f a continuous narrative, and omitting
several sections relating to matters of little interest--while the
deficiencies and omissions of the author are supplied by an appendix,
containing, in addition to a valuable body of original notes, copious
extracts from numerous unpublished Arabic MSS. relating to Spain,
which afford ample proof of the extent and diligence of his researches
among the Oriental treasures of Paris and London. To those in the
Escurial, however, he was denied access during his labours--an almost
incredible measure of illiberality, which, if he be correct in
ascribing it to his known intention of publishing in England, "ill
suits a country" (as he justly remarks in the preface) "which has
lately seen its archives and monastic libraries reduced to cinders,
and scattered or sold in foreign markets, without the least struggle
to rescue or secure them."

Ahmed Al-Makkari, the author or compiler of the present work, derived
his surname from a village near Telemsan called Makkarah, where his
family had been established since the conquest of Africa by the Arabs.
He was born at Telemsan some time in the latter half of the sixteenth
century, and educated by his uncle, who held the office of Mufti in
that city; but having quitted his native country in 1618 on a
pilgrimage to Mekka, he married and settled in Cairo. During a visit
to Damascus in 1628, he was received with high distinction by Ahmed
Ibn Shahin Effendi, the director of the college of Jakmak in that
city, and a distinguished patron of literature; at whose suggestion
(he tells us) he undertook this work. His original purpose had been
only to write the life of Abu Abdullah Lisanuddin, a celebrated
historian and minister in Granada, better known to Oriental scholars
as Ibnu'l-Khattib; but having completed this, the thought struck him
of adding, as a second part, an historical account of the Moslems of
Spain. He had formerly written an extensive and elaborate work on this
subject, composed (to use his own words) "in such an elevated and
pleasing style, that had it been publicly delivered by the common
crier, it would have made even the stones deaf:--but, alas! the whole
of this we had left in Maghreb (Morocco) with the rest of our
library.... However, we have done our best to make the present work as
useful and complete as possible." It was probably the last literary
undertaking of his life; since he was on the point of quitting Cairo
to fix his residence