508 M A 3 
rence ; but, after having for fome time employed himfalf 
there, he went to Rome, where his high merit was alfo 
recognized, and was called into practice. Among other 
works he painted, in a chapel of the church cf Santa Ma¬ 
ria Maggiore, a pi ft u re of Santa Maria della Neve, with 
four faints; in which was the portrait of pope Martin, 
painted from life, with a fpade in his hand, marking out 
the foundations of that church; and alfo that of the em¬ 
peror Sigifmund II. Vafari fays that Michael Angelo 
thought it worth while to l'tudy this pifture, which he 
praifed highly. While he was thus honourably employed 
at Rome, he heard that his friend and proteftor Coimo di 
Medici was again ftationed at the head of affairs at Flo¬ 
rence, and immediately returned there. Upon his arrival 
lie found his mailer JHaffolino dead, leaving incomplete 
feverai piftures in the chapel of the Brancacci, the finiffi- 
ing of which was immediately entrnfted to Maffaccio. 
While he was engaged in adorning the Chiefa del Car¬ 
mine, a proceffion of the hofl occurred, which gave rife 
to a picture in frefco (in which ftyle all his works are 
executed) of the peculiarities of tltat ceremony. This 
lie painted over a door which led to the adjoining con¬ 
vent, and which is now deftroyed. In it he reprefented 
a great number of citizens marching in proceffion, five or 
fix abreaft, with a propriety and variety of aftion, and in 
fo juft a perfpeftive gradation of form and colour, as per¬ 
fectly aftoniliied the beholders. Among others, he intro¬ 
duced his friends Brunellefchi, Donatello, Maffolino, An¬ 
tonio Brancacci, who endowed the chapel, &c. Thus 
fuccefsfully and ufefully ran the courfe of Maffaccio’s life 
till lie arrived at the age of forty-one, when he was fud- 
denly thatched from his honours and the world by the re- 
inorfelefs hand of death, not without fufpicion of poifon 
having been adminiftered by fome envious or malignant 
perfon. This unhappy event caufed univerfal geief 
throughout the city of Florence ; and Brunellefchi ob- 
feived, that, in the death of Maffaccio, the profeffors of 
the art had fuftained the greateft lots which could poffi- 
bly have befallen them. 
MASSACHUSETTS, conftituting, with the diftrift of 
Maine, one of the United States of America, is fituated 
between 41 0 13' and 43 0 52' N. lat. and between 69° 50' 
and 73 0 io' W. Ion. Its greateft length is 190 miles, anil 
its greateft breadth 90. in its whole extent it contains 
6250 fquare miles. On the north it is bounded by Ver¬ 
mont and- New Hamplhire ; eaft by the Atlantic ocean ; 
Ibutli by the Atlantic, Rhode Uland, and Connecticut; 
and weft by New York. Maffachufetts Proper is divided 
into twelve counties, which, with the number of inha¬ 
bitants, and chief towns in each, are exhibited in the fol¬ 
lowing table: 
Counties. 
Number of Inhabitants. 
Chief Towns. 
in 1790. 
in i&oo. 
Suffolk 
[ 440875 
1 28,015 
Bofton. 
INorfolk 
z 27,216 
Dedham. 
Effex 
57 ) 9 1 3 
61,196 
Salem. Newburyport. 
Middlelex 
4^,737 
46,928 
Charleftown. Concord. 
Hampffiire 
59,681 
72,432 
Northampton. Springfield. 
Plymouth 
* 9,535 
30,073 
Plymouth. 
Briftol 
31,709 
33,880 
Taunton. 
Barnftable 
17,354 
19,293 
Barn (table. 
Duke’s 
3,*°5 
3, n8 
Edgarton. 
Nantucket 
4,620 
5> 6i 7 
Sherburne. 
Worcefter 
56,807 
61,192 
Worcefter. 
Berkfliire 
30,291 
33,670 
Stockbrid.Gt.Barrington. 
Total 
378 , 7*7 
422,630 
Thefe numbers, added to what we have given for the dif- 
trift of Maine, at p. 161. will make a total of 474,967 in 
the year 1790, (for fo it ftiould have been printed there, 
inftead of 1700.) and of 573,526 in 1800, making an in- 
creafe of 98,549 in ten years ; the increafe in the follow¬ 
ing ten years was much greater, namely, 127,219; for, 
M A S 
at the laft cenfus'in 1810, the number of inhabitants in 
the whole State of Massachusetts was found to be 
700,745. The capital of this Hate is Bofton, which fee ; 
and this is the only ftate in the union in which there are 
no Haves. The weftern part is mountainous and hilly ; 
and by an admeafurement made by the barometer at 
Princeton, about forty-five miles north-weft from Bofton, 
and at Cambridge, in the year 1777, it appears that 
Princeton is 1332 feet higher than the level of the fta; tiie 
fumrnit of Wachufet mountain in Princeton was found 
to be 29S9 feet above the fame level, and may be feen at 
the diftance of fixty miles. 
In Maffachufetts are to be found all the varieties of 
foil, from very good to very bad, capable of yielding alt 
the different productions common to the climate, fuch as 
Indi’an corn, rye, wheat, barley, oats, hemp, flax, hops, 
potatoes, field-beans, and peafe, apples, pears, peaches, 
plums, cherries, grapes, &c. That part of the ftate 
which is diftinguilhed by the name of the Old or Ply¬ 
mouth Colony, including the counties of Barnftable, 
Duke’s, Nantucket, Briftol, and Plymouth, in point of 
foil, is the pooreft part of the ftate, being generally fandy 
and light, interfperfed however with many excellent tracts 
of land. The northern, middle, and weftern, parts of 
the ftate, have, generally fpeaking, a ftrong good foii, 
adapted to grazing and grain ; very fimilar to the foil of 
New Hampffiire and Vermont on one fide, and to that of 
Rhode Ifland and Connecticut on the other. It has-been 
obferved, that the effefts of the eaft winds extend farther 
inland than formerly, and injure the tender fruits, parti¬ 
cularly the peach, and even the more hardy apple. The * 
average produce of the good lands, well cultivated, has 
been eftimated as follows : 30 bulhels of corn on an acre, 
30 of barley, 20 of wheat, 15 of rye, 200 of potatoes. 
The belt cultivated and molt productive part of the ftate 
lies in the vicinity of Bofton: Cambridge, Newton, Rox- 
bury, Dorchefter, and Dedham, are faid to be literally 
gardens, from which the inhabitants of the capital are 
principally fupplied with the fineft fruits, roots, and ve¬ 
getables. 
The ftaple commodities of this ftate are fiffi, beef, lum¬ 
ber, &c. The country is well watered by a number of 
fmall rivers, lonie of which fall into ConneCticut-river, 
which paffes foutherly through the weft part of the ftate ; 
others run northward to Merrimack-river, which enters 
from New Hampffiire, and waters the north-eaft corner 
of the ftate; others pafs into Connecticut and Rhode 
I (land; Myftic and Charles Rivers fall into Bofton-bay ; 
and others fall into the Atlantic Ocean in different parts 
of the fea-coaft. The only capes of conliderable note on 
the coall of this ftate, are Cape Anne on the north fide of 
Maffachufetts-bay, and Cape Cod on the fouth. Belides 
thefe, there are Cape Malabar, or Sandy Point, extending 
ten miles fouth from Chatham towards Nantucket, Cape 
Poge, the north point of Chabaquiddick, and Gay Head, 
the weft point of Martha’s Vineyard. The chief bays on 
the coall are Ipfwich, Bolton, Plymouth, Cape Cod or 
Barnftable, and Buzzard’s. The iflands fcattered along 
the coall are numerous; the principal of which are Plum 
Ifland, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Eiizabeth-Ifland, 
and Edgarton, which includes the fertile ifland of Cha¬ 
baquiddick ; befides which there are many fmall illes in 
Bofton-bay. Within the ftate are feverai light-houfes. 
Locks and canals in various parts of the ftate have been 
objects of contemplation ; fuch as one between Barn- 
ftaple bay and Buzzard’s bay, another between Bolton and 
fome part of Connecticut-river ; and fome others, all of 
which remain to be completed. The locks and canals in 
Connefticut-river were projected for the purpofe of ren¬ 
dering this river paffable for boats and rafts from the 
mouth of Chickapee-river, northward, throughout the 
commonwealth. By a fubfequent law, two feparate cor¬ 
porations have been formed ; the one called the Upper 
Canals, for improving the navigation of the river between 
the mouth of Deerfield-river, and the head of the Miller’s 
1 falls; 
