224 



NA TURE 



[July 5, 1906 



spite of the pride of ownersfiip, the safe l<eeping of 

 the object owned is by no means guaranteed either 

 in Man or Wales. But to confine my remarl-cs for 

 the present to Man, I may say that I have linown 

 a sad case of perversity of this liind in the matter 

 of a piece of most valuable antiquity, which I abstain 

 from describing more minutely. This is within my 

 own knowledge, and I think no superstitious feeling 

 entered into_ the matter ; but in a case I have heard 

 of it is possible that an element of superstition mixed 

 itself with the mere sense of ownership. I was told 

 years ago that an ancient burial urn had accident- 

 ally been exposed partially to sight, but that the 

 owner could not be persuaded to allow it to be carried 

 away to a museum. At the same time he would do 

 nothing to protect it from being damaged by boys 

 shying stones at it or from other dangers.' Here 

 there may have been a superstitious fear of removing 

 anything supposed to be connected with the dead. At 

 all events, it will serve to illustrate one of the grave 

 difficulties which those have to face who want to see 

 the relics of antiquity brought to places of safety. 



This leads me to "mention the last " Report of the 

 Manx Museum and .Ancient Monuments," which lie= 

 before me, dated March 6, 1906, signed by the 

 chairman, Mr. Moore, and the hon. secretary, Mr. 

 Kcrmode. It shows very clearly how far the trustees 

 have got with their scheme, and what its objects are. 

 These, as the title suggests, are two— the safe keep-, 

 mg of the ancient monuments, and the exhibition of 

 them for the education of the Manx people, or rather 

 of a wider public still ; for nobody can, for instance, 

 be said to have completed his study of runic crosses 

 and Scandinavian epigraphy without visiting the, 

 series in the Isle of Man, the most central spot in ^ 

 the British Isles, and one most easily accessible from 

 Liverpool and the north of England.' Under the first' 

 heading a " .Scheme for the Better Preservation of the 

 Manx Sculptured and Inscribed Stones " has been : 

 adopted by the trustees, subject, of course, to alter- 

 ation in detail where found necessary, and to the 

 consent of the rectors and vicars of the parishes 

 concerned. This scheme seems really to consist of 

 so many separate schemes as there are parish 

 churches with important monuments of antiquity 

 near them. Even had there been a spacious museum 

 ready to receive all the stone monuments of the 

 island, no Manxman would probably entertain the 

 notion of removing thither the more important runic 

 crosses such as the group at Kirkmichael. So the 

 arrangement which finds favour is that of construct- 

 ing sheltered places for them near or within the 

 churchyards where they stand. The work has been 

 done already in some instances, and it may all be 

 expected to be completed in the course of the summer. 

 The Tynwald Court has unanimously voted, for the 

 carrying of it out, 250Z., and 150?. more are expected 

 from voluntary contributions. 



Thus far of the protection of the larger of the ancient 

 monuments in their respective localities. The smaller 

 objects ot antiquarian interest ought to find their 

 safe keeping in a museum, but to meet this want 

 less progress has been made. It is now some ten 

 years since the trustees adopted a memorandum 

 to the effect that the Manx Museum should consist 

 of local objects to illustrate fully the arch;Eolo.gy 

 and natural history of the i.sland, 'and the building's 

 requisite for the purpose should have a minimum area 

 (including galleries) of 5000 square feet, and cost 

 no less than 5000?. They also agreed that such an 

 rnstitution, being purely national, not municipal, 

 should be provided partly 'by public subscription, partly 

 by a grant from the reven'ue, and partly by the rate's 

 •of the town in which the museum was to be estab- 

 NO. 1 914, VOL. 74] 



lished. The town, they thought, should be Douglas, 

 and the cost of maintenance, estimated at 250L per 

 annum, should come out of the revenue, not out of the 

 rates. The question of ways and means was in due 

 time discussed, but nothing seems to have been done 

 even by the town of Douglas, which was at one time 

 eager to have the museum. In the meantime 

 Governor Henniker placed a portion of Castle Rushen, 

 at Castletown, at the disposal of the trustees for the 

 purpose of a temporary museum. In fact, the nucleus 

 of a collection had been stored there since the time 

 of Governor Loch. Other articles, however, had been 

 stored at the Government Office in Douglas and in 

 Peel Castle ; but the former have been added since to 

 the Castle Rushen collection, which has been still 

 further increased by the generosity of benefactors, 

 especially Canon Savage. 



So for the present Castle Rushen, a famous 

 mediaeval fortress, is the insular museum, and it is 

 curious to read that the banqueting hall, that had 

 witnessed scenes " of revelry by night," has the fine and 

 very perfect example of the " Irish elk " from Poortown 

 standing in the middle of the floor — it is, if I am not 

 mistaken, not the only " Irish elk " found in the 

 island ; I have heard it said that one was presented 

 by one of the Scottish kings of Man to Edinburgh. 

 Amorig contents on a less colossal stage are the 

 valuable casts of the early sculptured stones and in- 

 scribed monuments found in the island, a hundred 

 and twelve in all — and the casts are already too few, 

 for at least two more cross slabs have been discovered 

 since the drafting of the report. In fact, this is one 

 of the most encouraging aspects of the whole busi- 

 ness. The collection is steadily increasing as the 

 result of gifts, purchases, or loans, as the catalogue 

 testifies. But here comes the difficulty, for, as the 

 trustees point out, even for the purposes of a local 

 archaeological collection making any approach to com- 

 pleteness the space is insufficient for the methodical 

 exhibition of it to the best advantage. This leaves 

 out of consideration other aspects of the museum ques- 

 tion, for the trustees are forced to add that though 

 they are very willing to receive and store geological 

 and local natural history objects, they are at present 

 unable to exhibit them. Manx archaeologists are only 

 just in time to save the crosses of the island, but every 

 year much is being lost for ever for the want of a 

 museum, and the loss is not only that of Man, but of 

 the archaeology of the British archipelago as a whole. 



But how is the museum to be provided ? Tliere 

 seems to be no prospect of the island setting one up, 

 even at the modest expense of 5000/., and as to that 

 figure I should guess that the bare building required 

 would cost that sum, not to mention the furnishing, 

 which would probably cost another 5000/. Before 

 all I ought to have mentioned the site, for which, if 

 it is to be at Douglas, I would rather not indicate 

 any sum. Suffice it to say that the money difficulties 

 are such that I can only make one suggestion, and 

 that is, that the Imperial Government should take 

 the matter in hand. What it has done for the island 

 of late besides affording it and its herring fleet general 

 protection I know not; but it is understood that the 

 island, besides paying the expenses of its own Govern- 

 ment, pays direct to the imperial exchequer io,oooZ. 

 annually, besides a very large income from royalties and 

 other sources of revenue which discharge perennially 

 into the coffers of the Crown. Having alluded to these 

 disbursements, it is needless to point the moral. All 

 lovers of fair play will agree with me that it would 

 be but reasonable for the central Government to come 

 to the help of the Manx people in the matter of its 

 antiquities and natural history, and the sooner the 

 better. John Rhys. 



