Mantegna was no less eminent as an engraver, though his history in that respect is somewhat obscure, partly because he never signed or dated any of his plates, unless in one single disputed instance, 1472. The account which has come down to us is that Mantegna began engraving in Rome, prompted by the engravings produced by Baccio Baldini of Florence after Sandro Botticelli; nor is there anything positive to invalidate this account, except the consideration that it would consign all the numerous and elaborate engravings made by Mantegna to the last sixteen or seventeen years of his life, which seems a scanty space for them, and besides the earlier engravings indicate an earlier period of his artistic style. It has been suggested that he began engraving while still in Padua, under the tuition of a distinguished goldsmith, Niccolò. He engraved about fifty plates, according to the usual reckoning; some thirty of them are mostly accounted indisputable—often large, full of figures, and highly studied. Some recent connoisseurs, however, ask us to restrict to seven the number of his genuine extant engravings—which appears unreasonable. Among the principal examples are “Roman Triumphs” (not the same compositions as the Hampton Court pictures), “A Bacchanal Festival,” “Hercules and Antaeus,” “Marine Gods,” “Judith with the Head of Holophernes,” the “Deposition from the Cross,” the “Entombment,” the “Resurrection,” the “Man of Sorrows,” the “Virgin in a Grotto.” Mantegna has sometimes been credited with the important invention of engraving with the burin on copper. This claim cannot be sustained on a comparison of dates, but at any rate he introduced the art into upper Italy. Several of his engravings are supposed to be executed on some metal less hard than copper. The technique of himself and his followers is characterized by the strongly marked forms of the design, and by the oblique formal hatchings of the shadows. The prints are frequently to be found in two states, or editions. In the first state the prints have been taken off with the roller, or even by hand-pressing, and they are weak in tint; in the second state the printing press has been used, and the ink is stronger.The influence of Mantegna on the style and tendency of his age was very marked, and extended not only to his own flourishing Mantuan school, but over Italian art generally. His vigorous perspectives and trenchant foreshortenings pioneered the way to other artists: in solid antique taste, and the power of reviving the aspect of a remote age with some approach to system and consistency, he distanced all contemporary competition. He did not, however, leave behind him many scholars of superior faculty. His two legitimate sons were painters of only ordinary ability. His favourite pupil was known as Carlo del Mantegna; Caroto of Verona was another pupil, Bonsignori an imitator. Giovanni Bellini, in his earlier works, obviously followed the lead of his brother-in-law Andrea.The works painted by Mantegna, apart from his frescoes, are not numerous; some thirty-five to forty are regarded as fully authenticated. We may name, besides those already specified—in the Naples Museum, “St Euphemia,” a fine early work; in Casa Melzi, Milan, the “Madonna and Child with Chanting Angels” (1461); in the Tribune of the Uffizi, Florence, three pictures remarkable for scrupulous finish; in the Berlin Museum, the “Dead Christ with two Angels”; in the Louvre, the two celebrated pictures of mythic allegory—“Parnassus” and “Minerva Triumphing over the Vices”; in the National Gallery, London, the “Agony in the Garden,” the “Virgin and Child Enthroned, with the Baptist and the Magdalen,” a late example; the monochrome of “Vestals,” brought from Hamilton Palace; the “Triumph of Scipio” (or Phrygian Mother of the Gods received by the Roman Commonwealth), a tempera in chiaroscuro, painted only a few months before the master’s death; in the Brera, Milan, the “Dead Christ, with the two Maries weeping,” a remarkabletour de forcein the way of foreshortening, which, though it has a stunted appearance, is in correct technical perspective as seen from all points of view. With all its exceptional merit, this is an eminently ugly picture. It remained in Mantegna’s studio unsold at his death, and was disposed of to liquidate debts.Not to speak of earlier periods, a great deal has been written concerning Mantegna of late years. See the works by Maud Crutwell (1901), Paul Kristeller (1901), H. Thode (1897), Paul Yriarte (1901), Julia Cartwright,Mantegna and Francia(1881).
Mantegna was no less eminent as an engraver, though his history in that respect is somewhat obscure, partly because he never signed or dated any of his plates, unless in one single disputed instance, 1472. The account which has come down to us is that Mantegna began engraving in Rome, prompted by the engravings produced by Baccio Baldini of Florence after Sandro Botticelli; nor is there anything positive to invalidate this account, except the consideration that it would consign all the numerous and elaborate engravings made by Mantegna to the last sixteen or seventeen years of his life, which seems a scanty space for them, and besides the earlier engravings indicate an earlier period of his artistic style. It has been suggested that he began engraving while still in Padua, under the tuition of a distinguished goldsmith, Niccolò. He engraved about fifty plates, according to the usual reckoning; some thirty of them are mostly accounted indisputable—often large, full of figures, and highly studied. Some recent connoisseurs, however, ask us to restrict to seven the number of his genuine extant engravings—which appears unreasonable. Among the principal examples are “Roman Triumphs” (not the same compositions as the Hampton Court pictures), “A Bacchanal Festival,” “Hercules and Antaeus,” “Marine Gods,” “Judith with the Head of Holophernes,” the “Deposition from the Cross,” the “Entombment,” the “Resurrection,” the “Man of Sorrows,” the “Virgin in a Grotto.” Mantegna has sometimes been credited with the important invention of engraving with the burin on copper. This claim cannot be sustained on a comparison of dates, but at any rate he introduced the art into upper Italy. Several of his engravings are supposed to be executed on some metal less hard than copper. The technique of himself and his followers is characterized by the strongly marked forms of the design, and by the oblique formal hatchings of the shadows. The prints are frequently to be found in two states, or editions. In the first state the prints have been taken off with the roller, or even by hand-pressing, and they are weak in tint; in the second state the printing press has been used, and the ink is stronger.
The influence of Mantegna on the style and tendency of his age was very marked, and extended not only to his own flourishing Mantuan school, but over Italian art generally. His vigorous perspectives and trenchant foreshortenings pioneered the way to other artists: in solid antique taste, and the power of reviving the aspect of a remote age with some approach to system and consistency, he distanced all contemporary competition. He did not, however, leave behind him many scholars of superior faculty. His two legitimate sons were painters of only ordinary ability. His favourite pupil was known as Carlo del Mantegna; Caroto of Verona was another pupil, Bonsignori an imitator. Giovanni Bellini, in his earlier works, obviously followed the lead of his brother-in-law Andrea.
The works painted by Mantegna, apart from his frescoes, are not numerous; some thirty-five to forty are regarded as fully authenticated. We may name, besides those already specified—in the Naples Museum, “St Euphemia,” a fine early work; in Casa Melzi, Milan, the “Madonna and Child with Chanting Angels” (1461); in the Tribune of the Uffizi, Florence, three pictures remarkable for scrupulous finish; in the Berlin Museum, the “Dead Christ with two Angels”; in the Louvre, the two celebrated pictures of mythic allegory—“Parnassus” and “Minerva Triumphing over the Vices”; in the National Gallery, London, the “Agony in the Garden,” the “Virgin and Child Enthroned, with the Baptist and the Magdalen,” a late example; the monochrome of “Vestals,” brought from Hamilton Palace; the “Triumph of Scipio” (or Phrygian Mother of the Gods received by the Roman Commonwealth), a tempera in chiaroscuro, painted only a few months before the master’s death; in the Brera, Milan, the “Dead Christ, with the two Maries weeping,” a remarkabletour de forcein the way of foreshortening, which, though it has a stunted appearance, is in correct technical perspective as seen from all points of view. With all its exceptional merit, this is an eminently ugly picture. It remained in Mantegna’s studio unsold at his death, and was disposed of to liquidate debts.
Not to speak of earlier periods, a great deal has been written concerning Mantegna of late years. See the works by Maud Crutwell (1901), Paul Kristeller (1901), H. Thode (1897), Paul Yriarte (1901), Julia Cartwright,Mantegna and Francia(1881).
(W. M. R.)
1His fellow-workers were Bono of Ferrara, Ansuino of Forlì, and Niccolò Pizzolo, to whom considerable sections of the fresco-paintings are to be assigned. The acts of St James and St Christopher are the leading subjects of the series. St James Exorcizing may have been commenced by Pizzolo, and completed by Mantegna. The Calling of St James to the Apostleship appears to be Mantegna’s design, partially carried out by Pizzolo; the subjects of St James baptizing, his appearing before the judge, and going to execution, and most of the legend of St Christopher, are entirely by Mantegna.
1His fellow-workers were Bono of Ferrara, Ansuino of Forlì, and Niccolò Pizzolo, to whom considerable sections of the fresco-paintings are to be assigned. The acts of St James and St Christopher are the leading subjects of the series. St James Exorcizing may have been commenced by Pizzolo, and completed by Mantegna. The Calling of St James to the Apostleship appears to be Mantegna’s design, partially carried out by Pizzolo; the subjects of St James baptizing, his appearing before the judge, and going to execution, and most of the legend of St Christopher, are entirely by Mantegna.
MANTELL, GIDEON ALGERNON(1790-1852), English geologist and palaeontologist, was born in 1790 at Lewes, Sussex. Educated for the medical profession, he first practised in his native town, afterwards in 1835 in Brighton, and finallyat Clapham, near London. He found time to prosecute researches on the palaeontology of the Secondary rocks, particularly in Sussex—a region which he made classical in the history of discovery. While he was still a country doctor at Lewes his eminence as a geological investigator was fully recognized on the publication of his work onThe Fossils of the South Downs(1822). His most remarkable discoveries were made in the Wealden formations. He demonstrated the fresh-water origin of the strata, and from them he brought to light and described the remarkable Dinosaurian reptiles known asIguanodon,Hylaeosaurus,PelorosaurusandRegnosaurus. For these researches he was awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological Society and a Royal medal by the Royal Society. He was elected F.R.S. in 1825. Among his other contributions to the literature of palaeontology was his description of the Triassic reptileTelerpelon elginense. Towards the end of his life Dr Mantell retired to London, where he died on the 10th of November 1852. His eldest son,Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell(1820-1895), settled in New Zealand, and there attained high public positions, eventually being secretary for Crown-lands. He obtained remains of theNotornis, a recently extinct bird, and also brought forward evidence to show that the moas were contemporaries of man.
In addition to the works above mentioned Dr Mantell was author ofIllustrations of the Geology of Sussex(4to, 1827);Geology of the South-east of England(1833);The Wonders of Geology, 2 vols. (1838; ed. 7, 1857);Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight, and along the Adjacent Coast of Dorsetshire(1847; ed. 3, 1854);Petrifactions and their Teachings(1851);The Medals of Creation(2 vols., 1854).
In addition to the works above mentioned Dr Mantell was author ofIllustrations of the Geology of Sussex(4to, 1827);Geology of the South-east of England(1833);The Wonders of Geology, 2 vols. (1838; ed. 7, 1857);Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight, and along the Adjacent Coast of Dorsetshire(1847; ed. 3, 1854);Petrifactions and their Teachings(1851);The Medals of Creation(2 vols., 1854).
MANTES-SUR-SEINE,a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Seine-et-Oise on the left bank of the Seine, 34 m. W.N.W. of Paris by rail. Pop. (1906), 8113. The chief building in Mantes is the celebrated church of Notre-Dame which dates in the main from the end of the 12th century. A previous edifice was burnt down by William the Conqueror together with the rest of the town, at the capture of which he lost his life in 1087; he is said to have bequeathed a large sum for the rebuilding of the church. The plan, which bears a marked resemblance to that of Notre-Dame at Paris, includes a nave, aisles and choir, but no transepts. Three portals open into the church on the west, the two northernmost, which date from the 12th century, being decorated with fine carving; that to the south is of the 14th century and still more ornate. A fine rose-window and an open gallery, above which rise the summits of the western towers, occupy the upper part of the façade. In the interior, chapels dating from the 13th and 14th centuries are of interest. The tower of St Maclou (14th century), relic of an old church and the hôtel de ville (15th to 17th centuries), are among the older buildings of the town, and there is a fountain of the Renaissance period. Modern bridges and a medieval bridge unite Mantes with the opposite bank of the Seine on which the town of Limay is built. The town has a sub-prefecture and a tribunal of first instance. Mantes was occupied by the English from 1346 to 1364, and from 1416 to 1449.
MANTEUFFEL, EDWIN,Freiherr von(1809-1885), Prussian general field marshal, son of the president of the superior court of Magdeburg, was born at Dresden on the 24th of February 1809. He was brought up with his cousin, Otto von Manteuffel (1805-1882), the Prussian statesman, entered the guard cavalry at Berlin in 1827, and became an officer in 1828. After attending the War Academy for two years, and serving successively as aide-de-camp to General von Müffling and to Prince Albert of Prussia, he was promoted captain in 1843 and major in 1848, when he became aide-de-camp to Frederick William IV., whose confidence he had gained during the revolutionary movement in Berlin. Promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1852, and colonel to command the 5th Uhlans in 1853, he was sent on important diplomatic missions to Vienna and St Petersburg. In 1857 he became major-general and chief of the military cabinet. He gave hearty support to the prince regent’s plans for the reorganization of the army. In 1861 he was violently attacked in a pamphlet by Karl Twesten (1820-1870), a Liberal leader, whom he wounded in a duel. He served as lieutenant-general (to which rank he was promoted on the coronation of William I., Oct. 18, 1861) in the Danish war of 1864, and at its conclusion was appointed civil and military governor of Schleswig. In the Austrian War of 1866 he first occupied Holstein and afterwards commanded a division under Vogel von Falkenstein in the Hanoverian campaign, and succeeded him, in July, in command of the Army of the Main (seeSeven Weeks’ War). His successful operations ended with the occupation of Würzburg, and he received the orderpour le mérite. He was, however, on account of his monarchist political views and almost bigoted Roman Catholicism, regarded by the parliament as a reactionary, and, unlike the other army commanders, he was not granted a money reward for his services. He then went on a diplomatic mission to St Petersburg, where he waspersona grata, and succeeded in gaining Russia’s assent to the new position in north Germany. On returning he was gazetted to the colonelcy of the 5th Dragoons. He was appointed to the command of the IX. (Schleswig-Holstein) army corps in 1866. But having formerly exercised both civil and military control in the Elbe duchies he was unwilling to be a purely military commander under one of his late civil subordinates, and retired from the army for a year. In 1868, however, he returned to active service. In the Franco-German War of 1870-71 he commanded the I. corps under Steinmetz, distinguishing himself in the battle of Colombey-Neuilly, and in the repulse of Bazaine at Noisseville (seeFranco-German War; andMetz). He succeeded Steinmetz in October in the command of the I. army, won the battle of Amiens against General Farre, and occupied Rouen, but was less fortunate against Faidherbe at Pont Noyelles and Bapaume. In January 1871 he commanded the newly formed Army of the South, which he led, in spite of hard frost, through the Côte d’Or and over the plateau of Langres, cut off Bourbaki’s army of the east (80,000 men), and, after the action of Pontarlier, compelled it to cross the Swiss frontier, where it was disarmed. His immediate reward was the Grand Cross of the order of the Iron Cross, and at the conclusion of peace he received the Black Eagle. When the Southern Army was disbanded Manteuffel commanded first the II. army, and, from June 1871 until 1873, the army of occupation left in France, showing great tact in a difficult position. On leaving France at the close of the occupation, the emperor promoted Manteuffel to the rank of general field marshal and awarded him a large grant in money, and about the same time Alexander II. of Russia gave him the order of St Andrew. After this he was employed on several diplomatic missions, was for a time governor of Berlin, and in 1879, perhaps, as was commonly reported, because he was considered by Bismarck as a formidable rival, he was appointed governor-general of Alsace-Lorraine; and this office he exercised—more in the spirit, some said, of a Prussian than of a German official—until his death at Carlsbad, Bohemia, on the 17th of June 1885.
See lives by v. Collas (Berlin, 1874), and K. H. Keck (Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1890).
See lives by v. Collas (Berlin, 1874), and K. H. Keck (Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1890).
MANTINEIA,orMantinea, an ancient city of Arcadia, Greece, situated in the long narrow plain running north and south, which is now called after the chief town Tripolitsa. Tegea was in the same valley, about 10 m. S. of Mantineia, and the two cities continually disputed the supremacy of the district. In every great war we find them ranged on opposite sides, except when superior force constrained both. The worship and mysteries of Cora at Mantineia were famous. The valley in which the city lies has no opening to the coast, and the water finds its way, often only with much care and artificial aid, through underground passages (katavothra) to the sea. It is bounded on the west by Mount Maenalus, on the east by Mount Artemision.
Mantineia is mentioned in the Homeric catalogue of ships, but in early Greek times existed only as a cluster of villages inhabited by a purely agricultural community. In the 6th century it was still insignificant as compared with the neighbouring city of Tegea, and submitted more readily to Spartanoverlordship. The political history of Mantineia begins soon after the Persian wars, when its five constituent villages, at the suggestion of Argos, were merged into one city, whose military strength forthwith secured it a leading position in the Peloponnesus. Its policy was henceforth guided by three main considerations. Its democratic constitution, which seems to have been entirely congenial to the population of small freeholders, and its ambition to gain control over the Alpheus watershed and both the Arcadian high roads to the isthmus, frequently estranged Mantineia from Sparta and threw it into the arms of Argos. But the chronic frontier disputes with Tegea, which turned the two cities into bitter enemies, contributed most of all to determine their several policies. About 469B.C.Mantineia alone of Arcadian townships refused to join the league of Tegea and Argos against Sparta. Though formally enrolled on the same side during the Peloponnesian War the two cities used the truce of 423 to wage a fierce but indecisive war with each other. In the time following the peace of Nicias the Mantineians, whose attempts at expansion beyond Mount Maenalus were being foiled by Sparta, formed a powerful alliance with Argos, Elis and Athens (420), which the Spartans, assisted by Tegea, broke up after a pitched battle in the city’s territory (418). In the subsequent years Mantineia still found opportunity to give the Athenians covert help, and during the Corinthian War (394-387) scarcely disguised its sympathy with the anti-Spartan league. In 385 the Spartans seized a pretext to besiege and dismantle Mantineia and to scatter its inhabitants among four villages. The city was reconstituted after the battle of Leuctra and under its statesman Lycomedes played a prominent part in organizing the Arcadian League (370). But the long-standing jealousy against Tegea, and a recent one against the new foundation of Megalopolis, created dissensions which resulted in Mantineia passing over to the Spartan side. In the following campaign of 362 Mantineia, after narrowly escaping capture by the Theban general Epaminondas, became the scene of a decisive conflict in which the latter achieved a notable victory but lost his own life. After the withdrawal of the Thebans from Arcadia Mantineia failed to recover its pre-eminence from Megalopolis, with which city it had frequent disputes. In contrast with the Macedonian sympathies of Megalopolis Mantineia joined the leagues against Antipater (322) and Antigonus Gonatas (266). A change of constitution, imposed perhaps by the Macedonians, was nullified (about 250) by a revolution through which democracy was restored. About 235B.C.Mantineia entered the Achaean League, from which it had obtained protection against Spartan encroachments, but soon passed in turn to the Aetolians and to Cleomenes III. of Sparta. A renewed defection, inspired apparently by aversion to the aristocratic government of the Achaeans and jealousy of Megalopolis, was punished in 222 by a thorough devastation of the city, which was now reconstituted as a dependency of Argos and renamed Antigoneia in honour of the Achaeans’ ally Antigonus Doson. Mantineia regained its autonomous position in the Achaean League in 192, and its original name during a visit of the emperor Hadrian inA.D.133. Under the later Roman Empire the city dwindled into a mere village, which since the 6th century bore the Slavonic name of Goritza. It finally became a prey to the malaria which arose when the plain fell out of cultivation, and under Turkish rule disappeared altogether.
(M. O. B. C.)
The site was excavated by M. Fougères, of the French School at Athens, in 1888. The plan of the agora and adjacent buildings has been recovered, and the walls have been completely investigated. The town was situated in an unusual position for a Greek city, on a flat marshy plain, and its walls form a regular ellipse about 2½ m. in circumference. When the town was first formed in 470B.C.by the “synoecism” of the neighbouring villages, the river Ophis flowed through the midst of it, and the Spartan king Agesipolis dammed it up below the town and so flooded out the Mantineians and sapped their walls, which were of unbaked brick. Accordingly, when the city was rebuilt in 370B.C., the river Ophis was divided intotwo branches, which between them encircled the walls; and the walls themselves were constructed to a height of about 3 to 6 feet of stone, the rest being of unbaked brick. These are the walls of which the remains are still extant. There are towers about every 80 ft.; and the gates are so arranged that the passage inwards usually runs from right to left, and so an attacking force would have to expose its right or shieldless side. Within the walls the most conspicuous landmark is the theatre, which, unlike the majority of Greek theatres, consists entirely of an artificial mound standing up from the level plain. Only about a quarter of its original height remains. Itsscenais of rather irregular shape, and borders one of the narrow ends of the agora. Close to it are the foundations of several temples, one of them sacred to the hero Podaros. The agora is of unsymmetrical form; its sides are bordered by porticoes, interrupted by streets, like the primitive agora of Elis as described by Pausanias, and unlike the regular agoras of Ionic type. Most of these porticoes were of Roman period—the finest of them were erected, as we learn from inscriptions, by a lady named Epigone: one, which faced south, had a double colonnade, and was called theΒαίτη: close to it was a large exedra. The foundations of a square market-hall of earlier date were found beneath this. On the opposite side of the agora was an extensive Bouleuterion or senate-house. Traces remain of paved roads both within the agora and leading out of it; but the whole site is now a deserted and feverish swamp. The site is interesting for comparison with Megalopolis; the nature of its plan seems to imply that its main features must survive from the earlier “synoecism” a century before the time of Epaminondas.
See Strabo viii. 337; Pausanias viii. 8; Thucyd. iv. 134, v.; Xenophon,Hellenica, iv.-vii.; Diodorus xv. 85-87; Polybius ii. 57 sqq., vi. 43; D. Worenka,Mantineia(1905); B. V. Head,Historia numorum(Oxford, 1887), pp. 376-377; G. Fougères inBulletin de correspondance hellénique(1890), id.Mantinée et l’Arcadie orientale(Paris, 1898). Consult alsoTegea;Arcadia.Five battles are recorded to have been fought near Mantineia; 418, 362 (see above), 295 (Demetrius Poliorcetes defeats Archidamus of Sparta), 242 (Aratus beats Agis of Sparta), 207 (Philopoemen beats Machanidas of Sparta). The battles of 362 and 207 are discussed at length by J. Kromayer,Antike Schtachtfelder in Griechenland(Berlin, 1903), 27-123, 281-314;Wiener Studien(1905), pp. 1-16.
See Strabo viii. 337; Pausanias viii. 8; Thucyd. iv. 134, v.; Xenophon,Hellenica, iv.-vii.; Diodorus xv. 85-87; Polybius ii. 57 sqq., vi. 43; D. Worenka,Mantineia(1905); B. V. Head,Historia numorum(Oxford, 1887), pp. 376-377; G. Fougères inBulletin de correspondance hellénique(1890), id.Mantinée et l’Arcadie orientale(Paris, 1898). Consult alsoTegea;Arcadia.
Five battles are recorded to have been fought near Mantineia; 418, 362 (see above), 295 (Demetrius Poliorcetes defeats Archidamus of Sparta), 242 (Aratus beats Agis of Sparta), 207 (Philopoemen beats Machanidas of Sparta). The battles of 362 and 207 are discussed at length by J. Kromayer,Antike Schtachtfelder in Griechenland(Berlin, 1903), 27-123, 281-314;Wiener Studien(1905), pp. 1-16.
(E. Gr.)
MANTIS, an insect belonging to the orderOrthoptera. Probably no other insect has been the subject of so many and widespread legends and superstitions as the common “praying mantis,”Mantis religiosa, L. The ancient Greeks endowed it with supernatural powers (μάντις, a diviner); the Turks and Arabs hold that it prays constantly with its face turned towards Mecca; the Provençals call itPrega-Diou(Prie-Dieu); and numerous more or less similar names—preacher, saint, nun, mendicant, soothsayer, &c.—are widely diffused throughout southern Europe. In Nubia it is held in great esteem, and the Hottentots, if not indeed worshipping the local species (M. fausta), as one traveller has alleged, at least appear to regard its alighting upon any person both as a token of saintliness and an omen of good fortune.
Yet these are “not the saints but the tigers of the insect world.” The front pair of limbs are very peculiarly modified—the coxa being greatly elongated, while the strong third joint or femur bears on its curved underside a channel armed on each edge by strong movable spines. Into this groove the stout tibia is capable of closing like the blade of a pen-knife, its sharp, serrated edge being adapted to cut and hold. Thus armed, with head raised upon the much-elongated and semi-erect prothorax, and with the half-opened fore-limbs held outwards in the characteristic devotional attitude, it rests motionless upon the four posterior limbs waiting for prey, or occasionally stalks it with slow and silent movements, finally seizing it with its knife-blades and devouring it. Although apparently not daring to attack ants, these insects destroy great numbers of flies, grasshoppers and caterpillars, and the larger South-American species even attack small frogs, lizards and birds. They are very pugnacious, fencing with their sword-like limbs “like hussars with sabres,” the larger frequently devouring the smaller, and the females the males. The Chinese keep them in bamboo cages, and match them like fighting-cocks.
The common species fixes its somewhat nut-like egg capsules on the stems of plants in September. The young are hatched in early summer, and resemble the adults, but are without wings.
The green coloration and shape of the typical mantis are procryptic, serving to conceal the insect alike from its enemies and prey. The passage from leaf to flower simulation is but a step which, without interfering with the protective value of the coloration so far as insectivorous foes are concerned, carries with it the additional advantage of attracting flower-feeding insects within reach of the raptorial limbs. This method of allurement has been perfected in certain tropical species ofMantidaeby the development on the prothorax and raptorial limbs of laminate expansions so coloured on the under side as to resemble papilionaceous or other blossoms, to which the likeness is enhanced by a gentle swaying kept up by the insect in imitation of the effect of a lightly blowing breeze. As instances of this may be citedIdalum diabolicum, an African insect, andGongylus gongyloides, which comes from India. Examples of another species (Empusa eugena) when standing upon the ground deceptively imitate in shape and hue a greenish white anemone tinted at the edges with rose; and Bates records what appears to be a true case of aggressive mimicry practised by a Brazilian species which exactly resembles the white ants it preys upon.
MANTIS-FLY,the name given to neuropterous insects of the familyMantispidae, related to the ant-lions, lace-wing flies, &c., and named from their superficial resemblance to aMantisowing to the length of the prothorax and the shape and prehensorial nature of the anterior legs. The larva, at first campodeiform, makes its way into the egg-case of a spider or the nest of a wasp to feed upon the eggs or young. Subsequently it changes into a fat grub with short legs. When full grown it spins a silken cocoon in which the transformation into the pupa is effected. The latter escapes from its double case before moulting into the mature insect.
MANTLE,a long flowing cloak without sleeves, worn by either sex. Particularly applied to the long robe worn over the armour by the men-at-arms of the middle ages, the name is still given to the robes of state of kings, peers, and the members of an order of knights. Thus the “electoral mantle” was a robe of office worn by the imperial electors, and the Teutonic knights were known as theorde alborum mantellorumfrom their white mantles. As an article of women’s dress a mantle now means a loose cloak or cape, of any length, and made of silk, velvet, or other rich material. The word is derived from the Latinmantellumormantelum, a cloak, and is probably the same as, or another form of,manteliumormantele, a table-napkin or table-cloth, frommanus, hand, andtela, a cloth. A late Latinmantum, from which several Romance languages have taken words (cf. Ital.manto, and Fr.mante), must, as theNew English Dictionarypoints out, be a “back-formation,” and this will explain the diminutive form of the Spanishmantilla. From the old Frenchmantelcame the Englishcompounds “mantel-piece,” “mantel-shelf,” for the stone or wood beam which serves as a support for the structure above a fire-place, together with the whole framework, whether of wood, stone, &c., that acts as an ornament of the same (seeChimneypiece). The modern French formmanteauis used in English chiefly as a dressmaker’s term for a woman’s mantle. “Mantua,” much used in the 18th century for a similar garment, is probably a corruption ofmanteau, due to silk or other materials coming from the Italian town of that name, and known by the trade name of “mantuas.” The Spanishmantillais a covering for the head and shoulders of white or black lace or other material, the characteristic head-dress of women in southern and central Spain. It is occasionally seen in the other parts of Spain and Spanish countries, and also in Portugal.
“Mantle” is used in many transferred senses, all with the meaning of “covering,” as in zoology, for an enclosing sac or integument; thus it is applied to the “tunic” or layer of connective-tissue forming the body-wall of ascidians enclosing muscle-fibres, blood-sinuses and nerves (seeTunicata). The term is also used for a meshed cap of refractory oxides employed in systems of incandescent lighting (seeLighting). The verb is used for the creaming or frothing of liquids and of the suffusing of the skin with blood. In heraldry “mantling,” also known as “panache,” “lambrequin” or “contoise,” is an ornamental appendage to an escutcheon, of flowing drapery, forming a background (seeHeraldry).
MANTON, THOMAS(1620-1677), English Nonconformist divine, was born at Laurence Lydiard, Somerset, in 1620, and was educated at Hart Hall, Oxford. Joseph Hall, bishop of Norwich, ordained him deacon: he never took priest’s orders, holding that “he was properly ordained to the ministerial office.” He was one of the clerks at the Westminster Assembly, one of Cromwell’s chaplains and a “trier,” and held livings at Stoke Newington (1645) and St Paul’s, Covent Garden (1656). He disapproved of the execution of Charles I. In 1658 he assisted Baxter to draw up the “Fundamentals of Religion.” He helped to restore Charles II. and became one of his chaplains, refusing the deanery of Rochester. In 1662 he lost his living under the Act of Uniformity and preached in his own rooms and in other parts of London. For this he was arrested in 1670.
His works are best known in the collected edition by J. C. Ryle (22 vols. 1870-1875).
His works are best known in the collected edition by J. C. Ryle (22 vols. 1870-1875).
MAN-TRAPS,mechanical devices for catching poachers and trespassers. They have taken many forms, the most usual being like a large rat-trap, the steel springs being armed with teeth which met in the victim’s leg. Since 1827 they have been illegal in England, except in houses between sunset and sunrise as a defence against burglars.
MANTUA(Ital.Mantova), a fortified city of Lombardy, Italy, the capital of the province of Mantua, the see of a bishop, and the centre of a military district, 25 m. S.S.W. of Verona and 100 m. E.S.E. of Milan by rail. Pop. (1906), 31,783. It is situated 88 ft. above the level of the Adriatic on an almost insular site in the midst of the swampy lagoons of the Mincio. As the belt of marshy ground along the south side can be laid under water at pleasure, the site of the city proper, exclusive of the considerable suburbs of Borgo di Fortezza to the north and Borgo di San Giorgio to the east, may still be said to consist, as it formerly did more distinctly, of two islands separated by a narrow channel and united by a number of bridges. On the west side lies Lago Superiore, on the east side Lago Inferiore—the boundary between the two being marked by theArgine del Mulino, a long mole stretching northward from the north-west angle of the city to the citadel.
On the highest ground in the city rises the cathedral, the interior of which was built after his death according to the plans of Giulio Romano; it has double aisles, a fine fretted ceiling, a dome-covered transept, a bad baroque façade, and a large unfinished Romanesque tower. Much more important architecturally is the church of St Andrea, built towards the close of the 15th century, after plans by Leon Battista Alberti, and consisting of a single, barrel-vaulted nave 350 ft. long by 62 ft. wide. It has a noble façade with a deeply recessed portico, and a brick campanile of 1414. The interior is decorated with 18th-century frescoes, to which period the dome also belongs. Mantegna is buried in one of the side chapels. S. Sebastiano is another work of Alberti’s. The old ducal palace—one of the largest buildings of its kind in Europe—was begun in 1302 for Guido Bonaccolsi, and probably completed in 1328 for Ludovico Gonzaga; but many of the accessory apartments are of much later date, and the internal decorations are for the most part the work of Giulio Romano and his pupils. There are also some fine rooms of the early 19th century. Close by are the Piazza dell’ Erbe and the Piazza Sordello, with Gothic palaces. The Castello di Corte here, the old castle of the Gonzagas (1395-1406), erected by Bartolino da Novara, the architect of the castle of Ferrara, now contains the archives, and has some fine frescoes by Mantegna with scenes from the life of Ludovico Gonzaga. Outside of the city, to the south of Porta Pusterla, stands the Palazzo del Te, Giulio’s architectural masterpiece, erected for Frederick Gonzaga in 1523-1535; of the numerous fresco-covered chambers which it contains, perhaps the most celebrated is the Sala dei Giganti, where, by a combination of mechanical with artistic devices, the rout of the Titans still contending with artillery of uptorn rocks against the pursuit and thunderbolts of Jove appears to rush downwards on the spectator. The architecture of Giulio’s own house in the town is also good.
Mantua has an academy of arts and sciences (Accademia Vergiliana), occupying a fine building erected by Piermarini, a public library founded in 1780 by Maria Theresa, a museum of antiquities dating from 1779, many of which have been brought from Sabbioneta, a small residence town of the Gonzagas in the late 16th century, a mineralogical museum, a good botanical garden, and an observatory. There are ironworks, tanneries, breweries, oil-mills and flour-mills in the town, which also has printing, furriery, doll-making and playing-card industries. As a fortress Mantua was long one of the most formidable in Europe, a force of thirty to forty thousand men finding accommodation within its walls; but it had two serious defects—the marshy climate told heavily on the health of the garrison, and effective sorties were almost impossible. It lies on the main line of railway between Verona and Modena; and is also connected by rail with Cremona and with Monselice, on the line from Padua to Bologna, and by steam tramway with Brescia and other places.
S. Maria delle Grazie, standing some 5 m. outside the town, was consecrated in 1399 as an act of thanksgiving for the cessation of the plague, and has a curious collection ofex votopictures (wax figures), and also the tombs of the Gonzaga family.
Mantua had still a strong Etruscan element in its population during the Roman period. It became a Roman municipium, with the rest of Gallia Transpadana; but Martial calls it little Mantua, and had it not been for Virgil’s interest in his native place, and in the expulsion of a number of the Mantuans (and among them the poet himself) from their lands in favour of Octavian’s soldiers, we should probably have heard almost nothing of its existence. In 568 the Lombards found Mantua a walled town of some strength; recovered from their grasp in 590 by the exarch of Ravenna, it was again captured by Agilulf in 601. The 9th century was the period of episcopal supremacy, and in the 11th the city formed part of the vast possessions of Bonifacio, marquis of Canossa. From him it passed to Geoffrey, duke of Lorraine, and afterwards to the countess Matilda, whose support of the pope led to the conquest of Mantua by the emperor Henry IV. in 1090. Reduced to obedience by Matilda in 1113, the city obtained its liberty on her death, and instituted a communal government of its own,salva imperiali justitia. It afterwards joined the Lombard League; and the unsuccessful attack made by Frederick II. in 1236 brought it a confirmation of its privileges. But after a period of internal discord Ludovico Gonzaga attained to power (1328), and was recognized as imperial vicar (1329);and from that time till the death of Ferdinando Carbo in 1708 the Gonzagas were masters of Mantua (seeGonzaga). Under Gian Francesco II., the first marquis, Ludovico III., Gian Francesco III. (whose wife was Isabella d’Este), and Federico II., the first duke of Mantua, the city rose rapidly into importance as a seat of industry and culture. It was stormed and sacked by the Austrians in 1630, and never quite recovered. Claimed in 1708 as a fief of the empire by Joseph I., it was governed for the greater part of the century by the Austrians. In June 1796 it was besieged by Napoleon; but in spite of terrific bombardments it held out till February 1797. A three days’ bombardment in 1799 again placed Mantua in the hands of the Austrians; and, though restored to the French by the peace of Lunéville (1801), it became Austrian once more from 1814 till 1866. Between 1849 and 1859, when the whole of Lombardy except Mantua was, by the peace of Villafranca, ceded to Italy, the city was the scene of violent political persecution.
See Gaet. Susani,Nuovo prospetto delle pitture, &c., di Mantova(Mantua, 1830); Carlo d’Arco,Delle arti e degli artefici di Mantova(Mantua, 1857); andStoria di Mantova(Mantua, 1874).
See Gaet. Susani,Nuovo prospetto delle pitture, &c., di Mantova(Mantua, 1830); Carlo d’Arco,Delle arti e degli artefici di Mantova(Mantua, 1857); andStoria di Mantova(Mantua, 1874).
MANU(Sanskrit, “man”), in Hindu mythology, the first man, ancestor of the world. In the Satapatha-Brahmana he is represented as a holy man, the chief figure in a flood-myth. Warned by a fish of the impending disaster he built a ship, and when the waters rose was dragged by the fish, which he harnessed to his craft, beyond the northern mountains. When the deluge ceased, a daughter was miraculously born to him and this pair became the ancestors of the human race. In the later scriptures the fish is declared an incarnation of Brahma. SeeSanskrit Literature;Indian Law(Hindu).
MANUAL,i.e.belonging to the hand (Lat.manus), a word chiefly used to describe an occupation which employs the hands, as opposed to that which chiefly or entirely employs the mind. Particular uses of the word are: “sign-manual,” a signature or autograph, especially one affixed to a state document; “manual-exercise,” in military usage, drill in the handling of the rifle; “manual alphabet,” the formation of the letters of the alphabet by the fingers of one or both hands for communication with the deaf and dumb; and “manual acts,” the breaking of the bread, and the taking of the cup in the hands by the officiating priest in consecrating the elements during the celebration of the Eucharist. The use of the word for tools and implements to be used by the hand, as distinct from machinery, only survives in the “manual fire-engine.” From the late Latin use ofmanualeas a substantive, meaning “handbook,” comes the use of the word for a book treating a subject in a concise way, but more particularly of a book of offices, containing the forms to be used in the administration of the sacraments other than the Mass, but including communion out of the Mass, also the forms for churching, burials, &c. In the Roman Church such a book is usually called arituale, “manual” being the name given to it in the English Church before the Reformation. The keyboard of an organ, as played by the hands, is called the “manual,” in distinction from the “pedal” keys played by the feet.
MANUCODE,from the French, an abbreviation ofManucodiata, and the Latinized form of the MalayManukdewata, meaning, says Crawfurd (Malay and Engl. Dictionary, p. 97), the “bird of the gods,” and a name applied for more than two hundred years apparently to birds-of-paradise in general. In the original sense of its inventor, Montbeillard (Hist. nat. oiseaux, iii. 163),Manucodewas restricted to the king bird-of-paradise and three allied species; but in English it has curiously been transferred1to a small group of species whose relationship to theParadiseidaehas been frequently doubted, and must be considered uncertain. These manucodes have a glossy steel-blue plumage of much beauty, but are distinguished from other birds of similar coloration by the outer and middle toes being united for some distance, and by the extraordinary convolution of the trachea, in the males at least, with which is correlated the loud and clear voice of the birds. The convoluted portion of the trachea lies on the breast, between the skin and the muscles, much as is found in the females of the painted snipes (Rostratula), in the males of the curassows (Cracidae), and in a few other birds, but wholly unknown elsewhere among thePasseres. The manucodes are peculiar to the Papuan sub-region (including therein the peninsula of Cape York), and comprehend, according to R. B. Sharpe (Cat. B. Brit. Museum, iii. 164), two genera, for the first of which, distinguished by the elongated tufts on the head, he adopts R. P. Lesson’s namePhonygama, and for the second, having no tufts, but the feathers of the head crisped, that ofManucodia; and W. A. Forbes (Proc. Zool. Soc.1882, p. 349) observed that the validity of the separation was confirmed by their tracheal formation. OfPhonygamaSharpe recognizes three species,P. keraudreni(the type) andP. jamesi, both from New Guinea, andP. gouldi, the Australian representative species; but the first two are considered by D. G. Elliot (Ibis.1878, p. 56) and Count Salvadori (Ornitol. della Papuasia, ii. 510) to be inseparable. There is a greater unanimity in regard to the species of the so-called genusManucodiaproper, of which four are admitted—M. chalybeataorchalybeafrom north-western New Guinea,M. comrieifrom the south-eastern part of the same country,M. atraof wide distribution within the Papuan area, andM. jobiensispeculiar to the island which gives it a name. Little is known of the habits of these birds, except that they are, as already mentioned, remarkable for their vocal powers, which, inP. keraudreni, Lesson describes (Voy. de la Coquille, “Zoologie,” i. 638) as enabling them to pass through every note of the gamut.
(A. N.)
1Manucodiatawas used by M. J. Brisson (Ornithologie, ii. 130) as a generic term equivalent to the LinnaeanParadisea. In 1783 Boddaert, when assigning scientific names to the birds figured by Daubenton, called the subject of one of them (Pl. enlum.634)Manucodia chalybea, the first word being apparently an accidental curtailment of the name of Brisson’s genus to which he referred it. Nevertheless some writers have taken it as evidence of an intention to found a new genus by that name, and hence the importation ofManucodiainto scientific nomenclature, and the English form to correspond.
1Manucodiatawas used by M. J. Brisson (Ornithologie, ii. 130) as a generic term equivalent to the LinnaeanParadisea. In 1783 Boddaert, when assigning scientific names to the birds figured by Daubenton, called the subject of one of them (Pl. enlum.634)Manucodia chalybea, the first word being apparently an accidental curtailment of the name of Brisson’s genus to which he referred it. Nevertheless some writers have taken it as evidence of an intention to found a new genus by that name, and hence the importation ofManucodiainto scientific nomenclature, and the English form to correspond.
MANUEL I., COMNENUS(c.1120-1180), Byzantine emperor (1143-1180), the fourth son of John II., was born about 1120. Having distinguished himself in his father’s Turkish war, he was nominated emperor in preference to his elder surviving brother. Endowed with a fine physique and great personal courage, he devoted himself whole-heartedly to a military career. He endeavoured to restore by force of arms the predominance of the Byzantine empire in the Mediterranean countries, and so was involved in conflict with his neighbours on all sides. In 1144 he brought back Raymond of Antioch to his allegiance, and in the following year drove the Turks out of Isauria. In 1147 he granted a passage through his dominions to two armies of crusaders under Conrad III. of Germany and Louis VII. of France; but the numerous outbreaks of overt or secret hostility between the Franks and the Greeks on their line of march, for which both sides were to blame, nearly precipitated a conflict between Manuel and his guests. In the same year the emperor made war upon Roger of Sicily, whose fleet captured Corfu and plundered the Greek towns, but in 1148 was defeated with the help of the Venetians. In 1149 Manuel recovered Corfu and prepared to take the offensive against the Normans. With an army mainly composed of mercenary Italians he invaded Sicily and Apulia, and although the progress of both these expeditions was arrested by defeats on land and sea, Manuel maintained a foothold in southern Italy, which was secured to him by a peace in 1155, and continued to interfere in Italian politics. In his endeavour to weaken the control of Venice over the trade of his empire he made treaties with Pisa and Genoa; to check the aspirations of Frederic I. of Germany he supported the free Italian cities with his gold and negotiated with pope Alexander III. In spite of his friendliness towards the Roman church Manuel was refused the title of “Augustus” by Alexander, and he nowhere succeeded in attaching the Italians permanently to his interests. None the less in a war with the Venetians (1172-74), he not only held his ground in Italy butdrove his enemies out of the Aegean Sea. On his northern frontier Manuel reduced the rebellious Serbs to vassalage (1150-52) and made repeated attacks upon the Hungarians with a view to annexing their territory along the Save. In the wars of 1151-53 and 1163-68 he led his troops into Hungary but failed to maintain himself there; in 1168, however, a decisive victory near Semlin enabled him to conclude a peace by which Dalmatia and other frontier strips were ceded to him. In 1169 he sent a joint expedition with King Amalric of Jerusalem to Egypt, which retired after an ineffectual attempt to capture Damietta. In 1158-59 he fought with success against Raymond of Antioch and the Turks of Iconium, but in later wars against the latter he made no headway. In 1176 he was decisively beaten by them in the pass of Myriokephalon, where he allowed himself to be surprised in line of march. This disaster, though partly retrieved in the campaign of the following year, had a serious effect upon his vitality; henceforth he declined in health and in 1180 succumbed to a slow fever.
In spite of his military prowess Manuel achieved but in a slight degree his object of restoring the East Roman empire. His victories were counterbalanced by numerous defeats, sustained by his subordinates, and his lack of statesmanlike talent prevented his securing the loyalty of his subjects. The expense of keeping up his mercenary establishment and the sumptuous magnificence of his court put a severe strain upon the financial resources of the state. The subsequent rapid collapse of the Byzantine empire was largely due to his brilliant but unproductive reign. Manuel married, firstly, a sister-in-law of Conrad III. of Germany; and secondly, a daughter of Raymond of Antioch. His successor, Alexis II., was a son of the latter.