22 



CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



warbled their natural harmony, each in its cn\ 

 strains ; the whole being effected by the spontaneous 

 motions of machinery." Such was the marvellous 

 luxury of the Abbassides, seated amidst the riches of 

 the East. The ambassadors of the Greek Emperor 

 Constantine Porphyrogenitus,on whose account such 

 courtly grandeur was displayed, were led by the 

 vizier, himself splendidly dressed, through all this 

 magnificence, to the foot of the caliph's throne. 



The arts by which this ingenious splendour was 

 supported seem then to have flourished in great 

 perfection ; and we are told that Hallaj, a fa- 

 mous juggler and fanatic, who was executed at 

 Bagdad (A. D. 922), could astonish his numerous 

 spectators by making winter fruits appear in sum- 

 mer, and summer fruits in winter ; and even bring 

 showers of drachms from the clouds, by merely 

 stretching out his hands in the air. The viziers and 

 other officers of state imitated the extravagance of 

 their master. Kimar, the emir of Mostadi, car- 

 ried his ideas of magnificence so far, that in his 

 chamber of retirement a chain of gold was suspend- 

 ed from the roof to rest his hands on ; and in the 

 same apartment stood a golden vase, charged with 

 musk, amber, and the most expensive aromatics. 



But the nations of the East had learned to despise 

 these idle pageantries, and trample on the degraded 

 successors of the Prophet. Of the first twenty ca- 

 liphs of the house of Abbas nine had been cut off 

 by poison, hunger, or assassination. Kaher was de- 

 throned by the Tartar guards ; the searing instru- 

 ment was passed across his eyes, and in this wretch- 

 ed state he is said to have prolonged an existence 

 of sixteen years, during which he was regularly 





