a short amorous poem, composed of a number of free and unequal verses, neither confined to the regularity of a sonnet, nor to the point of an epigram; but only consisting of some tender and delicate thought, expressed with a beautiful, noble, and elegant simplicity.

Menage derives the word from mandra, which, in Latin and Greek, signifies "a sheep-fold;" imagining it to have been originally a kind of pastoral or shepherd's song; whence the Italians formed their madrigale, and we madrigal. Others rather choose to derive it from the word madrugar, which in the French language signifies "to rise in the morning;" the madrigales being formerly sung early in the morning by those who had a mind to serenade their mistresses.