'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.

MADRAS (35,630), one of the three Indian Presidencies, occupies the
S. and E. of the peninsula, and is one-half as large again as Great
Britain; the chief mountains are the Ghats, from which flow SE. the
Godavari, Kistna, and Kavari Rivers, which, by means of extensive
irrigation works, fertilise the plains; climate is various; on the W.
coast very hot and with a rainfall from June to October of 120 inches,
producing luxurious vegetation; on the E. the heat is also great, but the
rainfall, which comes chiefly between October and December, is only 40
inches; in the hill country, e. g. Ootacamund, the government summer
quarters, it is genial and temperate all the year, and but for the
monsoons the finest in the world; rice is everywhere the chief crop;
cotton is grown in the E., tobacco in the Godavari region, tea, coffee,
and cinchona on the hills, and sugar-cane in different districts; gold is
found in Mysore (native State), and diamonds in the Karnul; iron abounds,
but without coal; the teak forests are of great value; cotton,
gunny-bags, sugar, and tiles are the chief manufactures; English
settlements date from 1611; the population, chiefly Hindu, includes 2
million Mohammedans and 3/4 million Christians; the chief towns are
Rujumahendri (28), Vizugapatam (34), Trichinopoli (91), of cheroot fame,
and Mangalore (41), on the W. coast, and the capital MADRAS (4