narrative we need not discredit nor reject. We may feel
disposed to accept, with some reservation, the account of the 6,000
male and 6,000 female slaves, and 60,000 horses of Al Mutasem,
(the eighth of Abbasside). The prodigious bridal expenditure,
comprising gifts of Estates, houses, jewels, horses, described in
the history of Al Mamun (the seventh of Abbasside, and the most
glorious of his race), may seem fabulous to us; the extraordinary
memories of certain scholars narrated in biographies, who could
recite thousands of verses and whole books by heart may appear
worthy of confirmation; the composition of two thousand manuscripts
by one writer, and the possession of forty thousand volumes
by another, may somewhat tax our credulity. We may feel a little
surprised to hear that Chosroes' chess men were worth an amount
equivalent to one million of our money in the present day; we
may doubt, or disagree with the opinions attributed to Hippocrates,
or to Galen; that cures were effected, or even assisted of
such complaints as diarrhea and erysipelas by the means of chess;
or, that, as the Persian suggests it has been found a remedy of
beneficial in many ailments from the heart ache to the tooth ache.
We may doubt whether the two Lydian brothers, Lydo and
Tyrrhene, in the story of Herodotus really diminished the pangs
of hunger much by it; but, amidst all our incredulity, we can
believe, and do believe, that Chosroes and chess, Harun and
chess, Charlemagne and chess, Al Mamun and chess, Canute and
chess, are as well authenticated and worthy of credit, as other
more important incidents found in history, notwithstanding that
encyclopaediasts and writers down from the days of the Eastern
manuscripts, the Persian Shahnama and Anna Comnenas history
to the days of Pope and Philidor, and of the initiation of
Sanskrit knowledge among the learned, never mention their names