in which he entreated that the Jews should be allowed to ‘extol the Great and Glorious Name of the Lord in all the bounds of the Commonwealth, to have their Synagogues and the free exercise of their religion.’ With the address he published ‘A Declaration to the Commonwealth, showing his Motives for his coming to England, how Profitable the Nation of the Jews are, and how Faithful the Nation of the Jews are.’ On 13 Nov. 1655 Manasseh presented a further petition to the Lord Protector, asking him (1) to protect the Jews; (2) to grant them free public exercise of their religion; (3) the acquisition of a cemetery; and (4) freedom to trade as others in all sorts of merchandise; (5) to appoint an officer to receive their oath of allegiance; (6) to leave to the heads of the synagogue to decide about differences between Jews and Jews; (7) to repeal the laws adverse to the Jews.
An assembly of lawyers and divines, including Hugh Peters, Owen, Manton, and others, was convened by Cromwell for the purpose of considering Manasseh's arguments, and it met thrice in December. Cromwell, who presided, submitted two questions: 1. ‘Is it lawful to readmit the Jews?’ 2. ‘Under what conditions shall such readmission take place?’ The first was answered in the affirmative; on the second point there was such divergency of opinion that no decision was arrived at (see Collier, Ecclesiastical Hist. viii. 380; Mercurius Publicus, 1655). A heated pamphlet war followed. Prynne opposed Manasseh in ‘A Short Demurrer to the Jews' long-discontinued Remitter into England,’ and Manasseh replied in his ‘Vindiciæ Judæorum.’
The halting result of the conference seemed unsatisfactory to Manasseh. But Evelyn, under date 14 Dec. 1655, wrote, ‘Now were the Jews admitted’ (Diary, i. 297), and it is certain that Jews forthwith settled in London. Cromwell made important concessions to them. They bought a site for a cemetery, and soon afterwards opened a synagogue. Manasseh's efforts thus proved successful. Meanwhile he was left by his friends in London without means, and on an appeal to Cromwell he was granted an annual pension of 100l., but on 17 Nov. 1657, just after the death of his son Samuel, when he was in need of means to carry the body to Holland for burial, he appealed a second time, and received 200l. in lieu of the annual pension. He returned to Holland, and died on his way home in Middleburg, 20 Nov. 1657. He married Rachel, a great-granddaughter of Don Isaac Abrabanel, who claimed to trace his pedigree to King David. He had two sons: Joseph (d. 1648 in Lublin) and Samuel (d. 1657 in London), and one daughter named Grace. An etched portrait of Manasseh by Rembrandt belongs to Miss Goldsmid. A painting entitled ‘Manasseh ben Israel before Cromwell and his Council,’ by S. A. Hart, R.A., is in possession of the Rev. J. de K. Willians. A replica belongs to Mr. F. D. Mocatta.
Manasseh's works, apart from those already noticed, are: 1. ‘P’ne Rabba,’ in Hebrew, the revised edition of a biblical index to Rabboth, Amsterdam, 1628. 2. ‘El Conciliador,’ in Spanish, a reconcilement of apparent contradictions in the scriptures, Frankfurt, 1632, and Amsterdam, 1651; an English translation, by E. H. Lindo, was published in London, 1842. 3. ‘De Creatione,’ Problemata xxx., Amsterdam, 1635. 4. ‘De Resurrectione Mortuorum, libri iii.,’ Latin and Spanish, Amsterdam, 1636. 5. ‘De Termino Vitæ,’ in Latin, on the length of man's life, whether it is predetermined or changeable, Amsterdam, 1639. 6. ‘La Fragilitad Humana,’ on human weakness and divine assistance in good work, Amsterdam, 1642. 7. ‘Nishmath‘hayyim,’ on the immortality of the soul, in Hebrew, Amsterdam, 1651. 8. ‘Piedra gloriosa o de la estatua de Nebuchadnesar,’ an explanation of passages in the book of Daniel, 1655. A German translation of the ‘Vindiciæ Judæorum,’ by Marcus Herz, with a preface by Moses Mendelssohn, was published both at Berlin and Stettin in 1782.
[Wolf's Bibl. Hebr. iii. 703; Steinschneider's Cat. Bibl. Hebr. in Bibl. Bodl. p. 1646; Kayserling's Manasseh ben Israel (Jahrbuch für die Gesch. der Juden, ii. 83 sqq.); Graetz's Geschichte der Juden, x. 83 sqq.; Lucien Wolf's Resettlement of the Jews (Jewish Chronicle, 1887, 1888); Cal. State Papers, 1650–7; Tovey's Anglia Judaica; Picciotto's Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History; Aa's Biographisch Woordenbook der Nederlanden, xii. 121.]
MANBY, AARON (1776–1850), engineer, second son of Aaron Manby of Kingston, Jamaica, was born at Albrighton, Shropshire, 15 Nov. 1776. His mother was Jane Lane, of the Lanes of Bentley, who assisted Charles II to escape from Boscobel after the battle of Worcester [see under Lane, Jane]. Manby's early years were, it is believed, spent in a bank in the Isle of Wight, but in 1813 he was in business at Wolverhampton as an ironmaster, and under that description took out a patent in that year (No. 3705) for utilising the refuse 'slag' from blast furnaces by casting it into bricks and building blocks. About this time he founded the Horseley
