place in which stores are kept, of arms, ammunition, provisions, and the like.

Powder Magazine is that place where gunpowder is kept in large quantities. The first powder magazines were made with Gothic arches; but Vauban finding them too weak, constructed them in a semicircular form. Their usual dimensions are sixty feet long within, and twenty-five broad; the foundations are eight or nine feet thick, and eight feet high from the foundation to the spring of the arch; and the floor is two feet from the ground, which secures it from dampness.

Artillery Magazine. In a siege, the magazine is made Magazine about twenty-five or thirty yards behind the battery, towards the parallels, and at least three feet under ground, to contain the powder, loaded shells, portfires, and the like.

**Magazine**, on shipboard, a close room or storeroom, built in the fore or after part of the hold, to contain the gunpowder used in battle. This apartment is strongly secured against fire, and no person is allowed to enter it with a lamp or candle; it is therefore lighted, as occasion requires, by means of the candles or lamps in the light-room contiguous to it.

**Magazine, Literary**, a well-known species of periodical publications. One of the first that appeared was *The Gentleman's Magazine*, set on foot by Mr Edward Cave, in the year 1731. This, as Dr Kippis observes, "may be considered as something of an epocha in the literary history of this country. The periodical performances before that time were almost wholly confined to political transactions, and to foreign and domestic occurrences; but the monthly magazines have opened a way for every kind of inquiry and information. The intelligence and discussion contained in them are very extensive and various; and they have been the means of diffusing a general habit of reading through the nation, which, in a certain degree, hath enlarged the public understanding. Many young authors, who have afterwards risen to considerable eminence in the literary world, have here made their first attempts in composition. Here too are preserved a multitude of curious and useful hints, observations, and facts, which otherwise might have never appeared; or, if they had appeared in a more evanescent form, would have incurred the danger of being lost."

**Magdalen, Mary.** See Mary.

Religious of St Magdalen, a denomination given to different communities of nuns, consisting generally of penitent courtezans, sometimes also called Magdalenettes. Such were those at Metz, established in 1452; those at Paris, in 1492; those at Naples, first established in 1824, and endowed by Queen Sancha, to serve as a retreat for public courtezans, who should betake themselves to repentance; and those of Rouen and Bordeaux, which had their origin amongst those of Paris in 1618. In each of these monasteries there are three kinds of persons and congregations; the first consists of those who are admitted to make vows, and these bear the name of St Magdalen; the second is the congregation of St Martha, composed of those whom it is not judged proper to admit to vows; and the third is the congregation of St Lazarus, composed of such as are detained there by force. The religious of St Magdalen at Rome were established by Pope Leo X. Clement VIII. settled a revenue on them, and further appointed that the effects of all public prostitutes dying intestate should fall to them, and that the testaments of the rest should be invalid unless they bequeathed to them a portion of their effects, amounting at least to a fifth part.

**Magdalena**, one of the Marquesas Islands, about five leagues in circumference, and supposed to be in south latitude 10° 25' and west longitude 138° 50'. It was only seen at nine leagues distance by those who discovered it.

**Magdeburg**, a government of the Prussian province of Saxony, formed out of the ancient duchy of that name, of the county of Barby, and of all the bailiwick of Gommern except the circle of the Saal; but the principalities of Halberstadt, of Derenburg, of Quedlingburg, of Wernigerode, and of Schauen, are included within it. It extends over 4489 square miles, and comprehends fifty cities or towns once walled, three market-towns, and 1497 villages and hamlets, containing a population (in 1826) of 526,197 persons. It is divided into fifteen circles, one of which, of the same name, contains the capital of the government. The city of Magdeburg is situated on a rising ground, on the left bank of the river Elbe. It is very strongly fortified on the south side by strong lines, with ditches and sixteen bastions, and by two forts; on the north, the river is a defence, as well as the marshes beyond it, and several powerful outworks. There is a bridge leading to the citadel, which is built on an island formed by one of the branches of the Elbe. The walls are of great thickness, and though the ditches on the land side are dry, they are all undermined. The city is built in the old Saxon style, with large massive houses, and, with the exception of the high street, narrow lanes. There are, however, two good open places, the old market and the cathedral place. Some of the public buildings are magnificent, particularly the government-house and the Domkisch, the latter of which has a tower 330 feet high, which has survived the destruction that visited the city when it was stormed, plundered, and burned by the imperial army under Tilly, in the Thirty Years' War. It contains now sixteen churches, ten of which are Lutheran, the others Catholic, Calvinist, or Mennonite. It is a place of great commercial as well as manufacturing industry. Its situation on the Elbe connects it with the sea, through Hamburg and the upper parts of the river, including Prussia, Saxony, and a part of Bohemia, receive their foreign productions by this channel. The goods made in Magdeburg are of linen, cotton, and woolen, hats, hosiery, corn, spirits, leather, soap, and tobacco and snuff. The fields around it are fertile, and the government is the corn granary of Prussia; and large quantities of tobacco are grown. The city and suburbs contain 52,000 inhabitants, exclusive of military. Long. 11° 33'. 25. E. Lat. 52° 8'. 4. N.

**Mageboe**, a large island in the northern part of Norwegian Lapland. It is a rocky spot, with a few valleys, in which pasture is found sufficient to maintain a few families, who have some cows, and a small number of sheep, and about 600 rein-deer. The winter is dreadfully severe, and the ground is covered with snow to the depth of twelve or fourteen feet. It is in long. 26° 45' E. and lat. 71° 30' N.

**Magellan**, or Magelhaens, Ferdinand de, an eminent navigator, was by birth a Portuguese, and of a good family. He served with reputation in the East Indies for five years under Albuquerque, and in 1510 he greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Malacca. Deeming his services poorly repaid by his own court, he entered into the employment of Charles V. king of Spain. He has been charged with peculation by some of his countrymen, who assign this as the reason why he quitted Portugal. In conjunction with Ruy Foleiro he formed the bold design of discovering a new passage by the west to the Molucca Islands, which, he offered to prove, fell within the division of the globe assigned by the pope to the crown of Castille. It is said that he first proposed this enterprise to Emmanuel king of Portugal, who rejected it, as opening a way for other nations to have access to the East Indies, the trade of which was then monopolized by the Portuguese. The proposition was agreed to by the king of Spain, and, on the 20th of September 1519, Magellan sailed from San Lucar, with five ships and 236 men under his command. His officers soon murmured at this appointment, considering it as a disgrace to be commanded by a renegade Portuguese; and when the fleet was lying at a port in South America, which they named San Julian, a conspiracy was formed against him by three of the captains, but he discovered and quelled it. He caused the captain of one of

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1 *Biographia Britannica*, vol. iii. art. Cave. the ships to be put to death, he boarded a second and secured the mutineers, and the third submitted.

The coast on which they lay was that of Patagonia; and this first voyage contains accounts of the extraordinary stature of the natives. About the end of October they reached a cape to which they gave the name De las Virgenes, forming the entrance of the straits which now bear the name of Magellan. He exerted all his authority to induce his men to venture on this unknown passage, with the view of crossing a vast ocean beyond it, at the hazard of running short of provisions, of which a supply for three months was all that he had remaining. One of his ships abandoned him, and made the best of her way to Europe. But the rest proceeded, and on the 27th of November they discovered the South Sea, which made Magellan shed tears of joy. They continued their voyage across this ocean, now visited for the first time by Europeans, and were not long in suffering those evils from famine which they had apprehended. The men were reduced to the necessity of eating the hides with which the rigging was covered. The weather proved so uniformly calm and temperate, that they gave to the ocean the name of Pacifica. On the 6th of March they came in sight of the Ladrones, so called from the thievish disposition of the inhabitants; and thence they sailed to the Philippines. At Zebu, Magellan obtained with little difficulty the conversion of the king; and, on condition of his becoming a vassal of Spain, the Portuguese assisted him in reducing some neighbouring chieftains, and the cross was erected over some burned villages.

With about fifty men Magellan landed upon Matan, the chief of which had refused to submit to Zebu, and an engagement took place between them, which lasted for the greater part of the day. His troops having spent all their ammunition, found it necessary to retreat, during which Magellan was wounded in the leg by an arrow, beaten down, and at last slain with a lance. This happened in 1521. By this act of imprudence he lost the honour of being the first circumnavigator of the globe, which fell to the lot of Cano, who brought his ship home by the East Indies. Yet Magellan has secured an immortal name amongst maritime discoverers, by the commencement of his great enterprise, in which he displayed extraordinary skill and resolution, but disregarded justice and humanity.

Straits of Magellan, a narrow passage between the island of Tierra del Fuego and the southern extremity of the continent of America. This passage was first discovered by Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed through it into the South Sea, and thence to the East Indies. Other navigators have passed the same way; but as these straits are exceedingly difficult, and subject to storms, it has been common to sail round by Cape Horn, rather than through the Straits of Magellan.