part of Arabia that elegant couplet of Waller in his poem of the Summer-ifland, The gentle spring, that but falutes us hore, Inhabits there, and courts them all the year. Yet the heat of the fun, which must be very intense in a climate fo near the line, is tempered by the shade of the trees, that overhang the valleys, and by a number of fresh Atreams, that flow down the mountains: hence it is, that almost all their notions of felicity are taken from freshness, and verdure: it is a maxim among them that the three moft charming objects in nature are, * a green meadow, a clear rivulet, and a beautiful woman, and that the view of these objects at the fame time affords the greatest delight imaginable: Mahomet was fo well acquainted with the maxim of his countrymen, that he described the pleasures of heaven to them, under the allegory of cool fountains, green bowers, and black-eyed girls, as the word Houri literally fignifies in Arabick; and in the chapter of the Morning, towards the end of his Alcoran, he mentions a garden, called Irem, which is no lefs celebrated by the Afiatick poets than that of the Hefperides by the Greeks: it was planted, as the commentators fay, by a king, named Shedad, and was once feen by an Arabian, who wandered very far into the deferts in fearch of a loft camel: it was, probably, a name invented by the impoftor, as a type of a future ftate of happiness. Now it is certain that the ge+ * Elmao wa’Ikhedrato wa’lwijko'lbasano. See the life of Tamerlane, publifhed by Golius, page 299. nius nius of every nation is not a little affected by their climate; for, whether it be that the immoderate heat difposes the Eastern people to a life of indolence, which gives them full leisure to cultivate their talents, or whether the fun has a real influence on the imagination, (as one would fuppofe that the ancients believed, by their making Apollo the god of poetry;) whatever be the cause, it has always been remarked, that the Afiaticks excel the inhabitants of our colder regions in the liveliness of their fancy, and the richness of their invention. To carry this fubject one step farther: as the Arabians are fuch admirers of beauty, and as they enjoy fuch ease and leisure, they must naturally be fufceptible of that paffion, which is the true fpring and source of agreeable poetry; and we find, indeed, that love has a greater share in their poems than any other paffion: it feems to be always uppermoft in their minds, and there is hardly an elegy, a panegyrick, or even a satire, in their language, which does not begin with the complaints of an unfortunate, or the exultations of a fuccefsful lover. It fome times happens, that the young men of one tribe are in love with the dainfels of another; and, as the tents are frequently removed on a fudden, the lovers are often feparated in the progrefs of the courtship: hence almost all the Arabick poems open in this manner; the author bewails the fudden departure of his mistress, Hinda, Maia, Zeineb, or Azza, and describes her beauty, comparing her usually to a wanton fawn, that plays among the aromatick fhrubs; his friends endeavour to comfort him, but he refuses confolation; he declares his refolution of vifiting his his beloved, though the way to her tribe lie through a dreadful wilderness, or even through a den of lions; here he commonly gives a defcription of the horfe or camel, upon which he defigns to go, and thence paffes, by an eafy tranfition, to the principal fubject of his poem, whether it be the praife of his own tribe, or a fatire on the timidity of his friends, who refuse to attend him in his expedition; though very frequently the piece turns wholly upon love. But it is not fufficient that a nation have a genius for poetry, unless they have the advantage of a rich and beautiful language, that their expreffions may be worthy of their fentiments; the Arabians have this advantage alfo in a high degree: their language is expreffive, ftrong, fonorous, and the moft copious, perhaps, in the world; for, as almost every tribe had many words appropriated to itself, the poets, for the convenience of their measure, or fometimes for their fingular beauty, made use of them all, and, as the poems became popular, these words were by degrees incorporated with the whole language, like a number of little ftreams, which meet together in one channel, and, forming a most plentiful river, flow rapidly into the sea. If this way of arguing à priori be admitted in the prefent cafe, (and no fingle man has a right to infer the merit of the Eastern poetry from the poems themselves, because no fingle man has a privilege of judging for all the reft,) if the foregoing argument have any weight, we must conclude that the Arabians, being perpetually converfant with the most beautiful objects, fpending a calm, and agreeable life in a fine climate, being extremely addicted to to the fofter paffions, and having the advantage of a language fingularly adapted to poetry, must be naturally excellent poets, provided that their manners, and customs, be favourable to the cultivation of that art; and that they are highly fo, it will not be difficult to prove, The fondness of the Arabians for poetry, and the refpect which they fhow to poets, would be scarce believed, if we were not affured of it by writers of great authority: the principal occafions of rejoicing among them were formerly, and, very probably, are to this day, the birth of a boy, the foaling of a mare, the arrival of a guest, and the rife of a poet in their tribe: when a young Arabian has compofed a good poem, all the neighbours pay their compliments to his family, and congratulate them upon having a relation capable of recording their actions, and of recommending their virtues to pofterity. At the beginning of the seventh century, the Arabick language was brought to a high degree of perfection by a fort of poetical academy, that used to affemble at ftated times, in a place called Ocadh, where every poet produced his beft compofition, and was fure to meet with the applause that it deferved the most excellent of thefe poems were transcribed in characters of gold upon Egyptian paper, and hung up in the temple, whence they were named Modhahebat, or Golden, and Moallakat, or Suspended: the poems of this fort were called Caffeida's or eclogues, feven of which are * *These seven poems, clearly transcribed with explanatory notes, are among Poccak's manufcripts at Oxford No. 14: the names of the feven poets are Amralkeis, Tarafa, Zobeir, Lebid, Antara, Amru, and Hareth. In the fame collection, No. 174, there is a manuscript containing above forty other poems, which had the honour of being fufpended in the temple at Mecca: this volume is an inestimable treasure of ancient Arabick literature. preferved preferved in our libraries, and are confidered as the finest that were written before the time of Mahomet; the fourth of them, composed by Lebid, is purely pastoral, and extremely like the Alexis of Virgil, but far more beautiful, because it is more agreeable to nature: the poet begins with praifing the charms of the fair Novâra, (a word, which in Arabick fignifies a timorous fawn,) but inveighs against her unkindness; he then interweaves a description of his young camel, which he compares for its swiftness to a ftag, pursued by the hounds; and takes occafion afterwards to mention his own riches, accomplishments, liberality, and valour, his noble birth, and the glory of his tribe the diction of this poem is eafy and fimple, yet elegant, the numbers flowing and musical, and the sentiments wonderfully natural; as the learned reader will fee by the following paffage, which I fhall attempt to imitate in verfe that the merit of the poet may not be wholly loft in a verbal translation: Bel enti la tadrina cam mi'lleilatin, Thalkin ledhidhin lahwoha wa nedamoha, Be mowatterin, taâta leho maan ibhamoha, e Bacarto hajataha' ddajaja befohratin, Lecalla minha heina habba neyamoha. But |