in the text). An example of such a section of dialogue is as follows: "Is it wanting to get done with me, you are, Pete?" she said in a quavering voice. "There’s my black – I can sell it for something – it’s never been wore at me since I sat through the service." Reception The Manxman was one of Hall Caine's greatest successes, selling over half a million copies by 1913 and being translated into twelve languages. It was also the fourth-best selling book in the United States in 1895. It was well received by critics and the public figures of the day. The Editor of The Scotsman called it "the most powerful story that has been written in the present generation. It is a work of genius." T. P. O'Connor wrote that "The author of The Manxman belongs to the great elect of literature." This view was also shared by the Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery, who observed of the novel that "It will rank with the great works of English literature". It helped to establish the Isle of Man as one of the literary landscapes of Britain. Another contemporary of Caine's, the fellow novelist George Gissing however, thought it "very poor". The novel created something of a sensation on the Isle of Man, though opinions on it were generally of outrage due to its apparent "coarseness." This reception was enjoyed by Caine's friend, the Manx national poet, T. E. Brown, as can be seen in his letters: “The island is all in a shiver about Hall Caine. 'Worse than Tess!' so they say. Ladies can't admit that they read The Manxman.” "Take The Manxman as a rapture, not a reality. It is not Manx or anything else that 'savours of the realty.' As well ask for a map of Prospero's Isle as a picture of the Isle of Man from The Manxman. Don't bother about that. Surrender yourself to the hurly-burly of splendour and get carried away, God knows where! [...] The dear old Manx folk are terribly puzzled, many of them quite outraged. 'Local colour' is knocked to smithereens (glorious smithereens!), anachronism runs riot [...]. Read and enjoy.” Adaptations The novel was adapted twice for the stage. The initial play, written by Wilson Barrett with the title The Manxman, saw its first performance in the Grand Theatre, Leeds, on 22 August 1894, only three weeks after the