704 1SLK OP MAN. 



provided with water, except what is brought into the town by casks. 

 The pier is tolerably handsome, and the water in the harbour is of such 

 astonishing clearness, that at a depth of six fathoms, you can dis- 

 tinguish every shell on its rocky bottom. In this town there are hot 

 and cold baths hotels, and boarding-lion ses a theatre libraries- 

 billiard, news, and assembly rooms, and all the etcetera of a fashion- 

 able watering place. Nay more, in 1829, a United Service Club was 

 formed. During the summer, a packet leaves Liverpool daily, at ten 

 o'clock in the morning, and arrives at six or seven in the evening. The 

 fare is 10*. Vessels running from Whitehaven to Dublin, and from 

 Liverpool to Glasgow, touch here in their way. A noble institution, 

 for the preservation of lives from shipwreck, was founded here in. 

 1824, which has been the means of saving upwards of 1500 lives. 



On the second day after my arrival I visited that spot which had a 

 particular interest to me ; namely, Peel castle, and with Sir Walter 

 Scott's interesting description of it strongly impressed on my mind, 

 I had anticipated no small gratification from my visit. The turret 

 was before my mind wherein the scene is laid between the young 

 Earl and the Countess of Derby the stone steps whereon Fenella 

 stood all rose to my mind in the romantic colouring of that great 

 author's delineating pen. But disappointment, the usual result of an 

 over-excited fancy, was destined for me. A ruin, destitute alike of 

 beauty and romance is the last relic of Peel castle. True, there is a 

 man there, and an old one, who oracularly tells you of the legends 

 attached to every stone ; who points out to you the dungeon wherein 

 some duke or duchess was starved to death, and tells you which way 

 the black dog ran that haunts the castle, and once tore some scoffer 

 piecemeal for disbelieving in the power of his teeth. Peel, or as it 

 was once designated, Holme- Town, is twelve or thirteen miles from 

 Douglas. The road is diversified and pleasant, and in many parts 

 even romantic. 



At Castle-Town, formerly the residence of the kings of Man, 

 stands Castle Rushen, erected in 960, by Guttred, a Danish prince. 

 The walls are in so admirable a state of preservation that it is difficult 

 to persuade yourself that upwards of eight centuries have elapsed 

 since they were raised. The view from the summit of the tower is par- 

 ticularly grand. It is asserted that the glacis, which surrounds the 

 castle, was built by Cardinal Wolsey. On my return from this place 

 to Douglas, after walking about two miles, I fell in with the ruins of 

 Rushen Abbey, founded in the year 1098, by Prince Macmarus. 

 Shortly after, I visited Ramsay, a neat and picturesque place, with a 

 beautiful sweeping bay before it. In all the towns the people speak 

 English, but towards the interior Manx alone is heard. 



The cheapness of living here is surprising. Land, uncultivated it 

 is true, but not incapable by any means of being rendered ad- 

 vantageous, is to be bought at 10,9. an acre. Brandy 10*. a gallon. 

 Fowls Qd. each, and every thing else in rateable proportion ; no taxes, 

 and no that is, but very few duties. N. B. No turnpikes or poor 

 houses. 



