reign
of Abderamus that the emperor crossed the Pyrenees, took Pampeluna and
Saragossa, and was attacked, during his retreat, in the defiles of
Roncevaux, a place rendered famous in romantic literature by the death
of Roland.

E, page 59.

_A government that properly respected the rights of the people, &c._

The ancient laws of Aragon, known under the name of _Fore de Sobarbe_,
limited the power of the sovereign by creating a balance for it in that
of the _ricos Hombres_, and of a magistrate who bore the name of
Justice.

F, page 60.

_The celebrated school, &c._

The musical school, founded at Cordova by Ali-Zeriab, produced the
famous Moussali, who was regarded by the Orientals as the greatest
musician of his time. The music of the Moors did not consist, like
ours, in the concord of different instruments, but simply in soft and
tender airs, which the musicians sung to the accompaniment of the lute.
Sometimes several voices and lutes executed the same air in unison.
This simple style of music satisfied a people who were {213} such
passionate lovers of poetry, that their first desire, when listening to
a singer, was to hear the words he uttered.

Moussali, who was the pupil of Ali-Zeriab at Cordova, became afterward,
in consequence of his musical talents, the favourite of Haroun al
Raschid, the celebrated caliph of the East. It is related that this
prince, in consequence of a misunderstanding with one of his favourite
wives, fell into such a slate of melancholy that fears were entertained
for his life. Giaffar, the Bermacide, at that time the principal
vizier of the caliph, entreated the poet Abbas-ben-Ahnaf to compose
some verses on the subject of this quarrel. He did so, and they were
sung in the presence of the prince by Moussali; and the royal lover was
so softened by the sentiments of the poet and the melody of the
musician, that he immediately flew to the feet of his fair enslaver,
and a reconciliation took place between the disconsolate monarch and
the offended beauty. The grateful slave sent twenty thousand drachms
of gold to the poet and Moussali, and Haroun added forty thousand more
to her gift.

G, page 66.

_The statue of the beautiful Zahra, &c._

Mohammed, to discourage idolatry, forbade his followers, in the Koran,
to make images in any form; but this injunction was very imperfectly
observed. The Oriental caliphs adopted the custom of stamping their
coins with an impression of t