countrymen. Many of the French were massacred before they could collect and bring their force to act: but what could the people effect against so great a military force, prepared for such an insurrection, and eager, the leaders from political, the men from personal feelings, to strike a blow which should overawe the Spaniards and make themselves be respected?' We must insert the rest of his eloquent description of this horrid scene: it cannot but endear to Englishmen the peace and liberties which have certainly cost them much. The French poured into the city from all sides, their flying artillery was brought up, in some places the cavalry charged the populace, in others the streets were cleared by repeated discharges of grape-shot. The great street of Alcala, the Puerta del Sol, and the great square, were the chief scenes of slaughter. In the latter the people withstood several charges, and the officer who commanded the French had two horses killed under him: General Grouchy also had a horse wounded. The infantry fired volleys into every cross street as they passed, and fired also at the windows and balconies. The people, when they felt the superiority of the French, fled into the houses; the doors were broken open by cominand of the generals of brigade, Guillot and Daubrai, and all within who were found with arms were bayoneted; and parties of cavalry were stationed at the different outlets of Madrid to pursue and cut down those who were flying from the town. A part of the mob, seeking an unworthy revenge for their defeat, attacked the French hospital; and some of the Spaniards who were employed within, encouraged at their approach, fell upon the sick and upon their medical attendants. But these base assailants were soon put to flight. At the commencement of the conflict Murat ordered a detachment of 200 men to take possession of the arsenal. Two officers happened to be upon guard there, by name Daoiz and Velarde, the former about thirty years of age; the latter, some five years younger, was the person who had been sent to compliment Murat on his arrival in Spain. Little could they have foreseen, when they went that morning to their post, the fate which awaited them, and the renown which was to be its reward! Having got together about twenty soldiers of their corps, and a few countrymen who were willing to stand by them, they brought out a twenty-four pounder in front of the arsenal, to bear upon the straight and narrow street by which the enemy must approach, and planted two others in like manner to command two avenues which led into the street of the arsenal. They had received no instructions, they had no authority for acting thus, and, if they escaped in the action, their own government would without doubt either pass or sanction a sentence of death against them for their conduct; never, therefore, did any men act with more perfect self-devotion. Having loaded with grape, they waited till the discharge would take full effect, and such havoc did it make, that the French instantly turned back. The possession of the arsenal was of so much importance at this time, that two columns were presently ordered to secure it: they attempted it at the cost of inany lives, and the Spaniards When morning On the 20th of July Joseph Buonaparte made his public entry as king of Spain; but, on the 27th of the same month, found it necessary to retreat. He re-entered Madrid on the 5th of December, and remained till lord Wellington's operations in 1812 made it requisite for him to go to the assistance of Marmont. The battle of Salamanca was now fought; and Madrid being entered by a body of British troops, on the 12th of August, was occupied by them, until marshal Soult advanced from Andalusia. It now remained in possession of the French till the year following, when the battle of Vittoria led to its final liberation. 650 miles S. S. W. of Paris, and 850 west by south of Rome. MAD'RIER, n.s. Fr. madrier. A plank used in offence and defence by besiegers. See below. Madrier, in war, is a thick plank, armed with iron plates, having a cavity sufficient to receive the mouth Their tongue is light and trifling in comparison of the English; more proper for sonnets, madrigals, and elegies, than heroick poetry. Dryden. A madrigal is a little amorous piece, which contains a certain number of unequal verses, not tied to the scrupulous regularity of a sonnet, or subtility of an epigram: it consists of one single rank of verses, and in that differs from a canzonet, which consists of several strophes, which return in the same order and number. Bailey. MADURA, MATHURA, or MADRU, a district in the Southern Carnatic, chiefly situated between 9° and 10° of N. lat. To the north it is bounded by Dindigul and the Polygar territory, to the south by Tinevelly, on the east by the district of Marawas, and on the west by Dindigul. The chief rivers are the Vaygaroo and Candaroo; and the principal towns Madura and Scholavanden. The ancient sovereigns of this country were of the Pandian race: it is supposed to have been the Pandion Mediterraneum, and Madura Regia Pandionis of Ptolemy. In conjunction with Trichinopoly it forms the Hindoo geographical division of Madru. This district never attained the cultivation of Tanjore and some other of the neighbouring districts, until transferred to the British in 1801 by the nabob of Arcot. During the early Carnatic wars, from 1740 to 1760, a great proportion of it was covered with forests and thick jungle, in the recesses of which the independent polygars had their castles. It is comprehended in the Dindigul collectorship, and, having long enjoyed tranquillity, is rapidly rewarding the care of the British government. MADURA, a city of the Southern Carnatic, the capital of the district of Madura, stands in lat. 9° 51' N., long. 78° 13′ E., the four sides fronting nearly the four cardinal points. The river, passing from the north-west, washes the walls at the north-east angle; and the bed, unless immediately after heavy rains, lies in dry flats of sand, on some of which are buildings with channels between them. This town, during the Carnatic wars, sustained many sieges, and was often in the hands of refractory polygars. The fortress has not of late been thought worth maintaining. Travelling distance from Seringapatam 240 miles, from Madras 307. MADURA, an island in the Eastern Seas, situated off the north-east coast of Java, from which it is separated by a narrow strait, is in length about 100 miles, by sixteen the average breadth. The channel of the straits, where it narrows, is only eighty-three fathoms wide, and marked with buoys; at the entrance there are but three fathoms water, yet ships of a large size can pass it, the bottom being soft mud, which is easily worked through with a light breeze. In 1747 the Dutch invaded and subdued this island, and in 1775 it contained 30,000 tjatgars, or families. At that period a Dutch junior merchant resided here, at Samanap, the capital, but the commerce was of little account. The language is a dialect of the Javanese; but the greater part of the natives profess the religion of their ancestors, and resemble the Hindoos in their looks, the mark on their forehead, and the suttees of their women. They are particularly addicted to the worship of Indra, Surya, and Vishnu. They appear to have ideas of a future life, but not as a state of retribution; conceiving immortality to be the lot of the rich, rather than of good men. The inhabitants of the interior possess a considerable knowledge of vegetable poisons, which they apply to their arrows, and then blow them through tubes of bamboo. Samanap is on the south-east coast: eighty-two miles distant is Bancallan, at which the sultan resides. Parmacassan is also a chief town of the interior. The island is said to be fertile, but thinly peopled. MEANDER, in ancient geography, a celebrated river of Asia Minor, rising near Celænæ. It flows through Caria and Ionia into the Ægean Sea between Miletus and Priene, after receiving the waters of the Marsyas, Lycus, Eudon, Lethæus, &c. It is celebrated among the poets for its numerous windings, and hence windings in general are called mæanders. MÆATÆ, or MEATS, an ancient people of Britain, who inhabited the middle part of the island. Their territories lay between the two Roman walls, and comprehended the country since called Northumberland, and the territories between it and the Firths of Clyde and Forth. Dunbritton or Dunbarton was their capital; and they had kings of their own till the Norman conquest. Such is Dr. Anderson's account of the Mæate; but others say their territories comprehended only the district now called Lauderdale. MÆCENAS (Caius Cilnius), the great friend and counsellor of Augustus, and the celebrated and liberal patron and protector of men of letters. He was descended from the kings of Etruria, but his immediate forefathers were only of the equestrian order. He is supposed to have been born in Rome, as his family lived there; but nothing is known of him previous to the death of Cæsar, A. U. C. 709; when Octavius Cæsar went to Rome to take possession of his uncle's inheritance, and Mæcenas became. first publicly known. From that time he accompanied him through all his fortunes, so that Pado Albinovanus called him Cæsar's right hand. In A. U. C. 710 Macenas distinguished himself by his courage and military skill at the battle of Modena, as he did afterwards at Philippi. After this last battle began his memorable friendship with Horace, who was a tribune in the army of Brutus, and was taken prisoner. Mæcenas recommended him to Augustus, who restored to him his estate with no small additions. The league made at Brundusium, between Antony and Augustus, was negociated by Mæcenas on the part of the latter. (See Hor. Sat. v. 1. 1.) In A. U. C. 717, when Augustus and Agrippa went to Sicily to Sextus Pompeius by sea, Mæcenas, who accompanied them, was sent back to appease some commotions at Rome. After the battle of Actium he was placed over the military affairs of the empire; and, while Augustus was extinguishing the remains of the civil war in Asia and Egypt, Mæcenas detected a conspiracy to assassinate the emperor on his return to Rome, and put to death young Lepidus the founder of it. The civil wars being ended, Augustus returned to Rome; and from this time Mæcenas indulged himself in literary amusements. His house was open to all the learned of his time; Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Varius, Fuscus, Aristius, Asinius Pollio, and many others, whom it would be tedious to mention. All these dedicated their works, or parts of them, to Mæcenas, and celebrated his praises; and Plutarch says, even Augustus himself inscribed his commentaries to him and to Agrippa. Mæcenas continued in favor with Augustus to the end of his life, but not without interruption, the emperor forming an intrigue with Mæcenas's wife. It is to the honor of Augustus that he received the private admonitions of Macenas in the same friendly manner in which they were given, and he was not displeased with the liberty which he once took of sending to him a paper with these words written upon it, surge carnifex,'' rise butcher,' while he was sitting on his judgment seat, and betraying revenge and impatience in his countenance. He was struck with the admonition, and left the tribunal without passing sentence of death on the criminals. Maecenas died in the year 8 B C. or 745 A. U. C., but at what age is not known. He is often called an old man by Pædo Albinovanus, a contemporary poet, whose elegy upon him is extant. He made Augustus his heir; and recommended his friend Horace to bim. Though he was on the whole a virtuous character, yet he was very luxurious and effeminate. But his name will ever be venerated by men of letters, on account of the disinterested patronage and support he gave to all the wits and learned men of his time, whence his name has become almost an appellative for a patron of learning and genius. He was also an author himself; as he wrote, 1. A History of Animals: 2. A Journal of the Life of Augustus: 3. A Treatise on Precious Stones: 4. Octavia: and, 5. Prometheus, Tragedies: with several other works but they are all lost. 6 MAELSTROM, a dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Norway, near the island of Moskoe, whence it also has its name of Moskoe-strom. Betwixt Lofoden and Moskoe the depth of the water is between thirty-six and forty fathoms; but on the other side, towards Ver, the depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel, without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which happens even in the calmest weather. When it is flood, the stream runs up the country between Lofoden and Moskoe with a boisterous rapidity; but the roar of its impetuous ebb to the sea is scarcely equalled by the loudest and most dreadful cataracts; the noise being heard several leagues off; and the vortices or pits are of such an extent and depth that, if a ship comes within the attraction, it is inevitably absorbed and carried down to the bottom, and there beaten to pieces against the rocks; and, when the water relaxes, the fragments thereof are thrown up again. But these intervals of tranquillity are only at the turn of the ebb and flood, in calm weather; and last but a quarter of an hour, its violence gradually returning. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norway mile of it; boats, ships, and yachts, having been carried away, by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. It likewise happens frequently that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by its violence; and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings in their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. A bear once attempting to swim from Lofoden to Moskoe, with a design of preying upon the sheep at pasture in the island, afforded a similar spectacle; the stream caught him and bore him down, whilst he roared so terribly as to be heard on shore. Large stocks of firs and pine trees, after being absorbed by the current, rise again broken and torn to pieces. This plainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to and fro. This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea; it being constantly high and low water every six hours. In 1645, early in the morning of Sexagesima Sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity that, on the island of Moskoe, the very stones of the houses fell to the ground. When this whirlpool is agitated by a storm its vortex will reach vessels five or six miles distant. MÆMACTERIA, sacritices offered to Jupiter at Athens, in the winter month Mamacterion. The god, surnamed Mæmactes, was entreated to send mild and temperate weather, as he presided over the seasons and was the god of the air. MÆMACTERION was the fourth month of the Athenian year, containing twenty-nine days, and answering to the latter part of our September and the beginning of October; so named from the festival Mæmacteria. It was called by the Baotians Alalcomenius. MÆNALUS, in ancient geography, a mountain of Arcadia, sacred to Pan, and greatly frequented by shepherds. It received its name from Mænalus a son of Lycaon. It was covered with pine trees, whose echo and shade have been greatly celebrated by all the ancient poets. MÆONIA, or MOEONIA, a country of Asia Minor, forming part of Lydia: viz. the neighbourhood of Mount Timolus, watered by the Pactolus. The rest, on the sea coast, was called Lydia. See LYDIA. MÆONIDÆ, a name given to the Muses, because Homer, their greatest and worthiest favorite, was supposed to be a native of Mæonia. MÆONIDES, a surname of Homer, because, according to some writers, he was born in Mæonia, or because his father's name was Mæon. MEOTICA PALUS, MAOTICUS LACUS, or MAOTIS PALUS or LACUS, a large lake or part of the sea between Europe and Asia, at the north of the Euxine, with which it communicates by the Cimmerian Bosphorus. It was worshipped as a deity by the Massagetæ. It extends about 390 miles from south-west to north-east, and is about six miles in circumference. It is now called the sea of Asoph or Zaback; and reaches from Crim Tartary to the mouth of the Don. See ASOPH. MAESE, a considerable river of Europe, which has its source in the department of the Upper Marne, France, enters the Netherlands to the north of Charleville, and falls into the German Ocean below Rotterdam. In its course, of about 400 miles, it is joined by the Mouzon, Sambre, Ourthe, Lesse, and Ruhr, and various inferior streams; on its junction with the Waal, the united river takes the name of Merwe. It passes Verdun, Sedan, and Mezieres, in France; Charlemont, Namur, Huy, Liege, Maestricht, Ruremonde, Venloo, Grave, Gorcum, Dort, Rotterdam, and Briel, in the Netherlands; and exhibits in parts of its course, on a smaller scale, all the romantic scenery of the Rhine. up on the Maese. It was besieged by the French in 1748, at the period of the peace of Aix-laChapelle, and taken by them in 1794. Population 18,500. Fourteen miles north by east of Liege, and fifty-six east of Brussels. MAFFÆUS (John Peter), a learned Jesuit, born at Bergamo in 1536. He wrote a Life of Ignatius Loyola; a History of the Indies: and other works. He died at Tivoli in 1503. MAFFEUS (Vego), a Latin poet, born in Lombardy in 1407, greatly admired in his time. He wrote epigrams, and a humorous supplement to Virgil, which he called the Thirteenth Book of the Eneid, and which has been as humorously translated into English by Mr. Ellis. Maffæus wrote also some prose works. He was chancellor of Rome about the end of the pontificate of Martin V.; and died in 1458. MAFFÆUS, or MAFFEI (Francis Scipio), a celebrated Italian poet, of an illustrious family, born at Verona in 1675. He distinguished himself by his valor at the battle of Donawert; and was a member of the academy of the Arcadi at Rome, and an honorary member of that of Inscriptions at Paris. He wrote many works in verse and prose, which are esteemed; particularly, 1. The tragedy of Merope: 2. Ceremony, a comedy: 3. A translation, into Italian verse, of the first book of Homer's Iliad. 4. Many MÆSTLIN (Michael), in Latin, Mæstlinus, a other pieces of poetry, in a collection entitled celebrated German astronomer, born in the Rhyme and Prose, 4to.: 5. Verona Illustrata : duchy of Wittemberg: but who spent his youth 6. Istoria Diplomatica; 7. Scienza Cavalleresca, in Italy, where he converted Galileo from the an excellent work against duelling: 8. An ediAristotelian to the Copernican system. He tion of Theatro Italiano: 9. An edition of Casafterwards returned to Germany, and became siodorus on the Epistles, &c.: 10. Galliæ Antiprofessor of mathematics at Tubingen; where, quitates quædam Selectæ and several other among his other pupils, he educated the great works. These last six are in prose. He died in Kepler. Mæstlin published many mathematical 1755. and astronomical works; and died in 1590. MAESTRICHT, a large central town of the Netherlands, the capital of the province of Limburg, is situated on the Maese, near the junction of that river with the left bank of the Jaer. It stands in a valley surrounded with hills, in a fertile neighbourhood, and communicates with the suburbs of Wyck, on the opposite side, by means of a stone bridge 500 feet in length. The whole is tolerably well built, and the principal street, consisting chiefly of shops, extends from the bridge to the other extremity of the town. There are two good squares; and of the public buildings, the chief are the town-hall, and the church of St. Gervais; the college, once occupied by the Jesuits; the theatre, and the arsenal, are also worth a visit. Maestricht is considered one of the strongest places in the kingdom of the Netherlands. It is surrounded by walls and ditches; but its strength consists in a number of detached bastions. It is also defended by the fortress of St. Pierre, on a neighbouring height. The ramparts and banks of the river above the town form pleasant promenades. The manufactures consist in leather, flannel, stockings, hardware, and coarse cloths. Here are also extensive breweries and distilleries. In a neighbouring mountain are stone quarries, with subterraneous passages of considerable extent. From this town vessels sail at stated hours to all the chief places higher MAGADA, in mythology, a title under which Venus was worshipped in Lower Saxony; where she had a famous temple, which was treated with respect even by the Huns and Vandals when they ravaged the country. It was destroyed by Charlemagne. MAGADOXA, an inhospitable town on the eastern coast of Africa, capital of a country of the same name. It is watered by a large river, the course of which, as well as the whole district, is little known to Europeans. The inhabitants ever opposed a most determined resistance to the Portuguese; and their jealousy of the people has been extended to all Europeans. In 1707 the Albemarle, East Indiaman, sent a boat on shore, which was seized, and all attempts to recover it proved fruitless. The greater part of the inhabitants are Mahommedans, though there are said to be some Abyssinian Christians here. The town is known from the coast by three remarkable mosques which rise in its centre. A reef of coral, lined by a sand-bank, fronts this place. Long. 46° 30′ E., lat. 2° 5′ N. MAGAS, from payadičev, to sing or play in unison or octave, a musical instrument in use among the ancients. There were two kinds of Magades, the one a stringed instrument, formed of twenty chords arranged in pairs, and tuned to unison or octave so that they yielded ten sounds, the invention of which is ascribed by some to Sappho, by others to the Lydians, and by some to A MAGAZINE, in a fortified town, ought to contain stores of all kinds; i. e. not only arms, ammunition, and provisions, but materials and tools by which smiths, carpenters, wheel-wrights, &c., may make every thing belonging to the artillery; as carriages, waggons, &c. A MAGAZINE, on ship-board, is a close room or storehouse, built in the fore or aft part of the hold, to contain the gunpowder used in battle. This apartment is strongly secured against fire, and no person is allowed to enter it with a lamp or candle it is therefore lighted as occasion requires, by the candles or lamps in the light-room contiguous to it. MAGAZINE, ARTILLERY. In a siege the magazine is about twenty-five or thirty yards behind the battery, towards the parallels, and at least three feet under ground, to hold the powder, loaded shells, port-fires, &c. Its sides and roof must be well secured with boards to prevent the earth from falling in: a door is made to it, and a double trench or passage is sunk from the magazine to the battery, one to go in and the other to come out at, to prevent confusion. Sometimes traverses are made in the passages, to prevent ricochet shot from plunging into them. MAGAZINE, POWDER, is that where gunpowder is kept in very large quantities. Authors differ greatly both with regard to the situation and construction; but all agree that they ought to be arched and bomb-proof. In fortifications they are frequently placed in the rampart; but of late they have been built in different parts of the town. The first powder magazines were made with Gothic arches: but M. Vauban, finding them too weak, constructed them in a semicircular form, whose dimensions are sixty feet long within and twenty-five broad; the foundations are eight or nine feet thick, and eight feet high from the foundation to the spring of the arch; the floor is two feet from the ground, which keeps it from dampness. An engineer of great experience had observed that, after the centres of semicircular arches are struck, they settle at the crown and rise up at the haunches, ever with a straight horizontal extrados, and still much more so in powder magazines, whose outside at top is formed like the roof of a house, by two inclined planes joining in an angle over the top of the arch, to give a proper descent to the rain. MAGDALENA, a considerable river of South America, in New Grenada, rises in the province of Popayan, and runs a northerly course of 400 miles in the valley between the ridges of the Andes. It receives the tribute of numerous subordinate streams. A great traffic is carried on throughout its course by means of large flatbottomed boats, but the navigation is exceedingly irksome, not only on account of the heat, but through the great number of musquitoes. with which the river is infested. On its entrance into the sea it forms a small isle or rock, called the Isla Verde. The waters do not embody themselves with the sea for a distance of more than twenty leagues; and as far as this they are perfectly pure and sweet to the palate. Its mouth is in lat. 11° 2' N. MAGDALENE'S CAVE, a cave of Germany, in Carinthia, ten miles east of Gortz. It appears like a chasm in a rock, and at the entrance torches are lighted to conduct travellers. It has several divisions, with a vast number of natural pillars, white as snow, and almost transparent, which give it a beautiful appearance. The bottom is also formed of stalactite, so that it has been likened to the ruins of an enchanted castle, surrounded with magnificent pillars, some entire and others broken. MAGDALEN ETTES, a name given to divers communities of nuns, consisting generally of penitent courtezans. Such are those at Metz, established in 1452; those at Paris, in 1492; those at Naples, first established in 1324, and endowed by queen Sancha; and those of Rouen and Bourdeaux, which had their original among those of Paris in 1618. In each of these monasteries there are three kinds of persons and congregations: 1. Those who are admitted to make vows, and who bear the name of St. Magdalen; 2. The congregation of St. Martha, composed of those whom it is not judged proper to admit to vows; 3. The congregation of St. Lazarus, composed of such as are detained there. The religious of St. Magdalen at Rome were established by pope Leo X. Clement VIII. settled a revenue on them; and farther appointed that the effects of all public prostitutes, dying intestate, should fall to them; and that the tes |