70 LICERAHURE OF THE ARABS. 



originally consisted of twenty-four volumes. Hejiaz 

 composed a biography of the Arabian bards in fifty 

 volumes ; and Safadi another in thirty, besides the 

 lives of illustrious men distinguished for extraordin- 

 ary valour. In the large Miscellany of Thaalebi, 

 called Yatima, may be seen a specimen of the united 

 beauty, elegance, and dignity of the Arabian muse. 

 It contains the lives and some of the verses of the 

 finest writers who flourished in Syria, Egypt, Meso- 

 potamia, Chaldea, Arabia, Persia, and Tartary. 

 Numerous collections of poems exist in Spain, 

 termed Dwans or Academical Prolusions, from the 

 circumstance of their having been honoured with a 

 recital in the colleges or academies. These com- 

 prise idyls, elegies, epigrams, odes, satires, and 

 almost every other species of poetry familiar to the 

 Greeks and Romans. 



The structure of the rhymes and verses, as may 

 be seen in the Commentaries of Sir William Jones, 

 was subjected to particular laws, which imparted a 

 degi'ee of harmony and regularity to the whole com- 

 position. The two forms of versification most in use 

 were the Gazdla and the Cassida ; both of which 

 were compositions in distichs, the alternate lines in 

 every couplet being made to rhyme with each othei 

 throughout the whole poem. The Gazella was an 

 amatory or lyrical ode, which ought not to contain 

 less than seven, nor more than thirteen couplets ; 

 while the length of the Cassida, employed in songs 

 of love or war, might extend from ten to a hundred 

 distichs. The most celebrated of these Divans were 

 those of Abu Nowas, and Ibn Mokannas whose epi- 

 grammatic wit procured him the title of the Arabian 

 Martial.* Of all the different kinds of poetical com- 



* The Arabs were extremely fond of reiterations and jingling 

 Bounds in the poetry, — 



" When shall it be, and when shall it be, and when shall it be, 



and when, 

 That I shall be, and love shall be. and music shall be, and wine ?" 



