. + His clergy ceased to gamble and to drink, and they were obliged to collect + their tithes with mercy. He once suspended a clergyman for an opinion on a + minor point, but many times he punished his clergy for offences against + the moral law and the material welfare of the poor. In a stiff fight for + integrity of life and purity of thought, he spared none. I truly believe + that if he had caught himself in an act of gross injustice he would have + clambered up into the pillory. He was a brave, strong-hearted creature, of + the build of a great man. Yes! In spite of all his contradictions, he <i>was</i> + a great man. We Manxmen shall never look upon his like again! + </p> + <p> + THE GREAT CORN FAMINE + </p> + <p> + Towards 1740 a long and terrible corn famine fell upon our island. The + fisheries had failed that season, and the crops had been blighted two + years running. Miserably poor at all times, ill-clad, ill-housed, ill-fed + at the best, the people were in danger of sheer destitution. In that day + of their bitter trouble the poorest of the poor trooped off to Bishop’s + court. The Bishop threw open his house to them all, good and bad, + improvident and thrifty, lazy and industrious, drunken and sober; he made + no distinctions in that bad hour. He asked no man for his name who + couldn’t give it, no woman for her marriage lines who hadn’t got them, no + child whether it was born in wedlock. That they were all hungry was all he + knew, and he saved their lives in thousands. He bought ship-loads of + English corn and served it out in bushels; also tons of Irish potatoes, + and served them out in <i>kischens</i>. He gave orders that the measure + was to be piled as high as it would hold, and never smoothed flat again. + Yet he was himself a poor man. While he had money he spent it. When every + penny was gone he pledged his revenue in advance. After his credit was + done he begged in England for his poor people in Man—<i>he</i> + begged for <i>us</i> who would not have held out his hat to save his own + life! God bless him! But we repaid him. Oh yes, we repaid him. His money + he never got back, but gold is not the currency of the other world. + Prayers and blessings are the wealth that is there, and these went up + after him to the great White Throne from the swelling throats of his + people. + </p> + <p> + THE BISHOP AT COURT + </p> + <p> + Not of Bishop Wilson could it be said, as it was said of another, that he + “flattered princes in the temple of God.” One day, when he was coming to + Court, Queen Caroline saw him and said to a company of Bishops and + Archbishops that surrounded her, “See, my lords, here is a Bishop who does + not come for a translation.” “No, indeed, and please your Majesty,” said + Bishop Wilson, “I will not leave my wife in her old age because she is + poor.” When Bishop Wilson was an old man, Cardinal Fleury sent over to ask + after his age and health, saying that they were the two oldest and poorest + Bishops in the world. At the same time he got an order that no French + privateer should ever ravage the Isle of Man. The order has long lapsed, + but I am told that to this day French seamen respect a Manxman. It touches + me to think of it that thus does the glory of this good man’s life shine + on our faces still. + </p> + <p> + STORIES OF BISHOP WILSON + </p> + <p> + How his people must have loved him! Many of the stories told of him are of + rather general application, but some of them ought to be true if they are + not. + </p> + <p> + One day in the old three-cornered market-place at Ramsey a little maiden + of seven crossed his path. She was like sunshine, rosy-cheeked, + bright-eyed, bare-footed and bare-headed, and for love of her sweetness + the grey old Bishop patted her head and blest her. “God bless you, my + child; God bless you,” he said. The child curtseyed and answered, “God + bless you, too, sir.” “Thank you, child, thank you,” the Bishop said + again; “I dare say your blessing will be as good as mine.” + </p> + <p> + It was customary in those days, and indeed down to my own time, when a + suit of clothes was wanted, to have the journeyman tailor at home to make + it. One, Danny of that ilk, was once at Bishop’s Court making a long + walking coat for the Bishop. In trying it on in its nebulous condition, + that leprosy of open white seams and stitches, Danny made numerous chalk + marks to indicate the places of the buttons. “No, no, Danny,” said the + Bishop, “no more buttons than enough to fasten it—only one, that + will do. It would ill become a poor priest like me to go a-glitter with + things like those.” Now, Danny had already bought his buttons, and had + them at that moment in his pocket. So, pulling a woful face, he said, + “Mercy me, my lord, what would happen to the poor button-makers, if + everybody was of your opinion?” “Button it all over, Danny,” said the + Bishop. A coat of Bishop Wilson’s still exists. Would that we had that one + of the numerous buttons, and could get a few more made of the same + pattern! It would be out of fashion—Danny’s progeny have taken care + of that. There are not many of us that it would fit—we have few men + of Bishop Wilson’s build nowadays. But human kindliness is never + old-fashioned, and there are none of us that the garment of sweet grace + would not suit. + </p> + <p> + QUARRELS OF CHURCH AND STATE + </p> + <p> + So far from “flattering princes in the temple of God,” Bishop Wilson was + even morbidly jealous of the authority of the Church, and he resisted that + of the State when the civil powers seemed to encroach upon it. More than + once he came into collision with the State’s highest functionary, the + Lieutenant-Governor, representative of the Lord of Man himself. One day + the Governor’s wife falsely defamed a lady, and the lady appealed to the + Bishop. Thereupon the Bishop interdicted the Governor’s wife from + receiving the communion. But the Governor’s chaplain admitted her. + Straightway the Bishop suspended the Governor’s chaplain. Then the + Governor fined the Bishop in the sum of fifty pounds. The Bishop refused + to pay, and was committed to Castle Rushen, and lay there two months. They + show us his cell, a poor, dingy little box, so damp in his day that he + lost the use of some of his fingers. After that the Bishop appealed to the + Lord, who declared the imprisonment illegal. The Bishop was liberated, and + half the island went to the prison gate to fetch him forth in triumph. The + only result was that the Bishop lost £500, whereof £300 were subscribed by + the people. One hardly knows whether to laugh or cry at it all. It is a + sorry and silly farce. Of course it made a tremendous hurly-burly in its + day, but it is gone now, and doesn’t matter a ha’porth to anybody. + Nevertheless because Gessler’s cap goes up so often nowadays, and so many + of us are kneeling to it, it is good and wholesome to hear of a poor + Bishop who was brave enough to take a shot at it instead. + </p> + <p> + SOME OLD ORDEALS + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding Bishop Wilson’s severity, his tyranny, his undue pride in + the authority of the Church, and his morbid jealousy of the powers of the + State, his rule was a wise and just one, and he was a spiritual statesman, + who needed not to be ashamed. He raised the tone of life in the Isle of + Man, made it possible to accept a man’s <i>yea</i> and <i>nay</i>, even in + those perilous issues of life where the weakness and meanness of poor + humanity reveals itself in lies and subterfuges. This he did by making + false swearing a terror. One ancient ordeal of swearing he set his face + against, but another he encouraged, and often practised, let me describe + both. + </p> + <p> + In the old days, when a man died intestate, leaving no record of his + debts, a creditor might establish a claim by going with the Bishop to the + grave of the dead man at midnight, stretching himself on it with face + towards heaven and a Bible on his breast, and then saying solemnly, “I + swear that So-and-so, who lies buried here, died in my debt by so much.” + After that the debt was allowed. What warning the Bishop first pronounced + I do not know, but the scene is a vivid one, even if we think of the + creditor as swearing truly, and a startling and terrible one if we think + of him as about to swear to what is false. The dark night, the dark + figures moving in it, the churchyard, the debtor’s grave, the sham + creditor, who had been loud in his protests under the light of the inn of + the village, now quaking and trembling as the Bishop’s warning comes out + of the gloom, then stammering, and breaking down, and finally, with + ghostly visions of a dead hand clutching at him from the grave, starting + up, shrieking, and flying away. It is a nightmare. Let us not remember it + when the candles are put out. + </p> + <p> + This ordeal was in force until the seventeenth century, but Bishop Wilson + judged it un-Christian, and never practised it. The old Roman canon law of + Purgation, a similar ordeal, he used not rarely. It was designed to meet + cases of slander in which there was no direct and positive evidence. If a + good woman had been accused of unchastity in that vague way of rumour + which is always more damaging and devilish than open accusation, she might + of her own free choice, or by compulsion of the Bishop, put to silence her + false accusers by appearing in church, with witnesses ready to take oath + that they believed her, and there swearing at the altar that common fame + and suspicion had wronged her. If a man doubted her word he had to + challenge it, or keep silence for ever after. The severest censures of the + Church were passed upon those who dared to repeat an unproved accusation + after the oaths of Purgation and Compurgation had been taken unchallenged. + It is a fine, honest ordeal, very old, good for the right, only bad for + the wrong, giving strength to the weak and humbling the mighty. But it + would be folly and mummery in our day. The Church has lost its powers over + life and limb, and no one capable of defaming a pure woman would care a + brass penny about the Church’s excommunication. Yet a woman’s good name is + the silver thread that runs through the pearl chain of her virtues. Pity + that nowadays it can be so easily snapped. Conversation at five o’clock + tea is enough to do that. The ordeal of compulsory Purgation was abolished + in Man as late as 1737. + </p> + <p> + THE HERRING FISHERY + </p> + <p> + Bishop Wilson began, or revived, a form of service which was so beautiful, + so picturesque, and withal so Manx that I regret the loss of scarce any + custom so much as the discontinuance of this one. It was the fishermen’s + service on the shore at the beginning of the herring-season. But in order + to appreciate it you must first know something of the herring fishing + itself. It is the chief industry of the island. Half the population is + connected with it in some way. A great proportion of the men of the + humbler classes are half seamen, half landsmen, tilling their little + crofts in the spring and autumn, and going out with the herring boats in + summer. The herring is the national fish. The Manxman swears by its + flavour. The deemsters, as we have seen, literally swear by its backbone. + Potatoes and herrings constitute a common dish of the country people. They + are ready for it at any hour of the day or night. I have had it for + dinner, I have taken it for supper, I have seen it for tea, and even known + it for breakfast. It is served without ceremony. In the middle of the + table two great crocks, one of potatoes boiled in their jackets, the other + of herrings fresh or salted; a plate and a bowl of new milk at every seat, + and lumps of salt here and there. To be a Manxman you must eat Manx + herrings; there is a story that to transform himself into a Manxman one of + the Dukes of Athol ate twenty-four of them at breakfast, a herring for + every member of his House of Keys. + </p> + <p> + The Manx herring fishery is interesting and very picturesque. You know + that the herrings come from northern latitudes, Towards mid-winter a vast + colony of them set out from the arctic seas, closely pursued by + innumerable sea-fowl, which deal death among the little emigrants. They + move in two divisions, one westward towards the coasts of America, the + other eastward in the direction of Europe. They reach the Shetlands in + April and the Isle of Man about June. The herring is fished at night. To + be out with the herring boats is a glorious experience on a calm night. + You have set sail with the fleet of herring boats about sun-down, and you + are running before a light breeze through the dusk. The sea-gulls are + skimming about the brown sails of your boat. They know what you are going + to do, and have come to help you, Presently you come upon a flight of them + wheeling and diving in the gathering darkness. Then you know that you have + lit on the herring shoal. The boat is brought head to the wind and left to + drift. By this time the stars are out, perhaps the moon also—though + too much moon is not good for the fishing—and you can just descry + the dim outline of the land against the dark blue of the sky. + </p> + <p> + Luminous patches of phosphorescent light begin to move in the water, “The + mar-fire’s rising,” say the fishermen, the herring are stirring. “Let’s + make a shot; up with the gear,” cries the skipper, and nets are hauled + from below, passed over the bank-board, and paid out into the sea—a + solid wall of meshes, floating upright, nine feet deep and a quarter of a + mile long. It is a calm, clear night, just light enough to see the buoys + on the back of the first net. The lamp is fixed on the mitch-board. All is + silence, only the steady plash, plash, plash of the slow waters on the + boat’s side; no singing among the men, no chaff, no laughter, all quiet + aboard, for the fishermen believe that the fish can hear; all quiet + around, where the deep black of the watery pavement is brightened by the + reflection of stars. Then out of the white phosphorescent patches come + minute points of silver and countless faint popping sounds, The herrings + are at play about the nets. You see them in numbers exceeding imagination, + shoals on shoals. “Pull up now, there’s a heavy strike,” cries the + skipper, and the nets are hauled up, and come in white and moving—a + solid block of fish, cheep, cheep, cheeping like birds in the early + morning. At the grey of dawn the boats begin to run for home, and the sun + is shining as the fleet makes the harbour. Men and women are waiting there + to buy the night’s catch. The quay is full of them, bustling, shouting, + laughing, quarrelling, counting the herrings, and so forth. + </p> + <p> + THE FISHERMEN’S SERVICE + </p> + <p> + Such is the herring fishery of Man. Bishop Wilson knew how bitter a thing + it could be if this industry failed the island even for a single season. + So, with absolute belief in the Divine government of the world, he wrote a + Service to be held on the first day of the herring season, asking for + God’s blessing on the harvest of the sea. The scene of that service must + have been wondrously beautiful and impressive. Why does not some great + painter paint it? Let me, by the less effectual vehicle of words, attempt + to realise what it must have been. + </p> + <p> + The place of it was Peel bay, a wide stretch of beach, with a gentle slope + to the left, dotted over with grey houses; the little town farther on, + with its nooks and corners, its blind alleys and dark lanes, its narrow, + crabbed, crooked streets. Behind this the old pier and the herring boats + rocking in the harbour, with their brown sails half set, waiting for the + top of the tide. In the distance the broad breast of Contrary Head, and, a + musket-shot outside of it, the little rocky islet whereon stand the + stately ruins of the noble old Peel Castle. The beach is dotted over with + people—old men, in their curranes and undyed stockings, leaning on + their sticks; children playing on the shingle; young women in groups, + dressed in sickle-shaped white sun-bonnets, and with petticoats tucked up; + old women in long blue homespun cloaks. But these are only the background + of the human picture. In the centre of it is a wide circle of fishermen, + men and boys, of all sizes and sorts, from the old Admiral of the herring + fleet to the lad that helps the cook—rude figures in blue and with + great sea-boots. They are on their knees on the sand, with their knitted + caps at their rusty faces, and in the middle of them, standing in an old + broken boat, is the Bishop himself, bareheaded, white-headed, with + upturned face praying for the fishing season that is about to begin. The + June day is sweet and beautiful, and the sun is going down behind the + castle. Some sea-gulls are disporting on the rock outside, and, save for + their jabbering cries, and the boom of the sea from the red horizon, and + the gentle plash of the wavelets on the pebbles of the shore, nothing is + heard but the slow tones of the Bishop and the fishermen’s deep <i>Amen</i>. + Such was Bishop Wilson’s fishermen’s service. It is gone; more’s the pity. + </p> + <p> + SOME OLD LAWS + </p> + <p> + The spiritual laws of Man were no dead letters when Bishop Wilson presided + over its spiritual courts. He was good to illegitimate children, making + them legitimate if their parents married within two years of their birth, + and often putting them on the same level with their less injured brothers + and sisters where inheritance was in question. But he was unmerciful to + the parents themselves. There is one story of his treatment of a woman + which passes all others in its tyranny. It is, perhaps, the only deep + stain on his character. I thank God that it can never have come to the + ears of Victor Hugo. Told as Hugo would have told it, surely it must have + blasted for ever the name of a good man. It is the dark story of Katherine + Kinrade. + </p> + <p> + KATHERINE KINRADE + </p> + <p> + She was a poor ruin of a woman, belonging to Kirk Christ, but wandering + like a vagrant over the island. The fact of first consequence is, that she + was only half sane. In the language of the clergy of the time, she “had a + degree of unsettledness and defect of understanding.” Thus she was the + sort of human wreck that the world finds it easy to fling away. Katherine + fell victim to the sin that was not her own. A child was born. The Church + censured her. She did penance in a white sheet at the church doors. But + her poor, dull brain had no power to restrain her. A second child was + born. Then the Bishop committed her for twenty-one days to his prison at + the Peel. Let me tell you what the place is like. It is a crypt of the + cathedral church. You enter it by a little door in the choir, leading to a + tortuous flight of steep steps going down. It is a chamber cut out of the + rock of the little island, dark, damp, and noisome. A small aperture lets + in the light, as well as the sound of the sea beating on the rocks below. + The roof, if you could see it in the gloom, is groined and ribbed, and + above it is the mould of many graves, for in the old days bodies were + buried in the choir. Can you imagine a prison more terrible for any + prisoner, the strongest man or the bravest soldier? Think of it on a + tempestuous night in winter. The lonely islet rock, with the swift seas + rushing around it; the castle half a ruin, its guard-room empty, its + banqueting hall roofless, its sally port silent; then the cathedral church + falling to decay; and under the floor of its choir, where lie the graves + of dead men, this black, grim, cold cell, silent as the graves themselves, + save for the roar of the sea as it beats in the darkness on the rocks + outside! But that is not enough. We have to think of this gloomy pile as + inhabited on such a night of terrors by only one human soul—this + poor, bedraggled, sin-laden woman with “the defect of understanding.” Can + anything be more awful? Yet there is worse to follow. The records tell us + that Katherine Kinrade submitted to her punishment “with as much + discretion as could be expected of the like of her.” But such punishments + do not cleanse the soul that is “drenched with unhallowed fire.” Perhaps + Katherine did not know that she was wronged; nevertheless God’s image was + being trodden out of her. She went from bad to worse, became a notorious + strumpet, strolled about the island, and led “a scandalous life on other + accounts.” A third child was born. Then the Bishop concluded that for the + honour of the Christian name, “to prevent her own utter destruction, and + for the example of others,” a timely and thorough reformation must be made + by a further and severer punishment. It was the 15th day of March, and he + ordered that on the 17th day, being the fair of St. Patrick, at the height + of the market, the said Katherine Kinrade should be taken to Peel Town in + charge of the general sumner, and the constables and soldiers of the + garrison, and there dragged after a boat in the sea! Think of it! On a + bitter day in March this wretched woman with the “defect of understanding” + was to be dragged through the sea by a rope tied to the tail of a boat! + And if any owner, master, and crew of any boat proved refractory by + refusing to perform this service for the restraining of vice, they were to + be subject to fine and imprisonment! When St. Patrick’s Day came the + weather was so stormy that no boat could live in the bay, but on St. + Germain’s Day, about the height of the market, the censure was performed. + After undergoing the punishment the miserable soul was apparently + penitent, “according to her capacity,” took the communion, and was + “received into the peace of the Church.” Poor human ruin, defaced image of + a woman, begrimed and buried soul, unchaste, misshapen, incorrigible, no + “juice of God’s distilling” ever “dropped into the core of her life,” to + such punishment she was doomed by the tribunal of that saintly man, Bishop + Thomas Wilson! She has met him at another tribunal since then; not where + she has crouched before him, but where she has stood by his side. She has + carried her great account against him, to Him before whom the proudest are + as chaff. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + None spake when Wilson stood before + The Throne; + And He that sat thereon + Spake not; and all the presence-floor + Burnt deep with blushes, and the angels cast + Their faces downwards.—Then, at last, + Awe-stricken, he was ware + How on the emerald stair + A woman sat divinely clothed in white, + And at her knees four cherubs bright + That laid + Their heads within her lap. Then, trembling, he essayed + To speak—“Christ’s mother, pity me!” + Then answered she, + “Sir, I am Katherine Kinrade.” {*} + + * Unpublished poem by the author of ‘’Fo’c’s’le Yarns.” + </pre> + <p> + BISHOP WILSON’S LAST DAYS + </p> + <p> + Have I dashed your faith in my hero? Was he indeed the bitterest of + tyrants as well as the serenest of saints? Yet bethink you of the other + good men who have done evil deeds? King David and the wife of Uriah, + Mahomet and his adopted son; the gallery of memory is hung round with many + such portraits. Poor humanity, weak at the strongest, impure at the + purest; best take it as it is, and be content. Remember that a good man’s + vices are generally the excess of his virtues. It was so with Bishop + Wilson. Remember, too, that it is not for what a man does, but for what he + means to do, that we love him or hate him in the end. And in the end the + Manx people loved Bishop Wilson, and still they bless his memory. + </p> + <p> + We have a glimpse of his last days, and it is full of tender beauty. True + to his lights, simple and frugal of life, God-fearing and strong of heart, + he lived to be old. Very feeble, his beautiful face grown mellower even as + his heart was softer for his many years, tottering on his staff, drooping + like a white flower, he went in and out among his people, laying his + trembling hands on the children’s heads and blessing them, remembering + their fathers and their fathers’ fathers. Beloved by the young, reverenced + by the old, honoured by the great, worshipped by the poor, living in sweet + patience, ready to die in hope. His day was done, his night was near, and + the weary toiler was willing to go to his rest. Thus passed some peaceful + years. He died in 1755, and was followed to his grave by the whole Manx + nation. His tomb is our most sacred shrine. We know his faults, but we do + not speak of them there. Call a truce over the place of the old man’s + rest. There he lies, who was once the saviour of our people. God bless + him! He was our fathers’ bishop, and his saintly face still shines on our + fathers’ children. + </p> + <p> + THE ATHOL BISHOPS + </p> + <p> + Let me in a last clause attempt a sketch of the history of the Manx Church + in the century or more that has followed Bishop Wilson’s death. The last + fifty years of it are featureless, save for an attempt to abolish the + Bishopric. This foolish effort first succeeded and then failed, and was a + poor bit of mummery altogether, ending in nothing but waste of money and + time, and breath and temper. The fifty years immediately succeeding Bishop + Wilson were full of activity. But so far as the Church was concerned, the + activity was not always wholesome. If religion was kept alive in Man in + those evil days, and the soul hunger of the poor Manx people was + satisfied, it was not by the masters of the Manx Church, the Pharisees who + gave alms in the streets to the sound of a trumpet going before them, or + by the Levites who passed by on the other side when a man had fallen among + thieves. It was partly by dissent, which was begun by Wesley in 1775 + (after Quakerism had been suppressed), and partly by a small minority of + the Manx clergy, who kept going the early evangelicalism of Newton and + Cowper and Cecil—dear, sunny, simple-hearted old Manx vicars, who + took sweet counsel together in their old-fashioned homes, where you found + grace in all senses of the word, purity of soul, the life of the mind, and + gentle courtliness of manners. + </p> + <p> + Bishop Wilson’s successor was Doctor Mark Hildlesley, in all respects a + worthy man. He completed the translation of the Scriptures into Manx, + which had been begun by his predecessor, and established Sunday-schools in + Man before they had been commenced in any other country. But after him + came a line of worthless prelates, Dr. Richmond, remembered for his + unbending haughtiness; Dr. Mason, disgraced by his debts; and Claudius + Cregan, a bishop unfit to be a curate. Do you not read between the broad + lines of such facts? The Athol dynasty was now some thirty years + established in Man, and the swashbuckler Court of fine gentlemen was in + full swing. In that costume drama of soiled lace and uproarious pleasures, + what part did the Church play? Was it that of the man clad in camel’s + skin, living on locusts and wild honey, and calling on the generation of + revellers to flee from the wrath to come? No; but that of the lover of + cakes and ale. The records of this period are few and scanty, but they are + full enough to show that some of the clergy of the Athols knew more of + backgammon than of theology. While they pandered to the dissolute Court + they lived under, going the errands of their masters in the State, + fetching and carrying for them, and licking their shoes, they tyrannised + over the poor ignorant Manx people and fleeced them unmercifully. Perhaps + this was in a way only natural. Corruption was in the air throughout + Europe. Dr. Youngs were grovelling for preferments at the feet of kings’ + mistresses, and Dr. Warners were kissing the shoebuckles of great ladies + for sheer love of their faces, plastered red and white, The parasites of + the Manx clergy were not far behind some of their English brethren. There + is a story told of their life among themselves which casts lurid light on + their character and ways of life. It is said that two of the + Vicars-general summoned a large number of the Manx people to Bishop’s + Court on some business of the spiritual court, Many of the people had come + long distances, chiefly a-foot, without food, and probably without money. + After a short sitting the court was adjourned for dinner. The people had + no dinner, and they starved. The Vicars-general went into the palace to + dine with the Bishop. Some hours passed. The night was gathering. Then a + message came out to say that no more business could be done that day. Some + of the poor people were old, and had to travel fifteen miles to their + homes. The record tells us that the Bishop gave his guests “most excellent + wine.” What of a scene like that? Outside, a sharp day in Spring, two + score famished folks tramping the glen and the gravel-path, the + gravel-path and the glen, to and fro, to and fro, minute after minute, + hour after hour. Inside, my lord Bishop, drenched in debt, dining with his + clergy, drinking “most excellent wine” with them, unbending his mighty + mind with them, exchanging boisterous stories with them, jesting with + them, laughing with them, until his face grows as red as the glowing turf + on his hearth. Presently a footfall on the gravel, and outside the window + a hungry, pinched, anxious face looking nervously into the room. Then this + colloquy: + </p> + <p> + “Ah, the court, plague on’t, I’d forgotten it.” + </p> + <p> + “Adjourn it, gentlemen.” + </p> + <p> + “Wine like yours, my lord, would make a man forget Paradise.” + </p> + <p> + “Sit down again, gentlemen. Juan, go out and tell the people to come back + to-morrow.” + </p> + <p> + “Your right good health, my lord!” + </p> + <p> + “And yours, gentlemen both!” + </p> + <p> + Oh, if there is any truth in religion, if this world is God’s, if a day is + coming when the weak shall be exalted and the mighty laid low, what a + reckoning they have gone to whose people cried for bread and they gave + them a stone! And if there is not, if the hope is vain, if it is all a + sham and a mockery, still the justice of this world is sure. Where are + they now, these parasites? Their game is played out. They are bones and + ashes; they are in their forgotten graves. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE + </h2> + <p> + THE MANX LANGUAGE + </p> + <p> + A friend asked me the other day if there was any reason why I should not + deliver these lectures in Manx. I answered that there were just forty good + and sufficient reasons. The first was that I did not speak Manx. Like the + wise queen in the story of the bells, he then spared me the recital of the + remaining nine-and-thirty. But there is at least one of the number that + will appeal strongly to most of my hearers. What that is you shall judge + for yourselves after I have braved the pitfalls of pronunciation in a + tongue I do not know, and given you some clauses of the Lord’s Prayer in + Manx. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Ayr ain t’ayns niait, + (Father our who art in heaven.) + + Caskerick dy row dty ennym. + (Holy be Thy name.) + + Dy jig dty reeriaght. + (Come Thy kingdom.) + + Dty aigney dy row jeant er y thalloo mry te ayns niau. + (Thy will be done on the earth even as in heaven.) +</pre> + <hr /> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Son dy bragh, as dy bragh, Amen. + (For ever and ever. Amen.) +</pre> + <p> + I asked a friend—it was Mr. Wilson Barrett—if in its fulness, + its fine chest-notes, its force and music, this old language did not sound + like Italian. + </p> + <p> + “Well, no,” he answered, “it sounds more like hard swearing.” + </p> + <p> + I think you must now understand why the greater part of these lectures + should be delivered in English. + </p> + <p> + Manx is a dialect mainly Celtic, and differing only slightly from the + ancient Scottish Gaelic. I have heard my father say that when he was a boy + in Ramsey, sixty years ago, a Scotch ship came ashore on the Carrick, and + next morning after the wreck a long, lank, bony creature, with bare legs, + and in short petticoats, came into the marketplace and played a tune on a + little shrieking pair of smithy bellows, and then sang a song. It was a + Highland piper, and he sang in his Gaelic, but the Manx boys and girls who + gathered round him understood almost every word of his song, though they + thought his pronunciation bad. Perhaps they took him for a poor old + Manxman, somehow strayed and lost, a sort of Manx Rip Van Winkle who had + slept a century in Scotland, and thereby lost part of his clothes. + </p> + <p> + You will wonder that there is not more Norse in our language, remembering + how much of the Norse is in our blood. But the predominance of the Celtic + is quite natural. Our mothers were Celts, speaking Celtic, before our + Norse-fathers came. Was it likely that our Celtic mothers should learn + much of the tongue of their Norse husbands? Then, is it not our mother, + rather than our father, who teaches us to speak when we are children? So + our Celtic mothers taught us Celtic, and thus Celtic became the dominant + language of our race. + </p> + <p> + MANX NAMES + </p> + <p> + But though our Norse fathers could not impose their Norse tongue on their + children, they gave them Norse names, and to the island they gave Norse + place-names. Hence we find that though Manx names show a preponderance of + the Celtic, yet that the Norse are numerous and important. Thus we have + many <i>dales, fells, garths</i>, and <i>ghylls</i>. Indeed, we have many + pure Scandinavian surnames and place-names. When I was in Iceland I + sometimes found myself face to face with names which almost persuaded me + that I was at home in our little island of the Irish Sea. There is, for + example, a Snaefell in Man as well as in Iceland. Then, our Norwegian + surnames often took Celtic prefixes, such as <i>Mac</i>, and thus became + Scandio-Gaelic. But this is a subject on which I have no right to speak + with authority. You will find it written down with learning and judgment + in the good book of my friend Mr. A. W. Moore, of Cronkbourne. What + concerns me more than the scientific aspect of the language is its + literary character. I seem to realise that it was the language of a poetic + race. The early generations of a people are often poetic. They are + child-like, and to be like a child is the best half of being like a poet. + They name their places by help of their observatory powers. These are + fresh and full of wonder, and Nature herself is beautiful or strange until + man tampers with her. + </p> + <p> + So when an untaught and uncorrupted mind looks upon a new scene and + bethinks itself of a name to fit it, the name is almost certainly full of + charm or rugged power. Thus we find in Man such mixed Norse and Celtic + names as: <i>Booildooholly</i> (Black fold of the wood), <i>Douglas</i> + (Black stream), <i>Soderick</i> (South creek), <i>Trollaby</i> (Troll’s + farm), <i>Gansy</i> (Magic isle), <i>Cronk-y-Clagh Bane</i> (Hill of the + white stone), <i>Cronk-ny-hey</i> (Hill of the grave), <i>Cronk-ny-arrey-lhaa</i> + (Hill of the day watch). + </p> + <p> + MANX IMAGINATION + </p> + <p> + This poetic character of the place-names of the island is a standing + reproach to us as a race. We have degenerated in poetic spirit since such + names were the natural expression of our feelings. I tremble to think what + our place-names would be if we had to make them now. Our few modern + Christenings set my teeth on edge. We are not a race of poets. We are the + prosiest of the prosy. I have never in my life met with any race, except + Icelanders and Norwegians, who are so completely the slave of hard fact. + It is astounding how difficult the average Manxman finds it to put himself + into the mood of the poet. That anything could come out of nothing, that + there is such a thing as imagination, that any human brother of an honest + man could say that a thing had been, which had not been, and yet not lie—these + are bewildering difficulties to the modern Manxman. That a novel can be + false and yet true—that, well that’s foolishness. I wrote a Manx + romance called “The Deemster;” and I did not expect my fellow-countrymen + of the primitive kind to tolerate it for a moment. It was merely a + fiction, and the true Manxman of the old sort only believes in what is + true. He does not read very much, and when he does read it is not novels. + But he could not keep his hands off this novel, and on the whole, and in + the long run, he liked it—that is, as he would say, “middling,” you + know! But there was only one condition on which he could take it to his + bosom—it must be true. There was the rub, for clearly it + transgressed certain poor little facts that were patent to everybody. + </p> + <p> + Never mind, Hall Caine did not know poor Man, or somebody had told him + wrong. But the story itself! The Bishop, Dan, Ewan, Mona, the body coming + ashore at the Mooragh, the poor boy under the curse by the Calf, + lord-a-massy, that was thrue as gospel! What do you think happened? I have + got the letters by me, and can show them to anybody. A good Manxman wrote + to remonstrate with me for calling the book a “romance.” How dare I do so? + It was all true. Another wrote saying that maybe I would like to know that + in his youth he knew my poor hero, Dan Mylrea, well. They often drank + together. In fact, they were the same as brothers. For his part he had + often warned poor Dan the way he was going. After the murder, Dan came to + him and gave him the knife with which he had killed Ewan. He had got it + still! + </p> + <p> + Later than the “Deemster,” I published another Manx romance, “The + Bondman.” In that book I mentioned, without thought of mischief, certain + names that must have been lying at the back of my head since my boyhood. + One of them becomes in the book the name of an old hypocrite who in the + end cheats everybody and yet prays loudly in public. Now it seems that + there is a man up in the mountains who owns that name. When he first + encountered it in the newspapers, where the story was being published as a + serial, he went about saying he was in the “Bondman,” that it was all + thrue as gospel, so it was, that he knew me when I was a boy, over Ramsey + way, and used to give me rides on his donkey, so he did. This was before + the hypocrite was unmasked; and when that catastrophe occurred, and his + villany stood naked before all the island, his anger knew no limits. I am + told that he goes about the mountains now like a thunder-cloud, and that + he wants to meet me. I had never heard of the man before in all my life. + </p> + <p> + What I say is true only of the typical Manxman, the natural-man among + Manxmen, not of the Manxman who is Manxman plus man of the world, the + educated Manxman, who finds it as easy as anybody else to put himself into + a position of sympathy with works of pure imagination. But you must go + down to the turf if you want the true smell of the earth. Education levels + all human types, as love is said to level all ranks; and to preserve your + individuality and yet be educated seems to want a strain of genius, or + else a touch of madness. + </p> + <p> + The Manx must have been the language of a people with few thoughts to + express, but such thoughts as they had were beautiful in their simplicity + and charm, sometimes wise and shrewd, and not rarely full of feeling. Thus + <i>laa-noo</i> is old Manx for child, and it means literally half saint—a + sweet conception, which says the best of all that is contained in + Wordsworth’s wondrous “Ode on the Intimations of Immortality.” <i>Laa-bee</i> + is old Manx for bed, literally half-meat, a profound commentary on the + value of rest. The old salutation at the door of a Manx cottage before the + visitor entered was this word spoken from the porch: <i>Vel peccaghs thie?</i> + Literally: Any sinner within? All humanity being sinners in the common + speech of the Manx people. + </p> + <p> + MANX PROVERBS + </p> + <p> + Nearly akin to the language of a race are its proverbs, and some of the + Manx proverbs are wise, witty, and racy of the soil. Many of them are the + common possession of all peoples. Of such kind is “There’s many a slip + ‘twixt the cup and the lip.” Here is one which sounds like an Eastern + saying: “Learning is fine clothes for the rich man, and riches for the + poor man.” But I know of no foreign parentage for a proverb like this: “A + green hill when far away; bare, bare when it is near.” + </p> + <p> + That may be Eastern also. It hints of a long weary desert; no grass, no + water, and then the cruel mirage that breaks down the heart of the + wayfarer at last. On the other hand, it is not out of harmony with the + landscape of Man, where the mountains look green sometimes from a distance + when they are really bare and stark, and so typify that waste of heart + when life is dry of the moisture of hope, and all the world is as a + parched wilderness. However, there is one proverb which is so Manx in + spirit that I could almost take oath on its paternity, so exactly does it + fit the religious temper of our people, though it contains a word that + must strike an English ear as irreverent: “When one poor man helps another + poor man, God himself laughs.” + </p> + <p> + MANX BALLADS + </p> + <p> + Next to the proverbs of a race its songs are the best expression of its + spirit, and though Manx songs are few, some of them are full of Manx + character. Always their best part is the air. A man called Barrow compiled + the Manx tunes about the beginning of the century, but his book is scarce. + In my ignorance of musical science I can only tell you how the little that + is left of Manx music lives in the ear of a man who does not know one note + from another. Much of it is like a wail of the wind in a lonely place near + to the sea, sometimes like the soughing of the long grass, sometimes like + the rain whipping the panes of a window as with rods. Nearly always + long-drawn like a moan rarely various, never martial, never inspiriting, + often sad and plaintive, as of a people kept under, but loving liberty, + poor and low down, but with souls alive, looking for something, and hoping + on,—full of the brine, the salt foam, the sad story of the sea. + Nothing would give you a more vivid sense of the Manx people than some of + our old airs. They would seem to take you into a little whitewashed + cottage with sooty rafters and earthen floor, where an old man who looks + half like a sailor and half like a landsman is dozing before a peat fire + that is slumbering out. Have I in my musical benightedness conveyed an + idea of anything musical? If not, let me, by the only vehicle natural to + me, give you the rough-shod words of one or two of our old ballads. There + is a ballad, much in favour, called <i>Ny kirree fo niaghey</i>, the Sheep + under the Snow. Another, yet better known, is called <i>Myle Charaine</i>. + This has sometimes been called the Manx National Air, but that is a + fiction. The song has nothing to do with the Manx as a nation. Perhaps it + is merely a story of a miser and his daughter’s dowry. Or perhaps it tells + of pillage, probably of wrecking, basely done, and of how the people cut + the guilty one off from all intercourse with them. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + O, Myle Charaine, where got you your gold? + Lone, lone, you have left me here, + O, not in the curragh, deep under the mould, + Lone, lone, and void of cheer. +</pre> + <p> + This sounds poor enough, but it would be hard to say how deeply this + ballad, wedded to its wailing music, touches and moves a Manxman. Even to + my ear as I have heard it in Manx, it has seemed to be one of the weirdest + things in old ballad literature, only to be matched by some of the old + Irish songs, and by the gruesome ditty which tells how “the sun shines + fair on Carlisle wa’.” + </p> + <p> + MANX CAROLS + </p> + <p> + The paraphrase I have given you was done by George Borrow, who once + visited the island. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown met him and showed him + several collections of Manx carols, and he pronounced them all + translations from the English, not excepting our famous <i>Drogh Vraane</i>, + or carol of every bad woman whose story is told in the Bible, beginning + with the story of mother Eve herself. And, indeed, you will not be + surprised that to the shores of our little island have drifted all kinds + of miscellaneous rubbish, and that the Manxmen, from their very simplicity + and ignorance of other literatures, have had no means of sifting the + flotsam and assigning value to the constituents. Besides this, they are so + irresponsible, have no literary conscience, and accordingly have + appropriated anything and everything. This is true of some Manx ballads, + and perhaps also of many Manx carols. The carols, called Carvals in Manx, + serve in Man, as in other countries, the purpose of celebrating the birth + of Jesus, but we have one ancient custom attached to them which we can + certainly claim for our own, so Manx is it, so quaint, so grimly serious, + and withal so howlingly ludicrous. + </p> + <p> + It is called the service of Oiel Verree, probably a corruption of <i>Feaill + Vorrey</i>, literally the Feast of Mary, and it is held in the parish + church near to midnight on Christmas Eve. Scott describes it in “Peveril + of the Peak,” but without personal knowledge. + </p> + <p> + Services are still held in many churches on Christmas Eve; and I think + they are called Oiel Verree, but the true Oiel Verree, the real, pure, + savage, ridiculous, sacrilegious old Oiel Verree, is gone. I myself just + came in time for it; I saw the last of it, nevertheless I saw it at its + prime, for I saw it when it was so strong that it could not live any + longer. Let me tell you what it was. + </p> + <p> + The story carries me back to early boyish years, when, from the lonely + school-house on the bleak top of Maughold Head, I was taken in secret, one + Christmas Eve, between nine and ten o’clock, to the old church of Kirk + Maughold, a parish which longer than any other upheld the rougher + traditions. My companion was what is called an original. His name was + Billy Corkill. We were great chums. I would be thirteen, he was about + sixty. Billy lived alone in a little cottage on the high-road, and worked + in the fields. He had only one coat all the years I knew him. It seemed to + have been blue to begin with, but when it had got torn Billy had patched + it with anything that was handy, from green cloth to red flannel. He + called it his Joseph’s coat of many colours. Billy was a poet and a + musical composer. He could not read a word, but he would rather have died + than confess his ignorance. He kept books and newspapers always about him, + and when he read out of them, he usually held them upside down. If any one + remarked on that, he said he could read them any way up—that was + where his scholarship came in. Billy was a great carol singer. He did not + know a note, but he never sang except from music. His tunes were wild + harmonies that no human ear ever heard before. It will be clear to you + that old Billy was a man of genius. + </p> + <p> + Such was my comrade on that Christmas Eve long ago. It had been a bitter + winter in the Isle of Man, and the ground was covered with snow. But the + church bells rang merrily over the dark moorland, for Oiel Verree was + peculiarly the people’s service, and the ringers were ringing in the one + service of the year at which the parishioners supplanted the Vicar, and + appropriated the old parish church. In spite of the weather, the church + was crowded with a motley throng, chiefly of young folks, the young men + being in the nave, and the girls (if I remember rightly) in the little + loft at the west end. Most of the men carried tallow dips, tied about with + bits of ribbon in the shape of rosettes, duly lighted, and guttering + grease at intervals on to the book-ledge or the tawny fingers of them that + held them. It appeared that there had been an ordinary service before we + arrived, and the Vicar was still within the rails of the communion. From + there he addressed some parting words of solemn warning to the noisy + throng of candle-carriers. As nearly as I can remember, the address was + this: “My good people, you are about to celebrate an old custom. For my + part, I have no sympathy with such customs, but since the hearts of my + parishioners seem to be set on this one, I have no wish to suppress it. + But tumultuous and disgraceful scenes have occurred on similar occasions + in previous years, and I beg you to remember that you are in God’s house,” + &c. &c. The grave injunction was listened to in silence, and when + it ended, the Vicar, a worthy but not very popular man, walked towards the + vestry. To do so, he passed the pew where I sat under the left arm of my + companion, and he stopped before him, for Billy had long been a notorious + transgressor at Oiel Verree. + </p> + <p> + “See that you do not disgrace my church to-night,” said the Vicar. But + Billy had a biting tongue. + </p> + <p> + “Aw, well,” said he, “I’m thinking the church is the people’s.” + </p> + <p> + “The people are as ignorant as goats,” said the Vicar. + </p> + <p> + “Aw, then,” said Billy, “you are the shepherd, so just make sheeps of + them.” + </p> + <p> + At that the Vicar gave us the light of his countenance no more. The last + glimpse of his robe going through the vestry door was the signal for a + buzz of low gossip, and straightway the business of Oiel Verree began. + </p> + <p> + It must have been now approaching eleven o’clock, and two old greybeards + with tousled heads placed themselves abreast at the door of the west + porch. There they struck up a carol in a somewhat lofty key. It was a most + doleful ditty. Certainly I have never since heard the like of it. I + remember that it told the story of the Crucifixion in startling language, + full of realism that must have been horribly ghastly, if it had not been + so comic. At the end of each verse the singers made one stride towards the + communion. There were some thirty verses, and every mortal verse did these + zealous carollers give us. They came to an end at length, and then another + old fellow rose in his pew and sang a ditty in Manx. It told of the loss + of the herring-fleet in Douglas Bay in the last century. After that there + was yet another and another carol—some that might be called sacred, + others that would not be badly wronged with the name of profane. As I + recall them now, they were full of a burning earnestness, and pictured the + dangers of the sinner and the punishment of the damned. They said nothing + about the joys of heaven, or the pleasures of life. Wherever these old + songs came from they must have dated from some period of religious + revival. The Manxman may have appropriated them, but if he did so he was + in a deadly earnest mood. It must have been like stealing a hat-band. + </p> + <p> + My comrade had been silent all this time, but in response to various + winks, nods, and nudges, he rose to his feet. Now, in prospect of Oiel + Verree I had written the old man a brand new carol. It was a mighty + achievement in the sentimental vein. I can remember only one of its + couplets: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in a holy union. +</pre> + <p> + I am not very sure what this may mean, and Billy must have been in the + same uncertainty. Shall I ever forget what happened? Billy standing in the + pew with my paper in his hand the wrong way up. Myself by his side holding + a candle to him. Then he began to sing. It was an awful tune—I think + he called it sevens—but he made common-sense of my doggerel by one + alarming emendation. When he came to the couplet I have given you, what do + you think he sang? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in—a hollow onion!” + </pre> + <p> + Billy must have been a humorist. He is long dead, poor old Billy. God rest + him! + </p> + <p> + DECAY OF THE MANX LANGUAGE + </p> + <p> + If in this unscientific way I have conveyed my idea of Manx carvals, Manx + ballads, or Manx proverbs, you will not be surprised to hear me say that I + do not think that any of these, can live long apart from the Manx + language. We may have stolen most of them; they may have been wrecked on + our coast, and we may have smuggled them; but as long as they wear our + native homespun clothes they are ours, and as soon as they put it off they + cease to belong to us. A Manx proverb is no longer a Manx proverb when it + is in English. The same is true of a Manx ballad translated, and of a Manx + carval turned into an English carol. What belongs to us, our way of saying + things, in a word, our style, is gone. The spirit is departed, and that + which remains is only an English ghost flitting about in Manx + grave-clothes. + </p> + <p> + Now this is a sad fact, for it implies that little as we have got of Manx + literature, whether written or oral, we shall soon have none at all. Our + Manx language is fast dying out. If we had any great work in the Manx + tongue, that work alone would serve to give our language a literary life + at least. But we have no such great work, no fine Manx poem, no good novel + in Manx, not even a Manx sermon of high mark. Thus far our Manx language + has kept alive our pigmies of Manx literature; but both are going down + together. The Manx is not much spoken now. In the remoter villages, like + Cregnesh, Ballaugh, Kirk Michael, and Kirk Andreas, it may still be heard. + Moreover, the Manxman may hear Manx a hundred times for every time an + Englishman hears it. But the younger generation of Manx folk do not speak + Manx, and very often do not understand it. This is a rapid change on the + condition of things in my own boyhood. Manx is to me, for all practical + uses, an unknown tongue. I cannot speak it, I cannot follow it when + spoken, I have only a sort of nodding acquaintance with it out of door, + and yet among my earliest recollections is that of a household where + nothing but Manx was ever spoken except to me. A very old woman, almost + bent double over a spinning wheel, and calling me Hommy-Veg, and <i>baugh-millish</i>, + and so forth. This will suggest that the Manx people are themselves + responsible for the death of the Manx language. That is partly true. The + Manx tongue was felt to be an impediment to intercourse with the English + people. Then the great English immigration set in, and the Isle of Man + became a holiday resort. That was the doomster of the Manx language. In + another five-and-twenty years the Manx language will be as dead as a Manx + herring. + </p> + <p> + One cannot but regret this certain fate. I dare not say that the language + itself is so good that it ought to live. Those who know it better say that + “it’s a fine old tongue, rich and musical, full of meaning and + expression.” {*} I know that it is at least forcible, and loud and deep in + sound. I will engage two Manxmen quarrelling in Manx to make more noise in + a given time than any other two human brethren in Christendom, not + excepting two Irishmen. Also I think the Manx must be capable of notes of + sweet feeling, and I observe that a certain higher lilt in a Manx woman’s + voice, suggesting the effort to speak about the sound of the sea, and the + whistle of the wind in the gorse, is lost in the voices of the younger + women who speak English only. But apart from tangible loss, I regret the + death of the Manx tongue on grounds of sentiment. In this old tongue our + fathers played as children, bought and sold as men, prayed, preached, + gossiped, quarrelled, and made love. It was their language at Tynwald; + they sang their grim carvals in it, and their wailing, woful ballads. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * The Rev. T. E. Brown. +</pre> + <p> + When it is dead more than half of all that makes us Manxmen will be gone. + Our individuality will be lost, the greater barrier that separates us from + other peoples will be broken down. Perhaps this may have its advantages, + but surely it is not altogether a base desire not to be submerged into all + the races of the earth. The tower of Babel is built, the tongues of the + builders are confounded, and we are not all anxious to go back and join + the happy family that lived in one ark. + </p> + <p> + But aside from all lighter thoughts there is something very moving and + pathetic in the death of an old language. Permit me to tell you, not as a + philologist, a character to which I have no claim, but as an imaginative + writer, how the death of an ancient tongue affects me. It is unlike any + other form of death, for an unwritten language is even as a breath of air + which when it is spent leaves no trace behind. A nation may die, yet its + history remains, and that is the tangible part of its past. A city may + fall to decay and lie a thousand years under the sands of the desert, yet + its relics revivify its life. But a language that is dead, a tongue that + has no life in its literature, is a breath of wind that is gone. A little + while and it went from lip to lip, from lip to ear; it came we know not + whence; it has passed we know not where. It was an embodied spirit of all + man’s joys and sorrows, and like a spirit it has vanished away. + </p> + <p> + Then if this old language has been that of our own people its death is a + loss to our affections. Indeed, language gets so close to our heart that + we can hardly separate it from our emotions. If you do not speak the + Italian language, ask yourself whether Dante comes as close to you as + Shakespeare, all questions of genius and temperament apart. And if Dante + seems a thousand miles away, and Shakespeare enters into your closest + chamber, is it not first of all because the language of Shakespeare is + your own language, alive with the life that is in your own tongue, vital + with your own ways of thought and even tricks and whims of speech? Let + English die, and Shakespeare goes out of your closet, and passes away from + you, and is then your brother-Englishman only in name. So close is the + bond of language, so sweet and so mysterious. + </p> + <p> + But there is yet a more sacred bond with the language of our fathers when + it can have no posthumous life in books. This is the bond of love. Think + what it is that you miss first and longest when death robs you of a + friend. Is it not the living voice? The living face you can bring back in + memory, and in your dark hours it will shine on you still; the good deed + can never die; the noble thought lives for ever. Death is not conqueror + over such as these, but the human voice, the strange and beautiful part of + us that is half spirit in life, is lost in death. For a while it startles + us as an echo in an empty chamber, and then it is gone, and not all the + world’s wealth could bring one note of it back. And such as the vanishing + away of the voice of the friend we loved is the death of the old tongue + which our fathers spoke. <i>It is the death of the dead</i>. + </p> + <p> + MANX SUPERSTITIONS + </p> + <p> + When the Manx tongue is dead there will remain, however, just one badge of + our race—our superstition. I am proud to tell you that we are the + most superstitious people now left among the civilised nations of the + world. This is a distinction in these days when that poetry of life, as + Goethe names it, is all but gone from the face of the earth. Manxmen have + not yet taken the poetry out of the moon and the stars, and the mist of + the mountains and the wail of the sea. Of course we are ashamed of the + survival of our old beliefs and try to hide them, but let nobody say that + as a people we believe no longer in charms, and the evil eye, and good + spirits and bad. I know we do. It would be easy to give you a hundred + illustrations. I remember an ill-tempered old body living on the Curragh, + who was supposed to possess the evil eye. If a cow died at calving, she + had witched it. If a baby cried suddenly in its sleep, the old witch must + have been going by on the road. If the potatoes were blighted, she had + looked over the hedge at them. There was a charm doctor in Kirk Andreas, + named Teare-Ballawhane. He was before my time, but I recall many stories + of him. When a cow was sick of the witching of the woman of the Curragh, + the farmer fled over to Kirk Andreas for the charm of the charm-doctor. + From the moment Teare-Ballawhane began to boil his herbs the cow + recovered. If the cow died after all, there was some fault in the farmer. + I remember a child, a girl, who twenty years ago had a birth-mark on her + face—a broad red stain like a hand on her cheek. Not long since, I + saw her as a young woman, and the stain was either gone entirely or hidden + by her florid complexion. When I asked what had been done for her, I heard + that a good woman had charmed her. “Aw, yes,” said the girl’s mother, “a + few good words do no harm anyway.” Not long ago I met an old fellow in + Onchan village who believed in the Nightman, an evil spirit who haunts the + mountains at night predicting tempests and the doom of ships, the <i>dooinney-oie</i> + of the Manx, akin to the <i>banshee</i> of the Irish. “Aw, man,” said he, + “it was up Snaefell way, and I was coming from Kirk Michael over, and it + was black dark, and I heard the Nightman after me, shoutin’ and wailin’ + morthal, <i>how-la-a, how-a-a</i>. But I didn’t do nothin’, no, and he + came up to me lek a besom, and went past me same as a flood, <i>who-o-o!</i> + And I lerr him! Aw, yes, man, yes!” + </p> + <p> + I remember many a story of fairies, some recited half in humour, others in + grim earnest. One old body told me that on the night of her wedding-day, + coming home from the Curragh, whither she had stolen away in pursuit of a + belated calf, she was chased in the moonlight by a troop of fairies. They + held on to her gown, and climbed on her back, and perched on her + shoulders, and clung to her hair. There were “hundreds and tons” of them; + they were about as tall as a wooden broth-ladle, and all wore cocked-hats + and velvet jackets. + </p> + <p> + A good fairy long inhabited the Isle of Man. He was called in Manx the + Phynnodderee. It would appear that he had two brothers of like features + with himself, one in Scotland called the Brownie, the other in Scandinavia + called the Swart-alfar. + </p> + <p> + I have often heard how on a bad night the Manx folk would go off to bed + early so that the Phynnodderee might come in out of the cold. Before going + upstairs they built up the fire, and set the kitchen table with crocks of + milk and pecks of oaten cake for the entertainment of their guest. Then + while they slept the Phynnodderee feasted, yet he always left the table + exactly as he found it, eating the cake and drinking the milk, but filling + up the peck and the crock afresh. Nobody ever intruded upon him, so nobody + ever saw him, save the Manx Peeping Tom. I remember hearing an old Manxman + say that his curiosity overcame his reverence, and he “leff the wife,” + stepped out of bed, crept to the head of the stairs, and peeped over the + banisters into the kitchen. There he saw the Phynnodderee sitting in his + own arm-chair, with a great company of brother and sister fairies about + him, baking bread on the griddle, and chattering together like linnets in + spring. But he could not understand a word they were saying. + </p> + <p> + I have told you that the Manxman is not built by nature for a gallant. He + has one bad fairy, and she is the embodied spirit of a beautiful woman. + Manx folk-lore, like Manx carvals, Manx ballads, and Manx proverbs, takes + it for a bad sign of a woman’s character that she has personal beauty. If + she is beautiful, ten to one she is a witch. That is how it happens that + there are so many witches in the Isle of Man. + </p> + <p> + The story goes that a beautiful wicked witch entrapped the men of the + island. They would follow her anywhere. So she led them into the sea, and + they were all drowned. Then the women of the island went forth to punish + her, and, to escape from them, she took the form of a wren and flew away. + That is how it comes about that the poor little wren is hunted and killed + on St. Stephen’s Day. The Manx lads do it, though surely it ought to be + the Manx maidens. At midnight they sally forth in great companies, armed + with sticks and carrying torches. They beat the hedges until they light on + a wren’s nest, and, having started the wren and slaughtered it, they + suspend the tiny mite to the middle of a long pole, which is borne by two + lads from shoulder to shoulder. They then sing a rollicking native ditty, + of which one version runs:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + We’ll hunt the wren, says Robbin the Bobbin; + We’ll hunt the wren, says Richard the Robbin; + We’ll hunt the wren, says Jack of the Lan’; + We’ll hunt the wren, says every one. +</pre> + <p> + But Robbin the Bobbin and Richard the Robbin are not the only creatures + who have disappeared into the sea. The fairies themselves have also gone + there. They inhabit Man no more. A Wesleyan preacher declared some years + ago that he witnessed the departure of all the Manx fairies from the Bay + of Douglas. They went away in empty rum puncheons, and scudded before the + wind as far as the eye could reach, in the direction of Jamaica. So we + have done with them, both good and bad. + </p> + <p> + However, among the witches whom we have left to us in remote corners of + the island is the very harmless one called the Queen of the Mheillia. Her + rural Majesty is a sort of first cousin of the Queen of the May. The + Mheillia is the harvest-home. It is a picturesque ceremonial, observed + differently in different parts. Women and girls follow the reapers to + gather and bind the corn after it has fallen to the swish of the sickles. + A handful of the standing corn of the last of the farmer’s fields is tied + about with ribbon. Nobody but the farmer knows where that handful is, and + the girl who comes upon it by chance is made the Queen of the Mheillia. + She takes it to the highest eminence near, and waves it, and her + fellow-reapers and gleaners shout huzzas. Their voices are heard through + the valley, where other farmers and other reapers and gleaners stop in + their work and say, “So-and-so’s Mheillia!” “Ballamona’s Mheillia’s took!” + That night the farmer gives a feast in his barn to celebrate the getting + in of his harvest, and the close of the work of the women at the + harvesting. Sheep’s heads for a change on Manx herrings, English ale for a + change on Manx jough; then dancing led by the mistress, to the tune of a + fiddle, played faster and wilder as the night advances, reel and jig, jig + and reel. This pretty rural festival is still observed, though it has lost + much of its quaintness. I think I can just remember to have heard the + shouts of the Mheillia from the breasts of the mountains. + </p> + <p> + You will have gathered that in no part of the world could you find a more + reckless and ill-conditioned breeding-ground of suppositions, legends, + traditions, and superstitions than in the Isle of Man. The custom of + hunting the wren is widely spread throughout Ireland; and if I were to + tell you of Manx wedding customs, Manx burial customs, Manx birth customs, + May day, Lammas, Good Friday, New Year, and Christmas customs, you would + recognise in the Manxman the same irresponsible tendency to appropriate + whatever flotsam drifts to his shore. What I have told you has come mainly + of my own observation, but for a complete picture of Manx manners and + customs, beliefs and superstitions, I will refer you to William Kennish’s + “Mona’s Isle, and other Poems,” a rare book, with next to no poetic + quality, and containing much that is worthless, but having a good body of + real native stuff in it, such as cannot be found elsewhere. A still better + anthology is likely to be soon forthcoming from the pen of Mr. A. W. Moore + (the excellent editor of “Manx Names”) and the press of Mr. Nutt. + </p> + <p> + It is easy to laugh at these old superstitions, so childish do they seem, + so foolish, so ignorant. But shall we therefore set ourselves so much + above our fathers because they were slaves to them, and we believe them + not? Bethink you. Are we so much wiser, after all? How much farther have + we got? We know the mists of Mannanan. They are only the vapours from the + south, creeping along the ridge of our mountains, going north. Is that + enough to know? We know the cold eye of the evil man, whose mere presence + hurts us, and the warm eye of the born physician, whose mere presence + heals us. Does that tell us everything? We hear the moans which the sea + sends up to the mountains, when storms are coming, and ships are to be + wrecked, and we do not call them the voices of the Nightman, but only the + voices of the wind. We have changed the name; but we have taken none of + the mystery and marvel out of the thing itself. It is the Wind for us; it + was the Nightman for our fathers. That is nearly all. The wind bloweth + where it listeth. We are as far off as ever. Our superstitions remain, + only we call them Science, and try not to be afraid of them. But we are as + little children after all, and the best of us are those that, being + wisest, see plainest that, before the wonders and terrors of the great + world we live in, we are children, walking hand-in-hand in fear. + </p> + <p> + MANX STORIES + </p> + <p> + You will say that there ought to be many good stories of a people like the + Manx; and here again I have to confess to you that the absence of all + literary conscience, all perception of keeping and relation, all sense of + harmony and congruity in the Manxman has so demoralised our anecdotal <i>ana</i> + that I hesitate to offer you certain of the best of our Manx yarns from + fear that they may be venerable English, Irish, and Scotch familiars. I + will content myself with a few that bear undoubted Manx lineaments. As an + instance of Manx hospitality, simple and rude, but real and hearty, I + think you would go the world over to match this. The late Rev. Hugh + Stowell Brown, a Manxman, brother of the most famous of living Manxmen, + and himself our North-country Spurgeon, with his wife, his sister, and his + mother, were belated one evening up Baldwin Glen, and stopped at a + farm-house to inquire their way. But the farmer would not hear of their + going a step further. “Aw, nonsense!” he said. “What’s the use of talkin’, + man? You’ll be stoppin’ with us to-night. Aw ‘deed ye will, though. The + women can get along together aisy, and <i>you’re a clane lookin’ sort o’ + chap; you’ll be sleepin’ with me!</i>” + </p> + <p> + In the old days of, say, two steamboats a week to England the old Manx + captains of the Steamboat Company were notorious soakers. There is a story + of one of them who had the Archdeacon of the island aboard in a storm. It + was night. The reverend Archdeacon was in an agony of pain and terror. He + inquired anxiously of the weather. The captain, very drunk, answered, “If + it doesn’t mend we’ll all be in heaven before morning, Archdeacon!” “Oh, + God forbid, captain,” cried the Archdeacon. + </p> + <p> + I have said what true work for religion Nonconformity must have done in + those evil days when the clergy of the Athols were more busy with + backgammon than with theology. But the religion of the old type of Manx + Methodist was often an amusing mixture of puritanism and its opposite, a + sort of grim, white-faced sanctity, that was never altogether free of the + suspicion of a big boisterous laugh behind it. The Methodist local + preachers have been the real guardians and repositories of one side of the + Manx genius, a curious, hybrid thing, deadly earnest, often howlingly + ludicrous, simple, generally sincere, here and there audaciously + hypocritical. Among local preachers I remember some of the sweetest, + purest, truest men that ever walked this world of God; but I also remember + a > man who was brought home from market on Saturday night, dead drunk, + across the bottom of his cart drawn by his faithful horse, and I saw him + in the pulpit next morning, and heard his sermon on the evils of + backsliding. There is a story of the jealousy of two local preachers. The + one went to hear the other preach. The preacher laid out his subject under + a great many heads, firstly, secondly, thirdly, up to tenthly. His rival + down below in the pew spat and <i>haw’d</i> and <i>tchut’d</i> a good + deal, and at last, quite impatient of getting no solid religious food, + cried aloud, “Give us mate, man, give us mate!” Whereupon the preacher + leaned over the pulpit cushion, and said, “Hould on, man, till I’ve done + with the carving.” + </p> + <p> + But to tell of Happy Dan, and his wondrous sermon on the Prodigal Son at + the Clover Stones, Lonan, and his discourse on the swine possessed of + devils who went “triddle-traddle, triddle-traddle down the brews and were + clane drownded;” and of the marvellous account of how King David + remonstrated in broadest Manx <i>patois</i> with the “pozzle-tree,” for + being blown down; and then of the grim earnestness of a good man who could + never preach on a certain text without getting wet through to the + waistcoat with perspiration—to open the flood-gates of this kind of + Manx story would be to liberate a reservoir that would hardly know an end, + so I must spare you. + </p> + <p> + MANX “CHARACTERS” + </p> + <p> + At various points of my narrative I have touched on certain of our + eccentric Manx “characters.” But perhaps more interesting than any such + whom I have myself met with are some whom I have known only by repute. + These children of Nature are after all the truest touchstones of a + nation’s genius. Crooked, distorted, deformed, they nevertheless, and + perhaps therefore, show clearly the bent of their race. If you are without + brake or curb you may be blind, but you must know when you are going down + hill. The curb of education, and the brake of common-sense are the surest + checks on a people’s individuality. And these poor halfwits of the Manx + race, wiser withal than many of the Malvolios who smile on them so + demurely, exhibit the two great racial qualities of the Manx people—the + Celtic and the Norse—in vivid companionship and contrast. It is an + amusing fact that in some wild way the bardic spirit breaks out in all of + them. They are all singers, either of their own songs, or the songs of + others. That surely is the Celtic strain in them. But their songs are + never of the joys of earth or of love, or yet of war; never, like the + rustic poetry of the Scotch, full of pawky humour; never cynical, never + sarcastic; only concerned with the terrors of judgment and damnation and + the place of torment. That, also, may be a fierce and dark development of + the Celtic strain, but I see more of the Norse spirit in it. When my + ancient bard in Glen Rushen took down his thumb-marked, greasy, + discoloured poems from the “lath” against the open-timbered ceiling, and + read them aloud to me in his broad Manx dialect, with a sing-song of voice + and a swinging motion of body, while the loud hailstorm pelted the window + pane and the wind whistled round the house, I found they were all + startling and almost ghastly appeals to the sinner to shun his evil + courses. One of them ran like this: + </p> + <p> + HELL IS HOT. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + O sinner, see your dangerous state, + And think of hell ere ‘tis too late; + When worldly cares would drown each thought, + Pray call to mind that hell is hot. + Still to increase your godly fears, + Let this be sounding in your ears, + Still bear in mind that hell is hot, + Remember and forget it not. +</pre> + <p> + There was another poem about a congregation of the dead in the region of + the damned: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + I found a reverend parson there, + A congregation too, + Bowed on their bended knees at prayer, + As they were wont to do. + But soon my heart was struck with pain, + I thought it truly odd, + The parson’s prayer did not contain + A word concerning God. +</pre> + <p> + You will remember the Danish book called “Letters from Hell,” containing + exactly the same idea, and conclude that the Manx bard was poking fun at + some fashionable yet worldly-minded preacher. But no; he was too much a + child of Nature for that. + </p> + <p> + There is not much satire in the Manx character, and next to no cynicism at + all. The true Manxman is white-hot. I have heard of one, John Gale, called + the Manx Burns, who lampooned the upstarts about him, and also of one, Tom + the Dipper, an itinerant Manx bard, who sang at fairs; but in a general + way the Manx bard has been a deadly earnest person, most at home in + churchyards. There was one such, akin in character to my old friend Billy + of Maughold, but of more universal popularity, a quite privileged pet of + everybody, a sort of sacred being, though as crazy as man may be, called + Chalse-a-Killey. Chaise was scarcely a bard, but a singer of the songs of + bards. He was a religious monomaniac, who lived before his time, poor + fellow; his madness would not be seen in him now. The idol of his crazed + heart was Bishop Wilson. He called him <i>dear</i> and <i>sweet</i>, vowed + he longed to die, just that he might meet him in heaven; then Wilson would + take him by the hand, and he would tell him all his mind, and together + they would set up a printing press, with the types of diamonds, and print + hymns, and send them back to the Isle of Man. Poor, ‘wildered brain, + haunted by “half-born thoughts,” not all delusions, but quaint and + grotesque. Full of valiant fury, Chaise was always ready to fight for his + distorted phantom of the right. When an uncle of my own died, whose name I + bear, Chaise shocked all the proprieties by announcing his intention of + walking in front of the funeral procession through the streets and singing + his terrible hymns. He would yield to no persuasion, no appeals, and no + threats. He had promised the dead man that he would do this, and he would + not break his oath to save his life. It was agony to the mourners, but + they had to submit. Chaise fulfilled his vow, walked ten yards in front, + sang his fierce music with the tears streaming from his wild eyes down his + quivering face. But the spectacle let loose no unseemly mirth. Nobody + laughed, and surely if the heaven that Chaise feared was listening and + looking down, his crazy voice was not the last to pierce the dome of it. + My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown has written a touching and beautiful poem, + “To Chaise in Heaven”: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + So you are gone, dear Chaise! + Ah well; it was enough— + The ways were cold, the ways were rough, + O Heaven! O home! + No more to roam, + Chaise, poor Chaise! + And now it’s all so plain, dear Chaise! + So plain— + The ‘wildered brain, + The joy, the pain + The phantom shapes that haunted, + The half-born thoughts that daunted: + All, all is plain, + Dear Chaise! + All is plain. +</pre> + <hr /> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Ah now, dear Chaise! of all the radiant host, + Who loves you most? + I think I know him, kneeling on his knees; + Is it Saint Francis of Assise? + Chaise, poor Chaise. +</pre> + <p> + MANX CHARACTERISTICS + </p> + <p> + I have rambled on too long about my eccentric Manx characters, and left + myself little space for a summary of the soberer Manx characteristics. + These are independence, modesty, a degree of sloth, a non-sanguine + temperament, pride, and some covetousness. This uncanny combination of + characteristics is perhaps due to our mixed Celtic and Norse blood. Our + independence is pure Norse. I have never met the like of it, except in + Norway, where a Bergen policeman who had hunted all the morning for my + lost umbrella would not take anything for his pains; and in Iceland, where + a poor old woman in a ragged woollen dress, a torn hufa on her head, torn + skin shoes on her feet, and with rheumatism playing visible havoc all over + her body, refused a kroner with the dignity, grave look, stiffened lips, + and proud head that would have become a duchess. But the Manxman’s + independence almost reaches a vice. He is so unwilling to owe anything to + any man that he is apt to become self-centred and cold, and to lose one of + the sweetest joys of life—that of receiving great favours from those + we greatly love, between whom and ourselves there is no such thing as an + obligation, and no such thing as a debt. There is something in the + Manxman’s blood that makes him hate rank; and though he has a vast respect + for wealth, it must be his own, for he will take off his hat to nobody + else’s. + </p> + <p> + The modesty of the Manxman reaches shyness, and his shyness is capable of + making him downright rude. One of my friends tells a charming story, very + characteristic of our people, of a conversation with the men of the + herring-fleet. “We were comin’ home from the Shetland fishing, ten boats + of us; and we come to an anchor in a bay. And there was a tremenjis fine + castle there, and a ter’ble great lady. Aw, she was a ter’ble kind lady; + she axed the lot of us (eighty men and boys, eight to each boat) to come + up and have dinner with her. So the day come—well, none of us went! + That shy!” My friend reproved them soundly, and said he wished he knew who + the lady was that he might write to her and apologise. Then followed a + long story of how a breeze sprung up and eight of the boats sailed. After + that the crew of the remaining two boats, sixteen men and boys, went up to + the tremenjis great castle, and the ter’ble great lady, and had tea. If + any lady here present knows a lady on the north-west coast of Scotland who + a year or two back invited eighty Manx men and boys to dinner, and + received sixteen to tea, she will redeem the character of our race if she + will explain that it was not because her hospitality was not appreciated + that it was not accepted by our foolish countrymen. + </p> + <p> + There is nothing that more broadly indicates the Norse strain in the Manx + character than the non-sanguine temperament of the Manxmen. Where the pure + Celt will hope anything and promise everything, the Manxman will hope not + at all and promise nothing. “Middling” is the commonest word in a + Manxman’s mouth. Hardly anything is entirely good, or wholly bad, but + nearly everything is middling. It’s a middling fine day, or a middling + stormy one; the sea is middling smooth or middling rough; the herring + harvest is middling big or middling little; a man is never much more, than + middling tired, or middling well, or middling hungry, or middling thirsty, + and the place you are travelling to is alwaya middling near or middling + far. The true Manxman commits himself to nothing. When Nelson was shot + down at Trafalgar, Cowle, a one-armed Manx quartermaster, caught him in + his remaining arm. This was Cowle’s story: “He fell right into my arms, + sir. ‘Mr. Cowle,’ he says, ‘do you think I shall recover?’ ‘I think, my + lord,’ I says, ‘we had better wait for the opinion of the medical man.’” + Dear old Cowle, that cautious word showed you were no Irishman, but a + downright middling Manxman. + </p> + <p> + I have one more story to tell, and that is of Manx pride, which is a + wondrous thing, usually-very ludicrous. A young farming girl who will go + about barefoot throughout the workdays of the week would rather perish + than not dress in grand attire, after her own sort, on Sunday afternoon. + But Manx pride in dress can be very touching and human. When the + lighthouse was built on the Chickens Rock, the men who were to live in it + were transferred from two old lighthouses on the little islet called the + Calf of Man, but their families were left in the disused lighthouses. Thus + the men were parted from their wives and children, but each could see the + house of the other, and on Sunday mornings the wives in their old + lighthouses always washed and dressed the children and made them “nice” + and paraded them to and fro on the platforms in front of the doors, and + the men in their new lighthouse always looked across the Sound at their + little ones through their powerful telescopes. + </p> + <p> + MANX TYPES + </p> + <p> + Surely that is a lovely story, full of real sweetness and pathos. It + reminds me that amid many half-types of dubious quality, selfish, + covetous, quarrelsome, litigious, there are at least two types of Manx + character entirely charming and delightful. The one is the best type of + Manx seaman, a true son of the sea, full of wise saws and proverbs, full + of long yarns and wondrous adventures, up to anything, down to anything, + pragmatical, a mighty moralist in his way, but none the less equal to a + round ringing oath; a sapient adviser putting on the airs of a + philosopher, but as simple as the baby of a girl—in a word, dear old + Tom Baynes of “Fo’c’s’le Yarns,” old salt, old friend, old rip. The other + type is that of the Manx parish patriarch. This good soul it would be hard + to beat among all the peoples of earth. He unites the best qualities of + both sexes; he is as soft and gentle as a dear old woman, and as firm of + purpose as a strong man. Garrulous, full of platitudes, easily moved to + tears by a story of sorrow and as easily taken in, but beloved and trusted + and reverenced by all the little world about him. I have known him as a + farmer, and seen him sitting at the head of his table in the farm kitchen, + with his sons and daughters and men-servants and women-servants about him, + and, save for ribald gossip, no one of whatever condition abridged the + flow of talk for his presence. I have known him as a parson, when he has + been the father of his parish, the patriarch of his people, the “ould + angel” of all the hillside round about. Such sweetness in his home life, + such nobility, such gentle, old-fashioned ceremoniousness, such delightful + simplicity of manners. Then when two of these “ould angels” met, two of + these Parson Adamses, living in content on seventy pounds a year, such + high talk on great themes, long hour after long hour in the little + low-ceiled Vicarage study, with no light but the wood fire, which + glistened on the diamond window-pane! And when midnight came seeing each + other home, spending half the night walking to and fro from Vicarage to + Vicarage, or turning out to saddle the horse in the field, but (far away + “in wandering mazes lost”) going blandly up to the old cow and putting on + the blinkers and saying, “Here he is, sir.” Have we anything like all this + in England? Their type is nearly extinct even in the Isle of Man, where + they have longest survived. And indeed they are not the only good things + that are dying out there. + </p> + <p> + LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS + </p> + <p> + The island has next to no literary associations, but it would be + unpardonable in a man of letters if he were to forget the few it can + boast. Joseph Train, our historian, made the acquaintance of Scott in + 1814, and during the eighteen years following he rendered important + services to “The Great Unknown” as a collector of some of the legendary + stories used as foundations for what were then called the Scotch Novels. + But it is a common error that Train found the groundwork of the Manx part + of “Peveril of the Peak.” It was Scott who directed Train to the Isle of + Man as a fine subject for study. Scott’s brother Thomas lived there, and + no doubt this was the origin of Scott’s interest in the island. Scott + himself never set foot on it. Wordsworth visited the island about 1823, + and he recorded his impressions in various sonnets, and also in the + magnificent lines on Peel Castle—“I was thy neighbour once, thou + rugged pile.” He also had a relative living there—Miss Hutchinson, + his sister-in-law. A brother of this lady, a mariner, lies buried in + Braddan churchyard, and his tombstone bears an epitaph which Wordsworth + indited. The poet spent a summer at Peel, pitching his tent above what is + now called Peveril Terrace. One of my friends tried long ago to pump up + from this sapless soil some memory of Wordsworth, but no one could + remember anything about him. Shelley is another poet of whom there remains + no trace in the Isle of Man. He visited the island early in 1812, being + driven into Douglas harbour by contrary winds on his voyage from + Cumberland to Ireland. He was then almost unknown; Harriet was still with + him, and his head was full of political reforms. The island was in a state + of some turmoil, owing to the unpopularity of the Athols, who still held + manorial rights and the patronage of the Bishopric. The old Norse + Constitution was intact, and the House of Keys was then a self-elected + chamber. It is not wonderful that Shelley made no impression on Man in + 1812, but it is surprising that Man seems to have made no impression on + Shelley. It made a very sensible impression on Hawthorne, who left his + record in the “English Note Book.” + </p> + <p> + MANX PROGRESS + </p> + <p> + I am partly conscious that throughout these lectures I have kept my face + towards the past. That has been because I have been loth to look at the + present, and almost afraid to peep into the future. The Isle of Man is not + now what it was even five-and-twenty years ago. It has become too English + of late. The change has been sudden. Quite within my own recollection + England seemed so far away that there was something beyond conception + moving and impressive in the effect of it and its people upon the + imagination of the Manx. There were only about two steamers a week between + England and the Isle of Man at that time. Now there are about two a day. + There are lines of railway on this little plot of land, which you might + cross on foot between breakfast and lunch, and cover from end to end in a + good day’s walk. This is, of course, a necessity of the altered + conditions, as also, no doubt, are the parades, and esplanades, and + promenades, and iron piers, and marine carriage drives, and Eiffel Tower, + and old castles turned into Vauxhall Gardens, and fairy glens into “happy + day” Roshervilles. God forbid that I should grudge the factory hand his + breath of the sea and glimpse of the gorse-bushes; but I know what price + we are paying that we may entertain him. + </p> + <p> + Our young Manxman is already feeling the English immigration on his + character. He is not as good a man as his father was before him. I dare + say that in his desire to make everything English that is Manx, he may + some day try to abolish the House of Keys, or at least dig up the Tynwald + Hill. In one fit of intermittent mania, he has already attempted to + “restore” the grand ruins of Peel Castle, getting stones from Whitehaven, + filling up loop-holes, and doing other indecencies with the great works of + the dead. All this could be understood if the young Manxman were likely to + be much the richer for the changes he is bringing about. But he is not; + the money that comes from England is largely taken by English people, and + comes back to England. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_CONC" id="link2H_CONC"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CONCLUSION + </h2> + <p> + From these ungracious thoughts let me turn again, in a last word, to the + old island itself, the true Mannin-veg-Veen of the real Manxman. In these + lectures you have seen it only as in flashes from a dark lantern. I am + conscious that an historian would have told you so much more of solid fact + that you might have carried away tangible ideas. Fact is not my domain, + and I shall have to be content if in default of it I have got you close to + that less palpable thing, the living heart of Manx-land, shown you our + island, helped you to see its blue waters and to scent its golden gorse, + and to know the Manxman from other men. Sometimes I have been half ashamed + to ask you to look at our countrymen, so rude are they and so primitive—russet-coated, + currane-shod men and women, untaught, superstitious, fishing the sea, + tilling their stony land, playing next to no part in the world, and only + gazing out on it as a mystery far away, whereof the rumour comes over the + great waters. No great man among us, no great event in our history, + nothing to make us memorable. But I have been re-assured when I have + remembered that, after all, to look on a life so simple and natural might + even be a tonic. Here we are in the heart of the mighty world, which the + true Manxman knows only by vague report; millions on millions huddled + together, enough to make five hundred Isles of Man, more than all the + Manxmen that have lived since the days of Orry, more than all that now + walk on the island, added to all that rest under it; streets on streets of + us, parks on parks, living a life that has no touch of Nature in the ways + of it; save only in our own breasts, which often rebel against our + surroundings, struggling with weariness under their artificiality, and the + wild travesty of what we are made for. Do what we will, and be what we + may, sometimes we feel the falseness of our ways of life, and surely it is + then a good and wholesome thing to go back in thought to such children of + Nature as my homespun Manx people, and see them where Nature placed them, + breathing the free air of God’s proper world, and living the right lives + of His servants, though so simple, poor, and rude. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + +***** This file should be named 25571-h.htm or 25571-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/7/25571/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’ WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. + +The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/25571.txt b/25571.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e63984a --- /dev/null +++ b/25571.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3491 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Manx Nation - 1891 + +Author: Hall Caine + +Release Date: May 23, 2008 [EBook #25571] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE LITTLE MANX NATION + +By Hall Caine + +Published by William Heinemann - 1891 + + +To the REVEREND T. S. BROWN, M.A. + +You see what I send you--my lectures at the Royal Institution in the +Spring. In making a little book of them I have thought it best to +leave them as they were delivered, with all the colloquialisms that are +natural to spoken words frankly exposed to cold print. This does not +help them to any particular distinction as literature, but perhaps it +lends them an ease and familiarity which may partly atone to you and to +all good souls for their plentiful lack of dignity. I have said so often +that I am not an historian, that I ought to add that whatever history +lies hidden here belongs to Train, our only accredited chronicler, +and, even at the risk of bowing too low, I must needs protest, in our +north-country homespun, that he shall have the pudding if he will +also take the pudding-bag. You know what I mean. At some points our +history--especially our early history--is still so vague, so dubious, +so full of mystery. It is all the fault of little Mannanan, our ancient +Manx magician, who enshrouded our island in mist. Or should I say it +is to his credit, for has he not left us through all time some shadowy +figures to fight about, like "rael, thrue, reg'lar" Manxmen. As for the +stories, the "yarns" that lie like flies--like blue-bottles, like bees, +I trust not like wasps--in the amber of the history, you will see that +they are mainly my own. On second thought it occurs to me that maybe +they are mainly yours. Let us say that they are both yours and mine, +or perhaps, if the world finds anything good in them, any humour, any +pathos, any racy touches of our rugged people, you will permit me to +determine their ownership in the way of this paraphrase of Coleridge's +doggerel version of the two Latin hexameters-- + +"They're mine and they are likewise yours, But an if that will not do, +Let them be mine, good friend! for I Am the poorer of the two." + +Hawthorns, Keswick, June 1891. + + + + +CONTENTS + +THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS + +Islanders--Our Island--The Name of our Island--Our History--King +Orry--The Tynwald--The Lost Saga--The Manx Macbeth--The Manx +Glo'ster--Scotch and English Dominion--The Stanley Dynasty--Iliam +Dhoan--The Athol Dynasty--Smuggling and Wrecking--The Revestment--Home +Rule--Orry's Sons + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS + +The Druids--Conversion to Christianity--The Early Bishops of +Man--Bishops of the Welsh Dynasty--Bishops of the Norse Dynasty--Sodor +and Man--The Early Bishops of the House of Stanley--Tithes in +Kind--The Gambling Bishop--The Deemsters--The Bishopric Vacant--Bishop +Wilson--Bishop Wilson's Censures--The Great Corn Famine--The Bishop at +Court--Stories of Bishop Wilson--Quarrels of Church and State--Some +Old Ordeals--The Herring Fishery--The Fishermen's Service--Some Old +Laws--Katherine Kinrade--Bishop Wilson's last Days--The Athol Bishops. + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE + +The Manx Language--Manx Names--Manx imagination--Manx Proverbs--Manx +Ballads--Manx Carols--Decay of the Manx Language--Manx +Superstitions--Manx Stories--Manx "Characters"--Manx +Characteristics--Manx Types--Literary Associations--Manx +Progress--Conclusion + + + + +THE LITTLE MANX NATION + + + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS + +There are just two ideas which are associated in the popular imagination +with the first thought of the Isle of Man. The one is that Manxmen have +three legs, and the other that Manx cats have no tails. But whatever +the popular conception, or misconception, of Man and its people, I shall +assume that what you ask from me is that simple knowledge of simple +things which has come to me by the accident of my parentage. I must +confess to you at the outset that I am not much of a hand at grave +history. Facts and figures I cannot expound with authority. But I know +the history of the Isle of Man, can see it clear, can see it whole, and +perhaps it will content you if I can show you the soul of it and make +it to live before you. In attempting to traverse the history I feel like +one who carries a dark lantern through ten dark centuries. I turn the +bull's eye on this incident and that, take a peep here and there, a +white light now, and then a blank darkness. Those ten centuries are +full of lusty fights, victories, vanquishments, quarrels, peacemaking, +shindies big and little, rumpus solemn and ridiculous, clouds of dust, +regal dust, political dust, and religious dust--you know the way of it. +But beneath it all and behind it all lies the real, true, living human +heart of Manxland. I want to show it to you, if you will allow me to +spare the needful time from facts and figures. It will get you close to +Man and its people, and it is not to be found in the history books. + + +ISLANDERS + +And now, first, we Manxmen are islanders. It is not everybody who lives +on an island that is an islander. You know what I mean. I mean by an +islander one whose daily life is affected by the constant presence of +the sea. This is possible in a big island if it is far enough away from +the rest of the world, Iceland, for example, but it is inevitable in a +little one. The sea is always present with Manxmen. Everything they do, +everything they say, gets the colour and shimmer of the sea. The sea +goes into their bones, it comes out at their skin. Their talk is full of +it. They buy by it, they sell by it, they quarrel by it, they fight by +it, they swear by it, they pray by it. Of course they are not conscious +of this. Only their degenerate son, myself to wit, a chiel among them +takin' notes, knows how the sea exudes from the Manxmen. Say you ask if +the Governor is at home. If he is not, what is the answer? "He's not on +the island, sir." You inquire for the best hotel. "So-and-so is the +best hotel on the island, sir." You go to a Manx fair and hear a farmer +selling a cow. "Aw," says he, "she's a ter'ble gran' craythuer for +milkin', sir, and for butter maybe there isn' the lek of her on the +island, sir." Coming out of church you listen to the talk of two old +Manxwomen discussing the preacher. "Well, well, ma'am, well, well! Aw, +the voice at him! and the prayers! and the beautiful texes! There isn' +the lek of him on the island at all, at all!" Always the island, the +island, the island, or else the boats, and going out to the herrings. +The sea is always present. You feel it, you hear it, you see it, you can +never forget it. It dominates you. Manxmen are all sea-folk. + +You will think this implies that Manxmen stick close to their island. +They do more than that. I will tell you a story. Five years ago I went +up into the mountains to seek an old Manx bard, last of a race of whom I +shall have something to tell you in their turn. All his life he had been +a poet. I did not gather that he had read any poetry except his own. Up +to seventy he had been a bachelor. Then this good Boaz had lit on his +Ruth and married, and had many children. I found him in a lonely glen, +peopled only in story, and then by fairies. A bare hill side, not a bush +in sight, a dead stretch of sea in front, rarely brightened by a sail. I +had come through a blinding hail-storm. The old man was sitting in the +chimney nook, a little red shawl round his head and knotted under his +chin. Within this aureole his face was as strong as Savonarola's, long +and gaunt, and with skin stretched over it like parchment. He was no +hermit, but a farmer, and had lived on that land, man and boy, nearly +ninety years. He had never been off the island, and had strange notions +of the rest of the world. Talked of England, London, theatres, palaces, +king's entertainments, evening parties. He saw them all through the +mists of rumour, and by the light of his Bible. He had strange notions, +some of them bad shots for the truth, some of them startlingly true. I +dare not tell you what they were. A Royal Institution audience would +be aghast. They had, as a whole, a strong smell of sulphur. But the old +bard was not merely an islander, he belonged to his land more than his +land belonged to him. The fishing town nearest to his farm was Peel, the +great fishing centre on the west coast. It was only five miles away. +I asked how long it was since he had been there? "Fifteen years," he +answered. The next nearest town was the old capital, on the east coast, +Castletown, the home of the Governor, of the last of the Manx lords, the +place of the Castle, the Court, the prison, the garrison, the College. +It was just six miles away. How long was it since he had been there? +"Twenty years." The new capital, Douglas, the heart of the island, its +point of touch with the world, was nine miles away. How long since he +had been in Douglas? "Sixty years," said the old bard. God bless him, +the sweet, dear old soul! Untaught, narrow, self-centred, bred on his +byre like his bullocks, but keeping his soul alive for all that, caring +not a ha'porth for the things of the world, he was a true Manxman, and +I'm proud of him. One thing I have to thank him for. But for him, and +the like of him, we should not be here to-day. It is not the cultured +Manxman, the Manxman that goes to the ends of the earth, that makes the +Manx nation valuable to study. Our race is what it is by virtue of +the Manxman who has had no life outside Man, and so has kept alive our +language, our customs, our laws and our patriarchal Constitution. + + +OUR ISLAND + +It lies in the middle of the Irish Sea, at about equal distances from +England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Seen from the sea it is a lovely +thing to look upon. It never fails to bring me a thrill of the heart as +it comes out of the distance. It lies like a bird on the waters. You +see it from end to end, and from water's edge to topmost peak, often +enshrouded in mists, a dim ghost on a grey sea; sometimes purple against +the setting sun. Then as you sail up to it, a rugged rocky coast, grand +in its beetling heights on the south and west, and broken into the +sweetest bays everywhere. The water clear as crystal and blue as the sky +in summer. You can see the shingle and the moss through many fathoms. +Then mountains within, not in peaks, but round foreheads. The colour of +the island is green and gold; its flavour is that of a nut. Both colour +and flavour come of the gorse. This covers the mountains and moorlands, +for, except on the north, the island has next to no trees. But O, the +beauty and delight of it in the Spring! Long, broad stretches glittering +under the sun with the gold of the gorse, and all the air full of the +nutty perfume. There is nothing like it in the world. Then the glens, +such fairy spots, deep, solemn, musical with the slumberous waters, clad +in dark mosses, brightened by the red fuchsia. The fuchsia is everywhere +where the gorse is not. At the cottage doors, by the waysides, in the +gardens. If the gorse should fail the fuchsia might even take its place +on the mountains. Such is Man, but I am partly conscious that it is Man +as seen by a Manxman. You want a drop of Manx blood in you to see it +aright. Then you may go the earth over and see grander things a thousand +times, things more sublime and beautiful, but you will come back to +Manxland and tramp the Mull Hills in May, long hour in, and long hour +out, and look at the flowering gorse and sniff its flavour, or lie by +the chasms and listen to the screams of the sea-birds, as they whirl and +dip and dart and skim over the Sugar-loaf Rock, and you'll say after +all that God has smiled on our little island, and that it is the fairest +spot in His beautiful world, and, above all, that it is _ours_. + + +THE NAME OF OUR ISLAND + +This is a matter in dispute among philologists, and I am no authority. +Some say that Caesar meant the Isle of Man when he spoke of Mona; others +say he meant Anglesea. The present name is modern. So is Elian Vannin, +its Manx equivalent. In the Icelandic Sagas the island is called Mon. +Elsewhere it is called Eubonia. One historian thinks the island derives +its name from Mannin--in being an old Celtic word for island, therefore +Meadhon-in (pronounced Mannin) would signify: The middle island. That +definition requires that the Manxman had no hand in naming Man. He would +never think of describing its geographical situation on the sea. +Manxmen say the island got its name from a mythical personage called +Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Learr, Little Mannanan, son of Learr. This man was +a sort of Prospero, a magician, and the island's first ruler. The story +goes that if he dreaded an enemy he would enshroud the island in mist, +"and that by art magic." Happy island, where such faith could ever +exist! Modern science knows that mist, and where it comes from. + + +OUR HISTORY + +It falls into three periods, first, a period of Celtic rule, second of +Norse rule, third of English dominion. Manx history is the history of +surrounding nations. We have no Sagas of our own heroes. The Sagas are +all of our conquerors. Save for our first three hundred recorded years +we have never been masters in our own house. The first chapter of our +history has yet to be written. We know we were Celts to begin with, but +how we came we have never learnt, whether we walked dry-shod from Wales +or sailed in boats from Ireland. To find out the facts of our early +history would be like digging up the island of Prospero. Perhaps we had +better leave it alone. Ten to one we were a gang of political exiles. +Perhaps we left our country for our country's good. Be it so. It was the +first and last time that it could be said of us. + + +KING ORRY + +Early in the sixth century Man became subject to the kings and princes +of Wales, who ruled from Anglesea. There were twelve of them in +succession, and the last of them fell in the tenth century. We know next +to nothing about them but their names. Then came the Vikings. The young +bloods of Scandinavia had newly established their Norse kingdom in +Iceland, and were huckstering and sea roving about the Baltic and among +the British Isles. They had been to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and +Faroes, perhaps to Ireland, certainly to the coast of Cumberland, making +Scandinavian settlements everywhere. So they came to Moen early in the +tenth century, led by one Orry, or Gorree. Some say this man was +nothing but a common sea-rover. Others say he was a son of the Danish or +Norwegian monarch. It does not matter much. Orry had a better claim to +regard than that of the son of a great king. He was himself a great +man. The story of his first landing is a stirring thing. It was night, +a clear, brilliant, starry night, all the dark heavens lit up. Orry's +ships were at anchor behind him; and with his men he had touched the +beach, when down came the Celts to face him, and to challenge him. They +demanded to know where he came from. Then the red-haired sea-warrior +pointed to the milky way going off towards the North. "That is the way +of my country," he answered. The Celts went down like one man in awe +before him. He was their born king. It is what the actors call a fine +moment. Still, nobody has ever told us how Orry and the Celts understood +one another, speaking different tongues. Let us not ask. + +King Orry had come to stay, and sea-warriors do not usually bring their +women over tempestuous seas. So the Norsemen married the Celtic women, +and from that union came the Manx people. Thus the Manxman to begin with +was half Norse, half Celt. He is much the same still. Manxmen usually +marry Manx women, and when they do not, they often marry Cumberland +women. As the Norseman settled in Cumberland as well as in Man the race +is not seriously affected either way. So the Manxman, such as he is, +taken all the centuries through, is thoroughbred. + +Now what King Orry did in the Isle of Man was the greatest work that +ever was done there. He established our Constitution. It was on the +model of the Constitution just established in Iceland. The government +was representative and patriarchal. The Manx people being sea-folk, +living by the sea, a race of fishermen and sea-rovers, he divided the +island into six ship-shires, now called Sheadings. Each ship-shire +elected four men to an assemblage of law-makers. This assemblage, +equivalent to the Icelandic Logretta, was called the House of Keys. +There is no saying what the word means. Prof. Rhys thinks it is derived +from the Manx name _Kiare-as-Feed_, meaning the four-and-twenty. Train +says the representatives were called Taxiaxi, signifying pledges or +hostages, and consequently were styled Keys. Vigfusson's theory was +that Keys is from the Norse word _Keise_, or chosen men. The common Manx +notion, the idea familiar to my own boyhood, is, that the twenty-four +members of the House of Keys are the twenty-four material keys whereby +the closed doors of the law are unlocked. But besides the sea-folk of +the ship-shires King Orry remembered the Church. He found it on the +island at his coming, left it where he found it, and gave it a voice +in the government. He established a Tynwald Court, equivalent to +the Icelandic All Moot, where Church and State sat together. Then he +appointed two law-men, called Deemsters, one for the north and the other +for the south. These were equivalent to his Icelandic Loegsoegumadur, +speaker of the law and judge of all offences. Finally, he caused to +be built an artificial Mount of Laws, similar in its features to the +Icelandic Logberg at Thingvellir. Such was the machinery of the Norse +Constitution which King Orry established in Man. The working of it was +very simple. The House of Keys, the people's delegates, discussed all +questions of interest to the people, and sent up its desires to the +Tynwald Court. This assembly of people and Church in joint session +assented, and the desires of the people became Acts of Tynwald. These +Acts were submitted to the King. Having obtained the King's sanction +they were promulgated on the Tynwald Hill on the national day in the +presence of the nation. The scene of that promulgation of the laws was +stirring and impressive. Let me describe it. + + +THE TYNWALD + +Perhaps there were two Tynwald Hills in King Orry's time, but I shall +assume that there was one only. It stood somewhere about midway in +the island. In the heart of a wide range of hill and dale, with a long +valley to the south, a hill to the north, a table-land to the east, and +to the west the broad Irish Sea. Not, of course, a place to be compared +with the grand and gloomy valley of the Logberg, where in a vast +amphitheatre of dark hills and great joekulls tipped with snow, with deep +chasms and yawning black pits, one's heart stands still. But the place +of the Manx Tynwald was an impressive spot. The Hill itself was a +circular mount cut into broad steps, the apex being only a few feet in +diameter. About it was a flat grass plot. Near it, just a hundred and +forty yards away, connected with the mount by a beaten path, was a +chapel. All around was bare and solitary, perhaps as bleak and stark as +the lonely plains of Thingvellir. + +Such was the scene. Hither came the King and his people on Tynwald +Day. It fell on the 24th of June, the first of the seven days of the +Icelandic gathering of the Althing. What occurred in Iceland occurred +also in Man. The King with his Keys and his clergy gathered in the +chapel. Thence they passed in procession to the law-rock. On the top +round of the Tynwald the King sat on a chair and faced to the east. His +sword was held before him, point upwards. His barons and beneficed men, +his deemsters, knights, esquires, coroners, and yeomen, stood on the +lower steps of the mount. On the grass plot beyond the people were +gathered in crowds. Then the work of the day began. The coroners +proclaimed a warning. No man should make disturbance at Tynwald on pain +of death. Then the Acts of Tynwald were read or recited aloud by the +deemsters; first in the language of the laws, and next in the language +of the people. After other formalities the procession of the King +returned to the chapel, where the laws were signed and attested, and so +the annual Tynwald ended. + +Now this primitive ceremonial, begun by King Orry early in the tenth +century, is observed to this day. On Midsummer-day of this year of grace +a ceremony similar in all its essentials will be observed by the present +Governor, his Keys, clergy, deemsters, coroners, and people, on or near +the same spot. It is the old Icelandic ordinance, but it has gone +from Iceland. The year 1800 saw the last of it on the lava law-rock of +Thingvellir. It is gone from every other Norse kingdom founded by the +old sea-rovers among the Western Isles. Manxmen alone have held on to +it. Shall we also let it go? Shall we laugh at it as a bit of mummery +that is useless in an age of books and newspapers, and foolish and +pompous in days of frock-coats and chimney-pot hats? I think not. We +cannot afford to lose it. Remember, it is the last visible sign of our +independence as a nation. It is our hand-grasp with the past. Our little +nation is the only Norse nation now on earth that can shake hands with +the days of the Sagas, and the Sea-Kings. Then let him who will laugh at +our primitive ceremonial. It is the badge of our ancient liberty, and we +need not envy the man who can look on it unmoved. + + +THE LOST SAGA + +Of King Orry himself we learn very little. He was not only the first of +our kings, but also the greatest. We may be sure of that; first, by what +we know; and next, by what we do not know. He was a conqueror, and yet +we do not learn that he ever attempted to curtail the liberties of his +subjects. He found us free men, and did not try to make us slaves. On +the contrary, he gave us a representative Constitution, which has +lasted a thousand years. We might call him our Manx King Alfred, if the +indirections of history did not rather tempt us to christen him our Manx +King Lear. His Saga has never been written, or else it is lost. Would +that we could recover it! Oh, that imagination had the authority of +history to vitalise the old man and his times! I seem to see him as he +lived. There are hints of his character in his laws, that are as stage +directions, telling of the entrances and exits of his people, though the +drama of their day is gone. For example, in that preliminary warning +of the coroner at Tynwald, there is a clause which says that none shall +"bawl or quarrel or lye or lounge or sit." Do you not see what that +implies? Again, there is another clause which forbids any man, "on paine +of life and lyme," to make disturbance or stir in the time of Tynwald, +or any murmur or rising in the king's presence. Can you not read between +the lines of that edict? Once more, no inquest of a deemster, no judge +or jury, was necessary to the death-sentence of a man who rose against +the king or his governor on his seat on Tynwald. Nobody can miss the +meaning of that. Once again, it was a common right of the people to +present petitions at Tynwald, a common privilege of persons unjustly +punished to appeal against judgment, and a common prerogative of outlaws +to ask at the foot of the Tynwald Mount on Tynwald Day for the removal +of their outlawry. All these old rights and regulations came from +Iceland, and by the help of the Sagas it needs no special imagination +to make the scenes of their action live again. I seem to see King Orry +sitting on his chair on the Tynwald with his face towards the east. He +has long given up sea-roving. + +His long red hair is become grey or white. But the old lion has the +muscles and fiery eye of the warrior still. His deemsters and barons +are about him, and his people are on the sward below. They are free +men; they mean to have their rights, both from him and from each other. +Disputes run high, there are loud voices, mighty oaths, sometimes blows, +fights, and terrific hurly-burlies. Then old Orry comes down with a +great voice and a sword, and ploughs a way through the fighters and +scatters them. No man dare lift his hand on the king. Peace is restored, +and the king goes back to his seat. + +Then up from the valley comes a woe-begone man in tatters, grim and +gaunt and dirty, a famished and hunted wolf. He is an outlaw, has killed +a man, is pursued in a blood-feud, and asks for relief of his outlawry. +And so on and so on, a scene of rugged, lusty passions, hate and +revenge, but also love and brotherhood; drinking, laughing, swearing, +fighting, savage vices but also savage virtues, noble contempt of death, +and magnificent self-sacrifice. + +The chapter is lost, but we know what it must have been. King Orry was +its hero. Our Manx Alfred, our Manx Arthur, our Manx Lear. Then room for +him among our heroes! he must stand high. + + +THE MANX MACBETH + +The line of Orry came to an end at the beginning of the eleventh +century. Scotland was then under the sway of the tyrant Macbeth, and, +oddly enough, a parallel tragedy to that of Duncan and his kinsman was +being enacted in Man. A son of Harold the Black, of Iceland, Goddard +Crovan, a mighty soldier, conquered the island and took the crown by +treachery, coming first as a guest of the Manx king. Treachery breeds +treachery, duplicity is a bad seed to sow for loyalty, and the Manx +people were divided in their allegiance. About twenty years after +Crovan's conquest the people of the south of the island took up arms +against the people of the north, and the story goes that, when victory +wavered, the women of the north rushed out to the help of their +husbands, and so won the fight. For that day's work, the northern wives +were given the right to half of all their husband's goods immovable, +while the wives of the south had only a third. The last of the line of +Goddard Crovan died in 1265, and so ended the dynasty of the Norsemen in +Man. They had been three hundred years there. They found us a people +of the race and language of the people of Ireland, and they left us +Manxmen. They were our only true Manx kings, and when they fell, our +independence as a nation ceased. + + +THE MANX GLO'STER + +Then the first pretender to the throne was one Ivar, a murderer, a sort +of Richard III., not all bad, but nearly all; said to possess virtues +enough to save the island and vices enough to ruin it. The island +was surrendered to Scotland by treaty with Norway. The Manx hated the +Scotch. They knew them as a race of pirates. Some three centuries later +there was one Cutlar MacCullock, whose name was a terror, so merciless +were his ravages. Over the cradles of their infants the Manx mothers +sang this song:-- + + God keep the good corn, the sheep and the bullocks, + From Satan, from sin and from Cutlar MacCullock. + +Bad as Ivar was, the Scotch threatened to be worse. + +So the Manx, fearing that their kingdom might become a part of the +kingdom of Scotland, supported Ivar. They were beaten. Ivar was a brave +tiger, and died fighting. + + +SCOTCH AND ENGLISH DOMINION + +Man was conquered, and the King of Scotland appointed a lieutenant to +rule the island. But the Manx loved the Scotch no better as masters than +as pirates, and they petitioned the English king, Edward I., to take +them under his protection. He came, and the Scotch were driven out. But +King Robert Bruce reconquered the island for the Scotch. Yet again the +island fell to English dominion. This was in the time of Henry IV. It is +a sorry story. Henry gave the island to the Earl of Salisbury. Salisbury +sold it to one Sir William le Scroop. A copy of the deed of sale exists. +It puts a Manxman's teeth on edge. "With all the right of being crowned +with a golden crown." Scroop was beheaded by Henry, who confiscated his +estate, and gave the island to the Earl of Northumberland. It is a silly +inventory, but let us get through with it. Northumberland was banished, +and finally Henry made a grant of the island to Sir John de Stanley. +This was in 1407. Thus there had been four Kings of Man--not one of whom +had, so far as I know, set foot on its soil--three grants of the island, +and one miserable sale. Where the carcase is, there will the eagles be +gathered together. + + +THE STANLEY DYNASTY + +When the crown came to Sir John Stanley he was in no hurry to put it on. +He paid no heed to his Manx subjects, and never saw his Manx kingdom. I +dare say he thought the gift horse was something of a white elephant. No +wonder if he did, for words could not exaggerate the wretched condition +of the island and its people. The houses of the poor were hovels built +of sod, with floors of clay, and sooty rafters of briar and straw and +dried gorse. The people were hardly better fed than their beasts. +So Stanley left the island alone. It will be interesting to mark how +different was the mood of his children, and his children's children. The +second Stanley went over to Man and did good work there. He promulgated +our laws, and had them written down for the first time--they had +hitherto been locked in the breasts of the deemsters in imitation of the +practice of the Druids. The line of the Stanleys lasted more than three +hundred years. Their rule was good for the island. They gave the tenants +security of tenure, and the landowners an act of settlement. They lifted +the material condition of our people, gave us the enjoyment of our +venerable laws, and ratified our patriarchal Constitution. Honour to the +Stanleys of the Manx dynasty! They have left a good mark on Man. + + +ILIAM DHOAN + +And now I come to the one incident in modern Manx history which shares, +with the three legs of Man and the Manx cat, the consciousness of +everybody who knows anything about our island and its people. This is +the incident of the betrayal of Man and the Stanleys to the Parliament +in the time of Cromwell. It was a stirring drama, and though the curtain +has long fallen on it, the dark stage is still haunted by the ghosts +of its characters. Chief among these was William Christian, the Manxman +called Iliam Dhoan, Brown William, a familiar name that seems to hint +of a fine type of man. You will find him in "Peveril of the Peak." He is +there mixed up with Edward Christian, a very different person, just as +Peel Castle is mixed up with Castle Rushen, consciously no doubt, and +with an eye to imaginative effects, for Scott had a brother in the Isle +of Man who could have kept him from error if fact had been of any great +consequence in the novelist's reckoning. + +Christian was Receiver-General, a sort of Chancellor of the Exchequer, +for the great Earl of Derby. The Earl had faith in him, and put nearly +everything under his command that fell within the province of his +lordship. Then came the struggle with Rigby at Latham House, and the +imprisonment of the Earl's six children by Fairfax. The Manx were +against the Parliament, and subscribed L500, probably the best part of +the money in the island, in support of the king. Then the Earl of Derby +left the island with a body of volunteers, and in going away committed +his wife to the care of Christian. You know what happened to him. He +was taken prisoner in Lancashire, charged with bearing arms for Charles +Stuart and holding the Isle of Man against the Commons, condemned, and +executed at Bolton. + +With the forfeiture of the Earl the lordship of the island was granted +by Parliament to Lord Fairfax. He sent an army to take possession, but +the Countess-Dowager still held the island. Christian commanded the Manx +militia. At this moment the Manx people showed signs of disaffection. +They suddenly remembered two grievances, one was a grievance of +land tenure, the other was that a troop of soldiers was kept at free +quarterage. I cannot but wish they had bethought them of both a little +earlier. They formed an association, and broke into rebellion against +the Countess-Dowager within eight days of the Earl's execution. Perhaps +they did not know of the Earl's death, for news travelled slowly over +sea in those days. But at least they knew of his absence. As a Manxman I +am not proud of them. + +During these eight days Mr. Receiver-General had begun to trim his +sails. He had a lively wit, and saw which way things were going. Rumour +says he was at the root of the secret association. Be that as it may, he +carried the demands of the people to the Countess. She had no choice but +to yield. The troops were disbanded. It was a bad victory. + +A fortnight before, when her husband lay under his death sentence, the +Countess had offered the island in exchange for his life. So now Mr. +Receiver-General used this act of love against her. He seized some of +the forts, saying the Countess was selling the island to the Parliament. +Then the army of the Parliament landed, and Christian straightway +delivered the island up to it, protesting that he had taken the forts +on its behalf. Some say the Countess was imprisoned in the vaults of the +Castle. Others say she had a free pass to England. So ended act one. + +When the act-drop rose on act two, Mr. Receiver-General was in office +under the Parliament. From the place of Receiver-General he was promoted +to the place of Governor. He had then the money of the island under his +control, and he used it badly. Deficits were found in his accounts. +He fled to London, was arrested for a large debt, and clapped into the +Fleet. Then the Commonwealth fell, the Dowager Countess went upstairs +again, and Charles II. restored the son of the great Earl to the +lordship of Man. After that came the Act of Indemnity, a general pardon +for all who had taken part against the royal cause. Thereupon Christian +went back to the Isle of Man, was arrested on a charge of treason to +the Countess-Dowager of Derby, pleaded the royal act of general pardon +against all proceedings libelled against him, was tried by the House of +Keys, and condemned to death. So ended act two. + +Christian had a nephew, Edward Christian, who was one of the two +deemsters. This man dissented from the voice of the court, and hastened +to London to petition the king. Charles is said to have heard his plea, +and to have sent an order to suspend sentence. Some say the order came +too late; some say the Governor had it early enough and ignored it. +At all events Christian was shot. He protested that he had never been +anything but a faithful servant to the Derbys, and made a brave end. +The place of his execution was Hango Hill, a bleak, bare stretch of +land with the broad sea Under it. The soldiers wished to bind Christian. +"Trouble not yourselves for me," he said, "for I that dare face death +in whatever shape he comes, will not start at your fire and bullets." +He pinned a piece of white paper on his breast, and said: "Hit this, and +you do your own work and mine." Then he stretched forth his arms as a +signal, was shot through the heart, and fell. Such was the end of Brown +William. He may have been a traitor, but he was no coward. + +When the chief actor in the tragedy had fallen, King Charles appeared, +as Fortinbras appears in "Hamlet," to make a review and a reckoning, and +to take the spoils. He ordered the Governor, the remaining Deemsters, +and three of the Keys to be brought before him, pronounced the execution +of Christian to be a violation of his general pardon, and imposed severe +penalties of fine and imprisonment. "The rest" in this drama has not +been "silence." One long clamour has followed. Christian's guilt has +been questioned, the legality of his trial has been disputed, the +validity of Charles's censure of the judges has been denied. The case +is a mass of tangle, as every case must be that stands between the two +stools of the Royal cause and the Commonwealth. But I shall make bold to +summarise the truth in a very few words: + +First, that Christian was untrue to the house of Derby is as clear as +noonday. If he had been their loyal servant he could never have taken +office under the Parliament. + +Second, though untrue to the Countess-Dowager, Christian could not be +guilty of treason to her, because she had ceased to be the sovereign +when her husband was executed. Fairfax was then the Lord of Man, and +Christian was guilty of no treason to him. + +Third, whether true or untrue to the Countess-Dowager, the act of pardon +had nothing on earth to do with Christian, who was not charged with +treason to King Charles, but to the Manx reigning family. The Isle of +Man was not a dominion of England, and if Charles's order had arrived +before Christian's execution, the Governor, Keys, and Deemster would +have been fully justified in shooting the man in defiance of the king. + +I feel some diffidence in offering this opinion, but I can have none +whatever in saying what I think of Christian. My fellow Manxmen are +for the most part his ardent supporters. They affirm his innocence, and +protest that he was a martyr-hero, declaring that at least he met his +fate by asserting the rights of his countrymen. I shall not hesitate to +say that I read the facts another way. This is how I see the man: + +First, he was a servant of the Derbys, honoured, empowered, entrusted +with the care of his mistress, the Countess, when his master, the Earl, +left the island to fight for the king. Second, eight days after his +master's fate, he rose in rebellion against his mistress and seized some +of the forts of defence. Third, he delivered the island to the army of +the Parliament, and continued to hold his office under it. Fourth, he +robbed the treasury of the island and fled from his new masters, the +Parliament. Fifth, when the new master fell he chopped round, became a +king's man once more, and returned to the island on the strength of the +general pardon. Sixth, when he was condemned to death he, who had held +office under the Parliament, protested that he had never been anything +but a faithful servant to the Derbys. + +Such is Christian. _He_ a hero! No, but a poor, sorry, knock-kneed +time-server. A thing of rags and patches. A Manx Vicar of Bray. Let us +talk of him as little as we may, and boast of him not at all. Man and +Manxmen have no need ol him. No, thank God, we can tell of better men. +Let us turn his picture to the wall. + + +THE ATHOL DYNASTY + +The last of the Stanleys of the Manx dynasty died childless in 1735, and +then the lordship of Man devolved by the female line on the second Duke +of Athol by right of his grandmother, who was a daughter of the great +Earl of Derby. There is little that is good to say of the Lords of the +House of Athol except that they sold the island. Almost the first, and +quite the best, thing they did on coming to Man, was to try to get out +of it. Let us make no disguise of the clear truth. The Manx Athols were +bad, and nearly everything about them was bad. Never was the condition +of the island so abject as during their day. Never were the poor so +poor. Never was the name of Manxman so deservedly a badge of disgrace. +The chief dishonour was that of the Athols. They kept a swashbuckler +court in their little Manx kingdom. Gentlemen of the type of Barry +Lyndon overran it. Captain Macheaths, Jonathan Wilds, and worse, were +masters of the island, which was now a refuge for debtors and felons. +Roystering, philandering, gambling, fighting, such was the order of +things. + +What days they had! What nights! His Grace of Athol was himself in the +thick of it all. He kept a deal of company, chiefly rogues and rascals. +For example, among his "lord captains" was one Captain Fletcher. This +Blue Beard had a magnificent horse, to which, when he was merry, he made +his wife, who was a religious woman, kneel down and say her prayers. The +mother of my friend, the Reverend T. E. Brown, came upon the dead body +of one of these Barry Lyndons, who had fallen in a duel, and the blue +mark was on the white forehead, where the pistol shot had been. I +remember to have heard of another Sir Lucius O'Trigger, whose body lay +exposed in the hold of a fishing-smack, while a parson read the burial +service from the quay. This was some artifice to prevent seizure for +debt. Oh, these good old times, with their soiled and dirty splendours! +There was no lively chronicler, no Pepys, no Walpole then, to give us a +picture of the Court of these Kings of Man. What a picture it must +have been! Can you not see it? The troops of gentlemen debtors from +the Coffee Houses of London, with their periwigs, their canes, and +fine linen; down on their luck, but still beruffled, besnuffed, and +red-heeled. I can see them strutting with noses up, through old Douglas +market-place on market morning, past the Manx folk in their homespun, +their curranes and undyed stockings. Then out at Mount Murray, the home +of the Athols, their imitations of Vauxhall, torches, dancings, bows and +conges, bankrupt shows, perhaps, but the bankrupt Barrys making the +best of them--one seems to see it all. And then again, their genteel +quarrels--quarrels were easily bred in that atmosphere. "Sir, I have the +honour to tell you that you are a pimp, lately escaped from the Fleet." +"My lord, permit me to say that you lie, that you are the son of a lady, +and were born in a sponging-house." Then out leapt the weapons, and +presently two men were crossing swords under the trees, and by-and-by +one of them was left under the moonlight, with the shadow of the leaves +playing on his white face. + +Poor gay dogs, they are dead! The page of their history is lost. Perhaps +that is just as well. It must have been a dark page, maybe a little red +too, even as blood runs red. You can see the scene of their revelries. +It is an inn now. The walls seem to echo to their voices. But the tables +they ate at are like themselves--worm-eaten. + +Good-bye to them! They have gone over the Styx. + + +SMUGGLING AND WRECKING + +Meanwhile, what of the Manx people? Their condition was pitiful. An +author who wrote fifty years after the advent of the Athols gives a +description of such misery that one's flesh creeps as one reads it. +Badly housed, badly clad, badly fed, and hardly taught at all, the very +poor were in a state of abjectness unfit for dogs. Treat men as dogs and +they speedily acquire the habits of dogs, the vices of dogs, and none of +their virtues. That was what happened to a part of the Manx people; they +developed the instincts of dogs, while their masters, the other dogs, +the gay dogs, were playing their bad game together. Smuggling became +common on the coasts of Man. Spirits and tobacco were the goods chiefly +smuggled, and the illicit trade rose to a great height. There was no +way to check it. The island was an independent kingdom. My lord of Athol +swept in the ill-gotten gains, and his people got what they could. It +was a game of grab. Meantime the trade of the surrounding countries, +England, Wales, and Ireland, was suffering grievously. The name of the +island must have smelt strong in those days. + +But there was a fouler odour than that of smuggling. Wrecking was not +unknown. The island lent itself naturally to that evil work. The mists +of Little Mannanan, son of Lear, did not forsake our island when Saint +Patrick swept him out of it. They continued to come up from the south, +and to conspire with the rapid currents from the north to drive ships on +to our rocks. Our coasts were badly lighted, or lighted not at all. An +open flare stuck out from a pole at the end of a pier was often all +that a dangerous headland had to keep vessels away from it. Nothing was +easier than for a fishing smack to run down pole and flare together, as +if by accident, on returning to harbour. But there was a worse danger +than bad lights, and that was false lights. It was so easy to set them. +Sometimes they were there of themselves, without evil intention of any +human soul, luring sailors to their destruction. Then when ships came +ashore it was so easy to juggle with one's conscience and say it was the +will of God, and no bad doings of any man's. The poor sea-going men were +at the bottom of the sea by this time, and their cargo was drifting up +with the tide, so there was nothing to do but to take it. Such was the +way of things. The Manxman could find his excuses. He was miserably +poor, he had bad masters, smuggling was his best occupation, his coasts +were indifferently lighted, ships came ashore of themselves--what was he +to do? That the name of Manxman did not become a curse, an execration, +and a reproach in these evil days of the Athols seems to say that +behind all this wicked work there were splendid virtues doing noble duty +somewhere. The real sap, the true human heart of Manxland, was somehow +kept alive. Besides cut-throats in ruffles, and wreckers in homespun, +there were true, sweet, simple-hearted people who would not sell their +souls to fill their mouths. + +Does it surprise you that some of all this comes within the memory of +men still living? I am myself well within the period of middle life, +and, though too young to touch these evil days, I can remember men +and women who must have been in the thick of them. On the north of the +island is Kirk Maughold Head, a bold, rugged headland going far out into +the sea. Within this rocky foreland lie two bays, sweet coverlets of +blue waters, washing a shingly shore under shelter of dark cliffs. One +of these bays is called Port-y-Vullin, and just outside of it, +between the mainland and the head, is a rock, known as the Carrick, a +treacherous grey reef, visible at low water, and hidden at flood-tide. +On the low _brews_ of Port-y-Vullin stood two houses, the one a mill, +worked by the waters coming down from the near mountain of Barrule, +the other a weaver's cottage. Three weavers lived together there, all +bachelors, and all old, and never a woman or child among them--Jemmy of +eighty years, Danny of seventy, and Billy of sixty something. Year in, +year out, they worked at their looms, and early or late, whenever you +passed on the road behind, you heard the click of them. Fishermen coming +back to harbour late at night always looked for the light of their +windows. "Yander's Jemmy-Danny-Billy's," they would say, and steer home +by that landmark. But the light which guided the native seamen misled +the stranger, and many a ship in the old days was torn to pieces on the +jagged teeth of that sea-lion, the Carrick. Then, hearing loud human +cries above the shrieks of wind and wave, the three helpless old men +would come tottering down to the beach, like three innocent witches, +trembling and wailing, holding each other's hands like little children, +and never once dreaming of what bad work the candles over their looms +had done. + +But there were those who were not so guileless. Among them was a sad old +salt, whom I shall call Hommy-Billy-mooar, Tommy, son of big Billy. Did +I know him, or do I only imagine him as I have heard of him? I cannot +say, but nevertheless I see him plainly. One of his eyes was gone, and +the other was badly damaged. His face was of stained mahogany, one side +of his mouth turned up, the other side turned down, he could laugh and +cry together. He was half landsman, tilling his own croft, half seaman, +going out with the boats to the herrings. In his youth he had sailed +on a smuggler, running in from Whitehaven with spirits. The joy of "the +trade," as they called smuggling, was that a man could buy spirits at +two shillings a gallon for sale on the island, and drink as much as he +"plazed abooard for nothin'." When Hommy married, he lived in a house +near the church, the venerable St. Maughold away on the headland, with +its lonely churchyard within sound of the sea. + +There on tempestuous nights the old eagle looked out from his eyrie on +the doings of the sea, over the back of the cottage of the old weavers +to the Carrick. If anything came ashore he awakened his boys, scurried +over to the bay, seized all they could carry, stole back home, hid his +treasures in the thatch of the roof, or among the straw of the loft, +went off to bed, and rose in the morning with an innocent look, and +listened to the story of last night's doings with a face full of +surprise. They say that Hommy carried on this work for years, and though +many suspected, none detected him, not even his wife, who was a good +Methodist. The poor woman found him out at last, and, being troubled +with a conscience, she died, and Hommy buried her in Kirk Maughold +churchyard, and put a stone over her with a good inscription. Then he +went on as before. But one morning there was a mighty hue and cry. A +ship had been wrecked on the Carrick, and the crew who were saved had +seen some rascals carrying off in the darkness certain rolls of Irish +cloth which they had thrown overboard. Suspicion lit on Hommy and his +boys. Hommy was quite hurt. "Wrecking was it? Lord a-massy! To think, +to think!" Revenue officers were to come to-morrow to search his house. +Those rolls of Irish cloth were under the thatch, above the dry gorse +stored up on the "lath" in his cowhouse. That night he carried them off +to the churchyard, took up the stone from over his wife's grave, dug the +grave open and put in the cloth. Next day his one eye wept a good deal +while the officers of revenue made their fruitless search. "Aw well, +well, did they think because a man was poor he had no feelings?" +Afterwards he pretended to become a Methodist, and then he removed the +cloth from his wife's grave because he had doubts about how she could +rise in the resurrection with such a weight on her coffin. Poor old +Hommy, he came to a bad end. He spent his last days in jail in Castle +Rushen. A one-eyed mate of his told me he saw him there. Hommy was +unhappy. He said "Castle Rushen wasn't no place for a poor man when he +was gettin' anyways ould." + + +THE REVESTMENT + +It is hardly a matter for much surprise that the British Government did +what it could to curb the smuggling that was rife in Man in the days of +the Athols. The bad work had begun in the days of the Derbys, when an +Act was passed which authorised the Earl of Derby to dispose of his +royalty and revenue in the island, and empowered the Lords of the +Treasury to treat with him for the sale of it. The Earl would not sell, +and when the Duke of Athol was asked to do so, he tried to put matters +off. But the evil had by this time grown so grievously that the British +Government threatened to strip the Duke without remuneration. Then he +agreed to accept L70,000 as compensation for the absolute surrender of +the island. He was also to have L2000 out of the Irish revenue, which, +as well as the English revenue, was to benefit by the suppression of the +clandestine trade. This was in exchange for some L6000 a year which +was the Duke's Manx revenue, much of it from duties and customs paid +in goods which were afterwards smuggled into England, Ireland, and +Scotland. So much for his Grace of Athol. Of course the Manx people got +nothing. The thief was punished, the receiver was enriched; it is the +way of the world. + +In our history of Man, we call this sweet transaction, which occurred in +1765, "The Revestment," meaning the revesting of the island in the +crown of England. Our Manx people did not like it at all. I have heard a +rugged old song on the subject sung at Manx inns: + + For the babes unborn shall rue the day + When the Isle of Man was sold away; + And there's ne'er an old wife that loves a dram + But she will lament for the Isle of Man. + +Clearly drams became scarce when "the trade" was put down. But, indeed, +the Manx had the most strange fears and ludicrous sorrows. The one came +of their anxiety about the fate of their ancient Constitution, the other +came of their foolish generosity. They dreaded that the government of +the island would be merged into that of England, and they imagined that +because the Duke of Athol had been compelled to surrender, he had been +badly treated. Their patriotism was satisfied when the Duke of Athol was +made Governor-in-Chief under the English crown, for then it was clear +that they were to be left alone; but their sympathy was moved to see him +come back as servant who had once been lord. They had disliked the Duke +of Athol down to that hour, but they forgot their hatred in sight of his +humiliation, and when he landed in his new character, they received +him with acclamations. I am touched by the thought of my countrymen's +unselfish conduct in that hour; but I thank God I was not alive to +witness it. + +I should have shrieked with laughter. The absurdity of the situation +passes the limits even of a farce. A certain Duke, who had received +L6000 a year, whereof a large part came of an immoral trade, had been +to London and sold his interest in it for L70,000, because if he had +not taken that, he would probably have got nothing. With thirteen +years' purchase of his insecure revenue in his pocket, and L2000 a year +promised, and his salary as Governor-in-Chief besides, he returns to the +island where half the people are impoverished by his sale of the island, +and nobody else has received a copper coin, and everybody is doomed to +pay back interest on what the Duke has received! What is the picture? +The Duke lands at the old jetty, and there his carriage is waiting to +take him to the house, where he and his have kept swashbuckler courts, +with troops of fine gentlemen debtors from London. The Manxmen forget +everything except that his dignity is reduced. They unyoke his horses, +get into his shafts, drag him through the streets, toss up their caps +and cry hurrah! hurrah! One seems to see the Duke sitting there with +his arms folded, and his head on his breast. He can't help laughing. The +thing is too ridiculous. Oh, if Swift had been there to see it, what a +scorching satire we should have had! + +But the Athols soon spirited away their popularity. First they clamoured +for a further sum on account of the lost revenues, and they got it. Then +they tried to appropriate part of the income of the clergy. Again, they +put members of their family into the bishopric, and one of them sold his +tithes to a factor who tried to extort them by strong measures, which +led to green crop riots. In the end, their gross selfishness, which +thought of their own losses but forgot the losses of the people, raised +such open marks of aversion in the island that they finally signified to +the king their desire to sell all their remaining rights, their land +and manorial rights. This they did in 1829, receiving altogether, for +custom, revenue, tithes, patronage of the bishopric, and quit rents, +the sum of L416,000. Such was the value to the last of the Athols of the +Manx dynasty, of that little hungry island of the Irish Sea, which Henry +IV. gave to the Stanleys, and Sir John de Stanley did not think worth +while to look at. So there was an end of the House of Athol. Exit the +House of Athol! The play goes on without them. + + +HOME RULE + +It might be said that with the final sale of 1829 the history of the +Isle of Man came to a close. Since then we have been in the happy +condition of the nation without a history. Man is now a dependency of +the English crown. The crown is represented by a Lieutenant-Governor. +Our old Norse Constitution remains. We have Home Rule, and it works +well. The Manx people are attached to the throne of England, and her +Majesty has not more loyal subjects in her dominions. We are deeply +interested in Imperial affairs, but we have no voice in them. I do not +think we have ever dreamt of a day when we should send representatives +to Westminster. Our sympathies as a nation are not altogether, I think, +with the party of progress. We are devoted to old institutions, and +hold fast to such of them as are our own. All this is, perhaps, what you +would expect of a race of islanders with our antecedents. + +Our social history has not been brilliant. I do not gather that the Isle +of Man was ever Merry Man. Not even in its gayest days do we catch any +note of merriment amid the rumpus of its revelries. It is an odd thing +that woman plays next to no part whatever in the history of the island. +Surely ours is the only national pie in which woman has not had a +finger. In this respect the island justifies the ungallant reading of +its name--it is distinctly the Isle of Man. Not even amid the glitter +and gewgaws of our Captain Macheaths do you catch the glint of the gown +of a Polly. No bevy of ladies, no merry parties, no pageants worthy of +the name. No, our social history gives no idea of Merry Man. + +Our civil history is not glorious. We are compelled to allow that it +has no heroism in it. There has been no fight for principle, no brave +endurance of wrong. Since the days of Orry, we have had nothing to tell +in Saga, if the Sagaman were here. We have played no part in the work of +the world. The great world has been going on for ten centuries without +taking much note of us. We are a little nation, but even little nations +have held their own. We have not. + +One great king we have had, King Orry. He gave us our patriarchal +Constitution, and it is a fine thing. It combines most of the best +qualities of representative government. Its freedom is more free than +that of some republics. The people seem to be more seen, and their voice +more heard, than in any other form of government whose operation I have +witnessed. Yet there is nothing noisy about our Home Rule. And this +Constitution we have kept alive for a thousand years, while it has died +out of every other Norse kingdom. That is, perhaps, our highest national +honour. We may have played a timid part; we may have accepted rulers +from anywhere; we may never have made a struggle for independence; and +no Manxman may ever have been strong enough to stand up alone for his +people. It is like our character that we have taken things easily, and +instead of resisting our enemies, or throwing them from our rocky +island into the sea, we have been law abiding under lawless masters +and peaceful under oppression. But this one thing we have done: we +have clung to our patriarchal Constitution, not caring a ha'p'orth +who administered our laws so long as the laws were our own. That is +something; I think it is a good deal. It means that through many changes +undergone by the greater peoples of the world, we are King Orry's men +still. Let me in a last word tell you a story which shows what that +description implies. + +ORRY'S SONS + +On the west coast of the Isle of Man stands the town of Peel. It is a +little fishing port, looking out on the Irish Sea. To the north of +it there is a broad shore, to the south lies the harbour with a rocky +headland called Contrary Head; in front--until lately divided from the +mainland by a narrow strait--is a rugged island rock. On this rock stand +the broken ruins of a castle, Peel Castle, and never did castle stand +on a grander spot. The sea flows round it, beating on the jagged cliffs +beneath, and behind it are the wilder cliffs of Contrary. In the water +between and around Contrary contrary currents flow, and when the wind +is high they race and prance there like an unbroken horse. It is a grand +scene, but a perilous place for ships. + +One afternoon in October of 1889 a Norwegian ship (strange chance!), the +_St George_ (name surely chosen by the Fates!), in a fearful tempest was +drifting on to Contrary Head. She was labouring hard in the heavy +sea, rearing, plunging, creaking, groaning, and driving fast through +clamouring winds and threshing breakers on to the cruel, black, steep +horns of rock. All Peel was down at the beach watching her. Flakes of +sea-foam were flying around, and the waves breaking on the beach were +scooping up the shingle and flinging it through the air like sleet. + +Peel has a lifeboat, and it was got out. There were so many volunteers +that the harbour-master had difficulties of selection. The boat got off; +the coxswain was called Charlie Cain; one of his crew was named Gorry, +otherwise Orry. It was a perilous adventure. The Norwegian had lost her +masts, and her spars were floating around her in the snow-like surf. She +was dangerous to approach, but the lifeboat reached her. Charlie cried +out to the Norwegian captain: "How many of you?" The answer came back, +"Twenty-two!" Charlie counted them as they hung on at the ship's side, +and said: "I only see twenty-one; not a man shall leave the ship until +you bring the odd one on deck." The odd one, a disabled man, had been +left below to his fate. Now he was brought up, and all were taken aboard +the lifeboat. + +On landing at Peel there was great excitement, men cheering and women +crying. The Manx women spotted a baby among the Norwegians, fought for +it, one woman got it, and carried it off to a fire and dry clothing. It +was the captain's wife's baby, and an hour afterwards the poor captain's +wife, like a creature distracted, was searching for it all over the +town. And to heighten the scene, report says that at that tremendous +moment a splendid rainbow spanned the bay from side to side. That ought +to be true if it is not. + +It was a brilliant rescue, but the moving part of the story is yet to +tell. The Norwegian Government, touched by the splendid heroism of the +Manxmen, struck medals for the lifeboat men and sent them across to the +Governor. These medals were distributed last summer on the island rock +within the ruins of old Peel Castle. Think of it! One thousand years +before, not far from that same place, Orry the Viking came ashore from +Denmark or Norway. And now his Manx sons, still bearing his very name, +Orry, save from the sea the sons of the brethren he left behind, and +down the milky way, whence Orry himself once came, come now to the +Manxmen the thanks and the blessings of their kinsmen, Orry's father's +children. + +Such a story as this thrills one to the heart. It links Manxmen to the +great past. What are a thousand years before it? Time sinks away, and +the old sea-warrior seems to speak to us still through the surf of that +storm at Peel. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS + +Some years ago, in going down the valley of Foxdale, towards the mouth +of Glen Rushen, I lost my way on a rough and unbeaten path under the +mountain called Slieu Whallin. There I was met by a typical old Manx +farmer, who climbed the hillside some distance to serve as my guide. +"Aw, man," said he, "many a Sunday I've crossed these mountains in +snow and hail together." I asked why on Sunday. "You see," said the old +fellow, "I'm one of those men that have been guilty of what St. Paul +calls the foolishness of preaching." It turned out that he was a local +preacher to the Wesleyans, and that for two score years or more, in all +seasons, in all weathers, every Sunday, year in, year out, he had made +the journey from his farm in Foxdale to the western villages of Kirk +Patrick, where his voluntary duty lay. He left me with a laugh and +a cheery word. "Ask again at the cottage at the top of the brew," he +shouted. "An ould widda lives there with her gel." At the summit of the +hill, just under South Barrule, with Cronk-ny-arrey-Lhaa to the west, I +came upon a disused lead mine, called the old Cross Vein, its shaft open +save for a plank or two thrown across it, and filled with water almost +to the surface of the ground. And there, under the lee of the roofless +walls of the ruined engine-house, stood the tiny one-story cottage where +I had been directed to inquire my way again. I knocked, and then saw the +outer conditions of an existence about as miserable as the mind of man +can conceive. The door was opened by a youngish woman, having a thin, +white face, and within the little house an elderly woman was breaking +scraps of vegetables into a pot that swung from a hook above a handful +of turf fire, which burned on the ground. They were the widow and +daughter. Their house consisted of two rooms, a living room and a +sleeping closet, both open to the thatch, which was sooty with smoke. +The floor was of bare earth, trodden hard and shiny. There was one +little window in each apartment, but after the breakages of years, +the panes were obscured by rags stuffed into the gaps to keep out the +weather. The roof bore traces of damp, and I asked if the rain came into +the house. "Och, yes, and bad, bad, bad!" said the elder woman. "He left +us, sir, years ago." That was her way of saying that her husband was +dead, and that since his death there had been no man to do an odd +job about the place. The two women lived by working in the fields, at +weeding, at planting potatoes, at thinning cabbages, and at the hay in +its season. Their little bankrupt barn belonged to them, and it was all +they had. In that they lived, or lingered, on the mountain top, a +long stretch of bare hillside, away from any neighbour, alone in their +poverty, with mountains before and behind, the broad grey sea, without +ship or sail, down a gully to the west, nothing visible to the east +save the smoke from the valley where lay the habitations of men, nothing +audible anywhere but the deep rumble of the waves' bellow, or the chirp +of the birds overhead, or, perhaps, when the wind was southerly, the +church bells on Sunday morning. Never have I looked upon such lonely +penury, and yet there, even there, these forlorn women kept their souls +alive. "Yes," they said, "we're working when we can get the work, and +trusting, trusting, trusting still." + +I have lingered too long over this poor adventure of losing my way to +Glen Rushen, but my little sketch may perhaps get you close to that side +of Manx life whereon I wish to speak to-day. I want to tell the history +of religion in Man, so far as we know it; and better, to my thinking, +than a grave or solid disquisition on the ways and doings of Bishops or +Spiritual Barons, are any peeps into the hearts and home lives of the +Manx, which will show what is called the "innate religiosity" of the +humblest of the people. To this end also, when I have discharged my +scant duty to church history, or perhaps in the course of my hasty +exposition of it, I shall dwell on some of those homely manners and +customs, which, more than prayer-books and printed services, tell us +what our fathers believed, what we still believe, and how we stand +towards that other life, that inner life, that is not concerned with +what we eat and what we drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed. + + +THE DRUIDS + +And now, just as the first chapter of our Manx civil history is lost, +so the first chapter of our church history is lost. That the Druids +occupied the island seems to some people to be clear from many Celtic +names and some remains, such as we are accustomed to call Druidical, +and certain customs still observed. Perhaps worthy of a word is the +circumstance that in the parish where the Bishop now lives, and has +always lived, Kirk Michael, there is a place called by a name which in +the Manx signifies Chief Druid. Strangely are the faiths of the ages +linked together. + + +CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY + +We do not know, with any certainty, at what time the island was +converted to Christianity. The accepted opinion is that Christianity was +established in Man by St. Patrick about the middle of the fifth century. +The story goes that the Saint of Ireland was on a voyage thither from +England, when a storm cast him ashore on a little islet on the western +coast of Man. This islet was afterwards called St. Patrick's Isle. St. +Patrick built his church on it. The church was rebuilt eight centuries +later within the walls of a castle which rose on the same rocky site. It +became the cathedral church of the island. When the Norwegians came they +renamed the islet Holm Isle. Tradition says that St. Patrick's coming +was in the time of Mannanan, the magician, our little Manx Prospero. It +also says that St. Patrick drove Mannanan away, and that St. Patrick's +successor, St. Germain, followed up the good work of exterminating evil +spirits by driving out of the island all venomous creatures whatever. We +sometimes bless the memory of St. Germain, and wish he would come again. + + +THE EARLY BISHOPS OF MAN + +After St. Germain came St. Maughold. This Bishop was a sort of +transfigured Manx Caliban. I trust the name does him no wrong. He had +been an Irish prince, had lived a bad, gross life as a robber at the +head of a band of robbers, had been converted by St. Patrick, and, +resolving to abandon the temptations of the world, had embarked on the +sea in a wicker boat without oar or helm. Almost he had his will at +once, but the north wind, which threatened to remove him from the +temptations of this world, cast him ashore on the north of the Isle of +Man. There he built his church, and the rocky headland whereon it stands +is still known by his name. High on the craggy cliff-side, looking +towards the sea, is a seat hewn out of the rock. This is called St. +Maughold's Chair. Not far away there is a well supposed to possess +miraculous properties. It is called St. Maughold's Well. Thus tradition +has perpetuated the odour of his great sanctity, which is the more +extraordinary in a variation of his legend, which says that it was not +after his conversion, and in submission to the will of God, that he put +forth from Ireland in his wicker boat, but that he was thrust out thus, +with hands and feet bound, by way of punishment for his crimes as a +captain of banditti. + +But if Maughold was Caliban in Ireland, he was more than Prospero in +Man. Rumour of his piety went back to Ireland, and St. Bridget, who had +founded a nunnery at Kildare, resolved on a pilgrimage to the good +man's island. She crossed the water, attended by her virgins, called +her daughters of fire, founded a nunnery near Douglas, worked miracles +there, touched the altar in testimony of her virginity, whereupon it +grew green and flourished. This, if I may be pardoned the continued +parallel, is our Manx Miranda. And indeed it is difficult to shake off +the idea that Shakespeare must have known something of the early +story of Man, its magicians and its saints. We know the perfidy of +circumstance, the lying tricks that fact is always playing with us, too +well and painfully to say anything of the kind with certainty. But the +angles of resemblance are many between the groundwork of the "Tempest" +and the earliest of Manx records. Mannanan-beg-Mac-y-Lear, the magician +who surrounded the island with mists when enemies came near in ships; +Maughold, the robber and libertine, bound hand and foot, and driven +ashore in a wicker boat; and then Bridget, the virgin saint. Moreover, +the stories of Little Man-nanan, of St. Patrick, and of St. Maughold +were printed in Manx in the sixteenth century. Truly that is not +enough, for, after all, we have no evidence that Shakespeare, who knew +everything, knew Manx. But then Man has long been famous for its seamen. +We had one of them at Trafalgar, holding Nelson in his arms when he +died. The best days, or the worst days--which?--of the trade of the West +Coast of Africa saw Manx captains in the thick of it. Shall I confess to +you that in the bad days of the English slave trade the four merchantmen +that brought the largest black cargo to the big human auction mart at +the Goree Piazza at Liverpool were commanded by four Manxmen! They were +a sad quartet. One of them had only one arm and an iron hook; another +had only one arm and one eye; a third had only one leg and a stump; the +fourth was covered with scars from the iron of the chains of a slave +which he had worn twelve months at Barbadoes. Just about enough humanity +in the four to make one complete man. But with vigour enough, fire +enough, heart enough--I daren't say soul enough--in their dismembered +old trunks to make ten men apiece; born sea-rovers, true sons of Orry, +their blood half brine. Well, is it not conceivable that in those +earlier days of treasure seeking, when Elizabeth's English captains were +spoiling the Spaniard in the Indies, Manx sailors were also there? +If so, why might not Shakespeare, who must have ferreted out many a +stranger creature, have found in some London tavern an old Manx sea-dog, +who could tell him of the Manx Prospero, the Manx Caliban, and the Manx +Miranda? + +But I have rambled on about my sailors; I must return to my Bishops. +They seem to have been a line of pious, humble, charitable, godly men +at the beginning. Irishmen, chiefly, living the lives of hermits +and saints. Apparently they were at first appointed by the people +themselves. Would it be interesting to know the grounds of selection? +One was selected for his sanctity, a natural qualification, but another +was chosen because he had a pleasant face, and a fine portly figure; +not bad qualifications, either. Thus things went on for about a hundred +years, and, for all we know, Celtic Bishops and Celtic people lived +together in their little island in peace, hearing nothing of the loud +religious hubbub that was disturbing Europe. + + +BISHOPS OF THE WELSH DYNASTY + +Then came the rule of the Welsh kings, and, though we know but little +with certainty, we seem to realise that it brought great changes to the +religious' life of Man. The Church began to possess itself of lands: the +baronial territories of the island fell into the hands of the clergy; +the early Bishops became Barons. This gave the Church certain powers +of government. The Bishops became judges, and as judges they possessed +great power over the person of the subject. Sometimes they stood in the +highest place of all, being also Governor to the Welsh Kings. Then they +were called Sword-Bishops. Their power at such times, when the crosier +and sword were in the two hands of one man, must have been portentous, +and even terrible. We have no records that picture what came of that. +But it is not difficult to imagine the condition. The old order of +things had passed away. The hermit-saints, the saintly hermits, had +gone, and in their place were monkish barons, living in abbeys and +monasteries, whipping the poor bodies of their people, as well as +comforting their torn hearts, fattening on broad lands, praying each +with his lips: "Give us this day our daily bread," but saying each to +his soul: "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine +ease; eat, drink, and be merry." + + +BISHOPS OF THE NORSE DYNASTY + +Little as we know of these times, we see that things must have come to +a pretty pass, for when the Scandinavian dynasty came in the +ecclesiastical authorities were forbidden to exercise civil control over +any subjects of the king that were not also the tenants of their own +baronies. So the Bishops were required to confine themselves to keeping +their own house in order. The Norse Constitution established in Man by +King Orry made no effort to overthrow the Celtic Church founded by St. +Patrick, and corrupted by his Welsh successors, but it curtailed its +liberties, and reduced its dignity. It demanded as an act of fealty that +the Bishop or chief Baron should hold the stirrup of the King's saddle, +as he mounted his horse at Tynwald. But it still suffered the Bishop and +certain of his clergy to sit in the highest court of the legislature. +The Church ceased to be purely Celtic; it became Celto-Scandinavian, +otherwise Manx. It was under the Archbishop of Drontheim for its +Metropolitan, and its young clergy were sent over to Drontheim to be +educated. Its revenues were apportioned after the most apostolic manner; +one-third of the tithes to the Bishop for his maintenance, the support +of his courts, his churches, and (miserable conclusion! ) his prisons; +one-third to the priests, and the remaining third to the relief of the +poor and the education of youth. It is a curious and significant fact +that when the Reformation came the last third was seized by the lord. +Good old lordly trick, we know it well! + + +SODOR AND MAN + +The Bishopric of the island was now no longer called the Bishopric of +Man, but Sodor and Man. The title has given rise to much speculation. +One authority derives it from _Soterenssis_, a name given by Danish +writers to the western islands, and afterwards corrupted to _Soderensk_. +Another authority derives it from _Sudreyjas_, signifying in the +Norwegian the Southern Isles. A third derives it from the Greek _Soter_, +Saviour, to whose name the cathedral of Iona was dedicated. And yet a +fourth authority derives it from the supposed third name of the little +islet rock called variously Holm Isle, Sodor, Peel, and St. Patrick's +Isle, whereon St. Patrick or St. Germain built his church, I can claim +no right to an opinion where these good doctors differ, and shall +content myself with saying that the balance of belief is in favour of +the Norwegian derivation, which offers this explanation of the title of +Bishop of Sodor and Man, that the Isle of Man was not included by the +Norsemen in the southern cluster of islands called the Sudereys, and +that the Bishop was sometimes called the Bishop of Man and the Isles, +and sometimes Bishop of the Sudereys and the Isle of Man. Only one +warning note shall I dare, as an ignorant layman, to strike on that +definition, and it is this: that the title of Bishop of Sodor dates back +to the seventh century certainly, and that the Norseman did not come +south until three centuries later. + + +THE EARLY BISHOPS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY + +But now I come to matters whereon I have more authority to speak. When +the Isle of Man passed to the Stanley family, the Bishopric fell to +their patronage, and they lost no time in putting their own people into +it. It was then under the English metropolitan of Canterbury, but early +in the sixteenth century it became part of the province of York. About +that time the baronies, the abbeys, and the nunneries were suppressed. +It does not appear that the change of metropolitan had made much +change of religious life. Apparently the clergy kept the Manx people in +miserable ignorance. It was not until the seventeenth century that the +Book of Common Prayer was translated into the Manx language. The Gospels +and the Acts were unknown to the Manx until nearly a century later. Nor +was this due to ignorance of the clergy of the Manx tongue, for most +of them must have been Manxmen, and several of the Bishops were Manxmen +also. But grievous abuses had by this time attached themselves to the +Manx Church, and some of them were flagrant and wicked, and some were +impudent and amusing. + + +TITHES IN KIND + +Naturally the more outrageous of the latter sort gathered about the +process of collecting tithes. + +Tithes were paid in kind in those days. It was not until well within our +own century that they were commuted to a money payment. The Manxman paid +tithe on everything. He began to pay tithe before coming into the world, +and he went on paying tithe even after he had gone out of it. This is +a hard saying, but nevertheless a simple truth. Throughout his +journey from the cradle to the grave, the Manxman paid tithe on all he +inherited, on all he had, on all he did, on all his wife did, and on +all he left behind him. We have the equivalent of this in England at +the present hour, but it was yet more tyrannical, and infinitely more +ludicrous, in the Isle of Man down to the year 1839. It is only vanity +and folly and vexation of spirit to quarrel with the modern English +taxgatherer; you are sure to go the wall, with humiliation and with +disgrace. It was not always so when taxes were paid in kind. There was, +at least, the satisfaction of cheating. The Manx people could not always +deny themselves that satisfaction. For instance, they were required to +pay tithe of herring as soon as the herring boats were brought above +full sea mark, and there were ways of counting known to the fishermen +with which the black-coated arithmeticians of the Church were not able +to cope. A man paid tithe on such goods and even such clothes as his +wife possessed on their wedding day, and young brides became wondrous +wise in the selection for the vicarage of the garments that were out of +fashion. A corpse-present was demanded over the grave of a dead man out +of the horses and cattle whereof he died possessed, and dying men left +verbal wills which consigned their broken-winded horses and dry cows to +the mercy and care of the clergyman. You will not marvel much that such +dealings led to disputes, sometimes to quarrels, occasionally to riots. +In my boyhood I heard old people over the farm-house fire chuckle +and tell of various wise doings, to outwit the parson. One of these +concerned the oats harvest. When the oats were in sheaf, the parson's +cart came up, driven by the sumner, the parson's official servant. The +gate of the field was thrown open, and honestly and religiously one +sheaf out of every ten was thrown into the cart. But the husbandman had +been thrifty in advance. The parson's sheaves had all been grouped thick +about the gate, and they were the shortest, and the thinnest, and the +blackest, and the dirtiest, and the poorest that the field had yielded. +Similar were the doings at the digging of the potatoes, but the scenes +of recrimination which often ensued were usually confined to the farmer +and the sumner. More outrageous contentions with the priest himself +sometimes occurred within the very walls of the church. It was the +practice to bring tithe of butter and cheese and eggs, and lay it on the +altar on Sunday. This had to be done under pain of exclusion from the +communion, and that was a penalty most grievous to material welfare. So +the Manxmen and Manxwomen were compelled to go to church much as they +went to market, with their butter- and egg-baskets over their arms. It +is a ludicrous picture, as one sees it in one's mind's eye, but what +comes after reaches the extremity of farce. Say the scene is Maughold +old church, once the temple of the saintly hermit. It is Sunday morning, +the bells are ringing, and Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, a rascally old +skinflint, is coming along with a basket. It contains some butter that +he could not sell at Ramsey market yesterday because it was rank, and a +few eggs which he knows to be stale and addled--the old hen has sat on +them, and they have brought forth nothing. These he places reverently on +the altar. But the parson knows Juan, and proceeds to examine his tithe. +May I take so much liberty with history, and with the desecrated old +church, as to imagine the scene which follows? + +Priest, pointing contemptuously towards the altar: +"Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, what is this?" "Butter and eggs, so plaze your +reverence." "Pig-swill and chalk you mean, man!" "Aw 'deed if I'd known +your reverence was so morthal partic'lar the ould hen herself should +have been layin' some fresh eggs for your reverence." + +"Take them away, you thief of the Church! Do you think what isn't fit +for your pig is good enough for your priest? Bring better, or never let +me look on your wizened old wicked face again." + +Exit Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, perhaps with butter and eggs flying after +his retreating figure. + + +THE GAMBLING BISHOP + +This is an imaginary picture, but no less outrageous things happened +whereof the records remain. A demoralised laity usually co-exists with +a demoralised clergy, and there are some bad stories of the Bishops who +preceded the Reformation. There is one story of a Bishop of that period, +who was a gross drunkard and notorious gambler. He played with his +clergy as long as they had anything to lose, and then he played with a +deemster and lost five hundred pounds himself. Poor little island, that +had two such men for its masters, the one its master in the things of +this world, the other its master in the things of the world to come! If +anything is needful to complete the picture of wretchedness in which +the poor Manx people must have existed then, it is the knowledge of what +manner of man a deemster was in those days, what his powers were, and +how he exercised them. + + +THE DEEMSTERS + +The two deemsters--a name of obvious significance, deem-sters, such as +deem the laws--were then the only judges of the island, all other legal +functionaries being of more recent date. On entering into office, the +deemster took an oath, which is sworn by all deemsters to this day, +declaring by the wonderful works which God hath miraculously wrought in +six days and seven nights, that he would execute the laws of the island +justly "betwixt party and party, as indifferently as the herring's +backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish." But these laws down to the +time of the second Stanley existed only in the breasts of the deemsters +themselves, being therefore called Breast Laws, and thus they were +supposed to be handed down orally from deemster to deemster. The +superstition fostered corruption as well as incapacity, and it will not +be wronging the truth to say that some of the deemsters of old time were +both ignorant and unprincipled. Their jurisdiction was absolute in all +that were then thought to be temporal affairs, beginning with a debt +of a shilling, and going up to murder. They kept their courts in the +centres of their districts, one of them being in the north of the +island, the other in the south, but they were free to hold a court +anywhere, and at any time. A deemster riding from Ramsey to Peel might +find his way stopped by a noisy claimant, who held his defendant by the +lug, having dragged him bodily from the field to the highway, to receive +instant judgment from the judge riding past. Or at midnight, in his +own home, a deemster might be broken in upon by a clamorous gang of +disputants and their witnesses, who came from the pot-house for the +settlement of their differences. On such occasions, the deemster +invariably acted on the sound old legal maxim, once recognised by an Act +of Parliament, that suits not likely to bear good costs should always be +settled out of court. First, the deemster demanded his fee. If neither +claimant nor defendant could give it, he probably troubled himself no +further than to take up his horse-whip and drive both out into the road. +I dare say there were many good men among deemsters of the old order, +who loved justice for its own sake, and liked to see the poor and the +weak righted, but the memory of deemsters of this kind is not green. The +bulk of men are not better than their opportunities, and the temptations +of the deemsters of old were neither few nor slight. + + +THE BISHOPRIC VACANT + +With such masters in the State, and such masters in the Church, the +island fell low in material welfare, and its poverty reacted on both. +Within fifty years the Bishopric was nineteen years vacant, though it +may be that at the beginning of the seventeenth century this was partly +due to religious disturbances. Then in 1697, with the monasteries and +nunneries dispersed, the abbeys in ruins, the cathedral church a wreck, +the clergy sunk in sloth and ignorance, there came to the Bishopric, +four years vacant, a true man whose name on the page of Manx Church +history is like a star on a dark night, when only one is shining--Bishop +Thomas Wilson. He was a strange and complex creature, half angel, +only half man, the serenest of saints, and yet almost the bitterest of +tyrants. Let me tell you about him. + + +BISHOP WILSON + +Thomas Wilson was from Trinity College, Dublin, and became domestic +chaplain to William, Earl of Derby, and preceptor to the Earl's son, who +died young. While he held this position, the Bishopric of Sodor and +Man became vacant, and it was offered to him. He declined it, thinking +himself unworthy of so high a trust. The Bishopric continued vacant. +Perhaps the candidates for it were few; certainly the emoluments +were small; perhaps the patron was slothful--certainly he gave little +attention to the Church. At length complaint was made to the King that +the spiritual needs of the island were being neglected. The Earl was +commanded to fill the Bishopric, and once again he offered it to his +chaplain. Then Wilson yielded. He took possession in 1698, and was +enthroned at Peel Castle. The picture of his enthronement must have been +something to remember. Peel Castle was already tumbling to its fall, and +the cathedral church was a woful wreck. It is even said that from a +hole in the roof the soil and rain could enter, and blades of grass were +shooting up on the altar. The Bishop's house at Kirk Michael, which +had been long shut up, was in a similar plight; damp, mouldy, +broken-windowed, green with moss within and without. What would one give +to turn back the centuries and look on at that primitive ceremony in +St. Germain's Chapel in April 1698! There would be the clergy, a +sorry troop, with wise and good men among them, no doubt, but a poor, +battered, bedraggled, neglected lot, chiefly learned in dubious arts +of collecting tithes. And the Bishop himself, the good chaplain of Earl +Derby, the preceptor of his son, what a face he must have had to watch +and to study, as he stood there that April morning, and saw for the +first time what work he had come to tackle! + + +BISHOP WILSON'S CENSURES + +But Bishop Wilson set about his task with a strong heart, and a resolute +hand. He found himself in a twofold trust. Since the Reformation, the +monasteries and nunneries had been dispersed, and all the baronies had +been broken up, save one, the barony of the Bishop. Thus Bishop Wilson +was the head of the court of his barony. This was a civil court with +power, of jurisdiction over felonies. Its separate criminal control came +to an end in 1777, Such was Bishop Wilson's position as last and sole +Baron of Man. Then as head of the Church he had powers over offences +which were once called offences against common law. Irregular behaviour, +cursing, quarrelling, and drinking, as well as transgressions of the +moral code, adultery, seduction, prostitution, and the like, were +punishable by the Church and the Church courts. The censures of Bishop +Wilson on such offences did not err on the side of clemency. He was +the enemy of sin, and no "gentle foe of sinners." He was a believer +in witchcraft, and for suspicion of commerce with evil spirits and +possession of the evil eye he punished many a blameless old body. For +open and convicted adultery he caused the offenders to stand for an hour +at high fair at each of the market-places of Douglas, Peel, Ramsey, and +Castletown, bearing labels on their breasts calling on all people +to take warning lest they came under the same Church censure. Common +unchastity he punished by exposure in church at full congregation, when +the guilty man or the poor victimised girl stepped up from the west +porch to the altar, covered from neck to heels in a white sheet. +Slanderers and evil speakers he clapped into the Peel, or perhaps the +whipping-stocks, with tongue in a noose of leather, and when after a +lapse of time the gag was removed the liberated tongue was obliged to +denounce itself by saying thrice, clearly, boldly, probably with good +accent and discretion, "False tongue, thou hast lied." + +It is perhaps as well that some of us did not live in Bishop Wilson's +time. We might not have lived long. If the Church still held and +exercised the same powers over evil speakers we should never hear our +own ears in the streets for the din of the voices of the penitents; and +if it still punished unchastity in a white sheet the trade of the linen +weaver would be brisk. + +You will say that I have justified my statement that Bishop Wilson was +the bitterest of tyrants. Let me now establish my opinion that he was +also the serenest of saints. I have told you how low was the condition +of the Church, how lax its rule, how deep its clergy lay in sloth and +ignorance, and perhaps also in vice, when Bishop Wilson came to Man in +1698. Well, in 1703, only five years later, the Lord Chancellor King +said this: "If the ancient discipline of the Church were lost elsewhere +it might be found in all its force in the Isle of Man." This points +first to force and vigour on the Bishop's part, but surely it also +points to purity of character and nobility of aim. Bishop Wilson began +by putting his own house in order. His clergy ceased to gamble and to +drink, and they were obliged to collect their tithes with mercy. He once +suspended a clergyman for an opinion on a minor point, but many times he +punished his clergy for offences against the moral law and the material +welfare of the poor. In a stiff fight for integrity of life and purity +of thought, he spared none. I truly believe that if he had caught +himself in an act of gross injustice he would have clambered up into +the pillory. He was a brave, strong-hearted creature, of the build of +a great man. Yes! In spite of all his contradictions, he _was_ a great +man. We Manxmen shall never look upon his like again! + + +THE GREAT CORN FAMINE + +Towards 1740 a long and terrible corn famine fell upon our island. The +fisheries had failed that season, and the crops had been blighted +two years running. Miserably poor at all times, ill-clad, ill-housed, +ill-fed at the best, the people were in danger of sheer destitution. In +that day of their bitter trouble the poorest of the poor trooped off to +Bishop's court. The Bishop threw open his house to them all, good and +bad, improvident and thrifty, lazy and industrious, drunken and sober; +he made no distinctions in that bad hour. He asked no man for his name +who couldn't give it, no woman for her marriage lines who hadn't got +them, no child whether it was born in wedlock. That they were all +hungry was all he knew, and he saved their lives in thousands. He bought +ship-loads of English corn and served it out in bushels; also tons of +Irish potatoes, and served them out in _kischens_. He gave orders that +the measure was to be piled as high as it would hold, and never smoothed +flat again. Yet he was himself a poor man. While he had money he spent +it. When every penny was gone he pledged his revenue in advance. +After his credit was done he begged in England for his poor people in +Man--_he_ begged for _us_ who would not have held out his hat to save his +own life! God bless him! But we repaid him. Oh yes, we repaid him. +His money he never got back, but gold is not the currency of the other +world. Prayers and blessings are the wealth that is there, and these +went up after him to the great White Throne from the swelling throats of +his people. + + +THE BISHOP AT COURT + +Not of Bishop Wilson could it be said, as it was said of another, that +he "flattered princes in the temple of God." One day, when he was coming +to Court, Queen Caroline saw him and said to a company of Bishops and +Archbishops that surrounded her, "See, my lords, here is a Bishop who +does not come for a translation." "No, indeed, and please your Majesty," +said Bishop Wilson, "I will not leave my wife in her old age because she +is poor." When Bishop Wilson was an old man, Cardinal Fleury sent over +to ask after his age and health, saying that they were the two oldest +and poorest Bishops in the world. At the same time he got an order that +no French privateer should ever ravage the Isle of Man. The order has +long lapsed, but I am told that to this day French seamen respect a +Manxman. It touches me to think of it that thus does the glory of this +good man's life shine on our faces still. + + +STORIES OF BISHOP WILSON + +How his people must have loved him! Many of the stories told of him are +of rather general application, but some of them ought to be true if they +are not. + +One day in the old three-cornered market-place at Ramsey a little +maiden of seven crossed his path. She was like sunshine, rosy-cheeked, +bright-eyed, bare-footed and bare-headed, and for love of her sweetness +the grey old Bishop patted her head and blest her. "God bless you, my +child; God bless you," he said. The child curtseyed and answered, "God +bless you, too, sir." "Thank you, child, thank you," the Bishop said +again; "I dare say your blessing will be as good as mine." + +It was customary in those days, and indeed down to my own time, when +a suit of clothes was wanted, to have the journeyman tailor at home to +make it. One, Danny of that ilk, was once at Bishop's Court making +a long walking coat for the Bishop. In trying it on in its nebulous +condition, that leprosy of open white seams and stitches, Danny made +numerous chalk marks to indicate the places of the buttons. "No, no, +Danny," said the Bishop, "no more buttons than enough to fasten it--only +one, that will do. It would ill become a poor priest like me to go +a-glitter with things like those." Now, Danny had already bought his +buttons, and had them at that moment in his pocket. So, pulling a +woful face, he said, "Mercy me, my lord, what would happen to the poor +button-makers, if everybody was of your opinion?" "Button it all over, +Danny," said the Bishop. A coat of Bishop Wilson's still exists. Would +that we had that one of the numerous buttons, and could get a few more +made of the same pattern! It would be out of fashion--Danny's progeny +have taken care of that. There are not many of us that it would fit--we +have few men of Bishop Wilson's build nowadays. But human kindliness is +never old-fashioned, and there are none of us that the garment of sweet +grace would not suit. + + +QUARRELS OF CHURCH AND STATE + +So far from "flattering princes in the temple of God," Bishop Wilson was +even morbidly jealous of the authority of the Church, and he resisted +that of the State when the civil powers seemed to encroach upon it. More +than once he came into collision with the State's highest functionary, +the Lieutenant-Governor, representative of the Lord of Man himself. One +day the Governor's wife falsely defamed a lady, and the lady appealed +to the Bishop. Thereupon the Bishop interdicted the Governor's wife +from receiving the communion. But the Governor's chaplain admitted +her. Straightway the Bishop suspended the Governor's chaplain. Then the +Governor fined the Bishop in the sum of fifty pounds. The Bishop refused +to pay, and was committed to Castle Rushen, and lay there two months. +They show us his cell, a poor, dingy little box, so damp in his day that +he lost the use of some of his fingers. After that the Bishop appealed +to the Lord, who declared the imprisonment illegal. The Bishop was +liberated, and half the island went to the prison gate to fetch him +forth in triumph. The only result was that the Bishop lost L500, whereof +L300 were subscribed by the people. One hardly knows whether to laugh +or cry at it all. It is a sorry and silly farce. Of course it made +a tremendous hurly-burly in its day, but it is gone now, and doesn't +matter a ha'porth to anybody. Nevertheless because Gessler's cap goes up +so often nowadays, and so many of us are kneeling to it, it is good and +wholesome to hear of a poor Bishop who was brave enough to take a shot +at it instead. + + +SOME OLD ORDEALS + +Notwithstanding Bishop Wilson's severity, his tyranny, his undue pride +in the authority of the Church, and his morbid jealousy of the powers +of the State, his rule was a wise and just one, and he was a spiritual +statesman, who needed not to be ashamed. He raised the tone of life in +the Isle of Man, made it possible to accept a man's _yea_ and _nay_, +even in those perilous issues of life where the weakness and meanness +of poor humanity reveals itself in lies and subterfuges. This he did by +making false swearing a terror. One ancient ordeal of swearing he set +his face against, but another he encouraged, and often practised, let me +describe both. + +In the old days, when a man died intestate, leaving no record of his +debts, a creditor might establish a claim by going with the Bishop to +the grave of the dead man at midnight, stretching himself on it with +face towards heaven and a Bible on his breast, and then saying solemnly, +"I swear that So-and-so, who lies buried here, died in my debt by so +much." After that the debt was allowed. What warning the Bishop first +pronounced I do not know, but the scene is a vivid one, even if we think +of the creditor as swearing truly, and a startling and terrible one if +we think of him as about to swear to what is false. The dark night, the +dark figures moving in it, the churchyard, the debtor's grave, the sham +creditor, who had been loud in his protests under the light of the inn +of the village, now quaking and trembling as the Bishop's warning comes +out of the gloom, then stammering, and breaking down, and finally, with +ghostly visions of a dead hand clutching at him from the grave, starting +up, shrieking, and flying away. It is a nightmare. Let us not remember +it when the candles are put out. + +This ordeal was in force until the seventeenth century, but Bishop +Wilson judged it un-Christian, and never practised it. The old Roman +canon law of Purgation, a similar ordeal, he used not rarely. It was +designed to meet cases of slander in which there was no direct and +positive evidence. If a good woman had been accused of unchastity in +that vague way of rumour which is always more damaging and devilish than +open accusation, she might of her own free choice, or by compulsion of +the Bishop, put to silence her false accusers by appearing in church, +with witnesses ready to take oath that they believed her, and there +swearing at the altar that common fame and suspicion had wronged her. If +a man doubted her word he had to challenge it, or keep silence for ever +after. The severest censures of the Church were passed upon those who +dared to repeat an unproved accusation after the oaths of Purgation and +Compurgation had been taken unchallenged. It is a fine, honest ordeal, +very old, good for the right, only bad for the wrong, giving strength to +the weak and humbling the mighty. But it would be folly and mummery in +our day. The Church has lost its powers over life and limb, and no one +capable of defaming a pure woman would care a brass penny about the +Church's excommunication. Yet a woman's good name is the silver thread +that runs through the pearl chain of her virtues. Pity that nowadays it +can be so easily snapped. Conversation at five o'clock tea is enough to +do that. The ordeal of compulsory Purgation was abolished in Man as late +as 1737. + + +THE HERRING FISHERY + +Bishop Wilson began, or revived, a form of service which was so +beautiful, so picturesque, and withal so Manx that I regret the loss of +scarce any custom so much as the discontinuance of this one. It was the +fishermen's service on the shore at the beginning of the herring-season. +But in order to appreciate it you must first know something of the +herring fishing itself. It is the chief industry of the island. Half the +population is connected with it in some way. A great proportion of the +men of the humbler classes are half seamen, half landsmen, tilling their +little crofts in the spring and autumn, and going out with the herring +boats in summer. The herring is the national fish. The Manxman swears +by its flavour. The deemsters, as we have seen, literally swear by its +backbone. Potatoes and herrings constitute a common dish of the country +people. They are ready for it at any hour of the day or night. I have +had it for dinner, I have taken it for supper, I have seen it for tea, +and even known it for breakfast. It is served without ceremony. In the +middle of the table two great crocks, one of potatoes boiled in their +jackets, the other of herrings fresh or salted; a plate and a bowl +of new milk at every seat, and lumps of salt here and there. To be a +Manxman you must eat Manx herrings; there is a story that to transform +himself into a Manxman one of the Dukes of Athol ate twenty-four of them +at breakfast, a herring for every member of his House of Keys. + +The Manx herring fishery is interesting and very picturesque. You know +that the herrings come from northern latitudes, Towards mid-winter a +vast colony of them set out from the arctic seas, closely pursued by +innumerable sea-fowl, which deal death among the little emigrants. They +move in two divisions, one westward towards the coasts of America, the +other eastward in the direction of Europe. They reach the Shetlands in +April and the Isle of Man about June. The herring is fished at night. To +be out with the herring boats is a glorious experience on a calm night. +You have set sail with the fleet of herring boats about sun-down, and +you are running before a light breeze through the dusk. The sea-gulls +are skimming about the brown sails of your boat. They know what you are +going to do, and have come to help you, Presently you come upon a flight +of them wheeling and diving in the gathering darkness. Then you know +that you have lit on the herring shoal. The boat is brought head to the +wind and left to drift. By this time the stars are out, perhaps the moon +also--though too much moon is not good for the fishing--and you can just +descry the dim outline of the land against the dark blue of the sky. + +Luminous patches of phosphorescent light begin to move in the water, +"The mar-fire's rising," say the fishermen, the herring are stirring. +"Let's make a shot; up with the gear," cries the skipper, and nets are +hauled from below, passed over the bank-board, and paid out into the +sea--a solid wall of meshes, floating upright, nine feet deep and a +quarter of a mile long. It is a calm, clear night, just light enough +to see the buoys on the back of the first net. The lamp is fixed on the +mitch-board. All is silence, only the steady plash, plash, plash of the +slow waters on the boat's side; no singing among the men, no chaff, no +laughter, all quiet aboard, for the fishermen believe that the fish can +hear; all quiet around, where the deep black of the watery pavement +is brightened by the reflection of stars. Then out of the white +phosphorescent patches come minute points of silver and countless faint +popping sounds, The herrings are at play about the nets. You see them in +numbers exceeding imagination, shoals on shoals. "Pull up now, there's +a heavy strike," cries the skipper, and the nets are hauled up, and come +in white and moving--a solid block of fish, cheep, cheep, cheeping like +birds in the early morning. At the grey of dawn the boats begin to run +for home, and the sun is shining as the fleet makes the harbour. Men and +women are waiting there to buy the night's catch. The quay is full of +them, bustling, shouting, laughing, quarrelling, counting the herrings, +and so forth. + + +THE FISHERMEN'S SERVICE + +Such is the herring fishery of Man. Bishop Wilson knew how bitter a +thing it could be if this industry failed the island even for a single +season. So, with absolute belief in the Divine government of the world, +he wrote a Service to be held on the first day of the herring season, +asking for God's blessing on the harvest of the sea. The scene of that +service must have been wondrously beautiful and impressive. Why does not +some great painter paint it? Let me, by the less effectual vehicle of +words, attempt to realise what it must have been. + +The place of it was Peel bay, a wide stretch of beach, with a gentle +slope to the left, dotted over with grey houses; the little town farther +on, with its nooks and corners, its blind alleys and dark lanes, its +narrow, crabbed, crooked streets. Behind this the old pier and the +herring boats rocking in the harbour, with their brown sails half set, +waiting for the top of the tide. In the distance the broad breast of +Contrary Head, and, a musket-shot outside of it, the little rocky islet +whereon stand the stately ruins of the noble old Peel Castle. The +beach is dotted over with people--old men, in their curranes and undyed +stockings, leaning on their sticks; children playing on the shingle; +young women in groups, dressed in sickle-shaped white sun-bonnets, and +with petticoats tucked up; old women in long blue homespun cloaks. But +these are only the background of the human picture. In the centre of +it is a wide circle of fishermen, men and boys, of all sizes and sorts, +from the old Admiral of the herring fleet to the lad that helps the +cook--rude figures in blue and with great sea-boots. They are on their +knees on the sand, with their knitted caps at their rusty faces, and +in the middle of them, standing in an old broken boat, is the Bishop +himself, bareheaded, white-headed, with upturned face praying for +the fishing season that is about to begin. The June day is sweet and +beautiful, and the sun is going down behind the castle. Some sea-gulls +are disporting on the rock outside, and, save for their jabbering cries, +and the boom of the sea from the red horizon, and the gentle plash of +the wavelets on the pebbles of the shore, nothing is heard but the slow +tones of the Bishop and the fishermen's deep _Amen_. Such was Bishop +Wilson's fishermen's service. It is gone; more's the pity. + + +SOME OLD LAWS + +The spiritual laws of Man were no dead letters when Bishop Wilson +presided over its spiritual courts. He was good to illegitimate +children, making them legitimate if their parents married within two +years of their birth, and often putting them on the same level with +their less injured brothers and sisters where inheritance was in +question. But he was unmerciful to the parents themselves. There is +one story of his treatment of a woman which passes all others in its +tyranny. It is, perhaps, the only deep stain on his character. I thank +God that it can never have come to the ears of Victor Hugo. Told as Hugo +would have told it, surely it must have blasted for ever the name of a +good man. It is the dark story of Katherine Kinrade. + + +KATHERINE KINRADE + +She was a poor ruin of a woman, belonging to Kirk Christ, but wandering +like a vagrant over the island. The fact of first consequence is, that +she was only half sane. In the language of the clergy of the time, she +"had a degree of unsettledness and defect of understanding." Thus she +was the sort of human wreck that the world finds it easy to fling away. +Katherine fell victim to the sin that was not her own. A child was born. +The Church censured her. She did penance in a white sheet at the church +doors. But her poor, dull brain had no power to restrain her. A second +child was born. Then the Bishop committed her for twenty-one days to +his prison at the Peel. Let me tell you what the place is like. It is +a crypt of the cathedral church. You enter it by a little door in the +choir, leading to a tortuous flight of steep steps going down. It is +a chamber cut out of the rock of the little island, dark, damp, and +noisome. A small aperture lets in the light, as well as the sound of +the sea beating on the rocks below. The roof, if you could see it in the +gloom, is groined and ribbed, and above it is the mould of many graves, +for in the old days bodies were buried in the choir. Can you imagine a +prison more terrible for any prisoner, the strongest man or the bravest +soldier? Think of it on a tempestuous night in winter. The lonely islet +rock, with the swift seas rushing around it; the castle half a ruin, its +guard-room empty, its banqueting hall roofless, its sally port silent; +then the cathedral church falling to decay; and under the floor of its +choir, where lie the graves of dead men, this black, grim, cold cell, +silent as the graves themselves, save for the roar of the sea as it +beats in the darkness on the rocks outside! But that is not enough. +We have to think of this gloomy pile as inhabited on such a night of +terrors by only one human soul--this poor, bedraggled, sin-laden woman +with "the defect of understanding." Can anything be more awful? Yet +there is worse to follow. The records tell us that Katherine Kinrade +submitted to her punishment "with as much discretion as could be +expected of the like of her." But such punishments do not cleanse the +soul that is "drenched with unhallowed fire." Perhaps Katherine did not +know that she was wronged; nevertheless God's image was being trodden +out of her. She went from bad to worse, became a notorious strumpet, +strolled about the island, and led "a scandalous life on other +accounts." A third child was born. Then the Bishop concluded that for +the honour of the Christian name, "to prevent her own utter destruction, +and for the example of others," a timely and thorough reformation must +be made by a further and severer punishment. It was the 15th day of +March, and he ordered that on the 17th day, being the fair of St. +Patrick, at the height of the market, the said Katherine Kinrade +should be taken to Peel Town in charge of the general sumner, and the +constables and soldiers of the garrison, and there dragged after a boat +in the sea! Think of it! On a bitter day in March this wretched woman +with the "defect of understanding" was to be dragged through the sea by +a rope tied to the tail of a boat! And if any owner, master, and crew of +any boat proved refractory by refusing to perform this service for the +restraining of vice, they were to be subject to fine and imprisonment! +When St. Patrick's Day came the weather was so stormy that no boat +could live in the bay, but on St. Germain's Day, about the height of the +market, the censure was performed. After undergoing the punishment the +miserable soul was apparently penitent, "according to her capacity," +took the communion, and was "received into the peace of the Church." +Poor human ruin, defaced image of a woman, begrimed and buried soul, +unchaste, misshapen, incorrigible, no "juice of God's distilling" ever +"dropped into the core of her life," to such punishment she was doomed +by the tribunal of that saintly man, Bishop Thomas Wilson! She has met +him at another tribunal since then; not where she has crouched before +him, but where she has stood by his side. She has carried her great +account against him, to Him before whom the proudest are as chaff. + + None spake when Wilson stood before + The Throne; + And He that sat thereon + Spake not; and all the presence-floor + Burnt deep with blushes, and the angels cast + Their faces downwards.--Then, at last, + Awe-stricken, he was ware + How on the emerald stair + A woman sat divinely clothed in white, + And at her knees four cherubs bright + That laid + Their heads within her lap. Then, trembling, he essayed + To speak--"Christ's mother, pity me!" + Then answered she, + "Sir, I am Katherine Kinrade." {*} + + * Unpublished poem by the author of ''Fo'c's'le Yarns." + + +BISHOP WILSON'S LAST DAYS + +Have I dashed your faith in my hero? Was he indeed the bitterest of +tyrants as well as the serenest of saints? Yet bethink you of the other +good men who have done evil deeds? King David and the wife of Uriah, +Mahomet and his adopted son; the gallery of memory is hung round with +many such portraits. Poor humanity, weak at the strongest, impure at +the purest; best take it as it is, and be content. Remember that a good +man's vices are generally the excess of his virtues. It was so with +Bishop Wilson. Remember, too, that it is not for what a man does, but +for what he means to do, that we love him or hate him in the end. And +in the end the Manx people loved Bishop Wilson, and still they bless his +memory. + +We have a glimpse of his last days, and it is full of tender beauty. +True to his lights, simple and frugal of life, God-fearing and strong +of heart, he lived to be old. Very feeble, his beautiful face grown +mellower even as his heart was softer for his many years, tottering on +his staff, drooping like a white flower, he went in and out among his +people, laying his trembling hands on the children's heads and blessing +them, remembering their fathers and their fathers' fathers. Beloved by +the young, reverenced by the old, honoured by the great, worshipped by +the poor, living in sweet patience, ready to die in hope. His day was +done, his night was near, and the weary toiler was willing to go to his +rest. Thus passed some peaceful years. He died in 1755, and was followed +to his grave by the whole Manx nation. His tomb is our most sacred +shrine. We know his faults, but we do not speak of them there. Call a +truce over the place of the old man's rest. There he lies, who was once +the saviour of our people. God bless him! He was our fathers' bishop, +and his saintly face still shines on our fathers' children. + + +THE ATHOL BISHOPS + +Let me in a last clause attempt a sketch of the history of the Manx +Church in the century or more that has followed Bishop Wilson's death. +The last fifty years of it are featureless, save for an attempt to +abolish the Bishopric. This foolish effort first succeeded and then +failed, and was a poor bit of mummery altogether, ending in nothing +but waste of money and time, and breath and temper. The fifty years +immediately succeeding Bishop Wilson were full of activity. But so far +as the Church was concerned, the activity was not always wholesome. If +religion was kept alive in Man in those evil days, and the soul hunger +of the poor Manx people was satisfied, it was not by the masters of the +Manx Church, the Pharisees who gave alms in the streets to the sound +of a trumpet going before them, or by the Levites who passed by on +the other side when a man had fallen among thieves. It was partly by +dissent, which was begun by Wesley in 1775 (after Quakerism had been +suppressed), and partly by a small minority of the Manx clergy, who kept +going the early evangelicalism of Newton and Cowper and Cecil--dear, +sunny, simple-hearted old Manx vicars, who took sweet counsel together +in their old-fashioned homes, where you found grace in all senses of the +word, purity of soul, the life of the mind, and gentle courtliness of +manners. + +Bishop Wilson's successor was Doctor Mark Hildlesley, in all respects +a worthy man. He completed the translation of the Scriptures into Manx, +which had been begun by his predecessor, and established Sunday-schools +in Man before they had been commenced in any other country. But after +him came a line of worthless prelates, Dr. Richmond, remembered for his +unbending haughtiness; Dr. Mason, disgraced by his debts; and Claudius +Cregan, a bishop unfit to be a curate. Do you not read between the +broad lines of such facts? The Athol dynasty was now some thirty years +established in Man, and the swashbuckler Court of fine gentlemen was +in full swing. In that costume drama of soiled lace and uproarious +pleasures, what part did the Church play? Was it that of the man clad +in camel's skin, living on locusts and wild honey, and calling on the +generation of revellers to flee from the wrath to come? No; but that +of the lover of cakes and ale. The records of this period are few and +scanty, but they are full enough to show that some of the clergy of the +Athols knew more of backgammon than of theology. While they pandered to +the dissolute Court they lived under, going the errands of their masters +in the State, fetching and carrying for them, and licking their shoes, +they tyrannised over the poor ignorant Manx people and fleeced them +unmercifully. Perhaps this was in a way only natural. Corruption was in +the air throughout Europe. Dr. Youngs were grovelling for preferments +at the feet of kings' mistresses, and Dr. Warners were kissing the +shoebuckles of great ladies for sheer love of their faces, plastered red +and white, The parasites of the Manx clergy were not far behind some +of their English brethren. There is a story told of their life among +themselves which casts lurid light on their character and ways of life. +It is said that two of the Vicars-general summoned a large number of the +Manx people to Bishop's Court on some business of the spiritual court, +Many of the people had come long distances, chiefly a-foot, without +food, and probably without money. After a short sitting the court was +adjourned for dinner. The people had no dinner, and they starved. The +Vicars-general went into the palace to dine with the Bishop. Some hours +passed. The night was gathering. Then a message came out to say that no +more business could be done that day. Some of the poor people were old, +and had to travel fifteen miles to their homes. The record tells us that +the Bishop gave his guests "most excellent wine." What of a scene like +that? Outside, a sharp day in Spring, two score famished folks tramping +the glen and the gravel-path, the gravel-path and the glen, to and +fro, to and fro, minute after minute, hour after hour. Inside, my +lord Bishop, drenched in debt, dining with his clergy, drinking +"most excellent wine" with them, unbending his mighty mind with them, +exchanging boisterous stories with them, jesting with them, laughing +with them, until his face grows as red as the glowing turf on his +hearth. Presently a footfall on the gravel, and outside the window a +hungry, pinched, anxious face looking nervously into the room. Then this +colloquy: + +"Ah, the court, plague on't, I'd forgotten it." + +"Adjourn it, gentlemen." + +"Wine like yours, my lord, would make a man forget Paradise." + +"Sit down again, gentlemen. Juan, go out and tell the people to come +back to-morrow." + +"Your right good health, my lord!" + +"And yours, gentlemen both!" + +Oh, if there is any truth in religion, if this world is God's, if a day +is coming when the weak shall be exalted and the mighty laid low, what +a reckoning they have gone to whose people cried for bread and they gave +them a stone! And if there is not, if the hope is vain, if it is all a +sham and a mockery, still the justice of this world is sure. Where are +they now, these parasites? Their game is played out. They are bones and +ashes; they are in their forgotten graves. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE + + +THE MANX LANGUAGE + +A friend asked me the other day if there was any reason why I should not +deliver these lectures in Manx. I answered that there were just forty +good and sufficient reasons. The first was that I did not speak Manx. +Like the wise queen in the story of the bells, he then spared me the +recital of the remaining nine-and-thirty. But there is at least one of +the number that will appeal strongly to most of my hearers. What that +is you shall judge for yourselves after I have braved the pitfalls of +pronunciation in a tongue I do not know, and given you some clauses of +the Lord's Prayer in Manx. + + Ayr ain t'ayns niait, + (Father our who art in heaven.) + + Caskerick dy row dty ennym. + (Holy be Thy name.) + + Dy jig dty reeriaght. + (Come Thy kingdom.) + + Dty aigney dy row jeant er y thalloo mry te ayns niau. + (Thy will be done on the earth even as in heaven.) + +***** + + Son dy bragh, as dy bragh, Amen. + (For ever and ever. Amen.) + +I asked a friend--it was Mr. Wilson Barrett--if in its fulness, its fine +chest-notes, its force and music, this old language did not sound like +Italian. + +"Well, no," he answered, "it sounds more like hard swearing." + +I think you must now understand why the greater part of these lectures +should be delivered in English. + +Manx is a dialect mainly Celtic, and differing only slightly from the +ancient Scottish Gaelic. I have heard my father say that when he was +a boy in Ramsey, sixty years ago, a Scotch ship came ashore on the +Carrick, and next morning after the wreck a long, lank, bony creature, +with bare legs, and in short petticoats, came into the marketplace and +played a tune on a little shrieking pair of smithy bellows, and then +sang a song. It was a Highland piper, and he sang in his Gaelic, but the +Manx boys and girls who gathered round him understood almost every word +of his song, though they thought his pronunciation bad. Perhaps they +took him for a poor old Manxman, somehow strayed and lost, a sort of +Manx Rip Van Winkle who had slept a century in Scotland, and thereby +lost part of his clothes. + +You will wonder that there is not more Norse in our language, +remembering how much of the Norse is in our blood. But the predominance +of the Celtic is quite natural. Our mothers were Celts, speaking Celtic, +before our Norse-fathers came. Was it likely that our Celtic mothers +should learn much of the tongue of their Norse husbands? Then, is it not +our mother, rather than our father, who teaches us to speak when we are +children? So our Celtic mothers taught us Celtic, and thus Celtic became +the dominant language of our race. + + +MANX NAMES + +But though our Norse fathers could not impose their Norse tongue on +their children, they gave them Norse names, and to the island they +gave Norse place-names. Hence we find that though Manx names show +a preponderance of the Celtic, yet that the Norse are numerous and +important. Thus we have many _dales, fells, garths_, and _ghylls_. +Indeed, we have many pure Scandinavian surnames and place-names. When +I was in Iceland I sometimes found myself face to face with names which +almost persuaded me that I was at home in our little island of the Irish +Sea. There is, for example, a Snaefell in Man as well as in Iceland. +Then, our Norwegian surnames often took Celtic prefixes, such as _Mac_, +and thus became Scandio-Gaelic. But this is a subject on which I have +no right to speak with authority. You will find it written down with +learning and judgment in the good book of my friend Mr. A. W. Moore, +of Cronkbourne. What concerns me more than the scientific aspect of the +language is its literary character. I seem to realise that it was the +language of a poetic race. The early generations of a people are often +poetic. They are child-like, and to be like a child is the best half of +being like a poet. They name their places by help of their observatory +powers. These are fresh and full of wonder, and Nature herself is +beautiful or strange until man tampers with her. + +So when an untaught and uncorrupted mind looks upon a new scene and +bethinks itself of a name to fit it, the name is almost certainly full +of charm or rugged power. Thus we find in Man such mixed Norse and +Celtic names as: _Booildooholly_ (Black fold of the wood), _Douglas_ +(Black stream), _Soderick_ (South creek), _Trollaby_ (Troll's farm), +_Gansy_ (Magic isle), _Cronk-y-Clagh Bane_ (Hill of the white stone), +_Cronk-ny-hey_ (Hill of the grave), _Cronk-ny-arrey-lhaa_ (Hill of the +day watch). + + +MANX IMAGINATION + +This poetic character of the place-names of the island is a standing +reproach to us as a race. We have degenerated in poetic spirit since +such names were the natural expression of our feelings. I tremble to +think what our place-names would be if we had to make them now. Our few +modern Christenings set my teeth on edge. We are not a race of poets. +We are the prosiest of the prosy. I have never in my life met with any +race, except Icelanders and Norwegians, who are so completely the slave +of hard fact. It is astounding how difficult the average Manxman finds +it to put himself into the mood of the poet. That anything could come +out of nothing, that there is such a thing as imagination, that any +human brother of an honest man could say that a thing had been, which +had not been, and yet not lie--these are bewildering difficulties to +the modern Manxman. That a novel can be false and yet true--that, well +that's foolishness. I wrote a Manx romance called "The Deemster;" and I +did not expect my fellow-countrymen of the primitive kind to tolerate it +for a moment. It was merely a fiction, and the true Manxman of the old +sort only believes in what is true. He does not read very much, and when +he does read it is not novels. But he could not keep his hands off this +novel, and on the whole, and in the long run, he liked it--that is, as +he would say, "middling," you know! But there was only one condition on +which he could take it to his bosom--it must be true. There was the rub, +for clearly it transgressed certain poor little facts that were patent +to everybody. + +Never mind, Hall Caine did not know poor Man, or somebody had told +him wrong. But the story itself! The Bishop, Dan, Ewan, Mona, the body +coming ashore at the Mooragh, the poor boy under the curse by the Calf, +lord-a-massy, that was thrue as gospel! What do you think happened? I +have got the letters by me, and can show them to anybody. A good Manxman +wrote to remonstrate with me for calling the book a "romance." How dare +I do so? It was all true. Another wrote saying that maybe I would like +to know that in his youth he knew my poor hero, Dan Mylrea, well. They +often drank together. In fact, they were the same as brothers. For +his part he had often warned poor Dan the way he was going. After the +murder, Dan came to him and gave him the knife with which he had killed +Ewan. He had got it still! + +Later than the "Deemster," I published another Manx romance, "The +Bondman." In that book I mentioned, without thought of mischief, certain +names that must have been lying at the back of my head since my boyhood. +One of them becomes in the book the name of an old hypocrite who in the +end cheats everybody and yet prays loudly in public. Now it seems that +there is a man up in the mountains who owns that name. When he first +encountered it in the newspapers, where the story was being published as +a serial, he went about saying he was in the "Bondman," that it was +all thrue as gospel, so it was, that he knew me when I was a boy, over +Ramsey way, and used to give me rides on his donkey, so he did. This was +before the hypocrite was unmasked; and when that catastrophe occurred, +and his villany stood naked before all the island, his anger knew +no limits. I am told that he goes about the mountains now like a +thunder-cloud, and that he wants to meet me. I had never heard of the +man before in all my life. + +What I say is true only of the typical Manxman, the natural-man among +Manxmen, not of the Manxman who is Manxman plus man of the world, the +educated Manxman, who finds it as easy as anybody else to put himself +into a position of sympathy with works of pure imagination. But you must +go down to the turf if you want the true smell of the earth. Education +levels all human types, as love is said to level all ranks; and to +preserve your individuality and yet be educated seems to want a strain +of genius, or else a touch of madness. + +The Manx must have been the language of a people with few thoughts +to express, but such thoughts as they had were beautiful in their +simplicity and charm, sometimes wise and shrewd, and not rarely full of +feeling. Thus _laa-noo_ is old Manx for child, and it means literally +half saint--a sweet conception, which says the best of all that +is contained in Wordsworth's wondrous "Ode on the Intimations of +Immortality." _Laa-bee_ is old Manx for bed, literally half-meat, a +profound commentary on the value of rest. The old salutation at the door +of a Manx cottage before the visitor entered was this word spoken +from the porch: _Vel peccaghs thie?_ Literally: Any sinner within? All +humanity being sinners in the common speech of the Manx people. + + +MANX PROVERBS + +Nearly akin to the language of a race are its proverbs, and some of the +Manx proverbs are wise, witty, and racy of the soil. Many of them are +the common possession of all peoples. Of such kind is "There's many +a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." Here is one which sounds like an +Eastern saying: "Learning is fine clothes for the rich man, and riches +for the poor man." But I know of no foreign parentage for a proverb like +this: "A green hill when far away; bare, bare when it is near." + +That may be Eastern also. It hints of a long weary desert; no grass, +no water, and then the cruel mirage that breaks down the heart of the +wayfarer at last. On the other hand, it is not out of harmony with +the landscape of Man, where the mountains look green sometimes from a +distance when they are really bare and stark, and so typify that waste +of heart when life is dry of the moisture of hope, and all the world is +as a parched wilderness. However, there is one proverb which is so Manx +in spirit that I could almost take oath on its paternity, so exactly +does it fit the religious temper of our people, though it contains a +word that must strike an English ear as irreverent: "When one poor man +helps another poor man, God himself laughs." + + +MANX BALLADS + +Next to the proverbs of a race its songs are the best expression of its +spirit, and though Manx songs are few, some of them are full of Manx +character. Always their best part is the air. A man called Barrow +compiled the Manx tunes about the beginning of the century, but his book +is scarce. In my ignorance of musical science I can only tell you how +the little that is left of Manx music lives in the ear of a man who does +not know one note from another. Much of it is like a wail of the wind in +a lonely place near to the sea, sometimes like the soughing of the long +grass, sometimes like the rain whipping the panes of a window as +with rods. Nearly always long-drawn like a moan rarely various, never +martial, never inspiriting, often sad and plaintive, as of a people +kept under, but loving liberty, poor and low down, but with souls alive, +looking for something, and hoping on,--full of the brine, the salt foam, +the sad story of the sea. Nothing would give you a more vivid sense of +the Manx people than some of our old airs. They would seem to take you +into a little whitewashed cottage with sooty rafters and earthen floor, +where an old man who looks half like a sailor and half like a landsman +is dozing before a peat fire that is slumbering out. Have I in my +musical benightedness conveyed an idea of anything musical? If not, let +me, by the only vehicle natural to me, give you the rough-shod words of +one or two of our old ballads. There is a ballad, much in favour, called +_Ny kirree fo niaghey_, the Sheep under the Snow. Another, yet better +known, is called _Myle Charaine_. This has sometimes been called the +Manx National Air, but that is a fiction. The song has nothing to do +with the Manx as a nation. Perhaps it is merely a story of a miser +and his daughter's dowry. Or perhaps it tells of pillage, probably of +wrecking, basely done, and of how the people cut the guilty one off from +all intercourse with them. + + O, Myle Charaine, where got you your gold? + Lone, lone, you have left me here, + O, not in the curragh, deep under the mould, + Lone, lone, and void of cheer. + +This sounds poor enough, but it would be hard to say how deeply this +ballad, wedded to its wailing music, touches and moves a Manxman. Even +to my ear as I have heard it in Manx, it has seemed to be one of the +weirdest things in old ballad literature, only to be matched by some of +the old Irish songs, and by the gruesome ditty which tells how "the sun +shines fair on Carlisle wa'." + + +MANX CAROLS + +The paraphrase I have given you was done by George Borrow, who once +visited the island. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown met him and showed +him several collections of Manx carols, and he pronounced them all +translations from the English, not excepting our famous _Drogh Vraane_, +or carol of every bad woman whose story is told in the Bible, beginning +with the story of mother Eve herself. And, indeed, you will not be +surprised that to the shores of our little island have drifted all +kinds of miscellaneous rubbish, and that the Manxmen, from their very +simplicity and ignorance of other literatures, have had no means of +sifting the flotsam and assigning value to the constituents. Besides +this, they are so irresponsible, have no literary conscience, and +accordingly have appropriated anything and everything. This is true of +some Manx ballads, and perhaps also of many Manx carols. The carols, +called Carvals in Manx, serve in Man, as in other countries, the purpose +of celebrating the birth of Jesus, but we have one ancient custom +attached to them which we can certainly claim for our own, so Manx is +it, so quaint, so grimly serious, and withal so howlingly ludicrous. + +It is called the service of Oiel Verree, probably a corruption of +_Feaill Vorrey_, literally the Feast of Mary, and it is held in the +parish church near to midnight on Christmas Eve. Scott describes it in +"Peveril of the Peak," but without personal knowledge. + +Services are still held in many churches on Christmas Eve; and I think +they are called Oiel Verree, but the true Oiel Verree, the real, pure, +savage, ridiculous, sacrilegious old Oiel Verree, is gone. I myself just +came in time for it; I saw the last of it, nevertheless I saw it at its +prime, for I saw it when it was so strong that it could not live any +longer. Let me tell you what it was. + +The story carries me back to early boyish years, when, from the lonely +school-house on the bleak top of Maughold Head, I was taken in secret, +one Christmas Eve, between nine and ten o'clock, to the old church of +Kirk Maughold, a parish which longer than any other upheld the rougher +traditions. My companion was what is called an original. His name was +Billy Corkill. We were great chums. I would be thirteen, he was about +sixty. Billy lived alone in a little cottage on the high-road, and +worked in the fields. He had only one coat all the years I knew him. It +seemed to have been blue to begin with, but when it had got torn Billy +had patched it with anything that was handy, from green cloth to red +flannel. He called it his Joseph's coat of many colours. Billy was a +poet and a musical composer. He could not read a word, but he would +rather have died than confess his ignorance. He kept books and +newspapers always about him, and when he read out of them, he usually +held them upside down. If any one remarked on that, he said he could +read them any way up--that was where his scholarship came in. Billy was +a great carol singer. He did not know a note, but he never sang except +from music. His tunes were wild harmonies that no human ear ever heard +before. It will be clear to you that old Billy was a man of genius. + +Such was my comrade on that Christmas Eve long ago. It had been a bitter +winter in the Isle of Man, and the ground was covered with snow. But the +church bells rang merrily over the dark moorland, for Oiel Verree was +peculiarly the people's service, and the ringers were ringing in the one +service of the year at which the parishioners supplanted the Vicar, and +appropriated the old parish church. In spite of the weather, the church +was crowded with a motley throng, chiefly of young folks, the young men +being in the nave, and the girls (if I remember rightly) in the little +loft at the west end. Most of the men carried tallow dips, tied +about with bits of ribbon in the shape of rosettes, duly lighted, and +guttering grease at intervals on to the book-ledge or the tawny fingers +of them that held them. It appeared that there had been an ordinary +service before we arrived, and the Vicar was still within the rails +of the communion. From there he addressed some parting words of solemn +warning to the noisy throng of candle-carriers. As nearly as I can +remember, the address was this: "My good people, you are about to +celebrate an old custom. For my part, I have no sympathy with such +customs, but since the hearts of my parishioners seem to be set on +this one, I have no wish to suppress it. But tumultuous and disgraceful +scenes have occurred on similar occasions in previous years, and I +beg you to remember that you are in God's house," &c. &c. The grave +injunction was listened to in silence, and when it ended, the Vicar, a +worthy but not very popular man, walked towards the vestry. To do so, +he passed the pew where I sat under the left arm of my companion, and he +stopped before him, for Billy had long been a notorious transgressor at +Oiel Verree. + +"See that you do not disgrace my church to-night," said the Vicar. But +Billy had a biting tongue. + +"Aw, well," said he, "I'm thinking the church is the people's." + +"The people are as ignorant as goats," said the Vicar. + +"Aw, then," said Billy, "you are the shepherd, so just make sheeps of +them." + +At that the Vicar gave us the light of his countenance no more. The last +glimpse of his robe going through the vestry door was the signal for a +buzz of low gossip, and straightway the business of Oiel Verree began. + +It must have been now approaching eleven o'clock, and two old greybeards +with tousled heads placed themselves abreast at the door of the west +porch. There they struck up a carol in a somewhat lofty key. It was a +most doleful ditty. Certainly I have never since heard the like of it. +I remember that it told the story of the Crucifixion in startling +language, full of realism that must have been horribly ghastly, if it +had not been so comic. At the end of each verse the singers made one +stride towards the communion. There were some thirty verses, and every +mortal verse did these zealous carollers give us. They came to an end at +length, and then another old fellow rose in his pew and sang a ditty +in Manx. It told of the loss of the herring-fleet in Douglas Bay in the +last century. After that there was yet another and another carol--some +that might be called sacred, others that would not be badly wronged with +the name of profane. As I recall them now, they were full of a burning +earnestness, and pictured the dangers of the sinner and the punishment +of the damned. They said nothing about the joys of heaven, or the +pleasures of life. Wherever these old songs came from they must have +dated from some period of religious revival. The Manxman may have +appropriated them, but if he did so he was in a deadly earnest mood. It +must have been like stealing a hat-band. + +My comrade had been silent all this time, but in response to various +winks, nods, and nudges, he rose to his feet. Now, in prospect of Oiel +Verree I had written the old man a brand new carol. It was a mighty +achievement in the sentimental vein. I can remember only one of its +couplets: + + Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in a holy union. + +I am not very sure what this may mean, and Billy must have been in the +same uncertainty. Shall I ever forget what happened? Billy standing in +the pew with my paper in his hand the wrong way up. Myself by his side +holding a candle to him. Then he began to sing. It was an awful tune--I +think he called it sevens--but he made common-sense of my doggerel by +one alarming emendation. When he came to the couplet I have given you, +what do you think he sang? + + "Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in--a hollow onion!" + +Billy must have been a humorist. He is long dead, poor old Billy. God +rest him! + + +DECAY OF THE MANX LANGUAGE + +If in this unscientific way I have conveyed my idea of Manx carvals, +Manx ballads, or Manx proverbs, you will not be surprised to hear me say +that I do not think that any of these, can live long apart from the Manx +language. We may have stolen most of them; they may have been wrecked on +our coast, and we may have smuggled them; but as long as they wear our +native homespun clothes they are ours, and as soon as they put it off +they cease to belong to us. A Manx proverb is no longer a Manx proverb +when it is in English. The same is true of a Manx ballad translated, and +of a Manx carval turned into an English carol. What belongs to us, +our way of saying things, in a word, our style, is gone. The spirit is +departed, and that which remains is only an English ghost flitting about +in Manx grave-clothes. + +Now this is a sad fact, for it implies that little as we have got of +Manx literature, whether written or oral, we shall soon have none at +all. Our Manx language is fast dying out. If we had any great work in +the Manx tongue, that work alone would serve to give our language a +literary life at least. But we have no such great work, no fine Manx +poem, no good novel in Manx, not even a Manx sermon of high mark. Thus +far our Manx language has kept alive our pigmies of Manx literature; but +both are going down together. The Manx is not much spoken now. In +the remoter villages, like Cregnesh, Ballaugh, Kirk Michael, and Kirk +Andreas, it may still be heard. Moreover, the Manxman may hear Manx a +hundred times for every time an Englishman hears it. But the younger +generation of Manx folk do not speak Manx, and very often do not +understand it. This is a rapid change on the condition of things in my +own boyhood. Manx is to me, for all practical uses, an unknown tongue. +I cannot speak it, I cannot follow it when spoken, I have only a sort +of nodding acquaintance with it out of door, and yet among my earliest +recollections is that of a household where nothing but Manx was ever +spoken except to me. A very old woman, almost bent double over a +spinning wheel, and calling me Hommy-Veg, and _baugh-millish_, and so +forth. This will suggest that the Manx people are themselves responsible +for the death of the Manx language. That is partly true. The Manx tongue +was felt to be an impediment to intercourse with the English people. +Then the great English immigration set in, and the Isle of Man became a +holiday resort. That was the doomster of the Manx language. In another +five-and-twenty years the Manx language will be as dead as a Manx +herring. + +One cannot but regret this certain fate. I dare not say that the +language itself is so good that it ought to live. Those who know it +better say that "it's a fine old tongue, rich and musical, full of +meaning and expression." {*} I know that it is at least forcible, and +loud and deep in sound. I will engage two Manxmen quarrelling in Manx +to make more noise in a given time than any other two human brethren in +Christendom, not excepting two Irishmen. Also I think the Manx must be +capable of notes of sweet feeling, and I observe that a certain higher +lilt in a Manx woman's voice, suggesting the effort to speak about the +sound of the sea, and the whistle of the wind in the gorse, is lost in +the voices of the younger women who speak English only. But apart from +tangible loss, I regret the death of the Manx tongue on grounds of +sentiment. In this old tongue our fathers played as children, bought and +sold as men, prayed, preached, gossiped, quarrelled, and made love. It +was their language at Tynwald; they sang their grim carvals in it, and +their wailing, woful ballads. + + * The Rev. T. E. Brown. + +When it is dead more than half of all that makes us Manxmen will be +gone. Our individuality will be lost, the greater barrier that separates +us from other peoples will be broken down. Perhaps this may have its +advantages, but surely it is not altogether a base desire not to be +submerged into all the races of the earth. The tower of Babel is built, +the tongues of the builders are confounded, and we are not all anxious +to go back and join the happy family that lived in one ark. + +But aside from all lighter thoughts there is something very moving and +pathetic in the death of an old language. Permit me to tell you, not +as a philologist, a character to which I have no claim, but as an +imaginative writer, how the death of an ancient tongue affects me. It is +unlike any other form of death, for an unwritten language is even as a +breath of air which when it is spent leaves no trace behind. A nation +may die, yet its history remains, and that is the tangible part of its +past. A city may fall to decay and lie a thousand years under the sands +of the desert, yet its relics revivify its life. But a language that is +dead, a tongue that has no life in its literature, is a breath of wind +that is gone. A little while and it went from lip to lip, from lip to +ear; it came we know not whence; it has passed we know not where. It was +an embodied spirit of all man's joys and sorrows, and like a spirit it +has vanished away. + +Then if this old language has been that of our own people its death is a +loss to our affections. Indeed, language gets so close to our heart that +we can hardly separate it from our emotions. If you do not speak the +Italian language, ask yourself whether Dante comes as close to you as +Shakespeare, all questions of genius and temperament apart. And if Dante +seems a thousand miles away, and Shakespeare enters into your closest +chamber, is it not first of all because the language of Shakespeare is +your own language, alive with the life that is in your own tongue, vital +with your own ways of thought and even tricks and whims of speech? Let +English die, and Shakespeare goes out of your closet, and passes away +from you, and is then your brother-Englishman only in name. So close is +the bond of language, so sweet and so mysterious. + +But there is yet a more sacred bond with the language of our fathers +when it can have no posthumous life in books. This is the bond of love. +Think what it is that you miss first and longest when death robs you of +a friend. Is it not the living voice? The living face you can bring back +in memory, and in your dark hours it will shine on you still; the good +deed can never die; the noble thought lives for ever. Death is not +conqueror over such as these, but the human voice, the strange and +beautiful part of us that is half spirit in life, is lost in death. For +a while it startles us as an echo in an empty chamber, and then it is +gone, and not all the world's wealth could bring one note of it back. +And such as the vanishing away of the voice of the friend we loved is +the death of the old tongue which our fathers spoke. _It is the death of +the dead_. + + +MANX SUPERSTITIONS + +When the Manx tongue is dead there will remain, however, just one badge +of our race--our superstition. I am proud to tell you that we are the +most superstitious people now left among the civilised nations of the +world. This is a distinction in these days when that poetry of life, +as Goethe names it, is all but gone from the face of the earth. Manxmen +have not yet taken the poetry out of the moon and the stars, and the +mist of the mountains and the wail of the sea. Of course we are ashamed +of the survival of our old beliefs and try to hide them, but let nobody +say that as a people we believe no longer in charms, and the evil eye, +and good spirits and bad. I know we do. It would be easy to give you a +hundred illustrations. I remember an ill-tempered old body living on +the Curragh, who was supposed to possess the evil eye. If a cow died at +calving, she had witched it. If a baby cried suddenly in its sleep, +the old witch must have been going by on the road. If the potatoes +were blighted, she had looked over the hedge at them. There was a charm +doctor in Kirk Andreas, named Teare-Ballawhane. He was before my time, +but I recall many stories of him. When a cow was sick of the witching of +the woman of the Curragh, the farmer fled over to Kirk Andreas for the +charm of the charm-doctor. From the moment Teare-Ballawhane began to +boil his herbs the cow recovered. If the cow died after all, there was +some fault in the farmer. I remember a child, a girl, who twenty years +ago had a birth-mark on her face--a broad red stain like a hand on her +cheek. Not long since, I saw her as a young woman, and the stain was +either gone entirely or hidden by her florid complexion. When I asked +what had been done for her, I heard that a good woman had charmed her. +"Aw, yes," said the girl's mother, "a few good words do no harm anyway." +Not long ago I met an old fellow in Onchan village who believed in the +Nightman, an evil spirit who haunts the mountains at night predicting +tempests and the doom of ships, the _dooinney-oie_ of the Manx, akin to +the _banshee_ of the Irish. "Aw, man," said he, "it was up Snaefell way, +and I was coming from Kirk Michael over, and it was black dark, and I +heard the Nightman after me, shoutin' and wailin' morthal, _how-la-a, +how-a-a_. But I didn't do nothin', no, and he came up to me lek a besom, +and went past me same as a flood, _who-o-o!_ And I lerr him! Aw, yes, +man, yes!" + +I remember many a story of fairies, some recited half in humour, +others in grim earnest. One old body told me that on the night of her +wedding-day, coming home from the Curragh, whither she had stolen away +in pursuit of a belated calf, she was chased in the moonlight by a +troop of fairies. They held on to her gown, and climbed on her back, and +perched on her shoulders, and clung to her hair. There were "hundreds +and tons" of them; they were about as tall as a wooden broth-ladle, and +all wore cocked-hats and velvet jackets. + +A good fairy long inhabited the Isle of Man. He was called in Manx the +Phynnodderee. It would appear that he had two brothers of like +features with himself, one in Scotland called the Brownie, the other in +Scandinavia called the Swart-alfar. + +I have often heard how on a bad night the Manx folk would go off to bed +early so that the Phynnodderee might come in out of the cold. Before +going upstairs they built up the fire, and set the kitchen table with +crocks of milk and pecks of oaten cake for the entertainment of their +guest. Then while they slept the Phynnodderee feasted, yet he always +left the table exactly as he found it, eating the cake and drinking the +milk, but filling up the peck and the crock afresh. Nobody ever intruded +upon him, so nobody ever saw him, save the Manx Peeping Tom. I remember +hearing an old Manxman say that his curiosity overcame his reverence, +and he "leff the wife," stepped out of bed, crept to the head of the +stairs, and peeped over the banisters into the kitchen. There he saw +the Phynnodderee sitting in his own arm-chair, with a great company of +brother and sister fairies about him, baking bread on the griddle, and +chattering together like linnets in spring. But he could not understand +a word they were saying. + +I have told you that the Manxman is not built by nature for a gallant. +He has one bad fairy, and she is the embodied spirit of a beautiful +woman. Manx folk-lore, like Manx carvals, Manx ballads, and Manx +proverbs, takes it for a bad sign of a woman's character that she has +personal beauty. If she is beautiful, ten to one she is a witch. That is +how it happens that there are so many witches in the Isle of Man. + +The story goes that a beautiful wicked witch entrapped the men of the +island. They would follow her anywhere. So she led them into the sea, +and they were all drowned. Then the women of the island went forth to +punish her, and, to escape from them, she took the form of a wren and +flew away. That is how it comes about that the poor little wren is +hunted and killed on St. Stephen's Day. The Manx lads do it, though +surely it ought to be the Manx maidens. At midnight they sally forth in +great companies, armed with sticks and carrying torches. They beat the +hedges until they light on a wren's nest, and, having started the wren +and slaughtered it, they suspend the tiny mite to the middle of a long +pole, which is borne by two lads from shoulder to shoulder. They then +sing a rollicking native ditty, of which one version runs:-- + + We'll hunt the wren, says Robbin the Bobbin; + We'll hunt the wren, says Richard the Robbin; + We'll hunt the wren, says Jack of the Lan'; + We'll hunt the wren, says every one. + +But Robbin the Bobbin and Richard the Robbin are not the only creatures +who have disappeared into the sea. The fairies themselves have also gone +there. They inhabit Man no more. A Wesleyan preacher declared some years +ago that he witnessed the departure of all the Manx fairies from the Bay +of Douglas. They went away in empty rum puncheons, and scudded before +the wind as far as the eye could reach, in the direction of Jamaica. So +we have done with them, both good and bad. + +However, among the witches whom we have left to us in remote corners of +the island is the very harmless one called the Queen of the Mheillia. +Her rural Majesty is a sort of first cousin of the Queen of the May. The +Mheillia is the harvest-home. It is a picturesque ceremonial, observed +differently in different parts. Women and girls follow the reapers +to gather and bind the corn after it has fallen to the swish of the +sickles. A handful of the standing corn of the last of the farmer's +fields is tied about with ribbon. Nobody but the farmer knows where that +handful is, and the girl who comes upon it by chance is made the Queen +of the Mheillia. She takes it to the highest eminence near, and waves +it, and her fellow-reapers and gleaners shout huzzas. Their voices are +heard through the valley, where other farmers and other reapers +and gleaners stop in their work and say, "So-and-so's Mheillia!" +"Ballamona's Mheillia's took!" That night the farmer gives a feast in +his barn to celebrate the getting in of his harvest, and the close of +the work of the women at the harvesting. Sheep's heads for a change on +Manx herrings, English ale for a change on Manx jough; then dancing led +by the mistress, to the tune of a fiddle, played faster and wilder +as the night advances, reel and jig, jig and reel. This pretty rural +festival is still observed, though it has lost much of its quaintness. I +think I can just remember to have heard the shouts of the Mheillia from +the breasts of the mountains. + +You will have gathered that in no part of the world could you find +a more reckless and ill-conditioned breeding-ground of suppositions, +legends, traditions, and superstitions than in the Isle of Man. The +custom of hunting the wren is widely spread throughout Ireland; and if +I were to tell you of Manx wedding customs, Manx burial customs, Manx +birth customs, May day, Lammas, Good Friday, New Year, and Christmas +customs, you would recognise in the Manxman the same irresponsible +tendency to appropriate whatever flotsam drifts to his shore. What I +have told you has come mainly of my own observation, but for a complete +picture of Manx manners and customs, beliefs and superstitions, I will +refer you to William Kennish's "Mona's Isle, and other Poems," a rare +book, with next to no poetic quality, and containing much that is +worthless, but having a good body of real native stuff in it, such as +cannot be found elsewhere. A still better anthology is likely to be soon +forthcoming from the pen of Mr. A. W. Moore (the excellent editor of +"Manx Names") and the press of Mr. Nutt. + +It is easy to laugh at these old superstitions, so childish do they +seem, so foolish, so ignorant. But shall we therefore set ourselves so +much above our fathers because they were slaves to them, and we believe +them not? Bethink you. Are we so much wiser, after all? How much farther +have we got? We know the mists of Mannanan. They are only the vapours +from the south, creeping along the ridge of our mountains, going north. +Is that enough to know? We know the cold eye of the evil man, whose mere +presence hurts us, and the warm eye of the born physician, whose mere +presence heals us. Does that tell us everything? We hear the moans which +the sea sends up to the mountains, when storms are coming, and ships are +to be wrecked, and we do not call them the voices of the Nightman, but +only the voices of the wind. We have changed the name; but we have taken +none of the mystery and marvel out of the thing itself. It is the Wind +for us; it was the Nightman for our fathers. That is nearly all. +The wind bloweth where it listeth. We are as far off as ever. Our +superstitions remain, only we call them Science, and try not to be +afraid of them. But we are as little children after all, and the best of +us are those that, being wisest, see plainest that, before the wonders +and terrors of the great world we live in, we are children, walking +hand-in-hand in fear. + + +MANX STORIES + +You will say that there ought to be many good stories of a people like +the Manx; and here again I have to confess to you that the absence of +all literary conscience, all perception of keeping and relation, all +sense of harmony and congruity in the Manxman has so demoralised our +anecdotal _ana_ that I hesitate to offer you certain of the best of +our Manx yarns from fear that they may be venerable English, Irish, and +Scotch familiars. I will content myself with a few that bear undoubted +Manx lineaments. As an instance of Manx hospitality, simple and rude, +but real and hearty, I think you would go the world over to match this. +The late Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown, a Manxman, brother of the most famous +of living Manxmen, and himself our North-country Spurgeon, with his +wife, his sister, and his mother, were belated one evening up Baldwin +Glen, and stopped at a farm-house to inquire their way. But the farmer +would not hear of their going a step further. "Aw, nonsense!" he said. +"What's the use of talkin', man? You'll be stoppin' with us to-night. +Aw 'deed ye will, though. The women can get along together aisy, and +_you're a clane lookin' sort o' chap; you'll be sleepin' with me!_" + +In the old days of, say, two steamboats a week to England the old Manx +captains of the Steamboat Company were notorious soakers. There is a +story of one of them who had the Archdeacon of the island aboard in a +storm. It was night. The reverend Archdeacon was in an agony of pain and +terror. He inquired anxiously of the weather. The captain, very drunk, +answered, "If it doesn't mend we'll all be in heaven before morning, +Archdeacon!" "Oh, God forbid, captain," cried the Archdeacon. + +I have said what true work for religion Nonconformity must have done +in those evil days when the clergy of the Athols were more busy with +backgammon than with theology. But the religion of the old type of Manx +Methodist was often an amusing mixture of puritanism and its opposite, +a sort of grim, white-faced sanctity, that was never altogether free of +the suspicion of a big boisterous laugh behind it. The Methodist local +preachers have been the real guardians and repositories of one side +of the Manx genius, a curious, hybrid thing, deadly earnest, often +howlingly ludicrous, simple, generally sincere, here and there +audaciously hypocritical. Among local preachers I remember some of the +sweetest, purest, truest men that ever walked this world of God; but +I also remember a > man who was brought home from market on Saturday +night, dead drunk, across the bottom of his cart drawn by his faithful +horse, and I saw him in the pulpit next morning, and heard his sermon on +the evils of backsliding. There is a story of the jealousy of two local +preachers. The one went to hear the other preach. The preacher laid out +his subject under a great many heads, firstly, secondly, thirdly, up to +tenthly. His rival down below in the pew spat and _haw'd_ and _tchut'd_ +a good deal, and at last, quite impatient of getting no solid religious +food, cried aloud, "Give us mate, man, give us mate!" Whereupon the +preacher leaned over the pulpit cushion, and said, "Hould on, man, till +I've done with the carving." + +But to tell of Happy Dan, and his wondrous sermon on the Prodigal Son +at the Clover Stones, Lonan, and his discourse on the swine possessed +of devils who went "triddle-traddle, triddle-traddle down the brews and +were clane drownded;" and of the marvellous account of how King David +remonstrated in broadest Manx _patois_ with the "pozzle-tree," for being +blown down; and then of the grim earnestness of a good man who could +never preach on a certain text without getting wet through to the +waistcoat with perspiration--to open the flood-gates of this kind of +Manx story would be to liberate a reservoir that would hardly know an +end, so I must spare you. + + +MANX "CHARACTERS" + +At various points of my narrative I have touched on certain of our +eccentric Manx "characters." But perhaps more interesting than any such +whom I have myself met with are some whom I have known only by repute. +These children of Nature are after all the truest touchstones of a +nation's genius. Crooked, distorted, deformed, they nevertheless, and +perhaps therefore, show clearly the bent of their race. If you are +without brake or curb you may be blind, but you must know when you are +going down hill. The curb of education, and the brake of common-sense +are the surest checks on a people's individuality. And these poor +halfwits of the Manx race, wiser withal than many of the Malvolios who +smile on them so demurely, exhibit the two great racial qualities of +the Manx people--the Celtic and the Norse--in vivid companionship and +contrast. It is an amusing fact that in some wild way the bardic spirit +breaks out in all of them. They are all singers, either of their own +songs, or the songs of others. That surely is the Celtic strain in them. +But their songs are never of the joys of earth or of love, or yet of +war; never, like the rustic poetry of the Scotch, full of pawky humour; +never cynical, never sarcastic; only concerned with the terrors of +judgment and damnation and the place of torment. That, also, may be a +fierce and dark development of the Celtic strain, but I see more of the +Norse spirit in it. When my ancient bard in Glen Rushen took down his +thumb-marked, greasy, discoloured poems from the "lath" against the +open-timbered ceiling, and read them aloud to me in his broad Manx +dialect, with a sing-song of voice and a swinging motion of body, while +the loud hailstorm pelted the window pane and the wind whistled round +the house, I found they were all startling and almost ghastly appeals to +the sinner to shun his evil courses. One of them ran like this: + + +HELL IS HOT. + + O sinner, see your dangerous state, + And think of hell ere 'tis too late; + When worldly cares would drown each thought, + Pray call to mind that hell is hot. + Still to increase your godly fears, + Let this be sounding in your ears, + Still bear in mind that hell is hot, + Remember and forget it not. + + +There was another poem about a congregation of the dead in the region of +the damned: + + I found a reverend parson there, + A congregation too, + Bowed on their bended knees at prayer, + As they were wont to do. + But soon my heart was struck with pain, + I thought it truly odd, + The parson's prayer did not contain + A word concerning God. + +You will remember the Danish book called "Letters from Hell," containing +exactly the same idea, and conclude that the Manx bard was poking fun at +some fashionable yet worldly-minded preacher. But no; he was too much a +child of Nature for that. + +There is not much satire in the Manx character, and next to no cynicism +at all. The true Manxman is white-hot. I have heard of one, John Gale, +called the Manx Burns, who lampooned the upstarts about him, and also of +one, Tom the Dipper, an itinerant Manx bard, who sang at fairs; but in a +general way the Manx bard has been a deadly earnest person, most at home +in churchyards. There was one such, akin in character to my old friend +Billy of Maughold, but of more universal popularity, a quite privileged +pet of everybody, a sort of sacred being, though as crazy as man may be, +called Chalse-a-Killey. Chaise was scarcely a bard, but a singer of +the songs of bards. He was a religious monomaniac, who lived before his +time, poor fellow; his madness would not be seen in him now. The idol +of his crazed heart was Bishop Wilson. He called him _dear_ and _sweet_, +vowed he longed to die, just that he might meet him in heaven; then +Wilson would take him by the hand, and he would tell him all his mind, +and together they would set up a printing press, with the types of +diamonds, and print hymns, and send them back to the Isle of Man. Poor, +'wildered brain, haunted by "half-born thoughts," not all delusions, but +quaint and grotesque. Full of valiant fury, Chaise was always ready to +fight for his distorted phantom of the right. When an uncle of my +own died, whose name I bear, Chaise shocked all the proprieties by +announcing his intention of walking in front of the funeral procession +through the streets and singing his terrible hymns. He would yield to +no persuasion, no appeals, and no threats. He had promised the dead man +that he would do this, and he would not break his oath to save his life. +It was agony to the mourners, but they had to submit. Chaise fulfilled +his vow, walked ten yards in front, sang his fierce music with the tears +streaming from his wild eyes down his quivering face. But the spectacle +let loose no unseemly mirth. Nobody laughed, and surely if the heaven +that Chaise feared was listening and looking down, his crazy voice was +not the last to pierce the dome of it. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown +has written a touching and beautiful poem, "To Chaise in Heaven": + + So you are gone, dear Chaise! + Ah well; it was enough-- + The ways were cold, the ways were rough, + O Heaven! O home! + No more to roam, + Chaise, poor Chaise! + And now it's all so plain, dear Chaise! + So plain-- + The 'wildered brain, + The joy, the pain + The phantom shapes that haunted, + The half-born thoughts that daunted: + All, all is plain, + Dear Chaise! + All is plain. + +***** + + Ah now, dear Chaise! of all the radiant host, + Who loves you most? + I think I know him, kneeling on his knees; + Is it Saint Francis of Assise? + Chaise, poor Chaise. + + +MANX CHARACTERISTICS + +I have rambled on too long about my eccentric Manx characters, and left +myself little space for a summary of the soberer Manx characteristics. +These are independence, modesty, a degree of sloth, a non-sanguine +temperament, pride, and some covetousness. This uncanny combination of +characteristics is perhaps due to our mixed Celtic and Norse blood. Our +independence is pure Norse. I have never met the like of it, except in +Norway, where a Bergen policeman who had hunted all the morning for my +lost umbrella would not take anything for his pains; and in Iceland, +where a poor old woman in a ragged woollen dress, a torn hufa on her +head, torn skin shoes on her feet, and with rheumatism playing visible +havoc all over her body, refused a kroner with the dignity, grave look, +stiffened lips, and proud head that would have become a duchess. But the +Manxman's independence almost reaches a vice. He is so unwilling to owe +anything to any man that he is apt to become self-centred and cold, +and to lose one of the sweetest joys of life--that of receiving great +favours from those we greatly love, between whom and ourselves there is +no such thing as an obligation, and no such thing as a debt. There is +something in the Manxman's blood that makes him hate rank; and though he +has a vast respect for wealth, it must be his own, for he will take off +his hat to nobody else's. + +The modesty of the Manxman reaches shyness, and his shyness is capable +of making him downright rude. One of my friends tells a charming story, +very characteristic of our people, of a conversation with the men of the +herring-fleet. "We were comin' home from the Shetland fishing, ten boats +of us; and we come to an anchor in a bay. And there was a tremenjis fine +castle there, and a ter'ble great lady. Aw, she was a ter'ble kind lady; +she axed the lot of us (eighty men and boys, eight to each boat) to come +up and have dinner with her. So the day come--well, none of us went! +That shy!" My friend reproved them soundly, and said he wished he knew +who the lady was that he might write to her and apologise. Then followed +a long story of how a breeze sprung up and eight of the boats sailed. +After that the crew of the remaining two boats, sixteen men and boys, +went up to the tremenjis great castle, and the ter'ble great lady, and +had tea. If any lady here present knows a lady on the north-west coast +of Scotland who a year or two back invited eighty Manx men and boys to +dinner, and received sixteen to tea, she will redeem the character of +our race if she will explain that it was not because her hospitality was +not appreciated that it was not accepted by our foolish countrymen. + +There is nothing that more broadly indicates the Norse strain in the +Manx character than the non-sanguine temperament of the Manxmen. Where +the pure Celt will hope anything and promise everything, the Manxman +will hope not at all and promise nothing. "Middling" is the commonest +word in a Manxman's mouth. Hardly anything is entirely good, or wholly +bad, but nearly everything is middling. It's a middling fine day, or a +middling stormy one; the sea is middling smooth or middling rough; the +herring harvest is middling big or middling little; a man is never much +more, than middling tired, or middling well, or middling hungry, or +middling thirsty, and the place you are travelling to is alwaya middling +near or middling far. The true Manxman commits himself to nothing. +When Nelson was shot down at Trafalgar, Cowle, a one-armed Manx +quartermaster, caught him in his remaining arm. This was Cowle's story: +"He fell right into my arms, sir. 'Mr. Cowle,' he says, 'do you think I +shall recover?' 'I think, my lord,' I says, 'we had better wait for the +opinion of the medical man.'" Dear old Cowle, that cautious word showed +you were no Irishman, but a downright middling Manxman. + +I have one more story to tell, and that is of Manx pride, which is a +wondrous thing, usually-very ludicrous. A young farming girl who will go +about barefoot throughout the workdays of the week would rather perish +than not dress in grand attire, after her own sort, on Sunday afternoon. +But Manx pride in dress can be very touching and human. When the +lighthouse was built on the Chickens Rock, the men who were to live in +it were transferred from two old lighthouses on the little islet +called the Calf of Man, but their families were left in the disused +lighthouses. Thus the men were parted from their wives and children, but +each could see the house of the other, and on Sunday mornings the wives +in their old lighthouses always washed and dressed the children and made +them "nice" and paraded them to and fro on the platforms in front of +the doors, and the men in their new lighthouse always looked across the +Sound at their little ones through their powerful telescopes. + + +MANX TYPES + +Surely that is a lovely story, full of real sweetness and pathos. +It reminds me that amid many half-types of dubious quality, selfish, +covetous, quarrelsome, litigious, there are at least two types of Manx +character entirely charming and delightful. The one is the best type of +Manx seaman, a true son of the sea, full of wise saws and proverbs, full +of long yarns and wondrous adventures, up to anything, down to anything, +pragmatical, a mighty moralist in his way, but none the less equal to +a round ringing oath; a sapient adviser putting on the airs of a +philosopher, but as simple as the baby of a girl--in a word, dear old +Tom Baynes of "Fo'c's'le Yarns," old salt, old friend, old rip. The +other type is that of the Manx parish patriarch. This good soul it +would be hard to beat among all the peoples of earth. He unites the best +qualities of both sexes; he is as soft and gentle as a dear old woman, +and as firm of purpose as a strong man. Garrulous, full of platitudes, +easily moved to tears by a story of sorrow and as easily taken in, but +beloved and trusted and reverenced by all the little world about him. +I have known him as a farmer, and seen him sitting at the head of his +table in the farm kitchen, with his sons and daughters and men-servants +and women-servants about him, and, save for ribald gossip, no one of +whatever condition abridged the flow of talk for his presence. I have +known him as a parson, when he has been the father of his parish, the +patriarch of his people, the "ould angel" of all the hillside round +about. Such sweetness in his home life, such nobility, such gentle, +old-fashioned ceremoniousness, such delightful simplicity of manners. +Then when two of these "ould angels" met, two of these Parson Adamses, +living in content on seventy pounds a year, such high talk on great +themes, long hour after long hour in the little low-ceiled Vicarage +study, with no light but the wood fire, which glistened on the diamond +window-pane! And when midnight came seeing each other home, spending +half the night walking to and fro from Vicarage to Vicarage, or turning +out to saddle the horse in the field, but (far away "in wandering mazes +lost") going blandly up to the old cow and putting on the blinkers and +saying, "Here he is, sir." Have we anything like all this in England? +Their type is nearly extinct even in the Isle of Man, where they have +longest survived. And indeed they are not the only good things that are +dying out there. + + +LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS + +The island has next to no literary associations, but it would be +unpardonable in a man of letters if he were to forget the few it can +boast. Joseph Train, our historian, made the acquaintance of Scott in +1814, and during the eighteen years following he rendered important +services to "The Great Unknown" as a collector of some of the legendary +stories used as foundations for what were then called the Scotch Novels. +But it is a common error that Train found the groundwork of the Manx +part of "Peveril of the Peak." It was Scott who directed Train to the +Isle of Man as a fine subject for study. Scott's brother Thomas lived +there, and no doubt this was the origin of Scott's interest in the +island. Scott himself never set foot on it. Wordsworth visited the +island about 1823, and he recorded his impressions in various sonnets, +and also in the magnificent lines on Peel Castle--"I was thy neighbour +once, thou rugged pile." He also had a relative living there--Miss +Hutchinson, his sister-in-law. A brother of this lady, a mariner, lies +buried in Braddan churchyard, and his tombstone bears an epitaph which +Wordsworth indited. The poet spent a summer at Peel, pitching his tent +above what is now called Peveril Terrace. One of my friends tried long +ago to pump up from this sapless soil some memory of Wordsworth, but no +one could remember anything about him. Shelley is another poet of whom +there remains no trace in the Isle of Man. He visited the island early +in 1812, being driven into Douglas harbour by contrary winds on his +voyage from Cumberland to Ireland. He was then almost unknown; Harriet +was still with him, and his head was full of political reforms. The +island was in a state of some turmoil, owing to the unpopularity of +the Athols, who still held manorial rights and the patronage of the +Bishopric. The old Norse Constitution was intact, and the House of Keys +was then a self-elected chamber. It is not wonderful that Shelley made +no impression on Man in 1812, but it is surprising that Man seems to +have made no impression on Shelley. It made a very sensible impression +on Hawthorne, who left his record in the "English Note Book." + + +MANX PROGRESS + +I am partly conscious that throughout these lectures I have kept my face +towards the past. That has been because I have been loth to look at the +present, and almost afraid to peep into the future. The Isle of Man is +not now what it was even five-and-twenty years ago. It has become +too English of late. The change has been sudden. Quite within my own +recollection England seemed so far away that there was something beyond +conception moving and impressive in the effect of it and its people upon +the imagination of the Manx. There were only about two steamers a week +between England and the Isle of Man at that time. Now there are about +two a day. There are lines of railway on this little plot of land, which +you might cross on foot between breakfast and lunch, and cover from +end to end in a good day's walk. This is, of course, a necessity of the +altered conditions, as also, no doubt, are the parades, and esplanades, +and promenades, and iron piers, and marine carriage drives, and Eiffel +Tower, and old castles turned into Vauxhall Gardens, and fairy glens +into "happy day" Roshervilles. God forbid that I should grudge the +factory hand his breath of the sea and glimpse of the gorse-bushes; but +I know what price we are paying that we may entertain him. + +Our young Manxman is already feeling the English immigration on his +character. He is not as good a man as his father was before him. I dare +say that in his desire to make everything English that is Manx, he +may some day try to abolish the House of Keys, or at least dig up the +Tynwald Hill. In one fit of intermittent mania, he has already attempted +to "restore" the grand ruins of Peel Castle, getting stones from +Whitehaven, filling up loop-holes, and doing other indecencies with +the great works of the dead. All this could be understood if the young +Manxman were likely to be much the richer for the changes he is bringing +about. But he is not; the money that comes from England is largely taken +by English people, and comes back to England. + + +CONCLUSION + +From these ungracious thoughts let me turn again, in a last word, to +the old island itself, the true Mannin-veg-Veen of the real Manxman. In +these lectures you have seen it only as in flashes from a dark lantern. +I am conscious that an historian would have told you so much more of +solid fact that you might have carried away tangible ideas. Fact is not +my domain, and I shall have to be content if in default of it I have got +you close to that less palpable thing, the living heart of Manx-land, +shown you our island, helped you to see its blue waters and to scent its +golden gorse, and to know the Manxman from other men. Sometimes I have +been half ashamed to ask you to look at our countrymen, so rude are they +and so primitive--russet-coated, currane-shod men and women, untaught, +superstitious, fishing the sea, tilling their stony land, playing next +to no part in the world, and only gazing out on it as a mystery far +away, whereof the rumour comes over the great waters. No great man among +us, no great event in our history, nothing to make us memorable. But I +have been re-assured when I have remembered that, after all, to look on +a life so simple and natural might even be a tonic. Here we are in the +heart of the mighty world, which the true Manxman knows only by vague +report; millions on millions huddled together, enough to make five +hundred Isles of Man, more than all the Manxmen that have lived since +the days of Orry, more than all that now walk on the island, added to +all that rest under it; streets on streets of us, parks on parks, living +a life that has no touch of Nature in the ways of it; save only in our +own breasts, which often rebel against our surroundings, struggling +with weariness under their artificiality, and the wild travesty of what +we are made for. Do what we will, and be what we may, sometimes we feel +the falseness of our ways of life, and surely it is then a good and +wholesome thing to go back in thought to such children of Nature as my +homespun Manx people, and see them where Nature placed them, breathing +the free air of God's proper world, and living the right lives of His +servants, though so simple, poor, and rude. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + +***** This file should be named 25571.txt or 25571.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/7/25571/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/25571.zip b/25571.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ebde06e --- /dev/null +++ b/25571.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d391682 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #25571 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25571) diff --git a/old/25571-h.htm.2021-01-25 b/old/25571-h.htm.2021-01-25 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..22b30b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/25571-h.htm.2021-01-25 @@ -0,0 +1,3769 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Little Manx Nation, by Hall Caine + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Manx Nation - 1891 + +Author: Hall Caine + +Release Date: May 23, 2008 [EBook #25571] +Last Updated: October 6, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE LITTLE MANX NATION + </h1> + <h2> + By Hall Caine + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Published by William Heinemann - 1891 + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary=""> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_TOC"> DETAILED CONTENTS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>THE LITTLE MANX NATION</b></big> + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_CONC"> CONCLUSION </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + To the REVEREND T. S. BROWN, M.A. + </h3> + <p> + You see what I send you—my lectures at the Royal Institution in the + Spring. In making a little book of them I have thought it best to leave + them as they were delivered, with all the colloquialisms that are natural + to spoken words frankly exposed to cold print. This does not help them to + any particular distinction as literature, but perhaps it lends them an + ease and familiarity which may partly atone to you and to all good souls + for their plentiful lack of dignity. I have said so often that I am not an + historian, that I ought to add that whatever history lies hidden here + belongs to Train, our only accredited chronicler, and, even at the risk of + bowing too low, I must needs protest, in our north-country homespun, that + he shall have the pudding if he will also take the pudding-bag. You know + what I mean. At some points our history—especially our early history—is + still so vague, so dubious, so full of mystery. It is all the fault of + little Mannanan, our ancient Manx magician, who enshrouded our island in + mist. Or should I say it is to his credit, for has he not left us through + all time some shadowy figures to fight about, like “rael, thrue, reg’lar” + Manxmen. As for the stories, the “yarns” that lie like flies—like + blue-bottles, like bees, I trust not like wasps—in the amber of the + history, you will see that they are mainly my own. On second thought it + occurs to me that maybe they are mainly yours. Let us say that they are + both yours and mine, or perhaps, if the world finds anything good in them, + any humour, any pathos, any racy touches of our rugged people, you will + permit me to determine their ownership in the way of this paraphrase of + Coleridge’s doggerel version of the two Latin hexameters— + </p> + <p> + “They’re mine and they are likewise yours, But an if that will not do, Let + them be mine, good friend! for I Am the poorer of the two.” + </p> + <p> + Hawthorns, Keswick, June 1891. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_TOC" id="link2H_TOC"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + DETAILED CONTENTS + </h2> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS </a> + </p> + <p> + THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS <br /> Islanders—Our Island—The + Name of our Island—Our History—King <br /> Orry—The + Tynwald—The Lost Saga—The Manx Macbeth—The Manx <br /> + Glo’ster—Scotch and English Dominion—The Stanley Dynasty—Iliam + <br /> Dhoan—The Athol Dynasty—Smuggling and Wrecking—The + Revestment—Home <br /> Rule—Orry’s Sons <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS </a> + </p> + <p> + THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS <br /> The Druids—Conversion to + Christianity—The Early Bishops of <br /> Man—Bishops of the + Welsh Dynasty—Bishops of the Norse Dynasty—Sodor <br /> and + Man—The Early Bishops of the House of Stanley—Tithes in + <br /> Kind—The Gambling Bishop—The Deemsters—The + Bishopric Vacant—Bishop <br /> Wilson—Bishop Wilson’s + Censures—The Great Corn Famine—The Bishop at <br /> Court—Stories + of Bishop Wilson—Quarrels of Church and State—Some <br /> Old + Ordeals—The Herring Fishery—The Fishermen’s Service—Some + Old <br /> Laws—Katherine Kinrade—Bishop Wilson’s last Days—The + Athol Bishops. <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE </a> + </p> + <p> + THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE <br /> The Manx Language—Manx Names—Manx + imagination—Manx Proverbs—Manx <br /> Ballads—Manx + Carols—Decay of the Manx Language—Manx <br /> Superstitions—Manx + Stories—Manx “Characters”—Manx <br /> Characteristics—Manx + Types—Literary Associations—Manx <br /> Progress—Conclusion + <br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE LITTLE MANX NATION + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS + </h2> + <p> + There are just two ideas which are associated in the popular imagination + with the first thought of the Isle of Man. The one is that Manxmen have + three legs, and the other that Manx cats have no tails. But whatever the + popular conception, or misconception, of Man and its people, I shall + assume that what you ask from me is that simple knowledge of simple things + which has come to me by the accident of my parentage. I must confess to + you at the outset that I am not much of a hand at grave history. Facts and + figures I cannot expound with authority. But I know the history of the + Isle of Man, can see it clear, can see it whole, and perhaps it will + content you if I can show you the soul of it and make it to live before + you. In attempting to traverse the history I feel like one who carries a + dark lantern through ten dark centuries. I turn the bull’s eye on this + incident and that, take a peep here and there, a white light now, and then + a blank darkness. Those ten centuries are full of lusty fights, victories, + vanquishments, quarrels, peacemaking, shindies big and little, rumpus + solemn and ridiculous, clouds of dust, regal dust, political dust, and + religious dust—you know the way of it. But beneath it all and behind + it all lies the real, true, living human heart of Manxland. I want to show + it to you, if you will allow me to spare the needful time from facts and + figures. It will get you close to Man and its people, and it is not to be + found in the history books. + </p> + <p> + ISLANDERS + </p> + <p> + And now, first, we Manxmen are islanders. It is not everybody who lives on + an island that is an islander. You know what I mean. I mean by an islander + one whose daily life is affected by the constant presence of the sea. This + is possible in a big island if it is far enough away from the rest of the + world, Iceland, for example, but it is inevitable in a little one. The sea + is always present with Manxmen. Everything they do, everything they say, + gets the colour and shimmer of the sea. The sea goes into their bones, it + comes out at their skin. Their talk is full of it. They buy by it, they + sell by it, they quarrel by it, they fight by it, they swear by it, they + pray by it. Of course they are not conscious of this. Only their + degenerate son, myself to wit, a chiel among them takin’ notes, knows how + the sea exudes from the Manxmen. Say you ask if the Governor is at home. + If he is not, what is the answer? “He’s not on the island, sir.” You + inquire for the best hotel. “So-and-so is the best hotel on the island, + sir.” You go to a Manx fair and hear a farmer selling a cow. “Aw,” says + he, “she’s a ter’ble gran’ craythuer for milkin’, sir, and for butter + maybe there isn’ the lek of her on the island, sir.” Coming out of church + you listen to the talk of two old Manxwomen discussing the preacher. + “Well, well, ma’am, well, well! Aw, the voice at him! and the prayers! and + the beautiful texes! There isn’ the lek of him on the island at all, at + all!” Always the island, the island, the island, or else the boats, and + going out to the herrings. The sea is always present. You feel it, you + hear it, you see it, you can never forget it. It dominates you. Manxmen + are all sea-folk. + </p> + <p> + You will think this implies that Manxmen stick close to their island. They + do more than that. I will tell you a story. Five years ago I went up into + the mountains to seek an old Manx bard, last of a race of whom I shall + have something to tell you in their turn. All his life he had been a poet. + I did not gather that he had read any poetry except his own. Up to seventy + he had been a bachelor. Then this good Boaz had lit on his Ruth and + married, and had many children. I found him in a lonely glen, peopled only + in story, and then by fairies. A bare hill side, not a bush in sight, a + dead stretch of sea in front, rarely brightened by a sail. I had come + through a blinding hail-storm. The old man was sitting in the chimney + nook, a little red shawl round his head and knotted under his chin. Within + this aureole his face was as strong as Savonarola’s, long and gaunt, and + with skin stretched over it like parchment. He was no hermit, but a + farmer, and had lived on that land, man and boy, nearly ninety years. He + had never been off the island, and had strange notions of the rest of the + world. Talked of England, London, theatres, palaces, king’s + entertainments, evening parties. He saw them all through the mists of + rumour, and by the light of his Bible. He had strange notions, some of + them bad shots for the truth, some of them startlingly true. I dare not + tell you what they were. A Royal Institution audience would be aghast. + They had, as a whole, a strong smell of sulphur. But the old bard was not + merely an islander, he belonged to his land more than his land belonged to + him. The fishing town nearest to his farm was Peel, the great fishing + centre on the west coast. It was only five miles away. I asked how long it + was since he had been there? “Fifteen years,” he answered. The next + nearest town was the old capital, on the east coast, Castletown, the home + of the Governor, of the last of the Manx lords, the place of the Castle, + the Court, the prison, the garrison, the College. It was just six miles + away. How long was it since he had been there? “Twenty years.” The new + capital, Douglas, the heart of the island, its point of touch with the + world, was nine miles away. How long since he had been in Douglas? “Sixty + years,” said the old bard. God bless him, the sweet, dear old soul! + Untaught, narrow, self-centred, bred on his byre like his bullocks, but + keeping his soul alive for all that, caring not a ha’porth for the things + of the world, he was a true Manxman, and I’m proud of him. One thing I + have to thank him for. But for him, and the like of him, we should not be + here to-day. It is not the cultured Manxman, the Manxman that goes to the + ends of the earth, that makes the Manx nation valuable to study. Our race + is what it is by virtue of the Manxman who has had no life outside Man, + and so has kept alive our language, our customs, our laws and our + patriarchal Constitution. + </p> + <p> + OUR ISLAND + </p> + <p> + It lies in the middle of the Irish Sea, at about equal distances from + England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Seen from the sea it is a lovely + thing to look upon. It never fails to bring me a thrill of the heart as it + comes out of the distance. It lies like a bird on the waters. You see it + from end to end, and from water’s edge to topmost peak, often enshrouded + in mists, a dim ghost on a grey sea; sometimes purple against the setting + sun. Then as you sail up to it, a rugged rocky coast, grand in its + beetling heights on the south and west, and broken into the sweetest bays + everywhere. The water clear as crystal and blue as the sky in summer. You + can see the shingle and the moss through many fathoms. Then mountains + within, not in peaks, but round foreheads. The colour of the island is + green and gold; its flavour is that of a nut. Both colour and flavour come + of the gorse. This covers the mountains and moorlands, for, except on the + north, the island has next to no trees. But O, the beauty and delight of + it in the Spring! Long, broad stretches glittering under the sun with the + gold of the gorse, and all the air full of the nutty perfume. There is + nothing like it in the world. Then the glens, such fairy spots, deep, + solemn, musical with the slumberous waters, clad in dark mosses, + brightened by the red fuchsia. The fuchsia is everywhere where the gorse + is not. At the cottage doors, by the waysides, in the gardens. If the + gorse should fail the fuchsia might even take its place on the mountains. + Such is Man, but I am partly conscious that it is Man as seen by a + Manxman. You want a drop of Manx blood in you to see it aright. Then you + may go the earth over and see grander things a thousand times, things more + sublime and beautiful, but you will come back to Manxland and tramp the + Mull Hills in May, long hour in, and long hour out, and look at the + flowering gorse and sniff its flavour, or lie by the chasms and listen to + the screams of the sea-birds, as they whirl and dip and dart and skim over + the Sugar-loaf Rock, and you’ll say after all that God has smiled on our + little island, and that it is the fairest spot in His beautiful world, + and, above all, that it is <i>ours</i>. + </p> + <p> + THE NAME OF OUR ISLAND + </p> + <p> + This is a matter in dispute among philologists, and I am no authority. + Some say that Caesar meant the Isle of Man when he spoke of Mona; others + say he meant Anglesea. The present name is modern. So is Elian Vannin, its + Manx equivalent. In the Icelandic Sagas the island is called Mon. + Elsewhere it is called Eubonia. One historian thinks the island derives + its name from Mannin—in being an old Celtic word for island, + therefore Meadhon-in (pronounced Mannin) would signify: The middle island. + That definition requires that the Manxman had no hand in naming Man. He + would never think of describing its geographical situation on the sea. + Manxmen say the island got its name from a mythical personage called + Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Learr, Little Mannanan, son of Learr. This man was a + sort of Prospero, a magician, and the island’s first ruler. The story goes + that if he dreaded an enemy he would enshroud the island in mist, “and + that by art magic.” Happy island, where such faith could ever exist! + Modern science knows that mist, and where it comes from. + </p> + <p> + OUR HISTORY + </p> + <p> + It falls into three periods, first, a period of Celtic rule, second of + Norse rule, third of English dominion. Manx history is the history of + surrounding nations. We have no Sagas of our own heroes. The Sagas are all + of our conquerors. Save for our first three hundred recorded years we have + never been masters in our own house. The first chapter of our history has + yet to be written. We know we were Celts to begin with, but how we came we + have never learnt, whether we walked dry-shod from Wales or sailed in + boats from Ireland. To find out the facts of our early history would be + like digging up the island of Prospero. Perhaps we had better leave it + alone. Ten to one we were a gang of political exiles. Perhaps we left our + country for our country’s good. Be it so. It was the first and last time + that it could be said of us. + </p> + <p> + KING ORRY + </p> + <p> + Early in the sixth century Man became subject to the kings and princes of + Wales, who ruled from Anglesea. There were twelve of them in succession, + and the last of them fell in the tenth century. We know next to nothing + about them but their names. Then came the Vikings. The young bloods of + Scandinavia had newly established their Norse kingdom in Iceland, and were + huckstering and sea roving about the Baltic and among the British Isles. + They had been to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and Faroes, perhaps to + Ireland, certainly to the coast of Cumberland, making Scandinavian + settlements everywhere. So they came to Mön early in the tenth century, + led by one Orry, or Gorree. Some say this man was nothing but a common + sea-rover. Others say he was a son of the Danish or Norwegian monarch. It + does not matter much. Orry had a better claim to regard than that of the + son of a great king. He was himself a great man. The story of his first + landing is a stirring thing. It was night, a clear, brilliant, starry + night, all the dark heavens lit up. Orry’s ships were at anchor behind + him; and with his men he had touched the beach, when down came the Celts + to face him, and to challenge him. They demanded to know where he came + from. Then the red-haired sea-warrior pointed to the milky way going off + towards the North. “That is the way of my country,” he answered. The Celts + went down like one man in awe before him. He was their born king. It is + what the actors call a fine moment. Still, nobody has ever told us how + Orry and the Celts understood one another, speaking different tongues. Let + us not ask. + </p> + <p> + King Orry had come to stay, and sea-warriors do not usually bring their + women over tempestuous seas. So the Norsemen married the Celtic women, and + from that union came the Manx people. Thus the Manxman to begin with was + half Norse, half Celt. He is much the same still. Manxmen usually marry + Manx women, and when they do not, they often marry Cumberland women. As + the Norseman settled in Cumberland as well as in Man the race is not + seriously affected either way. So the Manxman, such as he is, taken all + the centuries through, is thoroughbred. + </p> + <p> + Now what King Orry did in the Isle of Man was the greatest work that ever + was done there. He established our Constitution. It was on the model of + the Constitution just established in Iceland. The government was + representative and patriarchal. The Manx people being sea-folk, living by + the sea, a race of fishermen and sea-rovers, he divided the island into + six ship-shires, now called Sheadings. Each ship-shire elected four men to + an assemblage of law-makers. This assemblage, equivalent to the Icelandic + Logretta, was called the House of Keys. There is no saying what the word + means. Prof. Rhys thinks it is derived from the Manx name <i>Kiare-as-Feed</i>, + meaning the four-and-twenty. Train says the representatives were called + Taxiaxi, signifying pledges or hostages, and consequently were styled + Keys. Vigfusson’s theory was that Keys is from the Norse word <i>Keise</i>, + or chosen men. The common Manx notion, the idea familiar to my own + boyhood, is, that the twenty-four members of the House of Keys are the + twenty-four material keys whereby the closed doors of the law are + unlocked. But besides the sea-folk of the ship-shires King Orry remembered + the Church. He found it on the island at his coming, left it where he + found it, and gave it a voice in the government. He established a Tynwald + Court, equivalent to the Icelandic All Moot, where Church and State sat + together. Then he appointed two law-men, called Deemsters, one for the + north and the other for the south. These were equivalent to his Icelandic + Lögsögumadur, speaker of the law and judge of all offences. Finally, he + caused to be built an artificial Mount of Laws, similar in its features to + the Icelandic Logberg at Thingvellir. Such was the machinery of the Norse + Constitution which King Orry established in Man. The working of it was + very simple. The House of Keys, the people’s delegates, discussed all + questions of interest to the people, and sent up its desires to the + Tynwald Court. This assembly of people and Church in joint session + assented, and the desires of the people became Acts of Tynwald. These Acts + were submitted to the King. Having obtained the King’s sanction they were + promulgated on the Tynwald Hill on the national day in the presence of the + nation. The scene of that promulgation of the laws was stirring and + impressive. Let me describe it. + </p> + <p> + THE TYNWALD + </p> + <p> + Perhaps there were two Tynwald Hills in King Orry’s time, but I shall + assume that there was one only. It stood somewhere about midway in the + island. In the heart of a wide range of hill and dale, with a long valley + to the south, a hill to the north, a table-land to the east, and to the + west the broad Irish Sea. Not, of course, a place to be compared with the + grand and gloomy valley of the Logberg, where in a vast amphitheatre of + dark hills and great jökulls tipped with snow, with deep chasms and + yawning black pits, one’s heart stands still. But the place of the Manx + Tynwald was an impressive spot. The Hill itself was a circular mount cut + into broad steps, the apex being only a few feet in diameter. About it was + a flat grass plot. Near it, just a hundred and forty yards away, connected + with the mount by a beaten path, was a chapel. All around was bare and + solitary, perhaps as bleak and stark as the lonely plains of Thingvellir. + </p> + <p> + Such was the scene. Hither came the King and his people on Tynwald Day. It + fell on the 24th of June, the first of the seven days of the Icelandic + gathering of the Althing. What occurred in Iceland occurred also in Man. + The King with his Keys and his clergy gathered in the chapel. Thence they + passed in procession to the law-rock. On the top round of the Tynwald the + King sat on a chair and faced to the east. His sword was held before him, + point upwards. His barons and beneficed men, his deemsters, knights, + esquires, coroners, and yeomen, stood on the lower steps of the mount. On + the grass plot beyond the people were gathered in crowds. Then the work of + the day began. The coroners proclaimed a warning. No man should make + disturbance at Tynwald on pain of death. Then the Acts of Tynwald were + read or recited aloud by the deemsters; first in the language of the laws, + and next in the language of the people. After other formalities the + procession of the King returned to the chapel, where the laws were signed + and attested, and so the annual Tynwald ended. + </p> + <p> + Now this primitive ceremonial, begun by King Orry early in the tenth + century, is observed to this day. On Midsummer-day of this year of grace a + ceremony similar in all its essentials will be observed by the present + Governor, his Keys, clergy, deemsters, coroners, and people, on or near + the same spot. It is the old Icelandic ordinance, but it has gone from + Iceland. The year 1800 saw the last of it on the lava law-rock of + Thingvellir. It is gone from every other Norse kingdom founded by the old + sea-rovers among the Western Isles. Manxmen alone have held on to it. + Shall we also let it go? Shall we laugh at it as a bit of mummery that is + useless in an age of books and newspapers, and foolish and pompous in days + of frock-coats and chimney-pot hats? I think not. We cannot afford to lose + it. Remember, it is the last visible sign of our independence as a nation. + It is our hand-grasp with the past. Our little nation is the only Norse + nation now on earth that can shake hands with the days of the Sagas, and + the Sea-Kings. Then let him who will laugh at our primitive ceremonial. It + is the badge of our ancient liberty, and we need not envy the man who can + look on it unmoved. + </p> + <p> + THE LOST SAGA + </p> + <p> + Of King Orry himself we learn very little. He was not only the first of + our kings, but also the greatest. We may be sure of that; first, by what + we know; and next, by what we do not know. He was a conqueror, and yet we + do not learn that he ever attempted to curtail the liberties of his + subjects. He found us free men, and did not try to make us slaves. On the + contrary, he gave us a representative Constitution, which has lasted a + thousand years. We might call him our Manx King Alfred, if the + indirections of history did not rather tempt us to christen him our Manx + King Lear. His Saga has never been written, or else it is lost. Would that + we could recover it! Oh, that imagination had the authority of history to + vitalise the old man and his times! I seem to see him as he lived. There + are hints of his character in his laws, that are as stage directions, + telling of the entrances and exits of his people, though the drama of + their day is gone. For example, in that preliminary warning of the coroner + at Tynwald, there is a clause which says that none shall “bawl or quarrel + or lye or lounge or sit.” Do you not see what that implies? Again, there + is another clause which forbids any man, “on paine of life and lyme,” to + make disturbance or stir in the time of Tynwald, or any murmur or rising + in the king’s presence. Can you not read between the lines of that edict? + Once more, no inquest of a deemster, no judge or jury, was necessary to + the death-sentence of a man who rose against the king or his governor on + his seat on Tynwald. Nobody can miss the meaning of that. Once again, it + was a common right of the people to present petitions at Tynwald, a common + privilege of persons unjustly punished to appeal against judgment, and a + common prerogative of outlaws to ask at the foot of the Tynwald Mount on + Tynwald Day for the removal of their outlawry. All these old rights and + regulations came from Iceland, and by the help of the Sagas it needs no + special imagination to make the scenes of their action live again. I seem + to see King Orry sitting on his chair on the Tynwald with his face towards + the east. He has long given up sea-roving. + </p> + <p> + His long red hair is become grey or white. But the old lion has the + muscles and fiery eye of the warrior still. His deemsters and barons are + about him, and his people are on the sward below. They are free men; they + mean to have their rights, both from him and from each other. Disputes run + high, there are loud voices, mighty oaths, sometimes blows, fights, and + terrific hurly-burlies. Then old Orry comes down with a great voice and a + sword, and ploughs a way through the fighters and scatters them. No man + dare lift his hand on the king. Peace is restored, and the king goes back + to his seat. + </p> + <p> + Then up from the valley comes a woe-begone man in tatters, grim and gaunt + and dirty, a famished and hunted wolf. He is an outlaw, has killed a man, + is pursued in a blood-feud, and asks for relief of his outlawry. And so on + and so on, a scene of rugged, lusty passions, hate and revenge, but also + love and brotherhood; drinking, laughing, swearing, fighting, savage vices + but also savage virtues, noble contempt of death, and magnificent + self-sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + The chapter is lost, but we know what it must have been. King Orry was its + hero. Our Manx Alfred, our Manx Arthur, our Manx Lear. Then room for him + among our heroes! he must stand high. + </p> + <p> + THE MANX MACBETH + </p> + <p> + The line of Orry came to an end at the beginning of the eleventh century. + Scotland was then under the sway of the tyrant Macbeth, and, oddly enough, + a parallel tragedy to that of Duncan and his kinsman was being enacted in + Man. A son of Harold the Black, of Iceland, Goddard Crovan, a mighty + soldier, conquered the island and took the crown by treachery, coming + first as a guest of the Manx king. Treachery breeds treachery, duplicity + is a bad seed to sow for loyalty, and the Manx people were divided in + their allegiance. About twenty years after Crovan’s conquest the people of + the south of the island took up arms against the people of the north, and + the story goes that, when victory wavered, the women of the north rushed + out to the help of their husbands, and so won the fight. For that day’s + work, the northern wives were given the right to half of all their + husband’s goods immovable, while the wives of the south had only a third. + The last of the line of Goddard Crovan died in 1265, and so ended the + dynasty of the Norsemen in Man. They had been three hundred years there. + They found us a people of the race and language of the people of Ireland, + and they left us Manxmen. They were our only true Manx kings, and when + they fell, our independence as a nation ceased. + </p> + <p> + THE MANX GLO’STER + </p> + <p> + Then the first pretender to the throne was one Ivar, a murderer, a sort of + Richard III., not all bad, but nearly all; said to possess virtues enough + to save the island and vices enough to ruin it. The island was surrendered + to Scotland by treaty with Norway. The Manx hated the Scotch. They knew + them as a race of pirates. Some three centuries later there was one Cutlar + MacCullock, whose name was a terror, so merciless were his ravages. Over + the cradles of their infants the Manx mothers sang this song:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + God keep the good corn, the sheep and the bullocks, + From Satan, from sin and from Cutlar MacCullock. +</pre> + <p> + Bad as Ivar was, the Scotch threatened to be worse. + </p> + <p> + So the Manx, fearing that their kingdom might become a part of the kingdom + of Scotland, supported Ivar. They were beaten. Ivar was a brave tiger, and + died fighting. + </p> + <p> + SCOTCH AND ENGLISH DOMINION + </p> + <p> + Man was conquered, and the King of Scotland appointed a lieutenant to rule + the island. But the Manx loved the Scotch no better as masters than as + pirates, and they petitioned the English king, Edward I., to take them + under his protection. He came, and the Scotch were driven out. But King + Robert Bruce reconquered the island for the Scotch. Yet again the island + fell to English dominion. This was in the time of Henry IV. It is a sorry + story. Henry gave the island to the Earl of Salisbury. Salisbury sold it + to one Sir William le Scroop. A copy of the deed of sale exists. It puts a + Manxman’s teeth on edge. “With all the right of being crowned with a + golden crown.” Scroop was beheaded by Henry, who confiscated his estate, + and gave the island to the Earl of Northumberland. It is a silly + inventory, but let us get through with it. Northumberland was banished, + and finally Henry made a grant of the island to Sir John de Stanley. This + was in 1407. Thus there had been four Kings of Man—not one of whom + had, so far as I know, set foot on its soil—three grants of the + island, and one miserable sale. Where the carcase is, there will the + eagles be gathered together. + </p> + <p> + THE STANLEY DYNASTY + </p> + <p> + When the crown came to Sir John Stanley he was in no hurry to put it on. + He paid no heed to his Manx subjects, and never saw his Manx kingdom. I + dare say he thought the gift horse was something of a white elephant. No + wonder if he did, for words could not exaggerate the wretched condition of + the island and its people. The houses of the poor were hovels built of + sod, with floors of clay, and sooty rafters of briar and straw and dried + gorse. The people were hardly better fed than their beasts. So Stanley + left the island alone. It will be interesting to mark how different was + the mood of his children, and his children’s children. The second Stanley + went over to Man and did good work there. He promulgated our laws, and had + them written down for the first time—they had hitherto been locked + in the breasts of the deemsters in imitation of the practice of the + Druids. The line of the Stanleys lasted more than three hundred years. + Their rule was good for the island. They gave the tenants security of + tenure, and the landowners an act of settlement. They lifted the material + condition of our people, gave us the enjoyment of our venerable laws, and + ratified our patriarchal Constitution. Honour to the Stanleys of the Manx + dynasty! They have left a good mark on Man. + </p> + <p> + ILIAM DHOAN + </p> + <p> + And now I come to the one incident in modern Manx history which shares, + with the three legs of Man and the Manx cat, the consciousness of + everybody who knows anything about our island and its people. This is the + incident of the betrayal of Man and the Stanleys to the Parliament in the + time of Cromwell. It was a stirring drama, and though the curtain has long + fallen on it, the dark stage is still haunted by the ghosts of its + characters. Chief among these was William Christian, the Manxman called + Iliam Dhoan, Brown William, a familiar name that seems to hint of a fine + type of man. You will find him in “Peveril of the Peak.” He is there mixed + up with Edward Christian, a very different person, just as Peel Castle is + mixed up with Castle Rushen, consciously no doubt, and with an eye to + imaginative effects, for Scott had a brother in the Isle of Man who could + have kept him from error if fact had been of any great consequence in the + novelist’s reckoning. + </p> + <p> + Christian was Receiver-General, a sort of Chancellor of the Exchequer, for + the great Earl of Derby. The Earl had faith in him, and put nearly + everything under his command that fell within the province of his + lordship. Then came the struggle with Rigby at Latham House, and the + imprisonment of the Earl’s six children by Fairfax. The Manx were against + the Parliament, and subscribed £500, probably the best part of the money + in the island, in support of the king. Then the Earl of Derby left the + island with a body of volunteers, and in going away committed his wife to + the care of Christian. You know what happened to him. He was taken + prisoner in Lancashire, charged with bearing arms for Charles Stuart and + holding the Isle of Man against the Commons, condemned, and executed at + Bolton. + </p> + <p> + With the forfeiture of the Earl the lordship of the island was granted by + Parliament to Lord Fairfax. He sent an army to take possession, but the + Countess-Dowager still held the island. Christian commanded the Manx + militia. At this moment the Manx people showed signs of disaffection. They + suddenly remembered two grievances, one was a grievance of land tenure, + the other was that a troop of soldiers was kept at free quarterage. I + cannot but wish they had bethought them of both a little earlier. They + formed an association, and broke into rebellion against the + Countess-Dowager within eight days of the Earl’s execution. Perhaps they + did not know of the Earl’s death, for news travelled slowly over sea in + those days. But at least they knew of his absence. As a Manxman I am not + proud of them. + </p> + <p> + During these eight days Mr. Receiver-General had begun to trim his sails. + He had a lively wit, and saw which way things were going. Rumour says he + was at the root of the secret association. Be that as it may, he carried + the demands of the people to the Countess. She had no choice but to yield. + The troops were disbanded. It was a bad victory. + </p> + <p> + A fortnight before, when her husband lay under his death sentence, the + Countess had offered the island in exchange for his life. So now Mr. + Receiver-General used this act of love against her. He seized some of the + forts, saying the Countess was selling the island to the Parliament. Then + the army of the Parliament landed, and Christian straightway delivered the + island up to it, protesting that he had taken the forts on its behalf. + Some say the Countess was imprisoned in the vaults of the Castle. Others + say she had a free pass to England. So ended act one. + </p> + <p> + When the act-drop rose on act two, Mr. Receiver-General was in office + under the Parliament. From the place of Receiver-General he was promoted + to the place of Governor. He had then the money of the island under his + control, and he used it badly. Deficits were found in his accounts. He + fled to London, was arrested for a large debt, and clapped into the Fleet. + Then the Commonwealth fell, the Dowager Countess went upstairs again, and + Charles II. restored the son of the great Earl to the lordship of Man. + After that came the Act of Indemnity, a general pardon for all who had + taken part against the royal cause. Thereupon Christian went back to the + Isle of Man, was arrested on a charge of treason to the Countess-Dowager + of Derby, pleaded the royal act of general pardon against all proceedings + libelled against him, was tried by the House of Keys, and condemned to + death. So ended act two. + </p> + <p> + Christian had a nephew, Edward Christian, who was one of the two + deemsters. This man dissented from the voice of the court, and hastened to + London to petition the king. Charles is said to have heard his plea, and + to have sent an order to suspend sentence. Some say the order came too + late; some say the Governor had it early enough and ignored it. At all + events Christian was shot. He protested that he had never been anything + but a faithful servant to the Derbys, and made a brave end. The place of + his execution was Hango Hill, a bleak, bare stretch of land with the broad + sea Under it. The soldiers wished to bind Christian. “Trouble not + yourselves for me,” he said, “for I that dare face death in whatever shape + he comes, will not start at your fire and bullets.” He pinned a piece of + white paper on his breast, and said: “Hit this, and you do your own work + and mine.” Then he stretched forth his arms as a signal, was shot through + the heart, and fell. Such was the end of Brown William. He may have been a + traitor, but he was no coward. + </p> + <p> + When the chief actor in the tragedy had fallen, King Charles appeared, as + Fortinbras appears in “Hamlet,” to make a review and a reckoning, and to + take the spoils. He ordered the Governor, the remaining Deemsters, and + three of the Keys to be brought before him, pronounced the execution of + Christian to be a violation of his general pardon, and imposed severe + penalties of fine and imprisonment. “The rest” in this drama has not been + “silence.” One long clamour has followed. Christian’s guilt has been + questioned, the legality of his trial has been disputed, the validity of + Charles’s censure of the judges has been denied. The case is a mass of + tangle, as every case must be that stands between the two stools of the + Royal cause and the Commonwealth. But I shall make bold to summarise the + truth in a very few words: + </p> + <p> + First, that Christian was untrue to the house of Derby is as clear as + noonday. If he had been their loyal servant he could never have taken + office under the Parliament. + </p> + <p> + Second, though untrue to the Countess-Dowager, Christian could not be + guilty of treason to her, because she had ceased to be the sovereign when + her husband was executed. Fairfax was then the Lord of Man, and Christian + was guilty of no treason to him. + </p> + <p> + Third, whether true or untrue to the Countess-Dowager, the act of pardon + had nothing on earth to do with Christian, who was not charged with + treason to King Charles, but to the Manx reigning family. The Isle of Man + was not a dominion of England, and if Charles’s order had arrived before + Christian’s execution, the Governor, Keys, and Deemster would have been + fully justified in shooting the man in defiance of the king. + </p> + <p> + I feel some diffidence in offering this opinion, but I can have none + whatever in saying what I think of Christian. My fellow Manxmen are for + the most part his ardent supporters. They affirm his innocence, and + protest that he was a martyr-hero, declaring that at least he met his fate + by asserting the rights of his countrymen. I shall not hesitate to say + that I read the facts another way. This is how I see the man: + </p> + <p> + First, he was a servant of the Derbys, honoured, empowered, entrusted with + the care of his mistress, the Countess, when his master, the Earl, left + the island to fight for the king. Second, eight days after his master’s + fate, he rose in rebellion against his mistress and seized some of the + forts of defence. Third, he delivered the island to the army of the + Parliament, and continued to hold his office under it. Fourth, he robbed + the treasury of the island and fled from his new masters, the Parliament. + Fifth, when the new master fell he chopped round, became a king’s man once + more, and returned to the island on the strength of the general pardon. + Sixth, when he was condemned to death he, who had held office under the + Parliament, protested that he had never been anything but a faithful + servant to the Derbys. + </p> + <p> + Such is Christian. <i>He</i> a hero! No, but a poor, sorry, knock-kneed + time-server. A thing of rags and patches. A Manx Vicar of Bray. Let us + talk of him as little as we may, and boast of him not at all. Man and + Manxmen have no need ol him. No, thank God, we can tell of better men. Let + us turn his picture to the wall. + </p> + <p> + THE ATHOL DYNASTY + </p> + <p> + The last of the Stanleys of the Manx dynasty died childless in 1735, and + then the lordship of Man devolved by the female line on the second Duke of + Athol by right of his grandmother, who was a daughter of the great Earl of + Derby. There is little that is good to say of the Lords of the House of + Athol except that they sold the island. Almost the first, and quite the + best, thing they did on coming to Man, was to try to get out of it. Let us + make no disguise of the clear truth. The Manx Athols were bad, and nearly + everything about them was bad. Never was the condition of the island so + abject as during their day. Never were the poor so poor. Never was the + name of Manxman so deservedly a badge of disgrace. The chief dishonour was + that of the Athols. They kept a swashbuckler court in their little Manx + kingdom. Gentlemen of the type of Barry Lyndon overran it. Captain + Macheaths, Jonathan Wilds, and worse, were masters of the island, which + was now a refuge for debtors and felons. Roystering, philandering, + gambling, fighting, such was the order of things. + </p> + <p> + What days they had! What nights! His Grace of Athol was himself in the + thick of it all. He kept a deal of company, chiefly rogues and rascals. + For example, among his “lord captains” was one Captain Fletcher. This Blue + Beard had a magnificent horse, to which, when he was merry, he made his + wife, who was a religious woman, kneel down and say her prayers. The + mother of my friend, the Reverend T. E. Brown, came upon the dead body of + one of these Barry Lyndons, who had fallen in a duel, and the blue mark + was on the white forehead, where the pistol shot had been. I remember to + have heard of another Sir Lucius O’Trigger, whose body lay exposed in the + hold of a fishing-smack, while a parson read the burial service from the + quay. This was some artifice to prevent seizure for debt. Oh, these good + old times, with their soiled and dirty splendours! There was no lively + chronicler, no Pepys, no Walpole then, to give us a picture of the Court + of these Kings of Man. What a picture it must have been! Can you not see + it? The troops of gentlemen debtors from the Coffee Houses of London, with + their periwigs, their canes, and fine linen; down on their luck, but still + beruffled, besnuffed, and red-heeled. I can see them strutting with noses + up, through old Douglas market-place on market morning, past the Manx folk + in their homespun, their curranes and undyed stockings. Then out at Mount + Murray, the home of the Athols, their imitations of Vauxhall, torches, + dancings, bows and congés, bankrupt shows, perhaps, but the bankrupt + Barrys making the best of them—one seems to see it all. And then + again, their genteel quarrels—quarrels were easily bred in that + atmosphere. “Sir, I have the honour to tell you that you are a pimp, + lately escaped from the Fleet.” “My lord, permit me to say that you lie, + that you are the son of a lady, and were born in a sponging-house.” Then + out leapt the weapons, and presently two men were crossing swords under + the trees, and by-and-by one of them was left under the moonlight, with + the shadow of the leaves playing on his white face. + </p> + <p> + Poor gay dogs, they are dead! The page of their history is lost. Perhaps + that is just as well. It must have been a dark page, maybe a little red + too, even as blood runs red. You can see the scene of their revelries. It + is an inn now. The walls seem to echo to their voices. But the tables they + ate at are like themselves—worm-eaten. + </p> + <p> + Good-bye to them! They have gone over the Styx. + </p> + <p> + SMUGGLING AND WRECKING + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, what of the Manx people? Their condition was pitiful. An author + who wrote fifty years after the advent of the Athols gives a description + of such misery that one’s flesh creeps as one reads it. Badly housed, + badly clad, badly fed, and hardly taught at all, the very poor were in a + state of abjectness unfit for dogs. Treat men as dogs and they speedily + acquire the habits of dogs, the vices of dogs, and none of their virtues. + That was what happened to a part of the Manx people; they developed the + instincts of dogs, while their masters, the other dogs, the gay dogs, were + playing their bad game together. Smuggling became common on the coasts of + Man. Spirits and tobacco were the goods chiefly smuggled, and the illicit + trade rose to a great height. There was no way to check it. The island was + an independent kingdom. My lord of Athol swept in the ill-gotten gains, + and his people got what they could. It was a game of grab. Meantime the + trade of the surrounding countries, England, Wales, and Ireland, was + suffering grievously. The name of the island must have smelt strong in + those days. + </p> + <p> + But there was a fouler odour than that of smuggling. Wrecking was not + unknown. The island lent itself naturally to that evil work. The mists of + Little Mannanan, son of Lear, did not forsake our island when Saint + Patrick swept him out of it. They continued to come up from the south, and + to conspire with the rapid currents from the north to drive ships on to + our rocks. Our coasts were badly lighted, or lighted not at all. An open + flare stuck out from a pole at the end of a pier was often all that a + dangerous headland had to keep vessels away from it. Nothing was easier + than for a fishing smack to run down pole and flare together, as if by + accident, on returning to harbour. But there was a worse danger than bad + lights, and that was false lights. It was so easy to set them. Sometimes + they were there of themselves, without evil intention of any human soul, + luring sailors to their destruction. Then when ships came ashore it was so + easy to juggle with one’s conscience and say it was the will of God, and + no bad doings of any man’s. The poor sea-going men were at the bottom of + the sea by this time, and their cargo was drifting up with the tide, so + there was nothing to do but to take it. Such was the way of things. The + Manxman could find his excuses. He was miserably poor, he had bad masters, + smuggling was his best occupation, his coasts were indifferently lighted, + ships came ashore of themselves—what was he to do? That the name of + Manxman did not become a curse, an execration, and a reproach in these + evil days of the Athols seems to say that behind all this wicked work + there were splendid virtues doing noble duty somewhere. The real sap, the + true human heart of Manxland, was somehow kept alive. Besides cut-throats + in ruffles, and wreckers in homespun, there were true, sweet, + simple-hearted people who would not sell their souls to fill their mouths. + </p> + <p> + Does it surprise you that some of all this comes within the memory of men + still living? I am myself well within the period of middle life, and, + though too young to touch these evil days, I can remember men and women + who must have been in the thick of them. On the north of the island is + Kirk Maughold Head, a bold, rugged headland going far out into the sea. + Within this rocky foreland lie two bays, sweet coverlets of blue waters, + washing a shingly shore under shelter of dark cliffs. One of these bays is + called Port-y-Vullin, and just outside of it, between the mainland and the + head, is a rock, known as the Carrick, a treacherous grey reef, visible at + low water, and hidden at flood-tide. On the low <i>brews</i> of + Port-y-Vullin stood two houses, the one a mill, worked by the waters + coming down from the near mountain of Barrule, the other a weaver’s + cottage. Three weavers lived together there, all bachelors, and all old, + and never a woman or child among them—Jemmy of eighty years, Danny + of seventy, and Billy of sixty something. Year in, year out, they worked + at their looms, and early or late, whenever you passed on the road behind, + you heard the click of them. Fishermen coming back to harbour late at + night always looked for the light of their windows. “Yander’s + Jemmy-Danny-Billy’s,” they would say, and steer home by that landmark. But + the light which guided the native seamen misled the stranger, and many a + ship in the old days was torn to pieces on the jagged teeth of that + sea-lion, the Carrick. Then, hearing loud human cries above the shrieks of + wind and wave, the three helpless old men would come tottering down to the + beach, like three innocent witches, trembling and wailing, holding each + other’s hands like little children, and never once dreaming of what bad + work the candles over their looms had done. + </p> + <p> + But there were those who were not so guileless. Among them was a sad old + salt, whom I shall call Hommy-Billy-mooar, Tommy, son of big Billy. Did I + know him, or do I only imagine him as I have heard of him? I cannot say, + but nevertheless I see him plainly. One of his eyes was gone, and the + other was badly damaged. His face was of stained mahogany, one side of his + mouth turned up, the other side turned down, he could laugh and cry + together. He was half landsman, tilling his own croft, half seaman, going + out with the boats to the herrings. In his youth he had sailed on a + smuggler, running in from Whitehaven with spirits. The joy of “the trade,” + as they called smuggling, was that a man could buy spirits at two + shillings a gallon for sale on the island, and drink as much as he “plazed + abooard for nothin’.” When Hommy married, he lived in a house near the + church, the venerable St. Maughold away on the headland, with its lonely + churchyard within sound of the sea. + </p> + <p> + There on tempestuous nights the old eagle looked out from his eyrie on the + doings of the sea, over the back of the cottage of the old weavers to the + Carrick. If anything came ashore he awakened his boys, scurried over to + the bay, seized all they could carry, stole back home, hid his treasures + in the thatch of the roof, or among the straw of the loft, went off to + bed, and rose in the morning with an innocent look, and listened to the + story of last night’s doings with a face full of surprise. They say that + Hommy carried on this work for years, and though many suspected, none + detected him, not even his wife, who was a good Methodist. The poor woman + found him out at last, and, being troubled with a conscience, she died, + and Hommy buried her in Kirk Maughold churchyard, and put a stone over her + with a good inscription. Then he went on as before. But one morning there + was a mighty hue and cry. A ship had been wrecked on the Carrick, and the + crew who were saved had seen some rascals carrying off in the darkness + certain rolls of Irish cloth which they had thrown overboard. Suspicion + lit on Hommy and his boys. Hommy was quite hurt. “Wrecking was it? Lord + a-massy! To think, to think!” Revenue officers were to come to-morrow to + search his house. Those rolls of Irish cloth were under the thatch, above + the dry gorse stored up on the “lath” in his cowhouse. That night he + carried them off to the churchyard, took up the stone from over his wife’s + grave, dug the grave open and put in the cloth. Next day his one eye wept + a good deal while the officers of revenue made their fruitless search. “Aw + well, well, did they think because a man was poor he had no feelings?” + Afterwards he pretended to become a Methodist, and then he removed the + cloth from his wife’s grave because he had doubts about how she could rise + in the resurrection with such a weight on her coffin. Poor old Hommy, he + came to a bad end. He spent his last days in jail in Castle Rushen. A + one-eyed mate of his told me he saw him there. Hommy was unhappy. He said + “Castle Rushen wasn’t no place for a poor man when he was gettin’ anyways + ould.” + </p> + <p> + THE REVESTMENT + </p> + <p> + It is hardly a matter for much surprise that the British Government did + what it could to curb the smuggling that was rife in Man in the days of + the Athols. The bad work had begun in the days of the Derbys, when an Act + was passed which authorised the Earl of Derby to dispose of his royalty + and revenue in the island, and empowered the Lords of the Treasury to + treat with him for the sale of it. The Earl would not sell, and when the + Duke of Athol was asked to do so, he tried to put matters off. But the + evil had by this time grown so grievously that the British Government + threatened to strip the Duke without remuneration. Then he agreed to + accept £70,000 as compensation for the absolute surrender of the island. + He was also to have £2000 out of the Irish revenue, which, as well as the + English revenue, was to benefit by the suppression of the clandestine + trade. This was in exchange for some £6000 a year which was the Duke’s + Manx revenue, much of it from duties and customs paid in goods which were + afterwards smuggled into England, Ireland, and Scotland. So much for his + Grace of Athol. Of course the Manx people got nothing. The thief was + punished, the receiver was enriched; it is the way of the world. + </p> + <p> + In our history of Man, we call this sweet transaction, which occurred in + 1765, “The Revestment,” meaning the revesting of the island in the crown + of England. Our Manx people did not like it at all. I have heard a rugged + old song on the subject sung at Manx inns: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + For the babes unborn shall rue the day + When the Isle of Man was sold away; + And there’s ne’er an old wife that loves a dram + But she will lament for the Isle of Man. +</pre> + <p> + Clearly drams became scarce when “the trade” was put down. But, indeed, + the Manx had the most strange fears and ludicrous sorrows. The one came of + their anxiety about the fate of their ancient Constitution, the other came + of their foolish generosity. They dreaded that the government of the + island would be merged into that of England, and they imagined that + because the Duke of Athol had been compelled to surrender, he had been + badly treated. Their patriotism was satisfied when the Duke of Athol was + made Governor-in-Chief under the English crown, for then it was clear that + they were to be left alone; but their sympathy was moved to see him come + back as servant who had once been lord. They had disliked the Duke of + Athol down to that hour, but they forgot their hatred in sight of his + humiliation, and when he landed in his new character, they received him + with acclamations. I am touched by the thought of my countrymen’s + unselfish conduct in that hour; but I thank God I was not alive to witness + it. + </p> + <p> + I should have shrieked with laughter. The absurdity of the situation + passes the limits even of a farce. A certain Duke, who had received £6000 + a year, whereof a large part came of an immoral trade, had been to London + and sold his interest in it for £70,000, because if he had not taken that, + he would probably have got nothing. With thirteen years’ purchase of his + insecure revenue in his pocket, and £2000 a year promised, and his salary + as Governor-in-Chief besides, he returns to the island where half the + people are impoverished by his sale of the island, and nobody else has + received a copper coin, and everybody is doomed to pay back interest on + what the Duke has received! What is the picture? The Duke lands at the old + jetty, and there his carriage is waiting to take him to the house, where + he and his have kept swashbuckler courts, with troops of fine gentlemen + debtors from London. The Manxmen forget everything except that his dignity + is reduced. They unyoke his horses, get into his shafts, drag him through + the streets, toss up their caps and cry hurrah! hurrah! One seems to see + the Duke sitting there with his arms folded, and his head on his breast. + He can’t help laughing. The thing is too ridiculous. Oh, if Swift had been + there to see it, what a scorching satire we should have had! + </p> + <p> + But the Athols soon spirited away their popularity. First they clamoured + for a further sum on account of the lost revenues, and they got it. Then + they tried to appropriate part of the income of the clergy. Again, they + put members of their family into the bishopric, and one of them sold his + tithes to a factor who tried to extort them by strong measures, which led + to green crop riots. In the end, their gross selfishness, which thought of + their own losses but forgot the losses of the people, raised such open + marks of aversion in the island that they finally signified to the king + their desire to sell all their remaining rights, their land and manorial + rights. This they did in 1829, receiving altogether, for custom, revenue, + tithes, patronage of the bishopric, and quit rents, the sum of £416,000. + Such was the value to the last of the Athols of the Manx dynasty, of that + little hungry island of the Irish Sea, which Henry IV. gave to the + Stanleys, and Sir John de Stanley did not think worth while to look at. So + there was an end of the House of Athol. Exit the House of Athol! The play + goes on without them. + </p> + <p> + HOME RULE + </p> + <p> + It might be said that with the final sale of 1829 the history of the Isle + of Man came to a close. Since then we have been in the happy condition of + the nation without a history. Man is now a dependency of the English + crown. The crown is represented by a Lieutenant-Governor. Our old Norse + Constitution remains. We have Home Rule, and it works well. The Manx + people are attached to the throne of England, and her Majesty has not more + loyal subjects in her dominions. We are deeply interested in Imperial + affairs, but we have no voice in them. I do not think we have ever dreamt + of a day when we should send representatives to Westminster. Our + sympathies as a nation are not altogether, I think, with the party of + progress. We are devoted to old institutions, and hold fast to such of + them as are our own. All this is, perhaps, what you would expect of a race + of islanders with our antecedents. + </p> + <p> + Our social history has not been brilliant. I do not gather that the Isle + of Man was ever Merry Man. Not even in its gayest days do we catch any + note of merriment amid the rumpus of its revelries. It is an odd thing + that woman plays next to no part whatever in the history of the island. + Surely ours is the only national pie in which woman has not had a finger. + In this respect the island justifies the ungallant reading of its name—it + is distinctly the Isle of Man. Not even amid the glitter and gewgaws of + our Captain Macheaths do you catch the glint of the gown of a Polly. No + bevy of ladies, no merry parties, no pageants worthy of the name. No, our + social history gives no idea of Merry Man. + </p> + <p> + Our civil history is not glorious. We are compelled to allow that it has + no heroism in it. There has been no fight for principle, no brave + endurance of wrong. Since the days of Orry, we have had nothing to tell in + Saga, if the Sagaman were here. We have played no part in the work of the + world. The great world has been going on for ten centuries without taking + much note of us. We are a little nation, but even little nations have held + their own. We have not. + </p> + <p> + One great king we have had, King Orry. He gave us our patriarchal + Constitution, and it is a fine thing. It combines most of the best + qualities of representative government. Its freedom is more free than that + of some republics. The people seem to be more seen, and their voice more + heard, than in any other form of government whose operation I have + witnessed. Yet there is nothing noisy about our Home Rule. And this + Constitution we have kept alive for a thousand years, while it has died + out of every other Norse kingdom. That is, perhaps, our highest national + honour. We may have played a timid part; we may have accepted rulers from + anywhere; we may never have made a struggle for independence; and no + Manxman may ever have been strong enough to stand up alone for his people. + It is like our character that we have taken things easily, and instead of + resisting our enemies, or throwing them from our rocky island into the + sea, we have been law abiding under lawless masters and peaceful under + oppression. But this one thing we have done: we have clung to our + patriarchal Constitution, not caring a ha’p’orth who administered our laws + so long as the laws were our own. That is something; I think it is a good + deal. It means that through many changes undergone by the greater peoples + of the world, we are King Orry’s men still. Let me in a last word tell you + a story which shows what that description implies. + </p> + <p> + ORRY’S SONS + </p> + <p> + On the west coast of the Isle of Man stands the town of Peel. It is a + little fishing port, looking out on the Irish Sea. To the north of it + there is a broad shore, to the south lies the harbour with a rocky + headland called Contrary Head; in front—until lately divided from + the mainland by a narrow strait—is a rugged island rock. On this + rock stand the broken ruins of a castle, Peel Castle, and never did castle + stand on a grander spot. The sea flows round it, beating on the jagged + cliffs beneath, and behind it are the wilder cliffs of Contrary. In the + water between and around Contrary contrary currents flow, and when the + wind is high they race and prance there like an unbroken horse. It is a + grand scene, but a perilous place for ships. + </p> + <p> + One afternoon in October of 1889 a Norwegian ship (strange chance!), the + <i>St George</i> (name surely chosen by the Fates!), in a fearful tempest + was drifting on to Contrary Head. She was labouring hard in the heavy sea, + rearing, plunging, creaking, groaning, and driving fast through clamouring + winds and threshing breakers on to the cruel, black, steep horns of rock. + All Peel was down at the beach watching her. Flakes of sea-foam were + flying around, and the waves breaking on the beach were scooping up the + shingle and flinging it through the air like sleet. + </p> + <p> + Peel has a lifeboat, and it was got out. There were so many volunteers + that the harbour-master had difficulties of selection. The boat got off; + the coxswain was called Charlie Cain; one of his crew was named Gorry, + otherwise Orry. It was a perilous adventure. The Norwegian had lost her + masts, and her spars were floating around her in the snow-like surf. She + was dangerous to approach, but the lifeboat reached her. Charlie cried out + to the Norwegian captain: “How many of you?” The answer came back, + “Twenty-two!” Charlie counted them as they hung on at the ship’s side, and + said: “I only see twenty-one; not a man shall leave the ship until you + bring the odd one on deck.” The odd one, a disabled man, had been left + below to his fate. Now he was brought up, and all were taken aboard the + lifeboat. + </p> + <p> + On landing at Peel there was great excitement, men cheering and women + crying. The Manx women spotted a baby among the Norwegians, fought for it, + one woman got it, and carried it off to a fire and dry clothing. It was + the captain’s wife’s baby, and an hour afterwards the poor captain’s wife, + like a creature distracted, was searching for it all over the town. And to + heighten the scene, report says that at that tremendous moment a splendid + rainbow spanned the bay from side to side. That ought to be true if it is + not. + </p> + <p> + It was a brilliant rescue, but the moving part of the story is yet to + tell. The Norwegian Government, touched by the splendid heroism of the + Manxmen, struck medals for the lifeboat men and sent them across to the + Governor. These medals were distributed last summer on the island rock + within the ruins of old Peel Castle. Think of it! One thousand years + before, not far from that same place, Orry the Viking came ashore from + Denmark or Norway. And now his Manx sons, still bearing his very name, + Orry, save from the sea the sons of the brethren he left behind, and down + the milky way, whence Orry himself once came, come now to the Manxmen the + thanks and the blessings of their kinsmen, Orry’s father’s children. + </p> + <p> + Such a story as this thrills one to the heart. It links Manxmen to the + great past. What are a thousand years before it? Time sinks away, and the + old sea-warrior seems to speak to us still through the surf of that storm + at Peel. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS + </h2> + <p> + Some years ago, in going down the valley of Foxdale, towards the mouth of + Glen Rushen, I lost my way on a rough and unbeaten path under the mountain + called Slieu Whallin. There I was met by a typical old Manx farmer, who + climbed the hillside some distance to serve as my guide. “Aw, man,” said + he, “many a Sunday I’ve crossed these mountains in snow and hail + together.” I asked why on Sunday. “You see,” said the old fellow, “I’m one + of those men that have been guilty of what St. Paul calls the foolishness + of preaching.” It turned out that he was a local preacher to the + Wesleyans, and that for two score years or more, in all seasons, in all + weathers, every Sunday, year in, year out, he had made the journey from + his farm in Foxdale to the western villages of Kirk Patrick, where his + voluntary duty lay. He left me with a laugh and a cheery word. “Ask again + at the cottage at the top of the brew,” he shouted. “An ould widda lives + there with her gel.” At the summit of the hill, just under South Barrule, + with Cronk-ny-arrey-Lhaa to the west, I came upon a disused lead mine, + called the old Cross Vein, its shaft open save for a plank or two thrown + across it, and filled with water almost to the surface of the ground. And + there, under the lee of the roofless walls of the ruined engine-house, + stood the tiny one-story cottage where I had been directed to inquire my + way again. I knocked, and then saw the outer conditions of an existence + about as miserable as the mind of man can conceive. The door was opened by + a youngish woman, having a thin, white face, and within the little house + an elderly woman was breaking scraps of vegetables into a pot that swung + from a hook above a handful of turf fire, which burned on the ground. They + were the widow and daughter. Their house consisted of two rooms, a living + room and a sleeping closet, both open to the thatch, which was sooty with + smoke. The floor was of bare earth, trodden hard and shiny. There was one + little window in each apartment, but after the breakages of years, the + panes were obscured by rags stuffed into the gaps to keep out the weather. + The roof bore traces of damp, and I asked if the rain came into the house. + “Och, yes, and bad, bad, bad!” said the elder woman. “He left us, sir, + years ago.” That was her way of saying that her husband was dead, and that + since his death there had been no man to do an odd job about the place. + The two women lived by working in the fields, at weeding, at planting + potatoes, at thinning cabbages, and at the hay in its season. Their little + bankrupt barn belonged to them, and it was all they had. In that they + lived, or lingered, on the mountain top, a long stretch of bare hillside, + away from any neighbour, alone in their poverty, with mountains before and + behind, the broad grey sea, without ship or sail, down a gully to the + west, nothing visible to the east save the smoke from the valley where lay + the habitations of men, nothing audible anywhere but the deep rumble of + the waves’ bellow, or the chirp of the birds overhead, or, perhaps, when + the wind was southerly, the church bells on Sunday morning. Never have I + looked upon such lonely penury, and yet there, even there, these forlorn + women kept their souls alive. “Yes,” they said, “we’re working when we can + get the work, and trusting, trusting, trusting still.” + </p> + <p> + I have lingered too long over this poor adventure of losing my way to Glen + Rushen, but my little sketch may perhaps get you close to that side of + Manx life whereon I wish to speak to-day. I want to tell the history of + religion in Man, so far as we know it; and better, to my thinking, than a + grave or solid disquisition on the ways and doings of Bishops or Spiritual + Barons, are any peeps into the hearts and home lives of the Manx, which + will show what is called the “innate religiosity” of the humblest of the + people. To this end also, when I have discharged my scant duty to church + history, or perhaps in the course of my hasty exposition of it, I shall + dwell on some of those homely manners and customs, which, more than + prayer-books and printed services, tell us what our fathers believed, what + we still believe, and how we stand towards that other life, that inner + life, that is not concerned with what we eat and what we drink, and + wherewithal we shall be clothed. + </p> + <p> + THE DRUIDS + </p> + <p> + And now, just as the first chapter of our Manx civil history is lost, so + the first chapter of our church history is lost. That the Druids occupied + the island seems to some people to be clear from many Celtic names and + some remains, such as we are accustomed to call Druidical, and certain + customs still observed. Perhaps worthy of a word is the circumstance that + in the parish where the Bishop now lives, and has always lived, Kirk + Michael, there is a place called by a name which in the Manx signifies + Chief Druid. Strangely are the faiths of the ages linked together. + </p> + <p> + CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY + </p> + <p> + We do not know, with any certainty, at what time the island was converted + to Christianity. The accepted opinion is that Christianity was established + in Man by St. Patrick about the middle of the fifth century. The story + goes that the Saint of Ireland was on a voyage thither from England, when + a storm cast him ashore on a little islet on the western coast of Man. + This islet was afterwards called St. Patrick’s Isle. St. Patrick built his + church on it. The church was rebuilt eight centuries later within the + walls of a castle which rose on the same rocky site. It became the + cathedral church of the island. When the Norwegians came they renamed the + islet Holm Isle. Tradition says that St. Patrick’s coming was in the time + of Mannanan, the magician, our little Manx Prospero. It also says that St. + Patrick drove Mannanan away, and that St. Patrick’s successor, St. + Germain, followed up the good work of exterminating evil spirits by + driving out of the island all venomous creatures whatever. We sometimes + bless the memory of St. Germain, and wish he would come again. + </p> + <p> + THE EARLY BISHOPS OF MAN + </p> + <p> + After St. Germain came St. Maughold. This Bishop was a sort of + transfigured Manx Caliban. I trust the name does him no wrong. He had been + an Irish prince, had lived a bad, gross life as a robber at the head of a + band of robbers, had been converted by St. Patrick, and, resolving to + abandon the temptations of the world, had embarked on the sea in a wicker + boat without oar or helm. Almost he had his will at once, but the north + wind, which threatened to remove him from the temptations of this world, + cast him ashore on the north of the Isle of Man. There he built his + church, and the rocky headland whereon it stands is still known by his + name. High on the craggy cliff-side, looking towards the sea, is a seat + hewn out of the rock. This is called St. Maughold’s Chair. Not far away + there is a well supposed to possess miraculous properties. It is called + St. Maughold’s Well. Thus tradition has perpetuated the odour of his great + sanctity, which is the more extraordinary in a variation of his legend, + which says that it was not after his conversion, and in submission to the + will of God, that he put forth from Ireland in his wicker boat, but that + he was thrust out thus, with hands and feet bound, by way of punishment + for his crimes as a captain of banditti. + </p> + <p> + But if Maughold was Caliban in Ireland, he was more than Prospero in Man. + Rumour of his piety went back to Ireland, and St. Bridget, who had founded + a nunnery at Kildare, resolved on a pilgrimage to the good man’s island. + She crossed the water, attended by her virgins, called her daughters of + fire, founded a nunnery near Douglas, worked miracles there, touched the + altar in testimony of her virginity, whereupon it grew green and + flourished. This, if I may be pardoned the continued parallel, is our Manx + Miranda. And indeed it is difficult to shake off the idea that Shakespeare + must have known something of the early story of Man, its magicians and its + saints. We know the perfidy of circumstance, the lying tricks that fact is + always playing with us, too well and painfully to say anything of the kind + with certainty. But the angles of resemblance are many between the + groundwork of the “Tempest” and the earliest of Manx records. + Mannanan-beg-Mac-y-Lear, the magician who surrounded the island with mists + when enemies came near in ships; Maughold, the robber and libertine, bound + hand and foot, and driven ashore in a wicker boat; and then Bridget, the + virgin saint. Moreover, the stories of Little Man-nanan, of St. Patrick, + and of St. Maughold were printed in Manx in the sixteenth century. Truly + that is not enough, for, after all, we have no evidence that Shakespeare, + who knew everything, knew Manx. But then Man has long been famous for its + seamen. We had one of them at Trafalgar, holding Nelson in his arms when + he died. The best days, or the worst days—which?—of the trade + of the West Coast of Africa saw Manx captains in the thick of it. Shall I + confess to you that in the bad days of the English slave trade the four + merchantmen that brought the largest black cargo to the big human auction + mart at the Goree Piazza at Liverpool were commanded by four Manxmen! They + were a sad quartet. One of them had only one arm and an iron hook; another + had only one arm and one eye; a third had only one leg and a stump; the + fourth was covered with scars from the iron of the chains of a slave which + he had worn twelve months at Barbadoes. Just about enough humanity in the + four to make one complete man. But with vigour enough, fire enough, heart + enough—I daren’t say soul enough—in their dismembered old + trunks to make ten men apiece; born sea-rovers, true sons of Orry, their + blood half brine. Well, is it not conceivable that in those earlier days + of treasure seeking, when Elizabeth’s English captains were spoiling the + Spaniard in the Indies, Manx sailors were also there? If so, why might not + Shakespeare, who must have ferreted out many a stranger creature, have + found in some London tavern an old Manx sea-dog, who could tell him of the + Manx Prospero, the Manx Caliban, and the Manx Miranda? + </p> + <p> + But I have rambled on about my sailors; I must return to my Bishops. They + seem to have been a line of pious, humble, charitable, godly men at the + beginning. Irishmen, chiefly, living the lives of hermits and saints. + Apparently they were at first appointed by the people themselves. Would it + be interesting to know the grounds of selection? One was selected for his + sanctity, a natural qualification, but another was chosen because he had a + pleasant face, and a fine portly figure; not bad qualifications, either. + Thus things went on for about a hundred years, and, for all we know, + Celtic Bishops and Celtic people lived together in their little island in + peace, hearing nothing of the loud religious hubbub that was disturbing + Europe. + </p> + <p> + BISHOPS OF THE WELSH DYNASTY + </p> + <p> + Then came the rule of the Welsh kings, and, though we know but little with + certainty, we seem to realise that it brought great changes to the + religious’ life of Man. The Church began to possess itself of lands: the + baronial territories of the island fell into the hands of the clergy; the + early Bishops became Barons. This gave the Church certain powers of + government. The Bishops became judges, and as judges they possessed great + power over the person of the subject. Sometimes they stood in the highest + place of all, being also Governor to the Welsh Kings. Then they were + called Sword-Bishops. Their power at such times, when the crosier and + sword were in the two hands of one man, must have been portentous, and + even terrible. We have no records that picture what came of that. But it + is not difficult to imagine the condition. The old order of things had + passed away. The hermit-saints, the saintly hermits, had gone, and in + their place were monkish barons, living in abbeys and monasteries, + whipping the poor bodies of their people, as well as comforting their torn + hearts, fattening on broad lands, praying each with his lips: “Give us + this day our daily bread,” but saying each to his soul: “Soul, thou hast + much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease; eat, drink, and be + merry.” + </p> + <p> + BISHOPS OF THE NORSE DYNASTY + </p> + <p> + Little as we know of these times, we see that things must have come to a + pretty pass, for when the Scandinavian dynasty came in the ecclesiastical + authorities were forbidden to exercise civil control over any subjects of + the king that were not also the tenants of their own baronies. So the + Bishops were required to confine themselves to keeping their own house in + order. The Norse Constitution established in Man by King Orry made no + effort to overthrow the Celtic Church founded by St. Patrick, and + corrupted by his Welsh successors, but it curtailed its liberties, and + reduced its dignity. It demanded as an act of fealty that the Bishop or + chief Baron should hold the stirrup of the King’s saddle, as he mounted + his horse at Tynwald. But it still suffered the Bishop and certain of his + clergy to sit in the highest court of the legislature. The Church ceased + to be purely Celtic; it became Celto-Scandinavian, otherwise Manx. It was + under the Archbishop of Drontheim for its Metropolitan, and its young + clergy were sent over to Drontheim to be educated. Its revenues were + apportioned after the most apostolic manner; one-third of the tithes to + the Bishop for his maintenance, the support of his courts, his churches, + and (miserable conclusion! ) his prisons; one-third to the priests, and + the remaining third to the relief of the poor and the education of youth. + It is a curious and significant fact that when the Reformation came the + last third was seized by the lord. Good old lordly trick, we know it well! + </p> + <p> + SODOR AND MAN + </p> + <p> + The Bishopric of the island was now no longer called the Bishopric of Man, + but Sodor and Man. The title has given rise to much speculation. One + authority derives it from <i>Soterenssis</i>, a name given by Danish + writers to the western islands, and afterwards corrupted to <i>Soderensk</i>. + Another authority derives it from <i>Sudreyjas</i>, signifying in the + Norwegian the Southern Isles. A third derives it from the Greek <i>Soter</i>, + Saviour, to whose name the cathedral of Iona was dedicated. And yet a + fourth authority derives it from the supposed third name of the little + islet rock called variously Holm Isle, Sodor, Peel, and St. Patrick’s + Isle, whereon St. Patrick or St. Germain built his church, I can claim no + right to an opinion where these good doctors differ, and shall content + myself with saying that the balance of belief is in favour of the + Norwegian derivation, which offers this explanation of the title of Bishop + of Sodor and Man, that the Isle of Man was not included by the Norsemen in + the southern cluster of islands called the Sudereys, and that the Bishop + was sometimes called the Bishop of Man and the Isles, and sometimes Bishop + of the Sudereys and the Isle of Man. Only one warning note shall I dare, + as an ignorant layman, to strike on that definition, and it is this: that + the title of Bishop of Sodor dates back to the seventh century certainly, + and that the Norseman did not come south until three centuries later. + </p> + <p> + THE EARLY BISHOPS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY + </p> + <p> + But now I come to matters whereon I have more authority to speak. When the + Isle of Man passed to the Stanley family, the Bishopric fell to their + patronage, and they lost no time in putting their own people into it. It + was then under the English metropolitan of Canterbury, but early in the + sixteenth century it became part of the province of York. About that time + the baronies, the abbeys, and the nunneries were suppressed. It does not + appear that the change of metropolitan had made much change of religious + life. Apparently the clergy kept the Manx people in miserable ignorance. + It was not until the seventeenth century that the Book of Common Prayer + was translated into the Manx language. The Gospels and the Acts were + unknown to the Manx until nearly a century later. Nor was this due to + ignorance of the clergy of the Manx tongue, for most of them must have + been Manxmen, and several of the Bishops were Manxmen also. But grievous + abuses had by this time attached themselves to the Manx Church, and some + of them were flagrant and wicked, and some were impudent and amusing. + </p> + <p> + TITHES IN KIND + </p> + <p> + Naturally the more outrageous of the latter sort gathered about the + process of collecting tithes. + </p> + <p> + Tithes were paid in kind in those days. It was not until well within our + own century that they were commuted to a money payment. The Manxman paid + tithe on everything. He began to pay tithe before coming into the world, + and he went on paying tithe even after he had gone out of it. This is a + hard saying, but nevertheless a simple truth. Throughout his journey from + the cradle to the grave, the Manxman paid tithe on all he inherited, on + all he had, on all he did, on all his wife did, and on all he left behind + him. We have the equivalent of this in England at the present hour, but it + was yet more tyrannical, and infinitely more ludicrous, in the Isle of Man + down to the year 1839. It is only vanity and folly and vexation of spirit + to quarrel with the modern English taxgatherer; you are sure to go the + wall, with humiliation and with disgrace. It was not always so when taxes + were paid in kind. There was, at least, the satisfaction of cheating. The + Manx people could not always deny themselves that satisfaction. For + instance, they were required to pay tithe of herring as soon as the + herring boats were brought above full sea mark, and there were ways of + counting known to the fishermen with which the black-coated arithmeticians + of the Church were not able to cope. A man paid tithe on such goods and + even such clothes as his wife possessed on their wedding day, and young + brides became wondrous wise in the selection for the vicarage of the + garments that were out of fashion. A corpse-present was demanded over the + grave of a dead man out of the horses and cattle whereof he died + possessed, and dying men left verbal wills which consigned their + broken-winded horses and dry cows to the mercy and care of the clergyman. + You will not marvel much that such dealings led to disputes, sometimes to + quarrels, occasionally to riots. In my boyhood I heard old people over the + farm-house fire chuckle and tell of various wise doings, to outwit the + parson. One of these concerned the oats harvest. When the oats were in + sheaf, the parson’s cart came up, driven by the sumner, the parson’s + official servant. The gate of the field was thrown open, and honestly and + religiously one sheaf out of every ten was thrown into the cart. But the + husbandman had been thrifty in advance. The parson’s sheaves had all been + grouped thick about the gate, and they were the shortest, and the + thinnest, and the blackest, and the dirtiest, and the poorest that the + field had yielded. Similar were the doings at the digging of the potatoes, + but the scenes of recrimination which often ensued were usually confined + to the farmer and the sumner. More outrageous contentions with the priest + himself sometimes occurred within the very walls of the church. It was the + practice to bring tithe of butter and cheese and eggs, and lay it on the + altar on Sunday. This had to be done under pain of exclusion from the + communion, and that was a penalty most grievous to material welfare. So + the Manxmen and Manxwomen were compelled to go to church much as they went + to market, with their butter- and egg-baskets over their arms. It is a + ludicrous picture, as one sees it in one’s mind’s eye, but what comes + after reaches the extremity of farce. Say the scene is Maughold old + church, once the temple of the saintly hermit. It is Sunday morning, the + bells are ringing, and Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, a rascally old skinflint, + is coming along with a basket. It contains some butter that he could not + sell at Ramsey market yesterday because it was rank, and a few eggs which + he knows to be stale and addled—the old hen has sat on them, and + they have brought forth nothing. These he places reverently on the altar. + But the parson knows Juan, and proceeds to examine his tithe. May I take + so much liberty with history, and with the desecrated old church, as to + imagine the scene which follows? + </p> + <p> + Priest, pointing contemptuously towards the altar: + “Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, what is this?” “Butter and eggs, so plaze your + reverence.” “Pig-swill and chalk you mean, man!” “Aw ‘deed if I’d known + your reverence was so morthal partic’lar the ould hen herself should have + been layin’ some fresh eggs for your reverence.” + </p> + <p> + “Take them away, you thief of the Church! Do you think what isn’t fit for + your pig is good enough for your priest? Bring better, or never let me + look on your wizened old wicked face again.” + </p> + <p> + Exit Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, perhaps with butter and eggs flying after + his retreating figure. + </p> + <p> + THE GAMBLING BISHOP + </p> + <p> + This is an imaginary picture, but no less outrageous things happened + whereof the records remain. A demoralised laity usually co-exists with a + demoralised clergy, and there are some bad stories of the Bishops who + preceded the Reformation. There is one story of a Bishop of that period, + who was a gross drunkard and notorious gambler. He played with his clergy + as long as they had anything to lose, and then he played with a deemster + and lost five hundred pounds himself. Poor little island, that had two + such men for its masters, the one its master in the things of this world, + the other its master in the things of the world to come! If anything is + needful to complete the picture of wretchedness in which the poor Manx + people must have existed then, it is the knowledge of what manner of man a + deemster was in those days, what his powers were, and how he exercised + them. + </p> + <p> + THE DEEMSTERS + </p> + <p> + The two deemsters—a name of obvious significance, deem-sters, such + as deem the laws—were then the only judges of the island, all other + legal functionaries being of more recent date. On entering into office, + the deemster took an oath, which is sworn by all deemsters to this day, + declaring by the wonderful works which God hath miraculously wrought in + six days and seven nights, that he would execute the laws of the island + justly “betwixt party and party, as indifferently as the herring’s + backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish.” But these laws down to the + time of the second Stanley existed only in the breasts of the deemsters + themselves, being therefore called Breast Laws, and thus they were + supposed to be handed down orally from deemster to deemster. The + superstition fostered corruption as well as incapacity, and it will not be + wronging the truth to say that some of the deemsters of old time were both + ignorant and unprincipled. Their jurisdiction was absolute in all that + were then thought to be temporal affairs, beginning with a debt of a + shilling, and going up to murder. They kept their courts in the centres of + their districts, one of them being in the north of the island, the other + in the south, but they were free to hold a court anywhere, and at any + time. A deemster riding from Ramsey to Peel might find his way stopped by + a noisy claimant, who held his defendant by the lug, having dragged him + bodily from the field to the highway, to receive instant judgment from the + judge riding past. Or at midnight, in his own home, a deemster might be + broken in upon by a clamorous gang of disputants and their witnesses, who + came from the pot-house for the settlement of their differences. On such + occasions, the deemster invariably acted on the sound old legal maxim, + once recognised by an Act of Parliament, that suits not likely to bear + good costs should always be settled out of court. First, the deemster + demanded his fee. If neither claimant nor defendant could give it, he + probably troubled himself no further than to take up his horse-whip and + drive both out into the road. I dare say there were many good men among + deemsters of the old order, who loved justice for its own sake, and liked + to see the poor and the weak righted, but the memory of deemsters of this + kind is not green. The bulk of men are not better than their + opportunities, and the temptations of the deemsters of old were neither + few nor slight. + </p> + <p> + THE BISHOPRIC VACANT + </p> + <p> + With such masters in the State, and such masters in the Church, the island + fell low in material welfare, and its poverty reacted on both. Within + fifty years the Bishopric was nineteen years vacant, though it may be that + at the beginning of the seventeenth century this was partly due to + religious disturbances. Then in 1697, with the monasteries and nunneries + dispersed, the abbeys in ruins, the cathedral church a wreck, the clergy + sunk in sloth and ignorance, there came to the Bishopric, four years + vacant, a true man whose name on the page of Manx Church history is like a + star on a dark night, when only one is shining—Bishop Thomas Wilson. + He was a strange and complex creature, half angel, only half man, the + serenest of saints, and yet almost the bitterest of tyrants. Let me tell + you about him. + </p> + <p> + BISHOP WILSON + </p> + <p> + Thomas Wilson was from Trinity College, Dublin, and became domestic + chaplain to William, Earl of Derby, and preceptor to the Earl’s son, who + died young. While he held this position, the Bishopric of Sodor and Man + became vacant, and it was offered to him. He declined it, thinking himself + unworthy of so high a trust. The Bishopric continued vacant. Perhaps the + candidates for it were few; certainly the emoluments were small; perhaps + the patron was slothful—certainly he gave little attention to the + Church. At length complaint was made to the King that the spiritual needs + of the island were being neglected. The Earl was commanded to fill the + Bishopric, and once again he offered it to his chaplain. Then Wilson + yielded. He took possession in 1698, and was enthroned at Peel Castle. The + picture of his enthronement must have been something to remember. Peel + Castle was already tumbling to its fall, and the cathedral church was a + woful wreck. It is even said that from a hole in the roof the soil and + rain could enter, and blades of grass were shooting up on the altar. The + Bishop’s house at Kirk Michael, which had been long shut up, was in a + similar plight; damp, mouldy, broken-windowed, green with moss within and + without. What would one give to turn back the centuries and look on at + that primitive ceremony in St. Germain’s Chapel in April 1698! There would + be the clergy, a sorry troop, with wise and good men among them, no doubt, + but a poor, battered, bedraggled, neglected lot, chiefly learned in + dubious arts of collecting tithes. And the Bishop himself, the good + chaplain of Earl Derby, the preceptor of his son, what a face he must have + had to watch and to study, as he stood there that April morning, and saw + for the first time what work he had come to tackle! + </p> + <p> + BISHOP WILSON’S CENSURES + </p> + <p> + But Bishop Wilson set about his task with a strong heart, and a resolute + hand. He found himself in a twofold trust. Since the Reformation, the + monasteries and nunneries had been dispersed, and all the baronies had + been broken up, save one, the barony of the Bishop. Thus Bishop Wilson was + the head of the court of his barony. This was a civil court with power, of + jurisdiction over felonies. Its separate criminal control came to an end + in 1777, Such was Bishop Wilson’s position as last and sole Baron of Man. + Then as head of the Church he had powers over offences which were once + called offences against common law. Irregular behaviour, cursing, + quarrelling, and drinking, as well as transgressions of the moral code, + adultery, seduction, prostitution, and the like, were punishable by the + Church and the Church courts. The censures of Bishop Wilson on such + offences did not err on the side of clemency. He was the enemy of sin, and + no “gentle foe of sinners.” He was a believer in witchcraft, and for + suspicion of commerce with evil spirits and possession of the evil eye he + punished many a blameless old body. For open and convicted adultery he + caused the offenders to stand for an hour at high fair at each of the + market-places of Douglas, Peel, Ramsey, and Castletown, bearing labels on + their breasts calling on all people to take warning lest they came under + the same Church censure. Common unchastity he punished by exposure in + church at full congregation, when the guilty man or the poor victimised + girl stepped up from the west porch to the altar, covered from neck to + heels in a white sheet. Slanderers and evil speakers he clapped into the + Peel, or perhaps the whipping-stocks, with tongue in a noose of leather, + and when after a lapse of time the gag was removed the liberated tongue + was obliged to denounce itself by saying thrice, clearly, boldly, probably + with good accent and discretion, “False tongue, thou hast lied.” + </p> + <p> + It is perhaps as well that some of us did not live in Bishop Wilson’s + time. We might not have lived long. If the Church still held and exercised + the same powers over evil speakers we should never hear our own ears in + the streets for the din of the voices of the penitents; and if it still + punished unchastity in a white sheet the trade of the linen weaver would + be brisk. + </p> + <p> + You will say that I have justified my statement that Bishop Wilson was the + bitterest of tyrants. Let me now establish my opinion that he was also the + serenest of saints. I have told you how low was the condition of the + Church, how lax its rule, how deep its clergy lay in sloth and ignorance, + and perhaps also in vice, when Bishop Wilson came to Man in 1698. Well, in + 1703, only five years later, the Lord Chancellor King said this: “If the + ancient discipline of the Church were lost elsewhere it might be found in + all its force in the Isle of Man.” This points first to force and vigour + on the Bishop’s part, but surely it also points to purity of character and + nobility of aim. Bishop Wilson began by putting his own house in order. + His clergy ceased to gamble and to drink, and they were obliged to collect + their tithes with mercy. He once suspended a clergyman for an opinion on a + minor point, but many times he punished his clergy for offences against + the moral law and the material welfare of the poor. In a stiff fight for + integrity of life and purity of thought, he spared none. I truly believe + that if he had caught himself in an act of gross injustice he would have + clambered up into the pillory. He was a brave, strong-hearted creature, of + the build of a great man. Yes! In spite of all his contradictions, he <i>was</i> + a great man. We Manxmen shall never look upon his like again! + </p> + <p> + THE GREAT CORN FAMINE + </p> + <p> + Towards 1740 a long and terrible corn famine fell upon our island. The + fisheries had failed that season, and the crops had been blighted two + years running. Miserably poor at all times, ill-clad, ill-housed, ill-fed + at the best, the people were in danger of sheer destitution. In that day + of their bitter trouble the poorest of the poor trooped off to Bishop’s + court. The Bishop threw open his house to them all, good and bad, + improvident and thrifty, lazy and industrious, drunken and sober; he made + no distinctions in that bad hour. He asked no man for his name who + couldn’t give it, no woman for her marriage lines who hadn’t got them, no + child whether it was born in wedlock. That they were all hungry was all he + knew, and he saved their lives in thousands. He bought ship-loads of + English corn and served it out in bushels; also tons of Irish potatoes, + and served them out in <i>kischens</i>. He gave orders that the measure + was to be piled as high as it would hold, and never smoothed flat again. + Yet he was himself a poor man. While he had money he spent it. When every + penny was gone he pledged his revenue in advance. After his credit was + done he begged in England for his poor people in Man—<i>he</i> + begged for <i>us</i> who would not have held out his hat to save his own + life! God bless him! But we repaid him. Oh yes, we repaid him. His money + he never got back, but gold is not the currency of the other world. + Prayers and blessings are the wealth that is there, and these went up + after him to the great White Throne from the swelling throats of his + people. + </p> + <p> + THE BISHOP AT COURT + </p> + <p> + Not of Bishop Wilson could it be said, as it was said of another, that he + “flattered princes in the temple of God.” One day, when he was coming to + Court, Queen Caroline saw him and said to a company of Bishops and + Archbishops that surrounded her, “See, my lords, here is a Bishop who does + not come for a translation.” “No, indeed, and please your Majesty,” said + Bishop Wilson, “I will not leave my wife in her old age because she is + poor.” When Bishop Wilson was an old man, Cardinal Fleury sent over to ask + after his age and health, saying that they were the two oldest and poorest + Bishops in the world. At the same time he got an order that no French + privateer should ever ravage the Isle of Man. The order has long lapsed, + but I am told that to this day French seamen respect a Manxman. It touches + me to think of it that thus does the glory of this good man’s life shine + on our faces still. + </p> + <p> + STORIES OF BISHOP WILSON + </p> + <p> + How his people must have loved him! Many of the stories told of him are of + rather general application, but some of them ought to be true if they are + not. + </p> + <p> + One day in the old three-cornered market-place at Ramsey a little maiden + of seven crossed his path. She was like sunshine, rosy-cheeked, + bright-eyed, bare-footed and bare-headed, and for love of her sweetness + the grey old Bishop patted her head and blest her. “God bless you, my + child; God bless you,” he said. The child curtseyed and answered, “God + bless you, too, sir.” “Thank you, child, thank you,” the Bishop said + again; “I dare say your blessing will be as good as mine.” + </p> + <p> + It was customary in those days, and indeed down to my own time, when a + suit of clothes was wanted, to have the journeyman tailor at home to make + it. One, Danny of that ilk, was once at Bishop’s Court making a long + walking coat for the Bishop. In trying it on in its nebulous condition, + that leprosy of open white seams and stitches, Danny made numerous chalk + marks to indicate the places of the buttons. “No, no, Danny,” said the + Bishop, “no more buttons than enough to fasten it—only one, that + will do. It would ill become a poor priest like me to go a-glitter with + things like those.” Now, Danny had already bought his buttons, and had + them at that moment in his pocket. So, pulling a woful face, he said, + “Mercy me, my lord, what would happen to the poor button-makers, if + everybody was of your opinion?” “Button it all over, Danny,” said the + Bishop. A coat of Bishop Wilson’s still exists. Would that we had that one + of the numerous buttons, and could get a few more made of the same + pattern! It would be out of fashion—Danny’s progeny have taken care + of that. There are not many of us that it would fit—we have few men + of Bishop Wilson’s build nowadays. But human kindliness is never + old-fashioned, and there are none of us that the garment of sweet grace + would not suit. + </p> + <p> + QUARRELS OF CHURCH AND STATE + </p> + <p> + So far from “flattering princes in the temple of God,” Bishop Wilson was + even morbidly jealous of the authority of the Church, and he resisted that + of the State when the civil powers seemed to encroach upon it. More than + once he came into collision with the State’s highest functionary, the + Lieutenant-Governor, representative of the Lord of Man himself. One day + the Governor’s wife falsely defamed a lady, and the lady appealed to the + Bishop. Thereupon the Bishop interdicted the Governor’s wife from + receiving the communion. But the Governor’s chaplain admitted her. + Straightway the Bishop suspended the Governor’s chaplain. Then the + Governor fined the Bishop in the sum of fifty pounds. The Bishop refused + to pay, and was committed to Castle Rushen, and lay there two months. They + show us his cell, a poor, dingy little box, so damp in his day that he + lost the use of some of his fingers. After that the Bishop appealed to the + Lord, who declared the imprisonment illegal. The Bishop was liberated, and + half the island went to the prison gate to fetch him forth in triumph. The + only result was that the Bishop lost £500, whereof £300 were subscribed by + the people. One hardly knows whether to laugh or cry at it all. It is a + sorry and silly farce. Of course it made a tremendous hurly-burly in its + day, but it is gone now, and doesn’t matter a ha’porth to anybody. + Nevertheless because Gessler’s cap goes up so often nowadays, and so many + of us are kneeling to it, it is good and wholesome to hear of a poor + Bishop who was brave enough to take a shot at it instead. + </p> + <p> + SOME OLD ORDEALS + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding Bishop Wilson’s severity, his tyranny, his undue pride in + the authority of the Church, and his morbid jealousy of the powers of the + State, his rule was a wise and just one, and he was a spiritual statesman, + who needed not to be ashamed. He raised the tone of life in the Isle of + Man, made it possible to accept a man’s <i>yea</i> and <i>nay</i>, even in + those perilous issues of life where the weakness and meanness of poor + humanity reveals itself in lies and subterfuges. This he did by making + false swearing a terror. One ancient ordeal of swearing he set his face + against, but another he encouraged, and often practised, let me describe + both. + </p> + <p> + In the old days, when a man died intestate, leaving no record of his + debts, a creditor might establish a claim by going with the Bishop to the + grave of the dead man at midnight, stretching himself on it with face + towards heaven and a Bible on his breast, and then saying solemnly, “I + swear that So-and-so, who lies buried here, died in my debt by so much.” + After that the debt was allowed. What warning the Bishop first pronounced + I do not know, but the scene is a vivid one, even if we think of the + creditor as swearing truly, and a startling and terrible one if we think + of him as about to swear to what is false. The dark night, the dark + figures moving in it, the churchyard, the debtor’s grave, the sham + creditor, who had been loud in his protests under the light of the inn of + the village, now quaking and trembling as the Bishop’s warning comes out + of the gloom, then stammering, and breaking down, and finally, with + ghostly visions of a dead hand clutching at him from the grave, starting + up, shrieking, and flying away. It is a nightmare. Let us not remember it + when the candles are put out. + </p> + <p> + This ordeal was in force until the seventeenth century, but Bishop Wilson + judged it un-Christian, and never practised it. The old Roman canon law of + Purgation, a similar ordeal, he used not rarely. It was designed to meet + cases of slander in which there was no direct and positive evidence. If a + good woman had been accused of unchastity in that vague way of rumour + which is always more damaging and devilish than open accusation, she might + of her own free choice, or by compulsion of the Bishop, put to silence her + false accusers by appearing in church, with witnesses ready to take oath + that they believed her, and there swearing at the altar that common fame + and suspicion had wronged her. If a man doubted her word he had to + challenge it, or keep silence for ever after. The severest censures of the + Church were passed upon those who dared to repeat an unproved accusation + after the oaths of Purgation and Compurgation had been taken unchallenged. + It is a fine, honest ordeal, very old, good for the right, only bad for + the wrong, giving strength to the weak and humbling the mighty. But it + would be folly and mummery in our day. The Church has lost its powers over + life and limb, and no one capable of defaming a pure woman would care a + brass penny about the Church’s excommunication. Yet a woman’s good name is + the silver thread that runs through the pearl chain of her virtues. Pity + that nowadays it can be so easily snapped. Conversation at five o’clock + tea is enough to do that. The ordeal of compulsory Purgation was abolished + in Man as late as 1737. + </p> + <p> + THE HERRING FISHERY + </p> + <p> + Bishop Wilson began, or revived, a form of service which was so beautiful, + so picturesque, and withal so Manx that I regret the loss of scarce any + custom so much as the discontinuance of this one. It was the fishermen’s + service on the shore at the beginning of the herring-season. But in order + to appreciate it you must first know something of the herring fishing + itself. It is the chief industry of the island. Half the population is + connected with it in some way. A great proportion of the men of the + humbler classes are half seamen, half landsmen, tilling their little + crofts in the spring and autumn, and going out with the herring boats in + summer. The herring is the national fish. The Manxman swears by its + flavour. The deemsters, as we have seen, literally swear by its backbone. + Potatoes and herrings constitute a common dish of the country people. They + are ready for it at any hour of the day or night. I have had it for + dinner, I have taken it for supper, I have seen it for tea, and even known + it for breakfast. It is served without ceremony. In the middle of the + table two great crocks, one of potatoes boiled in their jackets, the other + of herrings fresh or salted; a plate and a bowl of new milk at every seat, + and lumps of salt here and there. To be a Manxman you must eat Manx + herrings; there is a story that to transform himself into a Manxman one of + the Dukes of Athol ate twenty-four of them at breakfast, a herring for + every member of his House of Keys. + </p> + <p> + The Manx herring fishery is interesting and very picturesque. You know + that the herrings come from northern latitudes, Towards mid-winter a vast + colony of them set out from the arctic seas, closely pursued by + innumerable sea-fowl, which deal death among the little emigrants. They + move in two divisions, one westward towards the coasts of America, the + other eastward in the direction of Europe. They reach the Shetlands in + April and the Isle of Man about June. The herring is fished at night. To + be out with the herring boats is a glorious experience on a calm night. + You have set sail with the fleet of herring boats about sun-down, and you + are running before a light breeze through the dusk. The sea-gulls are + skimming about the brown sails of your boat. They know what you are going + to do, and have come to help you, Presently you come upon a flight of them + wheeling and diving in the gathering darkness. Then you know that you have + lit on the herring shoal. The boat is brought head to the wind and left to + drift. By this time the stars are out, perhaps the moon also—though + too much moon is not good for the fishing—and you can just descry + the dim outline of the land against the dark blue of the sky. + </p> + <p> + Luminous patches of phosphorescent light begin to move in the water, “The + mar-fire’s rising,” say the fishermen, the herring are stirring. “Let’s + make a shot; up with the gear,” cries the skipper, and nets are hauled + from below, passed over the bank-board, and paid out into the sea—a + solid wall of meshes, floating upright, nine feet deep and a quarter of a + mile long. It is a calm, clear night, just light enough to see the buoys + on the back of the first net. The lamp is fixed on the mitch-board. All is + silence, only the steady plash, plash, plash of the slow waters on the + boat’s side; no singing among the men, no chaff, no laughter, all quiet + aboard, for the fishermen believe that the fish can hear; all quiet + around, where the deep black of the watery pavement is brightened by the + reflection of stars. Then out of the white phosphorescent patches come + minute points of silver and countless faint popping sounds, The herrings + are at play about the nets. You see them in numbers exceeding imagination, + shoals on shoals. “Pull up now, there’s a heavy strike,” cries the + skipper, and the nets are hauled up, and come in white and moving—a + solid block of fish, cheep, cheep, cheeping like birds in the early + morning. At the grey of dawn the boats begin to run for home, and the sun + is shining as the fleet makes the harbour. Men and women are waiting there + to buy the night’s catch. The quay is full of them, bustling, shouting, + laughing, quarrelling, counting the herrings, and so forth. + </p> + <p> + THE FISHERMEN’S SERVICE + </p> + <p> + Such is the herring fishery of Man. Bishop Wilson knew how bitter a thing + it could be if this industry failed the island even for a single season. + So, with absolute belief in the Divine government of the world, he wrote a + Service to be held on the first day of the herring season, asking for + God’s blessing on the harvest of the sea. The scene of that service must + have been wondrously beautiful and impressive. Why does not some great + painter paint it? Let me, by the less effectual vehicle of words, attempt + to realise what it must have been. + </p> + <p> + The place of it was Peel bay, a wide stretch of beach, with a gentle slope + to the left, dotted over with grey houses; the little town farther on, + with its nooks and corners, its blind alleys and dark lanes, its narrow, + crabbed, crooked streets. Behind this the old pier and the herring boats + rocking in the harbour, with their brown sails half set, waiting for the + top of the tide. In the distance the broad breast of Contrary Head, and, a + musket-shot outside of it, the little rocky islet whereon stand the + stately ruins of the noble old Peel Castle. The beach is dotted over with + people—old men, in their curranes and undyed stockings, leaning on + their sticks; children playing on the shingle; young women in groups, + dressed in sickle-shaped white sun-bonnets, and with petticoats tucked up; + old women in long blue homespun cloaks. But these are only the background + of the human picture. In the centre of it is a wide circle of fishermen, + men and boys, of all sizes and sorts, from the old Admiral of the herring + fleet to the lad that helps the cook—rude figures in blue and with + great sea-boots. They are on their knees on the sand, with their knitted + caps at their rusty faces, and in the middle of them, standing in an old + broken boat, is the Bishop himself, bareheaded, white-headed, with + upturned face praying for the fishing season that is about to begin. The + June day is sweet and beautiful, and the sun is going down behind the + castle. Some sea-gulls are disporting on the rock outside, and, save for + their jabbering cries, and the boom of the sea from the red horizon, and + the gentle plash of the wavelets on the pebbles of the shore, nothing is + heard but the slow tones of the Bishop and the fishermen’s deep <i>Amen</i>. + Such was Bishop Wilson’s fishermen’s service. It is gone; more’s the pity. + </p> + <p> + SOME OLD LAWS + </p> + <p> + The spiritual laws of Man were no dead letters when Bishop Wilson presided + over its spiritual courts. He was good to illegitimate children, making + them legitimate if their parents married within two years of their birth, + and often putting them on the same level with their less injured brothers + and sisters where inheritance was in question. But he was unmerciful to + the parents themselves. There is one story of his treatment of a woman + which passes all others in its tyranny. It is, perhaps, the only deep + stain on his character. I thank God that it can never have come to the + ears of Victor Hugo. Told as Hugo would have told it, surely it must have + blasted for ever the name of a good man. It is the dark story of Katherine + Kinrade. + </p> + <p> + KATHERINE KINRADE + </p> + <p> + She was a poor ruin of a woman, belonging to Kirk Christ, but wandering + like a vagrant over the island. The fact of first consequence is, that she + was only half sane. In the language of the clergy of the time, she “had a + degree of unsettledness and defect of understanding.” Thus she was the + sort of human wreck that the world finds it easy to fling away. Katherine + fell victim to the sin that was not her own. A child was born. The Church + censured her. She did penance in a white sheet at the church doors. But + her poor, dull brain had no power to restrain her. A second child was + born. Then the Bishop committed her for twenty-one days to his prison at + the Peel. Let me tell you what the place is like. It is a crypt of the + cathedral church. You enter it by a little door in the choir, leading to a + tortuous flight of steep steps going down. It is a chamber cut out of the + rock of the little island, dark, damp, and noisome. A small aperture lets + in the light, as well as the sound of the sea beating on the rocks below. + The roof, if you could see it in the gloom, is groined and ribbed, and + above it is the mould of many graves, for in the old days bodies were + buried in the choir. Can you imagine a prison more terrible for any + prisoner, the strongest man or the bravest soldier? Think of it on a + tempestuous night in winter. The lonely islet rock, with the swift seas + rushing around it; the castle half a ruin, its guard-room empty, its + banqueting hall roofless, its sally port silent; then the cathedral church + falling to decay; and under the floor of its choir, where lie the graves + of dead men, this black, grim, cold cell, silent as the graves themselves, + save for the roar of the sea as it beats in the darkness on the rocks + outside! But that is not enough. We have to think of this gloomy pile as + inhabited on such a night of terrors by only one human soul—this + poor, bedraggled, sin-laden woman with “the defect of understanding.” Can + anything be more awful? Yet there is worse to follow. The records tell us + that Katherine Kinrade submitted to her punishment “with as much + discretion as could be expected of the like of her.” But such punishments + do not cleanse the soul that is “drenched with unhallowed fire.” Perhaps + Katherine did not know that she was wronged; nevertheless God’s image was + being trodden out of her. She went from bad to worse, became a notorious + strumpet, strolled about the island, and led “a scandalous life on other + accounts.” A third child was born. Then the Bishop concluded that for the + honour of the Christian name, “to prevent her own utter destruction, and + for the example of others,” a timely and thorough reformation must be made + by a further and severer punishment. It was the 15th day of March, and he + ordered that on the 17th day, being the fair of St. Patrick, at the height + of the market, the said Katherine Kinrade should be taken to Peel Town in + charge of the general sumner, and the constables and soldiers of the + garrison, and there dragged after a boat in the sea! Think of it! On a + bitter day in March this wretched woman with the “defect of understanding” + was to be dragged through the sea by a rope tied to the tail of a boat! + And if any owner, master, and crew of any boat proved refractory by + refusing to perform this service for the restraining of vice, they were to + be subject to fine and imprisonment! When St. Patrick’s Day came the + weather was so stormy that no boat could live in the bay, but on St. + Germain’s Day, about the height of the market, the censure was performed. + After undergoing the punishment the miserable soul was apparently + penitent, “according to her capacity,” took the communion, and was + “received into the peace of the Church.” Poor human ruin, defaced image of + a woman, begrimed and buried soul, unchaste, misshapen, incorrigible, no + “juice of God’s distilling” ever “dropped into the core of her life,” to + such punishment she was doomed by the tribunal of that saintly man, Bishop + Thomas Wilson! She has met him at another tribunal since then; not where + she has crouched before him, but where she has stood by his side. She has + carried her great account against him, to Him before whom the proudest are + as chaff. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + None spake when Wilson stood before + The Throne; + And He that sat thereon + Spake not; and all the presence-floor + Burnt deep with blushes, and the angels cast + Their faces downwards.—Then, at last, + Awe-stricken, he was ware + How on the emerald stair + A woman sat divinely clothed in white, + And at her knees four cherubs bright + That laid + Their heads within her lap. Then, trembling, he essayed + To speak—“Christ’s mother, pity me!” + Then answered she, + “Sir, I am Katherine Kinrade.” {*} + + * Unpublished poem by the author of ‘’Fo’c’s’le Yarns.” + </pre> + <p> + BISHOP WILSON’S LAST DAYS + </p> + <p> + Have I dashed your faith in my hero? Was he indeed the bitterest of + tyrants as well as the serenest of saints? Yet bethink you of the other + good men who have done evil deeds? King David and the wife of Uriah, + Mahomet and his adopted son; the gallery of memory is hung round with many + such portraits. Poor humanity, weak at the strongest, impure at the + purest; best take it as it is, and be content. Remember that a good man’s + vices are generally the excess of his virtues. It was so with Bishop + Wilson. Remember, too, that it is not for what a man does, but for what he + means to do, that we love him or hate him in the end. And in the end the + Manx people loved Bishop Wilson, and still they bless his memory. + </p> + <p> + We have a glimpse of his last days, and it is full of tender beauty. True + to his lights, simple and frugal of life, God-fearing and strong of heart, + he lived to be old. Very feeble, his beautiful face grown mellower even as + his heart was softer for his many years, tottering on his staff, drooping + like a white flower, he went in and out among his people, laying his + trembling hands on the children’s heads and blessing them, remembering + their fathers and their fathers’ fathers. Beloved by the young, reverenced + by the old, honoured by the great, worshipped by the poor, living in sweet + patience, ready to die in hope. His day was done, his night was near, and + the weary toiler was willing to go to his rest. Thus passed some peaceful + years. He died in 1755, and was followed to his grave by the whole Manx + nation. His tomb is our most sacred shrine. We know his faults, but we do + not speak of them there. Call a truce over the place of the old man’s + rest. There he lies, who was once the saviour of our people. God bless + him! He was our fathers’ bishop, and his saintly face still shines on our + fathers’ children. + </p> + <p> + THE ATHOL BISHOPS + </p> + <p> + Let me in a last clause attempt a sketch of the history of the Manx Church + in the century or more that has followed Bishop Wilson’s death. The last + fifty years of it are featureless, save for an attempt to abolish the + Bishopric. This foolish effort first succeeded and then failed, and was a + poor bit of mummery altogether, ending in nothing but waste of money and + time, and breath and temper. The fifty years immediately succeeding Bishop + Wilson were full of activity. But so far as the Church was concerned, the + activity was not always wholesome. If religion was kept alive in Man in + those evil days, and the soul hunger of the poor Manx people was + satisfied, it was not by the masters of the Manx Church, the Pharisees who + gave alms in the streets to the sound of a trumpet going before them, or + by the Levites who passed by on the other side when a man had fallen among + thieves. It was partly by dissent, which was begun by Wesley in 1775 + (after Quakerism had been suppressed), and partly by a small minority of + the Manx clergy, who kept going the early evangelicalism of Newton and + Cowper and Cecil—dear, sunny, simple-hearted old Manx vicars, who + took sweet counsel together in their old-fashioned homes, where you found + grace in all senses of the word, purity of soul, the life of the mind, and + gentle courtliness of manners. + </p> + <p> + Bishop Wilson’s successor was Doctor Mark Hildlesley, in all respects a + worthy man. He completed the translation of the Scriptures into Manx, + which had been begun by his predecessor, and established Sunday-schools in + Man before they had been commenced in any other country. But after him + came a line of worthless prelates, Dr. Richmond, remembered for his + unbending haughtiness; Dr. Mason, disgraced by his debts; and Claudius + Cregan, a bishop unfit to be a curate. Do you not read between the broad + lines of such facts? The Athol dynasty was now some thirty years + established in Man, and the swashbuckler Court of fine gentlemen was in + full swing. In that costume drama of soiled lace and uproarious pleasures, + what part did the Church play? Was it that of the man clad in camel’s + skin, living on locusts and wild honey, and calling on the generation of + revellers to flee from the wrath to come? No; but that of the lover of + cakes and ale. The records of this period are few and scanty, but they are + full enough to show that some of the clergy of the Athols knew more of + backgammon than of theology. While they pandered to the dissolute Court + they lived under, going the errands of their masters in the State, + fetching and carrying for them, and licking their shoes, they tyrannised + over the poor ignorant Manx people and fleeced them unmercifully. Perhaps + this was in a way only natural. Corruption was in the air throughout + Europe. Dr. Youngs were grovelling for preferments at the feet of kings’ + mistresses, and Dr. Warners were kissing the shoebuckles of great ladies + for sheer love of their faces, plastered red and white, The parasites of + the Manx clergy were not far behind some of their English brethren. There + is a story told of their life among themselves which casts lurid light on + their character and ways of life. It is said that two of the + Vicars-general summoned a large number of the Manx people to Bishop’s + Court on some business of the spiritual court, Many of the people had come + long distances, chiefly a-foot, without food, and probably without money. + After a short sitting the court was adjourned for dinner. The people had + no dinner, and they starved. The Vicars-general went into the palace to + dine with the Bishop. Some hours passed. The night was gathering. Then a + message came out to say that no more business could be done that day. Some + of the poor people were old, and had to travel fifteen miles to their + homes. The record tells us that the Bishop gave his guests “most excellent + wine.” What of a scene like that? Outside, a sharp day in Spring, two + score famished folks tramping the glen and the gravel-path, the + gravel-path and the glen, to and fro, to and fro, minute after minute, + hour after hour. Inside, my lord Bishop, drenched in debt, dining with his + clergy, drinking “most excellent wine” with them, unbending his mighty + mind with them, exchanging boisterous stories with them, jesting with + them, laughing with them, until his face grows as red as the glowing turf + on his hearth. Presently a footfall on the gravel, and outside the window + a hungry, pinched, anxious face looking nervously into the room. Then this + colloquy: + </p> + <p> + “Ah, the court, plague on’t, I’d forgotten it.” + </p> + <p> + “Adjourn it, gentlemen.” + </p> + <p> + “Wine like yours, my lord, would make a man forget Paradise.” + </p> + <p> + “Sit down again, gentlemen. Juan, go out and tell the people to come back + to-morrow.” + </p> + <p> + “Your right good health, my lord!” + </p> + <p> + “And yours, gentlemen both!” + </p> + <p> + Oh, if there is any truth in religion, if this world is God’s, if a day is + coming when the weak shall be exalted and the mighty laid low, what a + reckoning they have gone to whose people cried for bread and they gave + them a stone! And if there is not, if the hope is vain, if it is all a + sham and a mockery, still the justice of this world is sure. Where are + they now, these parasites? Their game is played out. They are bones and + ashes; they are in their forgotten graves. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE + </h2> + <p> + THE MANX LANGUAGE + </p> + <p> + A friend asked me the other day if there was any reason why I should not + deliver these lectures in Manx. I answered that there were just forty good + and sufficient reasons. The first was that I did not speak Manx. Like the + wise queen in the story of the bells, he then spared me the recital of the + remaining nine-and-thirty. But there is at least one of the number that + will appeal strongly to most of my hearers. What that is you shall judge + for yourselves after I have braved the pitfalls of pronunciation in a + tongue I do not know, and given you some clauses of the Lord’s Prayer in + Manx. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Ayr ain t’ayns niait, + (Father our who art in heaven.) + + Caskerick dy row dty ennym. + (Holy be Thy name.) + + Dy jig dty reeriaght. + (Come Thy kingdom.) + + Dty aigney dy row jeant er y thalloo mry te ayns niau. + (Thy will be done on the earth even as in heaven.) +</pre> + <hr /> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Son dy bragh, as dy bragh, Amen. + (For ever and ever. Amen.) +</pre> + <p> + I asked a friend—it was Mr. Wilson Barrett—if in its fulness, + its fine chest-notes, its force and music, this old language did not sound + like Italian. + </p> + <p> + “Well, no,” he answered, “it sounds more like hard swearing.” + </p> + <p> + I think you must now understand why the greater part of these lectures + should be delivered in English. + </p> + <p> + Manx is a dialect mainly Celtic, and differing only slightly from the + ancient Scottish Gaelic. I have heard my father say that when he was a boy + in Ramsey, sixty years ago, a Scotch ship came ashore on the Carrick, and + next morning after the wreck a long, lank, bony creature, with bare legs, + and in short petticoats, came into the marketplace and played a tune on a + little shrieking pair of smithy bellows, and then sang a song. It was a + Highland piper, and he sang in his Gaelic, but the Manx boys and girls who + gathered round him understood almost every word of his song, though they + thought his pronunciation bad. Perhaps they took him for a poor old + Manxman, somehow strayed and lost, a sort of Manx Rip Van Winkle who had + slept a century in Scotland, and thereby lost part of his clothes. + </p> + <p> + You will wonder that there is not more Norse in our language, remembering + how much of the Norse is in our blood. But the predominance of the Celtic + is quite natural. Our mothers were Celts, speaking Celtic, before our + Norse-fathers came. Was it likely that our Celtic mothers should learn + much of the tongue of their Norse husbands? Then, is it not our mother, + rather than our father, who teaches us to speak when we are children? So + our Celtic mothers taught us Celtic, and thus Celtic became the dominant + language of our race. + </p> + <p> + MANX NAMES + </p> + <p> + But though our Norse fathers could not impose their Norse tongue on their + children, they gave them Norse names, and to the island they gave Norse + place-names. Hence we find that though Manx names show a preponderance of + the Celtic, yet that the Norse are numerous and important. Thus we have + many <i>dales, fells, garths</i>, and <i>ghylls</i>. Indeed, we have many + pure Scandinavian surnames and place-names. When I was in Iceland I + sometimes found myself face to face with names which almost persuaded me + that I was at home in our little island of the Irish Sea. There is, for + example, a Snaefell in Man as well as in Iceland. Then, our Norwegian + surnames often took Celtic prefixes, such as <i>Mac</i>, and thus became + Scandio-Gaelic. But this is a subject on which I have no right to speak + with authority. You will find it written down with learning and judgment + in the good book of my friend Mr. A. W. Moore, of Cronkbourne. What + concerns me more than the scientific aspect of the language is its + literary character. I seem to realise that it was the language of a poetic + race. The early generations of a people are often poetic. They are + child-like, and to be like a child is the best half of being like a poet. + They name their places by help of their observatory powers. These are + fresh and full of wonder, and Nature herself is beautiful or strange until + man tampers with her. + </p> + <p> + So when an untaught and uncorrupted mind looks upon a new scene and + bethinks itself of a name to fit it, the name is almost certainly full of + charm or rugged power. Thus we find in Man such mixed Norse and Celtic + names as: <i>Booildooholly</i> (Black fold of the wood), <i>Douglas</i> + (Black stream), <i>Soderick</i> (South creek), <i>Trollaby</i> (Troll’s + farm), <i>Gansy</i> (Magic isle), <i>Cronk-y-Clagh Bane</i> (Hill of the + white stone), <i>Cronk-ny-hey</i> (Hill of the grave), <i>Cronk-ny-arrey-lhaa</i> + (Hill of the day watch). + </p> + <p> + MANX IMAGINATION + </p> + <p> + This poetic character of the place-names of the island is a standing + reproach to us as a race. We have degenerated in poetic spirit since such + names were the natural expression of our feelings. I tremble to think what + our place-names would be if we had to make them now. Our few modern + Christenings set my teeth on edge. We are not a race of poets. We are the + prosiest of the prosy. I have never in my life met with any race, except + Icelanders and Norwegians, who are so completely the slave of hard fact. + It is astounding how difficult the average Manxman finds it to put himself + into the mood of the poet. That anything could come out of nothing, that + there is such a thing as imagination, that any human brother of an honest + man could say that a thing had been, which had not been, and yet not lie—these + are bewildering difficulties to the modern Manxman. That a novel can be + false and yet true—that, well that’s foolishness. I wrote a Manx + romance called “The Deemster;” and I did not expect my fellow-countrymen + of the primitive kind to tolerate it for a moment. It was merely a + fiction, and the true Manxman of the old sort only believes in what is + true. He does not read very much, and when he does read it is not novels. + But he could not keep his hands off this novel, and on the whole, and in + the long run, he liked it—that is, as he would say, “middling,” you + know! But there was only one condition on which he could take it to his + bosom—it must be true. There was the rub, for clearly it + transgressed certain poor little facts that were patent to everybody. + </p> + <p> + Never mind, Hall Caine did not know poor Man, or somebody had told him + wrong. But the story itself! The Bishop, Dan, Ewan, Mona, the body coming + ashore at the Mooragh, the poor boy under the curse by the Calf, + lord-a-massy, that was thrue as gospel! What do you think happened? I have + got the letters by me, and can show them to anybody. A good Manxman wrote + to remonstrate with me for calling the book a “romance.” How dare I do so? + It was all true. Another wrote saying that maybe I would like to know that + in his youth he knew my poor hero, Dan Mylrea, well. They often drank + together. In fact, they were the same as brothers. For his part he had + often warned poor Dan the way he was going. After the murder, Dan came to + him and gave him the knife with which he had killed Ewan. He had got it + still! + </p> + <p> + Later than the “Deemster,” I published another Manx romance, “The + Bondman.” In that book I mentioned, without thought of mischief, certain + names that must have been lying at the back of my head since my boyhood. + One of them becomes in the book the name of an old hypocrite who in the + end cheats everybody and yet prays loudly in public. Now it seems that + there is a man up in the mountains who owns that name. When he first + encountered it in the newspapers, where the story was being published as a + serial, he went about saying he was in the “Bondman,” that it was all + thrue as gospel, so it was, that he knew me when I was a boy, over Ramsey + way, and used to give me rides on his donkey, so he did. This was before + the hypocrite was unmasked; and when that catastrophe occurred, and his + villany stood naked before all the island, his anger knew no limits. I am + told that he goes about the mountains now like a thunder-cloud, and that + he wants to meet me. I had never heard of the man before in all my life. + </p> + <p> + What I say is true only of the typical Manxman, the natural-man among + Manxmen, not of the Manxman who is Manxman plus man of the world, the + educated Manxman, who finds it as easy as anybody else to put himself into + a position of sympathy with works of pure imagination. But you must go + down to the turf if you want the true smell of the earth. Education levels + all human types, as love is said to level all ranks; and to preserve your + individuality and yet be educated seems to want a strain of genius, or + else a touch of madness. + </p> + <p> + The Manx must have been the language of a people with few thoughts to + express, but such thoughts as they had were beautiful in their simplicity + and charm, sometimes wise and shrewd, and not rarely full of feeling. Thus + <i>laa-noo</i> is old Manx for child, and it means literally half saint—a + sweet conception, which says the best of all that is contained in + Wordsworth’s wondrous “Ode on the Intimations of Immortality.” <i>Laa-bee</i> + is old Manx for bed, literally half-meat, a profound commentary on the + value of rest. The old salutation at the door of a Manx cottage before the + visitor entered was this word spoken from the porch: <i>Vel peccaghs thie?</i> + Literally: Any sinner within? All humanity being sinners in the common + speech of the Manx people. + </p> + <p> + MANX PROVERBS + </p> + <p> + Nearly akin to the language of a race are its proverbs, and some of the + Manx proverbs are wise, witty, and racy of the soil. Many of them are the + common possession of all peoples. Of such kind is “There’s many a slip + ‘twixt the cup and the lip.” Here is one which sounds like an Eastern + saying: “Learning is fine clothes for the rich man, and riches for the + poor man.” But I know of no foreign parentage for a proverb like this: “A + green hill when far away; bare, bare when it is near.” + </p> + <p> + That may be Eastern also. It hints of a long weary desert; no grass, no + water, and then the cruel mirage that breaks down the heart of the + wayfarer at last. On the other hand, it is not out of harmony with the + landscape of Man, where the mountains look green sometimes from a distance + when they are really bare and stark, and so typify that waste of heart + when life is dry of the moisture of hope, and all the world is as a + parched wilderness. However, there is one proverb which is so Manx in + spirit that I could almost take oath on its paternity, so exactly does it + fit the religious temper of our people, though it contains a word that + must strike an English ear as irreverent: “When one poor man helps another + poor man, God himself laughs.” + </p> + <p> + MANX BALLADS + </p> + <p> + Next to the proverbs of a race its songs are the best expression of its + spirit, and though Manx songs are few, some of them are full of Manx + character. Always their best part is the air. A man called Barrow compiled + the Manx tunes about the beginning of the century, but his book is scarce. + In my ignorance of musical science I can only tell you how the little that + is left of Manx music lives in the ear of a man who does not know one note + from another. Much of it is like a wail of the wind in a lonely place near + to the sea, sometimes like the soughing of the long grass, sometimes like + the rain whipping the panes of a window as with rods. Nearly always + long-drawn like a moan rarely various, never martial, never inspiriting, + often sad and plaintive, as of a people kept under, but loving liberty, + poor and low down, but with souls alive, looking for something, and hoping + on,—full of the brine, the salt foam, the sad story of the sea. + Nothing would give you a more vivid sense of the Manx people than some of + our old airs. They would seem to take you into a little whitewashed + cottage with sooty rafters and earthen floor, where an old man who looks + half like a sailor and half like a landsman is dozing before a peat fire + that is slumbering out. Have I in my musical benightedness conveyed an + idea of anything musical? If not, let me, by the only vehicle natural to + me, give you the rough-shod words of one or two of our old ballads. There + is a ballad, much in favour, called <i>Ny kirree fo niaghey</i>, the Sheep + under the Snow. Another, yet better known, is called <i>Myle Charaine</i>. + This has sometimes been called the Manx National Air, but that is a + fiction. The song has nothing to do with the Manx as a nation. Perhaps it + is merely a story of a miser and his daughter’s dowry. Or perhaps it tells + of pillage, probably of wrecking, basely done, and of how the people cut + the guilty one off from all intercourse with them. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + O, Myle Charaine, where got you your gold? + Lone, lone, you have left me here, + O, not in the curragh, deep under the mould, + Lone, lone, and void of cheer. +</pre> + <p> + This sounds poor enough, but it would be hard to say how deeply this + ballad, wedded to its wailing music, touches and moves a Manxman. Even to + my ear as I have heard it in Manx, it has seemed to be one of the weirdest + things in old ballad literature, only to be matched by some of the old + Irish songs, and by the gruesome ditty which tells how “the sun shines + fair on Carlisle wa’.” + </p> + <p> + MANX CAROLS + </p> + <p> + The paraphrase I have given you was done by George Borrow, who once + visited the island. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown met him and showed him + several collections of Manx carols, and he pronounced them all + translations from the English, not excepting our famous <i>Drogh Vraane</i>, + or carol of every bad woman whose story is told in the Bible, beginning + with the story of mother Eve herself. And, indeed, you will not be + surprised that to the shores of our little island have drifted all kinds + of miscellaneous rubbish, and that the Manxmen, from their very simplicity + and ignorance of other literatures, have had no means of sifting the + flotsam and assigning value to the constituents. Besides this, they are so + irresponsible, have no literary conscience, and accordingly have + appropriated anything and everything. This is true of some Manx ballads, + and perhaps also of many Manx carols. The carols, called Carvals in Manx, + serve in Man, as in other countries, the purpose of celebrating the birth + of Jesus, but we have one ancient custom attached to them which we can + certainly claim for our own, so Manx is it, so quaint, so grimly serious, + and withal so howlingly ludicrous. + </p> + <p> + It is called the service of Oiel Verree, probably a corruption of <i>Feaill + Vorrey</i>, literally the Feast of Mary, and it is held in the parish + church near to midnight on Christmas Eve. Scott describes it in “Peveril + of the Peak,” but without personal knowledge. + </p> + <p> + Services are still held in many churches on Christmas Eve; and I think + they are called Oiel Verree, but the true Oiel Verree, the real, pure, + savage, ridiculous, sacrilegious old Oiel Verree, is gone. I myself just + came in time for it; I saw the last of it, nevertheless I saw it at its + prime, for I saw it when it was so strong that it could not live any + longer. Let me tell you what it was. + </p> + <p> + The story carries me back to early boyish years, when, from the lonely + school-house on the bleak top of Maughold Head, I was taken in secret, one + Christmas Eve, between nine and ten o’clock, to the old church of Kirk + Maughold, a parish which longer than any other upheld the rougher + traditions. My companion was what is called an original. His name was + Billy Corkill. We were great chums. I would be thirteen, he was about + sixty. Billy lived alone in a little cottage on the high-road, and worked + in the fields. He had only one coat all the years I knew him. It seemed to + have been blue to begin with, but when it had got torn Billy had patched + it with anything that was handy, from green cloth to red flannel. He + called it his Joseph’s coat of many colours. Billy was a poet and a + musical composer. He could not read a word, but he would rather have died + than confess his ignorance. He kept books and newspapers always about him, + and when he read out of them, he usually held them upside down. If any one + remarked on that, he said he could read them any way up—that was + where his scholarship came in. Billy was a great carol singer. He did not + know a note, but he never sang except from music. His tunes were wild + harmonies that no human ear ever heard before. It will be clear to you + that old Billy was a man of genius. + </p> + <p> + Such was my comrade on that Christmas Eve long ago. It had been a bitter + winter in the Isle of Man, and the ground was covered with snow. But the + church bells rang merrily over the dark moorland, for Oiel Verree was + peculiarly the people’s service, and the ringers were ringing in the one + service of the year at which the parishioners supplanted the Vicar, and + appropriated the old parish church. In spite of the weather, the church + was crowded with a motley throng, chiefly of young folks, the young men + being in the nave, and the girls (if I remember rightly) in the little + loft at the west end. Most of the men carried tallow dips, tied about with + bits of ribbon in the shape of rosettes, duly lighted, and guttering + grease at intervals on to the book-ledge or the tawny fingers of them that + held them. It appeared that there had been an ordinary service before we + arrived, and the Vicar was still within the rails of the communion. From + there he addressed some parting words of solemn warning to the noisy + throng of candle-carriers. As nearly as I can remember, the address was + this: “My good people, you are about to celebrate an old custom. For my + part, I have no sympathy with such customs, but since the hearts of my + parishioners seem to be set on this one, I have no wish to suppress it. + But tumultuous and disgraceful scenes have occurred on similar occasions + in previous years, and I beg you to remember that you are in God’s house,” + &c. &c. The grave injunction was listened to in silence, and when + it ended, the Vicar, a worthy but not very popular man, walked towards the + vestry. To do so, he passed the pew where I sat under the left arm of my + companion, and he stopped before him, for Billy had long been a notorious + transgressor at Oiel Verree. + </p> + <p> + “See that you do not disgrace my church to-night,” said the Vicar. But + Billy had a biting tongue. + </p> + <p> + “Aw, well,” said he, “I’m thinking the church is the people’s.” + </p> + <p> + “The people are as ignorant as goats,” said the Vicar. + </p> + <p> + “Aw, then,” said Billy, “you are the shepherd, so just make sheeps of + them.” + </p> + <p> + At that the Vicar gave us the light of his countenance no more. The last + glimpse of his robe going through the vestry door was the signal for a + buzz of low gossip, and straightway the business of Oiel Verree began. + </p> + <p> + It must have been now approaching eleven o’clock, and two old greybeards + with tousled heads placed themselves abreast at the door of the west + porch. There they struck up a carol in a somewhat lofty key. It was a most + doleful ditty. Certainly I have never since heard the like of it. I + remember that it told the story of the Crucifixion in startling language, + full of realism that must have been horribly ghastly, if it had not been + so comic. At the end of each verse the singers made one stride towards the + communion. There were some thirty verses, and every mortal verse did these + zealous carollers give us. They came to an end at length, and then another + old fellow rose in his pew and sang a ditty in Manx. It told of the loss + of the herring-fleet in Douglas Bay in the last century. After that there + was yet another and another carol—some that might be called sacred, + others that would not be badly wronged with the name of profane. As I + recall them now, they were full of a burning earnestness, and pictured the + dangers of the sinner and the punishment of the damned. They said nothing + about the joys of heaven, or the pleasures of life. Wherever these old + songs came from they must have dated from some period of religious + revival. The Manxman may have appropriated them, but if he did so he was + in a deadly earnest mood. It must have been like stealing a hat-band. + </p> + <p> + My comrade had been silent all this time, but in response to various + winks, nods, and nudges, he rose to his feet. Now, in prospect of Oiel + Verree I had written the old man a brand new carol. It was a mighty + achievement in the sentimental vein. I can remember only one of its + couplets: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in a holy union. +</pre> + <p> + I am not very sure what this may mean, and Billy must have been in the + same uncertainty. Shall I ever forget what happened? Billy standing in the + pew with my paper in his hand the wrong way up. Myself by his side holding + a candle to him. Then he began to sing. It was an awful tune—I think + he called it sevens—but he made common-sense of my doggerel by one + alarming emendation. When he came to the couplet I have given you, what do + you think he sang? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Hold your souls in still communion, + Blend them in—a hollow onion!” + </pre> + <p> + Billy must have been a humorist. He is long dead, poor old Billy. God rest + him! + </p> + <p> + DECAY OF THE MANX LANGUAGE + </p> + <p> + If in this unscientific way I have conveyed my idea of Manx carvals, Manx + ballads, or Manx proverbs, you will not be surprised to hear me say that I + do not think that any of these, can live long apart from the Manx + language. We may have stolen most of them; they may have been wrecked on + our coast, and we may have smuggled them; but as long as they wear our + native homespun clothes they are ours, and as soon as they put it off they + cease to belong to us. A Manx proverb is no longer a Manx proverb when it + is in English. The same is true of a Manx ballad translated, and of a Manx + carval turned into an English carol. What belongs to us, our way of saying + things, in a word, our style, is gone. The spirit is departed, and that + which remains is only an English ghost flitting about in Manx + grave-clothes. + </p> + <p> + Now this is a sad fact, for it implies that little as we have got of Manx + literature, whether written or oral, we shall soon have none at all. Our + Manx language is fast dying out. If we had any great work in the Manx + tongue, that work alone would serve to give our language a literary life + at least. But we have no such great work, no fine Manx poem, no good novel + in Manx, not even a Manx sermon of high mark. Thus far our Manx language + has kept alive our pigmies of Manx literature; but both are going down + together. The Manx is not much spoken now. In the remoter villages, like + Cregnesh, Ballaugh, Kirk Michael, and Kirk Andreas, it may still be heard. + Moreover, the Manxman may hear Manx a hundred times for every time an + Englishman hears it. But the younger generation of Manx folk do not speak + Manx, and very often do not understand it. This is a rapid change on the + condition of things in my own boyhood. Manx is to me, for all practical + uses, an unknown tongue. I cannot speak it, I cannot follow it when + spoken, I have only a sort of nodding acquaintance with it out of door, + and yet among my earliest recollections is that of a household where + nothing but Manx was ever spoken except to me. A very old woman, almost + bent double over a spinning wheel, and calling me Hommy-Veg, and <i>baugh-millish</i>, + and so forth. This will suggest that the Manx people are themselves + responsible for the death of the Manx language. That is partly true. The + Manx tongue was felt to be an impediment to intercourse with the English + people. Then the great English immigration set in, and the Isle of Man + became a holiday resort. That was the doomster of the Manx language. In + another five-and-twenty years the Manx language will be as dead as a Manx + herring. + </p> + <p> + One cannot but regret this certain fate. I dare not say that the language + itself is so good that it ought to live. Those who know it better say that + “it’s a fine old tongue, rich and musical, full of meaning and + expression.” {*} I know that it is at least forcible, and loud and deep in + sound. I will engage two Manxmen quarrelling in Manx to make more noise in + a given time than any other two human brethren in Christendom, not + excepting two Irishmen. Also I think the Manx must be capable of notes of + sweet feeling, and I observe that a certain higher lilt in a Manx woman’s + voice, suggesting the effort to speak about the sound of the sea, and the + whistle of the wind in the gorse, is lost in the voices of the younger + women who speak English only. But apart from tangible loss, I regret the + death of the Manx tongue on grounds of sentiment. In this old tongue our + fathers played as children, bought and sold as men, prayed, preached, + gossiped, quarrelled, and made love. It was their language at Tynwald; + they sang their grim carvals in it, and their wailing, woful ballads. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * The Rev. T. E. Brown. +</pre> + <p> + When it is dead more than half of all that makes us Manxmen will be gone. + Our individuality will be lost, the greater barrier that separates us from + other peoples will be broken down. Perhaps this may have its advantages, + but surely it is not altogether a base desire not to be submerged into all + the races of the earth. The tower of Babel is built, the tongues of the + builders are confounded, and we are not all anxious to go back and join + the happy family that lived in one ark. + </p> + <p> + But aside from all lighter thoughts there is something very moving and + pathetic in the death of an old language. Permit me to tell you, not as a + philologist, a character to which I have no claim, but as an imaginative + writer, how the death of an ancient tongue affects me. It is unlike any + other form of death, for an unwritten language is even as a breath of air + which when it is spent leaves no trace behind. A nation may die, yet its + history remains, and that is the tangible part of its past. A city may + fall to decay and lie a thousand years under the sands of the desert, yet + its relics revivify its life. But a language that is dead, a tongue that + has no life in its literature, is a breath of wind that is gone. A little + while and it went from lip to lip, from lip to ear; it came we know not + whence; it has passed we know not where. It was an embodied spirit of all + man’s joys and sorrows, and like a spirit it has vanished away. + </p> + <p> + Then if this old language has been that of our own people its death is a + loss to our affections. Indeed, language gets so close to our heart that + we can hardly separate it from our emotions. If you do not speak the + Italian language, ask yourself whether Dante comes as close to you as + Shakespeare, all questions of genius and temperament apart. And if Dante + seems a thousand miles away, and Shakespeare enters into your closest + chamber, is it not first of all because the language of Shakespeare is + your own language, alive with the life that is in your own tongue, vital + with your own ways of thought and even tricks and whims of speech? Let + English die, and Shakespeare goes out of your closet, and passes away from + you, and is then your brother-Englishman only in name. So close is the + bond of language, so sweet and so mysterious. + </p> + <p> + But there is yet a more sacred bond with the language of our fathers when + it can have no posthumous life in books. This is the bond of love. Think + what it is that you miss first and longest when death robs you of a + friend. Is it not the living voice? The living face you can bring back in + memory, and in your dark hours it will shine on you still; the good deed + can never die; the noble thought lives for ever. Death is not conqueror + over such as these, but the human voice, the strange and beautiful part of + us that is half spirit in life, is lost in death. For a while it startles + us as an echo in an empty chamber, and then it is gone, and not all the + world’s wealth could bring one note of it back. And such as the vanishing + away of the voice of the friend we loved is the death of the old tongue + which our fathers spoke. <i>It is the death of the dead</i>. + </p> + <p> + MANX SUPERSTITIONS + </p> + <p> + When the Manx tongue is dead there will remain, however, just one badge of + our race—our superstition. I am proud to tell you that we are the + most superstitious people now left among the civilised nations of the + world. This is a distinction in these days when that poetry of life, as + Goethe names it, is all but gone from the face of the earth. Manxmen have + not yet taken the poetry out of the moon and the stars, and the mist of + the mountains and the wail of the sea. Of course we are ashamed of the + survival of our old beliefs and try to hide them, but let nobody say that + as a people we believe no longer in charms, and the evil eye, and good + spirits and bad. I know we do. It would be easy to give you a hundred + illustrations. I remember an ill-tempered old body living on the Curragh, + who was supposed to possess the evil eye. If a cow died at calving, she + had witched it. If a baby cried suddenly in its sleep, the old witch must + have been going by on the road. If the potatoes were blighted, she had + looked over the hedge at them. There was a charm doctor in Kirk Andreas, + named Teare-Ballawhane. He was before my time, but I recall many stories + of him. When a cow was sick of the witching of the woman of the Curragh, + the farmer fled over to Kirk Andreas for the charm of the charm-doctor. + From the moment Teare-Ballawhane began to boil his herbs the cow + recovered. If the cow died after all, there was some fault in the farmer. + I remember a child, a girl, who twenty years ago had a birth-mark on her + face—a broad red stain like a hand on her cheek. Not long since, I + saw her as a young woman, and the stain was either gone entirely or hidden + by her florid complexion. When I asked what had been done for her, I heard + that a good woman had charmed her. “Aw, yes,” said the girl’s mother, “a + few good words do no harm anyway.” Not long ago I met an old fellow in + Onchan village who believed in the Nightman, an evil spirit who haunts the + mountains at night predicting tempests and the doom of ships, the <i>dooinney-oie</i> + of the Manx, akin to the <i>banshee</i> of the Irish. “Aw, man,” said he, + “it was up Snaefell way, and I was coming from Kirk Michael over, and it + was black dark, and I heard the Nightman after me, shoutin’ and wailin’ + morthal, <i>how-la-a, how-a-a</i>. But I didn’t do nothin’, no, and he + came up to me lek a besom, and went past me same as a flood, <i>who-o-o!</i> + And I lerr him! Aw, yes, man, yes!” + </p> + <p> + I remember many a story of fairies, some recited half in humour, others in + grim earnest. One old body told me that on the night of her wedding-day, + coming home from the Curragh, whither she had stolen away in pursuit of a + belated calf, she was chased in the moonlight by a troop of fairies. They + held on to her gown, and climbed on her back, and perched on her + shoulders, and clung to her hair. There were “hundreds and tons” of them; + they were about as tall as a wooden broth-ladle, and all wore cocked-hats + and velvet jackets. + </p> + <p> + A good fairy long inhabited the Isle of Man. He was called in Manx the + Phynnodderee. It would appear that he had two brothers of like features + with himself, one in Scotland called the Brownie, the other in Scandinavia + called the Swart-alfar. + </p> + <p> + I have often heard how on a bad night the Manx folk would go off to bed + early so that the Phynnodderee might come in out of the cold. Before going + upstairs they built up the fire, and set the kitchen table with crocks of + milk and pecks of oaten cake for the entertainment of their guest. Then + while they slept the Phynnodderee feasted, yet he always left the table + exactly as he found it, eating the cake and drinking the milk, but filling + up the peck and the crock afresh. Nobody ever intruded upon him, so nobody + ever saw him, save the Manx Peeping Tom. I remember hearing an old Manxman + say that his curiosity overcame his reverence, and he “leff the wife,” + stepped out of bed, crept to the head of the stairs, and peeped over the + banisters into the kitchen. There he saw the Phynnodderee sitting in his + own arm-chair, with a great company of brother and sister fairies about + him, baking bread on the griddle, and chattering together like linnets in + spring. But he could not understand a word they were saying. + </p> + <p> + I have told you that the Manxman is not built by nature for a gallant. He + has one bad fairy, and she is the embodied spirit of a beautiful woman. + Manx folk-lore, like Manx carvals, Manx ballads, and Manx proverbs, takes + it for a bad sign of a woman’s character that she has personal beauty. If + she is beautiful, ten to one she is a witch. That is how it happens that + there are so many witches in the Isle of Man. + </p> + <p> + The story goes that a beautiful wicked witch entrapped the men of the + island. They would follow her anywhere. So she led them into the sea, and + they were all drowned. Then the women of the island went forth to punish + her, and, to escape from them, she took the form of a wren and flew away. + That is how it comes about that the poor little wren is hunted and killed + on St. Stephen’s Day. The Manx lads do it, though surely it ought to be + the Manx maidens. At midnight they sally forth in great companies, armed + with sticks and carrying torches. They beat the hedges until they light on + a wren’s nest, and, having started the wren and slaughtered it, they + suspend the tiny mite to the middle of a long pole, which is borne by two + lads from shoulder to shoulder. They then sing a rollicking native ditty, + of which one version runs:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + We’ll hunt the wren, says Robbin the Bobbin; + We’ll hunt the wren, says Richard the Robbin; + We’ll hunt the wren, says Jack of the Lan’; + We’ll hunt the wren, says every one. +</pre> + <p> + But Robbin the Bobbin and Richard the Robbin are not the only creatures + who have disappeared into the sea. The fairies themselves have also gone + there. They inhabit Man no more. A Wesleyan preacher declared some years + ago that he witnessed the departure of all the Manx fairies from the Bay + of Douglas. They went away in empty rum puncheons, and scudded before the + wind as far as the eye could reach, in the direction of Jamaica. So we + have done with them, both good and bad. + </p> + <p> + However, among the witches whom we have left to us in remote corners of + the island is the very harmless one called the Queen of the Mheillia. Her + rural Majesty is a sort of first cousin of the Queen of the May. The + Mheillia is the harvest-home. It is a picturesque ceremonial, observed + differently in different parts. Women and girls follow the reapers to + gather and bind the corn after it has fallen to the swish of the sickles. + A handful of the standing corn of the last of the farmer’s fields is tied + about with ribbon. Nobody but the farmer knows where that handful is, and + the girl who comes upon it by chance is made the Queen of the Mheillia. + She takes it to the highest eminence near, and waves it, and her + fellow-reapers and gleaners shout huzzas. Their voices are heard through + the valley, where other farmers and other reapers and gleaners stop in + their work and say, “So-and-so’s Mheillia!” “Ballamona’s Mheillia’s took!” + That night the farmer gives a feast in his barn to celebrate the getting + in of his harvest, and the close of the work of the women at the + harvesting. Sheep’s heads for a change on Manx herrings, English ale for a + change on Manx jough; then dancing led by the mistress, to the tune of a + fiddle, played faster and wilder as the night advances, reel and jig, jig + and reel. This pretty rural festival is still observed, though it has lost + much of its quaintness. I think I can just remember to have heard the + shouts of the Mheillia from the breasts of the mountains. + </p> + <p> + You will have gathered that in no part of the world could you find a more + reckless and ill-conditioned breeding-ground of suppositions, legends, + traditions, and superstitions than in the Isle of Man. The custom of + hunting the wren is widely spread throughout Ireland; and if I were to + tell you of Manx wedding customs, Manx burial customs, Manx birth customs, + May day, Lammas, Good Friday, New Year, and Christmas customs, you would + recognise in the Manxman the same irresponsible tendency to appropriate + whatever flotsam drifts to his shore. What I have told you has come mainly + of my own observation, but for a complete picture of Manx manners and + customs, beliefs and superstitions, I will refer you to William Kennish’s + “Mona’s Isle, and other Poems,” a rare book, with next to no poetic + quality, and containing much that is worthless, but having a good body of + real native stuff in it, such as cannot be found elsewhere. A still better + anthology is likely to be soon forthcoming from the pen of Mr. A. W. Moore + (the excellent editor of “Manx Names”) and the press of Mr. Nutt. + </p> + <p> + It is easy to laugh at these old superstitions, so childish do they seem, + so foolish, so ignorant. But shall we therefore set ourselves so much + above our fathers because they were slaves to them, and we believe them + not? Bethink you. Are we so much wiser, after all? How much farther have + we got? We know the mists of Mannanan. They are only the vapours from the + south, creeping along the ridge of our mountains, going north. Is that + enough to know? We know the cold eye of the evil man, whose mere presence + hurts us, and the warm eye of the born physician, whose mere presence + heals us. Does that tell us everything? We hear the moans which the sea + sends up to the mountains, when storms are coming, and ships are to be + wrecked, and we do not call them the voices of the Nightman, but only the + voices of the wind. We have changed the name; but we have taken none of + the mystery and marvel out of the thing itself. It is the Wind for us; it + was the Nightman for our fathers. That is nearly all. The wind bloweth + where it listeth. We are as far off as ever. Our superstitions remain, + only we call them Science, and try not to be afraid of them. But we are as + little children after all, and the best of us are those that, being + wisest, see plainest that, before the wonders and terrors of the great + world we live in, we are children, walking hand-in-hand in fear. + </p> + <p> + MANX STORIES + </p> + <p> + You will say that there ought to be many good stories of a people like the + Manx; and here again I have to confess to you that the absence of all + literary conscience, all perception of keeping and relation, all sense of + harmony and congruity in the Manxman has so demoralised our anecdotal <i>ana</i> + that I hesitate to offer you certain of the best of our Manx yarns from + fear that they may be venerable English, Irish, and Scotch familiars. I + will content myself with a few that bear undoubted Manx lineaments. As an + instance of Manx hospitality, simple and rude, but real and hearty, I + think you would go the world over to match this. The late Rev. Hugh + Stowell Brown, a Manxman, brother of the most famous of living Manxmen, + and himself our North-country Spurgeon, with his wife, his sister, and his + mother, were belated one evening up Baldwin Glen, and stopped at a + farm-house to inquire their way. But the farmer would not hear of their + going a step further. “Aw, nonsense!” he said. “What’s the use of talkin’, + man? You’ll be stoppin’ with us to-night. Aw ‘deed ye will, though. The + women can get along together aisy, and <i>you’re a clane lookin’ sort o’ + chap; you’ll be sleepin’ with me!</i>” + </p> + <p> + In the old days of, say, two steamboats a week to England the old Manx + captains of the Steamboat Company were notorious soakers. There is a story + of one of them who had the Archdeacon of the island aboard in a storm. It + was night. The reverend Archdeacon was in an agony of pain and terror. He + inquired anxiously of the weather. The captain, very drunk, answered, “If + it doesn’t mend we’ll all be in heaven before morning, Archdeacon!” “Oh, + God forbid, captain,” cried the Archdeacon. + </p> + <p> + I have said what true work for religion Nonconformity must have done in + those evil days when the clergy of the Athols were more busy with + backgammon than with theology. But the religion of the old type of Manx + Methodist was often an amusing mixture of puritanism and its opposite, a + sort of grim, white-faced sanctity, that was never altogether free of the + suspicion of a big boisterous laugh behind it. The Methodist local + preachers have been the real guardians and repositories of one side of the + Manx genius, a curious, hybrid thing, deadly earnest, often howlingly + ludicrous, simple, generally sincere, here and there audaciously + hypocritical. Among local preachers I remember some of the sweetest, + purest, truest men that ever walked this world of God; but I also remember + a > man who was brought home from market on Saturday night, dead drunk, + across the bottom of his cart drawn by his faithful horse, and I saw him + in the pulpit next morning, and heard his sermon on the evils of + backsliding. There is a story of the jealousy of two local preachers. The + one went to hear the other preach. The preacher laid out his subject under + a great many heads, firstly, secondly, thirdly, up to tenthly. His rival + down below in the pew spat and <i>haw’d</i> and <i>tchut’d</i> a good + deal, and at last, quite impatient of getting no solid religious food, + cried aloud, “Give us mate, man, give us mate!” Whereupon the preacher + leaned over the pulpit cushion, and said, “Hould on, man, till I’ve done + with the carving.” + </p> + <p> + But to tell of Happy Dan, and his wondrous sermon on the Prodigal Son at + the Clover Stones, Lonan, and his discourse on the swine possessed of + devils who went “triddle-traddle, triddle-traddle down the brews and were + clane drownded;” and of the marvellous account of how King David + remonstrated in broadest Manx <i>patois</i> with the “pozzle-tree,” for + being blown down; and then of the grim earnestness of a good man who could + never preach on a certain text without getting wet through to the + waistcoat with perspiration—to open the flood-gates of this kind of + Manx story would be to liberate a reservoir that would hardly know an end, + so I must spare you. + </p> + <p> + MANX “CHARACTERS” + </p> + <p> + At various points of my narrative I have touched on certain of our + eccentric Manx “characters.” But perhaps more interesting than any such + whom I have myself met with are some whom I have known only by repute. + These children of Nature are after all the truest touchstones of a + nation’s genius. Crooked, distorted, deformed, they nevertheless, and + perhaps therefore, show clearly the bent of their race. If you are without + brake or curb you may be blind, but you must know when you are going down + hill. The curb of education, and the brake of common-sense are the surest + checks on a people’s individuality. And these poor halfwits of the Manx + race, wiser withal than many of the Malvolios who smile on them so + demurely, exhibit the two great racial qualities of the Manx people—the + Celtic and the Norse—in vivid companionship and contrast. It is an + amusing fact that in some wild way the bardic spirit breaks out in all of + them. They are all singers, either of their own songs, or the songs of + others. That surely is the Celtic strain in them. But their songs are + never of the joys of earth or of love, or yet of war; never, like the + rustic poetry of the Scotch, full of pawky humour; never cynical, never + sarcastic; only concerned with the terrors of judgment and damnation and + the place of torment. That, also, may be a fierce and dark development of + the Celtic strain, but I see more of the Norse spirit in it. When my + ancient bard in Glen Rushen took down his thumb-marked, greasy, + discoloured poems from the “lath” against the open-timbered ceiling, and + read them aloud to me in his broad Manx dialect, with a sing-song of voice + and a swinging motion of body, while the loud hailstorm pelted the window + pane and the wind whistled round the house, I found they were all + startling and almost ghastly appeals to the sinner to shun his evil + courses. One of them ran like this: + </p> + <p> + HELL IS HOT. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + O sinner, see your dangerous state, + And think of hell ere ‘tis too late; + When worldly cares would drown each thought, + Pray call to mind that hell is hot. + Still to increase your godly fears, + Let this be sounding in your ears, + Still bear in mind that hell is hot, + Remember and forget it not. +</pre> + <p> + There was another poem about a congregation of the dead in the region of + the damned: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + I found a reverend parson there, + A congregation too, + Bowed on their bended knees at prayer, + As they were wont to do. + But soon my heart was struck with pain, + I thought it truly odd, + The parson’s prayer did not contain + A word concerning God. +</pre> + <p> + You will remember the Danish book called “Letters from Hell,” containing + exactly the same idea, and conclude that the Manx bard was poking fun at + some fashionable yet worldly-minded preacher. But no; he was too much a + child of Nature for that. + </p> + <p> + There is not much satire in the Manx character, and next to no cynicism at + all. The true Manxman is white-hot. I have heard of one, John Gale, called + the Manx Burns, who lampooned the upstarts about him, and also of one, Tom + the Dipper, an itinerant Manx bard, who sang at fairs; but in a general + way the Manx bard has been a deadly earnest person, most at home in + churchyards. There was one such, akin in character to my old friend Billy + of Maughold, but of more universal popularity, a quite privileged pet of + everybody, a sort of sacred being, though as crazy as man may be, called + Chalse-a-Killey. Chaise was scarcely a bard, but a singer of the songs of + bards. He was a religious monomaniac, who lived before his time, poor + fellow; his madness would not be seen in him now. The idol of his crazed + heart was Bishop Wilson. He called him <i>dear</i> and <i>sweet</i>, vowed + he longed to die, just that he might meet him in heaven; then Wilson would + take him by the hand, and he would tell him all his mind, and together + they would set up a printing press, with the types of diamonds, and print + hymns, and send them back to the Isle of Man. Poor, ‘wildered brain, + haunted by “half-born thoughts,” not all delusions, but quaint and + grotesque. Full of valiant fury, Chaise was always ready to fight for his + distorted phantom of the right. When an uncle of my own died, whose name I + bear, Chaise shocked all the proprieties by announcing his intention of + walking in front of the funeral procession through the streets and singing + his terrible hymns. He would yield to no persuasion, no appeals, and no + threats. He had promised the dead man that he would do this, and he would + not break his oath to save his life. It was agony to the mourners, but + they had to submit. Chaise fulfilled his vow, walked ten yards in front, + sang his fierce music with the tears streaming from his wild eyes down his + quivering face. But the spectacle let loose no unseemly mirth. Nobody + laughed, and surely if the heaven that Chaise feared was listening and + looking down, his crazy voice was not the last to pierce the dome of it. + My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown has written a touching and beautiful poem, + “To Chaise in Heaven”: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + So you are gone, dear Chaise! + Ah well; it was enough— + The ways were cold, the ways were rough, + O Heaven! O home! + No more to roam, + Chaise, poor Chaise! + And now it’s all so plain, dear Chaise! + So plain— + The ‘wildered brain, + The joy, the pain + The phantom shapes that haunted, + The half-born thoughts that daunted: + All, all is plain, + Dear Chaise! + All is plain. +</pre> + <hr /> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Ah now, dear Chaise! of all the radiant host, + Who loves you most? + I think I know him, kneeling on his knees; + Is it Saint Francis of Assise? + Chaise, poor Chaise. +</pre> + <p> + MANX CHARACTERISTICS + </p> + <p> + I have rambled on too long about my eccentric Manx characters, and left + myself little space for a summary of the soberer Manx characteristics. + These are independence, modesty, a degree of sloth, a non-sanguine + temperament, pride, and some covetousness. This uncanny combination of + characteristics is perhaps due to our mixed Celtic and Norse blood. Our + independence is pure Norse. I have never met the like of it, except in + Norway, where a Bergen policeman who had hunted all the morning for my + lost umbrella would not take anything for his pains; and in Iceland, where + a poor old woman in a ragged woollen dress, a torn hufa on her head, torn + skin shoes on her feet, and with rheumatism playing visible havoc all over + her body, refused a kroner with the dignity, grave look, stiffened lips, + and proud head that would have become a duchess. But the Manxman’s + independence almost reaches a vice. He is so unwilling to owe anything to + any man that he is apt to become self-centred and cold, and to lose one of + the sweetest joys of life—that of receiving great favours from those + we greatly love, between whom and ourselves there is no such thing as an + obligation, and no such thing as a debt. There is something in the + Manxman’s blood that makes him hate rank; and though he has a vast respect + for wealth, it must be his own, for he will take off his hat to nobody + else’s. + </p> + <p> + The modesty of the Manxman reaches shyness, and his shyness is capable of + making him downright rude. One of my friends tells a charming story, very + characteristic of our people, of a conversation with the men of the + herring-fleet. “We were comin’ home from the Shetland fishing, ten boats + of us; and we come to an anchor in a bay. And there was a tremenjis fine + castle there, and a ter’ble great lady. Aw, she was a ter’ble kind lady; + she axed the lot of us (eighty men and boys, eight to each boat) to come + up and have dinner with her. So the day come—well, none of us went! + That shy!” My friend reproved them soundly, and said he wished he knew who + the lady was that he might write to her and apologise. Then followed a + long story of how a breeze sprung up and eight of the boats sailed. After + that the crew of the remaining two boats, sixteen men and boys, went up to + the tremenjis great castle, and the ter’ble great lady, and had tea. If + any lady here present knows a lady on the north-west coast of Scotland who + a year or two back invited eighty Manx men and boys to dinner, and + received sixteen to tea, she will redeem the character of our race if she + will explain that it was not because her hospitality was not appreciated + that it was not accepted by our foolish countrymen. + </p> + <p> + There is nothing that more broadly indicates the Norse strain in the Manx + character than the non-sanguine temperament of the Manxmen. Where the pure + Celt will hope anything and promise everything, the Manxman will hope not + at all and promise nothing. “Middling” is the commonest word in a + Manxman’s mouth. Hardly anything is entirely good, or wholly bad, but + nearly everything is middling. It’s a middling fine day, or a middling + stormy one; the sea is middling smooth or middling rough; the herring + harvest is middling big or middling little; a man is never much more, than + middling tired, or middling well, or middling hungry, or middling thirsty, + and the place you are travelling to is alwaya middling near or middling + far. The true Manxman commits himself to nothing. When Nelson was shot + down at Trafalgar, Cowle, a one-armed Manx quartermaster, caught him in + his remaining arm. This was Cowle’s story: “He fell right into my arms, + sir. ‘Mr. Cowle,’ he says, ‘do you think I shall recover?’ ‘I think, my + lord,’ I says, ‘we had better wait for the opinion of the medical man.’” + Dear old Cowle, that cautious word showed you were no Irishman, but a + downright middling Manxman. + </p> + <p> + I have one more story to tell, and that is of Manx pride, which is a + wondrous thing, usually-very ludicrous. A young farming girl who will go + about barefoot throughout the workdays of the week would rather perish + than not dress in grand attire, after her own sort, on Sunday afternoon. + But Manx pride in dress can be very touching and human. When the + lighthouse was built on the Chickens Rock, the men who were to live in it + were transferred from two old lighthouses on the little islet called the + Calf of Man, but their families were left in the disused lighthouses. Thus + the men were parted from their wives and children, but each could see the + house of the other, and on Sunday mornings the wives in their old + lighthouses always washed and dressed the children and made them “nice” + and paraded them to and fro on the platforms in front of the doors, and + the men in their new lighthouse always looked across the Sound at their + little ones through their powerful telescopes. + </p> + <p> + MANX TYPES + </p> + <p> + Surely that is a lovely story, full of real sweetness and pathos. It + reminds me that amid many half-types of dubious quality, selfish, + covetous, quarrelsome, litigious, there are at least two types of Manx + character entirely charming and delightful. The one is the best type of + Manx seaman, a true son of the sea, full of wise saws and proverbs, full + of long yarns and wondrous adventures, up to anything, down to anything, + pragmatical, a mighty moralist in his way, but none the less equal to a + round ringing oath; a sapient adviser putting on the airs of a + philosopher, but as simple as the baby of a girl—in a word, dear old + Tom Baynes of “Fo’c’s’le Yarns,” old salt, old friend, old rip. The other + type is that of the Manx parish patriarch. This good soul it would be hard + to beat among all the peoples of earth. He unites the best qualities of + both sexes; he is as soft and gentle as a dear old woman, and as firm of + purpose as a strong man. Garrulous, full of platitudes, easily moved to + tears by a story of sorrow and as easily taken in, but beloved and trusted + and reverenced by all the little world about him. I have known him as a + farmer, and seen him sitting at the head of his table in the farm kitchen, + with his sons and daughters and men-servants and women-servants about him, + and, save for ribald gossip, no one of whatever condition abridged the + flow of talk for his presence. I have known him as a parson, when he has + been the father of his parish, the patriarch of his people, the “ould + angel” of all the hillside round about. Such sweetness in his home life, + such nobility, such gentle, old-fashioned ceremoniousness, such delightful + simplicity of manners. Then when two of these “ould angels” met, two of + these Parson Adamses, living in content on seventy pounds a year, such + high talk on great themes, long hour after long hour in the little + low-ceiled Vicarage study, with no light but the wood fire, which + glistened on the diamond window-pane! And when midnight came seeing each + other home, spending half the night walking to and fro from Vicarage to + Vicarage, or turning out to saddle the horse in the field, but (far away + “in wandering mazes lost”) going blandly up to the old cow and putting on + the blinkers and saying, “Here he is, sir.” Have we anything like all this + in England? Their type is nearly extinct even in the Isle of Man, where + they have longest survived. And indeed they are not the only good things + that are dying out there. + </p> + <p> + LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS + </p> + <p> + The island has next to no literary associations, but it would be + unpardonable in a man of letters if he were to forget the few it can + boast. Joseph Train, our historian, made the acquaintance of Scott in + 1814, and during the eighteen years following he rendered important + services to “The Great Unknown” as a collector of some of the legendary + stories used as foundations for what were then called the Scotch Novels. + But it is a common error that Train found the groundwork of the Manx part + of “Peveril of the Peak.” It was Scott who directed Train to the Isle of + Man as a fine subject for study. Scott’s brother Thomas lived there, and + no doubt this was the origin of Scott’s interest in the island. Scott + himself never set foot on it. Wordsworth visited the island about 1823, + and he recorded his impressions in various sonnets, and also in the + magnificent lines on Peel Castle—“I was thy neighbour once, thou + rugged pile.” He also had a relative living there—Miss Hutchinson, + his sister-in-law. A brother of this lady, a mariner, lies buried in + Braddan churchyard, and his tombstone bears an epitaph which Wordsworth + indited. The poet spent a summer at Peel, pitching his tent above what is + now called Peveril Terrace. One of my friends tried long ago to pump up + from this sapless soil some memory of Wordsworth, but no one could + remember anything about him. Shelley is another poet of whom there remains + no trace in the Isle of Man. He visited the island early in 1812, being + driven into Douglas harbour by contrary winds on his voyage from + Cumberland to Ireland. He was then almost unknown; Harriet was still with + him, and his head was full of political reforms. The island was in a state + of some turmoil, owing to the unpopularity of the Athols, who still held + manorial rights and the patronage of the Bishopric. The old Norse + Constitution was intact, and the House of Keys was then a self-elected + chamber. It is not wonderful that Shelley made no impression on Man in + 1812, but it is surprising that Man seems to have made no impression on + Shelley. It made a very sensible impression on Hawthorne, who left his + record in the “English Note Book.” + </p> + <p> + MANX PROGRESS + </p> + <p> + I am partly conscious that throughout these lectures I have kept my face + towards the past. That has been because I have been loth to look at the + present, and almost afraid to peep into the future. The Isle of Man is not + now what it was even five-and-twenty years ago. It has become too English + of late. The change has been sudden. Quite within my own recollection + England seemed so far away that there was something beyond conception + moving and impressive in the effect of it and its people upon the + imagination of the Manx. There were only about two steamers a week between + England and the Isle of Man at that time. Now there are about two a day. + There are lines of railway on this little plot of land, which you might + cross on foot between breakfast and lunch, and cover from end to end in a + good day’s walk. This is, of course, a necessity of the altered + conditions, as also, no doubt, are the parades, and esplanades, and + promenades, and iron piers, and marine carriage drives, and Eiffel Tower, + and old castles turned into Vauxhall Gardens, and fairy glens into “happy + day” Roshervilles. God forbid that I should grudge the factory hand his + breath of the sea and glimpse of the gorse-bushes; but I know what price + we are paying that we may entertain him. + </p> + <p> + Our young Manxman is already feeling the English immigration on his + character. He is not as good a man as his father was before him. I dare + say that in his desire to make everything English that is Manx, he may + some day try to abolish the House of Keys, or at least dig up the Tynwald + Hill. In one fit of intermittent mania, he has already attempted to + “restore” the grand ruins of Peel Castle, getting stones from Whitehaven, + filling up loop-holes, and doing other indecencies with the great works of + the dead. All this could be understood if the young Manxman were likely to + be much the richer for the changes he is bringing about. But he is not; + the money that comes from England is largely taken by English people, and + comes back to England. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_CONC" id="link2H_CONC"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CONCLUSION + </h2> + <p> + From these ungracious thoughts let me turn again, in a last word, to the + old island itself, the true Mannin-veg-Veen of the real Manxman. In these + lectures you have seen it only as in flashes from a dark lantern. I am + conscious that an historian would have told you so much more of solid fact + that you might have carried away tangible ideas. Fact is not my domain, + and I shall have to be content if in default of it I have got you close to + that less palpable thing, the living heart of Manx-land, shown you our + island, helped you to see its blue waters and to scent its golden gorse, + and to know the Manxman from other men. Sometimes I have been half ashamed + to ask you to look at our countrymen, so rude are they and so primitive—russet-coated, + currane-shod men and women, untaught, superstitious, fishing the sea, + tilling their stony land, playing next to no part in the world, and only + gazing out on it as a mystery far away, whereof the rumour comes over the + great waters. No great man among us, no great event in our history, + nothing to make us memorable. But I have been re-assured when I have + remembered that, after all, to look on a life so simple and natural might + even be a tonic. Here we are in the heart of the mighty world, which the + true Manxman knows only by vague report; millions on millions huddled + together, enough to make five hundred Isles of Man, more than all the + Manxmen that have lived since the days of Orry, more than all that now + walk on the island, added to all that rest under it; streets on streets of + us, parks on parks, living a life that has no touch of Nature in the ways + of it; save only in our own breasts, which often rebel against our + surroundings, struggling with weariness under their artificiality, and the + wild travesty of what we are made for. Do what we will, and be what we + may, sometimes we feel the falseness of our ways of life, and surely it is + then a good and wholesome thing to go back in thought to such children of + Nature as my homespun Manx people, and see them where Nature placed them, + breathing the free air of God’s proper world, and living the right lives + of His servants, though so simple, poor, and rude. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s The Little Manx Nation - 1891, by Hall Caine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MANX NATION - 1891 *** + +***** This file should be named 25571-h.htm or 25571-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/7/25571/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’ WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. + +The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> |