New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-07
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
MAN AND THE MANxMEN.

lectures delivered before the Royal INSTITUTION py Mr.
Csine, who Is principally known as the author OF sew
erol powerful and curious novels illustrating Manx
traditicns customs and ways Of life. 1t Is scarcely
necessary to say that he Is himself Manxman and MS
novels have made It clear that he has been close STU
dent Of all the pecuariies Of his native land These
lectures, indeed do not pretend to the dignity OF MS
tory, but they could only have been written oy ono
thoroughly conversant with the subject, ana IL may
safely be asserted that very few men OF letters Know
enough about 1t to undertake such task III mr.
Game is not historian, however, he has gifts whcn
render him very interesting writer, and he has Ger
fainly succeeded here in making quite fascinating
talk about a people who little resemble any otner
that they deserve TO be studied with the utmost an
renee and TO have their customs recorded by the most
shilfuI hands. The Manxmen have, indeed, REMARK
able hisory To demonstrate this is easy III IS only
nscessarv IN saw that they are still governed under
constitution brought from Scandinavia more IMAM
thousand years ago. and that they still retain manners
and customs traceable directly back to their Morse a
cestry and which ceased to exist throughout Vno
rest of Europe long that they are regarded every
where else as antiquities.
The early history of the Isle Of Man is lost III ios
like that with which the magician Mannanan was &C
casomed according to tradition. to shroud his island
when IFS safety was menaced by external foes IL had
kinrs however and they were of several races ior
the little island the easy prey OF ue suohs
hand Mr.. Game divides its history INTO tnree
periods: that of Celtic rule, that Of Norse RUE
ana that of English rule. The Manxmen were
Celts to begin with, and early IN the sl1h
oen+,rv the government fell into the hands
az Welsh prinoes twelve Of whom rcigned the iast
falling in the tenth century, when the Vlkngs se1e
and occupied the island, intsrmsryng with the NanA
women, and producing the present race, haf Norse
half Celt. The people Of Man have since been ruied
by Dukes of Athol. by various English nooes' depu
ties and adventuers. They have undergone viciss
indes of many kinds They have had long line Oh
Rishops many bad and some good But they nave
changed less than people and why they nave not
changed Mr. Caine shows. Their conservatism Is .eif
dominant attribute. They are, first OF ALL lsanaers
Their main dependence is upon the sea- ana IN the
sea- upon the herring fishery, failure OF when Is inc
Manx equivalent Of an Irish potato famine herrngs
and potatoes constitute the chief subsistence OF Tue
islanders in prosperous seasons, in fact fu' apart
from the fishing population the inhabitants are ePha0
,cally homestayers They cling like lmpets to rock'
and what this signifies Mr.. CaDe illustrates os sono
speciflc instances OF rather surprising klnd
lie tells how, five years ago. he went up INV tno
mountains to visit an old bard one Of the last OF the
race This man had lived all his ire on the same Spot
He was farmer But let Mr.: Game tell the s'oiy
aThc old bard was not merely islander; he belonged
70 mis- land more than his land belonged to mn. lho
fishing town nearest to his farm was Peel, the great
fishing centre on the west coast. IL was only hVe
miles away I asked how long it was since ne iad
been there Fifteen years., he answered The next
nearest town was the old capital. on the east coast.
Castetown the home Of the Governor OF the iss1 Vi
the Msnx lords the place of the CASTLE the COURT tne
prison, the garrison, the college II was lust siA
miles away. How long was 1t since ne had oeeh
there y Twenty years. The capital DOugas'
tbs heart of RE island its point of touch with the
wottd. was nine miles away. How long since
he had been in Douglas sixty years SAID the oiu
bard Now, as Mr.. Game truly observes tniS
IL the kind of Man1man who mas maoe Ma"
what IL has been and Is. - IL Is hot he
cultured Manxman the Manxman that goes to
the ends of the earth. that makes the hanx Naboh
valuable to study Our race is what 1t is oy virtue
of the Manxman who has had no life outside MAN.
and so has kept alive our language our CUSTOMS our
laws and our patriarchal Constitution" NO" tnis
Constitution is very curious ana deepS in'eres''us
-. 80 orcbaism II was founded in the tenth
csnturv nv King Orry the Norseman ana IL WIS
modelled upon the constitution then established In ICE
land King Orry provided for Tynwald Court on
the nlan of the Iceandc All Moot, where Church ana
state sat together Then he appointed TWO le"
man called Deemsters one for the north ana the o'er
for the south. These were equivalent TO MS ice'auio
yoooosumaden speaker of the law and Judge Oh Hi
licences Finally he caused to be built an arthclai
,t a, Laws similar in It's features to the lcelandc
Yo0berc at Thingvellr. such was the machinery OF
tn Norse Constitution which King Orry established III
Man"
II. working was not complex The House OF Keys,
Tho
interest and sent up its conclusions 10 the l!""a"
ronrt This body uniting people and Church in JOINT
.ss,on assented and the result was called Acts Oh
Tvnwald which were submitted TO the klhg' Havhs
receved his assent they promulgated on the Iy-
valid HILL on the national day, IN tue presence oI 'he
nation. An impressive scene was ti1s, as oescrioe"
nv Mr. Game and the description can hardly be COLI
ssered imaginative since in all essential particulars
u can be taken from the life to-day for the primitive
ceremonial OF King Orry observed at the present ume
M less soemny end puEctillousy than ~ was III uo
tenh century And because of this, MIR. Game Is fully
justified i'm Boosting that our little nation IS the Only
Morse nation now on earth that can shake hands with
the DAYS of the Sagas and the sea kings Ihen leu
h,n who will laugh mt our primitive ceremonial 1t
tbe badge of our ancient liberty, and we need not
AMY the man who can look on IT unmoved." Had the
Nanx people been lively, imaginative race. no oouDt
,heir nrogress would swept away all these arena
ams long ago. The qualities that 20 10 pro-
dpoe such conservatism theirs are however by no
means conducive creative work in any kind and the
author frankly admits that his counrymen never have
mode their mark In the world by any great Invention
or work of art or literature.
They have always had bards but these have produced
no important verse. The one VEN worked Dy lhehi
has been that Of religious pessimism. The tormehs
~ hell the destiny Of the damned the terrors OF 1udg
ment. monopolize their verse. No Manx bard mas
celebrated love of chiyay the JOY OF battle as the
oh sagamen did Gloom and detection characterize
all their outpourings and the national temperament
ia here illustrated. The Manxman is never an OPP
timst His favorite word is "middling" Nothing Is
cood In his eye Everything not bad is "middling"
He Ia cautious to the verge Of ingrattude. Happi-
mag 90 far as IL implies Joy and cheerfuness. wond
seem 10 be alien to this strange people But they arc
solid and robust too selfrelant, industrious,
thrifty, canny and forehanded. We wish Mr. Game
aad said more about the Manx snpersttouS legends
End traditions for what he does say is very interest
ing The superstition naturally tends to the Morse
type, and is as primitive as all the rest OF aahN
things II is largely of the elemental kind. and has
annarently borrowed but little from without. The
lectures are interspersed with many graphic insfra-
lions in the form Of narrative and anecdote such as
the stories about Bishop Wilson, and that of Katharine