LITERATURE OP THE ARABS. 75 



he gave orders that after the Arabic versions were 

 finished, the original manuscripts should be burnt. 



The Caliph Vathek not only admired and coun- 

 tenanced literature and the sciences, but was him- 

 self a proficient in some of them, especially poetry 

 and music. He was particularly addicted to astro- 

 logy ; and having conferred with some of this learn- 

 ed fraternity in his last illness, they assured him, 

 on consulting his horoscope, that his reign was 

 yet to endure fifty years. His death in ten days 

 falsified this prediction, and ruined the credit of 

 Hassan ibn Sohal. Abu Masher, an eminent as- 

 trologer, flourished in the reign of Mostain, but his 

 talents received sorry encouragement; for that prince 

 ordered him to be severely whipt, because an event 

 which he had foretold actually came to pass. 



Long after the power of the Abbassides had dwin- 

 dled into a mere pageant of state, they affected to pa- 

 tronise and cultivate learning. Many distinguished 

 men in almost every science illustrated this period 

 of Saracen history ; but the capital of the Muses in 

 the East had seen innumerable rivals spring up in 

 other parts of the empire. The last prince that 

 shed a ray of departing glory on his race was the 

 Caliph Mostanser, who adorned Bagdad by the 

 celebrated college that bore his name. According 

 to Oriental historians, this edifice had no equal in 

 the Moslem world, whether we consider the beauty 

 and elegance of the building, the number of students 

 it contained, or the splendid revenues assigned it 

 by its founder. Each of the four chief sects of the 

 vSonnees had its appointed professor, with a monthly 

 salary and a maintenance from the royal exchequer. 

 Every student had daily a very handsome allow- 



