120 LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 





kinds of swords, in which the perfections of the me- 

 tal are particularly discussed ; and another, on the 

 art of preparing steel in such a manner that the edge 

 of the weapon could neither be broken nor blunted. 

 Of the skill of the Saracens in the formation of 

 porcelain, some exquisite proofs remain in the su- 

 perb vases still preserved in the Alhambra, and in 

 the glazed tiles which formed a distinguished orna- 

 ment of their palaces. One species of manufacture 

 in which they pre-eminently excelled was that of 

 tanning, currying, and dyeing leather; which, though 

 almost lost in Spain by the expulsion of the Moors, 

 was transferred to Fez, where great numbers of them 

 settled. The skins were stained with green, blue, 

 or scarlet, of the liveliest tints, for which a peculiar 

 sort of woad was used, and then finished with such 

 a degree of brilliancy as to resemble varnish. The 

 art was afterwards carried to England, where the 

 terms Morocco and Cordovan are still applied to 

 leather prepared after their mode. 



Such, then, was the state of perfection to which 

 literature, science, and the arts were carried, and 

 continued to nourish from the ninth to the fourteenth 

 century of our era, in those vast countries which 

 had submitted to the yoke of Islam. The literary 

 apparatus of the Saracens was splendid, and their 

 progress merits all the eulogy that has been bestowed 

 on it. Certain prejudices, however, deprived them 

 of part of the benefits which they might have reaped 

 from a familiar intercourse with classic authors ; 

 and, as has been remarked, with all their enthu* 

 siasm for European learning, there is no example of 

 a poet, an orator, or even an historian of Greece and 

 Rome being translated into their language.* 



* We must make one exception. Erpenius states, that in the 



