MEDINA, a city of Arabia, and one of the holy cities of the Mahommedans, celebrated for affording refuge to Ma-hoitimed in his flight from Mekka, for his residence in it, and for his tomb, to which the devout hadjis still resort, although its visitation is not considered as a duty, nor necessary part of the Mahommedan pilgrimage. It is situated on the edge of the great Arabian desert, close to the chain of mountains which traverses that country from north to south, and forms a continuation of the chain of Lebanon. The town is built on the lowest part of the plain, and it is enclosed on three sides with gardens, trees, and walks, leaving only that part of the plain open to the view, which is on the side of the road towards Mekka, where the rocky nature of the ground renders cultivation impossible. It is mentioned by Burckhardt, {Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. p. 148,) as one of the best built towns which he saw in the cast, ranking in this respect next to Aleppo. The houses consist generally of two stories; they are built of stone, and have flat roofs. The stone being of a dark colour, the streets present rather a gloomy aspect, and are, with some exceptions, very narrow, being often only two or three paces across; a few of the principal are paved with large blocks of stone, a comfort seldom found in the Arabian towns. Medina is divided into the interior town and the suburbs; the interior forming an oval of about 2800 paces in total circuit, ending in a point. The castle is built at the point, on a small rocky elevation, and the whole is enclosed by a thick stone wall, between thirty-five and forty feet in height, flanked by about thirty towers, and surrounded by a ditch, formed by the Wahabees, and now in many places filled up. Three fine gates lead into the town, one of them the finest town gate, according to Burckhardt, that he had seen in the east. The principal street of Medina, which is also the broadest, leads from the Cairo gate to the great mosque. This street contains most of the shops. Another considerable street runs from the mosque to the Syrian gate; but many of its houses are in ruins. This contains also a few shops, but none arc found in other parts of the town; and in this respect Medina differs from Mekka, which is one continued market. At pre- £ent, especially since the great pilgrimage was interrupted by the incursions of the Wahabees, the town has a desolate appearance; the houses are suffered to go to decay; the crowd of visitors to whom they were in the habit of letting their apartments having diminished, the owners have no prospect of being reimbursed for any extra expense which they may lay out. Ruined houses, and walls wanting repair, are seen in every part of the town; and Medina, like most eastern towns exhibits buta faint image of its ancient splendour. On the west and south of the town, extend the suburbs, which cover more ground than the town itself. An open space intervenes, narrow on the south side, but widening on the west, before the Cairo gate, where it forms a large public place called Monakh, where the caravans alight, and which is always crowded with camels and Bedouins. Here are erected huts and sheds, in which provisions are sold, and a number of coffee huts which are beset all day with visitors. The side of the suburbs which fronts this place has no wall; but on the outside they are enclosed by a wall of inferior size and strength to the interior town wall. Four gates, or rather wooden doors, none of them of any strength except that leading from the Cairo gate, which is larger and better built than the rest, lead into the suburbs. These consist of large court-yards, with low apartments built round them, on the ground-floor, and separated from each other by gardens and plantations, with the exception of the west side directly opposite the Cairo gate, where the suburb consists of regular and well-built streets, with houses resembling those of the interior of the town. Many of the richer inhabitants have their summer houses in these quarters, where they pass a month in the date harvest. Every garden is enclosed by mud walls, and several narrow by-lanes, just broad enough for a loaded camel to cross the suburbs in every direction. The suburbs are principally inhabited by all the lower classes of the town, by many of the Bedouin Arabs who have become settlers there, and by all who are engaged in agriculture. The town is divided into separate hamlets, called hosh, containing thirty or forty families, who often in times of unsettled government, are engaged in desperate feuds with one another.

Few large public buildings are found within the precincts of the town. The great mosque, containing the tomb of Mahommed, is the only temple. A fine public school, called Medrese el Hamdye; a similar one near the mosque; a large corn magazine, enclosing a wide yard in the southern quarter of the town; and a bath not far distant from it, built in the year of the hcjira 973 (A.D. 1678,) by Mahommed Pasha i are all the public buildings that were observed by Burckhardt. The want of public buildings, however, in the town is compensated by the numerous pretty private habitations, having small gardens with wells, the water of which is used in irrigation, and fills marble basins, round which in summer time, the owners pass the hours of noon under lofty shades. The castle already mentioned is surrounded by very strong walls, and several high and solid towers. It contains sufficient space for 600 or 800 men; has many arched rooms bomb proof; and would be impregnable against any Arabian force, being built upon a rock, which cannot be undermined. But it would not hold out for any time against European artillery.

The great ornament of Medina, which nearly raises the sanctity of the city to a level with that of Mekka, is the great mosque containing the tomb of Mahommed, which is situated towards the eastern extremity of the town; it is inferior in its dimensions to the mosque at Mekka, being 165 paces in length, and 130 in breadth. It is built on much the same plan of an open square, surrounded on all sides by covered colonnades of ten, four, and three rows, on the south, west, and north sides, with a small building in the centre of the square. The roof of the colonnade consists of a number of small domes, white-washed on the outside, in the same manner as those of Mekka. The interior walls are also white-washed[7:14:531] except the southern one, which is cased with slabs of marble up to the top, and has several rows of inscriptions in gilt letters. The floor under the collonades is coarsely paved, excepting in those parts nearest to the tomb of Mahommed, where the pavement is mosaic, forming one of the best specimens of that kind of workmanship to be seen in the East. Large and high windows, with glass panes, the only instance of glass in windows that Burckhardt saw in Arabia, some of them of fine painted glass, admit the light through the southern wall. Near the south-east corner stands Mahommed’s tomb, detached from the walls of the mosque, and enclosed by an iron railing painted green, which is entered by four gates. Within the inclosnre is a curtain carried wholly round it, which is said to cover a square building of black stones, supported by two pillars, in which are the tombs of Mahommed and his two earliest friends and immediate successors, Abou Bekr and Omar. These tombs, as far as Burckhardt could learn, are covered with precious stuffs; and here were deposited all sorts of vessels set with jewels, ear-rings, bracelets, necklaces, and other ornaments, brought as presents from all parts of the empire, by the rich pilgrims as they passed through Medina. The whole formed a collection of considerable value; though it was, no doubt, occasionally pillaged by the pious priests who are appointed to the service of the temple, in the same manner as they stole the golden lamps from the mosque at Mekka. Amongst other curious relics, a copy of the Koran in Cufic characters, which belonged to Othman ibn Affan, was deposited here. When Medina was taken by the Wahabees, their chiefs seized all the golden vessels. Saoud, who penetrated behind the curtain, took everything that was valuable, and amongst other precious articles, the Cufic manuscripts of the Koran, and a brilliant star set in diamonds and pearls which was suspended directly over the prophet’s tomb. Several of the golden vessels were re-purchased by Tous-sonn Pasha, the son of Ali Pasha, when he entered Medina in his war against the Wahabees, and replaced in their original situation. The door between the curtain and the railing is inlaid with various coloured marble in mosaic; and here are suspended glass lamps which are lighted every evening, and remain burning all night. The whole of this inclosure is covered with a fine lofty dome, which the Wahabces determined to destroy; but it was so strong that it resisted all their efforts to destroy it. The dome is surmounted with a globe and crescent both glittering with gold. A wooden partition, about eight feet in height, and richly painted with arabesque, runs from the western side of the railing across the mosque, parallel with the south wall, and separates the holy place called El Rodha, or the garden of paradise, from the common passage. Here, on the carpet, the congregation assembles, this being the favourite spot for prayers. The entrance has a splendid appearance; but, says Burckhardt, it is all tinsel decoration, and has a paltry appearance compared with the catholic churches of Europe. The mosque is entered by four gates; and its service is entrusted to forty or fifty eunuchs, who have, like their brethren in Mekka, large stipends annually remitted from Constantinople. Medina is abundantly supplied with water, though not of a very good quality, by a fine subterraneous canal, carried hither from the village of Koba, about two miles distant; and water is everywhere found by digging to the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet. A supply of water is also derived from a torrent, which flows from south to north, passing across the suburbs. In 1804, Medina surrendered to the Wahabee arms; but was again besieged and taken in 1812, by the Egyptian army of Ali Pasha, under his son, Tonssoun Bey, when a thousand of the inhabitants were massacred in the streets. Yembo is the port of Medina, from which it is distant 160 miles.

Medina., a town and fort of the island of Bahrein, near the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf, which carries on a considerable trade with Bassora and the other ports of this sea. Near it is a bank containing the finest pearls in the world.

Medina Celt, an ancient town of Spain, in Old Castille, and capital of a considerable duchy of the same name; it is situated near the river Xalon, in W. Lon<>∙. 2. 9 N Lat. 41.15. 0 ’ ’

Medina de-las-Torres, a very ancient town of Spain, in Estremadura, with an old castle, and the title of a duchy’. It is situated on the confines of Andalusia, at the foot of a mountain near Badajoz.

Medina-del-Cai⅛ipo, a large, rich, and ancient town of Spain, in the kingdom of Leon. The great square is very fine, and adorned with a superb fountain. It is a trading place, enjoys great privileges, and is situated in a country abounding with corn and -wine. W. Long. 4. 20. N. Lat. 41.22.

Medina-del-rio-Seco, an ancient and rich town of Spain, in the kingdom of Leon, with the title of a duchy; it is situated on a plain, remarkable for its fine pastures. E. Long. 4. 33. N. Lat. 42.8.

Medina Sidonia. A city in the province of Andalusia in Spain. It is the head of a duchy, and with the surrounding country is the property of a duke, in whom are united the estates and titles of Medina Celi, and Medina Sidonia. The city is built on the side of a high mountain, from whence, owing to the transinceney of the atmosphere, it has a fine view of the city and bay of Cadiz, and the populous towns and rich districts around it. It contains 5000 inhabitants.

Medina, Sir John, an eminent painter, was son of Medina de l’Asturias, a Spanish captain, who settled at Brussels, where the subject of this notice was born in 1660. He was instructed in painting by Duchatel, under whose direction he made great progress; and applying himself to the study of Rubens, he made that eminent master his principal model. He painted both historical subjects and portraits, and was held in extraordinary estimation by most of the princes of Germany, who distinguished his merit by several marks of honour. He married young, and came into England in 1686, where he painted portraits for several years with great reputation, exhibiting remarkable freedom of touch, with a delicate management of tints, and producing a strong resemblance to the originals. The Earl of Leven encouraged him to go to Scotland, and procured him employment there to the extent of £500. He went thither, carrying a large number of bodies and postures, to which he afterwards painted heads. He returned to England for a short time, but went back to Scotland, where he died, and was buried in the churchyard of the Greyfriars at Edinburgh, in 1711, aged fifty-two. He painted most of the Scotch nobility. Medina was knighted by the Duke of Quecnsberry, lord high commissioner, and was the last knight made in Scotland before the Union.