34 



end all in LI; the other from that of Abn-eb-ula, all whofe rh'imes 

 end in Z^. In this manner, fays Le Clerc, nearly the whole of the 

 rhimes in the 119th pfalm, are obferved to end, terminating in CHA. 

 (Vid. " EJfai" as before.) Such, it feems, ^vas pretty much the ftatc 

 of the Arabian verfe, when, foon after the beginning of the feventh 

 century, Mahomet compofed his Koran, a work that attrafted general 

 attention, and led the way to a more artificial ftrufture of the national 

 poetry ; for, under the Caliphate of Arafliido, we find the learned Al- 

 Chalil-Ebn- Ahmed- Al Farahidi reducing the Arabian verfe to rule, but 

 that rule confifting rather in the adjuftment and ordering of the rhime, 

 than in the diftinftion of long and fhort fyllables; or in other profo- 

 dial regulations. Be this as it may, the rythm of the Koran, we are 

 told, is far from elaborate, or well conftrudled.* But whatever is its 

 deficiency in point of cadence, we are affured it has no deficiency in 

 the rhime ; t as if that alone had been worthy of regard, or at leafl 

 •was a primary objeft with the compofer. We may be very certain 

 that, had not the Arabians confidered the rhime a quality eflential to 

 their poetry, this artful impollor would not have fo rigidly obferved it, 

 to the neglcft of more fubftantial ornaments. He was a merchant, that 

 knew mankind, and knew that rhime graced the poetry of every nation : 

 he knew alfo that the ear is the inlet to the heart, and that his 



poetry 



• Quamvis enim Poefis apud Arabes longe ante iilius (Al Caili) statem fumnio ftudio 

 culta fuerit ; ipfum primum novinaus, qui ad artis leges earn revocare tentavit- Totum 

 autem hie artificium in literarum Motaharracaton Motarum Sawaceno, quiefcentiura 

 debita difpofitione fitum eft." (5am. Clarke's Sclent. Met. .Aral,) 



" Sciendum tamen pleraque eorum omnibus fuis pedibus integris apud poetas raro, 

 qusedam etiam nunquam ufurpari ; cum docendi tantum gratia ab Al Chililo invents et 

 introdufls fuerint iftae formulae, ut ad eas, tanquam normas, numerofa: illae, in quas fefe 

 diffindunt hi trunci, propagines exigerentur.'' (Ibid. Cap. 5.) 



Dclefiantur vehementer Arabes ftylo rythmico, qua in re cum pluiimi au(5tores imi- 

 tentur Alcoranum, cujus periodi plerumque in rythmo definant, dici vix poteft, quam 

 fedulam operam navant, ut genium ac indolem ftyli iilius rythmici in Alcorano contenti 

 eiprimant. Quo frequenter enim rythmus incidit in periodos et commata, eo fublimior et 

 perfeftior eft diftio." 



{Specimen j^ralicum : /luHore Patricio, Danlx.) 



