pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
MANSOURA, a large town of Lower Egypt, built by the Saracens as a bulwark against the invasion of the Christians during the wars of the Crusades. Dr Pococke supposes it to be the Zoan or Tanis of the ancients. It is celebrated in the history of the Crusades for two great battles fought near it, in one of which St Louis was defeated and taken prisoner. Mansoura is beautifully situated on a somewhat high bank of the Nile, and adorned with numerous mosques. Though of considerable extent, it is now unfortified, and a fourth part of it is in ruins. The houses are built of brick, and the streets are narrow. The trade is chiefly carried on by Syrian Christians, who export the fine rice which grows round Lake Menzaleh, and sal-ammoniac. Mansoura lies twenty-four miles southsouth-west of Damietta.
MANTANANE, a small island in the Eastern Seas, near the north-west coast of the island of Borneo. Long. 116. 27. E. Lat. 6. 38. N.
MANTES, an arrondissement of the department of the Seine and Oise, in France. It extends over 356 square miles, comprehending five cantons and 127 communes, with 59,720 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name situated on the left bank of the river Seine. It is well built, and has a bridge over the river, an ancient collegiate church, and some pleasing promenades. Near to it is Rosny, the birth-place of the celebrated Sully the minister and historian. It contains 588 houses, and 3850 inhabitants. Long. 1. 35. E. Lat. 48. 58. N.
MANTINEA, in Ancient Geography, a town situated in the south of Arcadia, on the confines of Laconia, and afterwards called Antigonea, in honour of King Antigonus. It is memorable for a battle fought in its neighbourhood, between the Thebans and Spartans, in which the latter were completely defeated, but with the loss, however, to the Thebans, of their celebrated commander Epaminondas.
MANUAL, a word signifying any thing that is performed by the hand.

Manual (manualii), in Law, signifies what is employed or used by the hand, and of which a present profit may be made. Thus, a thing in the manual occupation of any one, means that it is actually used or employed by him.

Manual is the name of a service-book used in the church of Rome, containing the rites, directions to the priests, and [7:14:237]prayers used in the administration of baptism and other sacraments, the form of blessing holy water, and the whole service used in processions.
MANUDUCTOR, a name given to an ancient officer in the church, who, from the middle of the choir, where he had his place, gave the signal for the choristers to sing, and marked the measure, beat time, and regulated the music. The Greeks called him mesochoros, because seated in the middle of the choir; but in the Latin church he was called manuductor, from manus, the hand, and duco, I lead, because he led and guided the choir by motions of, or signals made by, the hand.
MANUFACTURE, a commodity produced from raw or natural materials, either by the work of the hand or by machinery.
MANUFACTURER, one who works up a natural product into an artificial commodity.
MANUMISSION, an act by which a slave is set at liberty, or freed from bondage. The word comes from the Latin manus, the hand, and mittere, to make go or to let go; quia servus mittebatur extra manum seu potestatem do- mini sui.
MANURE, any thing used for fattening and improving land. See Agriculture.
MANUSCRIPT, a book or paper written with the hand', by which it stands opposed to a printed book or paper. A manuscript is usually denoted by the two letters MS. and in the plural by MSS.
MANZORA, a river of the Deccan, which rises in the province of Berdcr, and falls into the Godavery after a short but winding course.
MANZUREKA, a small river of Asiatic Russia, which falls into the Lena. There is a village of the same name at the confluence of the two rivers. Long. 106. 34. E. Lat. 53. 45. N.
MAOUN A, or Massacre Island, one of the Navigators Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean, discovered by Bougainville, and visited by La Perouse, with whose men and the natives a bloody conflict took place, in which Μ. Langle, commander of the Astrolabe, with ten of his companions, were killed, and twenty men wounded. Long· of the anchoring place, 189. 1. E. Lat. 14. 22. S.
MARABEA, a town of Yemen, in Arabia, formerly considerable; but the harbour being now filled up with sand, most of the inhabitants have removed to Loheia.
MARACAY, a town of Venezuela, in South America. The principal street is more than half a mile in length, and many of the houses are built of stone, and have gardens attached to them. It is situated near the eastern end of the lake of Valencia, but not immediately upon it. Fine plantatione, surround it on every side, and there is about it an air’of prosperity and activity, which is said to arise from work being here chiefly performed by free labourers, the use of slaves being little known. The population has been estimated at 10,000.
MARAGA, a city of Persia, in the province of Azerbijan. It is a well-built town, has a spacious bazar, and is encompassed with a high wall. It is pleasantly situated in a low valley at the extremity of a well-cultivated plain opening to the lake, from which Maraga is distant nine or ten miles. The gardens and plantations are watered by canals drawn from a small river, over which there are two bridges erected 800 years ago. There is a glass manufactory, and a very handsome public bath; and there are also several curious old tombs, in one of which, without the walls, Holaku, a distinguished prince of the line of Ghengis Khan, and his wife, are interred. The town contains about 15,000 inhabitants of the Turkish tribe of Muku-dim, under their chief Ahmed Khan, a nobleman of the first rank. It is sixty-eight miles north of Tabreez. Long. 46. 25. E. Lat. 37. 20. N.
MARANA, John Paul, an ingenious writer of the seventeenth century, was descended of a distinguished family, and born at Genoa, where he received an education suited to his birth, and made great progress in the study of the sciences and polite literature. Having been engaged in the conspiracy of Raffaelle della Terra, in order to deliver up Genoa to the Duke of Savoy, he was, in 1670, at the age of twenty-eight, imprisoned in the tower of that city, and remained there four years. Being at length set at liberty, he was requested to write the history of that conspiracy; but the work, when finished, was seized, and prevented from being published. When the republic of Genoa was at variance with the court of France, Marana, who had always an inclination for the latter, became afraid of being imprisoned a second time, and retired to Monaco, where he again wrote the history of the conspiracy in Italian, and, in 1682, got it printed at Lyons. He then proceeded to Paris, where his merit soon acquired him powerful protectors; and he spent the rest of his life in a happy and tranquil mediocrity, devoted to study and the society of men of learning. His history of the conspiracy contains many curious and interesting anecdotes. Besides this, he wrote several other works, the best known of which is the Turkish Spy, in six volumes 12mo, to which a seventh was afterwards added. Of this ingenious work there is a good English translation. Marana died in the year 1693.
MARASDIN, a city of the circle of the same name, in the Austrian province of Croatia. It stands on the river Drave, is the seat of the provincial boards of civil and criminal law, contains five Catholic churches, four monasteries, and a nunnery, with 749 houses, and 4436 inhabitants. It has a considerable commercial intercourse with Turkey. Long. 23. 22. 10. E. Lat. 46. 18. 18. N.
MARATHON, in Ancient Geography, one of the demi or hamlets of Attica, about ten miles to the north-east of Athens, and near the sea. It still retains its ancient name; but is very inconsiderable, consisting only of a few houses [7:14:242]and gardens. The plain of Marathon is famous for the victory which was there gained by Miltiades over the Per- , sians, by which the liberties of Athens and the other cities of Greece were saved.
MARATTA. See Maiirattas.
MARATTI, Carlo, a celebrated painter, was born at Camorano, near Ancona, in 1625. He went a poor boy to Rome when only eleven years of age; and at twelve recommended himself so effectually to Andrea Sacchi, by his drawings after Raffaelle in the Vatican, that he took him into his school, where he continued twenty-five years, that is, until his master’s death. His graceful and beautiful ideas occasioned his being generally employed in painting madonnas and female saints. No man ever painted in a better style, or with greater elegance. From the finest statues and pictures, he made himself master of the most perfect forms, and the finest positions of heads, which he sketched with equal case and grace. He has produced a noble variety of draperies, more artfully managed and more richly ornamented than the best of the moderns. He was inimitable in adorning the heads, in the disposal of the hair, and the elegance of his hands and feet, which are equal to those of Raffaelle himself; and he particularly excelled in gracefulness. In his younger days he etched a few prints with equal spirit and correctness. It would be endless to recount the celebrated paintings executed by this great artist. Yet he did nothing slightly, and often changed his designs, though almost always for the better; whence his pictures were long in hand. In imitation of his master, he made several admirable portraits of popes, cardinals, and other persons of distinction, from whom he received the highest testimonies of esteem, as he likewise did from almost all the monarchs and princes of Europe. This great painter died at Rome in 1713, in the eighty-eighth year of his age.
MARATÜBA Isles, a cluster of islands, six in number, lying off the east coast of Borneo. Long. 118. 35. E. Lat∙ 2. 15. N.
MARAVEDI, a little Spanish copper coin, worth somewhat more than a French denier, or half a farthing English.
ΜARAWAS, a district of the south of India, in the Carnatic, situated on the eastern shore, opposite to Ceylon, and between the 9th and 10th degrees of N. lat. It is estimated at eighty miles in length by thirty in the average breadth, and it is bounded on the north by Tanjore and the Polygar territory, on the south by Tinevelly, on the west by Madura, and on the east by the sea. This district came into the possession of the British in the year 1792; and in 1801 it was added to the collectorship of Dindigul. The principal towns are Ramnad, Shevagunga, and Tripatoor. Many remains of ancient Hindu religious magnificence are to be found here, consisting of temples built with large massive stones. The district, which possesses considerable advantages from its maritime situation, is improving both in its commerce and in its agriculture.
MARBELLA, a city of Spain, situated on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, in the province of Andalusia and kingdom of Granada. It stands at the foot of a very high mountain, whence copious streams flow, and are conducted to a beautiful fountain in the square of this place. The vicinity of Marbella is a rich but narrow tract of land on the sea shore, where coffee, cotton, sugar, indigo, and other tropical productions are cultivated with considerable success, and which also yields the indigenous fruits, oranges, lemons, figs, grapes, pomegranates, and some exquisite plums. It more resembles the West India islands than a part of Europe. The city contains about 8000 inhabitants.
MARBLE, a calcareous stone, of which there arc many beautiful varieties. The word is formed from the French marbre, and that from the Latin marmor, which is derived from the Greek μαζμa ∣ ξi ∣ v, to shine or glitter. See Mineralogy.
MARBLING, the method of preparing and colouring marbled paper. There are several kinds of marbled paper, but the principal difference between them consists in the forms in which the colours are laid on the ground; some being disposed in whirls or circumvolutions, others in jagged lengths, and others only in spots of a roundish or oval figure. The general manner of managing each kind is, nevertheless, the same; namely, the dipping the paper in a solution of gum-tragacanth, or, as it is commonly called, gum-dragon, over which the colours, previously prepared with ox-gall and spirit of wine, are first spread.
MARBURG, a city in the province of Upper Hesse, in the principality of Hesse Cassel. It stands in a beautiful situation on the river Lahn, which divides it into two parts, one of which gradually rises from the bank of the river. It is surrounded with walls, and has an ancient castle, once strongly fortified, but now neglected. It contains one Catholic, two reformed, and two Lutheran churches, with 790 houses, and 6850 inhabitants. It is the seat of a university, which has produced some distinguished men, and now consists of thirty-four professors, with about 250 students. It has a valuable library of 55,000 volumes, and establishments for instruction in the several branches of medical, legal, and theological instruction. There are some manufactures of linen goods and hats, but not on a large scale. Long. 8. 42. 55. E. Lat. 50. 51. 2. N.

Marburg, a circle in the Austrian province of Steyermark, extending over 1328 square miles, and containing 167,498 inhabitants. It is generally hilly, and better adapted for breeding cattle than for agriculture. The capital, of the same name, is a city situated on the river Drave, containing a castle, a minster, 654 houses, and 3986 inhabitants. The principal trade is in wine and corn, and in cattle at a great yearly market. Long. 14. 37. 4. E. Lat. 46. 34. 32. N.
MARCASITE, an old term in mineralogy, given indifferently to ores, pyrites, and semi-metals, but more lately confined to pyrites, especially such as are regularly formed. See Mineralogy.
MARCELLIANISM, the doctrines and opinions of the Marcellians, a sect of ancient heretics, who appeared towards the close of the second century, and were so called from Marcellus of Ancyra, their founder, who was accused of reviving the errors of Sabellius. Some, however, are of opinion that Marcellus was orthodox, and that his enemies were the Arians, who fathered their errors upon him. St Epiphanius observes, that there was a great deal of dispute with regard to the real tenets of Marcellus; but, as to his followers, it is evident that they did not acknowledge the three hypostases. Marcellus considered the Son and Holy Ghost as two emanations from the divine nature, which, after performing their respective offices, were to return again into the substance of the Father; an opinion which is altogether incompatible with the belief of three distinct persons in the Godhead.
MARCELLIN, an arrondissement of the department of the Isère, in France, 474 square miles in extent. It comprehends seven cantons, divided into eighty-five communes, and contains 75,400 inhabitants. The capital is a city of the same name, in a pleasant situation at the foot of a hill, two miles from the Isère. It is well built, and surrounded with pleasant walks formed out of the ancient fortifications. It contains 600 houses, and 3400 inhabitants, who carry on silk, cotton, and linen manufactories, and arc celebrated for their liqueurs and for excellent wine. Long. 5. 8. 11. E. Lat. 45. 30. 31. N.
MARCELLINUS, Ammianus. See Ammianus.
MARCGRAVE, or Margrave, a kind of dignity in Germany, answering to our marquis. The word is derived from the German marche or marche, which signifies a frontier, and graff, count, governor; marcgraves being originally governors of cities lying on the frontiers of a country or state.
MARCH (Martius'), the third month of the year, according to the common way of computing. Amongst the Romans, March was the first month; and in some ecclesiastical computations that order is still preserved, particularly in reckoning the number of years from the incarnation of our Savour; that is, from the 25th of March.
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March, a market-town of the Isle of Ely, in the county of Cambridge, eighty-one miles from London. It stands on the river Nen, which is navigable, in a rich but marshy situation, resembling the provinces of Holland in the numerous wind-mills by which the water is abstracted from the land. There is a good market, which is held on Friday. The population amounted in 1801 to 2514, in 1811 to 3098, in 1821 to 3850, in 1831 to 5117.
MARCHAND Island, in the South Pacific Ocean, discovered by Captain Marchand, and forming one of the group of Revolution Islands. Long. 142. 19. W. Lat. 92. 21. S.
MARCHE en Famine, an arrondissement of the province of Liège, in the Netherlands, which contains ten cantons. The capital, a city of the same name, situated in the forest of the Ardennes, on the small river Marchette, is poor and ill built, containing 1460 inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in the iron trade.
MARCHERS, or Lords-Marchers, were those noblemen who lived on the marches of Wales or Scotland, and who, in times past, according to Camden, ⅛ιad their laws and jus vitoe necisque, like petty kings. In old records the lords marchers of Wales were styled Marchianes de Marchia Walliae.
MARCHES (marchia), from the German march, or limes, or from the French marque, the distinction between two countries or territories, are the limits between England and Wales, or between England and Scotland, which last are divided into the west and middle marches (4 Hen. V. c. 7; 22 Ed. IV. c. 8; 24 Hen. VIII. c. 9). There was formerly a court called the Court of the Marches of Wales, where pleas of debt or damages, not above the value of L.50, were tried and determined.
MARCHET, or Marcnetta, a pecuniary fine anciently paid by the tenant to his lord, for the marriage of one of the tenant’s daughters. This custom obtained, with some difference, throughout all England and Wales, as also in Scotland.
MARCIONITES, or Marcionists, Marcionistae, an ancient and popular sect of heretics, who were thus denominated from their author Marcion, and who, in the time of Epiphanius, had spread themselves over Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Arabia, Persia, and other countries. Marcion was a native of Pontus, the son of a bishop, and at first made profession of the monastic life; but he was excommunicated by his own father, who would never again admit him into the communion of the church, not even on his repentance. On this he abandoned his own country, and retired to Rome, where he began to broach new and heretical doctrines. Marcion denied the real birth, incarnation, and passion of Jesus Christ, and held them all to be apparent only. He denied the resurrection of the body, and allowed none to be baptized except those who had preserved their continence; but these, he granted, might be baptized three times. He pretended that the gospel had been corrupted by false prophets, and admitted none of the evangelists but St Luke, whom he altered in many places, as well as the epistles of St Paul, a great many things in which he expunged. In his own copy of St Luke’s gospel, he struck out the first two chapters.
MARCITES, Marcitae, a sect of heretics in the second century, who also called themselves the perfecti, and made profession of doing every thing with a great deal of liberty, and without any fear. This doctrine they borrowed from Simon Magus, who, however, was not their chief; for they were called Marrites from one Marcus, who conferred the priesthood and the administration of the sacraments upon women.
MARCO Polo, Paolo, or Paulo. See Paulo.
MARCO, St, a city, the seat of a bishop, of the kingdom of Naples, in the province of Calabria Citeriore. It is situated on the river Follone, and surrounded with very productive olive woods. It contains 7200 inhabitants.
MARCOMANNI, an ancient people of Germany, who seem to have taken their name from their situation on the limits or marches to the east of the Higher Rhine, and to the north of the Danube. Cluverius allots to them the duchy of Wurtemberg, part of the palatinate between, the Rhine and the Neckar, the Brisgau, and that part of Suabia [7:14:245]situated between the springs of the Danube and the river Bregentz. They afterwards removed to the country of the Boii, whom they expelled and forced to withdraw more to the eastward, occupying what is now called Bohemia.
MARCOSIANS, or Colobarsians, an ancient sect in the church, forming a branch of the Valentinians. St Irenaeus speaks at large of the leader of this sect, Marcus, who, it seems, was reputed a great magician. The Marcosians had many apocryphal books which they held as canonical, and out of which they picked several idle fables touching the infancy of Jesus Christ. Many of these fables are still in credit amongst the Greek monks.
MARDEN, a town of the county of Kent, in the lathe of Scray, and hundred of its own name, forty-one miles from London. It stands on the river Twist, and was formerly more considerable, having had a market, which is now discontinued. The population amounted in 1801 to 1660, in 1811 to 1804, in 1821 to 2051, and in 1831 to 2109.
MARECKAN, one of the Knrile Islands, in the North Pacific Ocean, about thirty miles in length. Long. 152. 50. Ľ. Lat. 47. 5. N.
MAREGORIAN, one of the Molucca Islands, about fifteen miles long and five broad. Long. 127.18.E. Lat.0.36.S.
MARELLA, a town of Hindustan, in the Northern Carnatic and district of Ongole, sixty-six miles north by west from Nelloor. Long. 79. 35. E. Lat. 15. 16. N.
MARENGO, a town of Italy, in the province of Alexandria, in Piedmont. It is situated on the right bank of the river Bormida, and contains 2400 inhabitants. It is celebrated on account of the battle fought on the plain near it, in 1800, when Bonaparte defeated the Austrians, and, in consequence of that victory, became the master of Italy.

Μ A RENNES, an arrondissement of the department of the Lower Charente, in France. It extends over 376 square miles, and comprehends six cantons, divided into thirty-six communes, peopled by 46,500 persons. The capital is the city of the same name, situated on the sea-side, opposite to the Isle of Oleron. It has a considerable trade in oysters, which are sent to Paris, and in salt naturally formed on the marshes by evaporation. In the neighbourhood some good wine is produced. It contains 1200 houses, and 6700 inhabitants. Long. 1. 12. W. Lat. 45. 49. N.
MARESFIELD, a town of the county of Sussex, in the rape of Pevensey and hundred of Rushmonden, forty-one miles from London. The population amounted in 1801 to 960, in 1811 to 1117, in 1821 to 1439,and in 1831 to 1650.