LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 89 



" Approved B utter" means a dissertation on Constancy 

 of Mind ; or to find a History of Granada in a " Speci- 

 men of the Full Moon." Ibn Hassem, a native of 

 Cordova, was equally renowned for poetic genius,, 

 historical information, and attainments as a linguist. 

 His writings on various subjects, both in prose and 

 verse, were so multitudinous, that, after his decease, 

 his son is said to have collected 400 volumes of them, 

 comprising about 80,000 leaves. Ibn Haion, an in- 

 habitant of the same city, wrote an account of Spain 

 in ten volumes ; and another work on history, 

 embracing the occurrences of his own times, which 

 extends to sixty. It were tedious to specify the 

 " Golden Chains of Faith," a highly-celebrated per- 

 formance on the Character and Productions of Royal 

 and Eminent Spanish Authors in the fifth century of 

 the Hejira; or the " Mines of Silver," a biographi- 

 cal work of the famed Ibn Abbar ; or the ' ' Fallen 

 Pearls and Picked-up Flowers" of Abu Bakri. 

 Every state, every province, every city and town, 

 possessed its individual chronicler and historian. 

 A full history of Spain, from the time when it was 

 first peopled to the close of the thirteenth century, 

 giving an account of its geography, productions, and 

 literary institutions, was continued by six authors 

 in succession, and cost the labour of 115 years. 



Works on biography, memoirs of the different ca- 

 liphs, and of men peculiarly distinguished for their 

 virtues, talents, or achievements, were innumerable. 

 The two Raz is of Cordova, father and son, filled many 

 large volumes with illustrious genealogies, and an- 

 nals of distinguished viziers. Abul Walid, a states- 

 man and historian of Seville, wrote an account of 

 the Ommiades in Spain, similar to that given by 



