CHAP. produce many generations of pure

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ance of Mecca,

and genuine nobility: he sprung from the tribe of Koreish and the family of Hashem, the most illustrious of the Arabs, the princes of Mecca, and the hereditary guardians of the Caaba. The grandfather of Mahomet was Abdol Motalleb, the son of Hashem,' a wealthy and generous citizen, who relieved the distress of famine with the supplies of commerce. Mecca, which had been fed by the liberality of the fathers, was saved by the courage of the son. The kingdom of Yemen was subject to the Christian princes of Abyssinia: their vassal Abrahah was provoked by an insult to avenge the honour of the cross; and the holy city was invested by a train of elephants and an army of Africans. A treaty was proposed; and in the first audience, the grandfather of Mahomet demanded the restitution of his cattle. "And why," said Abrahah, "do

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you not rather implore my clemency in favour "of your temple, which I have threatened to "destroy?", " Because," replied the intrepid chief, "the cattle is my own: the Caaba belongs to the gods, and they will defend their "house from injury and sacrilege." The want of provisions, or the valour of the Koreish, compelled the Abyssinians to a disgraceful retreat: their discomfiture has been adorned with a miraculous flight of birds, who showered down stones on the heads of the infidels; and the deliverance was long commemorated by the era

of 2500 years, they reckon thirty, instead of seventy-fivo, generations, 2. That the modern Bedoweens are ignorant of their history and care, less of their pedigree, (Voyage d'Arvieux, p. 100, 103).

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of the elephant. The glory of Abdol Motal- CHAP. eb was crowned with domestic happiness, his life was prolonged to the age of one hundred and ten years, and he became the father of six daughters and thirteen sons. His best beloved Abdallah was the most beautiful and modest of the Arabian youth; and in the first night, when he consummated his marriage with Amina, of the noble race of the Zahrites, two hundred virgins are said to have expired of jealousy and despair. Mahomet, or more properly Mohammed, the only son of Abdallah and Amina, was born at Mecca, four years after the death of Justinian, and two months after the defeat of the Abyssinians," whose victory would have introduced into the Caaba the religion of the Christians. In his early infancy, he was deprived of his father, his mother, and his grand

The seed of this history, or fable, is contained in the cvth chapter of the Koran, and Gagnier (in Præfat. ad Vit. Moham p. 18, &c.) has translated the historical narrative of Abulfeda, which may be illustrated from d'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 12) and Pocock, (Speci. men, p. 64). Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 48) calls it a lie of the coinage of Mahomet; but Sale, (Koran, p. 501-503), who is half s Musselman, attacks the inconsistent faith of the Doctor for believing the miracles of the Delphic Apollo. Maracci (Alcoran, tom. i, part ii, p. 14; tom. ii, p. 823) ascribes the miracle to the devil, and extorts from the Mahometans the confession, that God would not have defended against the Christians the idols of the Caaba.

u The safest eras of Abulfeda, (in Vit. c. i, p. 2), of Alexander, or the Greeks 882, of Botcht Naser, or Nabonasser, 1316, equally lead us to the year 569. The old Arabian calendar is too dark and uncertain to support the Benedictines, (Art de verifier les Dates, p. 15), who' from the day of the month and week deduce a new mode of calculation, and remove the birth of Mahomet to the year of Christ 570, the 10th of November. Yet this date would age with the year 882, of the Greeks, which is assigned by Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 5) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 101, and Erata Pocock's version). While we refine our chronology, it is possible that the illiterate prophet was ig norant of his own age.

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CHAP. father; his uncles were strong and numerous; and in the division of the inheritance, the orphan's share was reduced to five camels and an Ethiopian maid-servant. At home and abroad, in peace and war, Abu Taleb, the most respectable of his uncles, was the guide and guardian of his youth; in his twenty-fifth year, he entered into the service of Cadijah, a rich and noble widow of Mecca, who soon rewarded his fidelity with the gift of her hand and fortune. The marriage contract, in the simple style of antiquity, recites the mutual love of Mahomet and Cadijah; describes him as the most accomplished of the tribe of Koreish; and stipulates a dowry of twelve ounces of gold and twenty camels, which was supplied by the liberality of his uncle. By this alliance, the son of Abdallah was restored to the station of his ancestors; and the judicious matron was content with his domestic virtues, till, in the fortieth year of his age,' he assumed the title of a prophet, and proclaimed the religion of the Koran.

* 1 copy the honourable testimony of Abu Taleb to his family and nephew. Laus Dei, qui nos a stirpe Abrahami et semine Ismaelis constituit, et nobis regionem sacram dedit, et nos judices hominibus statuit. Porro Mohammed filius Abdollahi nepotis mei (nepos meus) quo cum ex æquo librabitur e Koraishidis quispiam cui non præponderaturus est, bonitate et excellentiâ et intellectû et gloria et acumine etsi opum inops fuerit, (et certe opes umbra transiens sunt et depositum quod reddi debet), desiderio Chadija filliæ Chow aile di tenetur, et illa vicissim ipsius, quicquid autem dotis vice petieritis, ego in me suscipiam, (Pocock, Specimen, e septimâ parte libri Ebn Hamduni).

The private life of Mahomet, from his birth to his mission, is preserved by Abulfeda, (in Vit, c. 3-7), and the Arabian writers of genuine or apochryphal note, who are alleged by Hottinger, (Hist. Orient. p. 204-211); Maracci, (tom. i, p. 10-14), and Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet tom. i, p. 97-134).

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According to the tradition of his companions, CHAP. Mahomet was distinguished by the beauty of his person, an outward gift which is seldom de- Qualificaspised, except by those to whom it has been re- tions of fused. Before he spoke, the orator engaged phet. on his side the affection of a public or private audience. They applauded his commanding presence, his majestic aspect, his piercing eye, his gracious smile, his flowing beard, his countenance that painted every sensation of the soul, and his gestures that enforced each expression of the tongue. In the familiar offices of life he scrupulously adhered to the grave and ceremonious politeness of his country: his respectful attention to the rich and powerful was dignified by his condescension and affability to the poorest citizens of Mecca; the frankness of his manner concealed the artifice of his views; and the habits of courtesy were imputed to personal friendship or universal benevolence. His memory was capacious and retentive, his wit easy and social, his imagination sublime, his judgment clear, rapid, and decisive. He possessed the courage both of thought and action; and although his designs might gradually expand with his success, the first idea which he entertained of his divine mission bears the stamp of an original and superior genius. The son of Abdallah was educated in the bosom of the noblest race, in the use of the purest dialect of Arabia;

z Abulfeda in Vit. c. lxv, lxvi,; Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii, p. 272-289; the best traditions of the person and conversation of the prophet are derived from Ayesha, Ali and Abu Horaira, (Gagnier, tom. ii, p. 267; Ockley's Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii, p. 149), surnamed the father of a cat, who died in the year 59 of the Hegira.

VOL. IX.

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CHAP. and the fluency of his speech was corrected and enhanced by the practice of discreet and seasonable silence. With these powers of eloquence, Mahomet was an illiterate barbarian: his youth had never been instructed in the arts of reading and writing; the common ignorance exempted him from shame or reproach, but he was reduced to a narrow circle of existence, and deprived of those faithful mirrors, which reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes. Yet the book of nature and of man was open to his view; and some fancy has been indulged in the political and philosophical observations which are ascribed to the Arabian traveller." He compares the nations and the religions of the earth; discovers the weakness of the Per

Those who believe that Mahomet could read or write, are incapable of reading what is written, with another pen, in the Surats, or chapters of the Koran, vii, xxix, xcvi. These texts, and the tradition of the Souna, are admitted without doubt, by Abulfeda, (in Vit. c. vii); Gagnier, (Not ad Abulfed, p. 15); Pocock, (Specimen, p. 151); Reland, (de Religione, Mohammedicâ, p. 236), and Sale, (Preliminary Discourse, p. 42). Mr. White, almost alone, denies the ignorance, to accuse the imposture, of the prophet. His arguments are far from satisfactory. Two short trading journeys to the fairs of Syria, were surely not sufficient to infuse a science so rare among the citizens of Mecca: it was not in the cool deliberate act of a treaty that Mahomet would have dropped the mask; nor can any conclusion be drawn from the words of disease or delirium. The lettered youth, before he aspired to the prophetic character, must have often exerci ed, in private life, the arts of reading and writing; and his first converts of his own family, would have been the first to detect and upbraid his scandalous hypocrisy, (White's Sermons, p. 203, 204; Notes, p. xxxvi-xxxviii).

The count de Boulainvilliers (Vie de Mahomed, p, 202-228) leads his Arabian pupil, like Telemachus of Fenelon, or the Cyrus of Ramsay. His journey to the court of Persia is probably a fiction; nor can I trace the origin of his exclamation, "Les Grecs sout pourtant des "homnes." The two Syrian journeys are expressed by almost all the Arabian writers, both Mahometans and Christians, (Gagnier, ad Abulfed. p. 10).