they took whatever words or phrases they judged more pure and elegant; by which means the beauties of the whole tongue became transfused into this dialect. The Arabians are full of the commendations of their lan guage, and not altogether without reason; for it claims the preference of most others in many respects, as being very harmonious and expressive, and withal so copious, that they say no man, without inspiration, can be perfect master of it in its utmost extent; and yet they tell us, at the same time, that the greatest part of it has been lost; which will not be thought strange if we consider how late the art of writing was practised among them. For though it was known to Job, their countryman, and also to he Hamyarites (who used a perplexed character called al Mosnad, wherein the letters were not distinctly separate, and which was neither publicly taught, nor suffered to be used without permission first obtained) many centuries before Mohammed, as appears from some ancient monuments said to be remaining in their character; yet the other Arabs, and those of Mecca in particular, were, for many ages, perfectly ignorant of it, unless such of them as were Jews or Christians: Morâmer Ebn Morra of Anbar, a city of Irâk, who lived not many years before Mohammed, was the inventor of the Arabic character, which Bashar the Kendian is said to have learned from those of Anbar, and to have introduced at Mecca but a little while before the institution of Mohammedism. These letters of Morâmer were different from the Hamyaritic; and though they were very rude, being either the same with or very much like the Cufic,' which character is still found in inscriptions, and some ancient books, yet they were those which the Arabs used for many years, the Korân itself being at first written therein; for the beautiful character they now use was first formed from the Cufic by Ebn Moklah, Wazîr (or Visir) to the Khalifs al Moktader, al Kâher, and al Râdi, who lived about 300 years after Mohammed, and was brought to great perfection by Ali Ebn Bowâb, who flourished in the following century, and whose name is yet famous among them on that account; yet it is said, the person who completed it, and reduced it to its present form, was Yakût al Mostásemi, secretary to al Mostásem, the last of the Khalifs of the family of Abbâs, for which reason he was surnamed al Khattât, or the scribe.

The accomplishments the Arabs valued themselves chiefly on were, 1. Eloquence, and a perfect skill in their own tongue; 2. Expertness in the use of arms and horsemanship; and, 3. Hospitality. The first they exercised themselves in by composing of orations and poems. Their orations were of two sorts, metrical, or prosaic, the one being compared to pearls strung, and the other to loose ones. They endeavoured to excel in both, and whoever was able, in an assembly, to persuade the people to a great enterprise, or dissuade them from a dangerous one, or gave them other wholesome advice, was honoured with the title of Khâteb, or orator, which is now given to the Mohammedan preachers. They pursued a method very dif ferent from that of the Greek and Roman orators; their sentences being like loose gems, without connexion, so that this sort of composition struck the audience chiefly by the fulness of the periods, the elegance of the expression, and the acuteness of the proverbial sayings; and so persuaded were they of their excelling in this way, that they would not allow any nation to understand the art of speaking in public except themselves and Job xix. 23, 24. A specimen of the Cufic character may be seen in Sir J. Chardin's travels, vol. iii. p. 119. 2 Ebn Khalican. Yet others attribute the honour of the invention of this character to Ebn Mokah's brother, Abdallah al Hasan; and the perfecting of it to Ebn Amid al Kâteb, aftet i had been reduced to near the present form by Abd'alhamid. Vide D'Herbel. Bibl Orient. p. 590, 108, and 194. Poc. Orat. ante Carmen Tograi, p. 10.

See Prideaux's life of Moham. p. 29, 30.

the Persians, which last were reckoned much inferior in that respect to the Arabians. Poetry was in so great estcem among them, that it was a great accomplishment, and a proof of ingenuous extraction to be able to express one's self in verse with ease and elegance on any extraordinary occurrence, and even in their common discourse they made frequent applications of celebrated passages of their famous poets. In their poems were preserved the distinction of descents, the rights of tribes, the memory of great actions, and the propriety of their language; for which reasons an excellent poet reflected an honour on his tribe, so that as soon as any one began to be admired for his performances of this kind in a tribe, the other tribes sent publicly to congratulate them on the occasion, and themselves made entertainments, at which the women assisted, dressed in their nuptial ornaments, singing to the sound of timbrels the happiness of their tribe, who had now one to protect their honour, to preserve their genealogies and the purity of their language, and to transmit their actions to posterity,5 for this was all performed by their poems, to which they were solely obliged for their knowledge and instructions, moral and economical, and to which they had recourse, as to an oracle, in all doubts and differences No wonder then that a public congratulation was made on this account, which honour they yet were so far from making cheap, that they never did it but on one of these three occasions, which were reckoned great points of felicity; viz. on the birth of a boy, the rise of a poet, and the fall of a foal of generous breed. To keep up an emulation among their poets, the tribes had, once a year, a general assembly at Ocadh," a place famous on this account, and where they kept a weekly mart or fair, which was held on our Sunday. This annual meeting lasted a whole month, during which time they employed themselves, not only in trading, but in repeating their poetical compositions, contending and vying with each other for the prize; whence the place, it is said, took its name. The poems that were judged to excel were laid up in their king's treasuries, as were the seven celebrated poems, thence called al Moallakât, rather than from their being hung up on the Caaba, which honour they also had by public order, being written on Egyptian silk, and in letters of gold; for which reason they had also the name of al Modhahabât, or the golden verses.1

The fair and assembly at Ocadh were suppressed by Mohammed, in whose time, and for some years after, poetry seems to have been in some degree neglected by the Arabs, who were then employed in their conquests; which being completed, and themselves at peace, not only this study was revived, but almost all sorts of learning were encouraged and greatly improved by them. This interruption, however, occasioned the loss of most of their ancient pieces of poetry, which were then chiefly preserved by memory, the use of writing being rare among them in their time of ignorance. Though the Arabs were so early acquainted with poetry, they did not at first use to write poems of a just length, but only expressed themselves in verse occasionally; nor was their prosody digested into rules till some time after Mohammed; for this was done, as it is said, by al Khalîl Ahmed al Farâhîdi, who lived in the reign of the Khalîf Harûn al Rashîd." Poc. Spec. 161. Poc. Orat. præfix. Carm. Tograi, ubi supra. Geogr. Nub. p. 51. Spec. 159. Ibid. and p. 381. Et in calce Notar. in Carmen Tograi, p. 233. lalo'ddin al Soyûti, apud Poc. Spec. p. 159, &c. Ib. 161. confirms this by a story of a grammarian, named Abu Jaafar, who sitting by the Mikyas or Nilometer in Egypt, in a year when the Nile did not rise to its usual height, so that a famine was apprehended, and dividing a piece of poetry into its parts or feet, to examine them by the rules of art, some who passed by, not understanding him, imagined he was uttering a charm to hinder the rise of the river, and pushed him into the water, where he lost his life. Vide Clericum de Prosod Arab. p. 2.

Ebn Rashik, apud Poc. Spec. 160.

1

Idem, Spec. p. 159.

Ib. 160.

Poc.

"Jal

Al Safadi

The exercise of arms and horsemanship they were in a manner obliged to practise and encourage, by reason of the independence of their tribes, whose frequent jarrings made wars almost continual; and they chiefly ended their disputes in field battles; it being an usual saying among them, that God had bestowed four peculiar things on the Arabs, that their turbans should be to them instead of diadems, their tents instead of walls and houses, their swords instead of intrenchments, and their poems instead of written laws.

Hospitality was so habitual to them, and so much esteemed, that the examples of this kind among them exceed whatever can be produced from other nations. Hatem of the tribe of Tay, and Hasn of that of Fezârah, were particularly famous on this account; and the contrary vice was so much in contempt, that a certain poet upbraids the inhabitants of Waset, as with the greatest reproach, that none of their men had the heart to give, nor their women the heart to deny.9

Nor were the Arabs less propense to liberality after the coming of Mo hammed than their ancestors had been. I could produce many remark. able instances of this commendable quality among them,' but shall content myself with the following. Three men were disputing in the court of the Caaba which was the most liberal person among the Arabs. One gave the preference to Abdallah, the son of Jaafar, the uncle of Mohammed; an. other to Kais Ebn Saad Ebn Obâdah; and the third gave it to Arâbah of the tribe of Aws. After much debate, one that was present, to end the dispute, proposed that each of them should go to his friend and ask his assistance, that they might see what every one gave, and form a judgment accordingly. This was agreed to; and Abdallah's friend going to him, found him with his foot in the stirrup, just mounting his camel for a journey, and thus accosted him: Son of the uncle of the apostle of God, I am travelling and in necessity. Upon which Abdallah alighted, and bid him take the camel with all that was upon her, but desired him not to part with a sword that happened to be fixed to the saddle, because it had be longed to Ali the son of Abutâleb. So he took the camel, and found on her some vests of silk, and four thousand pieces of gold; but the thing of greatest value was the sword. The second went to Kais Ebn Saad, whose servant told him that his master was asleep, and desired to know his bu siness. The friend answered that he came to ask Kais's assistance, being in want on the road. Whereupon the servant said, that he had rather supply his necessity than wake his master, and gave him a purse of seven thousand pieces of gold, assuring him that it was all the money then in the house. He also directed him to go to those who had the charge of the camels, with a certain token, and take a camel, and a slave, and return home with them. When Kais awoke, and his servant informed him of what he had done, he gave him his freedom, and asked him why he did not call him, for, says he, I would have given him more. The thi d man went to Arâbah, and met him coming out of his house, in order to go to prayers, and leaning on two slaves, because his eye-sight failed him. The friend no sooner made known his case, but Arâbah let go the slaves, and clapping his hands together, loudly lamented his misfortune in having no money, but desired him to take the two slaves; which the man refused to do, till Arâbah protested that if he would not accept of them, he gave

Pocock. in calce Notar. ad Carmen Tograi. * Vide Gentii Notas in Gulistan Sheikh Sadi, p. 486, &c. Poc. Spec. p. 48. Ebn al Hobeirah, apud Poc. in Not. ad Car men Tograi, p. 107. Several may be found in D'Herbelot's Bibl. Orient. particularly in the articles of Hasan the son of Ali, Maan, Fadhel, and Ebn Yahya.

them their liberty; and, leaving the slaves, groped his way along by the wall. On the return of the adventurers, judgment was unanimously, and with great justice, given by all who were present, that Arâbah was the most generous of the three.

Nor were these the only good qualities of the Arabs; they are commended by the ancients for being most exact to their words, and respectful to their kindred. And they have always been celebrated for their quickness of apprehension and penetration, and the vivacity of their wit; especially those of the desert."

As the Arabs had their excellencies, so have they, like other nations, their defects and vices. Their own writers acknowledge that they have a natural disposition to war, bloodshed, cruelty and rapine; being so much addicted to bear malice, that they scarce ever forget an old grudge; which vindictive temper some physicians say is occasioned by their frequent feeding on camel's flesh (the ordinary diet of the Arabs of the desert, who are therefore observed to be most inclined to these vices), that creature being most malicious and tenacious of anger; which account suggests a good reason for a distinction of meats.

The frequent robberies committed by these people on merchants and travellers have rendered the name of an Arab alinost infamous in Europe; this they are sensible of, and endeavour to excuse themselves by alleging the hard usage of their father Ismael, who being turned out of doors by Abraham, had the open plains and deserts given him by God for his patrimony, with permission to take whatever he could find there. And on this account they think they may, with a safe conscience, indemnify themselves, as well as they can, not only on the posterity of Isaac, but also on every body else; always supposing a sort of kindred between themselves and those they plunder. And in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it sufficient to change the expression, and instead of, I robbed a man of such or such a thing, to say, I gained it. We must not, however, imagine that they are the less honest for this among themselves, or towards those whom they receive as friends; on the contrary, the strictest probity is observed in their camp, where every thing is open, and nothing ever known to be stolen."

The sciences the Arabians chiefly cultivated before Mohammedism were three; that of their genealogies and history, such a knowledge of the stars as to foretell the changes of weather, and the interpretation of dreams. They used to value themselves excessively on account of the nobility of their families, and so many disputes happened on that occasion, that it is no wonder if they took great pains in settling their descents. What knowledge they had of the stars was gathered from long experience, and not from any regular study, or astronomical rules. The Arabians, as the Indians also did, chiefly applied themselves to observe the fixed stars, contrary to other nations, whose observations were almost confined to the planets; and they foretold their effects from their influences, not their nature; and hence, as has been said, arose the difference of the idolatry of the Greeks and Chaldeans, who chiefly worshipped the planets, and that of the Indians, who worshipped the fixed stars. The stars or asterisms they most usually foretold the weather by were those they call anwâ, or the houses of the moon. These are twenty-eight in number, and divide

2 Herodot. lib. iii. c. 8. p. 121. • Vide Poc. Spec. Palest. p. 220, &c. ubi sup. p. 9, and Spec. 164.

Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 1129. Vide D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient.
p. 87. Bochart, Hierozoic, lib. ii. c. 1.
Ibid. p. 213, &c.

Abulfarag, p. 161.

Voyage dans • Al Shahrestani, apud Pocock Orat.