Dermid and grandson of Mailnambo, at the head of a hostile armament, landed in Man, vanquished there Eachmarcach Mac Reginald, and laid the Island under contribution.'

If Goddard held the sovereignty of Man under the control of Torfinn, Earl of Orkney, he was relieved of his vassalage by the death of that military chief in 1061.2

At this period, the English were vainly struggling to throw off the foreign yoke under which they had long laboured.3 Ireland was suffering under the control of the white foreigners. Scotland had yielded to the sway of the traitor Macbeth; and in a few years afterwards the Æbudian throne was overturned by another swarm from the northern hive.*

1 Tighernac.

2 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part i, chap. iv. According to Johnstone, Godred, king of Man, died in 1051, and was succeeded by his son Fingal.-Celto Normanica, Copenhagen, edition 1786, p. 149.

3 Hume's History of England, cap. iii.

4 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 19.

5 Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 339.

* Appendix, Note ii, "Kings of the Race of Ketill and Gorree.”

APPENDIX.-CHAPTER III.

NOTE I.-PAGE 69.

WAR-ARROW.

The ancient Scandinavians had a piece of wood in the form of an arrow, which they dispatched round the country to warn or alarm the natives. Its form was typical of the rapidity with which it should be sent. In Iceland this custom is still preserved, only with this difference, that the magistrate of a district summoning the inhabitants to a Thing, in the month of May, wraps a paper round a wooden halbert. This proclamation must be read at the door of each house, it being unlawful to take it under a roof. It is then forwarded by a fast running person to the next stage. Its route is prescribed by ancient custom, and carrying it out of that course is highly punishable.-Repp's Ancient Juries, Edinburgh, 1832, p. 105. When the symbol carried round was burnt at one end, it indicated that if the person required did not appear at the place appointed, his dwelling, in default, would be burned to the ground. When a cord was tied to it, hanging was to be the punishment for non-attendance.— Olaus Magnus's History of the Northern Nations, London, 1658, p. 95.

In the highlands of Scotland, when a chieftain designed to summon his clansmen on any great or sudden emergency, he slew a goat, and making a cross of any light wood, seared its extremities in the fire, and extinguished them in the blood of the animal. This was called "The Fiery Cross." It was dispatched by a quick messenger, from hamlet to hamlet, in the manner just described, through all the districts which owed allegiance to the chief.-Sir Walter Scott's Poetical Works, vol. viii, p. 316.

In the Isle of Man, the captain of each parish, who may be considered a subordinate sheriff, is conservator of the peace, and to his custody is committed the cross, an instrument of the size of a man, which, in cases of emergency requiring public aid, is conveyed by him to a neighbour, who carries it forward to another; and thus it proceeds from house to house till it has performed the entire circuit of the parish; and its detention through neglect or other impediment would be regarded with much dread by the inhabitants of the house in which it should occur. This ancient custom is still observed, the last occasion on which it was practised was calculated to strip it of all romantic associations. The late Mr. Gawne, who had large property in the neigh bourhood of Castletown, having a few years ago lost some sheep, summoned forth the captain of the parish, and the cross was exhibited not in vain, for the robber was detected.-Lord Teignmouth's Sketches of the Coasts and Islands of Scotland and of the Isle of Man, London, 1836, vol. ii, pp. 238, 239.

An aged person in the Island, with whom I conversed respecting the Cross, says that when a young man he recollects very well running with it. The manner in which it went round the district was, the Captain of the Parish, with whom the custom always commenced, gave it to his next neighbour, with instructions that the cross was to muster the people at such a place, or for Watch and Ward; and then the neighbour took it from the captain and proceeded to his neighbour, until the whole parish was alarmed. The Cross was two pieces of wood about the length of a man's arm. This custom was observed during the American war of 1780 and the French Revolutionary war of 1789; but my informant never heard of the cross used for such a purpose as that mentioned by Lord Teignmouth about Mr. Gawne; but supposes his lordship has confounded the business of the cross with that of a Jury of Enquiry, which court summonses all suspected persons to appear before it.

War was anciently proclaimed in Britain by sending messengers in different directions through the land, each bearing a bent bow; and peace was in like manner announced by a bow unstrung.-Cambrian Antiquities.

This custom is beautifully described by Mrs. Hemans; (Poetical Works, vol. iv, p. 105) :—

"There was heard the sound of a coming foe;
There was sent through Britain a bended bow;
And a voice was poured on the free winds far,
As the land rose up at the sign of war.

Heard you not the battle horn ?

Reaper! leave thy golden corn;
Leave it for the birds of heaven,

Swords inust flash and shields be riven;
Leave it for the winds to shed;

Arm, ere Britain's turf grow red!'

And the reaper armed like a freeman's son;
And the bended bow and the voice passed on.

'Hunter leave the mountain chace,

Take the falchion from its place;

Let the wolf go free to day,

Leave him for a nobler prey;

Let the deer, ungalled, sweep by,

CHAPTER IV.

NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS, FROM A.D. 1066 TO 1164.

Northern Auxiliaries of William the Conqueror-Goddard Crovan, son of Harold the Black of Iceland, conquers Man-Subdues Dublin and a great part of Leinster-Terrific irruption of Magnus Barefoot -Death of Goddard Crovan-The Manks flee on the approach of Magnus-Malcolm King of Scotland resigns the Western Isles to the Norwegian Conqueror, as does Donald Bane the Isles of Orkney and Shetland-Vision of Magnus-Civil War in Man-Battle decided by the valour of the Women of the Northern District-Wretched state of the Island when visited by Magnus-His descent into WalesSends his shoes to the King of Ireland to carry publicly on his shoulders in token of his submission-Meditates the Conquest of Ireland— Death of Magnus-Lagman, son of Goddard Crovan, ascends the Throne of the Isles-Succeeded by Donald the son of Teig-Fate of Ingemund-Olave Kleining called to the Throne-Married to a daughter of the Lord of Galloway-Confirmed in his Dominions by the King of Norway-Conspiracy against Olave-His Death and Character-The Assassins of Olive defeated in Galloway-Fergus Lord of Galloway, places his grandson Godred on the Throne of the Isles-Godred elected King of Dublin—Insurrection of Somerled— Battle at Sea-Godred and Somerled divide the Kingdom of the Isles -Somerled drives Godred from the Throne-Church of St. Maughold plundered-Death and Character of Somerled.

WHILE William of Normandy was making preparations for invading England, Harald Harfagr, king of Norway, was prevailed on by his influence to engage in the enterprise. The Norwegian monarch having arrived with a large armament in the Isle of Man,' was joined there by

1 Mac Culloch's Description of the Western Isles, London, 1824, vol. iii, p. 36.