History of the Isle of Man ... containing also biographical anecdotes of eminent persons connected with that island

Front matter

HISTORY ot THE ISLE OF MAN, #c Sfc. 1ABNABD AND FARLEY, Skfarur Street, London- HISTORY ll K THE ISLE OF MAN, WITH A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF TBE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF SOCIETY AND MANNERS; CONTAINING ALSO ISioqi apfjiral Snrrliotf-s Of EMINENT PERSONS CONNECTED WITH THAT ISLAND. BY H. A. BULLOCK. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1816. JtotroTruction* TO MRS. MY DEAR FRIEND, IT is now a long while since, in obedi ence to your suggestions, I have enter tained the idea of arranging an Account of the Isle of Man, for your sole amusement and information. My original design was to give you simply a sketch of living manners ; and to this purpose I had composed a series of Essays or Letters, which I believed would answer the end I VI

Introduction

. had in view; when an event took place *, which gave such a check to the prosperity of the island, that I, who have lived long enough in it to identify myself with its welfare, began to inquire whether it was not possible, even with my limited powers, to return some of the numberless kind nesses I have experienced from its native inhabitants. Scarcely had this latent hope shed its glow over my imagination, ere I painted another fairy vision; and having, like Alnaschar, first dreamed myself into a sovereignty, I next set about choosing my subjects, all of whom I meant, with ex clusive scrupulosity, to pick out, from a revered and long-lamented class, now nearly extirpated in my native land ; but * The passing of an act by the insular legislature, de priving debtors of the protection they had hitherto found here, from the prosecution of foreign claims.

INTRODUCTION.

. VII being that in which I spent the purest and best years of my life, is naturally asso ciated with all my ideas of happiness. I allude to the class who used to hold the middle rank : it seemed to me, as the vision floated by, that to preserve the remnant of this oppressed race from annihilation, no retreat could be better ima gined than this, on which I am now writing. The land and the people appear so exactly suited to each other, that I believe I have only to perform the cere mony of introduction— only to make the one known to the other — and like kindred minds, they will contract an intimacy which will end in a communion of benefits. Is it not true, my dear Madam, that by growing inordinately rich, by revelling in luxuries, until they have become mere necessaries, and above all, by changing the very character and principles of life and manners, the scene is closed on those

INTRODUCTION.

. VIII valuable and quiet comforts which used to spring from circumscribed expences, and well regulated desires? What has be come of the associates of my early days, who, on moderate incomes of a few hun dreds per annum, used to preserve a certain superiority of character and manners, over the mere money-getting and money loving crowd ? — where are now the anni versary days of rejoicing? — the Christmas gambols, in which all ages forgot then petty cares, and after a delightful bustle of preparation, met together to be merry with their whole hearts. When a birth or a wedding day brought a renewal of original joy, of which even the anticipation made no inconsiderable part, feasts and line clothes were not then undervalued by perpetual recurrence, nor the hope and the happiness of such assemblies, lost in vapid sameness. Am I mistaken when I say, that all

INTRODUCTION.

. IX these things are no more ; that such narrow means as would once suffice, for all the purposes of domestic ease, are no longer adequate to the bare supply of necessaries : and the peace of independence can only be preserved by the observance of a system of watchfulness and penurious economy, equally painful to endure and to practise, accompanied as these circumstances too frequently are, by the aggravated fears of paternal anxiety, for the rising generation. How difficult is it for those, whom edu cation has fitted to enjoy, and diffuse the elegancies of life, to relinquish even its comforts, and sink at once into the class beneath them. The desire of keeping good company, is another mistake which the young (particularly those who live in what is called the world) have to combat. Per haps I am wrong to use the word combat ; I should rather say, to regulate, and in order to this, it is necessary to define ih% X

INTRODUCTION.

. term : I believe, generally speaking, it refers to that link in the chain, immediately above our own, to those who live more expensively, keep more company, and make more show, than we can afford to do, without the slightest reference to mental qualifications or acquirements. Now this I contend is the fundamental error: I will have my good company to consist of those whom education, early associations, and present habits of think ing and acting, have fitted either to coincide with my own, or to correct and guide me to clearer views and better purposes ; who can participate in my plea sures, however simple or frugal, and sym pathize from their own feelings, in my cares, and my sorrows. Having, to my own perfect conviction at least, established the fact, that luxury is the prevailing pest of the day, and that jt is absolutely necessary to find a retreat

INTRODUCTION.

. XI where congenial spirits may associate, at a distance from the vortex of dissipation ; I come naturally back to the point whence I sat out, and declare that I believe the Isle of Man to be the very spot where this Utopian scheme may be realized. The chief obstacle to my project lies in the general neglect or contempt with which this place has been hitherto regard ed ; those who have thought of it at all, view it as a mere shelter for debtors, and as debts imply a degree of poverty, which is a high crime and misdemeanor, to which no man likes to plead guilty, it has hitherto included a species of disgrace, even to contemplate a retreat on the sea-beat shores of Mona: this objection, however, is now at an end, protection being no longer afforded to the fugitive, the field is left open for another, and, let us hope, a better class, to occupy. Perhaps, when I have stated the ad-

INTRODUCTION.

. XII vantages this Island really offers, you will agree with me, that it is one of the few places in Europe where moderate people, may be moderates happy at a moderate expence ; nor is it a small recommendation to a new colony, that they may find a place ready prepared where they can enter, as the children of Israel did on the land of Canaan, into houses which they have not built, and gardens they have not planted ; in truth, the want of population since the non-protection act (as it is called) has been most severely felt, and it is a great pity it should be so, for, in the few years immediately preceding this sudden stagnation, the progress of improvement had been rapid beyond comparison ; every thing was in a course of amelioration; even the asperities of party, which had formerly been so fertile of feuds, (that it was dangerous to hazard a remark, lest one should start a prejudice), were begin-

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII ning to subside into perfect unanimity. Agriculture and trade had also combined to diffuse prosperity over a happy com munity, when this sudden cloud over shadowed the whole horizon. In perusing the few accounts extant of the Island, I find none that are wholly satisfactory ; some say too little of the present day, and others appear not to have thought the early history of the Manx worth tracing out, or their primitive cha racter and situation deserving of inquiry ; at all events, the changes of the last few years are important enough togdemand a new record. It would ill become me to provoke a comparison with other authors, all the merit I claim is that of having industri ously collected into one view what has been scattered in a desultory manner through different books, many of them still in ma nuscript (to which I have had access s

INTRODUCTION.

. XIV through the kindness of friends on the spot), and others of such antiquity as to be only in the hands of a few individuals : from these sources, which I believe to be authen tic, I have derived my history of the past, and for my account of the present state of manners, society, and customs. I have trusted to the observations which a residence of ten years on the Island has enabled me to make, and my chief aim has been to give the result of those observations with impartiality and truth. I am fearful that, to indifferent readers, the history of the early Kings of Man will appear tedious, and must be uninteresting; and the account of the Derby family may also be considered as a repetition of well known facts ; yet would the natives of the Island have been as much dissatisfied if these had been omitted, as the English would be, should a future author present them with a History of Great Britain, from

INTRODUCTION.

. XV which the names of Alfred, Edward the Black Prince, or Henry the Fifth, were expunged, merely because the events con nected with them were too universally known to demand a repetition. Gallic of Contents.

Chapter I. Page

1 to 29. Early History of the Island and of its first Kings, to the Accession of the House of Stanley.

Chapter II. Page

30 to 39. History of the Bishops, from St. Patrick, the first Founder of Christianity, to the Time when the Patronage of the See was granted to Sir John Stanley.

Chapter III. Page

39 to 63. Conjectures respecting the Condition of the Manx under their Native Princes — Account of Sir John Stanley — TABLE OF CONTENTS, Manner of holding a Tynwald Court— Remarkable Decision of the Deemsters respecting the Rights of the Keys — Discontent of the People — Unsettled State of landed Property — Thomas, Second Earl of Derby, ex changes the Title of King, for that of Lord of Man,

Chapter IV. Page

64 to 80. Further History of the Island under the Stanleys — Extraordinary Magnificence of Edward, Third Earl of Derby — Curious Law respecting Trade — Accession of Henry, the Fourth Earl — Regulations made by him — Accession of Ferdinando — His Death — Is succeeded by his Brother William, who has great Difficulty to establish his Claim.

Chapter V. Page

81 to no. History of James, commonly called the great Earl of Derbv, and Tenth Lord of Man — His Arrival in the Island Disturbances there — First Account of Captain Chrrtian — Lord Derby returns to England. TABLE OF CONTENTS. XIX

Chapter VI. Page

Ul to 1*0. Continuation of the History of the Earl to his Death — The Island surrendered to the Parliament — Restored to Charles, Earl of Derby, on the Accession of Charles II. — Trial and Execution of Captain Christian — The Manx obtain the Act of Settlement from Earl William, on whose Death the Island passes into the Athol Family — And is finally revested in the Crown of Great Britain,

Chapter VII. Page

1*7 to 187. Bishops occupying the See from the Accession of the House of Stanley, to the present Time, with a particular Account of the Life of Bishop Wilson, and the various Improvements effected by him during his Episcopacy.

Chapter VIII. Page

188 to SOO. Review of the State of the Island under the Dominion of the House of Stanley — Excessive Alarm excited by the Revestment in Great Britain — The Revival of b2 XX TABLE OF CONTENTS. Prosperity and general Amelioration of Character and Manners, resulting from a better Order of Things — Prejudice against the Duke of Athol — Whence it origi nates, and how maintained.

Chapter IX. Page

201 to S13. Tour round the Island, commencing at Douglas — Description of that Town and the Neighbourhood.

Chapter X. Page

Sli to 838. Tour continued— Castletown — Derby Haven— The Calf- Peel Town and Castle — Ramsey — Laxey — and the Road returning to Douglas again.

CHAPTER XL PAGE

839 to 368. Agriculture — Its great Advance of late Years in the Isle of Mdn — Scale of Population at different Periods — State of Buildings— Advantages possessed by Manx Farmers over those of neighbouring Countries — Roads — Manure — Notice of some particular Improvements effected by Individuals. TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXI

326 to 339. Comments on the actual State of Society in the Island- Characteristics of the Natives— Clergy— Methodists.

Chapter XVIII. Page

310 to 362. Further Observations on the Society — An Example presented to the Ladies for their Imitation, deduced wholly from Native Excellence — the Peasantry — Review of the State of Society at different Periods — Contrast between Natives and Strangers — Anecdotes of the latter.

Chapter XIX. Page

363 to S7*. Some characteristic Superstitions of the Manx