children at their destiny? There are instances, indeed, in which it is justifiable to feel the keenest anguish at the approach of death; a mother surrounded by helpless children, who would fain drag her back from the grasp of death, deserves sympathy rather than reproach when overwhelmed with grief. But even in her case it is vain. She should rather remember how many women as weak as she have met death, even on the scaffold, with a resignation that would have done credit to a conqueror. It is well known that the unfortunate Queen of Scots had been longing for years, as the hart panteth for the water-brooks, for that death which would relieve her from her sufferings; and Burns has no tenderer lines than those in which he embodies her wailings, and which conclude with the following stanza: "Oh, soon to me may summer suns Nae mair to me the autumn winds And in the narrow house of death And the next flowers that deck the spring When brought to the block with only a few hours' notice, she acted in strict accordance with these longings, and her only emotions were, while preparing her neck for the axe, for her faithful attendants, and for the son who deserved so little from her. A thousand similar instances might be cited. Why, then, will men grieve and whine at what they cannot avoid, and think it so hard a thing to mingle with the earth whence they came? They would contribute much more to their happiness in this lite, and prolong it, too, were they to regard it like the great Cyrus, who never spoke more calmly or more philosophically than in his admirable address to his sons, announcing to them that his end had come, advising them how they should behave through life, and begging that they should not enclose his body in gold or silver, but to return it to the earth; for what, he said, could be better than to be mixed with the earth, which produces and nourishes all things that are great and good ?* * “Τὸ δὲ ἐμὸν σῶμα, ὦ παῖδες, ὅταν τελευτήσω, μήτε ἐν χρυσῷ θῆτε, μήτε ἐν ἀργύρῳ, μηδὲ ἐν ἄλλῳ μηδενί· ἀλλὰ τῇ γῇ ὡς τάχισα ἀπόδοτε. Τί γὰρ τούτου μακαριώτερον, τοῦ γῇ μιχθῆναι, ἢ πάντα μὲν τὰ καλὰ, πάντα δὲ τὰναθὰ φύει τε καὶ τρέφει.” ΞΕΝΟΦΩΝΤΟΣ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΠΑΙΔΕΙΑΣ Η ́. μ. 508. ART. III.-1.-History of Arabia, Ancient and Modern. By ANDREW CRICHTON. Edinburgh, 1860. 2. Chrestomathie Arabe, ou Etraits de divers Ecrivains Arabes, tant en prose qu'en vers; avec une Traduction et des Notes, à l'usage des élèves de l'Ecole Royal et spéciale des Langues Orientales vivantes. Nouvelle édition. Par M. le Baron SYLVESTRE DE SACY. 3 tom., 8vo. Paris, 1858. 3. The Moállakát, or Seven Arabian Poems, which were suspended on the Temple of Mecca; with Translation and Arguments. By Sir WILLIAM JONES. 4to. 1782. 4. Etudes Géographiques et Historiques sur l'Arabie. Par M. JOMARD. 8vo. Paris. 5. Contes Arabes du CHEIKH AL MOHDY. Traduits par J. J. MARCEL. Paris. 6. Historia Anteislamica. By ABOULFEDA. Edited by M. FLEISHER. Leipsic. 7. Institutiones Arabicæ Linguæ. Jena. 8. Grammatica Arabigo-Española, Vulgar y Literal. Madrid, 1858. THERE are no people of whom we know less than the Arabs, although, with the sole exception of the Greeks, there are none to whom we owe more. Were the simple facts of our indebtedness stated, as belonging to the European race, they would seem the grossest exaggerations. For this ignorance and incredulity there are several reasons; but for the present it will be sufficient to mention one or two. What the Arabs gave us we received from them as from enemies, and, instead of giving them due credit for it, we took all possible pains to destroy every record which could show whence it came. Had they come to Europe at any other time, it might have been different; but coming as the followers of Mahomet, and with the supposed, if not the avowed, purpose of establishing his religion to the exclusion of Christianity, just while the latter was taking root after having suffered for ages from persecution, it was natural enough that the intellectual treasures they brought, however valuable in themselves, were not appreciated as they doubtless would have been, even in an age of so much ignorance, under more favorable circum stances. For a similar reason Mahometanism itself was regarded Mahomet was as a much worse religion than it really was. considered in no other light than as an impostor and false prophet. That he really was one and the other far be it from us to deny; but he was also a philosopher and a statesman. The Koran is no more a revelation from God than any other book that exhibits similar talent; more than this, it inculcates many precepts whose tendency is decidedly pernicious. Upon the whole, however, it is by no means the wicked, bad book which nearly all Christians supposed it to be about a thousand years ago, and which most Christians still suppose it to be. That it is not like our Bible or worthy of comparison with it is no reason why we should not do justice to whatever merit it possesses. Honesty and candor require this in all circumstances; but it is essential in forming an opinion of Arabian literature or Arabian civilization. Those prejudiced against the one must be prejudiced against the other, and prejudice is always an enemy to truth. In order to understand this. it is necessary to bear in mind that no book that has ever been printed has exerted so powerful an influence on human passion as the Koran. A large proportion of Christians reverence the Bible and have implicit faith in its teachings; but it does not lay so strong a hold on their feelings as the Koran does on those of the Mahometans. The cause is obvious enough to any unprejudiced person who is acquainted with both-the one addresses itself chiefly to the reason, while the other addresses itself chiefly to the imagination; the one is consulted as a guide in religion and morals, the other as a guide in all things, in literature, government, and jurisprudence, as well as in religion. But before we make any attempt to discover its influence on literature, let us see whether the people who believe in it are worthy of a fair and patient hearing. It will be admitted that, if they have been our teachers in many arts and sciences, we ought to make allowance, even for the gravest of their faults; for there are none to whom we should feel more grateful than to our instructors. As a utilitarian people, we Americans value the sciences and the arts more than any mere accomplishment; but, if we judge the Arabs by this test, we shall be surprised on due examination at all they have taught us. No other country has produced so many able naturalists as Arabia; and it may be regarded as the native home of botany and chemistry. Certainly the Arabs knew both, especially the latter. better than either the Greeks or the Romans. So far as history gives us any account on the subject they were the first who applied chemistry to the purposes of agriculture. The medical schools which they established throughout their extensive dominions are still celebrated throughout the world; and they were attended for nearly three centuries by the most learned men in all parts of Christendom, as superior to all others.* It is to them we owe not only the numerals which bear their name, but also the decimal system and logarithms. It was Adelard, an English monk, who first translated the Elements of Euclid from the Arabic into Latin, with the commentaries of Abou'l Wefa. We owe to the Arabs the first accurate calculation of the obliquity of the ecliptic and the circumference of the globe; it was they who taught us the eccentricity of the sun and the precession of the equinoxes, as well as the difference between the solar and the sidereal year. Many of the most useful things for which we give the credit to others or claim it for ourselves have been taught us by the Arabians. This is true even of paper, although it had been known in China for more than a thousand years before the Saracens conquered Spain. But it was the Arabs who brought it into Europe, and they had been using it themselves for centuries previously. They had paper-mills in Samarcand as early as 649 A. D., but the first paper-mill in Christian Europe was established at the end of the thirteenth century. Even then there was not one outside the boundaries of Spain. The Italians and French have in turn claimed the honor of having invented the compass, but nothing is more clearly proved than that it had been known to the Arabians centuries previously. In a similar manner, it has been sought to rob them of the honor of numerous other discoveries, including that of gunpowder, the discovery of which is generally attributed to a German chemist. We might mention the names of the Arabians who are known to have made these and many others, but they have been so carefully kept out of sight by selfinterest, egotism, and prejudice,that they are no longer familiar save to the student of the Oriental languages. But we have Arabic words enough even in English to show what an influence the Arabs have exercised on our sciences and arts; such, for "Leurs écoles, leurs académies," says M. Sylvestre de Sacy, "à Baghdad, à Bassorah, à Samarcande, à Damas, à Caïrouan, à Fez, à Grenade, à Cordove, devinrent les sources où l' Orient et l' Occident venaient puiser les eaux de la science et de la philosophie."-Memoires de l' Académie, &c. example, as zenith, nadir, azimuth, calibre, algebra, alkali, elixir, cipher, tariff, carat, alcohol, almanac, decade, demon, sheriff, juleps, magazine, lute, &c., &c. Still more important, if possible, is the influence which the Arabs have exercised on European literature. It is their fairy mythology, introduced in the eleventh century by the troubadours, which constituted the chief machinery not only of the romantic epics of Boccacio and Tasso, but also of the most charming creations of Shakespeare and Spenser. What we admire most in De Vega, Calderon,and even in Cervantes,is undoubtedly Arabic. But before we proceed any farther we will take a brief glance at the intellectual character of this people before the Koran or its author was in existence; we shall then be the better prepared to form an intelligent opinion of the influence of Islamism on Arabian literature and civilization. No people claim a higher antiquity than the Arabians; nor are there any whose claim to that distinction seems better founded. Never to this moment have they been subjugated; even Alexander failed to subdue them; so did the Romans. In the name of the latter Lucullus vanquished a few tribes. So did Pompey, Crassus, Ælius Gallus; but no sooner were they vanquished than they were again in arms, ready to fight the strongest armies which sought to deprive them of their liberties. Several of the emperors caused their principal cities to be besieged. We need only mention Trajan, who, having besieged the capital of the Hagarenes, had to withdraw his troops in disgrace after repeated efforts to capture the stronghold of only one tribe. But the Arabs are not only distinguished for having thus maintained their independence from the very dawn of history to the present; while they have thus bravely and effectually defended themselves, they have subjugated not fewer than a hundred nations, from the Indus to the Garonne; finally, when they lost their conquests, after having enjoyed them for periods varying from three to five centuries, unlike any other people of ancient or modern times, they positively refused to mix with any other race, and returned, tribe by tribe, at different periods, to their own country. Now, who that takes the least concern in the vicissitudes of human society, can fail to take an interest in the destinies of such a people? They have long enough been considered as enemies by every European nation; indeed, they have been in the habit of regarding themselves in this light; but it is now |