liaroun, al itaschid. "Now Plutarch Series." By Professor E. H.
Palmer. (Marcus Ward.)—We have already told our readers some- thing of the merits of this little volume, but may fitly record its literary value here also. Professor Palmer shows Haman Rasehid to. us in his "golden prime," and tells us with much pathos the sad and mournful close. There were, indeed, two sides to the Caliph's char- actor. Endowed with tremendous energy, in many respects a true king of men, a lover of learning and progress, chivalrous, and muni- ficent, ho could yet at times descend to the depths of the most hideous savagery, and the last public act of the good. Caliph was to have a wretched prisoner hacked to pieces before his eyes. It is, indeed, a strange story, and Professor Palmer, than whom no:man in England could be litter to deal with it, has told it from authentic sources accessible only to learned mon like himself. From Gibbon we carry away little more than two ideas about the mighty ruler whose dominions stretched from Africa to India. One is that he corresponded with Charles the Great, and received presents from his envoys ; the other is that he thoroughly humbled the Greek or Byzantine Empire. We are truly sorry to find that we must hence- forth give up the pretty story of the friendly intercourse between the two groat monarchs, as none of the Arabic histories so much as point at such a fact. It appears, however, that those very histories are full of stories and anecdotes which attached themselves to the Caliph simply because, as a transcendently groat Sovereign, he became the focus of countless legends. Professor Palmer gives us several speci- mens in his last chapter, remarking that they at least give us an idea of what Arab society was under the Caliphs of Bagdad. Unless we are much mistaken, all readers of the " Arabian Nights " (and their name is legion) will welcome this addition to "The New Plutarch Series."
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