t their penetration was sharp, their
fancy luxuriant, their wit strong and sententious, [40] and their more
elaborate compositions were addressed with energy and effect to the
minds of their hearers. The genius and merit of a rising poet was
celebrated by the applause of his own and the kindred tribes. A solemn
banquet was prepared, and a chorus of women, striking their tymbals,
and displaying the pomp of their nuptials, sung in the presence of their
sons and husbands the felicity of their native tribe; that a champion
had now appeared to vindicate their rights; that a herald had raised
his voice to immortalize their renown. The distant or hostile tribes
resorted to an annual fair, which was abolished by the fanaticism of the
first Moslems; a national assembly that must have contributed to refine
and harmonize the Barbarians. Thirty days were employed in the exchange,
not only of corn and wine, but of eloquence and poetry. The prize
was disputed by the generous emulation of the bards; the victorious
performance was deposited in the archives of princes and emirs; and
we may read in our own language, the seven original poems which were
inscribed in letters of gold, and suspended in the temple of Mecca. [41]
The Arabian poets were the historians and moralists of the age; and
if they sympathized with the prejudices, they inspired and crowned the
virtues, of their countrymen. The indissoluble union of generosity and
valor was the darling theme of their song; and when they pointed
their keenest satire against a despicable race, they affirmed, in the
bitterness of reproach, that the men knew not how to give, nor the women
to deny. [42] The same hospitality, which was practised by Abraham, and
celebrated by Homer, is still renewed in the camps of the Arabs. The
ferocious Bedoweens, the terror of the desert, embrace, without inquiry
or hesitation, the stranger who dares to confide in their honor and to
enter their tent. His treatment is kind and respectful: he shares the
wealth, or the poverty, of his host; and, after a needful repose, he
is dismissed on his way, with thanks, with blessings, and perhaps with
gifts. The heart and hand are more largely expanded by the wants of a
brother or a friend; but the heroic acts that could deserve the public
applause, must have surpassed the narrow measure of discretion and
experience. A dispute had arisen, who, among the citizens of Mecca, was
entitled to the prize of generosity; and a succe