CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



15 



their governments hereditary, and to assume every 

 thing except the name of kings. The seeds of dis- 

 solution were slowly matured by foreign wars and 

 domestic revolts, and the first twenty reigns are all 

 that can be assigned as the prosperous era of the Ab- 

 bassides. In Arabia their authority was nominally 

 maintained by their viceroys; though the sheiks 

 of the desert gradually resumed their ancient inde- 

 pendence, and regarded the successors of Mohammed 

 merely as the chiefs of their religion. As their 

 power commenced in blood, so it will be found in 

 the sequel to have terminated its career in the most 

 dreadful scenes of cruelty and carnage. The middle 

 of the thirteenth century brought the tragic history 

 of their fallen race to a close, when the proud ca- 

 pital of Islam fell into the hands of the Tartars. 



DYNASTY OF THE ABBASSIDES, OR CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



Of the earlier princes of this dynasty several were 

 not more distinguished for their warlike prowess 



