merchant is the friend of mankind; and the annual caravans imported the first seeds of knowledge and politeness into the cities, and even the camps of the desert. The arts of grammar, of meter, and of rhetoric, were unknown to the free-born eloquence of the Arabians; but their eloquence was short, their fancy luxuriant, their wit strong and sententious, and their more elaborate compositions were addressed with energy and effect on the minds of the hearers. The genius and merit of a rising poet were celebrated by the applause of his own and kindred tribes. 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. The same hospitality which was practiced by Abraham, and celebrated by Homer, is still renewed in the camps of the Arabs: the ferocious Bedoween⚫, the terror of the desert, embrace, without enquiry and hesitation, the stranger who dares to confide in their honor, and to enter his tent; his treatment is kind and respectful; he shares the wealth or the powers of his host; and, after a needful repose, he is dismissed on his way, with thanks, with blessings, and perhaps with gifts.