MURCIA, a city in Spain, the capital of the province or kingdom of the same name. It is an inland place, and has the muddy but fertilizing river Segura passing through it. Near the city the Segura takes a turn to the north, and then to the eastward, in its way to the sea, thus enclosing a rich plain on whose produce the prosperity of the city depends. Though Murcia is on elevated ground, being 450 feet above the level of the sea, yet it is by no means free from agues, which are supposed to be brought on by the
miasma from the marshes. The city contains a population of 34,000 souls, who depend principally on the agriculture of the surrounding province, though the manufactures of silk afford employment and yield subsistence to a considerable portion of them. It is the see of a bishop, who has a splendid palace. The cathedral is a massive pile of building, and the steeple lofty, commanding an extensive prospect over a luxuriant country. The ascent to the top, like that of some other towers in Spain, is not by steps, but by an inclined plane winding round it, which allows the visitor, if disposed, to ascend on horseback to the top. In this church are preserved, without any remorse or reprobation, the names of the different Jews who have been executed here by the Inquisition. These are inscribed on banners, and hung up as trophies, as if the exercise of inhumanity were honourable to religion. Some other buildings deserve notice. The seminary of St. Fulgentius, destined to prepare youth for the ecclesiastical profession, is a pile of considerable magnitude, and of some taste; but the most striking is the edifice belonging to the gremios mayores of Madrid, which is filled with very ingenious machinery for throwing, spinning, and dyeing the silk. The most important of all the works of man are, however, the numerous canals cut from the river, by which its fertilizing waters are distributed to the gardens and plantations surrounding the city. It contains two colleges and two open libraries. It is situated in lat. 37. 58. 42. N.