[From Nessy Heywood, 1913]

PREFACE.

[It is difficult now to read this preface without, to me at least, seeing the condescending way that Quine, who spoke no Manx and was a classicist, puts down Moore's work, especially if Manx based - history of course has judged Moore to be the greater, much deserving of the Knighthood which he would have so much appreciated being a believer in things royal (cf his Scrap books now preserved in Manx Museum).]

To edit the "Letters of Nessy Heywood" and present the story of her life,—her devotion and loyalty—was the last literary effort,—effort rather than occupation — of the late Mr. A. W. Moore. These letters incidentally give glimpses of Manx life in the 18th century—the " long ago," in one sense ; but in another sense the recent : definitely, the days of our great grandparents. These letters bear witness to the existence here of refinement and literary tastes, a gentle class, an heroic spirit. These things appealed to him as things that, for the little Manx world at last, ought not to pass into oblivion. The pathos of Nessy Heywood’s indomitable spirit, the added pathos of her early death, appealed to the imaginative part of his nature : these letters and the story were to him like faded rose petal still faintly sweet ; not artificial things. And consequently, in his last illness, in weakness and suffering, he struggled to give arrangement and form to the material—knowing well that it was to be the last of his "Manx books"!

Arthur William Moore was the eldest son of William Fine Moore of Cronkbourne, near Douglas : his mother, of the family of the Christians of Milntown. The first of the Christian family of whom there is definite record was John McCristen, Deemster in 1408, when Sir John Stanley the Elder received, from Henry 1st. of England, the Kingdom and Lordship of Man. The first of the Moore family of whom there is definite record was Jenken Moore—Deemster in 1504, and owner of that part of Castle Ward now called Cronkbourne.

He was born Feb. 43, 1853 ; received the earliest part of his education at private schools in Douglas, and at a preparatory school at Weybridge, Surrey. In 1867, at the age of 14, he went to Rugby, when Dr. Temple was then Head Master ; and in 1872 he passed to Trinity College, Cambridge.

At 1 4 he was a delicate boy, backward in school, but a "reader." He had read Macaulay’s History, Alison’s History of Europe, a ten volume History of the Indian Mutiny, the whole of the Waverley Novels, a considerable quantity of the then: standard novels, and much other reading not usual for a boy at that age.

One of his enthusiasms was the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company—of which his father was a Director ; and, in after years, when himself a Director, he wrote a short history of the Company—one of those minor compilations contributed by him to the history of the Island.

His home environment was singularly fortunate, in view of the part afterwards to be taken by him in the public life of the Island. His father was in the House of Keys ; his uncle, the Hon. J. C. Moore, was Archdeacon of Man. When the Archdeacon visited Cronkbourne, the clergy of the district were invariably there as guests invited to meet him . The men most prominent in the Legislature were also frequent guests at Cronkbourne. No other young Manxman had so advantageous an environment, preparatory to insular public life.

With the larger world there was also relation and intercourse. His uncle, Henry Christian, was a well-known architect. John Pearson, architect, was married to his maternal aunt. John Pearson’s house in Harley Street, from the age of 14, became to him a " second home " in London—where, in later years, he had endless opportunities of meeting men of distinction in the artistic world.

The Rugby period, 1867-72, after a somewhat dismal experience of preparatory schools, was to him a new and wholly congenial life. He was backward to begin with ; but passed through Rugby with enough distinction to occasionally secure class prizes . In retrospect he has said that he acquired " no real scholarship " there he meant that " real scholarship" in the strict sense he never acquired—not even at Cambridge. At Rugby he, in fact, devoted himself to games—not with the simple enthusiasm of the athlete, but with a singular earnestness and conviction with regard to their value. In this he was not a Manxman. it was rather a case of the bent of his disposition, viz. , to set the fullest value on distinction and he achieved distinction as an athlete far beyond the warrant of his physical fitness.

The record of the Rugby days was of football, paperchases, boating, fives, and house-washing—which consisted in leaping across the Avon, till, more downstream, one ended by leaping into the river. For the school sports he trained for the mile; and as a result was laid up with inflammation of the lungs. Cricket he did not care for much to his regret afterwards, when he established a cricket club at Cronkbourne for the youths employed in his father’s sail-cloth factory. What he found most congenial, however, was volunteering. He joined the school corps in his first term ; went for battalion drills to Coventry, Warwick, Stratford, Nuneaton, etc. ; won several shooting prizes ; was sergeant of his company in a summer camp at Stoneleigh ; was in the Rugby team shooting in the Public Schools Competition at Wimbledon ; and, in his last year at Rugby, as senior officer, accompanied the team to Wimbledon, but, as he had shot badly the previous year, not in this case to shoot. The Volunteer movement had reached the Isle of Man and that summer he and G. Drinkwater. who had shot in the Eton team at Wimbledon, challenged any two Manx Volunteers to shoot, and in fact won the match!

His environment as a Rugby boy had one circumstance of considerable advantage; he was in the house of James Wilson, who afterwards married Annie Moore, his cousin! When in camp at Wimbledon he found his uncle, Henry Christian, there in the Artists’ Corps" ; and by him he was taken to F. Leighton’s tent (afterwards Lord Leighton) : this sort of introduction an instance of what he afterwards enjoyed ad libitum in the Christian and Pearson circles. On the occasion of the Thanksgiving for the recovery of the Prince of Wales (Feb., 1872), he was one of the 15 Rugby boys for whom seats were provided at St. Paul’s. He " was surprised at the small size of the Queen" ; saw Disraeli, Gladstone, and everybody of distinction and of consequence ; and stayed with very wealthy Greek people at Kensington.

Easter holidays spent at John Pearson’s house in Harley Street had made London familiar to him, since the age of 14, when he had explored it far and wide by the assistance of a map. And his visits to Harley Street had given him his first experiences of theatres, when such pieces as "Caste," "School," etc., had their vogue ; and Robertson, Buckstone, Phelps, Jas. Thorne, etc., were at the height of their popularity.

One side of A. W. Moore’s life, his love of travel, should be mentioned here : because in the summer holidays between leaving Rugby and going to Cambridge, he had his first excursion outside England. We all recollect our first considerable journey—especially, perhaps, our first sea voyage. His. first sea trip was to Llandudno in 1859 ; he was only six; and the memories of it, " winkles," and the climb to the Great Orme. In 1870 he spent the summer holidays at a moorland farm near Gatehouse in Galloway, with a taste of grouse shooting ; then in the Lake District, when he made the climb from Wast Water to the summit of Scawfell. In 1871 he spent his holidays in the Cheviots, with another experience of grouse and black game . In the summer of 1872 he was one of a party of eight, including James Wilson, his House Master at Rugby, and Dakyns, afterwards of Clifton and the friend of T. E. Brown, to whom is inscribed the " Epistola ad Dakyns." They carried knapsacks, and roughed it in the hinterland of the Stavanger and Sogne fords. On his return he visited Lincoln, where John Pearson was then restoring the cathedral ; and — though in the motives and spirit of architecture he never came to have what might be called’ esoteric interest — "Lincoln" seen thus, with its restorer, quickened his interest in architecture generally. In after years the great world examples, seen by him in England, France, Spain, and Italy, were soon with attention, and the pleasure that comes from discrimination that penetrates much farther than the mere identification of period and style.

He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in October, 1872: no work to begin with ; but boating and football, and the forming of acquaintanceships. The first year at the University , especially the first summer term, is oftenest the illimitable joy of existence — for the time being all sufficient. And of this he afterwards in memory pictures himself in his first summer term, mainly watching cricket on the Trinity ground.

In his first Long Vacation, with Arthur Sedgwick, his old Rugby master, who was staying at Cronkbourne, he visited the Calf of Man : both of them risking the dangerous exploit of bathing in the turbulent waters of the Sound. That same vacation, with an old Rugby boy, he tramped through Devon and Cornwall ; and on this occasion it was that he called at the Palace, Exeter, to see Dr. Temple.

In his second year, boating again ; and reading for the Modern History Tripos, with lectures by Hammond and Seeley. His next " Long " included a holiday with " Ball, who came out afterwards as 2nd Wrangler, " at Loch Inver, in Invernesshire ; and a trip to the Orkneys. At Stromness he found ‘a stranger named’ Armstrong, who had crossed the Pentland Firth in a canoe ; and mow invited him to join him on the passage back. It was a risky adventure. The canoe was caught in a squall in the Race of Pentland ; and his career, then and there, at the age of 21, all but died. They returned to the West of Scotland by way of the Caledonian Canal ; and parted at Arthishaig.

In his third year, steadily reading for the Tripos, he gave up boating and took to football. He was a. member of the Richmond team ; and, in a match against the ‘Varsity, played so well that it resulted in his being selected’ for the ‘Varsity team. He played for Cambridge in all home matches ; and against Oxford at the Oval.

In 1875, the Long Vacation, at the Scotch Lakes and in Edinburgh ; afterwards the History Tripos ; and (Dec., 1875) the splendid’ distinction of First Class Honours. He says that he was an " industrious " student. This is hardly full justice : because in his work there was " industry " certainly; but also real energy, fixedness of purpose, and acute concientiousness — amply proved in his subsequent research work and in his published books. What he felt and acknowledged was the unfortunate fact that he possessed no style. There was nothing of the artistic or the creative in his intellect ; or rather, perhaps, there was the barest minimum of the imaginative gift. He made no claim to any such thing; frankly admitted that to him Wordsworth was a sealed book; he might have added even Gibbon—not to speak of Livy. To make the past, or any epoch or incident of it, march again was for him quite impossible. But, if for that reason somewhat lacking in charm, his historical work by virtue of the sterling quality of conscientiousness, is and will remain invaluable.

Straight from Cambridge and the Tripos (Dec., 1875), he set out for Cannes, to stay with his friend Close, at "Close-brooks," a villa on Cap d’Antibes, with gardens by the a. Two delightful months there, with new acquaintanceships formed, that often brought him to Cannes again in after years. In February, 1876, with two Cambridge friends, he set out on a tour through Italy—ending in April with a farewell banquet at Vefour’s, in Paris.

An incident of this Italian tour illustrates the spirit which characterized him through life. He had been fortunate enough, before leaving England, to get a letter of introduction to Cardinal Antonelli ; and when in Rome took opportunity to call at the Cardinal’s residence. The Cardinal could not see him ; but, in reply to a note, was good enough to send him an order for a private audience with the Pope. Accordingly, he presented himself at the Vatican ; was duly ushered into the Pope’s presence ; and, with the due etiquette, answered in French the question His Holiness addressed to him in that language : the brief interview concluding with a paternal blessing, and the hope expressed for his conversion to the Faith of the Catholic Church.

This venture might he thought a presumption. It is evidence, at least, that at 23 he possessed a singular confidence in encountering personages in exalted place. Though in later life he never acquired, probably never attempted to acquire conversational facility as a fine art, he did acquire by the cultivation of social experience an absolute freedom from that diffidence which men too’ commonly find an impediment in their interview with their social superiors

By the time he left Italy he had acquired a fair conversational acquaintance with’ Italian. ; and after parting with his friends at Paris, he went to stay at Caen, to acquire a more complete acquaintance with French .

In June, 1876, he left Caen, took his degree at Cambridge, and was at Cronkbourne again : and at once " went into harness a his father’s clerk." He picked up the details and’ the routine of the ‘business with a rapidity rather surprising to the factory staff. His work included visiting Armagh and the flax markets, to learn flax-buying ; and he had to acquaint himself with the work of the branch factory at Monkstown, near Belfast. In the following year, already bearing the main burden of the ‘business, he. became his father's partner.

At Cronkbourne Village the men and boys had no outdoor games ; and this, in contrast to the strenuous and healthy out-door activities of undergraduate life, struck him as " laziness " ; their circumstances, however, mainly accountable for their apathy. He established a cricket club, which flourished there for quarter of a century ; but the game was never taken up elsewhere by the youth of the Island.

As his after career was to be, for 33 years, largely identified with Manx public life, a digression is here in place. It was an epic period, a transition from old conditions to new, a beginning of changes—inevitable, if not always admirable. In 1866 the Manx Constitution had ‘been "reformed" : and the House of Keys, from being a co-optative oligarchy, was now an elected body. Meanwhile, the Island was becoming a great seaside resort. Meanwhile, too, steam was rapidly ousting sail ; and the Cronkbourne sail-cloth factory was a. doomed industry. The changes came gradually ; but there was something of class impatience in the tone and spirit of the community. In 1877, at the age of 24, he was made a magistrate : and over the appointment of so young a man the Insular Press uttered vigorous protests. He had lived quite outside the general life of the Island : and, now, coming in contact with it for the first time, he encountered that jealousy which is a characteristic of the Manx people,—who are keenly resentful of any superiority in one of their own countrymen ; though, without demur, they allow any pretension, however spurious, to be imposed on them, provided only it be by an alien of whom nothing is known. Uninfluenced by this display of feeling, he sought to identify himself with every phase of local public life ; and ended by becoming what is called. a. Liberal. He was not a stalwart ; not of the adamant ; intellectually not an idealist.

For the next ten years he was occupied with experiments. The business in which he was a partner—to which, in the natural course of things, he would succeed—could not increase. A born man of business, with the acquisitiveness that makes him in deadly earnest about acquiring a great fortune, would have sought another arena : but he had not this incentive. He accepted the situation ; and out of it evolved his two-fold vocation,—of local politics ; and literary work, devoted to the history and lore of the Island. His experiments were in the direction of tastes. He took to breeding fox terriers ; and won prizes, so long as the fancy lasted. Along with a few others, he formed a hunt club, to take over the northern pack of harriers which Mr. Farrant, of Ballakillingan, had decided to give up : but the hunt, for lack of support, was finally abandoned after a struggling existence of six years. More important, his starting to keep weather records, in connection with the London Meteorological Office, his own observatory at Cronkbourne ; and sub-stations in other parts of the Island. More important still, from its outcome, the idea he formed, in 1879, of going through the parish registers : it led to his "Manx Names," published in 1890; to his "History of the Isle of Man," published in 1900 ; and, incidentally, to the "Manx Note Book " (1885-87), and other minor publications.

In 1882 he tried the experiment of a dairy farm and cheese-making at Lanjaghan, an upland farm of his father’s, in the neighbourhood of Cronkbourne. Choice Ayrshires were brought over, and Scotch hands for the work. He visited model dairy farms in Galloway to learn all about their system. His daily routine was, to ride up to Lanjaghan in the evening, sleep there, start the men to work at 6 am., and return to Cronkbourne for breakfast. They made excellent cheese ; but had no chance with "American " in the market : so, after three years, the attempt was abandoned. Meanwhile, also, he was engaged in sheep-farming on the mountain tract of Slieu Losht and Park Llewellyn.

In other directions he was busily occupied. He became a member of Braddan School Board ; a Churchwarden of Braddan ; President of the Horticultural Society ; President of the Southern Agricultural Society, and again President of the united Northern and Southern Societies, and, with some measure of success, exhibited at their Shows. A visit to the Electric Light Exhibition in London, in 1882, resulted in his introducing electric light at Cronkbourne. He acted as Trustee of a Lodge of Oddfellows. He was a Freemason ; and took office as Master of his Lodge (the Athole), and subsequently Senior Warden of the Masonic Province of the Isle of Man.

In 1883 he was, for the first time, invited to stand for the House of Keys, for Garff Sheading. In Garff there had been a succession of animated contests : and, to a man who always took men altogether too seriously, a contest there promised to be anything but amusing : accordingly, though it would he pleasanter to’ have to record’ that he welcomed the adventure, he declined the honour and dust of it. Two years later he was elected quietly enough for his home sheading of Middle,—-which he continued to represent for nearly a quarter of a century, with a seat so secure that his re-election took place in his absence. In 1885, soon after entering the Keys, he was appointed Captain of the Parish of Onchan.

In those years he often walked across the mountains from Cronkbourne to Andreas, to visit his uncle the Archdeacon,-—who was Rector of Andreas from 1844 to his death in 1886. The Archdeacon was a bachelor ; with considerable private means, and open-handed in his charity ; quaint of speech, and naively frank with regard to things " new, and, therefore, not true. " It was Arthur Moore’s intention to walk back from Andreas one Sunday forenoon : but to this the Archdeacon demurred, as a desecration of the Sabbath . As it was June, he set out at 3 am., and reached Cronkbourne in time for breakfast. Such strict Sabbatarianism, however, was not characteristically Manx ; it is rather a record of the individual man. The Archdeacon was neither High, Low, nor Broad: he was a strict Churchman, not on the points of a particular school ; but, all the more for that, on points he made important to himself by unvarying observance.

In the spring of 1887, the year of the Queen’s Jubilee, Arthur Moore was married to Louisa Hughes-Games, daughter of the then Archdeacon of Man. Their wedding tour was in northern Italy, going by way of the South of France, and returning through Switzerland. On their return they settled down in Woodbourne House, on the outskirts of Douglas, and within a short mile of Cronkbourne : and Woodbourne remained their residence for the remaining 23 years of his life. Meanwhile, also, Andreas Rectory, which had been to him a second home during the time of his uncle, Archdeacon Moore, was still to be a kind of second home till the removal of Archdeacon Hughes-Games, seven years later, to the Vicarage of Hull.

In his absence in Italy he had been reelected to the Keys. The year was marked by such incidents as the death of the old Vicar of Braddan, the death of the insular Bishop, and the arrival of his successor. A contingent of the British Association came to the Island : " I have seldom seen a. more uninviting set of persons," he says. Professor Vigfusson visited the Island in the autumn, and got involved in a controversy with Mr Kermode, author of " Manx Crosses," in which The Icelander got much the worst of the affair. However, he had taken an interest in the "Manx Note Book", the last number of which came out that same year ; and people forgave his rashness in controversy, from kindly feeling to him as an " Icelander," claiming kin with the Manx. Professor Rhys also visited the Island that year : and whoever he might be that visited the Island, Arthur Moore had always the good fortune to meet him.

Next year his spring holiday was in London,—-pictures and plays ; at home, Poor Relief legislation and his election to the Board of Education. ; in the autumn, a delightful holiday in Oxford, where he stayed with Prof. Rhys, and made the acquaintance of Thorold’ Rogers, Dr. Taylor, Dr. Murray and the staff engaged with him on dictionary work. Prof. Rhys and Mr. Moore wore just then editing the Manx Prayer Book of Bishop Phillips, and arranging for its publication by the Clarendon Press.

In 1889 he published his "Climate of the Isle of Man"; and worked on " Place Names and Surnames of the Isle of Man," which came out in the following year. In the autumn he travelled with Mrs. Moore, making an extensive round through Norway, Denmark, and Germany. Among visitors to Manxland that year were Mrs Green, wife of the historian; and Prof. Browne, of Cambridge, afterwards Bishop of Bristol.

In 1891, after a dissolution of the Keys, he was again re-elected in his absence. He accompanied the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland on a set of excursions in Munster; had a holiday in Hampshire ; and attended the Folklore Congress at Burlington House, where he read a paper on " Tynwald Hill," and made the acquaintance of A. Lang, A. Gomme, and others of like fame. Then, at home, the insular Bishop translated to Carlisle, and a successor arriving in his place. In the spring of 1892 he ‘had’ a holiday in Portugal, and in the autumn at the English Lakes. This year Arthur Moore published his " Diocesan History of Sodor and Mann," brought out by the S.P.C.K. ; and saw the somewhat delayed publication of the Manx Prayer Book.

In the following year (1893) he attended Convocation at York as a Lay Representative of the Manx Diocese. He was "not particularly interested in the questions discussed : the whole affair had such an air of unreality." Later he attended a Welsh Church Defence demonstration at the Albert Hall ; and attended a reception at Lambeth, "shaking hands with Archbishop and Mrs Benson, and passing on" . To visit London was for him to see the "Academy," to go a. round of the theatres—" Becket " and " Charley’s Aunt, " which lie found equally important, as, in fact, they doubtless were. At the same time he heard the preachers : in this case. "Canon Ainger and Scott Holland."

The summer visitors to Manxland were Rhys and Sturzen Becker, of Stockholm : the latter studying the vocalization of Anglo-Manx." Then, the incident of the departure of Sir Spencer Walpole, the Lieutenant-Governor, and the arrival of Sir West Ridgeway.

In 1894 came his first acute sorrow , the loss of a little boy. At this period the Rev. T. E . Brown was a frequent guest at Woodbourne House : he had retired from scholastic work at Clifton, and taken a house at Ramsey, where he continued to reside till his death in 1897. Among other matters enlisting Arthur Moore’s interest and furtherance were the formation of a Sustentation Fund to augment the incomes of the Manx Clergy ; and the completion of the Legislative Chambers. for which he selected the stained glass. The game of golf had been introduced into the Island in 1891 : he had become an enthusiastic golfer, with the Port-e-Chee links mid-way between Woodbourne and Cronkbourne. In 1895 he took to cycling ; and made his first cycling tour during his spring holiday in the Warwickshire country : and next year a like tour in North Wales In March, 1896, be made an extended tour in Spain—Cadiz, Seville, Granada, Madrid ; in autumn he attended the British Association’s meeting in Liverpool, reading a paper on the " Physical Anthropology of the Isle of Man." On this occasion he made the acquaintance of the Earl of Derby, who received the members of the British Association at Knowsley ; and obtained permission to look through such papers as remain at Knowsley relating to the Island. Many members of the British Association came over to the Island on an excursion : and " a queer dishevelled looking set most of them were ! " There were agreeable exceptions, of course : for Mrs. Gomme, of folklore fame, and Prof. and Mrs Haddon, of Cambridge, were guests at Woodbourne. in the December of this year (1896) Arthur Moore published his " Manx Tunes and Ballads."

Sir West Ridgeway had been promoted to the Governorship of Ceylon ; and Lord Henniker, a most amiable man , in whom kindness took that large place occupied by selfishness in the generality of men, was now Governor. The year 1897, Queen Victoria’s " Diamond Jubilee," began n the Island with a general election : and Arthur Moore was at home electioneering. After this, quite delightful to think that lie took a ten days’ trip through Touraine—Blois, Amboise, Tours (where St. Martin had died exactly 1,600 years before, and a little church dedicated to him in Arthur Moore’s Manx constituency), Loehes, Ples.sis Ic Tours, Chinon, Angers, Orleans ! On his return he read his paper on the "Physical Anthropology of the Isle of Man " at a meeting of the Anthropological Society, in London.

In June he was in London again for the Jubilee—one of three representatives of the Manx House of Keys, for whom were provided "excellent seats between Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park Corner" . Of course , he saw the "Academy," and, at the theatres, " Madame Sans Gene " (Lyceum) and Irving as " Napoleon." Thence to Southampton, to. the Naval Review. Before returning home. he paid a visit to his brother-in-law, the Rev. Stephen Hughes-Games, Vicar of Doddington ; and naturally took the opportunity to see Canterbury.

In the autumn of this year he was at Knowsley, examining papers relating to the Island : his "History of the Isle of :Man " already in progress. Later came two breaks with the past,—the death of the Rev. T. E. Brown, quite suddenly, at Clifton College ; and of John Pearson, an uncle by marriage, whose funeral he attended in Westmister Abbey : the grave, " between Scott and Street. " In his notes of minor activities this year ‘he mentions that he opened a bazaar at St. Matthew’s Church in Douglas ; and that the papers credited him with having made a " witty speech." He notes it in the sense that one must not mind the well-disposed reporters if they occasionally nod!

There is a Caledonian Association in the Isle of Man ; and they meet at a banquet on. the birthday of Robert Burns. On January 25th, 1898, Arthur Moore was their guest ; and proposed the toast of the " immortal memory. " One could hardly imagine anyone, that is to say, anyone with no pretension whatever to the poetic or imaginative temperament, that could speak in a way better than Arthur Moore on an occasion of this kind.

Among the minor matters of this year, a cycling tour in East Anglia ; a. visit to Ripon, Fountains, and the West Ryding dales ; a look it Lancaster and its Castle ; a meeting with Madame Albani at Government House ; a visit to Oxford, to stay with Professor Rhys, meeting Mrs. Gamme, Dr. Morfil, the Slavonic scholar ; pictures and plays in London. The principal matter of the year was his election to the Speakership of the House of Keys, as successor of Sir John Goldie-Taubman He continued to hold the Speakership in successive Parliament of the Island for 12 years, viz., till his death in 1909.

In the Isle of Man, as in all communities, such a man as Arthur Moore plays many parts. He became a member of the Insular Harbour Board, a director of the Isle of Man Banking Company, a director of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, and, after 22 years’ service on the Bench of Licensing Magistrate, was appointed a member of the Licensing Appeal Court

His 1899 excursions were to Bath and the West of England, including a detour to the Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon ; London, devoted to " Burne Jones," the New Gallery, and the current plays. In June he had a cycling tour in Brittany, through the Carnac district, to see the prehistoric monuments, devoting a fortnight to the Coniie mara of France. On his return he was presented at a levee; and ended with an Eistdfod at Cardiff.

At Cardiff he was the guest of Lord Windsor at St. Fagaus Castle, meeting Herkomer and Alma Tadema there. Arthur Moore was the official representative of the Isle of Man, or of the Manx branch of the Celtic race. He received a Druid decoration, a white ribbon tied round his arm ; and made a speech in Manx to acknowledge the honour He seems, in his description of it, to acknowledge the whole affair to have been. an amazingly stupid and puerile show. He had the good fortune to, at least, appear to take such things seriously: this arose from an idea he had of a duty to the Island, viz.. that since there was this institution, however artificial and idiotic it might be, the Island should at least be represented

The Boer War (1899) implied a demonstration and a "War Fund" effort in the Isle of Man,—parade of Societies tableaux, etc. His impression was that a " Day of Humiliation would ‘have been more in place ! " To the best of his friends it was possible for him to be exasperating, viz. , when he said things of this sort.

In 1900 things were in a dismal state in. the Island, through the failure of a local Bank. He had a short holiday in Sussex ; went off in June to represent the Island at the funeral of Lord Loch. in September he had a trip to South-west Ireland ; and was in London in October : " History of the The of Man" just out. This work, in two volumes, was his most important literary effort. Though wholly without imaginative qualities or any grace of style, he was conscientious in writing and in what he wrote, and had a comprehensive view of hi subject. To this volume one turns as to the standard work of reference : but one does not read it for any pleasure in the perusal.

The following year he prepared a small volume, " Story of the Isle of Man," based on his larger history, to be used as a reading book in Manx schools , and brought out a little volume, "Manx Worthies". He took his spring holiday in Belgium ; and, having occasion to go to Southampton in July, as a director of the Steam Packet Company, on the business of purchasing a steamer, he seized the opportunity of acquainting himself with the New Forest country. Then, in autumn, to the Pan-Celtic Congress, in Dublin, as representa tive of the Isle of Man. On the occasion he stayed with Lord Castletown at Doneraile Court : Lord Castletown was President of the Celtic gathering ; and scorns to have picked out the most agreeable and the most picturesque guests to take off with him to his home in the West. There were some Bretons : and, if the Manx representative had also been himself a Celt, the meeting surely would have betrayed him into the folly of tears and sentiment. But, as a practical fact, Arthur Moore, though not a Celt, was justified in being where he was : not a soul in the Isle of Man but cordially approved of his being there, among those enthusiasts of natures and his position alien to his own . Those Congresses gave him the opportunity of meeting, if only for a brief hour, many interesting people: e.g., at Dublin, Prof. Zimmer and Kuuo Mayer. Graves the song-writer, Lord. Howth, the Hon. Horace Plunkett, the Hon. Stuart Erskine, and the charming Lord Castletown himself.

At Doneraile Court, near Bullevant, he saw the scenes associated with Raleigh and Spencer ; and, on his return to the Island, made a detour by way of Waterford, Lismore, Kilkenny, with a look at " Ormonde’s Castle," and Carlow.

In 1902 (Jan.), he: attended a Manx Gathering in Liverpool. This affair is a tea-party with speeches, honoured by the patronage of some distinguished chairman : in this case it was Lord Lathorn. In June he was in London with Mrs Moore for the Coronation—unhappily interfered with by the King’s illness. Lord Henniker, the then Lieutenant Governor of the Island, had recommended Arthur Moore for a knighthood : but his short length of service as Speaker of the Keys probably accounted for the honour not being conferred on him. The. Governor died in June. It is certain that Arthur Moore felt the effects of the public business, in which he had to take the most prominent part, on occasions such as this : he invariably took the course of having a holiday, e.g., in this ease a short cycling tour in Galloway.

In August he saw the Coronation in Westminster Abbey; and within a few weeks had the honour of being received by the King arbd Queen on board their yacht in Ramsey Bay, and of accompanying them on their drive to Peel Castle and to Cronkbourne, where the Royal party did Mrs W. F. Moore the honour of drinking tea with her. Following on this Royal visit to the. Island, Arthur Moore received the. C.V.O. decoration.

The successor to Lord Henniker as Lieut.-Governor was Lord Raglan, who was installed in the autumn, but did not take up his residence till the summer of 1903. That autumn, in London, Arthur Moore was among the guests at a dinner at the Hotel Cecil, given by Sir Donald Wallace, to meet the contributors to his "Encyclopaedia Britannica. " In. May he attended a levee at Buckitigham Palace : " I rather think" he says, " that the King recognised me : but I did not feel sure !" He was on his way to Switzerland ; for nearly three weeks, incessant moving about ; afterwards, a week in London. In August he had business at the branch works in Belfast; and took the opportunity of a few days’ golf at Newcastle, under Slieve Donard, and a few days’ cycling in County Down. September, business again, he was in North-west England—Hartlepool, Middlesborough, and Sunderland—" all more or less ghastly places "and business no longer satisfactory : the " tramps, which use the vilest shoddy in the way of canvass," not the.desiring the good quality canvas for which the Moore firm had made its reputation. Thence to Dover, as a Steam Packet director, to inspect a new turbine steamer on the Calais station. Before returning he spent a few days at Dunkirk, Boulogne, and Calais. The question was being discussed by the. group of directors whether they would order a turbine steamer for the Douglas and Liverpool station : the result was the new boat which was on the station by Mid-summer, 1905.

In 1904 his spring holiday was limited to a week, at Fontaineblean, Rheims, Troyes ! He cycled, viz. , hired a cycle in order to save time, wherever, as at Fontainebleau, there was much to be seen and it was worth while to traverse the forest roads. His notes are such as would form a guidebook condensed to the requirements of an experienced traveller, e.g., " Troyes,—of the quaintest,—ancient timber houses,— remarkable churches, rather decayed—St. Urbain—Oath. St. Pierre, very fine—St. Nizier—La Madeiaine—St Jean—St. Nicholas—stained glass, lovely everywhere !" Again, of Fontainebleau : " Palace, vast, externally dull, interior gorgeous—Francis I., Hen. IV., Nap. I., each seems to have made apartments for himself—not used those of predecessor !" It is rather pathetic to remember that he. was there in the last week of the month of May ; it is characteristic of him that he notes what he might have seen equally well in November : the splendour of May at Fontainebleau, in effect, unnoted!

In September, another Pan-Celtic Congress,—this time at Caernarvon. He stayed with Sir Wm. Preece, at Penrhos; Prof. Rhys also a guest. Lord Castletown was a prominent figure, representing the Irish branch. At a reception in the Castle some of the enthusiasts wore Breton and other Celtic race costumes. Arthur Moore was called on for a speech; and advocated Home Rule all round. At these gatherings it really does not matter what anybody says : for, of course, people are not: there to take or be taken seriously. Later, he presided at a lecture on Celtic music ; went out into the country to see a bi-lingual inscription ; and: fulfilled his duty of representing the Island. But, of course, he stood quite outside the enthusiasms.

At Christmas this year comes a significant note ; "the carol nuisance in Douglas more persistent than ever this year" : it was probably the beginnings of ill-health.

With 1905 came the Reform agitation in the. House of Keys: he notes, " reform discussed in the Keys ; the House did not agree with me ; and almost unanimously voted for the 'abolition' of one of the Deemsters." This agitation was destined to increase ; nor was it his affair to oppose it : to some extent he favoured the re-arrangement of things ; and, at least from a sense of duty, assisted in the arrangement of the programme. June saw him on a cycling trip in the. Thames Valley, after the steam trials of the new turbine steamer off the Tyne, where he met the Hon. C. A. Parsons and the Earl of Reese. Before starting on his cycle trip he saw the Australians play cricket. His tour began at Maidenhead, and by way of Oxford and Woodstock to the West ; then back, on zigzag parallel track, touching at Farnham Castle, Waverley Abbey, Guildford, Dorking, Reigate : "all this a lovely country!" He averaged 60 miles a day.

A month later he was in London again, interviewing the Home Oftice on the subject of reform ; saw the Lancashire and Middlesex match at Lords ; and went to stay with Prof. Rhys at Oxford.

In September he was in the West of Scotland ; saw Iona; made excursions by rail and steamer in various directions from Oban ; then north as far as Gairloch, and across by way of Loch Maree to Inverness, to join the Highland Railway to Perth and St. Anthews. He played golf on the St. Andrew’s links ; and saw the colleges, where the great attraction for him was the fine old silver. Speaking of the ruins of the Abbey and Castle, he thought the tower was "the finest thing he had seen outside of Italy."

A sad tone now and then becomes audible in his notes : and it was, one cannot but believe, the consciousness of failing health. He. was elected Chairman of the Hospital Committee, "unwillingly," he says : "but in view of important negotiations with Noble’s Trustees, I suppose it is my duty." The Trustees in question were on the point of endowing the hospital ; and ended by giving the whole cost of a more. adequate building. Again, at Christmas, he notes : "Choirs singing at night, not only at Christmas, but for at least a fortnight beforehand, have made this time of the year even more unpleasant than it generally is."

There were bereavements also—the deaths of his brother-in-law, the Rev. Joshua Hughes-Games at Cheltenham, and of the Rev. Dr. Hughes-Games, Vicar of Hull, formerly Archdeacon of Man, in 1904 ; and of his uncle, Henry Christian, the architect, whose house had been, as John Pearson’s house had been, an ever delightful place of re-union to him when in London. His connection with those circles was becoming a thing of ~0~~rie~,—delightful, but of the past.

His eminent fairness, the strictly impersonal spirit in which he fulfilled the office of Speaker of the Keys, had already secured for him the entire confidence of the House.. He resigned his seat in the Council of Education, when he found his policy not supported by the Legislature : but, on the request of the Keys and an expression of their confidence in his action apart from any consideration of policy, he again consented to act.

It is possible that the question of health had a place in his decision, in 1906, to sell the business carried on at Tromode near Cronkbourne, by three generations of Moores. The main reason, however, must have been the fact that every-where steam was ousting sail ; and the manufacture. of sail-canvas an invidious fight against an ebbing tide.

His holiday excursions in 1906 were, nevertheless, delightful experiences to him,—espeeially the month of April with three weeks in the South of France. Lord Raglan had been restoring Castle. Ruthen, and the whole subject of mediaeval military ~hitecture, English and Continental, gave special interest to this excursion . He visited Toulouse, Carcascone Narbonne, Aigues Mortes, Aries, Nismes, with many detours into places of interest in that region ; and ended with Bourges.

In June he cycled through the Severn Valley and to and fro through mid-Wales ; everywhere. the architectural roe-tiges his main interest ; but, for the most part, a hasty glance and hurrying on.

In September, from Moffatt as centre, he travelled the region east and west, the haunts of Scott on the Tweed, and Nithside.

He was present at the Manx Gathering in Liverpool in January, 1907 ; and took occasion to propose that an expreesion of the appreciation of Manx people for the work of the Rev. T. E. Brown should take some tangible form. T. E. Brown had died in 1897 : but the Manx people to whom Arthur Moore appealed made a sorry response, and the only outcome of his proposal was a bust of Mr Brown, now in the Public Library in Douglas.

In March he was in St. Deiniol’s Library, at Hawarden; with literary projects still in mind. On the way there he cycled through Wirral, noting the Scandinavian place-names, all of which appear in Doomsday Book. A book which made a sensation at that period was " In His Steps," by Dr. Sheldon, an American. This author visited the Isle of Man, and lectured at the Grand Theatre : "Monotonous and full of repetition" is Arthur Moore’s note on the lecture . In the previous year Dr. Clark, also an American, originator of the "Christian Endeavour" movement, lectured in Douglas; and him Arthur Moore. found "a very attractive man."

In June he made a cycling round in Dorsetshire and Somersetshire : his chief interest the prehistoric earthworks and the vestiges of Roman occupation. In August, staying as the guest of Lord Raglan at Monmouth Castle, the headquarters of the Monmouth Militia, of which His Excellency was Colonel, they motored all round that region : the special interest, to envisage the position of the old Norman lords settled on the Welsh Marches. In September he attended yet anothor Pan-Celtic Congress. this time in Edinburgh. His friend Lord Castletown was there, Sir William Preece, the young Marquis of Bute, Sir Thos. and Lady Esmonde, Sir Robert Cranston, and the. Celtic enthusiasts. The incident of the Congress was the singing of Manx songs by a quartette of brilliant Manx vocalists. Arthur Moore’s particular happiness, a visit to Roslyn Chapel. In October he passed through London, on his way to Berlin, where he was placing his daughter at school. He had some. work to do at the British Museum ; and, as always, made a round of the theatres ; and, as always,—for pictures were a necessity of life to him—gave of his leisure to the galleries, in this case the National and the National Portrait Galleries. By the end of the year, having reason to be seriously concerned about his health, he visited the. West Indies.

He sailed from Bristol on Dec. 14th, and landed there again on Feb. 11th, 1908. The holiday had been spent mainly in Jamaica. He ascertained that the negro children are bright and intelligent up to the age of 12 or 13 ; but beyond that point are generally capable of no further mental development. He realised the idea of the scope and limit of their minds as being definitely fixed. It was the principle that all students of education are acquainted with as true in varying degrees for white people, and where this principle is not grasped no educational system can claim to have a scientific basis.

After Jamaica he found England "ghastly". He went from Bristol to London to meet the Home Secretary, Mr H. Gladstone., in a Conference on the subject of Constitutional Reform for the Isle of Man. Illness during the spring enforced on him the abandonment of his meteorological records: and he presented his outfit of instruments to the Borough of Douglas.

Of the decay of the Manx language he makes a note in this year. None of the Sheading Coroners knew enough Manx to read out the mere titles of the Acts promulgated at Tynwald; and, loth perhaps to see the language officially expire, he undertook the duty.

A trial trip of the new turbine steamer "Ben-my-Chree" took him to the Clyde. There was an exhibition in Edinburgh : and he took the opportunity to make a flying visit there,—devoting his attention to the only thing that interested him, i.e., a "collection of Highland claymores and dirks." The summer visitors to the Island included the Duke of Wellington, Admiral Curzon-Howe in command of the Fleet, and Prince Francis of Teck ; and, as usual, he makes a brief note of his impressions of the men and their conversation, and always of some salient good feature.

At the Franco-British Exhibition , in London, in autumn he is interested in the pictures and statuary ; and devotes the rest of his time to listening to the Grenadier Guards’ Band. There are at home little field excursions of the Antiquarian Society ; elsewhere visits to Grayshott Hall, the home of an old Cambridge friend, and to Whittington Hall, the home of a married sister : excursions if possible ; in this case to Lichfield and Elton. In November, 1908, after a general election, the House of Keys assembled ; and re-elected him Speaker. Then illness ; and an indomitable spirit struggling against the malady that sapped his vitality

His last excursion, this time a forlorn hope effort after health, was in April, 1909—to the Canaries. He stayed first at Las Palmas over Easter, saw the processions, and attended services at the Cathedral. Later, he went up to Monte, to the "Hotel Behlavista" ; had a bad attack of Canary fever; for the rest, drives and even walks in the neighbourhood. On his return to London he saw his specialist, and the same day attended a matinee. When he returned to the Island, we saw plainly that he had come back to die. Whatever literary projects he abandoned, he desired to complete one,—the little collection of letters and a brief memoir of Nessy Heywood.

Nevertheless, worn out in body hut indomitable in spirit, he resumed his legislative duties during the autumn session. It was absolutely pathetic to see business transacted by the House, where every member felt for him an intense personal regard, in some cases an intense affection—as intense as was possible, where it was centred on a man so undemonstrative.

Finally, a rapid collapse. the end, and—unexampled in memory—the whole Island in representative presence ; and the whole community of Douglas, at the funeral.

A note on the books he read is marked by the frankest of admissions, "Milton, Wordsworth, and Browning, I cannot read. . . I do not care for obscurity in writing : hence both Browning -and George Meredith irritate me. . . With the exception of Torn Brown and- Calverley, no poetry since Tennyson interests me at all. . . I have always cared for Tennyson: much more than any other poet. . . Byron comes next in my estimation. . . George Elliot’s books, read as they came out, produced the most marked effect on my mind’. . . Metaphysical studies never interested me; and even Political Economy was read with some effort. .

History has always had a great fascination for me ; and I have read more of it than of any other subject ! . . My great delight is travelling, having as its more especial objects the study of architecture and of pictures !"

It has been the privilege and the duty of many Manxmen to express a personal and embody a public acknowledgement of the honour due to Arthur Moore’s memory. One would fain select the choicest of these-—perhaps, therefore, the utterance of Lord Raglan, the Lieutenant-Governor, on the occasion of his unveiling the bust of Arthur Moore in the Legislative Chamber of the House of Keys : "I loved Arthur Moore !" Brief, comprehensive, and sufficient tribute, tremuions with truth- : no man need say more, since it avows the stirring within us of the noblest thought, by every memory of him of whom this was said. No man who knew Arthur Moore well, would, for his part, say less!

JOHN QUINE.

Lonan Vicarage, Isle of Man , August-, 1912.


 

index next


Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor
HTML Transcription © F.Coakley , 1999