MADRID, the metropolis of the Spanish empire, and also the capital of a province of the same name, in the centre of Spain, being about 300 miles from the sea in each direction. The province includes the city, and about two hundred villages that surround it. The ground on which these several villages are built is so uneven in its surface, and has so many valleys and hills, that scarcely more than three or four of them are visible from the same point. The extent of the province is 110 square leagues, and the number of inhabitants is 228,520, including 168,000 who reside within the city.

The city of Madrid is of modern erection, and is consequently not so Gothic in appearance as the other cities of the Peninsula. Though the ground on which it stands is irregular, the streets are laid out with great judgment, well paved, and have convenient footpaths, with broad stones. The city is well supplied with water from several public fountains, and, having been filtered by passing seven or eight leagues over beds of gravel or sand, it is remarkable for its great purity. The principal square, a pile distinguished by its extent and its beauty, is in north latitude 40. 25. 7. In this square and in the other markets, notwithstanding the natural sterility of the province, an abundant supply is at all times to be seen of excellent bread, of fruits, of horticultural vegetables, of fish, of poultry, and of butcher-meat.

Madrid, though deemed a cold situation by the natives of the other towns of Spain, does in reality enjoy an equable and temperate climate. With the exception of a short period, when the dry winds from the north blow cold, and a few days in the very midst of summer, when it is intensely hot, a great degree of equality of temperature prevails. In the greatest heat the centigrade thermometer is seen at 40°, and in the cold weather it is 8° 5′. The medium heat of the year is 14° 0' 35" above zero. The medium height of the barometer is thirty inches and a third. Its height above the level of the sea, according to the formula of Laplace, by observations of the medium height of the barometer and thermometer at Madrid and on the coast, is 2170 English feet. It may be said, that all the circumstances which contribute to communicate salubrity to a city are found in Madrid, and hence the inhabitants enjoy as much health and longevity as are experienced by the people of any large city in Europe; nor has it ever been visited by contagious fevers.

The roads in the vicinity of Madrid are generally in a bad state; those called caminas reales are good, but they lead only in a few directions, and the other roads arc miserably neglected. The way from the north is over some prodigious mountains, which must be passed before reaching the capital. One of the highest points of the mountains of Guadarama is 4580 feet above the level of the sea, and the extensive plains of New Castille may be seen from its summit, to the greatest extent of the powers of vision.

The whole of the city is on the left bank of the Manzanares, [7:13:675]a river whose waters are in general far from copious, but over which two magnificent bridges have been constructed. On its banks there are some large trees; and its waters irrigate some gardens, which are fruitful, and adjoin a royal residence, or rather retreat, called Casa de Campo. Around the city, near the river, wheat and barley are cultivated, with the assistance that the manure of a large town yields. The produce of wheat is from nine to twelve for one, and of barley from fourteen to sixteen for one, on the quantity sown. The soil is better adapted for vines, though but few are cultivated, and these rather for the table than for making wines.

There is no episcopal church in Madrid; and the other churches, though, like all in Spain, they are costly and large, do not rise so high above the common level as to attract any very particular notice. They are seventy-seven in number, and there are also seventy-five monasteries. The most magnificent pile of building in Madrid is the royal palace, built after the destruction of the former by fire in 1734. The ceilings of the palace are painted by the most eminent artists of the period, Mengs, Corrado, and Tiepolo. The richest marbles, all from Spanish quarries, are used in the floors, the cornices, and the door and window frames. The great chamber of audience is remarkably splendid, the walls are covered with beautiful marbles, hung with plate-glasses of the largest size. The ceiling, painted with allegorical history, and the cornices with figures of the different people under the Spanish crown, is admirably executed. This palace is, or rather was before the French entered it, adorned with a fine collection of pictures from the hands of the first masters. Some of the best productions of Titian, Reubens, Vandyke, Murillo, Velasquez, Spagnoletti, Mengs, and other masters, decorated this edifice. With all its magnificence, this palace is in a bad situation, and has never been the favourite residence of any of the monarchs except the original founder. Few places of equal extent have so small a number of objects to attract the notice of casual strangers as the city of Madrid. Though many of the public buildings are grand, there are none of them of such superiority as to draw great admiration from observers. The public walks are handsome and much frequented, and the gardens of the royal residence, called Buen-Retiro, are opened for the public recreations, and are highly delightful. The Puerto de Sol, and some of the other entrances, have gates that display taste in architecture, and excite admiration in travellers. There is but little commerce in Madrid, and few manufactories.; the establishments by the government for making saltpetre, porcelain, brandy, cards, and tapestry, have never flourished, and are now very much reduced. As the nobility of Spain seldom reside on their domains, but attach themselves to the court, a considerable number of them are collected here, and spend their revenues: this class, with the officers of government, the members of the different boards of administration, the members of the profession of the law, the clergy, and the military, with their dependents and tradesmen, compose the great mass of the population of Madrid.

The king of Spain is an absolute monarch, and issues his orders to the different boards of administration, who put them in execution. They are, the council of Castille, the council of the Indies, the junta for the administration of justice and political affairs, the tribunal of revenues, the council of war and naval affairs, the inquisition formatters of faith, and the junta for the final decision of controversies in ecclesiastical affairs. The tribunals of justice are in Madrid; but the high tribunals in the provincial capitals decide on almost every case, without appeal being made to the court in Madrid. There are several literary institutions, which, though not of extensive influence beyond the capital, are both useful and respectable. There are four academies, one for the Spanish language, one for history, one for the arts and sciences, and one for medicine and natural history. There is a very respectable learned body, the Sociedad Economica, which has corresponding branches in sixty-one towns of the kingdom, established with the intention of diffusing the knowledge of political economy, and promoting the advancement of the useful arts. The royal library, always open to public inspection and use, contains upwards of 130,000 volumes of printed books, besides manuscripts, and a rich collection of medals. See the article Libraries.

There is a seminary established by the government for the education of the nobility, just without the city, which is a most splendid and capacious building, and liberally, if not learnedly, supported. There are in the city no less than nineteen hospitals, and several infirmaries, to which the sick of all classes and of every country are freely admitted. The autumnal season is, of all others, that in which Madrid is, if not the most healthy, yet, on the whole, the most agreeable residence. This city was the birthplace of the poet Lopez de la Vega, in 1635; of Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, in 1647; and of Monso de Erzilla, in 1590.