his birth. If the reader will receive their statements with the same implicit faith with which they are delivered, he must acknowledge, that at the moment when the favoured infant was ushered into the world, a flood of light burst forth with him and illuminated every part of Syria; that the waters of the lake Sawa were entirely dried up, so that a city was built upon its bottom; that an earthquake threw down fourteen towers of the king of Persia's palace; that the sacred fire of the Persians was extinguished, and all the evil spirits which had inhabited the moon and stars were expelled together from their celestial abodes, nor could they ever after animate idols or deliver oracles on earth. The child, also, if we may trust to the same authorities, discovered the most wonderful presages. He was no sooner born than he fell prostrate, in a posture of humble adoration, praying devoutly to his Creator, and saying, "God is great! there is no God but God, and I am his prophet!" By these and many other supernatural signs, equally astounding, is the prophet's nativity said to have been marked. To some of them it would indeed appear that the earlier Christians gave an honest credence; with this difference, however, between their belief and that of the Mahometans, that while the latter ascribed them, without hesitation, to the hand of God, giving in this manner a gracious attestation to the prophetic character of his servant, the former referred them directly to the agency of the devil, who might naturally be supposed, they thought, to work some special wonders on the present occasion. Upon the narrative of these miraculous phenomena the reader will form his own judgment. They are

mentioned, in the absence of all authentic information, touching the period and the event in question. Until the facts alleged are proved, by competent historical testimony, to have taken place, it is scarcely necessary to call in the aid of divine or diabolical agency to account for them; as it is much easier to imagine that an imposition or illusion may have been practised upon the first reporters, or that the whole catalogue of wonders is a mere fabrication of interested partisans, than that the ordinary course of nature should have been disturbed at this crisis.

The Arabic biographers of the prophet, moreover, inform us that Abdol Motalleb, his grandfather, the seventh day after the birth of the child, gave a great entertainment, to which he invited the principal men of the Koreish, who, after the repast was over, desired him to give the infant a name. Abdol Motalleb immediately replied "I name this child Mohammed."*

The

Koreish grandees at once expressed their surprise that he did not call his grandson, according to custom, by a name which had belonged to some one of the family. But he persisted in the selection he had made, saying, "May the Most High glorify in Heaven him whom he has created on earth!" alluding to the name Mohammed,* which signifies praised or glorified.

Within a short time after the death of Abdallah, the father of Mahomet, his mother also

*Mohammed, the past participle of the verb Hamad, signifying "praised," or most glorious. There is little doubt that this is the true orthography of the name, but throughout this work we have used Mahomet, as somewhat more accustomed to our English ears.

died, so that he was cast a helpless orphan upon the kindness of his relations. He was taken into the house and family of his grandfather, under whose guardian care, however, he remained but two years, when the venerable Motalleb himself was also called to pay the debt of nature. In a dying charge, he confided this tender plant of the ancient stock of the Koreish to the faithful hands of Abu Taleb, the eldest of his sons and the successor of his authority. "My dearest, best beloved son"-thus history or tradition reports the tenor of his instructions" to thy charge I leave Mahomet, the son of thine own brother, strictly recommended, whose natural father the Lord hath been pleased to take to himself, with the intent that this dear child should become ours by adoption and much dearer ought he to be unto us than merely an adopted son. Receive him, therefore, at my dying hands, with the same sincere love and tender bowels with which I deliver him to thy care. Honour, love, and cherish him as much, or even more than if he had sprung from thine own loins; for all the honour thou showest unto him shall be trebled unto thee. Be more than ordinarily careful in thy treatment towards him, for it will be repaid thee with interest. Give him the preference before thine own children, for he exceedeth them and all mankind in excellency and perfection. Take notice, that whensoever he calleth upon thee, thou answer him not as an infant, as his tender age may require, but as thou wouldst reply to the most aged and venerable person when he asketh thee any question. Sit_not down to thy repasts of any sort soever, either alone or in company, till thy worthy nephew Mahomet

is seated at the table before thee; neither do thou ever offer to taste of any kind of viands, or even to stretch forth thine hand towards the same, until he hath tasted thereof. If thou observest these my injunctions, thy goods shall always increase, and in nowise be diminished."*

Whether Abu Taleb recognised in the deposit thus solemnly committed to his trust an object of such high destiny and such profound veneration as his father's language would imply, we are not informed; but there is good evidence that he acted towards his nephew the part of a kind friend and protector, giving him an education, scanty indeed, but equal to that usually received by his country

men.

Of the infancy, childhood, and youth of the future prophet no authentic details have reached us. The blank has indeed been copiously supplied by the fabulous legends of his votaries, but as they are utterly void of authority, they will not repay the trouble of transcribing. Being destined by his uncle to the profession of a merchant, he was taken, as some affirm, at the age of thirteen, into Syria, with Abu Taleb's trading caravan, in order to his being perfected in the business of his intended vocation. Upon the simple circumstance of this journey, the superstition of his followers has grafted a series of miraculous omens, all portending his future greatness. Among other things, it is said, that upon his arriving at Bozrah, a certain man named Boheira, a Nestorian monk, who is thought by Prideaux to be other

* Morgan's Mahom. Explained, vol. i. p. 50.

wise called Sergius, advanced through the crowd collected in the market-place, and, seizing him by the hand, exclaimed, "There will be something wonderful in this boy; for when he approached he appeared covered with a cloud." He is said to have affirmed also that the dry trees under which he sat were everywhere instantly covered with green leaves, which served him for a shade; and that the mystic seal of prophecy was impressed between his shoulders, in the form of a small luminous excrescence. According to others, instead of a bright cloud being the criterion by which his subsequent divine mission was indicated, the mark by which Boheira knew him was the prophetic light which shone upon his face.

When Abu Taleb was about to return with his caravan to Mecca, Boheira, it is said, again repeated his solemn premonition, coupled with a charge, respecting the extraordinary youth. "Depart

with this child, and take great care that he does not fall into the hands of the Jews; for your nephew will one day become a very wonderful person."

This Boheira is the individual who, according to some writers, instructed Mahomet in the histories and doctrines of the Bible, and also in those corrupted forms of Christian truth and practice then prevailing among the Syrian monks. They go indeed so far, as to intimate, that between the artful monk and his pupil, a concerted plan was formed for creating a new religion, a motley compound of Judaism and Christianity, which was not to be brought to light for some twenty years; when accordingly it came out in some of the earliest chapters of the Koran. They attribute the

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