DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26300#0014
IV
PREFACE.
unprofperous. Within this period fhe refumed for a
while fome portion of her original fplendor : and the
epocha is remarkable. She was flourifhing, learned, and
polite, whilft Europe was immerfed in the groifeft igno-
rance and barbarifm : and what ancient fables reported
of her, that the deities had concealed themfelves there,
from earth-born rebellion and violence, appeared as an
allegory, which was now verified, when arts and let-
ters found there an alylum from that inundation of
barbarians, which overwhelmed all the kingdoms of
Europe.
It may be pertinent to remark, that the two periods
here fele&ed for notice have a near connection with the
fubjeCt of the following Difcourfe. The firft was dil-
tinguifhed by the erection of the Pillar, and the
fecond by the earliest, and perhaps the best, ac-
counts recorded of it.
To defcend lower in the revolutions of Egypt, is an
ungrateful and melancholy talk. Her glory, which had
long been clouded, was now haftily declining; and it
finally fet with the Sultan Saladin : after whofe death
there followed fuch wafteful and barbarous wars, as left
behind them not the monuments of men or of con-
querors, but rather the havoc of wild beafts and de-
ftroyers.
PREFACE.
unprofperous. Within this period fhe refumed for a
while fome portion of her original fplendor : and the
epocha is remarkable. She was flourifhing, learned, and
polite, whilft Europe was immerfed in the groifeft igno-
rance and barbarifm : and what ancient fables reported
of her, that the deities had concealed themfelves there,
from earth-born rebellion and violence, appeared as an
allegory, which was now verified, when arts and let-
ters found there an alylum from that inundation of
barbarians, which overwhelmed all the kingdoms of
Europe.
It may be pertinent to remark, that the two periods
here fele&ed for notice have a near connection with the
fubjeCt of the following Difcourfe. The firft was dil-
tinguifhed by the erection of the Pillar, and the
fecond by the earliest, and perhaps the best, ac-
counts recorded of it.
To defcend lower in the revolutions of Egypt, is an
ungrateful and melancholy talk. Her glory, which had
long been clouded, was now haftily declining; and it
finally fet with the Sultan Saladin : after whofe death
there followed fuch wafteful and barbarous wars, as left
behind them not the monuments of men or of con-
querors, but rather the havoc of wild beafts and de-
ftroyers.