420 
ISLE of M A N. 
and the motto, Rex Mannia et Infularum-, “ King of Man 
and the Ifles.” At the Scottiffl conquefl they were changed 
to three legs, uniting at the upper part of the thigh, and 
clothed and fpurred, with the motto, Stabit quocunque jcce- 
ris-y “ Whichever-way thrown, it hands.” They relem- 
ble the ancient arms of Sicily, except in the covering and 
fpurs, of which thofe were deftitute. In former times, 
every man capable of bearing arms was liable to be fum- 
moned by the lord, and obliged to ferve in his militia. 
At prefent, the military eflablifflment of the ifland con- 
fids of a regiment of fencibles, the individuals of which 
are inlifled voluntarily. The duty of an officer, or a fol- 
dier, is not confidered incompatible with trade. The fer- 
vice is eafy; and vacancies are readily filled up by the 
bounty of three guineas to a recruit. Their pay is the 
lame as that of Englilh regiments. Formidable as the 
ifland ufed to be in its offenfive operations, it does not 
now pofi’efs any naval eflablilhment. A prefs-gang is 
ufually ftationed at Douglas to pick up feamen as they 
arrive. 
The religion of the ilktnd is the eftabliffled one of Bri¬ 
tain. All feels are tolerated; but no marriage is legal, 
unlefs the ceremony be performed according to the cuf- 
tom of the proteflant church. The care of the church 
devolves upon the biffiop, the archdeacon, the two vicars- 
general, and the epifcopal regiflrar. The aft of re-vefl- 
ment referves in the Athol family all its former ecclefi- 
aftical patronage. The biffiop, having been nominated 
by the duke of Athol, and received his majefly’s appro¬ 
bation, is confecrated by the archbiffiop of York. He en¬ 
joys all the pre-eminences and fpiritual rights of other 
biffiops; but, his fee not being a barony, has no vote in 
the Britiffi houfe of peers. He has however, by courtefy, 
a feat in the houfe above the bar. The bilhop’s domain 
is between three and four hundred acres f and the revenue 
of the fee is fuppofed to be between twelve and fifteen 
hundred pounds a-year. The biffiopric of Sodor was firfl 
inltituted by pope Gregory IV. in the ninth century. It 
was erected in Sodor, a little village in the Ifle of Iona. 
The title of Sodor the biffiops of the weftern ifles poffeffed 
folely, until the year 1098, when Magnus king of Nor¬ 
way, conquering thefe ifiands and the Ifle of Man, united 
the two biffioprics of Sodor and Man ; which continued 
fo united till the Englilh were poffeffed of the Me of Man 
in 1333. Though, from this time, the biffiop of Man had 
no claim to the biffiopric of Sodor, the title is continued 
to the prefent day. 
Beatfon conjectures, that the word Sodor is a corrup¬ 
tion of SaT££, our Saviour, to whom the cathedral of Iona 
was dedicated ; while others imagine that it is a corrup¬ 
tion of Suder (fouthern) ; the Norwegians being accuf- 
tomed to call the molt northern Hebrides Nordereys and 
the fouthern, of which Iona is one, Sudereys. All the lafl- 
mentioned iffands were in the diocefe of the biffiop of So- 
dor. The derivations already given relate to Iona, or 
the Southern Hebrides ; but a charter is itill extant, dated 
3505, wherein Thomas earl Derby and lord of Man, con¬ 
firms to Huam Hefketh, bifhop thereof, all the lands ufu- 
aily pertaining to the bithopric; and this charter would 
induce us to believe that the word Sodor was derived from 
the little ifland. contiguous to Peel, on which is placed 
the cathedral of Man. It runs thus: “ Ecclefiam cathe- 
dralem Sandti Germani in Holm, Sodor vel Pele vocatam, 
ecclefiamque Sandti Patricii ibidem et locum prtefatum in 
quo eccleiise prEefata: litse funt.” 
In moil of the pariffies of Man, the fervice is read on 
alternate Sundays in the Manks and in the Englilh lan¬ 
guage. Immediately after the words in the litany, “ pre¬ 
serve to us the kindly fruits of the earth,” a. e very pro¬ 
perly added thefe; “ reffore and continue to us the bleff- 
ings of the fea.” 
The ceremony of a funeral is fimilar to that pradtifed 
in the north of England. The bellman goes about the 
ffreets inviting all perfons to attend. The foiitary bell 
at the top of the church is rather rung than tolled. A 
little way from the church-yard, the attendants- of the 
corpfe, with their hats off, commence a pfalm, which they 
terminate when met by the clergyman at the gateway. 
The coffins of the poor people are made of llained deal, 
and the mourners are not clad in black. 
Wefley, with fome affociates, viiited the ifland in 1777, 
and writes thus refpedting it: “We have had no fuch 
circuit, either in England, Scotland, or Ireland ; this 
ifland is ffiut up from the world ; there are no difputers, 
no diffenters of any kind. The governor, bifhop, clergy, 
oppofe not. They did for a feafon ; but they grew bet¬ 
ter acquainted with us.” In the year 1797, William Sa- 
vary, a quaker of Philadelphia, with one Farrel, of Liver¬ 
pool, and two other companions of the fame perfuafion, 
paid a vifit to the ifland. They travelled much about it; 
preached to the people as opportunity offered ; and were 
treated with great attention and refpedt. The two for¬ 
mer had made the tour of the greater part of Europe; 
and they remarked, that in Man and at Berlin they had 
obferved more than ufual marks of religion among the 
people. Methodifm is much more likely than Quakerifrjj 
to attract the vulgar. Of the former fedt are, at lepfl, a 
tenth part of the inhabitants: of the latter, though there 
were a few in bifhop Wiifon’s time, there is not any at 
prefent. 
The Manks are reckoned to be naturally of ah indolent 
and credulous, often of a fuperflitious and gloomy, dilpo- 
fition. Some of the women of the higher claffes are well- 
informed and accomplilhed ; mod of the lower claffes, 
civil and induftrious. To thefe may be applied the cha¬ 
racter which one of the authors of King’s Chefhire gives 
to the women of that country: “They are ufually, fays 
he, very prolific after marriage, andJometimcs before .” An 
honed and indudrious fervant girl is not ruined by becom¬ 
ing a mother, though for the fake of decency her place is 
loft. To this laxity of morals is attributed the abfence, 
even in Douglas, of profeffed proditutes. Their trade has 
been tried, but found not to anfwer. The fervants of 
Man are more dirty and untidy than the Englifh, but lefs 
fo than the Scotch or Iriffi. 
The people are attached to their native vales and moun¬ 
tains, to their ancient cufloms and their laws. They con- 
fidered themfelves independent of the Englifh nation, and 
were greatly affected by the fale of the ifland, which they 
thought would blend the countries. Though few the en¬ 
joyments of the lower orders, their cares are alfo few. 
Over a jug df ale their troubles are frequently forgotten ; 
and, when again remembered, are expected to terminate 
with the next filhing-feafon. The cheapnefs of law en¬ 
courages drife; many a quarrel, which in England would 
be amicably adjtided, is here brought into court. Infi¬ 
nity among the natives is reckoned rather common ; it is 
ufually of a melancholy, not of a violent, defeription. 
Perfons afflicted with this calamity, if not kept at home 
by their friends, are permitted to roam at large. 
The people are hofpitably and charitably difpofed. One 
of their proverbs is, “ When one poor man relieves ano¬ 
ther, God himfelf laughs for joy.” Poor’s rates and 
mod other parochial rates are things unknown ; and there 
is not in the whole ifland either hofpital, workhoufe, or 
houfe of corredtion. A collection is made after the morn¬ 
ing fervice of every Sunday for the relief of fuch poor of 
the pariffl as are thought deferving of charity. The do¬ 
nation is optional; but it is ufual for every one to give 
fomething. Beggars are little encouraged, and therefore 
rarely met with. 
In every pariffl is at lead one chirity-fchool, and often 
a fmall library. Thefe were founded by biffiops Barrow 
and Wilfon, are fupported by voluntary contributions, 
and many of them have funds ariflng from legacies and 
donations. The language of Man is naturally Erie ; and 
many of the country-peqple do not underfland a word of 
Englilh. 
The inhabitants of this ifland, fenfible of the great im¬ 
portance of extending to the children of the poor the be¬ 
nefits 
