LITERATURE OP THE ARABS. 93 



almost divine. All parties acknowledged his authority 

 and appealed to his assistance, whether in attack or de- 

 fence ; and the most solid arguments both of Jews and 

 Christians against the truth of the Koran were laid 

 prostrate before the resistless artillery of his syllo- 

 gisms. An accurate translation, or a learned com- 

 mentary on his works, appeared to them the highest 

 pitch of excellence to which the genius of man could 

 attain. At the head of all these subtle expounders 

 stood Averroes who, in the felicitous obscurity of his 

 opinions, was by some reckoned superior to his master. 

 The library of the Escurial comprises many authors 

 on ascetic and mystic divinity ; but for a detail of 

 their lives and writings the curious reader is referred 

 to the elaborate pages of D'Herbelot and Casiri.* 



* For the state of literature among the Arabs the authorities are 

 numerous : Middeldorpf (De Instit Lit. Arab, in Hisp.), Abul- 

 farage (Dynast a Pocock), Asseman (Bibl. Orient.), Casiri (Bibl. 

 Arab. Hisp.), Toderini (Litter, des Turcs), Andres (Dell' Orig. 

 Prog, e Stat. d'Ogni Litterat), Schnurrer (Bibl. Arab.), Renaudot 

 (Hist. Pat. Alex.), Fabricins (Bibl. Graec.) Each department of 

 learning has been treated by particular writers : Philosophy, 

 Brucker (Hist Grit Philos.), Leo Africanus(De Virib. Illustr. Arab.) 

 Poetry, Sir W. Jones (Comment de Poes. Asiat), Carlyle (Spe- 

 cim. of Arabian Poetry), Sismondi (Litt. du Midi.) Medicine, 

 Le Clerc (Hist, de la Med.), Freind (Hist of Med.), Sprengel 

 ( Hist, de la Med.), Moir (Ancient Hist of Med.) Botany, Haller 

 (Bibl. Botanica, tome i.) Chemistry. Beckmann (Hist, of In- 

 ventions), Watson (Chemic. Essays), Boerhaave (Chemistry). Ma- 

 tiiemat>.c*, Montucla (Hist, de Mathemat), Encyclopaed. Britan- 

 nica (Playfair's Supplement). Astronomy, Lalande (Astronom. 

 tome i.), Bailly (Hist, de 1'Astronomie), Halley (Philosoph. Trans- 

 act, vol. xvii.), La Place (Systeme du Monde). Architecture, 

 Murphy (Arabian Antiquities of Spain), Swinburne (Travels in 

 Spain), Professor Shakspcar and Hartwell Home (Hist, of the Mo- 

 hammedan Emp. in Spain). Agriculture, Jacob (Travels in 

 Spain), Townshend (ditto), La Borde (Voyage, Pittoresque et 

 Historique, de 1'Espagne), Masdeu (Hist Crit. d'Esp.), Gregorius 

 (Rerum Arabic, quae ad Hist Siculam spectant Collectio). The 

 most valuable collection of Arabic literature is that of Casiri, who 

 has preserved and classed l!]ol manuscripts; but it is to be regret- 

 ted that the work was not executed, until a fire, in the year MJJlj 

 had consumed the greater part of the Escurial library. 



VOL. II. F 



