“No sooner however was the virtuous Noureddin removed by death, than the Christians of the East had their attention still more forcibly alarmed by the progress of the invincible Saladin.  He had possessed himself of the government of Egypt; first, under the modest appellation of vizier, and then, with the more august title of soldan.  He abolished the dynasty of the Fatemite khalifs.  Though Noureddin had been the patron of his family, and the father of his fortunes, yet was that hero no sooner expired, than he invaded the territories of his young and unwarlike successor.  He conquered the fertile and populous province of Syria.  He compelled the saheb of Mawsel to do him homage.  The princes of the Franks already trembled for their possessions, and prepared a new and more solemn embassy, to demand the necessary succours of their European brethren.

“The qualities of Saladin were gilded with the lustre of conquest; and it has been the singular fortune of this Moslem hero, to be painted in fairer colours by the discordant and astonished Christians, than by those of his own courtiers and countrymen, who may reasonably be supposed to have known him best.  He has been compared with Alexander; and tho’ he be usually stiled, and with some justice, a barbarian, it does not appear that his character would suffer in the comparison.  His conquests were equally splendid; nor did he lead the forces of a brave and generous people, against a nation depressed by slavery, and relaxed with effeminacy.  Under his banner Saracen encountered Saracen in equal strife; or the forces of the East were engaged with the firmer and more disciplined armies of the West.  Like Alexander, he was liberal to profusion; and while all he possessed seemed the property of his friends, the monarch himself often wanted that, which with unstinted hand he had heaped upon his favourites and dependents.  His sentiments were elevated, his manners polite and insinuating, and the affability of his temper was never subdued.

“But the parallel is exceedingly far from entire.  He possessed not the romantic gallantry of the conqueror of Darius; he had none of those ardent and ungovernable passions, through whose medium the victories of Arbela and Issus had transformed the generous hero into the lawless tyrant.  It was a maxim to which he uniformly adhered, to accomplish his lofty designs by policy and intrigue, and to leave as little as possible to the unknown caprice of fortune.  In his mature age he was temperate, gentle, patient.  The passions of his soul, and the necessities of nature were subordinate to the equanimity of his character[A].  His deportment was grave and thoughtful; his religion sincere and enthusiastic.  He was ignorant of letters, and despised all learning, that was not theological.  The cultivation, that had obtained under the khalifs, had not entirely civilized the genius of Saladin.  His maxims of war were indeed the maxims of the age, and ought not to