at first listened to his pretensions. When he upbraided them with their idolatry, obstinacy, and perverseness, they were highly provoked, declared themselves his enemies, and in all probability would soon have procured his ruin, and that of his whole scheme, but that he enjoyed the powerful protection of his uncle Abu Taleb. This distinguished friend was urged to desert his nephew by every kind of solicitation his adversaries could employ. The Koreish, with their chief at their head, remonstrated, and appealed, and persuaded till at length Abu was prevailed upon, so far as to dissuade his nephew from proceeding further, by representing the great danger which he incurred, both for himself and his friends. It has often been seen that faith and a love of truth, have been proof against friendly efforts, more painful and difficult of resistance, than all the attempts of avowed foes; but not often that mere imposture and superstition have stood firm against them. In this case, however, they were employed in vain. Mahomet's reply to his uncle was worthy of a better cause. "If," said he, "they set the sun against me on the right hand, and the moon on the left, I will not abandon my enterprise; and to Abu's honour it is to be added, that as his nephew was found so firmly resolved to proceed, he declined to employ extremities, indeed he resolved to stand by him as a friend to the very last. The tribe at whose instance Abu had attempted these persuasions, were not so wise, or so generous. Indignant at the rebukes of Mahomet, and uninfluenced by the ties of relationship, which most probably had restrained the hands of his uncle, they determined at all events to put a stop to his progress; accordingly, when neither fair words nor menaces could prevail, they had recourse to violence. The followers of the prophet were persecuted; he himself escaped, chiefly because of his high connexions; and speedily this persecution became so fierce, and the threats of their enemies, the idolatrous Koreish, so loud and deep, that they deemed it no longer safe to remain at Mecca, to which place hitherto the fanaticism of Mahomet had been confined. Such of his followers as were without the protection of powerful friends, received permission to fly and seek protection elsewhere; upon which sixteen of them,-twelve men, and four women, one of the latter being a daughter of Mahomet,-fled into the neighbouring country of Ethiopia. Thither also, soon afterwards, others of his followers, to the number, it is said, of eighty-three men, and eighteen women besides children escaped; all of whom were kindly received by the sovereign, who protected them from the demands of their persecutors, and who also, according to Arab writers, received the faith for which they suffered. It may be supposed, that the mind of the prophet would be greatly perplexed by this continued and bitter opposition. His followers could scarcely escape the worst of evils, and he himself, in his native city, is treated with contumely and scorn. He endured moments of diffidence, the warmth of his spirit was chilled, and the hopes which had lifted him above all his friends and companions around, seemed destined to disappointment, so that he sunk into the depths of disquietude and suspense. It was probably when his mind was in this condition, that the 93rd and 94th chapters of the Koran were composed. They contain the musings of a mind trembling with apprehension, yet fain to look for some divine interposition in its favour. Sale translates the former :-"By the brightness of the morning; and by the night when it groweth dark; thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither doth he hate thee. Verily the life to come, shall be better for thee than this present life. And thy Lord shall give thee a reward, wherewith thou shalt be well pleased. Did he not find thee an orphan, and hath he not taken care of thee? And did he not find thee wandering in error, and hath he not guided thee into the truth? And did he not find thee needy, and hath he not enriched thee? Wherefore oppress not the orphan; neither repulse the beggar; but declare the goodness of thy Lord." The latter is rendered by the same translator: "Have we not opened thy breast, and eased thee of thy burden which galled thy back; and raised thy reputation for thee? Verily a difficulty shall be attended with ease. When thou shalt have ended thy preaching, labour to serve. God in return for his favours, and make thy supplication unto the Lord." A more recent version of the former of these two chapters, conceived in poetical numbers, as the original undoubtedly is, assists us in forming some idea, though confessedly a feeble one, of the beauty of the Arabic composition. No! by the morning's splendour-No! by the frown of night, Consolatory passages of this kind abound in those chapters of the Koran, which are said to have been revealed to the prophet at Mecca; evidently the effusions of enthusiasm. As yet, however, the prophet's mind does not seem to have conceived those vast designs of ambition, and yielded to those sentiments of ferocious cruelty by which afterwards it was distinguished. Now and then, indeed, in these chapters we catch a glimpse of what the man afterwards became, as in the cxi., where he writes concerning one of his uncles a bitter persecutor. "The hands of Abu Laheb shall perish, and he shall perish. His riches shall not profit him, neither that which he hath gained. He shall go down to be burned into flaming fire, and his wife also bearing wood, having on her neck a cord of twisted fibres of a palm tree." And when maintaining his sacred character to its utmost height, he consoles his animosity with mysterious hints of the future and inevitable retribution, or relieves his passion by the terrific outpourings of a prophet's curse. An instance occurs in the 74th chapter. "Yes, he considered and he plotted-curse him, how he plotted—ay, curse him, how he plotted-then he looked, then he frowned and looked grave-then he turned away in his pride and said, what is this but a charm that is repeated, what is this but the speech of a man.' Still it is observable, that in these passages Mahomet rather indicates some mysterious vengeance to be taken on the foes of his religion by the Most High in another world, than any triumph over them which he hoped to gain in this; or if they exhibit indications of his own becoming the instrument of vengeance, as he most certainly did before many years had elapsed, it is by no means " improbable that these indications were foisted into the work after they were justified by the event. Mahomet, in the later periods of his life, was continually adding to the revelations contained in the Koran. These additions were sometimes written separately as an independent chapter, sometimes they were placed in a former chapter to some passage in which he considered them pertinent. It is now impossible therefore, to trace from the volume any thing approaching to an accurate history of the progress of his mind and feelings. It may be observed in general terms, that there is no evidence in his early history of his aspiring to the power he subsequently realized. Within a short time, notwithstanding the flight of his friends, Mahomet found himself strengthened by the conversion of others, including some of the most powerful men of Mecca, his own relations, Omar, Ebn Al Khattub, and his uncle Hamza, a man of great valour and merit, were of this number. The excellencies of the prophet's conduct, and the purity of his faith, contrasted strongly with those of his foes; and, as in all other cases, persecution did but extend his doctrine and his fame. At length, in order effectually to destroy his rising interests, the Koreish entered into a covenant, to contract no marriages with his family or relatives; to abstain from all commercial and social transactions; in a word, to suspend all communications with them; and for the greater solemnity, this covenant was reduced to writing, and laid up in their sacred temple. Thus the principal families of Mecca were divided into factions. The Hashemites under Abu Taleb, maintained the |