76 LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 



Plants ;" but it might puzzle a modern reader to 

 discover that " Approved Butter" means a disserta- 

 tion on Constancy of Mind ; or to find a History of 

 Granada in a ♦' Specimen of the Full Moon." Ibn 

 Hassem, a native of Cordova, was equally renow^ned 

 for poetic genius, historical information, and attain- 

 ments as a linguist. His writings on various sub-r 

 jects, both in prose and verse, were so multitudinous, 

 that, after his decease, his son is said to have col- 

 lected 400 volumes of them, comprising about 80,000 

 leaves. Ibn Haion, an inhabitant of the same city, 

 wrote an account of Spain in ten volumes ; and ano- 

 ther work on history, embracing the occurrences of 

 his own times, which extends to sixty. It were 

 tedious to specify the " Golden Chains of Faith," a 

 highly-celebrated performance on the Character and 

 Productions of Royal and Eminent Spanish Authors 

 in the fifth century of the Hejira ; or the " Mines of 

 Silver," a biographical work of the famed Ibn Ab-r 

 bar ; or the ^' Fallen Pearls and Picked-up Flowers" 

 of Abu Bakri. Every state, every province, every 

 city and town, possessed its individual chronicler 

 and historian. A full history of Spain, from the 

 time when it was first peopled to the close of the 

 thirteenth century, giving an account of its geogra^ 

 phy, productions, and literary institutions, was con.- 

 tinued by six authors in succession, and cost the 

 labour of 115 years. 



Works on biography, memoirs of the different 

 caliphs, and of men peculiarly distinguished for their 

 virtues, talents, or achievements, Avere innumerable. 

 The two Razis of Cordova, father and son, filled 

 many large volumes with illustrious genealogies, 

 and annals of distinguished viziers. Abul Walid, a 

 statesman and historian of Seville, wrote an account 

 of the Ommiades in Spain, similar to that given by 

 Masoudi of the Caliphs of Asia. These Arabian 

 Plutarchs descended even to the brute creation, 

 ^uch was the passion for every species of composi- 



