"These apartments are decorated with whatever the art of the age could invent, or commerce could supply. The floors glitter with marble; the walls and the windows are encircled with Mosaic; and through the latter the rays of the sun gleam with a variety of light and tints on the former; the air is perpetually refreshed by fountains; and the double roof equally excludes the extremes of heat and cold; from every opening shady gardens of aromatic trees, beautiful hills, and fertile plains, meet the eye; nor is it to be wondered that the Moors still regret the delightful gardens of Granada, and still offer up their prayers for the recovery of that city, which they deem a terrestrial paradise."* Thus, whilst a darkness almost palpable hovered over christian Europe, whilst scarce one friendly ray glimmered on the footsteps of its barbarous inhabitants, the sun of science and of literature poured a steady light through the regions of the east, and through that part of the western world beneath the dominion of the worshippers of the Koran. In the courts *History of Spain, vol. i. p. 449. of Bagdad and Cordova the manuscripts of the ancients were accumulated; brought from every distant part of their own and the greek empire; translated and commented upon by their most learned men ; and some works, now lost in the original, have been recovered in the versions of the east. To these oriental Unitarians we are indebted for the introduction and improvement of algebra, for the creation almost of chemistry, for many new and effective drugs, for much accurate astronomical observation, and for several works of invention, that have more or less tinged the fictions and poetry of the west. The Arabians had thus the merit of preserving learning from a total wreck, and of cherishing and improving the arts and sciences, until Europe, roused from her inglorious slumber, appropriated the intellectual treasure, and shortly after carried her literary exertions to a degree of perfection unknown to and unapprehended by the most learned of the Mohammedan world. NUMBER XVI, I sat me down to watch upon a bank To meditate my rural minstrelsy, Till fancy had her fill. MILTON. O, may the muse that loves to grieve, In Maro's lays that murmur still! IN no species of poetry has imitation been carried on with greater servility, than in what is termed the Eclogue; yet it might readily be supposed, that he who was alive to the beauties of rural imagery, who possessed a just tastę in selecting the more striking and picturesque features of the objects around him, would find, in the inexhaustible stores of nature, ample materials for decoration; while incidents of sufficient simplicity and interest, neither too coarse on the one hand, nor too refined on the other, adapted to the country, and tinged with national manners and customs, might, with no great difficulty, be drawn from fact, or arranged by the fancy of the poet. Such combinations, however, under the epithet of pastoral, have not frequently occurred, owing, I conceive, to the mistaken idea that one peculiar form, style, and manner, a tissue of hacknied scenery and sentiment, cannot with propriety be deviated from. Under such a preposterous conception, genius must expire, a languid monotony pervade every effort, and the incongruity of the imagery and incident excite nothing but contempt. Theocritus, the father of pastoral poetry, has done little more than paint the rich and romantic landscape of Sicily, the language and occupations of its rustic inhabitants; a beautiful and original picture, and drawn from the very bosom of simplicity and truth; and had succeeding poets copied him in this respect, and, instead of absurdly introducing the costume and scenery of Sicily, given a faithful |