request, lest the expiring prophet might dictate something which should suspersede the Koran. Others, however, expressed a great desire that the book might be written; and so warm a dispute arose in the chamber of the apostle, that he was forced to reprove their unbecoming vehemence. The writing was not performed, and many of his followers have mourned the loss of the sublime revelations which his dying visions might have bequeathed to them. His favourite wife Ayesha hung over her husband in his last moments, sustaining his drooping head upon her knee, as he lay stretched upon the carpet, watching with trembling anxiety his changing countenance, and listening to the last broken sounds of his voice. His disease, as it drew towards its termination, was attended at intervals with most excruciating pains, which he constantly ascribed to the fatal morsel taken at Chaibar; and as the mother of Bashar, the companion who had died upon the spot from the same cause, stood by his side, he exclaimed, "O mother of Bashar, the cords of my heart are now breaking of the food which I ate with your son at Chaibar." In his conversation with those around him, he mentioned it as a special prerogative granted to him, that the angel of death was not allowed to take his soul till he had respectfully asked of him his permission, and this permission he condescendingly granted. Recovering from a swoon into which the violence of his pains had thrown him, he raised his eyes towards the roof of the house, and with faltering accents ex

claimed," O God! pardon my sins. Yes, I come among my fellow-labourers on high!" His face was then sprinkled with water, and that by his own feeble hand, when he shortly after expired.

The city, and more especially the house, of the prophet, became at once a scene of sorrowful, but confused, lamentation. Some of his followers could not believe that he was dead.." How can he be dead, our witness, our intercessor, our mediator with God? He is not dead. Like Moses and Jesus he is wrapped in a holy trance, and speedily will he return to his faithful people." The evidence of sense was disregarded, and Omar, brandishing his scimitar, threatened to strike off the heads of the infidels who should affirm that the prophet was no more. The tumult was at length appeased by the moderation of Abubeker. "Is it Mohammed," said he, "or the God of Mohammed, whom ye worship? The God of Mohammed liveth for ever, but the apostle was a mortal like ourselves, and, according to his own prediction, he hath experienced the common fate of mortality."*

The prophet's remains were deposited at Medina, in the very room in which he breathed his last, the floor being removed to make way for his sepulchre, and a simple and unadorned monument some time after erected over them. The house

"Mohammed is no more than an apostle: the other apostles have already deceased before him: if he die, therefore, or be slain, will ye turn back on your heels ?"-Koran, eh. iii.

"Verily, thou, O Mohammed, shalt die, and they shall die; and ye shall debate the matter [idolatry] with one another before your Lord at the day of resurrection."-Ibid. ch. xxxix.

itself has long since mouldered or been demolished, but the place of the prophet's interment is still made conspicuous to the superstitious reverence of his disciples. The story of his relics being suspended in the air, by the power of loadstone, in an iron coffin, and that too at Mecca, instead of Medina, is a mere idle fabrication; as his tomb at the latter place has been visited by millions of pilgrims, and from the authentic accounts of travellers who have visited both these holy cities in disguise, we learn that it is constructed of plain mason work, fixed without elevation upon the surface of the ground.

CHAPTER XV.

Reflections upon the extraordinary Career of Mohammed Description of his Person-General View and Estimate of his Character.

THUS closed the earthly career of one of the most remarkable men, and of decidedly the most successful impostor, that ever lived. By the force of a vast ambition, giving direction to native talents of a superior order, he had risen from small beginnings to the pinnacle of power among the Arab nation, and before his death had commenced one of the greatest revolutions known in the history of man. He laid the foundation of an empire, which, in the short space of eighty years, extended its sway over more kingdoms and countries than Rome had mastered in eight hundred. And when we pass from the political to the religious ascendency which he gained, and consider the rapid growth, the wide diffusion, and the enduring permanence of the Mohammedan imposture, we are still more astonished. Indeed, in this, as in every other instance where the fortunes of an individual are entirely disproportioned to the means employed, and surpass all reasonable calculation, we are forced to resolve the problem into the special providence of God. Nothing short of this could have secured the achievement of such mighty results; and we must doubtless look upon Mohammedanism

at the present day 'as a standing monument of the mysterious wisdom of Jehovah, designed to compass ends which are beyond the grasp of human minds, at least till they are accomplished.

As to his person, Mohammed, according to his Arabic biographers, was of a middling stature and of a florid complexion. His head was large and well formed; his hair smooth and of a glossy black; his eye of the same colour; and so uncommonly vigorous and robust was his frame, that at the time of his death scarcely any of the marks or infirmities of age had appeared upon him. His features were large, yet regular; 'his cheeks full; his forehead prominent; his eyebrows long and smooth, mutually approaching each other, yet not so as to meet; and between them was a vein, of which the pulse was quicker and higher than usual whenever he was angry. He had an aquiline nose and a large mouth, with teeth of singular brilliancy and somewhat singular form, as they were pointed like the teeth of a saw, and placed at some distance from each other, though still in beautiful order. When he laughed he discovered them, and they appeared, if tradition may be credited, like hail-stones or little white pearls. Even his laughter is said to have been full of majesty, and in his smile there was such a peculiar contraction of the muscles of the mouth and cheeks, and such an expression given to the countenance, as rendered it irresistibly attractive. In his later years he became corpulent; but he had always a