ed by
the dynasty of the Bowides, by the sword of three brothers, who, under
various names, were styled the support and columns of the state, and
who, from the Caspian Sea to the ocean, would suffer no tyrants but
themselves. Under their reign, the language and genius of Persia
revived, and the Arabs, three hundred and four years after the death of
Mahomet, were deprived of the sceptre of the East.

[Footnote 104: The Aglabites and Edrisites are the professed subject of
M. de Cardonne, (Hist. de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne sous la Domination
des Arabes, tom. ii. p. 1-63.)]

[Footnote 105: To escape the reproach of error, I must criticize the
inaccuracies of M. de Guignes (tom. i. p. 359) concerning the Edrisites.
1. The dynasty and city of Fez could not be founded in the year of the
Hegira 173, since the founder was a posthumous child of a descendant of
Ali, who fled from Mecca in the year 168. 2. This founder, Edris, the
son of Edris, instead of living to the improbable age of 120 years, A.
H. 313, died A. H. 214, in the prime of manhood. 3. The dynasty ended A.
H. 307, twenty-three years sooner than it is fixed by the historian of
the Huns. See the accurate Annals of Abulfeda p. 158, 159, 185, 238.]

[Footnote 106: The dynasties of the Taherites and Soffarides, with the
rise of that of the Samanines, are described in the original history and
Latin version of Mirchond: yet the most interesting facts had already
been drained by the diligence of M. D'Herbelot.]

[Footnote 107: M. de Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. iii. p. 124-154) has
exhausted the Toulunides and Ikshidites of Egypt, and thrown some light
on the Carmathians and Hamadanites.]

Rahadi, the twentieth of the Abbassides, and the thirty-ninth of the
successors of Mahomet, was the last who deserved the title of commander
of the faithful; [108] the last (says Abulfeda) who spoke to the people,
or conversed with the learned; the last who, in the expense of his
household, represented the wealth and magnificence of the ancient
caliphs. After him, the lords of the Eastern world were reduced to the
most abject misery, and exposed to the blows and insults of a servile
condition. The revolt of the provinces circumscribed their dominions
within the walls of Bagdad: but that capital still contained an
innumerable multitude, vain of their past fortune, discontented with
their present state, and oppressed by the demands of a treasury which
had formerly been replenished by