Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/446

.302 THE SPANISH ARABS. I'AUT instruments and the erection of observatories, of . — '. — . which the noble tower of Seville is one of the earliest examples. They furnished their full pro- portion in the department of history, which, accord- ing to an Arabian author cited by D'Herbelot, could boast of thirteen hundred writers. The trea- tises on logic and metaphysics amount to one ninth of the surviving treasures of the Escurial ; and, to conclude this summary of naked details, some of their scholars appear to have entered upon as vari- ous a field of philosophical inquiry, as would be crowded into a modern encyclopaedia.^^ Theactua] Thc rcsults, it must be confessed, do not appear results. ' 7 rr to have corresponded with this magnificent appara- tus and unrivalled activity of research. The mind of the Arabians was distinguished by the most opposite characteristics, which sometimes, indeed, served to neutralize each other. An acute and subtile perception was often clouded by mysticism and abstraction. They combined a habit of classi- fication and generalization, with a marvellous fond- ness for detail ; a vivacious fancy with a patience of application, that a German of our day might en- vy ; and, while in fiction they launched boldly into originality, indeed extravagance, they were con- tent in philosophy to tread servilely in the track of their ancient masters. They derived their science 39 Casiri mentions one of these p. 370 ; torn. ii. p. 71 et alibi. — universal geniuses, who published Zuuiija, Annales de Sevilla, p. 22. no less than a thousand and fifty — D'Herbelot, Bib. Orientale, voce treatises on the various topics of Tarihli. — Masdeu, Historia Criti- Ethics, History, Law, Medicine, ca, torn. xiii. pp. 203, 205. — An- &c. ! Bibliotheca Escurialensis, dres, Letteratura, part. 1, cap. 8. torn. ii. p. 107. — See also torn. i.