ery 
106 
the trial of all caufes that come within his 
jurifdiction ; he may either pafs judgment 
himfelf, or refer the cafe to a jury, as oc- 
eafion requires. In each town is a magif- 
trate called a high-bailiff, who takes cog- 
nizance of all matters of debt under the 
value of forty fhillings. Appeals from 
all thefe courts terminate in the decifion of 
the king in council. 
The Duke of Athol is the governor of 
the ifle of Man. Unfortunately confider- 
able jealoufy exifts between him and the 
other branches of the Manks legiflature. 
The circumftances attending the fale of the 
royalties, &c. of the ifle of Man to the 
crown of England are well known. His 
Grace conceives that his anceftor was not 
fufficiently recompenfed for the facrifice he 
made, and wifhes to obtain a more ade- 
quate Femuneration. The Manks, onthe 
other hand, are apprehenfive that this re- 
muneration will be granted at their ex- 
pence, and that the tenures by which they 
hold their eftates may .be fhaken. The 
Duke has prefented a petition on the fub- 
ject to the king in council, te oppofe which 
the keys have fent an able delegation from 
their own body. 
The refidence of the lieutenant governor 
is atCafiletown. Of him and of his lady 
every one {peaks in the higheft terms.— 
During the laft feafon Mrs. Shaw was in 
Bath, andit was gratifying to obferve the 
univerfa] regret which her abfence from 
the ifland occafioned : amufement was at 
a ftand, and her return was looked for- 
ward to by the younger part of the inhabi- 
tants as thatof the fun after a long win- 
ter’s night. 
The church is under epifcopal govern- 
ment. The bifhop, whofe title is Bifhop 
of Sodor and Man, has no vote in the Bri- 
tifh Houle of Lords. Under him are two 
vicars-genera]l, and an archdeacon. The 
former, as his reprefentatives, hold eccle- 
fiattical courts. The Manks clergy are 
educated in the ifland: after they have 
imbibed as much inftruétion as the little 
{chool of their native hamlet can afford, 
they are fent to what is called the college, 
at Caftletown, where they complete their 
claffical, mathematical, and theological 
ftudies, under the fuperintendance of an 
Englifh clergyman of very fuperior talents 
and learning. The livings are {mall ;— 
there are a tew which may amount to one 
handred and fifty, or two hundred pounds 
a year, but the generality do not-excecd 
. fixty or eighty pounds; yet fuch is the 
faving knowledse of the clergymen, that 
out of this trifling ftipend feveral of them 
have contrived not only to bring up a ta- 
Sketch of the Tile of Man. 
[ Sept. }, 
mily with decency, but even to accumulate . 
{mall fortunes ! The ecclefiaftical revenue | 
is colleGted in tithes, but in the diftribu- 
tion of thefe there is confiderable compli- 
cation. In fome parifhes the vicar invari- 
ably retains two thirds, and the refidue is — 
the property of the bifhop. In other pa- © 
rifhes this divifion takes place every fecond 
or every third year only, and in the inter- 
mediate years the whole of the tithes re- 
mains with the vicar. In fome others a 
great proportion of the tithes is paid te 
the Duke of Athol. About eighteen years 
ago, when Dr. Criggan, the prefent bifhop, 
came to the ifland, the fee was not worth 
more than five hundred a year, which is 
fcarcely a third of its value atthe prefent 
day. The houfe (Bifhop’s-court) was in 
a ruinous condition. The bifhop repaired 
it, and made it habitable ; but its appear~ 
ance is ftill unworthy its poffeffor. -It is 
exactly half-way between Peel and Ram- 
fay ; fome trees about it ferve as fhelter 
for feveral retired walks, and his Lordfhip 
is employed in augmenting their number. 
The bifhop is near fixty; in his counte- 
nance benevolence and penetration are 
ftrongly marked ; at times the latter is pe- 
culiarly fevere, and at fuch moments it is 
difficult to bear fteadily the f{crutiny ofthis 
eye. He has great. dignity in his deport~ 
ment, efpecially when he addreffes a ftran- 
ger; his manners are the moft finifhed, his. 
converfation is replete with fafhionable 
anecdote, and his ftyle of expreffion is 
uncommonly fluent and elegant. His fa- 
mily are amiable, and highly accomplifhed, 
as may be fuppofed, when it is known that 
his Lordfhip himfelf undertook the princi- 
pal care of their education. 
The profeffions of an atterney and a bar- 
rifter in the ifle of Man are united in the - 
fame perfon ; the fees are very fmall; the 
retaining fee is only halfa crown! From 
this circumftance arifes the perpetual con- . 
tention in which the Manks are involved. 
Though the courts are fo numerous, they 
are always crowded with litigants, who 
conteft the mereft trifles with furprifing 
rancour aud perfeverance. A fruitful 
fource of thefe petty fuits is the frequency 
of the fairs, which, upon the average, oc- 
cur nearly once a week; and there is fcarce 
a horfe or a cow fold, that does not afford. 
a fubjeét for difpute. Among the advo- 
cates are men of confiderable elocution, 
and one cannot help lamenting te fee their 
energy wafted on fuch pitiful caufes as 
thofe in which they are commonly engag- 
ed. Thetwo deemfters poficfs charac- 
ters, the features of both of which are 
prominent, but yet they are firikingly dif. 
. ferente 
