12 



ed encampments of the Arab, the Saracen and the Moor, where 

 yet glowed the unextiuguished embers of that general conflagra- 

 tion, in which was consumed the accumulated wisdom of thirty 

 centuries. There it was, that the lamps of literature, science 

 and the arts were reillumined. At Bagdad and Ispahan, Bas- 

 sora and Cairo, Fez and Cordova, were again reared the tem- 

 ples, and thither thronged the devotees of intellect. It was there 

 the revival of learning commenced and gradually spreading over 

 Southern Europe, the progress was onward, until it reached 



" That bleak coast, which 

 Hears the German ocean roar, 



Whence full-bloom'd, strong, 

 And yellow hair'd, the blue ey'd Saxon came, 



then with him, and freedom, and Christianity, ultimately crossed 

 the broad Atlantic, and in conformity to prophetic annunciation 

 westward still, they keep their glorious course. 



During the ages of bloodshed, desolation, anarchy and barba- 

 rism, which succeeded the overthrow of the Roman Empire, ag- 

 riculture was almost wholly abandoned, and pasturage was sub- 

 stituted for tillage. The earliest efforts for its restoration was 

 made by the Moors in Spain, and was there carried to great 

 perfection, during the period of their supremacy in that kingdom. 

 Remains of numerous hydraulic structures, which were erected 

 for the purposes of artificial irrigation, so indispensable in that 

 sultry climate, are to be seen in several parts of the country, 

 which evince the intelligence and enterprise of the Moorish in- 

 habitants. Some of the most learned men of that extraordinary 

 race also wrote able works on husbandry, which are still pre- 

 served in the royal libraries of Madrid : but after the impolitic 

 expulsion of that most enlightened and industrious portion of 

 the population, the cultivation of the earth rapidly declined, and 

 has never since regained its former consequence. 



The Italian States early adopted the agricultural improve- 

 ments which had been introduced into Sicily by its Saracenic 

 conquerors. The Normans and Flemings next became conspicu- 

 ous for their advancement in husbandry ; and after the invasion of 

 Great Britain by the ambitious sovereign of the former, numer- 

 ous emigrants from both of those nations, soon followed, who 



