£74 MAN 
in various honourable offices. He was feveral times de¬ 
puted to prefide over the public ftudies, which peculiarly 
flourifhed under his fuperintendance. He was Tent on 
embaffies to the republic of Genoa, to king Alphonfo of 
Naples, to Francis Sforza, to the popes Eugenius IV. and 
Nicholas V. to feveral of the Italian ftates, and to the em¬ 
peror Frederic III. and on all thefe occafions he gave 
proof of great prudence and dexterity in the management 
of affairs, and of an eloquence which was the objeft of 
univerfal admiration. In fine, he was railed to the higher 
rank of magistracy in Florence, and was entrulted with 
the government of various cities, efpecially that of Piftoia, 
in which he gained general applaufe for his wifdom and 
integrity. He met, however, with caufes of diffatisfaftion 
which induced him to retire to the court of Nicholas V. 
who received him with great honour ; and, as he was cited 
to return to Florence on pain of banifliment, the pope de¬ 
puted him thither with the character of his ambaffador. 
His condnCt in that fituation fo ingratiated him with his 
countrymen, that from a culprit he became a principal ma- 
giftrate, He afterwards returned to Rome, and was made 
lecretary to Nicholas V. in which poll he was continued 
by Callixtus III. Going to Naples on private bufinefs, 
Alphonfo kept him there with an ample penfion for three 
years, during which he compofed the greateff part of his 
works. He then revifited his own country ; and, return¬ 
ing to Naples, died there in 1459, with the character of 
one of the inoft learned and worthy men of his age. Ma- 
netti was particularly famous for his knowledge of the 
Hebrew language, which he employed to confute the Jews 
from their own Scriptures.'* Againft them he wrote a 
work in ten books, which remains in manufcript in the 
Laurentian library. His acquaintance with the Greek 
was fhown by a verfion of the New Teftament, and of 
fome works of Aritfotle and other ancient philofophers. 
Among his printed works are, 1. The Hiftory of Piftoia. 
2. The Lives of Nicholas V. Dante, Petrarch, and Boc¬ 
caccio. 3. Funeral Oration of Leonardo Bruni. 4. Four 
books De Dignitate & Excellentia Hominis. 5. Orations. 
Tirabofchi. 
MANET'TIA, f. [fo named by Mutis and Linnaeus, 
in honour of Xavier Manetti, curator of the botanic garden 
at Florence, who was born in the year 1723, and died in 
1784. He publifhed, in 1747, a catalogue of fuch plants 
as grew in the garden at Florence, interfperfed with ob- 
fervations on the falutary and hurtful properties of vege¬ 
tables. He alfo wrote a treatife upon the domeftic eco¬ 
nomy of making bread from different kinds of corn, but 
upon the whole prefers that which is made from Triticum 
polonicum.] In botany, a genus of the clafs tetrandria, 
order monogynia, natural order of contort®, (rubiaceae, 
JuJf.) The generic characters are—Calyx: perianthium 
eight-leaved; leaflets linear, concave, hirfute, permanent. 
Corolla : one-petalled, falver-fhaped ; tube cylindric, 
longer than the calyx, fcored on the infide with four 
lines; border four-parted ; divifions fhorter than the tube, 
ovate, obtufe, bearded within. NeCtary a rim furround¬ 
ing the receptacle, quite entire, concave. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments four, filiform, very fmall, inferted into the throat; 
anther® linear, incumbent, two-celled. Piflillum : germ 
inferior, turbinate, compreffed ; ityle filiform, declined, 
the length of the tube ; fiigma bifid, thickifh blunt. Pe- 
ricarpium : capfule turbinate, compreffed, grooved on 
both fides, one-celled, two-valved, or feparable as it were 
into two capfules. Seeds: few, flat, winged, orbjculate 
with a central feedlet, imbricate at a pulpy oblong pillar. 
—EJJential Chara&cr. Calyx eight-leaved ; corolla four- 
clett; capfules inferior, two-valved, one-celled ; feeds 
imbricate, orbicular, with a central feedlet. 
Species. 1. Manettia reclinata, or reclining manettia : 
leaves ovate, acute, pubefcent; Item reclining, herbaceous. 
Root annual. Stem weak, branched. Leaves oppofite, 
approximating, fubciliate, an inch and a half long. Flowers 
white. Native of Mexico. 
a. Manettia lygiltum ; leaves ovate, acute, veined j ftem 
M A N 
twining, fuffrutefeent. This weakly fhrub rifes by avery 
branched flexuofe flem to the height of about feven feer, 
and is every-where adorned with moderately-large ovate 
leaves difpofed in an oppofite order. The twigs or boughs 
begin to fhoot almoft immediately above the root; and 
they, as well as the fucceeding branches, rife generally to 
the height of the main ftem, and are furnifbed with bunches 
of flowers towards the top, which generally rife by long 
branched peduncles from the axils. Native of Jamaica, 
3. Manettia coccinea, or fcarlet manettia: leaves 
ovate, acuminate ; clufters many-flowered ; ftem twining, 
fhrubby. Root perennial ; Items numerous, knotty, 
branched, fquare. Leaves at the knobs, in pairs, oppo¬ 
fite, on footftalks, fmooth. Flowers in clutters, the tube 
of the corolla white, marked with red dots; the limb of 
a fcarlet colour above, downy ; the mouth of the tube 
clofed with yellow hairs. Native of Guiana, where it 
flowered and fruited in May. 
4. Manettia pifta, or painted manettia: leaves ovate, 
acute; calyx four-toothed; ftem twitting and climbing, 
fhrubby. Found at the fame place with the latt, from 
which it differs in having the calyx four-toothed; the co¬ 
rolla fhorter and white; the leaves broader, and variegated 
with yellow. 
5. Manettia lanceolata, or lanceolate manettia : leaves 
lanceolate; flowers five-ftamened. Stem fhrubby. Pe¬ 
duncles terminating, often in threes, the fide ones three 
times as long as that in the middle, bifid at top. Flowers 
at firft heaped, then in racemes, directed one way; with 
briftle-fhaped leaflets at the bafe of the calyx. Capfules 
crowned with the calyx. It agrees with Manettia in the 
corolla, neCtary, ftigma, and pericarpium ; differing only ia 
the number of ttamens and fegments of the calyx. Allied 
to Cinchona. 
MAN'FALOUT, or Mamf-Lot, a town of Egypt, oa 
the left fide of the Nile, a mile from th3t river. Its name 
fignifies in Arabic “the place of Lot’s exile;” and it is 
fo called from a tradition of the Copts, that a perfon of 
the name of Lot was banifhed thither by his brother, one 
of the ancient kings of Egypt. The town is tolerably 
large, being about a mile in circumference; and its ftreets 
are wide and well paved. It is the capital of a diftriCt, 
and fituated in a country that furnifhesabundance of pro¬ 
ductions of every kind; its walls are fhaded by fruit-trees, 
overtopped by a number of lofty palms. It is governed 
by a kiatfehef, and is the fee of a bifhop, who prefides over 
about two hundred Chriftians. Its commerce confitts of 
all forts of grain, and of linen cloths, which are manu¬ 
factured here in great quantities. The Turks have dif¬ 
ferent mofques, as well as a garrifon, in this place. Op¬ 
pofite to it is a Coptic convent, on the eaft bank of the 
Nile, which is wholly inclofed with high walls, and into 
which the only mode of admifiion (in order to be fecure 
againft the rapacious Arabs), is that of being hoifted up 
in a batket, by means of a pulley; whence it has obtained 
the name of the “Convent of the Pulley.” Two leagues 
below Manfalout, on the eaft bank of the Nile, is a chain 
of very high mountains, formed entirely of barren rock; 
the waters of the river have undermined them, fo that 
their fummit projects confiderably beyond their bale. 
This chain of rocks is called the Mountain of Aboufeda, 
from the name of a Muflulman faint who is buried there, 
and in honour of whom a fmall chapel has been erected. 
By the fide of this monument of piety, fome men of the 
fame religion, who are devout worfhippers of the faint, 
and at the fame time determined robbers, live in retreats 
dug in the rock, and formerly, as it is faid, inhabited by 
anchorites; but thefe excavations are more probably bu¬ 
rial places and ancient tombs. However this be, the per- 
fons who now occupy them are the molt formidable pirates 
that obltruCl the navigation of Egypt, and alfo the nroft 
difficult to be exterminated, as they take refuge in the 
inacceflible cavities of thefe mountains. Manfalout is 
thirteen miles north-north-weft of Siout. Lat. 27. 42. N. 
Ion. 31. 36, E, 
MANTORT, 
