72 LITERATURE OF HE ARABS. 



oblivion; and the eloquence of Koss and Horairi 

 superseded that of Cicero and Demosthenes. 



Fully to appreciate the beauties of Arabian poe- 

 try would require an acquaintance with the produc- 

 tions of the country, and with the manners and 

 peculiarities of the inhabitants. For want of this 

 knowledge the oriental muses have been criticised 

 with extreme severity and injustice. Nor is it per- 

 haps very surprising that those who have read the 

 most celebrated compositions of the Eastern poets, 

 in Latin or French translations only, should feel but 

 an indifferent relish for their charms, or form a cold 

 judgment of their merits. Comparisons and similes 

 founded on local objects have a point and beauty that 

 can only be felt in the land that gave them birth ; 

 though we may easily comprehend what force and 

 propriety such metaphors as the odour of reputation 

 and the dews of liberality must have had in the mouths 

 of those who so much needed refreshment on their 

 journeys, and were accustomed to regale their senses 

 with the sweetest fragrance in the world. The same 

 remark is true of the figures and images drawn from 

 those beautiful and agreeable scenes with which the 

 Eastern nations are perpetually conversant. The 

 Hebrew muse delighted in the roses of Sharon, the 

 verdure of Carmel, and the cedars of Lebanon ; so 

 did the Arabs adorn their verses with the pearls of 

 Oman, the musk of Hadramaut, the woods and 

 nightingales of Aden, and the spicy odours of Ye- 

 men. Compared to our idiom, such emblems may 

 appear fantastic and extravagant, however striking 

 and just in the glowing language of the East. They 

 differ essentially from those we meet with in the 

 schools of Greece and Rome. The acacia and the 

 tamarisk of the rocks bloomed not in their famed 

 Parnassus, nor in the groves of their academy ; and 

 were we to attempt to transplant these exotic flow- 

 ers to the gardens of Europe, perhaps we should 



