Cratilinth, coming to the Crown in the yeare 277, made it one of his first works to purge the kingdom of heathenish superstition, and expulse the Druids, a sort of priests, held in those days in great reputation. Their manner was to celebrate sacrifice, and perform their other rites, in groves, with leaves and branches of oak, and thence, saith Pliny, they were called Druids, which doth signify an oak. It is likewise testified of them that they were well learned in all natural philosophy, men of moral conversation, and, for religion, not so grossly ignorant and superstitious as other heathen priests, for they taught that there was one only God, and that it was not lawful to represent him in any image; that the souls of men did not perish with their bodies; and that after death men were rewarded according to the life they led on earth.

About the yeare 434 Pope Celestine the First sent St. Patrick with twenty more to convert Ireland-or rather Scotland, for it is probable he came not to Ireland till the yeare 441; but, finding the harvest great and the labourers too few, he transported himself into Britain, from whence returning Anno 444, with thirty religious and learned persons in his company, he landed in the Isle of Eubonia, where he found the people, at least the rulers, given to magic, but, being overcome, or convinced by his preaching and miracles, they were converted, or else expelled the Island; and St. Patrick going for Ireland Anno 447, left Germanus, a holy and prudent man, "ad regendum et erudiendum populum in fide Christi," says Jocelinus, which, for the honour of the Manks nation, was sixty-nine years ancienter than Bangor, in Wales, which was the first bishopric that we read of among the Britons, and one hundred and fourteen years before Austin the monk. He introduced the liturgy of the Lateran, and so absolutely settled the business of religion, that the Island never afterwards relapsed. He died before St. Patrick, who sent two bishops to supply his place, Conindrius and Romulus, of whom we have little memorable; but that one or both of them survived St. Patrick five years is very probable, for then it was 494.

AMONG the group of islands known in former times as the Sudreyjar, stands prominently the Isle of Man. Anciently called by the various names of Mona, Menavia, Eubonia, etc., and at a later period Mannin, or the Island of Man, this small spot lying in the Irish Sea, and centrally situated as respects the neighbouring shores, presents very peculiar and remarkable characteristics. From a very early epoch, the Isle of Man had been the seate of a monarchial government. Its first line of kings were princes from North Wales, who ruled over it for the space of four centuries. The earliest and most celebrated of these was Maelgwyn, King of North Wales, and nephew of the famous King Arthur. He conquered the island A.D. 525, chiefly through the assistance of his uncle. From this circumstance he received the name of Draco Insularis, and became one of the Knights of the Round Table. The Welsh line of kings terminated with the demise of Anarawd ap Roderic in the yeare 913.

Prior to the Cambrian dynasty, a mythological character called Mannanan Beg Mac Y Leir, is said to have governed the Isle of Man, and to have been its first legislator or ruler. Unfortunately, "little Mannanan", Mannanan beg, as he is called in the Manx language, has the ominous character of a paynim and necromancer, who by his occult arts enveloped the island in a perpetual mist, so that strangers were unable to visit it, whilst he sat at home in ease on the top of a high mountain called Barrule. He was there at the time of St. Patrick's visit, and whatever his skill in the occult arts may have been, it was not potent enough to prevent his banishment by the Irish Apostle.

The religion of the Manx at this period is supposed to have been Druidism, a circumstance which sorely grieved St. Patrick, so, that instead of proceeding on his journey, he stayed in the island until he had converted them from the error of their ways. Whatever may be the amount of truth mixed up with the legend of Mac Leir, there can be little doubt that after the Roman edict, the Druids of Anglesey fled to, and found refuge in, the Isle of Man. they erected their altars, disseminated their doctrines, and finally perished, exterminated it is said by the orders of St. Patrick- Insular tradition, in its ascription to St. Patrick of the conversion of the Manx people.

The Isle of Man, as is well known, is divided into a number of sections designated Treen lands: and these again. into subsections called Quarterlands, - in Manx kerroo valla-each treen consisted of ten families, and each parish of ten treens- a revival of the Saxon Tything and Hundred, makes the Treens amount to one hundred and seventy. Upon the treen bailey devolved the obligation of erecting and maintaining the treen church, the formation of burial-grounds, and other duties now merged in the parochial system. Each of these diminutive parishes contained its own church, the service of which was conducted either through the instrumentality of itinerant clerics, or else the ministrations of one of the heads of the treen bailey. At this period the Manx church was purely diocesan; there were no benefices, and the bishop was the sole incumbent, assisted by a few presbyters who lived with him, and were his assistants and council for the diocese at large. The system of treen lands and churches arose out of the exigencies of the times. Small chapels or churches of the rudest formation had sprung up everywhere, many isolated, and few, if any, canonically disciplined; so that like the Irish churches of the same period, they required re modeling. St. Maughold commenced the work; and in the formation of the treen bailey, we have probably one of the earliest attempts at a parochial system in Britain.

St. Maughold-by some written -Macfeld, by Dr. Heylin -Machilla, by the Latin authors Macutus-was elected Bishop by the universal sufrage of the Manks nation, but by whom consecrated is very uncertain; for, as the former bishops, by right of conversion, were consecrated by St. Patrick, so whether the Archbishop of Armagh continued the same, does not appear nor by the Archbishop of York, because the Bishopric was not erected by St. Paulinus till the yeare 622, which was above 100 years after St. Maughold; whereas this bishopric was erected many ages before St. Columbus, who is acknowledged by all writers to be the founder of the Abbey of Hye, in the Island of Iona, which from him was called I-ColumbKill, which monastery was the cathedral of the Bishop of the Isles, who was from that time styled Episcopus Sodorensis, from a village called Sodor, adjoining to the monastery, in which the Bishop had his residence. After the Isle of Man was made the seate of the Norwegian race, the Bishoprics were united with the titles of Sodor and Man, and so continued till conquered by the English, since which the Bishop of Man keeps his claim, and the Scotch Bishop styles himself Bishop of the Isles, anciently Episcopus Insularum Sodorensium.

How long St. Maughold sate Bishop, we do not find, only Dr. Heylin says he was Bishop Anno 578, so that it is probable he sate more than four-and-twenty years; neither have we any certainty of a successor till the yeare 600; his name was Conanus, tutor to the three sons of Eugenius, the fourth King of Scotland, as Bishop Spotswood informs us. After him the succession seems wholly broken till the eleventh century; yet during this long vacancy a new error arose, viz., that the Bishopric was erected by Pope Gregory the Fourth, Anno 840.

Before entering upon the eccelesiological history of the Isle of Man as developed in its numerous ruined churches, it will be advisable to glance at its first evangelisation, and the persons who were instrumental in accomplishing it. According to the generally received tradition, it was Christianised by St. Patrick whilst on his journey from Rome to Ireland, about the yeare 444. This opinion is founded on the authority of Jocelinus of Furness, who in his chapter entitled, "De Mannia et aliis insulis ad Deum conversis, states, that St. Patrick returning to Ireland, touched at the islands of the sea, one of which, Eubonia, that is, Man, at that time subject to Britain, by his miracles and preaching converted to Christ. Colgan, in his Acta Sanctorum, reiterates the statement of Jocelinus, that the Irish Apostle did visit and Christianise the island, adding, that anciently it was a dependency of Ireland, and called Inis Patrick, or Patrick's Island, in honour of the Saint. The site of this seate or place of worship was Old Jurby Church, now beneath the waves. Here, says the same authority, St. Patrick landed on his return from visiting the islands of the sea, "ad insulae maris, and established a central station for missionary operations, which he placed under the pastoral charge of St. German, enjoining him to build chapels and churches to strengthen and confirm the people in the faith however, is borne out in his statement respecting the Manx episcopacy by insular tradition, which not only fully supports him, but ascribes to this bishop the foundation of the numerous small chapels scattered throughout the island, called Cabbals, Keeills, and Treen Churches.

The Chronicon Manniae, a better authority, is silent as to Germanus having been Bishop of Man, an omission its authors would not have been guilty of, had such been the case. From this it is evident that the Furness chronicler has committed the mistake of confounding the missions of Palladius and St. German with the apostleship of St. Patrick, an error the more remarkable in this celebrated writer, as he must have been well acquainted with the object and extent of the Bishop of Auxerre's visit to England. The famous Bishop of Antissiodorum (Auxerre), as this prelate's first visit to England was in 429, fifteen years before the supposed advent of St. Patrick in Man; and his last, A.D. 448, just four years afterwards.

The government of the Druids and of their Descendants forms a happy and enlightened epoch in the Manks history; but after the subversion of that system, it presents an awful picture of anarchy and devastation. To gratify the ambition of some turbulent chieftain, hecatombs of his fellow-creatures were frequently sacrificed; and after deluging the country with blood, perhaps the conqueror was scarcely seated on the throne, when he was expelled by some warrior more barbarous than himself: while his unoffending subjects were again overwhelmed in all the horrors of war. The people being thus generally the slaves of every new conqueror, the divine flame of liberty no longer warmed their bosoms.

Oppression soon obliterated all sense of their native dignity. Under the reign of their Danish and Norwegian princes, this island, though less subject to the devastation of foreign plunderers, was frequently lacerated by the contests of domestic oppressors. The succession of their kings, however, became more regular; the martial ardor of the people increased; and some portion of freedom and tranquillity began to be established among them. By the English conquest their oppression was diminished; and by the accession of the House of Stanley the prerogative of their kings was defined and published. The severity of the Feudal system, at this period so intolerant in the surrounding nations, was, from various causes, greatly mitigated in this kingdom.

By embracing Christianity, the legislative dignity of the Druids was not immediately affected for according to the Manks tradition, they and their descendants, continued, for several years,the teachers and rulers of the people. But at length an irruption of northern Barbarians, spreading anarchy and devastation through the country, overthrew their dominion: and a long period ensued, in which the history of this Island is involved in darkness and fable, till the descent of Orry, in the tenth century. This Prince was of the Danish line, and after subduing the Orcades and Hebrides, at last established his throne in Mona.

The first government was a sort of aristocracy, under the Druids, which lasted to the end of the third century, about which time, says Nennius, the island was conquered by Binley, a Scot, who divided the land between himself and his followers, and this " original contract" became the foundation of their laws; which the universal traditions of the Manks ascribe to Mannan-Mac Lear, whom they believe the father, founder, and legislator of their country; and place him about the beginning of the fifth century: he was brother to Fergus II., who restored the kingdom of Scotland, A. D. 422. Towards the latter end of his reign St. Patrick landed here in his second voyage to Ireland: and after some stay left Germanus bishop, as Jocelinus says, " ad regendum et erudiendum populum in fide Christi." This Germanus was canon of the Lateran, a prudent and holy man, and one of the first assistants of St. Patrick in the conversion of Ireland; by his wisdom and conduct he firmly established the Christian religion in Mann: he died before St. Patrick, and the church celebrates his memory among the blessed, and the cathedral in Peel Castle is dedicated to him. To supply his loss, St. Patrick sent over two bishops in succession, Corrindrius and Romulus; after whose death St. Maughold was elected A. D. 498, four years after the death of St. Patrick. How long he filled the chair is uncertain, but the Manks tradition says, the temporal government continued successively in the hands of the bishops.