[202] Ayala, p. 1333.
[203] Al Makbari, passing by Malta, exclaims, “That accursed island, from the neighbourhood of which whoever escapes may well say, that he has deserved favour;—that dreaded spot, which throws its deadly shade on the pleasant waters of the Mediterranean—that den of iniquity and treason, that place of ambush, which is like a net to circumvent the Moslems that sail the seas!”
[204] “The regal power allotted to us makes us common servants to our Creator; then of those persons whom we govern; so that, observing the duties we owe to God, we distribute blessings to the world. In providing for the public good of our states, we magnify the honour of God, like the celestial bodies, which, though they have much honour, yet only serve for the benefit of men. It is the excellence of our office to be instruments whereby happiness is distributed to the nations. Pardon me, sir, this is not to instruct; for I know I speak to one of a more clear and quick sight than myself; but I speak thus because God hath been pleased to grant me a happy victory over some part of those rebellious pirates that have so long molested the peaceful trade of Europe.”
[205] Bowden’s Life of Gregory VII., ii. 158.
[206] See Mahomedan Dynasties of Spain, pp. 74-381.
[207] “Now when the morning came, the Khaleefeh went into the saloon (his sitting-room), and found the eunuchs stupified with benj. So he awoke them, and, putting his hand upon the chair, he found not the suit of apparel, nor the signet, nor the rosary, nor the dagger, nor the handkerchief, nor the lamp; whereupon he was violently enraged, and put on the apparel of anger, which was a suit of Red, and seated himself in the council-chamber.”
[208] So in Spain, the men on entering the church drop the cloak from the shoulder, and likewise when speaking to a superior. In Southern Africa they bare the upper part of the body. The Abyssinian, as a sign of respect, throws off his clothing to the waist.—See the captives on Egyptian monuments.
[209] The Phrygians were, I imagine, of the same race. They were also called Brebers, and thence the Greek word barbarians, which originally was no word of reproach, but designated that other people of Asia Minor (Phrygians, Mysians, Lydians, &c.), whom we are now beginning to know in the marbles of Xanthus.
[210] “The young men,” says Marmol, writing in the middle of the sixteenth century, “shave the head and beard until they are married, when they allow the beard to grow, and the tuft of hair on the crown of the head.”—Africa, vol. ii. p. 3.
“Men of all ranks and conditions,” says a writer at the beginning of the last century, “are obliged to wear caps after they are married; and till then all their youths, even the king’s sons themselves, commonly go bareheaded. They wear no hair under their red caps (but are close shaved), except a lock upon the top of their heads.”—An Account of Barbary, p. 42.