Page:Beckford - Vathek (1816).djvu/240

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cording to the Mahometan faith, he was raised to Mahomet's bosom, as a reward for his abstinence in an age of corruption. D'Herbelot, p. 690.


Page 2.Samarah.

A city of the Babylonian Irak; supposed to have stood on the site where Nimrod erected his tower. Khondemir relates, in his life of Motassem, that this prince, to terminate the disputes which were perpetually happening between the inhabitants of Bagda and his Turkish slaves, withdrew from thence, and, having fixed on a situation in the plain of Catoul, there founded Samarah. He is said to have had in the stables of this city, a hundred and thirty thousand pied horses; each of which carried, by his order, a sack of earth to a place he had chosen. By this accumulation, an elevation was formed that commanded a view of all Samarah, and served for the foundation of his magnificent palace. D'Herbelot, p. 752. 808. 985. Anecdotes Arabes, p. 413.


Page 3.in the most delightful succession.

The great men of the East have been always fond of music. Though forbidden by the Ma-