{
  "created": "1826-12-31",
  "ident": "Hymnyn-ny-arraneyn-Moyllee-son-Paitchyn",
  "name": "Hymnyn ny arraneyn Moyllee son Paitchyn.",
  "original": "English",
  "originalName": "Divine Songs attempted in easy language for the use of Children.",
  "notes": "The 1826 edition has two versions with different engravings. One has an open Bible on the front and a cow-house on the back. The other has a couple near a church on the front, and a couple with a dog, outside a house, on the back.\r\nIn Harrison\u2019s Bibliotheca Monenesis, 2nd ed. 1876, and subsequent refs, the translation is attributed to George Killey, clerk of Onchan, who also contributed translations to the 1799 Lioar dy Hymnyn. Harrison gives the date 1826, and the Place of Publication as Douglas. [Google Books gives the publication date as 1829.] George Killey (1763-1842) was parish clerk and schoolmaster of Onchan. A. W. Moore adds (Manx Worthies, pp. 116-7) \u2018He is said to have been very ready at impromptu rhymes, and the following story is quoted to show it:\r\nAn old man called Hugh, who could neither read nor write, asked Killey to write something in his new Bible, so he promptly sat down and wrote in Manx and English:\r\nLesh Hugh yn Lioar shoh, sleih my chree,\r\nAs shen-y-fa nagh geid shiu ee;\r\nSon ga nagh vod eh scrieu ny lhaih,\r\nTa\u2019n Lioar eunys echey ny-yei.\r\n\r\nThis Book, good friends, belongs to Hugh,\r\nSteal it not then whate\u2019er you do;\r\nFor tho\u2019 he cannot read or write,\r\nTo have this Book is his delight.\r\n\r\nGeorge Borrow, who visited Killey\u2019s daughter when he was in the Isle of Man, remarked that the Hymn Book had been translated by him in a manner which showed that he \u201Cpossessed powers of versification of the very highest order.\u201D George Killey was a Wesleyan Methodist.\u2019\r\n\r\nOn the inside of the cover of the 1893 edition we read:\r\nThis Collection of Hymns was compiled for use among children and young people in connection with the Wesleyan Methodist Societies in the Isle of Man, and was used in the Wesleyan Sunday Schools when they were first instituted.\r\nThe 1893 edition was issued by W. K. Palmer, Printer, Michael Street, Peel.\r\n\r\nDivine Songs Attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Children (also known as Divine and Moral Songs for Children and other similar titles) is a collection of didactic, moral poetry for children by Isaac Watts, first published in 1715. Though Watts\u0027s hymns are now better known than these poems, Divine Songs was a ubiquitous children\u0027s book for nearly two hundred years, serving as a standard textbook in schools. By the mid-19th century there were more than one thousand editions. \r\n\tThree of the best-known poems in the collection are \u201CPraise for Creation and Providence\u201D (II), \u201CAgainst Idleness and Mischief\u201D (XX), and \u201CThe Sluggard\u201D.  \u201CPraise for Creation and Providence\u201D (better known as \u201CI sing the mighty power of God\u201D) is now a hymn sung by all ages. \u201CAgainst Idleness and Mischief\u201D and \u201CThe Sluggard\u201D (better known as \u201CHow doth the little busy bee\u201D and \u201C\u0027Tis the voice of the sluggard\u201D) were both meant to teach children the importance of hard work, and were extremely well known in the nineteenth century. Walter de la Mare wrote that \u201Ca childhood without the busy bee and the sluggard would resemble a hymnal without \u2018O God, our help in ages past\u2019.\u201D Charles Dickens\u0027s novels occasionally quote \u201CAgainst Idleness and Mischief\u201D; for instance, in his 1850 novel David Copperfield, the school master Dr. Strong quotes lines 11-12: \u201CSatan finds some mischief still, for idle hands to do.\u201D In his 1865 fantasy Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll parodies both \u201CAgainst Idleness and Mischief\u201D as \u201CHow Doth the Little Crocodile\u201D and \u201CThe Sluggard\u201D as \u201C\u0027Tis the voice of the Lobster\u201D. [Wikipedia]\r\n\r\nAlongside the Manx I have put the English text as it appears in an edition not much earlier.",
  "author": "I. Watts",
  "translator": "G. Killey",
  "type": "Hymns",
  "source": "Hymnyn ny arraneyn Moyllee son Paitchyn Liorish I. Watts. Published By P. White, 25, New-street, Bishopsgate; And Sold by J. Davis, 56, Paternoster-row; and J. Nisbet, Castle-street, Oxford-street. 1826."
}