Grotesque, and Moresque, are terms applied to paintings and ornaments which consist wholly of foliage, plants, stalks, &c.—the Moors, Arabs, and other Mahometans being forbidden by their religion from making any images or figures of men or animals. This extensive country, which is situated at the south-western extremity of Asia, has been famed in all ages for freedom and independence; for the peculiar character and manners of its rude tribes; and for the wild and cheerful aspect of its interior deserts, contrasted with the fertility of other tracts, the products of which have always formed the staple articles of the Arabian trade. It has been distinguished in history as the scene of great events, and especially of that wonderful revolution in religion, under the influence of which the Arabs, inflamed with the spirit of proselytism and of conquest, spread their victorious arms over the fairest portions of the earth, and brought about not merely the downfall of empires, but a revolution of opinion and manners which gradually extended over the greater portion of Africa, and over the eastern world from Constantinople to the frontiers of China.