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To support life is a mere animal propensity. No cultivated mind, which has once tasted the pleasures of society, would willingly relinquish them for the conversation of the peasant and the farmer, however desirable in other respects the residence might be. Hence it happens that thinly inhabited islands slowly increase their population; and that so many Europeans have repented of their emigration to the interior settlements of America. Against a sojournment in the Isle of Man no such reasons any longer exist. If it cannot boast of the deep learning of many of its inhabitants, it justly may of the usually more desirable qualifications of sociability, politeness, easy conversation, and general knowledge.

The attractions of the island appear sufficient to occasion a continual influx of strangers. The worst characters will probably introduce the most wealth. Having no money which they can honestly call their own, they will be prodigal of that which they have iniquitously acquired.

fairly collected. It is the most arbitrary of all our taxes, ap proaching, in this respect, the nature of a poll-tax, and consequently is the most disliked. Its produce is so great and the expenditure of England so great, that to abolish it now would be impracticable.

They will build and plant, and endeavour to introduce into the prison scene every possible luxury and comfort. On its being the continual resort of strangers depends, and I think may safely depend, the increasing prosperity of this country.

Having now finished the general account of the island, I beg the reader to accompany me from Douglas, on a tour to Balasalla, Castletown, the Calf of Man, Peel, Kirk Michael, Ramsey, and thence through Laxey to Douglas, I must, on setting out, request him not to expect too much. The country has The country has many extensive and some romantic views to boast of, but is altogether without such gentlemen's seats as, in England, would claim the traveller's attention. There are few which deserve an higher epithet than that of pretty; and the owner would be greatly surprized, if asked by the stranger to shew the interior of his mansion. Plantations and shrubberies are sometimes seen to flourish with great luxuriance: but no park-scenery is yet visible. The churches have not any pęculiar characteristic. The altar and the saloon are little decorated by the artist's skill.

The relics of antiquity are not numerous. They are chiefly mounds of earth and detached masses of the supposed temples, or altars of the Druids, most of which would be passed almost unnoticed on Salisbury plain, or in many parts of North Wales; and stones or crosses, with Runic characters on the edge, to be read from the bottom upwards, supposed to be erected by the Danes, during their residence in the Isle of Man, and after their conversion to the Christian faith in the tenth or eleventh century. In the Calf of Man have been found, buried, ancient brass daggers, and other weapons, in a few instances partly of pure gold.

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CHAPTER IX.

Douglas.

DOUGLAS derives its name from the junetion, a little above the town, of two rivers, the Duff and the Glass, the waters of which meet the sea at Douglas bay.. Of the antiquity of the four towns I can say little: we have no historical account of their origin; and in the times, the transactions of which are recorded in the Chronicle of Man, all appear to have existed, though the first mentioned are those of Rushen and of Ramsey. Of their prosperity and magnitude we are nearly as ignorant, and can judge of these circumstances only by the general wealth and population of the country. Douglas contains upwards of five, some say, six thousand inhabitants, and though not the capital, is supposed to be nearly equal in size to Castletown, or Rushen, Peel, and Ramsey put together. Many of the houses are good, but none costly. The custom-house, lately the residence of the Duke, and now of the collector, is the best building.

The streets are very irregular, and in some places extremely narrow. I had the curiosity to measure the chief street opposite the projecting corner of a house, and found that it did not exceed seven feet, its average width being twenty or thirty, but without a pathway. The shape of the town is a triangle, the longest sides extending from the bridge at the upper part of the harbour, in a north-easterly direction towards the coast; and the shortest from the bridge to the pier. On the opposite side of the harbour is a red-herring house, and a row of modern houses of very good appearance. At the commencement of the pier are a court of justice and temporary prison, the latter being only used for securing prisoners till their removal to Castletown. Very near it, to the eastward, is an ancient tower, used for a similar purpose till this was built, a wretched dungeon, and now in ruins. The walls are completely naked, and do not form a pleasing object. The pier, constructed under the direction of Mr. Stewart, architect, and finished nearly ten years ago, is the chief beauty and great attraction of Douglas. length is five hundred and twenty feet; its breadth forty, and it is well paved with flag

Its

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