“ A great revolution of sentiment in regard to letters, had taken place, in the preceding century, among the followers of Mahomet. The Commanders of the Faithful had become the patrons and cultivators, instead of the scourgers and contemners, of science and literature. Knowledge found her only sanctuary under the successors of those rulers who had sought to extinguish every ray of intelectual light, by means of the destruction of the libraries of Alexandria. ”

“ Under the Caliphs of the house of Abbas, men of learning were raised to a degree of favour and consequence, which has never been enjoyed by that class, under the sovereigns of any other country, in any age of the world. The munificence which shone forth with so much lustre in the supreme depositaries of power, was widely emulated among the inferior rulers and governors ”

“ He is said to have led a very retired and ascetic life, rather contemning than seeking after the good things of the world. “He constantly slept, even during winter, upon straw; his countenance was always sorrowful, and he found no consolation in any thing but philosophy.” ”