decided that he be reinstated in his place.' Ibn Khallikàn being then arrayed in a robe of honour by order of the emir Alam ad-Din al-Halabi, proceeded, on horseback, to the Aâdiliya College, where he took up his residence at mid-day and resumed his judicial occupations (p).

Ten months later (22nd Moharram, 680, 13th May A. D. 1281), he was again. dismissed from office by the sultan Kalavûn and, from that time, he remained in his lodgings at the Najibiya College, in Damascus (q), and never again went out of doors. He died there on the 16th, or the 26th, of Rajab, A. H. 681 (20th October, or 30th Oct., A. D. 1282), at the age of seventy-three lunar years, and was buried in the cemetery of as-Sâlihiya, a well-known village situated on the declivity of mount Kasiûn, at a very short distance to the north of Damascus (r). Arabic biographers are profuse in his commendation. They describe him as pious man, virtuous, and learned; amiable in temper, in conversation serious and instructive. According to them, he possessed every merit which could give illus. tration to a doctor of the law, to a magistrate and to a man of letters. His exterior was highly preposessing, his contenance handsome and his manners engaging. We may, perhaps, form a clearer idea of his character and cast of mind by the perusal of his work, the only one he ever produced. There we remark a noble sentiment of humanity, a taste for literature and a great fondness for poetry, particularly that of Moslim times. Pieces composed by the Arabs anteriorly to Mahomet he seems not to have cared for; the more a piece of verse was modern and affected, the more he admired it. As a philologer and a grammarian he certainly displayed extensive acquirements and, as a collector of dates, anecdotes and biographical information, he held a rank to which the ablest of his numerous predecessors never attained. His extensive sphere of literary pursuits furnished him with extracts of great historical interest, and we must feel grateful to him for having preserved and transmitted to us a quantity of passages taken from works now lost, but which were undoubtedly replete with historical and literary information. He

(p) Solúk, vol. II, first part, page 22. Not having means of consulting the original text, we follow, the translation given by Mr Quatremère.

(2) Biog. Dict., vol. I, page X of the Introduction.

(») Ibid., vol. I, page X of the Introduction; Tydeman's Conspectus, page 65; Tabahat al-Fukahô, n° 755, fol. 144 verso; Tab. as-Shafiyin, no 861, fol. 72.

was a kind and honorable man, sincerely attached to his friends and a lover of justice; the joy with which the inhabitants of Damascus received him on his restoration to the kadiship of Syria proves in favour of his integrity as a magistrate. Like many of his contemporaries among the learned, he used to compose verses, some of which have come down to us (s). They are not remarkable for merit, the ideas being trite and the style deficient in elevation. One or two of those pieces are, besides, tainted with a sentiment which though openly avowed in the Moslim world, is repugnant even to the Moslim religion. It is true that poems of this description were generally explained as being euphemistic; delicacy requiring that no direct allusion should be made to the female sex. Those verses do not deserve being transcribed or translated; yet some of them have been published, little to the honour of the author (1).

His motives for collecting information respecting eminent men and his reasons for drawing up the Biographical Dictionary in alphabetical order being indicated in his own preface (u), we need not repeat here what he has already said. We shall merely remark that the arrangement adopted by him is of little use to readers who wish to find out the article which concerns any particular individual. It is not every person who whould think of searching for the notice. on Abu Hanifa under the word Nomán, that of al-Ghazzali amongst the Muhammads and that of Abû Tammám under Habib. This defective system prevails in all biographical dictionaries composed by Musulmans and could hardly be replaced by any other; with that people indexes were very seldom thought of (v), and indeed they could be applicable only to the single manuscripts for which they were compiled. Though acknowledging that the author could not have adopted, under the circumstances, a better mode of arrangement for his work, we most declare that his idea was most unfortunate when he decided on omitting the biographical notices of many persons highy eminent, because he was unable

(s) See Tydeman's Conspectus, pages 67, 83, 87 et seq.; Biog. Dict., vol. I, page XII; MS. of the Bib. nat., ancien fonds, no 688, fol. 53 verso; the edition of Bûlak, vol. II, pages 629 et seq.

(t) Tydeman's Conspectus, pages 79 et seq.

(u) biog. Dict., vol. I, page 2.

(v) The most remarkable exception which we know of is the Talakat as-Shafiyin or chronological list of eminent Shafite doctors. This manuscript contains four indexes, one for the names, one for the surnames, one for the patronymics and one for the ethnics.

to ascertain the precise dates of their death. It is true that he considered his work to be an obituary; but he might have perceived, on further reflection, how much more useful it would have been, had it contained some information respecting those persons. The translator has endeavoured to remedy the silence of his author by giving in the notes such indications as might be requisite, but he regrets to say that he has not always been successful.

Ibn Khallikan informs us, in his preface (w) that, in the year 654 (A. D. 1256), being at Cairo, he put his work in order, though taken up by other avocations and living under circumstances by no means favorable to such a task. In his first copy he terminated with the life of Yahya Ibn Khâlid the Barmekide (x), preserving a number of articles for another and a more extensive dictionary. This projected work was to contain ten times as much matter as the preceding one and furnish ample details relative to certain events which he had slightly touched on before (y). He perceived however, that it was impossible for him to fulfil this plan (z); being obliged to pass into Syria and accept the kadiship of Damascus, he was overwhelmed with business to such a degree that no leisure remained for the accomplishment of that task. Ten years later, he returned to Cairo and, finding there some books requisite for his purpose, he decided on completing his first work by the addition of about fifty articles, those perhaps which he had reserved for the second. They belong to the Y, the last letter of the Arabic alphabet. The articles of this letter which he had already given in the first edition of his work seem to have received their actual development for the sole reason that they might obtain a place in the greater work, the execution of which he always hoped to accomplish.

In the preface to the first volume, page VI, we mentioned our intention of giving here a notice on the Times of Ibn Khallikan. Were we however to retrace the events which occurred in the lifetime of that biographer and give an account of the state in which the Moslim empire was then placed by a series of revolutions, we should have to draw up a history of the Crusades and relate the rise and fall of

(w) Biog. Dict., vol. I, page 3.

(x) Ibid., vol. IV, page 113. (y) Ibid., vol. IV, page 332.

(z) Ibid., vol. IV, page 113.

IBN KHALLIKAN'S

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.

YARUK AT-TURKOMANI

Yârûk Ibn Arslân at-Turkomâni was a chief who had great influence over his people. It was after him that the horde of Turkomans called the Yârûkiya was thus named. He was of a colossal stature, a formidable aspect, and resided outside of Aleppo, in the country to the south of the city. He, his family and followers built for themselves, on a lofty hill bordering the river Kuwaik, a great number of houses and large edifices which are known by the appellation of al-Yârûkiya and bear the appearance of a village. He and his people resided there. It is yet inhabited by a numerous population and is frequently visited by the people of Aleppo in the spring season, for the purpose of amusing themselves in its green fields and looking down. on the Kuwaik. It is a place of amusement and diversion. Yârûk died in the month of Muharram, 564 (Oct.-Nov. A.D. 1168); so says Bahâ ad-Dîn Ibn Shaddâd, in the Life of the sultan Salâh ad-Dîn.—The word, is to be pronounced Yarûk. -Kuwaik is the name of a little river which passes near Aleppo; its waters flow abundantly in winter and in spring, but cease to run in summer. Poets have often mentioned it in their verses, Abû Obâda al-Bohtori (vol. III. p. 657) particularly, who has repeatedly spoken of it in his kasidas. He says, for instance, in one of his pieces:

VOL. IV.

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