THE ISLE OF MAN. 25? 



and partly of pure gold, which are sometimes dug up, and seem to 

 indicate the splendour of its ancient possessors. 



With respect to the history of this island, it was the rendezvous of 

 the Scandinavian rovers, and their chief force was here collected j 

 and from hence they annoyed the Hebrides, Great Britain, and Ire- 

 land. The kings of Man are often mentioned in history ; and though 

 we have no regular account of their succession, and know but few of 

 their names, yet they undoubtedly were for some ages masters of 

 those seas. About the year 1263, Alexander II, king of Scotland, a 

 spirited prince, having defeated the Danes, laid claim to the superio- 

 rity of Man, and obliged Owen, or John, its king, to acknowledge, 

 him as lord paramount. It seems to have continued tributary to the 

 kings of Scotland, till it was reduced by Edward I; and the kings of 

 England, from that time, exercised the superiority over the island; 

 though we find it still possessed by the posterity of its Danish, 

 princes, in the reign of Edward III, who dispossessed the last queen 

 of the island, and bestowed it on his favourite, Montague, earl of Sa- 

 lisbury. His family honours and estate being forfeited, Henry IV, 

 bestowed Man, and the patronage of the bishopric, first upon the 

 Northumberland family, and, that being forfeited, upon sir John Stan- 

 ley, whose posterity, the earls of Derby, enjoyed it, till, by failure of 

 heirs male, it devolved upon the duke of Athol, who married the sis- 

 ter of the last lord Derby. Reasons of state rendered it necessary 

 for the crown of Great Britain to purchase the customs of the island 

 from the Athol family : and the bargain was completed by 70,000^ 

 being paid to the duke in 1765. The duke, however, retains his ter- 

 ritorial property in the island, though the form of its government is 

 altered ; and the king has now the same rights, powers, and prero- 

 gatives, as the duke formerly enjoyed. The inhabitants also retails 

 many of their ancient constitutions and customs. 



