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An ancient Chronicle of Man, printed in the Manx, 1778.
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Mananan
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i.e.
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Dy neaishtagh shiu agh rish my skeall,
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Would you but listen to my song,
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As dy ving lhieu ayns my chant:
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And hear my tuneful Muse a while,
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Myr share dy voddin’s my Veall,
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As best I could, I would prolong
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Yinnin diu geill d’an Ellan Sheeant.
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The history of this Blessed Isle.
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Quoi in chied er ec row rieau ee,
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Who first was ruler of the land
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Ny kys eisht myr haghyr da:
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And what at length to him befel,
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Ny kys hug Patrick ayn Chreestee,
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How Patrick christianiz’d the realm,
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Ny kys myr haink ee gys Stanlaa.
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And Stanley held it, I shall tell.
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Mananan beg, va Mac y Leirr,
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Mananan beg, hight Mac y Lerr,
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Shen yn chied er ec row rieau ee,
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Was he the first that ruled the land,
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Agh myr share oddym’s cur-my-ner,
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A Pagan and a Sorcerer
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Cha row eh hene ah An-chreestee, &c. &c.
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He was at best I understand, &c. &c.
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See Note (M), Remarks on this Poem.
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NOTE: M,510. P.549:
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MANANAN, a Manx Chronicle, translated from the original.
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MANANAN beg, hight Mac y Ler
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Was he the first that ruled the land,
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A Paynim and a Sorcerer
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He was as best I understand.
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Not with his sword or with his bow,
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That he his conquest could maintain;
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But when as hostile fleet he saw,
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He caused a mist to intervene.
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Around the coast on every height,
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If he but placed a single man,
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There by his Necromantick art,
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Appeared a formidable clann.
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Thus from all enemies secure,
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And his dominions all in peace,
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He long maintained a regal sway
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O’er subjects fearless and at ease.
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Their yearly tribute but a load
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Of bent, or rushes, from the plain;
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From every quarter of the land,
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Brought in at midsummer, a main.
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Some were obliged to carry it up,
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And lay it down on famed Barrool,
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Some were indulged below to stop,
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At Manin’s Court above Kemool.
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Thus lived the inhabitants of man,
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So light their tribute and so blest,
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Devoid of trouble or of care,
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Or toil, to mar their happy rest.
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But now Saint Patrick soon arrives,
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Superior in every art,
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And o’er the waves Mananan drives
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With that viles crew that took his part.
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&c. &c. &c. &c.
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