Part 299 (2/2)
MANDARIN, the name given by foreigners, derived from the Portuguese, signifying to ”command,” to Chinese official functionaries, of which there are some nine orders, distinguished by the b.u.t.tons on their caps, and they are appointed chiefly for their possession of the requisite qualifications for the office they aspire to.
MANDEVILLE, BERNARD DE, a cynical writer, born at Dordrecht, Holland; bred to medicine; came to London to practise; wrote in racy English the ”Fable of the Bees,” intended to show, as Stopford Brooke says, how the ”vices of society are the foundation of civilisation,” or as Professor Saintsbury says, how ”vice makes some bees happy, and virtue makes them miserable”; the latter calls him ”The Diogenes of English Philosophy”; he affirmed that ”private vices are public benefits,” and reduced virtue into a form of selfishness; his satire is directed against the ethics of SHAFTESBURY (q. v.) (1670-1733).
MANDEVILLE, SIR JOHN, English adventurer, named of St. Albans, who from his own account travelled over thirty years in the East, and wrote a narrative of the marvels he experienced in a book of voyages and travels published in 1356; the authors.h.i.+p of this book has been questioned, but on this point there is no doubt that, as Professor Saintsbury says, ”it is the first book of belles-lottres in English prose.”
MANDINGOES, a negro race in Senegambia, and farther inland around the Quorra; are numerous and powerful, and arranged in separate nationalities so to speak.
MANES, the general name given by the Romans to the departed spirits of good men, who are conceived of as dwelling in the nether world, and as now and again ascending to the upper.
MANES, MANI, or MANICHaeANS, the founder of the MANICHaeANS (q. v.), a native of Persia, and who died A.D. 274.
MANETHO, an Egyptian priest and historian, of the 3rd century B.C.; wrote a history of Egypt in Greek, derived from study of sacred monumental inscriptions, which is extant only in fragments.
MANFRED, king of the Two Sicilies, son of the Emperor Frederick II., who had to struggle for his birthright with three Popes, Innocent IV., Alexander IV., and Urban IV., the last of whom having excommunicated him, as his predecessors had done, and bestowed his dominions on Charles of Anjou, in conflict with whom at Benevento he fell, and who denied him Christian burial, though his n.o.bles pled with him to grant it (1231-1266).
MANFRED, COUNT, hero of a poem of Byron's; sold himself to the Prince of Darkness; lived in solitude on the Alps, estranged from all sympathy with others, and was carried off in the end by the master whom he had served.
MANHATTAN, a long island at the mouth of the Hudson, on which a great part of New York stands.
MANICHaeISM, the creed which ascribes the created universe to two antagonistic principles, the one essentially good--G.o.d, spirit, light; the other essentially evil--the devil, matter, darkness; and this name is applied to every system founded on the like dualism. Mani, the founder of it, appears to have borrowed his system in great part from Zoroaster.
MANILA (270), capital of the Philippine Islands; at the head of a great bay on the W. coast of Luzon; is hot, but not unhealthy; suffers severely from storms and earthquakes, and is largely built of wood. It has a cathedral, university, and observatory. Its only industry is cigar-making, but the exports include also manila hemp, sugar, and coffee. The population, chiefly Tagals, includes 25,000 Chinese, many Spaniards and Europeans. In the Spanish-American War of 1898 Admiral Dewey captured the city.
MANIN, DANIEL, an ill.u.s.trious Italian patriot, born at Venice, of Jewish birth; bred for the bar, and practised at it; became President of the Venetian Republic in 1848, and was one of the most distinguished opponents of the domination of Austria; died at Paris, a teacher of Italian (1804-1857).
MANITO'BA (193), a partially developed inland province of Canada, somewhat larger than England and Wales; is square in shape, with the United States on its S. border, a.s.siniboia on the W., Saskatchewan and Keewatin on the N., and Ontario on the E.; a level prairie and arable country, scantily wooded but well watered, having three large lakes, Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, and Manitoba, and three large rivers, a.s.siniboine, Souris, and Red River. The climate is dry and healthy, though subject to great extremes of temperature; comparatively little snow falls; the soil is very fertile; mixed farming, dairy, cattle, and sheep farming are carried on successfully. Land is cheap, and the government still makes free grants of 160-acre lots. There is no mineral wealth; coal is found in the S.; fis.h.i.+ng is pursued on the lakes and rivers. Const.i.tuted a province in 1870, Manitoba was the scene of the Riel rebellion, quelled that same year. The government is vested in a lieutenant-governor, an executive council, and a single chamber of 40 members. In the Dominion Government the province is represented by four members of Senate and five members of the Commons. The capital is Winnipeg (26), the seat of a university and of extensive flour-mills. The other chief towns are Brandon (4), a market town, and Portage-la-Prairie (4), with a brewery, flour, and paper mills.
MANITOU, among the North American Indians an animal revealed to the head of a tribe as the guardian spirit of it, and an object of sacred regard. See TOTEMISM.
MANLIUS, CAPITOLINUS, a Roman hero who, in 390 B.C., saved Rome from an attack of the Gauls, and who was afterwards for treason thrown down the Tarpeian Rock.
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