institutions, as much at unity within itself, as it is distinguishable from every other political community or association. 2

The value of this parallel to the general argument, it is scarcely necessary to remind the reader, consists in this, that the effects on national character, here described, spring wholly and exclusively, in both instances, from the operation of religious belief.

As we proceed in the investigation of the analogy between Christianity and Mahometanism, in their civil and social influences, the fact should never be lost sight of, that, for the entire of the discoveries and improvements contributed by the latter, whether in industry, commerce, or intellectual cultivation, to the common fund of human society, the world is primarily indebted to the Saracens, that is, to the proper descendants of Ishmael. It has been correctly remarked, that the Saracen genius, in whatever direction it moved, was imitative rather than inventive. * This trait of national temper eminently qualified the Arabs for their providential office adopting whatever was useful or profitable in the countries which they successively occupied, they still carried with them, as they pressed on to new conquests, the lights or im

• Turner.

provements acquired in the old; until, at length, masters of half the world, they acted on every province of their vast dominions; and the usages and inventions of Persia, or Syria, or Egypt, came to be naturalized and perfected in Barbary, or in Spain. The seed, by this salutary process, was taken from a worn-out soil, to strike root and flourish in new ground.

The spirit of Saracenic improvement has been well observed to have received its first impulse, from the national taste for AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS: and the foundations of their intellectual, as well as civil proficiency, have been satisfactorily traced to the indigenous fondness of the Arab colonists, in whatever regions they settled, for the cultivation of the soil. Babylonia, Persia, and Egypt, the earliest conquests of the Saracens, were also the primeval seats of husbandry and tillage. Here, accordingly, the native relish of the conquerors for the labours of the field, found immediate exercise, and acquired new force. The practice of agriculture was speedily improved into an art, by observation of the superior skill and industry of the subject nations. In Egypt, the Arabs restored the canal of Cleopatra, which connects the Nile with Alexandria. In the skilfully-watered plains of Persia and Syria, their successful industry increased the power and resources of the state. From these coun

tries, observes a lively writer*, the Saracens poured forth like those torrents which bear along with them the germs of vegetation, to scatter them in distant lands. The banks of the Oxus, and the borders of the African desert, at this day, equally attest the indefatigable industry of the primitive Saracens; or of their ingenious and emulous pupils, the Moors. But in no part of their empire, did the agricultural spirit of the Arabs more decisively manifest itself, or make more rapid and persevering advances, than in the Spanish peninsula; the point of communication with western Christendom.

What is here affirmed of husbandry, may be asserted with equal justice of the progress of Arabian improvement, in all its branches; namely, that, while it owed its rise, to the Saracens of Asia, it was carried to its perfection, in the Arab kingdom of Spain. This circumstance bears the marks of a dispensation eminently providential: for, to adopt the judicious remark of a reflecting and impartial historian, its geographical position erected this kingdom into a model for the neighbouring states; and ensured and facilitated the dissemination, throughout Christian Europe, of the lights of Arabian civilization. The developement of agricultural industry in

M. De Choiseul D'Aillecourt.

Spain, may be dated from the period of the original conquest and settlement. Under the emirs, its progress was occasionally impeded by the civil feuds, incident to an unsettled form of government, in a remote province; but under the glorious domestic dynasty of the Ommiades, and especially during the long and prosperous reigns of Abderahman III., and Alhakem II. *, the art of husbandry attained a height of perfection, before unknown, and (unless we may except Holland and the Netherlands) since unparalleled in Europe.

The process of irrigation is the first great requisite in agriculture, to improve the fertility, or increase the produce, of the soil. The Spanish Arabs carried on this process to so unlimited an extent, that they may be said to have created a new era in the history of European husbandry. They gave artificial direction to the courses of springs and rivers; collected their waters in spacious reservoirs; or conducted them, by canals, into the heart of every district. Spain, at this day, abounds with the vestiges and monuments of Arabian industry; in the provinces of Granada and Valentia, particularly, the modern traveller is reminded, at every step, of the agri

* For the reigns, and patriotic labours, of these illustrious princes, see Des Marlès.

cultural skill and enterprize of this indefatigable people; insomuch, that even the pride of the indolent Spaniard is subdued into the confession, that, for the entire of the artificial works still remaining, in the best cultivated districts of the peninsula, Spain stands indebted to the Moors.3

During a wise and splendid reign of fifty years, Abderahman, justly entitled the Great, while he occupied himself in the incessant study and employment of every means, that could create and perpetuate the prosperity of a great nation, directed his daily cares to perfect the already matured proficiency of his subjects in the agricultural art. Applying the ample revenues of the prince for the wise encouragement of the people, this illustrious patriot, at the royal expence, multiplied canals, reservoirs, and aqueducts, wherever the enterprize of the cultivators could be furthered by such artificial aids. The most useful plants and fruit-trees of Asia and Africa were mingled with the products of Europe in the royal gardens,-at once the nurseries and models of the national improvement in cultivation. By these means, many valuable exotics were naturalized; while the introduction of two ✓ articles of oriental growth, the cotton plant, and the sugar-cane, first gave that impulse to European art and luxury, and to the spirit, consequently, of commercial enterprize, which issued