72 „ M A D 
perform my tour; and get, perhaps, as much ufeful know¬ 
ledge' as will enable me to pay my men their due without 
incurring ruin.—Staggered by the acutenefs of the’fe an- 
fwers, the medical gentleman-was with difficulty induced 
to fign the certificate of his lunacy ; and, at laft, did it 
with that want of ftrong conviction which left it a burden 
on his mind. In a little time all doubts however were 
removed ; the man threw himfelf over the balluftrades of a 
ftaircafe, although with but little injury. On being afked 
what induced him to do this, he faid, that he long had it 
in intention, and had only waited for God’s confent : 
that he, that morning, had put a piece of paper on the 
frame of the window, to afcertain whether his intention 
was approved. If the paper blew outwards, he was to 
infer he had permifiion ; and, if inwards, not. Well, he 
was afkecf, did it blow outwards ? No, he anfwered, it 
remained where I placed it, from which I concluded the 
anfwer was, I might do which I liked, and therefore I 
threw rnyfelf down flairs.—Let it be considered, that if, in 
the firft infiance, the medical man had refufed to certify 
this man to be mad, and any ferious mifchief had fol¬ 
lowed, the heavieft reproaches would have been heaped 
on him ; and a difinterefied opinion, delivered according 
to the befi of his judgment, might have ferioufly hurt his 
profeffional character. Parhinfon's Obfervations on the A£l 
for regulating Madhou/es. 
MADNE'TI, a town of Hindooftan, in Myfore: eigh¬ 
teen miles eaft of Bangalore. 
MAD'NING-MONEY. Old Roman coins,found about 
Dunllable, are fo called by the country people ; and have 
their name from Magintum, ufed by the emperor Anto¬ 
ninus, in his Itinerary, for Dunftable. 
MADODEN'QUICK, a river of New Brunfwick, which 
runs into.the St. John in lat. 46. 19. N. Ion. 67. 34. W. 
MA'DOLAND, a town of Kentaoon ; five miles north- 
weft of Kerigar. 
MADOMGUN'GE, a town of Hindooftan, in Bahar: 
feven miles fouth of Bahar. 
MA'DON, a river of France, which rifes in the Vofges, 
and runs into the Mofelle ten miles fouth-eaft of Toul. 
MA'DON, a city of the Land of Canaan. Jobab, king 
of Madon, confederated with Jabin, king of Hazor, and 
others, againft Jofliua; but was taken and killed, and his 
city dellroyed. The fituation of Madon is unknown: 
it is mentioned only in Jofh. xi. i. and xii. 19. Calmet 
thinks the true reading would be Maron, inftead of Ma¬ 
don ; as there is a place called Maronia, in Syria, about 
thirty miles from Antioch, north of Mount Libanus; and 
lie obferves, that the Hebrew really has Meron, or Meroon, 
in the latter paflage, Jofli. ii. 19. Add to this the great 
iimilarity between the letters T and ”) ; and it will ap¬ 
pear very probable that the original word was Maron, or 
Meron, in both places, 
MADO'NA, a frnall ifland in the Mediterranean : five 
miles fouth-weft of Nyfari. Lat. 36. 31, N. Ion. 26.49. E. 
MADO'NA di SCO'PIA, a town on the eaft coalt of 
the ifland of Zante : two miles fouth-eaft of Zante. 
MADO'NIA, a mountain of Sicily, in the valley of 
Mazara : thirty-five miles fouth-eaft of Palermo, and thirty 
north-north-eaft of Girgenti. 
MADON'NA, [Italian.] A name generally given to 
pictures of the virgin Mary.— Madonna, Titian. Madonna, 
Schidoni. Catalogue of Pidures in Devonfiire-houfe. —[Ufed 
by Shakefpeare for] Madam.—Two faults, Madonna, that 
drink and good counfel will amend. Twelfth Night. 
MADONNI'NA,y. A filver coin of Genoa, of which 
there are the double, Angle, and half, at 40, 20, and 10, 
foldi. The double madonnina (the Angle and half piece 
being in proportion) weighs 5 dwt. 195 gr. contains, in 
pure filver, 116-2 grains, and its value is is. 4jd. fterling. 
The impreflion is a whole-length figure of the virgin 
ftanding, with her head encircled by ltars : legend, sub 
tuum presidium, (Under thy protection,) with the 
date; and round the figure, ne derelino. nos, (Do not 
forfake us:) reverfe, arms of Genoa j legend, dux et 
M A B 
cub. reip. cenu. (Doge and governor of the republic 
of Genoa.) 
MADOO', a fmail ifland in the Eaftern Indian Sen, 
Lat. 7.31 S. ,lon. 1-22.18. E, 
MADOOSAR'RY, or Madoogarv, a town of Hin¬ 
dooftan, in Coimbetore : fix miles fouth-fouth-weft of 
Coimbetore. 
MADOO'R, a river of Hindooftan, which rifes in the 
Myfore, about twenty miles north-north-weft of Sera, and 
runs into the Cauvery thirty-fix miles below Seringapatam. 
MADOOSAN'D, a town of Hindooftan, in Rohilcund. 
MADO'RE, a town of Hindooftan, in Myfore : eight 
miles north of Seringapatam. 
MADRAPOU'R, a town of Bengal: twenty miles 
fouth-eaft of Boglipour. 
MADRAS', or Foft St. George, called by the na¬ 
tives China-patam, a town of Hindooftan, on the coaft of 
Coromandel, dole to the margin of the fea. It was about 
the year 1620 that the Englilh Eaft-India company ob¬ 
tained leave of the king of Golconda to fettle at Madras- 
patan, where they were permitted to build the fort called 
St. George ; which place has ever fince been the com¬ 
pany’s general faCtory for their trade to all parts eaft of 
Cape Comorin. Others fay, that Madras was fettled by 
the Englilh about the year 1640 ; and it isalfo faid, that 
the town was built in the reign of Charles II. by order of 
the Eaft-India company, under the fuperintendance of fir 
William Langhorne. As he placed it in the midlt of a‘ 
Tandy defert, altogether dry, and where there was no wa¬ 
ter fit for drinking, except what was fetched from the 
diftance of more than a mile, people were curious to know 
what reafons could have induced him to make fo bad a 
choice. His friends pretended that his view was to draw ; 
thither all the trade of St. Thomas, which has actually 
been the confequence; while his enemies imputed it to a 
defire of continuing in the neighbourhood of a miftrefs he 
had in that Portuguefe colony. In the rainy feafon, the' 
fea threatens deftruction on one fide, while the river, me¬ 
nacing an inundation, is no lefs terrifying 01/the other* 
From April to September the fun’s heat is fcorching ; and, 
if it were not mitigated by the lea-breezes, the place 
would not be habitable. In the vicinity of the city the . 
foil is fo dry and Tandy, that it does not produce a Tingle 
blade of grafs fpontaneoufly, nor any corn without great 
labour of culture. The roots, herbage, and vegetables,: 
confumed in this place, are brought from a conliderable 
diftance. It is ftiil a more unfavourable circumltance, 
regarding the place in a commercial view, that, in com¬ 
mon with all the other European fettlements on this coaft, 
Madras has no port for Ihipping ; the coaft forming nearly 
a ftraight line ; and it is alfo incommoded with a high . 
and dangerous furf that breaks upon it, and induces the 
neceflity of ufing the boats of the country for the purpofe 
of landing. Thefe are of a Angular conftruftion, being 
formed without ribs or keel, with flat bottoms, and hav¬ 
ing their planks fewed together; iron being totally ex¬ 
cluded throughout the whole fabric. By this conftruc-, 
tion they are rendered flexible enough to elude the effefts 
of the violent Ihocks which they receive by the dalhing 
of the waves or furf on the beach ; and which either overfets 
or breaks to pieces a boat of European conftruflion. No 
port for large veffels occurs between Trincomalee and the 
Ganges, that is, in an extent of fifteen degrees; fo that 
the comparative proximity of the former to Madras and 
Pondicherry renders it a capital object, both to the Eng- 
lifli and French. Neverthelefs, Madras has been reckoned 
among the richeft ports in India. Notwithllanding local 
difad vantages, the company find it convenient in other 
relpe&s, elpecially as to their trade in calicoes, chintzes, 
and muflins, diamonds, &c. and in putting off their Eu¬ 
ropean wares moft (ought after there, vjz. (lockings, ha- 
berdalhery, gold and lilver lace, looking-glaffes, drinking- 
glaffes, lead, wines,.cider, cheefe, hats, fluffs, ribbons, &c. 
The fort of St. George defends this (ettlement. It is 
fituated fo near the fea, that a hurricane, which happened 
in 
