Mealfourvonie

Mealfour'vonie. See Ness, Loch.

Meanee

Meanee. See Meeanee.

Mearns

Mearns. See Kincardineshire.

Meath

Meath, a maritime county of Leinster, Ireland, bounded E. for 10 miles by the Irish Sea, and by the counties of Dublin and Louth. Area, 906 sq. m., or 579,861 acres, of which 34,300 are waste, bog, etc. Pop. (1841) 183,116; (1861) 110,373; (1901) 67,497, of whom 71,690 were Catholics. The soil is a rich loam; but close upon 67 per cent. of it is devoted to pasture. The surface is mostly undulating. The chief rivers are the Boyne and Blackwater. The principal towns are Trim, Navan, and Kells. John's Castle at Trim is one of the most extensive monuments of English rule in Ireland. There are a round tower and sculptured crosses at Kells, and a round tower at Donoughmore. Monastic ruins survive at Bective, Clonard, and Duleek. Meath returns two members.

Mechlin

Mechlin. See Malines.

Medellin

Medellin, (1) a Spanish town (pop. 1477), the birthplace of Cortes, on the Guadiana, 66 miles by rail E. of Badajoz. - (2) The second city of Colombia, capital of the dep. of Antioquia, lies in a lovely mountain-valley, 4850 feet above the sea, and 150 miles NW. of Bogota. It has a cathedral, college, and manufactures of pottery, porcelain, and jewellery. Pop. 50,000.

Medford

Medford, a Massachusetts town, on the Mystic River, 5 miles by rail NNW. of Boston. It manufactures rum, buttons, etc, and has a Uni-versalist college (1852). Pop. 19,078.

Media

Media, in ancient times, the NW. part of Iran or Persia, bounded by the Caspian Sea and Parthia on the E. It corresponded to the modern Persian provinces of Azerbijan, Ghilan, and Irak-Ajemi, and E. Kurdistan.

Medina Sidonia

Medina Sidonia (Medee'na), a city of Spain, 25 miles SSE. of Cadiz, stands on an isolated hill, and has a ruined castle, the ancestral seat of the dukes of Medina Sidonia. Pop. 11,699.

Medinet-el-Fayyum

Medinet-el-Fayyum. See Fayyum.

Medmenham

Medmenham (Med'nam), a village of Bucks, near the Thames, 3 miles SW. of Marlow. Here stood a Cistercian abbey (1204); and here, soon after 1750, Sir Francis Dashwood, afterwards Lord le Despencer (1708-81), founded his mock brotherhood of' Franciscans.'

Medoc

Medoc', a French district on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, famed for the quantity and excellence of the wine it yields, some of the most famous growths of Bordeaux.

Medway

Medway, a river of Kent, rising in three head-streams in Sussex and Surrey, and flowing 70 miles north-eastward (including 12 miles of estuary), past Tunbridge, Maidstone, Rochester, Chatham, and Sheerness, until it joins the estuary of the Thames. It is tidal and navigable to Maidstone, but large vessels do not ascend above Rochester bridge. In 1667 the Dutch sailed up the Medway.

Meeanee

Meeanee, or Miani, a village in Sind, India, on the Indus, 6 miles N. of Hyderabad, was the scene of Sir Charles Napier's victory with 2800 men over a Baluch army, 22,000 strong, on February 17, 1843.