This

his frugality, procured for him universal respect, and these periodical retreats exalted the feelings of the Arabians into veneration. mode of life could not fail to increase the fanaticism of an imagination naturally sanguine. The ardour of his enthusiasm, nourished for fifteen years by pious practices and solitary meditation, prompted him to proclaim himself a prophet, sent by heaven to preach the unity of the Godhead, and to restore to its purity the religion of Abraham and Ishmael.

A pretended intercourse with the deity is the surest proof of fanaticism When the year of his mission was come, his family accompanied him to the place of his retirement. In the night, he affirmed, that the angel Gabriel had appeared to him, and had proclaimed him to be the apostle of God. Kadijah declared, that he was the prophet of her nation, and her kinsman Waraka, son of Nawfali, recognized him as a messenger from heaven predicted by Moses. The infusing of the spirit of fanaticism into his wife, was followed by the conversion, though of suspicious sincerity, of his slave Zeid; and the youthful ardour of Ali, the son of Abu-Taleb, embraced with credulity the opinions of his friend and cousin. At the end of three years, Abubeker listened to the voice of reason or enthusiasm, and fourteen proselytes, among whom were six of the principal men of Mecca, admired the sublime simplicity of the creed of Muhammed. His pretensions were now developed; at an entertainment given by Ali to the family of Haschem, the prophet declared to his assembled friends, that it was in his power to bestow upon them the most precious of gifts, happiness in the present, and in a future life. "The Almighty," he continued, " has commanded "me to call you unto him. Who then among you will assist me "to support my burthen? who among you will be my brother and my vizier?" The assembly held a silence of astonishment and contempt. But his cousin Ali, who had paused in expectation that some chief of the family would have embraced the offer with transport, frantically exclaimed, "O Apostle of God, I am the man;

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and I will beat out the teeth, pull out the eyes, rip up the belly, " and break the legs, of all that oppose you; I will be your vizier "over them." The prophet threw his arms round the neck of his fanatical proselyte, and blessed him as his brother, his ambassador, his deputy. In vain did Abu-Taleb, by exhortation and reproof, attempt to dissuade, or prohibit his son and his nephew, from a continuance in their enthusiastic folly. "No," said the fanatic Muhammed," though the sun were set against me on my right “hand, and the moon on my left, I would not swerve from my The venerable patriarch deplored the errors of his relatives, but resolved to protect their persons from the malice and animosity of his tribe.

course."

• Having once declared himself a delegate from God, Muhammed was not of a disposition indolently or indifferently to await his acceptance or rejection by his countrymen, He laboured incessantly to convince them of the reality of his mission. In his public harangues upon the mysteries and duties of religion, he called upon them to renounce their idolatry, and to embrace the more pure,

simple, and reasonable belief of the unity of God. By the promise of a paradise, filled with gratifications of the senses and the imagination, he endeavoured to captivate the fancy of a people, attached, above all others, to the charms of women and nature' His discourses on religion, formed, when collected, the body of that volume, distinguished by the appellation of the Koran. pp. ¡0—14.

If there be a master passion in every man, that passion in Muhammed was religious enthusiasm. It appeared in all his actions; it displayed itself in every stage of his existence; and it is to this disorder of the imagination, that the birth of Muhammedanism, like that of many other systems of error, may be attributed. In his youthful days, he was decent in his morals, pious, contemplative, and retired in disposition From the age of twenty-five to forty, he industriously pursued his occupation of a merchant, and nursed his genius in solitude. He then started into public life, a wild and clamourous fanatic. One particular train of ideas had fixed his attention; silent speculation had ended in dreams of rapture; reason was lost in the wanderings of imagination, and the suggestions of fancy were mistaken for the inspirations of heaven The first and sublime principle of his religion, the unity of the godhead, was preached by him with all the incoherence, and with all the assumption of authority from the Almighty, which distinguish fanatics of every religion. But intercourse with the world, the silent influence of time, and the occasional suggestions of reason, moderated his enthusiasm. In his transactions with his opponents, he now thought of consequences; and to accomplish the schemes which now opened on him, and in his endeavours at conversion, he disgraced the purity of his doctrines, and craftily accommodated himself to the passions and prejudices of his countrymen. With increasing success, his hopes expanded. The throne of his country was now the object of his desire, and ambitious views of conquest and of plunder added fresh ardour to his energies. Fanaticism, then, was the original and real character of Muhammed. He had ambition, it is true; for ambition is easily built upon fanaticism. These two powerful passions require nearly the same temper of soul. But, however violent ambition might have been in Muhammed, it was only an accessary passion, produced by circumstances, and which was also late in the developement.' pp. 34-36.

We cannot follow our Author through the details which he exhibits of the preaching of the Prophet, the progress of his faith, the persecution of him and of his religion by the Koreish, his flight from Mecca, his wars on the Koreish, on the Arabians, the Jews, the Romans, the Syrians. We must even leave, the curiosity of those who may peruse the book, what is added respecting his death and character, and the vulgar errors which bave circulated, at least, in Europe, concerning this extraordinary man.

II. We proceed to the second part of the work before us; the history of the undivided Caliphate, or of the rise of the

Saracenian empire. This is chiefly valuable, as bringing into a narrow compass, the most useful portion of that which is generally presented to us, diffused over a great number of volumes. There is no part of history which can bear so much compression, as that of half civilized empires. The facts consist almost wholly of a series of wars and revolutions ; which so much resemble one another, that after one or two are given as specimens, the rest may be passed over with a very slight record, adducing only the singular facts which are commonly few. This Author is not a master in the art of compression. He has epitomised, rather than condensed. But such as it is, the abridgement he has given will have its use. It leads the mind of the reader over the principal facts, and gives him at least the outline of the figure.

This chapter contains the history of the immediate successors of Muhammed, to the death of Ali and his sons; of the two dynasties, 1. of the Ommiades, and 2. of the Abassides; and descends to the year of the Christian era 850, when the sway of the Caliphs extended from the confines of Tartary, beyond the Jaxartes, to the Pyrennees, and was only prevented by the resistance which Charles Martel was able to oppose to them in France, from over-running, it is probable, the whole or the greater part of Europe.

III. The third chapter of Mr. Mills's work, on the divided Caliphate, or the history of the decline and fall of the Saracenian empire, contains the history ; 1. of the Caliphs of Spain ; 2. of the Caliphs of Africa and Egypt; and 3. of the Caliphs of Bagdad. It comprehends a period of between 600 and 700 years, and comes down several years into the fourteenth century, when the empire of the Caliphs was broken to pieces. The statement which the Author presents of the causes of this great change in the state of the rulers of the earth, though not very profound, is far from being devoid of matter of in

struction.

At the close of the first century of the Hegira, the Saracenian empire embraced the fairest and largest portion of the civilized globe, and for the next hundred years the power and influence of the Caliphs appeared to be undiminished. When the successors of the Prophet had been despoiled of Africa, of Egypt, and of Spain, their inheritance increased not in concentration of strength, by the loss of these distant provinces. In Arabia, the Caliphs had but little weight in temporal affairs. Perhaps in the very early days of the Caliphate, and certainly when the seat of government was removed from Medina to Damascus, the various princes of Arabia gradually procured their independence, and regarded the Caliphs merely as the chiefs of the Moslem religion. These dismemberments showed the weakness of the centre of the government, and the unwieldy

fabric was soon dissolved. For the preservation of the empire, the lieutenants of the provinces were invested with in:perial command; but the degenerated state and remote situation of the royal family enabled them to make their governments hereditary, and to assume every thing except the name of kings. The revenues were detained under the pretence of keeping a force to defend the provinces against foreign enemies, when they were actually designed to to strengthen the rebellious viceroys against their lawful sovereigns. The Taherites, Saffarides, and the Samanides, successfully overthrew the power of each other, and of the Caliphs in Transoxiana and Korasan. The politician may censure Muhammed for not having formed a system of government as well as of conquest; but the reproach may be extended to the Macedonian hero and the Roman conquerors. The rise of the empire of the Romans was far less strikingly grand, than the rise of the power of the Saracens. Fraud, and every species of treachery, co-operated with the sword of the republicans. But by one great effort of arms, the world was compelled to acknowledge the might of the Commanders of the Faithful. When the Roman power reached its meridian, how few moments did it endure! Its fine machine of state was admirably adapted for the acquisition of empire, but not for its preservation. The philosopher smiles, however, at the folly of ambition; and points at the short duration of its splendid acquisitions, as a mockery of its value.

In the primitive days of the Caliphate, the tribute which the Christians paid for the free profession of their religion, the spoils of war, and other sources of revenue, were appropriated by the Commanders of the Faithful to the erection of mosques, to the support of the aged or wounded warrior, and to purposes of charity. Ignorant of the arts of luxury and refinement, the desires of the Caliphs were few and confined; and like the early successors of Saint Peter in the West, their piety and benevolence obtained the admiration and reverence of the world. Water was their only drink, and barley bread, or dates, their food. The moderate Abubeker received a stipend of only three drachmas of gold from the treasury of Medina, and on the weekly return of the Sabbath, he distributed the residue of his own, and of the people's money, among the most deserving Moslems; first to the soldiers, and then to the people. His coarse woollen garment (the Asiatic symbol of spiritual power) descended to Omar; and a courtier, seeing its tattered condition, observed to the New Commander of the Faithful, that the plainness of his exterior did not correspond with the dignity of his character. "Nay, my friend," replied the lord of the east, with unaffected simplicity, or with a generous contempt of the pride of kings" the "religion with which God has honoured me is the finest garb, the "most magnificent ornament, and the most brilliant decoration." This virtue soon was lost; and in proportion to the increase of the wealth and power of the Saracens, the splendour and magnificence of the courts of Persia and Greece, while they adorned, corrupted the cities of Damascus and Bagdad. The arts of peace slackened and enervated the hands of the government; and the luxurions Caliphs were ill capable of maintaining the submission of an extensive

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empire. The Caliph Moctadi's whole army, both horse and foot," says Abulfeda, "were under arms, which together made a body of "one hundred and sixty thousand men. His state officers stood "near him in the most splendid apparel, their belts shining with "gold and gems. Near them were seven thousand black and white ،، eunuchs. The porters, or door keepers, were in number seven "hundred. Barges and boats, with the most superb decorations, rs were swimming on the Tigris. Nor was the palace itself less splendid, in which were hung thirty-eight thousand pieces of ،، tapestry, twelve thousand five hundred of which were of silk, "embroidered with gold, The carpets on the floor were twentytwo thousand. An hundred lions were brought out, with a keeper "to each lion. Among the other spectacles of rare and stupendous luxury, was a tree of gold and silver, which opened itself into "eighteen larger branches, upon which, and the other less branches, "sate birds of every sort, made also of gold and silver. The tree "glittered with leaves of the same metals, and while its branches, "through machinery, appeared to move of themselves, the several "birds upon them warbled their natural notes."

In considering the dissolution of the fabric of Saracenian greatness, the mind dwells upon the circumstance of the introduction of the Turkish guards, as a strong and active cause. The city of Bagdad was distracted by revolts: all ties between sovereign, and subject were dissolved; and the native troops were more frequently partisans of a faction than soldiers of the state. For the defence, therefore, of his person and government, the Caliph Motassem, the eighteenth of the Abassides, formed a militia from the Turkish and Tartarian youths, that he purchased in the various slave-marts of the east. But from Protectors, they soon became lords of the Commanders of the Faithful. Bagdad became the melancholy arena of their violence, their massacres, and their rapine; and like the Janizaries of Constantinople, the Mamlouks of Egypt, and the prætorian guards of Rome, they governed with military despotism. Two races of these Turks, the Toulonides, and the Ikshidites, devastated Egypt and Syria; and the power of the Caliphs was almost annihilated. The Hamadanites, an Arabian tribe, raised a transient empire in Mesopotamia; but the Bowides separated Persia for ever from the Caliphate.

Religious controversies and wars precipitated the ruin of the empire. The Fatimites of Egypt revived the disputes which agitated the faithful on the foundation of the Ommiadan and Abassidan' dynasties, and the blood of many a Moslem was shed, in settling the portion of merit which was due to the four companions of Muhammed. The Carmathians, a sect of fanatics, declared eternal enmity to the pomp of the court of Bagdad. They altered all the forms of worship, permitted the use of wine and pork, and preached against the utility of the pilgrimage to Mecca. Into every quarter of Syria and Arabia, these daring enthusiasts carried their ravages, and at the head of only five hundred horsemen, Abu-Taher, the successor of Carmath, appeared before the gates of Bagdad." Your "master," he exclaimed to the general of the Moslems, " may VOL. VII. N. S. 2Y