CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 19 



the office of cadi of Bagdad, first exposed to sale in 

 the reign of Almoti, was purchased for 200,000 

 drachms (4583/. 6s. Sd.) ; and we learn from Abulfeda, 

 that all the chief offices of government were dis- 

 posed of in a similar manner. The administration 

 was sometimes put into the hands of women belong- 

 ing to the court ; and among the secretaries and 

 counsellors of Moktader was a damsel named Ya- 

 mek, who was so thoroughly versed in the weightier 

 points of legislation, that the judges in the determi- 

 nation of criminal causes, as well as the doctors of 

 the law in their most important decisions, were fre- 

 quently obliged to have recourse to her for assist- 

 ance. Religious differences gave rise to bitter and 

 incessant animosities. In every profession which 

 allowed room for two persons, the one was gene- 

 rally a votary, and the other a persecutor, of the 

 sect of Ali. The rigid disciples of the famous Han- 

 bal carried their phrensy so far as to invade the pri- 

 vileges and the pleasures of domestic life. Enter- 

 ing the houses of the citizens, they spilled the wine 

 wherever they found it, beat the musicians, and 

 broke their instruments to pieces ; nor could they 

 be reduced to submission except by the publication 

 of a severe edict. 



This state of corruption and licentiousness was 

 occasionally checked by a firm and determined 

 hand ; and some of the last of the Abbassidan princes 

 acted with an energy that would have done credit 

 to the brightest days of the caliphate. The policy 

 of Alkayem and Moctadi led them to strengthen 

 their interests by powerful matrimonial alliances. 

 The latter espoused the daughter of Malek Shah, 

 who was received at Bagdad amid an illumination 

 of waxen torches, " which echpsed the stars, and 

 set the firmament in a blaze." Of the luxury or 

 expenditure of their nuptial banquet, some estimate 

 may be formed from the assertion, that in the arti- 

 cle of sugar alone, 500 tons weight was consumed. 



