MAN. An undergraduate in a university or college.
At Cambridge and eke at Oxford, every stripling is accounted a Man from the moment of his putting on the gown and cap.—Gradus ad Cantab., p. 75.
Sweet are the slumbers, indeed, of a Freshman, who, just escaped the trammels of "home, sweet home," and the pedagogue's tyrannical birch, for the first time in his life, with the academical gown, assumes the toga virilis, and feels himself a Man.—Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 30.
In College all are "men" from the hirsute Senior to the tender Freshman who carries off a pound of candy and paper of raisins from the maternal domicile weekly.—Harv. Mag., Vol. I. p. 264.
MANCIPLE. Latin, manceps; manu capio, to take with the hand.
In the English universities, the person who purchases the provisions; the college victualler. The office is now obsolete.
Our Manciple I lately met,
Of visage wise and prudent.
The Student, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. I. p. 115.
MANDAMUS. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., a special mandate under the great seal, which enables a candidate to proceed to his degree before the regular period.—Grad. ad Cantab.
MANNERS. The outward observances of respect which were formerly required of the students by college officers seem very strange to us of the present time, and we cannot but notice the omissions which have been made in college laws during the present century in reference to this subject. Among the laws of Harvard College, passed in 1734, is one declaring, that "all scholars shall show due respect and honor in speech and behavior, as to their natural parents, so to magistrates, elders, the President and Fellows of the Corporation, and to all others concerned in the instruction or government of the College, and to all superiors, keeping due silence in their presence, and not disorderly gainsaying them; but showing all laudable expressions of honor and reverence that are in use; such as uncovering the head, rising up in their presence, and the like. And particularly undergraduates shall be uncovered in the College yard when any of the Overseers, the President or Fellows of the Corporation, or any other concerned in the government or instruction of the College, are therein, and Bachelors of Arts shall be uncovered when the President is there." This law was still further enforced by some of the regulations contained in a list of "The Ancient Customs of Harvard College." Those which refer particularly to this point are the following:—
"No Freshman shall wear his hat in the College yard, unless it rains, hails, or snows, provided he be on foot, and have not both hands full.