As to their Laws, they are but few, but ſeverely executed, eſpecially, as I before obſerved, thoſe of the Eccleſiaſtick Court, the Clergy holding a kind of tyrannical Juriſdiction over the Manks People, in ſpite of the temporal Power, which is continually endeavouring to abate the Rigour of it, but in vain: for theſe ſpiritual Maſters are, in a manner, idolized by the Natives; and they take care to maintain their Authority by keeping the Laity in the moſt miſerable Ignorance: not that this is altogether Policy, for he cannot well inſtruct, who wants to be taught himſelf. What eminent Men this Iſland has formerly bred, I know not, but at preſent I hear of none famous abroad; nor can it boaſt of any more at home than one Clergyman, who is indeed a Man of Letters, and who, I hope, will oblige the publick with his inſtructive and polite Writings. He, conſidering the profound Ignorance of his Countrymen, for their ſakes undertook a Tranſlation of the New Teſtament into the Manks Tongue; of which Work he had (as I have been credibly informed) finiſhed the four Goſpels, and had proceeded in it, if
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