Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/843

 MADRIGAL &c. The means of conveyance through the town are at once abundant and cheap ; and Madrid communicates by railway with Lisbon and Paris, the latter being reached, via Ba- yonne, in 19 hours. The earliest authentic his- torical record of Madrid occurs in Sampiro's Cronica de Espana, referring to the 10th cen- tury, under the Moorish name of Magerit, which was Latinized into Majoritum. Under the rule of the Moors it was a mere military outpost, which was finally taken from them to- ward the end of the llth century by Alfonso VI. of Castile, who annexed it to the bishopric of Toledo, to which it still belongs. It was rarely occupied by the court until the reign of Henry III. of Castile, who resided there almost continually, attracted by the pleasures of the chase, the neighboring mountains abounding then with wild boars and bears. It first rose to importance under Charles V., who made it his occasional residence; and Philip II. at last made it his capital and "only court" in 1560. Madrid was entered by the French under Mu- rat, March 23, 1808 ; but the heroic rising of the inhabitants on May 2 obliged them to evac- uate the town. It was entered by Joseph Bo- naparte July 20, and again evacuated Aug. 2. Napoleon finally took possession of it in De- cember following, and King Joseph held it till 1813, when it was restored to Spain by Wel- lington. Madrid has been the centre of fre- quent insurrections and revolutions, as in Sep- tember, 1868 ; and it is the birthplace of a host of peninsular celebrities, including Lope de Vega, Calderon de la Barca, Quevedo, the Moratins, and Larra. MADRIGAL, in music, a vocal composition in from three to eight parts, set commonly to words of an amatory or pastoral character, and intended to be sung by several voices on a part and without instrumental accompaniment. It took its rise in Italy about the commence- ment of the 16th century, whence it soon made its way over the civilized world. The Netherlander were the first to adopt the new form. Although cultivated to some extent both in France and Germany, it did not sup- plant the chanson in the one nor the folk song in the other. In England it took firm root, and there madrigal singing continues to be practised to the present time. Richard Ed- wards, probably the earliest of English mad- rigal writers, was musician to Henry VIII. The best English madrigals were written with- in the century succeeding his death. The practice of such music during that period formed a considerable part of the entertain- ment of persons of education, and sight sing- ing was then more common than now. At first madrigals were sung in England with Italian words. William Byrd was the first to publish a collection of them with translated text, entitled " Musica Transalpina, Madri- gales translated, of four, five, and six partes, chose out of divers excellent authors, by Mas- ter Byrd " (1588). The music of the madrigal MADURA 837 is usually constructed of short and simple phrases, treated freely and with every resource of florid counterpoint. The fundamental mu- sical form is imitation, and in this, and in the canon and fugued passages with which it abounds, it is distinguished from the strictly harmonized folk song. Among the most dis- tinguished of the Italian madrigal writers were Marenzio, Gastoldi, Vacchi, and Festa; while Wilbye, Weelkes, Morley, Gibbons, and Ford held equal rank in England. Madrigal socie- ties are still maintained in England, and with- in a few years several have been formed in the United States. Henry Leslie in England and Caryl Florio in America have recently made admirable compositions in this form. MADURA, an island of the Indian archipel- ago, in the Sunda group, N. E. of Java, from which it is separated by a strait from 1 to 2 m. wide ; area, about 1,300 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 662,720. A chain of low calcareous hills runs through it, but there are no high moun- tains. The geological formation and vegetable products resemble those of Java; the soil is generally poor, and a large part of it is uncul- tivated. The principal product is salt. The inhabitants are of the same race as the Java- nese, and about on a level with them in point of civilization, but they speak a language of their own in two very distinct dialects, using the Javanese however in writing. They have a nominal sovereign who resides at Bangkalan, but the whole island is subject to the Dutch, under the colonial administration of Java. Many Madurese have settled in Java, where it is supposed that they number nearly 1,000,000. MADURA, a city of India, capital of a district of the same name in the province of Madras, on the right bank of the Vygay, 95 m. S. W. of Tanjore; pop. about 30,000. It is sur- rounded by a high wall of stone, with massive square bastions, but now in a ruinous condition in many parts. The streets are wide and regu- lar, and there are spacious market places, but most of the private buildings are mean. The public buildings, though now falling into de- cay, present some of the finest specimens of Hindoo architecture in India. Among the most noted are the Pandiyan palace, a vast structure with 100 granite pillars and a dome 90 ft. in diameter, and with a choultry or build- ing for travellers in its front 312 ft. long; and the great temple of Mahadeva, which with its four porticoes, each a pyramid of 10 stories, and its spacious courts and choultries, covers an immense area. Madura is probably the Modura of Ptolemy, and is supposed to have been founded about the beginning of the Chris- tian era. It was rebuilt in the 9th century by Vansa Sechera, who founded there the college of Madura, long a seat of Brahmanical learn- ing. Daring the competition for India be- tween the British and French in the 18th cen- tury, it sustained many sieges. In 1606 Ro- berto de' Nobili, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, came to Madura, and assumed the habit and