ty-five years after the death of Mohammed, under Ali, the
fourth khalif, the patronage of learning had become a settled principle
of the Mohammedan system. Under the khalifs of Bagdad this principle was
thoroughly carried out. The cultivators of mathematics, astronomy,
medicine, and general literature abounded in the court of Almansor, who
invited all philosophers, offering them his protection, whatever their
religious opinions might be. His successor, Alraschid, is said never to
have travelled without a retinue of a hundred learned men. This great
sovereign issued an edict that no mosque should be built unless there
was a school attached to it. It was he who confided the superintendence
of his schools to the Nestorian Masue. His successor, Almaimon, was
brought up among Greek and Persian mathematicians, philosophers, and
physicians. They continued his associates all his life. By these
sovereigns the establishment of libraries was incessantly prosecuted,
and the collection and copying of manuscripts properly organized. In all
the great cities schools abounded; in Alexandria there were not less
than twenty. As might be expected, this could not take place without
exciting the indignation of the old fanatical party, who not only
remonstrated with Almaimon, but threatened him with the vengeance of God
for thus disturbing the faith of the people. However, what had thus been
commenced as a matter of profound policy soon grew into a habit, and it
was observed that whenever an emir managed to make himself independent,
he forthwith opened academies.

[Sidenote: Rapidity of their intellectual development.]

The Arabs furnish a striking illustration of the successive phases of
national life. They first come before us as fetich worshippers, having
their age of credulity, their object of superstition being the black
stone in the temple at Mecca. They pass through an age of inquiry,
rendering possible the advent of Mohammed. Then follows their age of
faith, the blind fanaticism of which quickly led them to overspread all
adjoining countries; and at last comes their period of maturity, their
age of reason. The striking feature of their movement is the quickness
with which they passed through these successive phases, and the
intensity of their national life.

[Sidenote: Causes of the spread of Mohammedanism.]

This singular rapidity of national life was favoured by very obvious
circumstances. The long and desolating wars between Her