192 M A D M A D Spanish archaeologists have frequently claimed for Madrid a very high antiquity, but the earliest authentic historical mention of the town (Majiit, Majoritum) occurs in an Arab chronicle, and does not take us farther back than to the first half of the 10th century. The place was finally taken from the Moors by Alphonso VI. (1083), and was made a hunting-seat by Henry IV., but first rose into importance when Charles V,, benefiting by its keen air, made it his occasional residence. Philip II. created it his capital and "only court" ((mica cortc) in 1560. To this day it only ranks, however, as "villa," not as "ciudad." Fruitless attempts were made by Philip III. and Charles III. respectively to transfer the seat of government to Valladolid and to Seville. MADRIGAL. The notice of this branch of musical art which will be included in the general article Music may here be anticipated by an approximately chronological list, according to nationalities, of the masters who have been chiefly distinguished for their compositions of the class : Flanders : Egide Binchois, Brusnois, Jean Okeghem or Ockenheim, Jean Tirictor, Adrian Willaert, Cyprian di llore, Jacques Hobrecht, Firmin Caron, Josquin des Pres, Alexander Agricola, Antoine Brumel, Pierre de la Rue, Jacques Arcadelt, Claude Goudimel, Philippe Verdelot, Jacques de Wert, Hubert Waelrent, and Orlando di Lasso ; Rome : Costanzo Festa, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Felice and Francesco Anerio, Giovanni Maria, Bernardino Naniui, and Luca Marenzio (styled in his own time " II piu dolce Cigno d Italia"); Venice: Giovanni Croce, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrielli, Costanzo Porta, Orazio Vecchi, and Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi; England: William Cornyshe (father and son), Richard Taverner, Robert Fayrefax, Thomas Phelyppes, Richard Edwards, William Byrd, Thomas Morley, Giles Farnaby, Edward Johnson, Thomas Weelkes, George Kirbye, John Dovvland, Michael Este, Thomas Tomkins, John Benet, John Hilton, John Wilbye, Thomas Ford, Thomas Bateson, Richard Allison, John Ward, and Orlando Gibbons, also John Cooper and Peter Philips, who dwelt long in Rome, and published their works under the names respectively of Giovanni Coperario and Pietro Filippi. Many of all these wrote strictly madrigals, that is, continuous compositions abounding in ingenious artifices of imitation of one part by another ; others wrote rhythmical songs of four or more parts, or ballets, or fal-las, all of which, being for unaccompanied voices, or for viols instead of voices, are often erroneously ranked as madrigals, though differing entirely in structure from them. The English composers, to Byrd inclusive, produced pieces distinctly of the madrigal class, but described them by other definitions ; it was in the year 1588, when Byrd published Psalms, Sonets, and Songs of Sadness and Pietie, that the word madrigal was first introduced into England by Nicholas Yonge, a merchant, a lover of music who, having received copies of some foreign compositions in his chests of merchandise, adapted English words to these, and printed a collection under the title Musica Transalpina, the success of which stimulated the powers of English writers that had already been proved, and excited others to emulate their example. The art of madrigal composition was never practised in Germany, and it died out in other countries early in the 17th century. The knowledge of the works that endear the madrigal writers to lovers of a high and most pure form of music was revived, and has since been kept alive, by the Madrigal Society. This was founded in 1741 by John Imrnyns, an attorney, and its original members were mechanics or small tradesmen ; it held its first meeting at the Twelve Bells Tavern in Bride Lane, made many migrations to other houses of entertainment, and has its present home at the Freemasons Tavern, where its members are of a far higher social caste than the men who associated themselves for the practice of contrapuntal vocal music when the rank and fashion of the land went to worship I arinelli at tie Italian opera, and to take part with the followers of the king or the prince of Wales in supporting one or other of the opposition establishments for its perform ance. In 1811 the society offered a prize for the composi tion of a madrigal, which was won by William Beale. The same incentive has occasionally been repeated. This encouragement, and still more the love for the class of music engendered by the public performance of madrigals by large choral societies during the last fifty years, have incited later composers to more or less successful imitations of the style, especially distinguished among whom was Robert Lucas Pearsall (1795-1856). MADURA, a district in the south of the Madras presidency, India, lying between 9 4 and 10 44 N. lat., and 77 14 and 79 20 E. long., is bounded on the N. by Coimbatore, Trichinopoli, and Tan j ore districts, E. and S.E. by the sea, S.W. by Tinnevelli district, and W. by Travancore state. Broadly speaking, it consists of a sec tion of the plain stretching from the mountains east to the sea, coinciding with the basin of the Vaigai river, and gradually sloping to the south-east. The plain is broken in the west by the outlying spurs of the Ghats, and by a few isolated hills and masses of rock scattered over the country. The most important spur of the Ghats is that known as the Palni hills, which project east-north-east across the district for a distance of about 54 miles. Their highest peaks are more than 8000 feet above sea-level, and they enclose a plateau of about 100 square miles in area, with an average height of 7000 feet. A sanatarium has been recently established on this plateau, at Kodaikanal, and coffee planting is here successfully carried on. Farther east a confused group of hills, known as the Sirumalais, the highest of which has an elevation of nearly 4000 feet, clusters round the village of Nattam. Among isolated rocks may be mentioned the precipitous fortress of Dindigal, and the " Elephant Rock," the " Cow Hill," and the sacred Skandamalia all in the immediate vicinity of Madura town. The chief river is the Vaigai, which divides the district into two almost equal portions. Very little forest is found in any part of the district. The cultivated plain is absolutely barren of trees, except where a newly-planted avenue marks a line of road. Groves of palmyra and cocoa-nut palms flourish along the sea-coast and liver banks. Among the wild products of the Palni hills are nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper. The predominant geological formation is granite. Syenite oc curs in large boulders. A gravelly bed of laterite, which runs across the district, is quarried for building purposes ; and sandstone is said to extend along the whole length of the sea-coast. Mineral products include saltpetre, salt, lime, chalk, and graphite. Iron in various forms is found, but it is nowhere worked profitably, even by the rude native processes. Gold is washed in some of the streams. Several kinds of opal, chalcedony, jasper, garnet, and rock- crystal are found. The census of 1871 showed a total population of 2,266,615 persons (1,112,066 males and 1,154,549 females), spread over an area of 9502 square miles, and inhabiting 5459 villages and 443,513 houses. Hindus numbered 2,062,768, and Mohammedans 132,833 ; and the Catholics at the present day number about 60,000, under the charge of the missions of the Jesuits and of the Church of Goa. The Protestant population are under the charge of an American mission, first established in 1834. The principal towns are Madura city (51,987), Dindigal (12,818), Palni (12,801), Eamnad (15,442), Tirumangalam (5772), Parambakudi (6284), Sivaganga (7392), Killakarai, Aruppukotai, and Periyakulam. The only munici palities are Madura and Dindigal. Of a total area of 9502 square miles, 6507 belong to zaminddri or permanently assessed estates. The total area of Government lands in occupation in 1875-76 was 1,013,000 acres, of which 806,630 were under cultivation. The chief food crops are rice, cholam (Holcus saccharatus), kamlu (Holcus yricatus), ragi (Elcusine cora- cana), varagu (Paspalum frumcntaccum), samdi (Panicum mili-
accvm), and several kinds of pulses. Other crops include oil-seed,