MADRID, a town of New Castile in Spain, and capital of the whole kingdom, though it never had the title of a city, is situated in W. Long. 3. 5. N. Lat. 40. 26. It stands in the centre of a large plain, surrounded with mountains, and in the very heart of Spain, on the banks of the little river Manzanares, which is always very low and shallow, except when it is swelled by the melting of the snow on the mountains. The city is in general well laid out; the streets are very handsome; and the houses are fair and lofty, but built of brick, with lattice-windows, excepting those of the rich, who have glass in their windows; only, during the summer-heat, they use gauze, or some such thin stuff, instead of it, to let in the fresh air. There are two stately bridges here over the Manzanares, a great many magnificent churches, convents, hospitals, and palaces. The royal palace, which stands on the west side of the town, on an eminence, is spacious and magnificent, consisting of three courts, and commanding a fine prospect. At the east end of the town is the prado, or pardo; which is a delightful plain, planted with regular rows of poplar trees, and watered with a great many fountains; where the nobility and gentry take the air on horseback, or in their coaches, and the common people on foot, or divert themselves with a variety of sports and exercises. Almost all the streets of Madrid are straight, wide, clean, and well paved. The largest and most frequented are the street of Alcala, that of Atocha, that of Toledo, and the Calle grande or great street. Madrid has also several squares, which in general are not very regular. The principal are those of San Joachim, Sol, Lasganitas, San Domingo, La Cevada, and the Plaza Mayor. The latter especially deserves notice for its spaciousness and regularity, and the elegant and lofty houses it contains. It is fifteen hundred and thirty-six feet in circuit.

Madrid. cut. The houses, of which there are 136, are of five stories, ornamented with balconies; the first of which, supported by pillars, form a piazza round the square, where the inhabitants may walk under cover. In the middle of the square a market is kept.—The streets and squares of Madrid, except the Plaza Mayor which has been just described, are ornamented with fountains in a very ill taste. Those most to be distinguished in this particular are the fountain of the small irregular square called Plaza de Antonio Martin, and that of the square named Puerta del Sol. The others are not more magnificent though less ridiculous. The water of all these fountains is excellent; and the air of Madrid, though the weather be variable and uncertain, is extremely pure. It was this purity of the air and excellent quality of the water which induced Philip II. and his successors to fix their residence in this city. It is also well supplied with provisions of all kinds at reasonable rates; and the court, with the resort and residence of the quality, and the high colleges and offices that are kept here, occasion a brisk trade and circulation of money.

The sacred edifices in this city have nothing remarkable in their architecture: those of St. Paul, St. Isabella, and the Carmelites, contain highly valuable collections of pictures which may be seen with admiration even after the paintings of the Escorial and the new palace. The church of St. Isidro, which heretofore belonged to the Jesuits, has a portal which has escaped the contagion of the age in which it was built. There is another church much more modern, which on account of its mass has a venerable appearance, but which true taste may justly disavow: it is that of St. Salinas, or the visitation, founded by Ferdinand VI. and the queen Barbara his wife.—The convent of St. Francis has already been some years building*, and there are hopes that it will become one of the finest productions of architecture in the capital.—Besides a variety of charitable foundations, there are here three fraternities, the revenues of which are appropriated to the succour of the wretched; and an institution similar to the Mont de Pieté in Paris, the principal object of which is to advance money to the necessitous.

The city of Madrid contains 15 gates, 18 parishes, 35 convents of monks, and 31 of nuns; 39 colleges, hospitals, or houses of charity; 7398 dwelling-houses, and about 140,000 inhabitants. The Lombard traveller, Father Caimo, tells us, that 50,000 sheep and 12,000 oxen are annually consumed there; to which his editor has added a ludicrous estimate of the onions and leeks devoured there, which he says amount to 97,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0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Mæcenas. celebrated among the poets for its windings, which amount to not less than 600, and from which all obliquities have received the name of mæanders. It forms in its course, according to the observation of some travellers, the Greek letters \Sigma & \omega; and from its windings Dædalus is said to have had the first idea of his famous labyrinth.