Philipp asserts that al-Jazzar must have been a highly unpleasant ruler and probably did suffer towards the end of his life from paranoia, but there were also different sides to his personality. Accordingly, Philipp indicates that al-Jazzar's biography by Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, an 18th-century contemporary Arabic chronicler, provides ... a much more sober account of al-Jazzar's life, which is largely corroborated by another Arabic contemporary source, Ahmad Haydar al-Shihab. Both al-Jabarti, who was based in Cairo, and al-Shihab, who was based in Mount Lebanon, had great access to information about al-Jazzar and although their accounts are similar, they did not correspond with each other or share sources. The early 19th-century English writer E. D. Clarke commented that European stories of al-Jazzar are easily propagated, and as readily believed and it is probable that many of them are without foundation. Nonetheless, Philipp states the testimony is too general and too consistent to dismiss all accusations against him [al-Jazzar].