272 A. D. 970. 



the amir of Sicily to Almoez, a fovereign on the African coaft, and pil- 

 laged her. Almoez, who was alfo fovereign of Sicily, which he govern- 

 ed by an amir, or viceroy, fitted out a fleet, which took the great Span- 

 iih fliip returning from Alexandria, loaded with rich wares for Abdir- 

 raman's own ufe, and particularly beautiful flaves, among whom were 

 fome women very fkilful in mufic. \_Hi/i. Saracen, ap. Muratori Script. 

 V. i, part ii, p. 252.] We fliall afterwards meet with feveral other great 

 fhips built by the Saracens in various places. It was probably in imi- 

 tation of thofe built in Spain, that the Chrixlian Spaniards introduced 

 the ufe of large fhips, for which tbey were diflinguifhed at leaft down 

 to the age of Philip II, whofe invincible armada confided of fhips much 

 larger than the Englifh veflt;Is oppofed to them. 



The moft illuftrious charader of the tenth century was undoubtedly 

 Gerbert, a native of France, and a monk of Fleury. Born in an age, 

 which is juftly reprobated by hiftorians as overwhelmed with the deep- 

 efi: fliade of that mental darknefs, wherein Europe was buried for lb 

 many centuries, this heaven-born philofopher furmounted the prejudices 

 of education, and, in defiance of ecclefiaftical cenfures, withdrew from 

 teachers who could add nothing to his ftock of knowlege, to feek from 

 the profelTors of a different religion the treafures of fcience, for which 

 lie fo ardently thirfted, and which they alone of all the people of Eu- 

 rope then pofi^efl'ed *. At Seville in Spain he learned the language of 

 the Arabs, and foon made himfelf maiier of their fuperior knowlege in 

 aftronomy, geometry, mechanics, and apparently arithmetic. On his 

 return to France in the year 970 he liberally imparted to his country- 

 men the fruits of his ftudies. His mufic, his hydraulic organs, his me- 

 chanic horologe, &c. 1 fay nothing of, as not fo immediately connected 

 with commerce ; but that part of his imported ftock of knowlege, which 

 moft; eminently entitles him to the gratitude of the Europeans in all 

 fucceeding ages, and efpecially of every merchant, was the glorious fci- 

 ence of ARITHMETIC, as now pradifcd by means of the numeral figures, 

 which the Arabs had brought with them from the Eafl. It was thought 

 a moft: wonderful thing by the French, that the fame figure could ex- 

 prefs one, one hundred, one thoufand, 8cc. and the rules of arithmetic, 

 which he publiflied, could fcarcely be comprehended by the mofl: labor- 

 ious fludents, even in the twelfth century f. It is, however, not impro- 



* Sclden quotes (from memory) fome author ly withheld fiom the piibh'c Gcrbcrt's trcatife up- 



of thofe ages, who calls the ftudy of natural phi- on arithmetic, liitnigh he acknovvlcgcs he had it 



lofophy and the arts iJ/wiyid S'arjcff/iiraTO. \_Tules of in his poficlTion, and at the end of the 160''' 



honour, preface.'}^ fpIUle, whicli was prefixed to it, even gives a fpc- 



■}• ' Abaeumcertc primus a Saraccnis rapicns, re- cimcn of it as follows. 



♦ gulas dedit, quae a fudantibus abaciflis vix intelli- ' De fimplicc. 



' guntur.' [_IV. Miilvijb.f. ■i,C>3i.'] Whether that ' Si nuiltiplicavcris fmgularcni niimerum per 



was owing to the want of compi thenlion in the ' fingularcm, dabis unicuique digito fuigularem, ct 



lludcnts, or to the imperfetlion of the rules, it is ini- • omni articulo decern, difcrte ct converCm, &c.'— 



pofiibk for 113 to know, as MaiFon has inyfl ftrangc- and 



