so 
MAD 
canopy, confti'uCled for Philip II. The Buen-Retiro is 
another royal rnanfion, fituated in another extremity of 
Madrid, opening on the promenade of the Prado, and ex¬ 
tending to the country that borders on the road from 
Alcala to Madrid, erefted by Philip IV. This palace is 
environed by beautiful gardens, which occupy an immenfe 
area, in one of which is placed an equeftrian ftatue of 
Philip II. in bronze. Madrid has feveral promenades, but 
their difiance renders them inconvenient of accefs. Of 
tjiefe the mofi frequented is the Prado, fo often celebrated 
by the heated imagination of Spaniffi novelifts as the bufy 
feene of amorous plots and political ftratagems. It con- 
fifis of a broad avenue, planted with lofty trees, with two 
alleys at the hides; the avenue being defigned for carriages, 
and the alleys for walking. It is a very fine promenade, 
ajtd is greatly frequented : but the interett of the moving 
part of the feene falls very fhort of former delineations, 
the genteel females not being accuftomed to ftep out of 
their carriages, and the exercif'e of walking being confined 
to the lower ranks. 7 .'he palace of San Lorenzo, better 
known by the name of the adjacent village, Efcurial, is 
twenty miles to the north-welt of Madrid ; that of St. Il¬ 
defonfo is twice this diftance, and is nearly due north ; 
while Aranjuez lies on the banks of the Tagus, about 
twenty miles fouth of the capital. The Efcurial owed its 
creation, as is well known, to the gloomy and fuperltitious 
Philip II. not Philip V. as erroneoufly (fated in vol. vii. 
St. Ildefonfo is of much later date, having been built 
under Philip V. and chofen by that monarch as the place 
of his retreat on his abdication; while Aranjuez, eretted 
by the emperor Charles V. as a hunting-feat, has owed its 
additions and embellilhments to a fucceflion of princes, 
particularly thofe of the laft century. St. Ildefonfo is per¬ 
haps the molt elevated of royal refidences, being 3400 feet 
above the level of the fea. See Ildefonso, vol. x. 
Madrid has no diftinft character, no manners nor cuf- 
toms particularly appropriate; it prefents an affemblage 
of people from the provinces, each of whom brings to it 
his own hereditary peculiarities of fentiment or deport¬ 
ment, which are foon blended with thofe of his aifociates; 
from the whole there refults an indefinable mixture of 
manners and opinions, a mafs of generalities rarely 
marked by an individual (hade. What is worfe, it does 
not poflefs one manufacture from which it can derive any 
advantage. It has, indeed, three for hats, and another 
for Itained paper; but they are barely fufficient to anfwer 
the demands of the capital. There are alfo three others 
of greater note, for inlaid work in ftone, for tapeftry, and 
for porcelain ; but, as they are appropriated to the king, 
they are wholly unproductive to commerce. A confidera- 
ble manufacture of faltpetre was alfo eliablilhed in 1779, 
and in 1785 it occupied 4000 men, the number of which 
has fince been increafing. Madrid is fo deftitute of com¬ 
merce, that it is abfolutely dependent for fupport on re¬ 
mote provinces or foreign countries for every article of 
wfe or ornament, for clothes and corn, and for all the luxu¬ 
ries and neceflaries of life. In this city the amufements 
are numerous; but that which molt interefts the inha¬ 
bitants is the bull-fights. There are three theatres, 
which fcarcely receive from thofe who attend them fuffi¬ 
cient encouragement for their fupport. On Corpus-Chrilti 
day there is a grand proceffion, compofed of the fecular 
and regular clergy of Madrid, followed by the king, his 
minifters and court, each bearing in his hand a wax taper. 
As to the climate of Madrid, the Iky is almoft always 
ferene and fiee from clouds; the air is dry, pure, and 
bracing, efpecially in the winter feafon ; but it is highly 
injurious to heCtic fubjeCfs. The air is fo piercing, as to 
give rife to the proverb, that the air of Madrid deftroysa 
man, when it does not extinguilh a candle. The winds 
ir.cft prevalent are, the nbrth in winter, the fouth and weft 
ih fpring. In futhmer the beat is intenfe, and during the 
months of July and Auguft almoft infupportable. The 
ufual heat in fummer is faid to be from 75 0 to 85°; at 
night the thermbmeter feldom falls below 70°; the mean 
"MAD 
height of the barometer is 47*96. It feems to be about 
1900 feet above the level of the fea. Upon the whole, 
Madrid may be confidered as a healthy refidence. The 
various articles of food confumed in this capital are flip- 
plied by different parts of Spain. Its bread is excellent, 
and its water is pure and good. For the fupply of tile 
capital, fehemes have been adopted for rendering the finaM 
ftream of Manzanares the channel of communication with 
the provinces. With this view it was propofed to form 
a junction between the Manzanares and the Xarama; and 
.*vt length, under the aufpices of Charles III. a canal was 
formed from the bridge of Toledo near Madrid to the 
Xarama, near the village of Manzanares, which includes 
a diftance of four leagues. Lakorde's View of Spain, vol. iii. 
Townfcnd’s Travels in Spain, vols. i. ii. Burgoanne's Tra~ 
ve/s in Spain. 
MADRID', a town of America, in the northern part 
of Louifiana, feated on the weft bank of the Miffiffippi, 
fettled fome years ago by colonel Morgan, of New Jerfey, 
under the patronage of the Spanilh king, and called by 
the name of the capital of his European dominions. The 
fpot on which it was propofed by the fettlers to found a 
great city, to be called New Madrid, is fituated in lat. 36. 
30. N. and forty-five miles below the mouth of the Ohio 
river. Its limits were propofed to extend four miles fouth 
and two weft from the river, fo as to crofs a beautiful 
deep lake of clear fpring water, called St. Anne’s, a 
hundred yards wide, and feveral miles in length, empty¬ 
ing itfelf by a conftant and rapid narrow ftream through 
the centre of the city. On each fide of this lake it was 
propofed to lay out Streets a hundred feet wide, and to 
continue a road round it of the fame breadth. A (freer, 
a hundred and twenty feet feet wide, was td be formed 
on the bank of the Miffiffippi; twelve acres of land were 
to be preferved in the central part of the city, to be laid 
out and ornamented for public walks; and other lots of 
land were deltined for other public ufes. For the com¬ 
pletion of this plan, the country round this fpot prefents 
feveral inducements : it is Angularly fertile and produc¬ 
tive; the natural growth confilts of mulberry, locuft, faf- 
fafras, walnut, hickory, oak, afh, logwood. See. befides 
vines in abundance; the meadows are fertile in grafs, 
flowering plants, ftrawberries, and with culture produce 
good crops of wheat, barley, Indian corn, flax, hemp, 
and tobacco; and are eafily tilled. The climate is fa¬ 
vourable to health, and to the production of various 
kinds of fruits and vegetables. Iron and lead mines and 
fait fprings are plentiful; and the banks of the Miffiflippij 
for many leagues, commencing about twenty miles above 
the mouth of the Ohio, are a continued chain of lime- 
ftone. A fine trad of high rich level land, fouth-weft, 
weft, and north-weft, of the fpot, about twenty-five miles 
wide, extends quite to the river St. Francis. The litua- 
tion is excellently adapted to its being rendered the great 
emporium of the weftern country. 
MADRIDE'JOS, a town of Spain, in New Caftile: 
thirty miles fouth-eaft of Toledo. 
MAD'RIER ,_/1 in the military art, a thick plank, about 
eighteen inches lquare, ftrengthened on one fide with a 
ftrong band of iron, and a ftrong iron hook, and having, 
on the other fide, a cavity fufficient to receive the mouth 
of a petard when charged ; with which it is applied again ft 
a gate, or other body defigned to be broken down. Ma- 
DRIER alfo denotes a long and broad plank, ufed for fup- 
portihg the earth in mining, carrying on laps, making 
caponiers, galleries, and the like. There are alfo madriers 
lined with tin, and covered with earth; ferving as de¬ 
fences againft artificial fires, in lodgments. See. where 
there is need of being covered over head. 
MAD'RIGAL,yi [Menage derives the word from rnan- 
dra, which, in Latin and Greek, fignifies a ffieepfold ; ima¬ 
gining it to have been originally a kind of paftoral, or 
Ihepherfl’s fong; whence the Italians formerly wrote it 
mdndriale. Huet fuppofes it to be a corruption of marte- 
geaux, a name given to the inhabitants of a diftriCt of 
Provenee a 
