MADEIRA (140), the chief of a group of small volcanic islands with precipitous coasts, in the Atlantic, 400 m. off Morocco; has peaks 6000 ft. high and deep picturesque ravines; the island is a favourite resort for consumptives; the climate is very mild and equable, the rainfall moderate, and the soil fertile; crops of cereals and potatoes are raised; oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, and bananas abound; Madeira wine is famous, and the chief export; Funchal (21) is the capital, with an exposed harbour and some good buildings; the islands form a province of Portugal.

MADEIRA RIVER (i. e. river of the wood), formed by the junction of the Mamore and Beni on the borders of Bolivia and Brazil, flows 900 m.  NE., and joins the Amazon, as an affluent its longest and largest, and forms a magnificent navigable waterway.

MADELEINE, CHURCH OF THE, one of the principal and wealthiest churches in Paris, erected in the style of a Greek temple, and the building of which, began in 1764, was not finished till 1842, both the interior and exterior of which has been adorned by the most distinguished artists.

MADGE WILDFIRE, a pretty but giddy girl in the “Heart of
Midlothian,” whom seduction and the murder of her child drove crazy.

MADISON, JAMES, American statesman and President, born at Port Conway, Virginia, educated at Princeton; devoted himself to politics in 1776; he took part in framing the Virginia constitution, and subsequently secured religious liberty in the State; with Jay and Hamilton he collaborated to establish the federation of the States and to frame the Federal Constitution; the “three-fifths” rule, which won the adhesion of the slave-holding States, was his suggestion; elected to the first Congress, he attached himself to Jefferson’s party, and was Secretary of State during Jefferson’s Presidency, 1801-1809; he succeeded his former leader and held office for two terms, during which the war of 1812-14 with England was waged; his public life closed with his term of office, 1817 (1751-1836).

MADMAN OF THE NORTH, Charles XII. of Sweden, so called from his temerity and impetuosity.

MADOC, a Welshman who, according to Welsh tradition, discovered America 300 years before Columbus, after staying in which for a time he returned, gave an account of what he had seen and experienced, and went back, but was never heard of more; his story has been amplified by Southey in an epic.

MADONNA is the name given to pictures of the Virgin with the infant Christ, and more generally to all sacred pictures in which the Virgin is a prominent figure; the Virgin has been a favourite subject of art from the earliest times, the first representation of her being, according to legend, by St. Luke; different countries and schools have depicted their Madonnas, each in its own characteristic style; the greatest of all are the Sistine and Della Sedia of Raphael.