S()0 M A N 
jaen, and they extend as far as Eftramad'ura, and even to 
the banks of the Guadalquivir. The province of La 
Mancha contains hi parifnes, 78 monafteries and con¬ 
vents, two cities, ami 121 towns, of which ten belong to 
the crown, and 75 to the military orders, 46 villages, one 
intendency of a province, and one hofpital. The prin¬ 
cipal towns are Ciudad Real, Oceana, Alcazar, and Al¬ 
magro; for an account of which, fee the refpeftive articles. 
The population is more than 200,000 inhabitants. The 
Mefa d’Occana is the richeft and moft fertile plain in the 
whole country. 
La Mancha being a flat level country, and the foil 
parched with heat, the productions of fuch a foil mud ne- 
ceflarily be limited. It produces corn, and efpecially oats, 
in fufficient quantity to fupply the neighbouring pro¬ 
vinces. The moft common trees are chefnuts of a dwarf 
fpecies, which grow fpontaneoufly; olive-trees, however, 
nre found in many parts, and alfo a number of vines, the 
belt of which are thofe of Menzanares. The other pro¬ 
ductions of La Mancha are faffron, honey, and fpar. No 
fruit is to be met with except in fome particular diftrifts, 
and in fmall quantities. Almagro is famous for melons 
and potatoes. The meadows are not numerous, except 
for about four leagues between Ciudad Real and Santa 
Cruz de Mudela, where they are fine and extenfive; im- 
xnenfe herds are fed in thefe plains, and efpecially mules, 
■which are of an excellent breed. The manufactures of 
La Mancha have now'declined. They formerly fabricated 
ribbons, garters, worfted ftockings, tapeftry, and filks of 
different forts, and a great quantity of leather-gloves, both 
at Ciudad Real and Oceana; at the former of thofe towns 
thev made all forts of woollen (tuffs, but they have very 
much declined. A fabric of blond-lace has been lately 
fet on foot at Almagro, which employs 2300 people. 
The other branches of labour are reduced to four; one of 
bard foap at Oceana; another of flannels at the fame place 
and Campo de Criptance; a third at Alcazar de St. Juan, 
of gunpowder; and three refining-houfes of faltpetre at 
Pedronera, Zemblaque, and Alcazar de St. Juan, the laft 
of which furnifhes annually 200,000 quintals of faltpetre 
to the crown, on whofe account it is wrought. The wool 
fpinning is a confiderable fource of induftry throughout 
this province, and employs from 12 to 16,000 people of 
all ages and (exes. Commerce is in a very low date in 
this province-, the only productions with which it fur- 
nifties the neighbouring provinces are a little fpar, oats, 
and wine, together with a fmall quantity of blond-lace and 
flioe-leather. But thefe few articles do not counterbalance 
the imports from other provinces and countries which 
fupply La Mancha with (hot, fpices, fait provifions, hard¬ 
ware, linen, muflins, broad cloth, fine woollen fluffs, filks, 
and, in a word, all articles of luxury, and even many of 
necefiity with regard ta clothing. The animal and vege¬ 
table kingdoms preient nothing worthy of much atten¬ 
tion in this province ; but it has fome mines and mineral 
waters that may deferve notice; fuch are mines of iron, 
ochre, rock-cryftai, bole, calamine, antimony, cinnabar. 
See. It has alfo mineral waters both for drinking and 
bathing. 
Travellers in general report, that this is the moft cheer¬ 
ful country in Spain ; and that the inhabitants are very 
fond of mufic and dancing ; fo that a player on the gui¬ 
tar, and a finger of fequidillas, are perfons in great re- 
queft. The girls, young men, and married women, are 
faid to affemble at the firft found of the inlfrument; 
the bell voices fing fequidillas, and the blind accompany 
them on their inftruments. A late traveller fays, “ there 
is no labourer nor young female peafant who is not well 
acquainted with Don Quixote and Sancho.” Another 
writer fays, you can fcarctly enter the province of La 
Mancha without having conltantly in your thoughts the 
fabulous hero, whole name renders this country more ce¬ 
lebrated than its fpacious and parched-up plains could 
ever have made it. The names of Quintenar and Tobofo 
are iinprefl'ed on the memory of every one ; and we look 
MAN 
round for the village of the famed and peerlefs Dulcinea, 
and the wood where the firft meeting took place between 
her and the doughty Don Quixote. The coftume of all 
ranks of the people, in the principal towns of this diftrift, 
is fimilar to that of New Caftile in general. The peafant 
wears a clofe camifole of cloth, or leather, faftened with a 
leathern girdle; and on his head a fquare cap rifing to a 
point. The fides, which are turned up, continually beat 
againft each other; it is made of cloth or leather, and is 
called a montera. A llranger, who vifited fome of the af- 
femblies of amufement in this province, would be afto- 
nifhedat feeing a labourer in the drefs of Sancho, wearing 
a broad leathern girdle, become an agreeable dancer, and 
perform all his fteps with grace, precifion, and tneafure. 
The fongs and fequidillas on thefe occafions are peculiar 
to this part of the kingdom ; and it is to be remarked, 
that to finging and dancing the Manchegas add the merit 
of poetry. Moft of the fequidillas are voluptuous, and 
turn on the fubjeift of love or ablence ; though fome are 
fatirical. 
According to Laborde, however, we muft have been all 
this time delcribing the manners of Valencia, and not of 
La Mancha. “The province of La Mancha (fays he) 
differs much, both morally and phyfically, from Valencia. 
Inftead of a rich fucceffion of hill and dale, the eye wan¬ 
ders here over wide unvaried plains ; and, with regard to 
the people, we pafs from the gayeft to one of the graveji 
and moft folcmn clajfes among the Spaniards. They are ftrongly 
attached to ancient cultoms and etiquette, and are confe- 
quently very backward in all kinds of improvement.” 
Lalorde's View of Spain , 1809 .—“ Who (hall decide when 
doctors difagree ?” or can there be fo much difference in 
the manners of two neighbouring provinces? 
MAN'CHA REAL', a town of Spain, in the province 
of Jaen : feven miles eaft of Jaen. 
MAN'CHAC, a town or parifti on both fides of the 
Mifiiflippi, in Louifiana, extending twelve miles on the 
river. 
MAN'CHE,/. [French.] A fleeve. 
MAN'CHE (La), i. e. The Channel , a department of 
France, bounded on the north and weft by the Englifh 
Channel, on the eaft by the Channel and the departments 
of the Calvados and the Orne, and on the fouth by the de¬ 
partments of the Ille and Vilaine, and the Mayenne; 
about eighty miles in length from north to fouth, and 
twenty-five from eaft to weft. The department is formed 
of the weftern part of Normandy. Coutances is the ca¬ 
pital. 
MAN'CHE-PRESENT, f. A bribe; a prefent from the 
donor’s own hand. An old word. 
MAN'CHESTER, a town of England, in the county 
of Lancafter, fituated on a navigable canal, at the conflux 
of the Irk and the Irwell. This is a very ancient town; 
and a ftation occupied by the ancient Britons is fuppofed 
to have been fettled here 500 years before the Chriftian era. 
It did not, however, deferve the name of a town till af¬ 
ter the invafion of this illand by the Romans, when it be¬ 
came one of the fortified retreats of the brave but undif- 
ciplined natives. At this period it was called Mancenion, 
that is, the “ place of tents but Agricola, who con¬ 
quered it A. D. 79, changed its name to Mancunium. It 
was afterwards called Manduefuedum, and Mancaftre, from 
which latter term its prefent appellation is evidently de¬ 
rived. The Romans, upon achieving the conqueft of this 
ftation, built an extenfive caltle upon the fpot now denomi¬ 
nated Caltle-field, fituated near the conflux of the Wed¬ 
lock with the Irwell; but every veftige of this is removed 
to make room for modern buildings. After having re¬ 
tained it in continued pofleflion for fomewhat more than 
400 years, the declining fortunes of Rome compelled the 
legionary loldiers to abandon it to the original pofleflors, 
whoin theirturn foonyielded ittotheirnew conquerorsand 
tyrants the Saxons. During the dynafties of that feroci¬ 
ous people, Manchefter was leveral times a place of military 
conllift, being feated on the immediate confines of the 
3 Northumbrian 
