62 MAD 
rank in London. Of thofe parents he was deprived while 
very young ; and he was placed in a charity.fchool, where 
he imbibed a tafte for ufeful knowledge. An attempt 
was made to put him apprentice to a paltry-cook; but his 
love of reading, and his defire after learning, feem to have 
unfitted him tor that employment; and he was, by the in- 
tereft of his friends, allowed to purfue his ltudies at one 
of the Scotch univerfities. It has been faid, but the fa ft 
feems at leaft doubtful, that he became a preacher among 
the diiTenters for a (hort time. It is certain that he re- 
i’ufed to take orders in the church of Scotland ; and, pro¬ 
bably by his talents, obtained the patronage of bifliop 
Giblon. He was, by the intereft of that learned prelate, 
admitted of Queen’s college, Cambridge, and foon after 
received epifcopal ordination. He was firft appointed cu¬ 
rate of St. Bride’s, and then domeflic chaplain to Dr. 
Waddington, bifliop of Chichefter, whofe niece he marri¬ 
ed; and was afterwards promoted to the reflory of St. Ve- 
daft, Fofter-lane, London. In the year 1729 he was ap¬ 
pointed clerk of the clofet to queen Caroline, about which 
time he was created a doflor by a diploma from Lambeth. 
In 1733, he was made dean of Wells, and in the fame year 
he publifhed “ A Vindication of the Government, Doc¬ 
trine, and Worlliip, of the Church of England, eftabliihed 
in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.” The work was a fort 
of anfwer to, or attack on, Neal’s Hiftory of the Puritans. 
This defence of the church, together with his interelt by 
marriage and otherwife, paved the way for his preferment; 
and he was in 1736 coniecrated bifliop of St. Afaph, from 
which fee he was tranflated in 1743 to that of Worcefter. 
Excepting the volume already referred to, the bifhop pub- 
liftied only fourteen Angle fermons, preached on public 
occafions, between the years 1734 and 1752. The bifliop 
died in 1759, about the age of iixty-two. As a prelate, 
lie difcharged the duties of his ftation with fidelity and 
much diligence ; in the government of the clergy he acted 
the part of a prudent and affectionate father. He was 
always liberal, and in many inltances munificent: dur¬ 
ing his life, he gave two hundred pounds a-year towards 
the augmentation of the fmaller benefices of his diocefe. 
He was a zealous encourager of public and benevolent in- 
ititutions. To the London hofpitals he was a great bene¬ 
factor, and was among the fir It promoters of the Worcef- 
ter infirmary. In his manners he was diltinguiflied for 
cheerfulnefs, affability, and good nature ; and was at all 
times above the falfe pride of concealing his humble ori¬ 
gin : at one of his entertainments he preffed the com¬ 
pany to talte his paltry, faying “ he believed it was good, 
but he could affure them that it was not of his own ma¬ 
nufacture.” Nichols's Literary Anecdotes. 
MA'DE, a town of Holland : four miles weft of Ger- 
trudtnburg. 
MADE'E, a town of Hindooftan, in Tellingana: thirty- 
eight miles welt of Warangole. 
MADEFAC'TION,y. \_madefacio, Lat.] The aft of 
making wet.—To all madefadion there is required an im¬ 
bibition. Bacon. 
To M DETY, v. a. To moiften ; to make wet. 
MA'DEr Y 1 NG, /. The act of moiftening. 
MADE'iRA, an ifland in the Atlantic, and the prin¬ 
cipal ot a group called the Madeiras ; about 150 miles in 
#ircumference, of a triangular form ; fo called by the Por- 
tuguele, from its being, when firft they landed on it, co- 
vertd with wood. 
The following is the popular tradition of the difeovery 
of Madeira. One Machin, an Englifhman ot obfeure birth, 
had ralien in love with a young damfel, called Anne d’Ar- 
let, or d’Arcy, of exquifite beauty, and of a noble family, 
which, dildaining fo Iowan alliance, though Machin had 
gained her affcftions, obtained a warrant from the king to 
keep him in prifon until the lady was perfuaded to marry 
a nobleman who took her immediately to his feat near 
Briftol. Machin, being fome time afterwards releafed, 
found means to convey the lady on-board a veffel provided 
to carry them to France. When they were far at fea, a 
M A D 
ftorm arofe, and they were toffed for thirteen days on the 
waves out of fight of land. At length they perceived 
fomething that.appeared like an ifland, overgrown with 
wood. The fliip loon came to anchor ; and Machin and 
the lady, with a few attendants, went on-fhore. In the 
courfe of the night a tempeftdrove the veffel from her an¬ 
chor, and carried her to the coaft of Barbary, w here flic 
was wrecked, and the feamen made captives by the Moors. 
The lady, affeCted by this difafter, died in a" Ihort time ; 
and Machin, through grief, loon followed her. Their 
attendants, rendered delperate by the lofs of their con¬ 
ductor, quitted the ifland, and, betaking themfelves to the 
open boat, put out to fea, without knowing what courfe 
to fleer. After a feries of adventures, they fell in with 
a, Spaniard, who, delighted with their (lory, communi¬ 
cated it to Gongalves Zargo, lent out by^ the king of 
Portugal on a voyage of difeovery, and prevailed upon 
him to fail in fearch of the ifland, who in a little time 
found it. This ftory, though unnoticed by De Barros, 
the Livy of the Portuguefe, is not only authenticated by 
a contemporary hiftorian, but, after a very minute inquiry 
of the late Rev. Mr. Roberts, we are alfured, Hands on as 
fair a foundation as any other hiltorical fail. The gentle¬ 
man we allude to, being a clergyman of the Roman-ca-> 
tholic perfualion, and a native of Oporto, had the moft 
favourable opportunities of afeertaining the fact, which 
diligence, knowledge of the languages, andaccefs to every 
library, could afford him ; and expreffed his firm perfua- 
fion that the legend of Machin was, if not in all, at leaft 
in molt, refpeCts true. At Maxico, a town in the eaftern 
extremity ot the ifland, a fmall chapel was fliown, of which 
the following was the hiftory given by the inhabitants* 
That the Englilhtnan (Machin), on the demife of his wife, 
had ereCted a crofs, w ith an infeription, requelting that, 
Ihould hereafter any Chriftian by chance refort to the 
illand, a chapel might be built, in which maffes fliould 
be performed for the foul of his Anne ; that the above 
chapel was ereCIed on the fpot, and the crofs, made of ce¬ 
dar, was preferved near the altar. This crofs was always 
exhibited. It was, however, much diminilhed, on account 
of fmall pieces being given to different vifitors, fo that 
it was at lait nailed to another and larger wooden crofs, 
to preferve its form, and keep it together. This chapel 
had certainly greater marks of antiquity than any other 
building in this town. It was unfortunately walhed away 
in that memorable flood which occurred in October 1803 ; 
(fee Funchal, vol. viii.) fo that, at this time, nothing re¬ 
mains to commemorate the event but the picture above al¬ 
luded to, in the caltle-hall- 
De Barros, who confiders the ifland as difeovered by 
Gcngalves Zargo in June 1419, informs us, that, as foon 
as it was divided into captainlhips (Maxico and Funchal), 
the firft ftep taken by the new fettlers was to fet fire to the 
trees, the fore ft being every-where impenetrable. Nothing 
can be better confirmed by every lpecies of evidence than 
th-efe faffs, and that the illand derived its name from the 
quantity of its wood. The word Madeira has the fame 
lignification as the Latin materia, from which it is only 
vernacularifed, the Portuguefe frequently fubftitufing d 
for the Latin t, and tranlpofing the r from its fituation 
with its connecting vowel; of which we need give no more 
familiar inftances than padre and fradre for pater and /ra¬ 
ter, when uled in a fpiritual fenle. That materia is the 
claffical term for forelt-trees, we have the authority of Cse- 
far in his Commentaries, who remarks of Britain, “ Mate¬ 
ria cujufque generis, ut in Gallia, eft; piaster fagum et 
abietem.” At this time the trunks of immenfe cedars 
are often difeovered ; but all the original trees themfelves 
feem extinCf, and, in the inhabited part of the illand, to 
have given place to chefnut trees. The land is fuppofed 
to have derived its great fertility from this conflagration, 
which is faid, and with much probability, to have conti¬ 
nued in different parts for leven years; and fo great was 
the devaftation as to occalion much inconvenience to the 
colony for many years afterwards, from the want of timber. 
That 
