Chapter VI: Part 6

_Government._--The government of the island is vested in a lieutenant-governor, appointed by the Crown; in a Council, which is the upper branch of the legislature; in the House of Keys, which is the lower branch; and in the Tynwald Court. The Council and Keys sit separately as legislative bodies, but they sit in the Tynwald Court as distinct bodies with co-ordinate powers to transact executive business and to sign Bills. The Tynwald Court controls the surplus revenue, after the payment of the cost of government and of a fixed contribution of £10,000 to the imperial exchequer, subject to the supervision of the Treasury and the veto of the lieutenant-governor, and it appoints boards to manage the harbours, highways, education, local government, and lunatic and poor asylums. The Imperial government, after intimating its intention to Tynwald, fixes the rates of the customs duties, but Tynwald can by resolution "impose, abolish or vary" the customs duties subject to the approval of parliament or the Treasury, such change to take effect immediately and to continue for six months, and, if parliament be then sitting, to the end of the session, provided that the same be not in the meantime annulled by the passing of an act of parliament, or a Treasury minute. The approval of the sovereign of the United Kingdom in Council is essential to every legislative enactment. Acts of the imperial parliament do not affect the island except it be specially named in them. The lieutenant-governor, who is the representative of the sovereign, presides in the Council, in the Tynwald Court, in the High Court of Justice (Staff of Government division) and in the Court of General Gaol Delivery. He is the supreme executive authority, and he shares the control of the legislative and administrative functions, including the management of the revenue and the control of its surplus, with the Tynwald Court; he has also the power of veto as regards the disposal of surplus revenue and the nature of proposed harbour works, and his signature is necessary to the validity of all acts. It has been the practice for him to act as chancellor of the exchequer and to initiate all questions concerning the raising or expenditure of public funds. The Council consists of the lieutenant-governor, the lord-bishop of the diocese, the clerk of the rolls, the two deemsters, the attorney-general, the archdeacon (all of whom are appointed by the Crown) and the vicar-general, who is appointed by the bishop. No act of the governor and Council is valid unless it is the act of the governor and at least two members of the Council. The House of Keys (for origin of the name see KEY) is one of the most ancient legislative assemblies in the world. It consists of twenty-four members, elected by male and female owners or occupiers of property. Each of the six sheadings elects three members; the towns of Castletown, Peel and Ramsey one each, and Douglas five. There is no property qualification required of the members, and the house sits for five years unless previously dissolved by the lieutenant-governor.

_Law._--The High Court of Justice, of which the lieutenant-governor is
president, contains three divisions: viz. the Chancery Division, in
which the clerk of the rolls sits as judge, the Common Law Division,
of which the deemsters are the judges, the Staff of Government
Division, in which the governor and three judges sit together. The
jurisdiction of the Chancery and Common Law Division is in the main
similar to that of the corresponding divisions in the English Courts.
The Staff of Government exercises appellate jurisdiction, similar to
that of the Appeal Courts in England. The Common Law Courts for the
southern division of the island are held at Douglas and Castletown
alternately and those for the northern division at Ramsey, once in
three months. Actions in these courts are heard by a deemster and a
special or common jury. The Chancery Court sits once a fortnight at
Douglas. The deemsters also have summary jurisdiction in matters of
debt, actions for liquidated damages under £50, suits for possession
of real or personal property, petitions for probate, &c. These courts,
called Deemsters' Courts, are held weekly, alternately at Douglas and
Castletown, by the deemster for the southern division of the island,
and at Ramsey and Peel by the deemster for the northern division.
Criminal cases are heard by the magistrates or a high-bailiff and are
(with the exception of minor cases which may be dealt with summarily)
sent on by them for trial by a deemster and a jury of six, who hear
the evidence and determine whether there is sufficient ground for
sending the case for trial before the Court of General Gaol Delivery,
thus discharging the functions of the Grand Jury in England. The Court
of General Gaol Delivery is the Supreme Criminal Court and is presided
over by the lieutenant-governor, who is assisted by the clerk of the
rolls and the two deemsters. The high-bailiffs hold weekly courts in
the four towns for the recovery of debts under forty shillings and for
the trial of cases usually brought before a stipendiary magistrate in
England. The magistrates (J.P.'s) also hold regular courts in the
towns for the trial of breaches of the peace and minor offences. There
is a coroner in each of the six sheadings. These officers are
appointed annually by the lieutenant-governor and perform duties
similar to those of a sheriff's officer in England. Inquests of death
are held by a high-bailiff and jury. The Manx Bar is distinct from
that of England. Its members, called "Advocates," combine the
functions of barrister and solicitor. The laws relating to real
property still retain much of their ancient peculiarity, but other
branches of law have of late years by various acts of Tynwald been
made practically identical with English law.

As regards real property the general tenure is a customary freehold
devolving from each possessor to his next heir-at-law. The descent of
land follows the same rules as the descent of the crown of England.
The right of primogeniture extends to females in default of males in
the direct line. The interest of a widow or widower, being the first
wife or husband of a person deceased, is a life estate in one-half of
the lands which have descended hereditarily, and is forfeited by a
second marriage; a second husband or second wife is only entitled to a
life interest in one-fourth, if there be issue of the first marriage.
Of the land purchased by the husband the wife surviving him is
entitled to a life interest in one moiety. By a statute of the year
1777 proprietors of land are empowered to grant leases for any term
not exceeding twenty-one years in possession without the consent of
the wife.

_Church._--It is not known by whom Christianity was introduced into
Man, but from the large proportion of names of Irish ecclesiastics
surviving in the appellations of the old Manx _keeills_, or cells,
which are of similar type to the Irish oratories of the 6th and 7th
centuries, and in the dedications of the parish churches, which are
usually on ancient sites, it may be reasonably conjectured that
Manxmen were, for the most part, Christianized by Irish missionaries.
During the incursions of the pagan Vikings Christianity was almost
certainly extirpated and it was probably not reintroduced before the
beginning of the 11th century. The two most important events in the
history of the medieval Manx Church were the formation of the diocese
of _Sodor_ (q.v.) and the foundation of the abbey of Rushen, a branch
of the Cistercian abbey of Furness, in 1134. This latter event was
important because the Cistercians were exempted from all episcopal
visitation and control, by charter granted by the pope, and were,
therefore, only subject to his rule and that of the abbots of their
own order. From this time till the Reformation we find that there was
an almost continuous struggle between the laity and the spiritual
barons and monks, who had obtained great power and much property in
the island. In 1458 the diocese was placed under York. The dissolution
of the religious houses in Man was not brought about by the English
Act of 1539, which did not apply to the island, but by the arbitrary
action of Henry VIII. From such evidence as is available it would seem
that the Reformation was a very slow process. When Isaac Barrow (uncle
of his well-known namesake) became bishop in 1663 the condition of the
Church was deplorable, but under him and his able and saintly
successors, Thomas Wilson (1698-1755) and Mark Hildesley (1755-1773).
it attained to a very much higher level than the English Church during
the same period. After Hildesley's time it was again neglected, and
successful missions by John Wesley and others resulted in the
establishment and rapid increase of Nonconformity. It was not till the
second decade of the 19th century that the condition of the Church
began to improve again, and this improvement has steadily continued.
In 1878 a Sodor and Man theological school was established for the
training of candidates for holy orders. This school has been
affiliated to Durham University. In 1880 four rural deaneries were
established, and commissioners were constituted as trustees of
endowments for Church purposes. In 1895 a cathedral chapter, with four
canons, was constituted under the name of the "Dean and Chapter of
Man," the bishop being the dean of the cathedral church. A Church
Sustentation Fund was established by Bishop Straton in 1894, with a
view to supplementing the incomes of the clergy, which had been
greatly reduced on account of the low price of corn. There have been
several acts giving Nonconformists equal rights with Churchmen. Among
these are the Burials Acts of 1881 and 1895, which permit burials to
take place in churchyards without the rites of the Church of England,
and allow any burial service, provided it be Christian, in mortuary
chapels. At the present day Nonconformists, chiefly Wesleyan
Methodists, probably outnumber Churchmen, and there is a small number
of Roman Catholics and Presbyterians. The bishop, who has a seat, but
not a vote, in the House of Lords, is assisted by an archdeacon, a
vicar-general, a registrar and a sumner-general. The jurisdiction of
the only remaining ecclesiastical court, which is presided over by the
vicar-general, as representing the bishop, is mainly in connexion with
affiliation questions, the swearing-in of churchwardens and the
granting of faculties. The power of the Manx Convocation to make
canons, though not exercised since 1704, has never been abrogated, and
so far affords a token that the Manx Church is a separate national
Church governed by its own laws, which, however, must be approved by
the insular Legislature.

_Education._--It was not till 1872, when the insular Legislature
passed the Public Elementary Education Act, that the Manx State
undertook any direct responsibility for education. This act differed
from the English Act of 1870 in three important particulars: (1) it at
once constituted every town and parish a school district under a
school board; (2) the attendance of children was made compulsory; and
(3) every elementary school, those in connexion with the Church of
Rome excepted, was obliged to provide for non-sectarian instruction in
religious subjects, and for the reading of the Bible accompanied by
suitable explanation. Since the date of this act education has made
extraordinary strides. It became free in 1892, and a higher-grade
school was established in Douglas in 1894. The public elementary
schools, which are nearly all managed by School Boards, are subject to
the control of a local "Council of Education" appointed by the Tynwald
Court; but, as the Manx Act of 1872 requires that, in order to obtain
a government grant, the schools shall fulfil the conditions contained
in the minutes of the education department at Whitehall, they are
examined by English inspectors and compelled to attain the same
standard of efficiency as the English and Welsh schools. In 1907 an
act establishing a system of secondary education was passed by the
Legislature. The total number of public elementary schools in 1906 was
47, 42 being board and 5 denominational. Besides King William's
College, opened in 1833, which provided a similar education to that
obtainable at the English public schools, there are grammar schools in
Douglas, Ramsey and Castletown.

The Manx language (see CELT: _Language_) still lingers, the census of
1901 showing that there were about 4400 people who understood
something of it. There is now no one who does not speak English.

_Economics._--Municipal government was established in 1860, and in
1876 vaccination was made compulsory, as also was the registration of
births, marriages and deaths in 1878. It was not till 1884 that the
sanitation of the towns was seriously taken in hand; but ten years
more elapsed before the sanitary condition of the island was dealt
with by the passing of an act which constituted parish and village
districts, with commissioners elected by the people, who had, in
conjunction with a board elected by the Tynwald Court and an inspector
appointed by it, to attend to all questions relating to sanitation and
infectious diseases. As a result of these measures the death-rate has
been greatly reduced. In 1888 a permissive poor law was established;
it has been adopted by all the towns except Peel and by seven of the
seventeen country parishes. Before this date the poor had been
dependent on voluntary relief, which broke down owing to the growth of
a temporarily employed class occupied in administering to the wants of
the summer visitors. The total number of persons in receipt of poor
relief averages about 920, and that of lunatics about 212. The average
number of births during the five years 1902-1906 was 21.6, of
marriages 6.1, and of deaths 17.6 per thousand. The rateable annual
value of the parishes, towns and villages is about £400,000. The
revenue for the year ending the 31st of March 1907 was £86,365, and
the expenditure £75,728. The largest revenue raised was £91,193 in
1901, and the debt reached its maximum amount, £219,531, in 1894.

_History._--The history of the Isle of Man falls naturally into three periods. In the first of these the island was inhabited by a Celtic people. The next is marked by the Viking invasions and the establishment of Scandinavian rule. The third period is that of the English dominion. The secular history of the Isle of Man during the Celtic period is an absolute blank, there being no trustworthy record of any event whatever before the incursions of the Northmen, since the exploits attributed to Baetan MacCairill, king of Ulster, at the end of the 6th century, which were formally supposed to have been performed in the Isle of Man, really occurred in the country between the Firths of Clyde and Forth. And it is clear that, even if the supposed conquest of the Menavian islands--Man and Anglesey--by Edwin of Northumbria, in 616, did take place, it could not have led to any permanent results; for, when the English were driven from the coasts of Cumberland and Lancashire soon afterwards, they could not well have retained their hold on the island to the west of these coasts. It is, however, possible that in 684, when Ecfrid laid Ireland waste from Dublin to Drogheda, he temporarily occupied Man. During the period of Scandinavian domination there are two main epochs--one before the conquest of Man by Godred Crovan in 1079, and the other after it. The earlier epoch is characterized by warfare and unsettled rule, the later is comparatively peaceful. Between about A.D. 800 and 815 the Vikings came to Man chiefly for plunder; between about 850 and 990, when they settled in it, the island fell under the rule of the Scandinavian kings of Dublin; and between 990 and 1079, it was subject to the powerful earls of Orkney. The conqueror Godred Crovan was evidently a remarkable man, though little information about him is attainable. According to the _Chronicon Manniae_ he "subdued Dublin, and a great part of Leinster, and held the Scots in such subjection that no one who built a vessel dared to insert more than three bolts." The memory of such a ruler would be likely to survive in tradition, and it seems probable therefore that he is the person commemorated in Manx legend under the name of King Gorse or Orry. The islands which were under his rule were called the _Suðr-eyjar_ (Sudreys or the south isles), in contradistinction to the _norðr-eyjar_, or the north isles, i.e. the Orkneys and Shetlands, and they consisted of the Hebrides, and of all the smaller western islands of Scotland, with Man. At a later date his successors took the title of _Rex Manniae el Insularum_. Olaf, Godred's son, was a powerful monarch, who, according to the Chronicle, maintained "such close alliance with the kings of Ireland and Scotland that no one ventured to disturb the Isles during his time" (1113-1152). His son, Godred, who for a short period ruled over Dublin also, as a result of a quarrel with Somerled, the ruler of Argyll, in 1156, lost the smaller islands off the coast of Argyll. An independent sovereignty was thus interposed between the two divisions of his kingdom. Early in the 13th century, when Reginald of Man did homage to King John, we hear for the first time of English intervention in the affairs of Man. But it was into the hands of Scotland that the islands were ultimately to fall. During the whole of the Scandinavian period the isles were nominally under the suzerainty of the kings of Norway, but they only occasionally asserted it with any vigour. The first to do so was Harold Haarfager about 885, then came Magnus Barfod about 1100, both of whom conquered the isles. From the middle of the 12th century till 1217 the suzerainty, owing to the fact that Norway was a prey to civil dissensions, had been of a very shadowy character. But after that date it became a reality and Norway consequently came into collision with the growing power of Scotland. Finally, in 1261, Alexander III. of Scotland sent envoys to Norway to negotiate for the cession of the isles, but their efforts led to no result. He therefore initiated hostilities which terminated in the complete defeat of the Norwegian fleet at Largs in 1263. Magnus, king of Man and the Isles, who had fought on the Norwegian side, was compelled to surrender all the islands over which he had ruled, except Man, for which he did homage. Two years later Magnus died and in 1266 the king of Norway, in consideration of the sum of 4000 marks, ceded the islands, including Man, to Scotland. But Scotland's rule over Man was not firmly established till 1275, when the Manx were defeated in a decisive battle at Ronaldsway, near Castletown. In 1290 we find Edward I. of England in possession of Man, and it remained in English hands till 1313, when it was taken by Robert Bruce after besieging Castle Rushen for five weeks. Then, till 1346, when the battle of Neville's Cross decided the long struggle between England and Scotland in England's favour, there followed a confused period when Man was sometimes under English and sometimes under Scottish rule. About 1333 it had been granted by King Edward III. to William de Montacute, 1st earl of Salisbury, as his absolute possession, without reserving any service to be rendered to him. In 1392 his son sold the island "with the crowne" to Sir William Le Scroope. In 1399 Henry IV. caused Le Scroope, who had taken Richard's side, to be beheaded. The island then came into the possession of the crown and was granted to Henry de Percy, earl of Northumberland, but, he having been attainted, Henry IV., in 1406, made a grant of it, with the patronage of the bishopric, to Sir John Stanley, his heirs and assigns, on the service of rendering two falcons on paying homage and two falcons to all future kings of England on their coronation.

With the accession of the Stanleys to the throne there begins a better epoch in Manx history. Though the island's new rulers rarely visited its shores, they placed it under responsible governors, who, in the main, seem to have treated it with justice. Of the thirteen members of the family who ruled in Man, the second Sir John Stanley (1414-1432), James, the 7th earl (1627-1651), and the 10th earl of the same name (1702-1736) had the most important influence on it. The first curbed the power of the spiritual barons, introduced trial by jury, instead of trial by battle, and ordered the laws to be written. The second, known as the Great Stanley, and his wife, Charlotte de la Tremoille (or Tremouille), are probably the most striking figures in Manx history. In 1643 Charles I. ordered him to go to Man, where the people, who were no doubt influenced by what was taking place in England, threatened to revolt. But his arrival, with English soldiers, soon put a stop to anything of this kind. He conciliated the people by his affability, brought in Englishmen to teach various handicrafts and tried to help the farmers by improving the breed of Manx horses, and, at the same time, he restricted the exactions of the Church. But the Manx people never had less liberty than under his rule. They were heavily taxed; troops were quartered upon them; and they also had the more lasting grievance of being compelled to accept leases for three lives instead of holding their land by the "straw" tenure which they considered to be equivalent to a customary inheritance. Six months after the death of the king Stanley received a summons from General Ireton to surrender the island, which he haughtily declined. In August 1651 he went to England with some of his troops, among whom were 300 Manxmen, to join King Charles II., and he and they shared in the decisive defeat of the Royalists at Worcester. He was captured and confined in Chester Castle, and, after being tried by court martial, was executed at Wigan. Soon after his death the Manx Militia, under the command of William Christian, rose against the Countess and captured all the insular forts except Rushen and Peel. They were then joined by a parliamentary force under Colonel Duckenfield, to whom the Countess surrendered after a brief resistance. Fairfax had been appointed "Lord of Man and the Isles" in September, so that Man continued under a monarchical government and remained in the same relation to England as before. The restoration of Stanley government in 1660 therefore caused as little friction and alteration as its temporary cessation had. One of the first acts of the new lord, Charles (the 8th earl), was to order Christian to be tried. He was found guilty and executed. Of the other persons implicated in the rebellion only three were excepted from the general amnesty. But by order in Council they were pardoned, and the judges responsible for the sentence on Christian were punished. His next act was to dispute the permanency of the tenants' holdings, which they had not at first regarded as being affected by the acceptance of leases, a proceeding which led to an almost open rebellion against his authority and to the neglect of agriculture. In lieu of it the people devoted themselves to the fisheries and to contraband trade. The agrarian question was not settled till 1704, when James, Charles's brother and successor, largely through the influence of Bishop Wilson, entered into a compact with his tenants, which was embodied in an act, called the "Act of Settlement." Their compact secured the tenants in the possession of their estates in perpetuity on condition of a fixed rent, and a small fine on succession or alienation. From the great importance of this act to the Manx people it has been called their _Magna Carta_. As time went on, and the value of the estates increased, the rent payable to the lord became so small in proportion as to be almost nominal. James died in 1736 and the sovereignty of the isle passed to James Murray, 2nd duke of Atholl. In 1764 he was succeeded by his only surviving child Charlotte, Baroness Strange, and her husband, John Murray, who, in right of his wife, became Lord of Man. About 1720 the contraband trade greatly increased. In 1726 it was, for a time, somewhat checked by the interposition of parliament, but during the last ten years of the Atholl régime (1756-1765) it assumed such proportions that, in the interests of the imperial revenue, it became necessary to suppress it. With a view to so doing an Act of Parliament, called the "Revesting Act," was passed in 1765, under which the sovereign rights of the Atholls and the customs revenues of the island were purchased for the sum of £70,000, and an annuity of £2000 was granted to the duke and duchess. The Atholls still retained their manorial rights, the patronage of the See, and certain other perquisites, which were finally purchased for the excessive sum of £417,144 in 1828. Up to the time of the Revestment the Tynwald Court passed laws concerning the government of the island in all respects and had control over its finances, subject to the approval of the lord. After the Revestment, or rather after the passage of the "Mischief Act" in the same year, Imperial Parliament legislated with respect to customs, harbours and merchant shipping, and, in measures of a general character, it occasionally inserted clauses by which penalties in contravention of the acts of which they formed part might be enforced in the island. It also assumed the control of the insular customs duties. Such were the changes which, rather than the transference of the sovereignty from the lord to the king of Great Britain and Ireland, modified the Constitution of the Isle of Man. Its ancient laws and tenures were not interfered with, but in many ways the Revestment adversely affected it. The hereditary lords were far from being model rulers, but most of them had taken some personal share in its government, and had interested themselves in the well-being of its inhabitants. But now the whole direction of its affairs was handed over to officials, who regarded the island as a pestilent nest of smugglers, from which it was their duty to extract as much revenue as possible. Some alleviation of this state of things was experienced between 1793 and 1826 when the 4th duke of Atholl was appointed governor, since, though he quarrelled with the Keys and was unduly solicitous for his pecuniary interests, he did occasionally exert himself to promote the welfare of the island. After his departure the English officials resumed their sway. But they were more considerate than before. Moreover, since smuggling, which had only been checked, not suppressed, by the Revesting Act, had by that time almost disappeared, and the Manx revenue was producing a large and increasing surplus, the Isle of Man came to be regarded more favourably, and, thanks to this fact and to the representations of the Manx people to English ministers in 1837, 1844 and 1853, it obtained a somewhat less stringent customs tariff and an occasional dole towards erecting its much neglected public works. Since 1866, when the Isle of Man obtained a measure of at least nominal "Home Rule," the Manx people have made remarkable progress, and at the present day form a prosperous community.

_Monuments._--The prehistoric monuments in Man are numerous. There are earth entrenchments, seemingly of the earliest period; fragments of stone circles and alignments; burial cairns with stone cists of several successive periods; urn mounds and _crannoges_ or lake dwellings. The monuments belonging to the historic period begin with the round tower on Peel islet, the humble Celtic _keeills_ and the sculptured crosses in which the island is especially rich. Of these crosses about one-fourth have inscriptions in the old Norse language. The origin and history of the early buildings remaining on the island are obscure. The castles of Rushen and Peel are the only important buildings of a military character which survive, but the remains of ecclesiastical buildings are numerous and interesting, though, with the exception of St German's Cathedral on Peel islet, now in ruins, they are only small and simple structures.

_Arms._--There has been much controversy about the origin of the arms of the island--the "three-legs" found on a beautiful pillar cross near Maughhold churchyard belonging to the latter part of the 14th century. It was probably originally a sun symbol and was brought from Sicily by the Vikings. The motto _quocunque jeceris slabit_ is of comparatively recent origin.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--History and Law: _The Manx Society's publications_,
vols. i.-xxxii., notably the _Chronicon Manniae_ (vols. xxii. and
xxiii., edited by Munch); Sir Spencer Walpole, K.C.B., _The Land of
Home Rule_, an essay on the history and constitution of the Isle of
Man (London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1893); A. W. Moore, M.A., C.V.O.,
_The Diocese of Sodor and Man_, S.P.C.K.'s series of Diocesan
Histories (1893); and _A History of the Isle of Man_, (2 vols.,
London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1900); _The Statutes of the Isle of Man from
1817 to 1895_, Gill's edition, 6 vols. (vol. i. 1883 to vol. vi. 1897,
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode); Richard Sherward (Deemster), _Manx Law
Tenures_, a short treatise on the law relating to real estate in the
Isle of Man (Douglas Robinson Bros., 1899). Archaeology and Folklore:
P. M. C. Kermode, F. S. A. Scot., _Manx Crosses_ (London, Bemrose &
Sons, 1907); E. Alfred Jones, _The Old Church Plate of the Isle of
Man_ (Bemrose & Sons, 1907); A. W. Moore, C.V.O., M.A., _The Folklore
of the Isle of Man_ (London, D. Nutt, 1891). Language and Philology:
_A Dictionary of the Manx Language_ (Manx-English), by Archibald
Cregeen (1835); _A Practical Grammar of the Antient Gaelic, or
Language of the Isle of Man, usually called Manks_, by Rev. John
Kelly, LL.D.; _Manx Society's publications_, vol. ii. (1859, reprint
of edition of 1804); _The Manx Dictionary in two ports_ (Manx-English,
English-Manx), by Rev. John Kelly, William Gill and John Clarke; _Manx
Society's publications_, vol. xiii. (1866); _The Book of Common Prayer
in Manx Gaelic_, being translations made by Bishop Phillips in 1610
and by the Manx clergy in 1765, edited by A. W. Moore, C.V.O., M.A.,
and John Rhys, M.A., LL.D.; _Outlines of the Phonology of Manx
Gaelic_, by John Rhys (Oxford University Press, 2 vols., 1893-1894);
_First Lessons in Manx_, by Edmund Goodwin (Dublin, Celtic
Association, 1901); _Manx National Songs_, with English words, from
the MS. collection of the Deemster Gill, Dr J. Clague and W. H. Gill,
and arranged by W. H. Gill (London, Boosey & Co., 1896); _Manx Ballads
and Music_, edited by A. W. Moore (Douglas, G. and R. Johnson, 1896);
A. W. Moore's _The Surnames and Place Names of the Isle of Man_
(London, Elliot Stock, 1906, 3rd ed.). Natural History: P. G. Ralfe,
_The Birds of the Isle of Man_ (Edinburgh, David Douglas, 1905).

Hall Caine's novels, _The Deemster_, _The Manxman_, &c., have no doubt
tended to popularize the island. The most truthful description of the
social life of the people is to be found in a novel entitled _The
Captain of the Parish_, by John Quine. _Bibliotheca Monensis_ (_Manx
Society_, vol. xxiv.) contains a good list of MSS. and books relating
to the island up to 1876, and A. W. Moore's _History of the Isle of
Man_ has a list of the most important MSS. and books up to 1900.
(A. W. M.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] G. W. Lamplough, _The Geology of the Isle of Man_, Mem. Geol.
Survey (1903).

MANAAR, GULF OF, a portion of the Indian Ocean lying between the coast of Madras and Ceylon. Its northern limit is the line of rocks and islands called Adam's Bridge. Its extreme width from Cape Comorin to Point de Galle is about 200 miles.

MANACOR, a town of Spain in the island of Majorca, 40 m. by rail E. of Palma. Pop. (1900), 12,408. Manacor has a small trade in grain, fruit, wine, oil and live stock. In the neighbourhood are the cave of Drach, containing several underground lakes, and the caves of Artá, one of the largest and finest groups of stalactite caverns in western Europe.

MANAGE, to control, direct, or be in a position or have the capacity to do anything (from Ital. _maneggiare_, to train horses, literally to handle; Lat. _manus_, hand). The word was first used of the "management" of a horse. Its meanings have been much influenced by the French _ménager_, to direct a household or _ménage_ (from late Lat. _mansio_, house); hence to economize, to husband resources, &c. The French _ménage_, act of guiding or leading, from _mener_, to lead, seems also to have influenced the meaning.

MANAGUA, the capital of Nicaragua, and of the department of Managua; on the southern shore of Lake Managua, and on the railway from Diriamba to El Viejo, 65 m. by rail S.E. of the Pacific port of Corinto. Pop. (1905), about 30,000. Managua is a modern city, with many flourishing industries and a rapidly growing population. Its chief buildings are those erected after 1855, when it was chosen as the capital to put an end to the rivalry between the then more important cities of Leon and Granada. They include the Palacio Nacional or government buildings, Corinthian in style, the national library and museum, an ornate Renaissance structure, the barracks and the general post office. Owing to its position on the lake, and its excellent communications by rail and steamer, Managua obtained after 1855 an important export trade in coffee, sugar, cocoa and cotton, although in 1876 it was temporarily ruined by a great inundation.

MANAKIN, from the Dutch word _Manneken_, applied to certain small birds, a name apparently introduced into English by G. Edwards (_Nat. Hist. Birds_, i. 21) in or about 1743, since which time it has been accepted generally, and is now used for those which form the family _Pipridae_. The manakins are peculiar to the Neotropical Region and have many of the habits of the titmouse family (_Paridae_), living in deep forests, associating in small bands, and keeping continually in motion, but feeding almost wholly on the large soft berries of the different kinds of _Melastoma_. The _Pipridae_, however, have no close affinity with the _Paridae_,[1] but belong to another great division of the order _Passeres_, the _Clamatores_ group of the _Anisomyodae_. The manakins are nearly all birds of gay appearance, generally exhibiting rich tints of blue, crimson, scarlet, orange or yellow in combination with chestnut, deep black, black and white, or olive green; and among their most obvious characteristics are their short bill and feeble feet, of which the outer toe is united to the middle toe for a good part of its length. The tail, in most species very short, has in others the middle feathers much elongated, and in one of the outer rectrices are attenuated and produced into threads. They have been divided (Brit. Mus. _Cat. Birds_, vol. xiv.) into nineteen genera with about seventy species, of which eighteen are included under _Pipra_ itself. _P. leucilla_, one of the best known, has a wide distribution from the isthmus of Panama to Guiana and the valley of the Amazon; but it is one of the most plainly coloured of the family, being black with a white head. The genus _Machaeropterus_, consisting of four species, is very remarkable for the extraordinary form of some of the secondary wing-feathers in the males, in which the shaft is thickened and the webs changed in shape, as described and illustrated by P. L. Sclater (_Proc. Zool. Society_, 1860, p. 90; Ibis, 1862, p. 175[2]) in the case of the beautiful _M. deliciosus_, and it has been observed that the wing-bones of these birds are also much thickened, no doubt in correlation with this abnormal structure. A like deviation from the ordinary character is found in the allied genus _Chiromachaeris_, comprehending seven species, and Sclater is of the opinion that it enables them to make the singular noise for which they have long been noted, described by O. Salvin (_Ibis_, 1860, p. 37) in the case of one of them, _M. candaei_, as beginning "with a sharp note not unlike the crack of a whip," which is "followed by a rattling sound not unlike the call of a landrail"; and it is a similar habit that has obtained for another species, _M. edwardsi_, the name in Cayenne, according to Buffon (_Hist. Nat. Oiseaux_, iv. 413), of _Cassenoisette_. (A. N.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Though Edwards called the species he figured (_ut supra_) a
titmouse, he properly remarked that there was no genus of European
birds to which he could liken it.

[2] The figures are repeated by Darwin (_Descent of Man_, &c., ii.
66).

MANAOAG, a town in the north central part of the province of Pangasinán, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on the Angalacan river, 21 m. N.E. of Lingayen. Pop. (1903), 16,793. The inhabitants devote themselves especially to rice-culture, though tobacco, Indian corn, sugar-cane, fruit and vegetables are also raised. A statue of the Virgin Mary here is visited annually (especially during May) by thousands from Pangasinán and adjoining provinces. The inhabitants are mostly Ilocanos. Manaoag includes the town proper and eighteen barrios.

MANÁOS, a city and port of Brazil and capital of the state of Amazonas, on the left bank of the Rio Negro 12 m. above its junction with the Solimões, or Amazon, and 908 m. (Wappäus) above the mouth of the latter, in lat. 3° 8´ 4´´ S., long. 60° W. Pop. (1908), about 40,000, including a large percentage of Indians, negroes and mixed-bloods; the city is growing rapidly. Manáos stands on a slight eminence overlooking the river, 106 ft. above sea-level, traversed by several "igarapés" (canoe paths) or side channels, and beautified by the luxuriant vegetation of the Amazon valley. The climate is agreeable and healthful, the average temperature for the year (1902) being 84°, the number of rainy days 130, and the total rainfall 66.4 in. Up to the beginning of the 20th century the only noteworthy public edifices were the church of N.S. da Conceição, the St Sebastião asylum and, possibly, a Misericordia hospital; but a government building, a custom-house, a municipal hall, courts of justice, a marketplace and a handsome theatre were subsequently erected, and a modern water-supply system, electric light and electric tramways were provided. The "igarapés" are spanned by a number of bridges. Higher education is provided by a lyceum or high school, besides which there is a noteworthy school (bearing the name of Benjamin Constant) for poor orphan girls. Manáos has a famous botanical garden, an interesting museum, a public library, and a meteorological observatory. The port of Manáos, which is the commercial centre of the whole upper Amazon region, was nothing but a river anchorage before 1902. In that year a foreign corporation began improvements, which include a stone river-wall or quay, storehouses for merchandise, and floating wharves or landing stages connected with the quay by floating bridges or roadways. The floating wharves and bridges are made necessary by the rise and fall of the river, the difference between the maximum and minimum levels being about 33 ft.

The principal exports are rubber, nuts, cacao, dried fish, hides and piassava fibre. The markets of Manáos receive their supplies of beef from the national stock ranges on the Rio Branco, and it is from this region that hides and horns are received for export. The shipping movement of the port has become large and important, the total arrivals in 1907, including small trading boats, being 1589, of which 133 were ocean-going steamers from Europe and the United States, 75 from south Brazilian ports, and 227 river steamers from Pará. This rapid growth in its direct trade is due to a provincial law of 1878 which authorized an abatement of 3% in the export duties on direct shipments, and a state law of 1900 which made it compulsory to land and ship all products of the state from the Manáos custom-house.

The first European settlement on the site of Manáos was made in 1660, when a small fort was built here by Francisco da Motta Falcão, and was named São José de Rio Negro. The mission and village which followed was called Villa de Barra, or Barra do Rio Negro (the name "Barra" being derived from the "bar" in the current of the river, occasioned by the setback caused by its encounter with the Amazon). It succeeded Barcellos as the capital of the old _capitania_ of Rio Negro in 1809, and became the capital of Amazonas when that province was created in 1850, its name being then changed to Manáos, the name of the principal tribe of Indians living on the Rio Negro at the time of its discovery. In 1892 Manáos became the see of the new bishopric of Amazonas.

MANASSAS, a district of Prince William county, Virginia, and a town of the district, about 30 m. W.S.W. of Washington, D.C. Pop. (1910) of the district, 3381; of the town, 1217. The village of Manassas (in the town), known also as Manassas Junction, is served by the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Southern railways. North of the junction is Bull Run, a small stream which empties into the Occoquan, an arm of the Potomac. In this neighbourhood two important battles of the American Civil War, the first and second battles of Bull Run, were fought on the 21st of July 1861 and on the 29th-30th of August 1862 respectively; by Southern historians these battles are called the battles of Manassas. At Manassas is the Manassas Industrial School for Coloured Youth (non-sectarian; privately supported), which was founded in 1892 and opened in 1894; in 1908-1909 it had nine teachers (all negroes) and 121 pupils, all in elementary grades.

MANASSEH (7th cent. B.C.), son of Hezekiah, and king of Judah (2 Kings xxi. 1-18). His reign of fifty-five years was marked by a reaction against the reforming policy of his father, and his persistent idolatry and bloodshed were subsequently regarded as the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the dispersion of the people (2 Kings xxiii. 26 seq.; Jer. xv. 4). As a vassal of Assyria he was contemporary with Sennacherib, Esar-haddon (681-668 B.C.) and Assur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.), and his name (_Me-na-si-e_) appears among the tributaries of the two latter. Little is known of his history. The chronicler, however, relates that the Assyrian army took him in chains to Babylon, and that after his repentance he returned, and distinguished himself by his piety, by building operations in Jerusalem and by military organization (2 Chron. xxxiii. 10 sqq.). The story of his penitence referred to in xxxiii. 22, is untrustworthy, but the historical foundation may have been some share in the revolt of the Babylonian Samas-sum-ukin (648 B.C.), on which occasion he may have been summoned before Assur-bani-pal with other rebels and subsequently reinstated. See further Driver, in Hogarth, _Authority and Archaeology_, pp. 114 sqq. Manasseh was succeeded by his son Amon, who after a brief reign of two years perished in a conspiracy, his place being taken by Amon's son (or brother) Josiah (q.v.). A lament formerly ascribed to Manasseh (cf. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 18) is preserved in the Apocrypha (see MANASSES, PRAYER OF; and APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE). On Judg. xviii. 30 (marg.), see JONATHAN.

MANASSEH (apparently Hebrew for "he who causes to forget," but see H. W. Hogg, _Encyc. Bib._, s.v.); in the Bible, a tribe of Israel, the elder but less important of the "sons" of Joseph. Its seat lay to the north of Ephraim, but its boundaries can scarcely be defined. It merged itself with its "brother" in the south, and with Issachar, Zebulun and other tribes in the north (Josh. xvii. 7 sqq.). From the latter it was separated for a time by a line of Canaanite cities extending from Dor to Bethshean, which apparently were not all subdued till the days of David or Solomon (Judg. i. 27; 1 Sam. xxxi. 10; 1 Kings ix. 15). Besides its western settlement in the fertile glades of northern Samaria, running out into the great plain, there were territories east of the Jordan reckoned to Manasseh. Gilead and Bashan were said to have been taken by Machir, and a number of places of uncertain identification were occupied by Nobah and Jair (Num. xxxii. 41; Judg. x. 3-5). It seems most natural to suppose that these districts were held before the Israelites crossed over to the west (cf. the tradition Num. xxi., Deut. iii.). On the other hand, in Judg. v. 14, Machir may conceivably belong to the west, and it is possible that, according to another tradition, these movements were the result of the complaint of the Joseph tribes that their original territory was too restricted.[1] In the genealogical lists, Machir, perhaps originally an independent branch, is the eldest son of Manasseh (Josh. xvii. 1 _b_, 2); but according to later schemes he is Manasseh's only son (Num. xxvi. 28-34). Intermixture with Arameans is indicated in the view that he was the son of Manasseh and an Aramean concubine (1 Chron. vii. 14), and this is supported by the statement that the Arameans of Geshur and Maacah (cf. 2 Sam. x. 6; Gen. xxii. 24) dwelt among the Israelites of eastern Jordan (Josh. xiii. 13). Subsequently, at an unknown period of history, sixty cities were lost (1 Chron. ii. 23). The story of the daughters of the Manassite Zelophehad is of interest for the Hebrew law of inheritance (Num. xxvii. 1-11, xxxvi.).

Some details of the history of this twofold branch of the Israelites
are contained in the stories of Gideon (W. Manasseh) and Jephthah (E.
Manasseh). The relations between Saul and Jabesh-Gilead point to the
close bond uniting the two districts, but the details have been
variously interpreted: Winckler, for example, suggesting that Saul
himself was originally from E. Manasseh and that he followed in the
steps of Jephthah (_Keilinschr. u. d. alte Test._, pp. 216 seq. 227).
Generally speaking, its position in the west made it share the
fortunes of Ephraim, whilst on the east the proximity of Ammonites and
Moabites controlled its history; see also the articles on its southern
neighbours, GAD and REUBEN, and the articles GENEALOGY (Biblical); and
JEWS: _History_. (S. A. C.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] So Budde (_Richter u. Samuel_), who recovers certain old
fragments and arranges Josh. xvii. 14-18 (v. 18 read "hill-country of
Gilead"); Num. xxxii. 39, 41 seq.; Josh. xiii. 13.

MANASSES, CONSTANTINE, Byzantine chronicler, flourished in the 12th century during the reign of Manuel I. (Comnenus) (1143-1180). He was the author of a _Chronicle_ or historical synopsis of events from the creation of the world to the end of the reign of Nicephorus Botaniates (1081), written by direction of Irene, the emperor's sister-in-law. It consists of about 7000 lines in the so-called "political" metre.[1] There is little to be said of it, except that it is rather more poetical than the iambic chronicle of Ephraim (about 150 years later). It obtained great popularity and appeared in a free prose translation; it was also translated into Slavonic. The poetical romance of the _Loves of Aristander and Callithea_, also in "political" verse, is only known from the fragments preserved in the [Greek: Rhodônia] (rose-garden) of Macarius Chrysocephalus (14th century). Manasses also wrote a short biography of Oppian, and some descriptive pieces (all except one unpublished) on artistic and other subjects.

EDITIONS.--_Chronicle_ in Bonn, _Corpus scriptorum hist. Byz._, 1st
ed. Bekker (1837) and in J. P. Migne, _Patrologia graeca_, cxxvii.;
_Aristander and Callithea_ in R. Hercher's _Scriptores erotici
graeci_, ii. (1859); "Life of Oppian" in A. Westermann, _Vitarum
scriptores graeci minores_ (1845). A long didactic poem in "political"
verse (edited by E. Miller in _Annuaire de l'assoc. pour
l'encouragement des études grecques en France_, ix. 1875) is
attributed to Manasses or one of his imitators. See also F. Hirsch,
_Byzantinische Studien_ (1876); C. Krumbacher, _Geschichte der
byzantinischen Litteratur_ (1897).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] "Political" verse or metre is the name given to a kind of verse
found as early as the 6th century in proverbs, and characteristic of
Byzantine and modern Greek poetry. It takes no account of the
quantity of syllables; the scansion depends on accent, and there is
always an accent on the last syllable but one. It is specially used
of an iambic verse with fifteen syllables, i.e. seven feet and an
unaccented syllable over. Byron compares "A captain bold of Halifax
who lived in country quarters." Such facile metres are called
"political," in the sense of "commonplace," "of the city." Cf.
Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_ (ed. Bury, 1898), vi. 108; Du Cange,
_Gloss. med. et infin. lat._ (vi. 395), who has an interesting
quotation from Leo Allatius. Leo explains "political" as implying
that the verses are "scorta et meretrices, quod omnibus sunt
obsequiosae et peculiares, et servitutem publicam serviunt."

MANASSES, PRAYER OF, an apocryphal book of the Old Testament. This writing, which since the Council of Trent has been relegated by the Church of Rome to the position of an appendix to the Vulgate, was placed by Luther and the translators of the English Bible among the apocryphal books. In some MSS. of the Septuagint it is the eighth among the canticles appended to the Psalter, though in many Greek psalters, which include the canticles, it is not found at all. In Swete's Old Testament in Greek, iii. 802 sqq., A is printed with the variants of T (_Psalterium turicense_).[1] From the statements in 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, 13, 18, 19, it follows that the Old Testament chronicler found a prayer attributed to Manasseh in his Hebrew sources, _The History of the Kings of Israel_ and _The History of the Seers_. Naturally the question arose, had the existing Prayer of Manasses any direct connexion with the prayer referred to by the chronicler? Ewald was of opinion that the Greek was an actual translation of the lost Hebrew; but Ball more wisely takes it as a free rendering of a lost Haggadic narrative founded on the older document from which the chronicler drew his information. This view he supports by showing that there was once a considerable literature in circulation regarding Manasseh's later history. On the other hand most scholars take the Prayer to have been written in Greek, e.g. Fritzsche, Schürer and Ryssel (Kautzsch, _Apok. u. Pseud._ i. 165-168).

This fine penitential prayer seems to have been modelled after the penitential psalms. It exhibits considerable unity of thought, and the style is, in the main, dignified and simple.

As regards the date, Fritzsche, Ball and Ryssel agree in assigning this psalm to the Maccabean period. Its eschatology and doctrine of "divine forgiveness" may point to an earlier date.

The best short account of the book is given by Ball (_Speaker's
Apocrypha_, ii. 361-371); see also Porter in Hastings's _Dict. Bible_,
iii. 232-233. (R. H. C.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Nestle (_Septuaginta Studien III._) contends that the text of A
and T is derived from the Apost. Const. ii. 22, or from its original,
and not from a MS. of the Septuagint.

MANATI (often anglicized as "manatee"), the name, adapted from the Carib _manattouï_, given by the Spanish colonists of the West Indies to the American representative of a small group of herbivorous aquatic mammals, constituting, with their allies the dugong and the now extinct _Rhytina_, the order Sirenia. The name, though possibly of Mandingo origin (see MANDINGO), was latinized as _manatus_, furnished with hands, thus referring the etymology to the somewhat hand-like form, or hand-like use, of the fore-flippers, which alone serve these creatures for limbs. Manatis, as shown in the illustration in the article SIRENIA, are somewhat whale-like in shape, having a similar horizontally expanded tail-fin; but here the resemblance to the Cetacea ceases, the whole organization of these animals being constructed on entirely different lines. The American manati, _Manatus_ (or, as some would have it, _Trichechus latirostris_), inhabits the rivers of Florida, Mexico, Central America and the West Indies, and measures from 9 to 13 feet in length. The body is somewhat fish-like, but depressed and ending posteriorly in a broad, flat, shovel-like horizontal tail, with rounded edges. The head is of moderate size, oblong, with a blunt, truncated muzzle, and divided from the body by a slight constriction or neck. The fore limbs are flattened oval paddles, placed rather low on the sides of the body, and showing externally no signs of division into fingers, but with three diminutive flat nails near their extremities. No traces of hind limbs are discernible either externally or internally; and there is no dorsal fin. The mouth is peculiar, the tumid upper lip being cleft in the middle line into two lobes, each of which is separately movable. The nostrils are two semilunar valve-like slits at the apex of the muzzle. The eyes are very minute, placed at the sides of the head, and with a nearly circular aperture with wrinkled margins; and external ears are wanting. The skin generally is of a dark greyish colour, not smooth or glistening like that of whale or dolphin, but finely wrinkled. At a little distance it appears naked, but close inspection, at all events in young animals, shows a scanty covering of delicate hairs, and both upper and under lips are supplied with short, stiff bristles.

Front view of head of American Manati, showing the eyes, nostrils, and mouth. A, with the lobes of the upper lip divaricated; B, with the lip contracted.]