val used to be called, and
gatherings in the old style have been held in Peel for the last two or
three years. Apart from the carvels there are other ballads in
existence, the most important of which were printed in vol. xvi. of the
_Publications of the Manx Society_. The earliest is an 18th-century song
of Manannan Mac y Lheir, traditionally supposed to have been written in
the 16th century, and which tells of the conversion of the island by St
Patrick. Then comes _Baase Ittiam Dhone_ (The Death of Brown William),
dealing with the death of William Christian, who was shot as a traitor
in 1662. The best-known Manx song is _Mylecharaine_ (=Irish
_Maolchiaran_). It is directed against a man of this name who was the
first to give a dowry to his daughter, the custom having previously been
for the bridegroom to pay money to the father of the bride. Others are
_Ny Kirree fo Sniaghtey_ (The Sheep under the Snow), a song about the
loss of the Douglas herring fleet in 1787 (reprinted at Douglas, 1872),
and _O Vannin Veg Veen_ (Dear little Mona). A further ballad was taken
down by J. Strachan and is published in the _Zeitschrift fur celtische
Philologie_, i. 79. In 1760 Joseph Bridson wrote a "Short Account of the
Isle of Man" in Manx (_Coontey Ghiare jeh Ellan Vannin ayns Gailck_),
which was reprinted in vol. xx. of the _Publications of the Manx
Society_. The translated literature is almost entirely of a religious
character. Jenner prints a list of twenty-three volumes in his article
referred to below, but we can only here mention the most important. The
first is the translation of the English Prayer-Book by Bishop Phillips,
1610 (published by A.W. Moore, Oxford, 1895). The _Sermons_ of Bishop
Wilson in 3 vols. (1783) are a very rare work, highly important for our
knowledge of Manx prose, and it is to be hoped that _Yn Cheshaght
Gailckagh_ will see their way to reprint it. A translation of parts of
Milton's _Paradise Lost_ (_Pargys Caillit_) by Thomas Christian, 1796,
is reprinted in vol. xx. of the _Publications of the Manx Society_. The
later translation of the Church of England Prayer-Book was printed in
1765 and again in 1777 and 1840. But by far the most important of all is
the translation of the Bible. The energetic Bishop Wilson managed to get
parts of the Scriptures translated and the Gospel of St Matthew was
printed in 1748. Wilson's successor, Bishop Hildesley, completed the
work, and in 1775 the whole Bible appeared. The