MADRID MAECENAS. 



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and a population of 13,677,000. The commerce of 

 this presidency is inconsiderable, compared with that 

 of the others, in consequence of the want of a harbour, 

 and of navigable rivers. Madras, the capital of the 

 presidency, is the largest city on the coast of Coro- 

 mandel. Lat. 13 5' N.j Ion. 80 21' E.; 1044 miles 

 from Calcutta, 770 from Bombay; population, by cen- 

 sus, in 1823, 415,751. It consists of fort St George, 

 the Native or Black town, and the European houses 

 in the environs, surrounded by gardens. The heavy 

 surf which beats on the shore, and the rapid current 

 in this part of the gulf, render the landing often dan- 

 gerous and always difficult. Boats, formed of three 

 planks sewed together, are used for crossing the surf; 

 but in stormy weather, when no boat can venture 

 through it, the native fishermen pass it on rafts called 

 catamarans. The Black town is an irregular assem- 

 blage of brick and bamboo houses, crowded together 

 in narrow and dirty streets, inhabited by Hindoos, 

 Mohammedans, Armenians, Portuguese, and other 

 Europeans engaged in the company's service. 

 The houses of the Europeans are generally of but 

 one story, surrounded with verandas ; wet mats of 

 cusa grass are placed before the doors and windows, 

 in the rainy season, to perfume and cool the apart- 

 ments ; the heat is then excessive. Besides some 

 literary and charitable institutions, Madras contains 

 the government houses, and is the seat of the supreme 

 court of the presidency. 



MADRID; the capital of Spain, is situated in 

 New Castile, and in a province of the same name, 

 on the Manzanares, near the centre of the kingdom, 

 about 200 miles from the sea ; 650 miles S. S. \V. of 

 Paris, 350 W. by S. of Rome; Ion. 3 38' W.; lat. 40 

 25' N.; population, by a census in 1825, 201,344, in- 

 cluding strangers. It is built on several eminences, 

 and is 2200 feet above the level of the sea, being the 

 most elevated capital in Europe. Seen at a distance, 

 it presents nothing that announces a great city, and, 

 the environs being destitute of wood, and even of 

 vines, while most of the villages are in hollows, the 

 prospect is uncommonly dreary. On drawing near, 

 the prospect is more cheerful. The city is of an 

 oblong form, about six miles in circuit, surrounded 

 by a high earthen wall, but has no ditch, or any other 

 means of defence. The old streets are narrow and 

 crooked, but many others are wide, straight, and 

 handsome. They are paved, kept clean, and lighted. 

 The city has 15 gates, 42 squares, mostly small, 506 

 streets, 77 churches, 75 convents, 8 colleges, and 18 

 hospitals, 65 public edifices, 17 fountains, and several 

 promenades, among which the Prado is the principal. 

 The private houses are uniform, generally low, with 

 grated windows, and have little striking in their ex- 

 terior. The churches are less magnificent than in 

 several other cities in Spain. There are two palaces 

 on a large scale the Palacio Real at the western ex- 

 tremity, and the Buen Retiro at the eastern. The 

 Palacio Real is of a square form, extending each 

 way 404 feet, 86 feet high; the enclosed court 120 

 feet square. It is strongly built, the exterior ele- 

 gantly ornamented, and contains a collection of paint- 

 ings of the best masters of Flanders, Italy, and Spain. 

 The royal library contains about 130,000 volumes, 

 and 2000 manuscripts. The great school of Madrid 

 has sixteen masters, who teach the various arts and 

 sciences. There is another seminary, on an equally 

 extensive plan, for the sons of the nobility and gentry. 

 There are academies for the study of the several fine 

 arts, a botanic garden, and a variety of charitable insti- 

 tutions. Madrid is the Mantua Carpetanorum of the 

 Romans, and the Majoritwn of the middle ages. 

 Philip II. first made it the capital of the kingdom, on 

 account of its central position. It was occupied by 

 French troops in 1808, and was the residence of 



Joseph Bonaparte until 1812 It was afterwards oc- 

 cupied by the British. In the French expedition into 

 Spain in 1823, it was again entered by the French, 

 under the duke d'Angouleme. See Spain. 



MADRIGAL; a short lyric poem adapted to ex- 

 press ingenious and pleasing thoughts, commonly on 

 amatory subjects. It contains not less than four, 

 and generally not more than sixteen, verses; and con- 

 sists, commonly, of hendecasyllables, with shorter 

 verses interspersed, or of verses of eight syllables 

 irregularly rhymed. In the soft Provengal dialect, 

 it was called madrial, because used for subjects of a 

 material, that is, of a common and low character. 

 Other derivations are given, as from mandra, which 

 signifies, in Greek and Latin, a sheepfold. The 

 earliest madrigals were those of Lemmo of Pistoia, 

 set to music by Casella, who is mentioned by Dante. 

 They were afterwards subjected to stricter rules in 

 regard to the number of verses and the rhyme. In 

 the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we find 

 madrigals for the organ and other instruments. The 

 madrigals of Tasso are among the finest specimens 

 of Italian poetry. This form has been successfully 

 cultivated by the Germans. 



MADURA ; a territory celebrated in the Hindoo 

 mythology, now forming a part of the Madras presi- 

 dency. The capital, of the same name, contains the 

 vast palace of the ancient rajahs, now going to decay, 

 with its lofty dome, ninety feet in diameter, and the 

 Great Temple, one of the most remarkable monu- 

 ments of Hindoo architecture, with its four gigantic 

 porticoes, each surmounted with a pyramid of ten 

 stories. Mahadeva, under the mystic form of the 

 lingam, is the principal object of adoration. Among 

 other remarkable places in this territory is the island 

 of Rameswara (the Lord Rama), separated from the 

 main land by a narrow strait, across which stretches 

 a line of rocks called Adam's bridge. Rama, seized 

 with compunction for the slaughter of the Brahmans 

 in his wars, here set up the holy lingam. 



MEANDER, now MEINDER ; a river of Asia 

 Minor, which takes its rise in Phrygia, on mount 

 C elan us : it forms the boundary between Caria and 

 Lydia, and flows into the JSgean sea between Priene 

 and Miletus. It was celebrated among the ancients 

 for its winding course. The name was thence trans- 

 ferred to the intertwined purple borders on mantles 

 and other dresses, as well as upon urns and vases ; 

 hence, figuratively, meandering paths, meandering 

 phrases; that is, artificial turns and circumlocu- 

 tions, &c. 



MAECENAS, C. CILNICS, the favourite of Augus- 

 tus, and patron of Virgil and Horace, traced his 

 genealogy from the ancient Etrurian kings. He has 

 been described as a pattern of every political virtue, 

 and a most generous patron of the sciences. He 

 was never, in fact, however, a public minister ; for 

 even the office of prefect of Italy and Rome, which 

 he held after the victory at Actium, was only a 

 private trust ; and the notions which are entertained 

 of him as the protector of the learned, and which 

 have made his name proverbial, seem to be very 

 much exaggerated. It is true that he collected at 

 his table poets, wits, and learned men of every 

 description, if they were pleasant companions, 

 sought their conversation, and sometimes recom- 

 mended them to Augustus ; but it was from political 

 motives, for the purpose of gaining friends for Au- 

 gustus, and extending his fame. It is true, also, 

 that he gave Horace a farm, and obtained his 

 pardon and freedom, and that he enabled Virgil 

 to recover his property ; but, for a man whom 

 Augustus had made exorbitantly rich, the present 

 to Horace was a trifle, and Virgil merely received 

 from him what was justly his own. Maecenas was 

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