262 Oriental Literature. [Chap. XIY^ 



several travellers, among whom Niebubr, of Den- 

 mark, holds a distinguished place. 



As in the seventeenth century the learned men 

 of Holland were the great sources of information 

 in Arabic literature, and had done more than those 

 of any other country in Europe to advance its 

 cultivation ; so in the eighteenth it is believed that 

 Great Britain and Germany successfully vied with 

 that country in the production of eminent Arabic 

 scholars. Still, however, Holland held a high 

 place with respect to this branch of oriental litera- 

 ture. The names of Reland and Schultens alone 

 do great honour to their nation, and may stand in 

 the place of a host of minor orientalists. 



Professor Reiske, of Leipsic, who died in 1774, 

 after a life of more than eighty years, was one of 

 the most able and zealous promoters of Arabic li- 

 terature that the age produced. By his unremitted 

 oral instructions, and by his valuable publications, 

 he contributed to the rearing of a great number of 

 excellent Arabic scholars. His successor in the 

 professorial chair at Leipsic, E. C. Rosenmuller, is 

 highly distinguished in the same walk of litera- 

 ture. Y{\s> Arabisches Ekmentarbuch, &c., isrepre« 

 sen ted as a work of much value, and worthy of a 

 place in the library of every student of the Arabic 

 language. 



In 1800 professor Wliite, of the university of 

 Oxford, presented to the lovers of Arabic litera- 

 ture a curious and valuable work, entitled Abdolla- 

 tiphi Historice JF.gypti Compendium Arabice ct La- 

 tine. This work was iirst carried to England by 

 Pr. Pococke^ tli<; celebrated traveller. His son, u 



