text:  The splendid but mysterious fabric of Asiatic power and science is seen for age after age like the fairy castle of St John exalted far above the rugged plain of Frank semi-barbarism--till the spell is at last broken by the iron prowess of Christian chivalry; and the glittering edifice vanishes from the land as though it had never been leaving like the fabled structure of the poet only a wreath of laurel to bind the brows of the victor