of the Ommiades, whose capital, as M. Florian informs us,
was Damascus, is most familiarly known in history as that of the _Caliphs
of Syria_; and the Abbassides, who succeeded them upon the throne of
Islam, are usually designated as the _Caliphs of Bagdad_, which city they
built, and there established the seat of their regal power and
magnificence. It may be observed, in connexion with this subject, that
though the authority of the Caliphs of Damascus continued to be disputed
and resisted after the death of Ali, yet with that event terminated the
temporary division of the civil and sacerdotal power which had been at
first occasioned by their usurpation of sovereignty. The political
supremacy of the party of Ali ceased with his existence, and the
authority that had belonged to the immediate successors of Mohammed long
continued to centre in the family of the Ommiade princes.--_Trans_.

[3] See Note B, page 209.

[4] A.D. 752, Heg. 134.

[5] See Note C, page 209.

[6] It was under the government of the Abbassides that the empire of the
East possessed that superiority in wealth, magnificence, and learning for
which it was once so celebrated. Under the sway of the Caliphs of
Bagdad, the Mohammedans became as much renowned for their attainments in
the higher branches of science as in the elegant and useful arts. To
them the civilized world is indebted for the revival of the exact and
physical sciences, and the discovery or restoration of most of the arts
that afterward lent such beneficial aid to the progress of European
literature and refinement. The far-famed capital of the Abbassides was
adorned with every attraction that the most unbounded wealth could
secure, or the most consummate art perfect. There taste and power had
combined exquisite luxury with unparalleled splendour, and there all that
imagination could suggest to fascinate the senses or enrapture the mind,
was realized. These princes of Islam, by their unbounded liberality,
attracted the learning and genius of other countries to their brilliant
court, several of them were the ardent lovers of science as well as the
munificent patrons of its devotees. Thus Bagdad became the favoured and
genial home of letters and the arts; and luxury and the pursuit of
pleasure were ennobled by a graceful union with the more elevated
enjoyments of cultivated intellect and refined taste. Nor were these
beneficent influences confined to the Mohammedan court, or to the