XXI
TYNWALD HILL
[Mr. Robinson and I walked the greater part of the way from Castle-town to Piel, and stopped some time at Tynwald Hill. One of my companions was an elderly man who, in a muddy way (for he was tipsy), explained and answered, as far as he could, my enquiries about this place and the ceremonies held here. I found more agreeable company in some little children; one of them, upon my request, recited the Lord's Prayer to me, and I helped her to a clearer understanding of it as well as I could; but I was not at all satisfied with my own part; hers was much better done, and I am persuaded that, like other children, she knew more about it than she was able to express, especially to a stranger.—I. F.]
Once on the top of Tynwald's formal mound
(Still marked with green turf circles narrowing[871]
Stage above stage)[872] would sit this Island's King,
The laws to promulgate, enrobed and crowned;
While, compassing the little mount around,[873] 5
Degrees and Orders stood, each under each:
Now, like to things within fate's easiest reach,[874]
The power is merged, the pomp a grave has found.
Off with yon cloud,[875] old Snafell![876] that thine eye
Over three Realms may take its widest range; 10
And let, for them, thy fountains utter strange
Voices, thy winds break forth in prophecy,
If the whole State must suffer mortal change,
Like Mona's miniature of sovereignty.
FOOTNOTES:
[871] The ground at Tynwald Hill (as it is called) remains unchanged. Here, on a small plot of ground, the whole Manx people meet annually on Midsummer Day, July 5th, to appoint officers and enact new laws. The first historical notice of these meetings is in 1417. The name Tynwald is derived from the Scandinavian thing, "court of justice," and wald, "fenced." The mound is only 12 feet high, rising by four circular platforms, each 3 feet higher than the one below it. The circumference at the base is 240 feet, and at the top 18 feet. It used once to be walled round, and had two gates. The approach now is by twenty-one steps cut in the turf.
In his Diary, etc., Robinson wrote of Tynwald—"It brought to my mind a similar monument of simple manners at Sarnen in Switzerland."—Ed.
[872] 1835.
Once on the top of Tynwald Hill (a Mound
MS.