LETTER XVIII.

TO CAPTAIN SMITH.

Athens, Jan. 29th, 1788.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

We took leave of our Smyrna friends on the 19th of January, and having passed Scio, Lesbos, and Ipsera, were off Scyros on the 21st. We wished to visit this island, because it contains the tomb of Theseus, who killed the monster of Crete, and carried off the beauteous Ariadne; but the wind not permitting us to fetch it, we continued our course by Negropont, Longa, and the Promontory of Sunium. But the next morning the wind blew so strong against us, that finding it in vain to oppose it, we crossed the Sinus Sironicus, and anchored among the little islands of Idra. The weather continued bad for three days; it drove all the wild fowl to the shore, and afforded us excellent shooting, which compensated our delay.

On the 25th we again got under way, and the day after entered the Pyræus, the port of this celebrated city. What emotion must one feel on entering the ruins of a capital, which, from a small [Sidenote: A. A. C. 1556.] village, first formed into a regular government by Cecrops, became so flourishing, and so populous a state, that its citizens alone, in the famous battle of Marathon, delivered all Greece from the yoke of the Persians.

Xerxes was so little discouraged by the misfortunes of his father, that the moment he ascended his throne, he determined to make a second attempt. His army is said to have exceeded a million of men; and the number of his fleet was in proportion to the multitude of his troops. On his entering Upper Greece, most of the states, intimidated by the immensity of his armament, submitted to the enemy. The Peloponnesians having the advantage of inhabiting a country almost an island, and only assailable at the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, etermined to defend themselves. Themistocles infused the same spirit into the Athenians, and promoted the recall of his rival, Aristides. Their allies thinking it in vain to oppose the Persians beyond the Peloponnesus, wished all their forces to retire within the Isthmus. But the Athenians, encouraged by their former victory, bravely resolved once more to become the champions of Greece, and oppose the enemy before he entered Attica. Having brought the allies into this resolution, a detachment under Leonidas, King of Sparta, took possession of the pass of Thermopylæ, and for some time supported themselves against all the efforts of Xerxes, and his innumerable host. But a secret path being treacherously discovered to the enemy, Leonidas was surprised in the morning by seeing the Persians in possession of the heights above him.

Xerxes had now gained a decisive advantage; but the laws of Sparta not permitting its citizens to retreat, Leonidas sent back all his detachment, except three hundred, who were natives of that city. With these he devoted himself [Sidenote: A. A. C. 480.] to the service of his country, and falling upon the invaders, made a prodigious slaughter among them; but fresh numbers continually supplying the place of the slain, this great and gallant Prince was at last overpowered, and died with his heroic associates, in the midst of thousands of their enemies.

In this juncture, the Athenians consulted the Oracle, and were desired to trust to their wooden walls. Themistocles persuaded all those who were capable of bearing arms to embark in the fleet; the women and children were removed; and the town, abandoned to the enemy, fell a prey to the barbarians.

The fleet was assembled in the straits, within the Island of Salamis. Xerxes, who already talked of nothing but of extirpating the Greeks, by seizing their ships, flattered himself that he had now an opportunity of destroying them all at one blow. He therefore rashly attacked them in this narrow pass; but he soon found the superiority of the Grecian Admirals, who, by the excellence of their disposition, brought a much greater number of ships into action than the Persians could oppose at one time. Their van was of course defeated, which threw a general panick into the barbarians, and ended in a complete victory on the side of the Greeks.

The Persian King, who beheld the battle of Salamis from a neighbouring height, finding himself unable to support his immense army, after the loss of his fleet, retreated with the utmost precipitation. But before he quitted Greece, he gave Mardonius the command of a large detachment, to secure part of his conquests; but these being some months afterwards entirely defeated by Pausanias and Aristides at Platæa, and most of the troops the King carried with him having perished in the retreat, the Grecians pursued him into Asia.

Athens now rose, by rapid strides, to its highest lustre. Themistocles augmented the navy, rebuilt the city, fortified the Pyræus, and joined it to the town, which is four miles distant, by a strong fortified wall. His grand object was to throw the whole power of Greece into the hands of the Athenians; but the steps by which he proposed to attain this end, were so much disapproved, that he was banished. Accused afterwards of being concerned in the conspiracy of Pausanias, the Lacedemonian Admiral, for delivering Greece into the hands of the Persians, he was obliged to fly his country; and being pursued from place to place, although innocent of the charge preferred against him, he was at last compelled to take refuge at the Court of Persia.

There he was most hospitably entertained for several years; but in the succeeding wars, the King requiring him to lead an army against the Grecians, he suffered the greatest distress in the contest between gratitude and patriotism; and neither of these virtues being able to overcome the other, he ended the conflict by putting a period to his existence. On his being banished, Aristides succeeded him in the charge of the revenues, [Sidenote: A. A. C. 470.] and Cimon in the command of the forces. The glorious exploits of this young hero almost eclipsed even those of Miltiades, his father. He gained several great victories over the Persians, by sea and land, and beautified the city with the spoils of the enemy.

Aristides dying, Pericles succeeded him, and became the rival of Cimon, who was banished on a suspicion of favoring the Lacedemonians, [Sidenote: A. A. C. 455.] but recalled five years afterwards. He settled, for a time, the differences between the rival cities, and led them once more against the common enemy. And having ended a war of fifty-one years, by an honorable peace with the Persians, he died on the eve of returning to Athens. He was succeeded by Thucydides, his brother-in-law, but who was soon banished by Pericles, who now exercised alone the sovereign authority.

This illustrious patriot was equally attentive to the prosperity, and to the beauty of the city. With one hand he enriched her with the wealth of every nation, with the other he adorned her with the works of the most celebrated masters. Phidias, the famous sculptor, flourished in his administration, and it is to him we are indebted for the magnificent Temple of Minerva.

But neither his refined genius, nor his political abilities, could exempt his country from the envy which prosperity generally attracts. The splendour she had attained, and the haughtiness it occasioned, drew upon her the complaints of many of the Powers of Greece, and particularly of all those within the Peloponnesus. Animated by Pericles, Athens, although averse to hostile measures, was resolved not to submit to the attacks of the Lacedemonians, but, conscious of her resources, determined [Sidenote: A. A. C. 431.]to support her dignity; and thus, undaunted by superior force, she sustained herself for twenty-seven years, against the united efforts of all her enemies, in the famous Peloponnesian war.

Pericles died at the close of the fourth campaign; but the war was continued until the end of the tenth, when a truce was concluded, on terms very advantageous to Athens. But the ambition of Alcibiades, who now began to be distinguished at Athens, soon brought on a renewal of hostilities. He opposed Nicias on every occasion, and, contrary to the advice of that excellent General, persuaded the Athenians to send a considerable part of their forces into Sicily, himself embarking on that expedition: but, being soon recalled, he fled to Sparta, where he joined the enemy, and became the scourge of Attica. In the mean while, Syracuse was reduced to great [Sidenote: A. A. C. 413.] straights; but, a reinforcement arriving from Peloponnesus, the Athenians were entirely defeated, and Nicias, their General, most inhumanly put to death.

This blow dispirited the Athenians so much, that Alcibiades, compassionating their distress, returned to his duty. At first he was surprisingly successful; but the fleet suffering a defeat whilst he was absent on an expedition, he was deprived of the command, for having left it in unworthy hands.

The Athenians had soon reason to repent this act; for, notwithstanding their fleet gained a considerable advantage under Conon, it was afterwards attacked by surprise in the Hellespont, and entirely [Sidenote: A. A. C. 404.] destroyed. Lysander, who gained this celebrated victory, after subduing all the maritime places in his route, arrived at Athens, and obliged her to surrender.

The city now suffered all the horrors of the most cruel tyranny and oppression: but the Lacedemonians, exulting in their prosperity, as the Athenians had done before, raised up a confederacy against them, by which, after ten years slavery, Athens thoroughly recovered her liberty, and regained her former consequence; and, although Thebes, under Epaminondas, seemed for a time to rival her, she maintained her superiority over the [Sidenote: A. A. C. 337.] rest of Greece, until Philip of Macedon, having defeated the Grecians in the battle of Chæronea, obliged them to nominate him Commander in Chief of their forces.

Demosthenes had long observed the steps by which this Monarch aimed at the subjection of Greece, and endeavoured, in his celebrated orations, to rouse the spirit of his countrymen; but he did not succeed until it was too late.

Philip left his authority to his son Alexander, the Conqueror, during whose absence in Persia, the Athenians attempted to regain their liberties, but were soon suppressed by his General Antipater. On the death of Alexander, Athens again revolted, and at first obtained some considerable advantages; but Antipater, being reinforced, put [Sidenote: A. A. C. 322.] an end to her triumphs, and caused her principal citizens to be put to death. Demosthenes fled; but, being detected in his retreat, he poisoned himself.

From this time, Athens was almost constantly kept in subjection by one or other of the successors of Alexander, until about two hundred years before Christ, when, being attacked by Philip III. of Macedon, the Athenians complained to the Romans, who had lately concluded a peace with the King, but now again declared war against him; and being joined by several of the Greek States, Philip was soon overcome. The only use the [Sidenote: A. A. C. 196.] Romans made of their conquest, was to shew their magnanimity, by restoring liberty to all the cities of Greece.

In the war between Rome and Antiochus, Greece was at first a principal scene of action. In this, the Romans were again successful, and confirmed their former generosity: but, at last, finding the different States constantly at variance, and one or other of them [Sidenote: A. A. C. 146.] ever imploring the assistance of Rome, they put an end to their disputes, by forming them into a Roman province. They had previously defeated and taken Perseus, the last King of Macedonia; after which, it only remained to dispel the Achæan League, which had been so famous under Philopœmen.

In the war between Mithridates and the Romans, the former got possession of Athens; but, after a noble defence, it was retaken the year following by Sylla, who carried its library to [Sidenote: A. A. C. 86.] Rome, with many of its most valuable pieces of sculpture and painting. Attica continued to share the fate of the Romans, until their great Empire was divided into the Eastern and Western branches. Greece then appertained to the former, and fell with it into the hands of the Turks, on the taking of Constantinople by Mahomet II.--A. D. 1453.

CHAPTER. XIX.

TO CAPTAIN SMITH.

Athens, February 3d, 1789.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Athens still contains near ten thousand inhabitants, and has lately been enclosed by a wall, to defend it from the irruptions of the Albanians, who are ever ripe for a revolt, and have several times plundered the town. The neighbourhood abounds with olive trees, and the French have established a small factory for the culture of them. The ancient citadel is always kept in a state of defence; and, being situated on the flat surface of an unassailable rock, it is only to be subdued by famine, or a bombardment. But what most renders it an object of curiosity, is, its containing the superb Temple of Minerva, the most celebrated work of the illustrious Pericles. But, alas! of this magnificent pile, only enough is left to give us a faint idea of its former grandeur, and to make us lament the unhappy fate of so sublime an edifice. The columns which supported the south side, and part of the front, are still standing, with some elegant metopes, which represent the exploits of the different heroes of Athens, and the battle of the Amazons: but these are every year falling down, from a violent shock the remains of the temple received, about a century ago, from the Venetians, who, in bombarding the citadel, blew up a powder magazine within it.

From these ruins of fallen greatness, it is a pleasant relief to turn our eyes to the Temple of Theseus, which, being converted into a Greek church, is still perfect. Here the sympathetic soul enjoys the generous glow of admiration, in contemplating a monument of gratitude to a departed hero, and the satisfaction of seeing, that the ravages of more than two thousand years have not been able to affect the work of a grateful people in honor of a patriotic Prince: so may we hope, that, to the last day, it will remain a living proof of the generosity of the one, and of the merit of the other.

Theseus was the great grandson of Cecrops, and, like him, corrected the wandering manner in which his people lived, and formed them into civil societies; whence he is justly called the second founder of Athens.

In the preceding narration, I took no notice of the exploits of this Prince, because they are stories we have been accustomed to hear from our cradles, and, although founded on truth, are generally classed among those of the fabulous kind. For the same reason, I passed over the death of his successor, Mnestheus, at the siege of Troy, as well the expedition for the Golden Fleece, and the other events in which Athens was concerned previous to the invasion of the Persians.

The temple is an elegant edifice, supported by a beautiful colonnade, on a similar plan to the largest at Pestum. It was erected in the administration of Cimon, who, having discovered the bones of Theseus in the island of Shyros, where he was killed by a fall from a precipice, restored them to his native city. The metopes on the front, and part of the sides, are ornamented with basso relievo, representing the battle of the Centaurs. These, you may recollect, were nothing more than the cavalry of Thessaly, where the men were so perfect in the management of their horses, that, when mounted, they were supposed to be part of the same animal.

The east gateway, which was also erected to Theseus, remains tolerably perfect. It was repaired by Adrian, who added an inscription, importing that Athens was now become his city; and, indeed, by his liberality, he in some measure made amends for the depredations the Romans committed upon her ornaments, and earned the title of one of her founders. It was this Emperor who raised that superb pile the Pantheon, dedicated to all the Gods; which, by its grandeur, elegance and beauty, justly merited that exalted title. Out of an hundred and twenty columns, each eighteen feet in circumference, only nine are standing. They are of the finest marble, with very rich Corinthian capitals. Those of Theseus and Minerva are Doric.

The monument vulgarly called the Lanthorn of Demosthenes, being inhabited by a French Monk, and the octagonal Temple of the Winds, by a Turkish Dervise, are still entire. The former is light and elegant; the latter has nothing but its antiquity to recommend it; for the figures which represent the different winds, are so indifferently executed, that, were not their names inscribed below them, it would be impossible to know their qualities.

Some triumphal columns, and other monuments, are still left in tolerable preservation, besides a considerable part of the Theatre of Bacchus, and many other fragments and ruins, which I am less particular in describing, because we have taken exact plans of all of them.

The channel of the Ilyssus, whose banks were formerly so famous, is dry, even at this rainy season; and I have several times walked in its bed, as well as in the olive groves where Plato delivered his lectures. I have also been as far as the plains of Marathon, to pay my oblations at the shrine of Miltiades--an interesting scene to a Soldier, and of which my military friends may expect an exact description.

THE BATTLE OF MARATHON,

MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED

TO

THE RIGHT HONORABLE

GENERAL ELIOTT,

LORD HEATHFIELD.

This celebrated field is about twelve miles in circumference, and a day's march from Athens. It is washed by the sea on the east, and surrounded by mountains on every other side, except the south-east corner, where the flat is continued a short space along the shore, and afterwards terminated by hills. The part where this slip joins the grand plain, has a large morass in its center, which extends pretty close to the hills on one side, and near the water's edge on the other.

There are two roads from the plains to Athens; the one by the morass, the other through the town of Marathon, which lies at the foot of the hills, nearly opposite the center of the plains.

Miltiades' army, in point of numbers, was not equal to one tenth of the Persians; but he knew that by waiting for them under the walls of Athens, he should abandon the country to their ravages, and submit to see them receive their convoys, and gather provisions unmolested; and possibly even subject himself to a famine. He therefore determined, at all events, to keep from between the enemy and the capital, and wait for an opportunity of attacking them to advantage. And this Fortune soon gave him. The Persians having reached the plains of Marathon, accompanied by their fleet, pursued the road nearest the sea. Their van had already ascended the heights, their main body filled the flat beneath, and their rear was passing the narrow space on the sides of the morass. Historians tell us, that Miltiades drew his whole strength into his wings, and particularly his right, leaving his center almost open. But as they have not been sufficiently minute in describing the scene of this memorable action, I could not thoroughly perceive the excellence of his disposition, until I beheld the field of battle.

The morass supplied the place of troops in his center. The space on the left was but narrow, consequently his greatest exertions were required on his right. This the General thoroughly understood, and at the moment the Persians were in the situation I have just described, he rushed from the town of Marathon, and by his admirable disposition, brought his whole force to act on the enemy's rear.

The Persians, encumbered and confined, and scarce able to use their arms, were instantly thrown into confusion, and hewn down in immense numbers. The main body faced about, and advanced to the assistance of the rear. The van, confident of victory from their numbers, descended from the heights to pursue their success. The whole crowded together in the narrow passes, making a general, confused attempt to break into the plain: but the Athenians constantly out-fronting them, and the immense numbers of the enemy only serving to incommode themselves, and to create confusion, they were slain as fast as they advanced. At length those in front, unable to withstand the terrible carnage that raged around them, attempted to fly; but being prevented from retreating by those behind them, who not having seen the slaughter, still pushed forward, they precipitately threw themselves into the morass.

Victory now declared for the Athenians, who, pursuing their advantage, fell with such violence on the disordered ranks of the enemy, that to escape their fury, their nearest opponents were compelled to turn, and in despair, forced their way through their own friends. A general rout immediately ensued, and the exertions of the Athenians encreasing with their success, they drove the enemy headlong before them. Near thirty thousand Persians fell by the sword. Numbers perished in the morass, and the rest, in confusion and dismay, escaped to their ships.

These, my Lord, are my ideas of the principles on which Miltiades acted, and what I have conceived to have been the plan of the battle, from seeing the plains on which it was fought. I am, however, aware that one of the causes to which I attribute the success of the Greeks--their out-fronting the enemy--was a less advantage in those days, than it has become since the invention of musketry and artillery. But although the Grecians made their grand exertions by close action, yet it is to be presumed, from the hilly, irregular country in which this army was generally to act, that it was not without a considerable corps of slingers and bowmen, who, in the disposition I have given, might act to the greatest advantage upon the enemy's flank.

It is needless to say that the Persians, by forming _en potence_ along the sides of the morass, might have brought as many men into action as the Greeks; they were too much confused by the sudden attack, bordering on a surprise, to execute this manœuvre, and most likely their troops with missive weapons were not in this part of their army.

The most plausible objection to my plan is, that had the Persians, instead of engaging and crowding themselves in the situation Miltiades attacked them, made a retreating fight, till they passed the narrow flat, and secured the heights, it was then in their power, had Miltiades persisted in the attack, completely to surround him, by making part of the troop on the heights, in front, deploy along the eminence, and then descend in his rear, whilst the rest of the army, now advantageously posted on the heights, would probably have prevented his forcing their front.

This is, doubtless, what a good General would have done. But when the Generals are equal, how can men be expected to beat ten times their number? Miltiades was in one of those situations, where inaction is as fatal as a defeat; and it was his duty to seize every opportunity, in which it was in Fortune's power to favor his designs. He acted on these principles, and was crowned with the success his courage deserved.

At first the Athenians thought no praises they could bestow, equal to the merit of Miltiades; but in my letter from Paros, I mentioned the cruel persecution he afterwards suffered. But the death of this great man having disarmed the malice of his enemies, they soon became sensible of their shameful ingratitude; and as some atonement to the manes of their departed hero, they erected a monument to his memory on the plains where he gained his glory.

Of this sacred tomb, only the base remains. I picked up a chip of marble that had fallen from it, and was instantly impressed with the idea of having this honored relick set, with a suitable device, in some of the metal from the Battering Ships, destroyed before Gibraltar, and thus to commemorate and unite the greatest victory of Greece, with the most glorious achievement of Britain.

LETTER. XX.

TO CAPTAIN SMITH.

Athens, February 5th, 1789.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

On our way to Marathon, we turned a little out of the road to see a mutilated statue of a Lion, which still bears the signs of most excellent workmanship.

We have already repeatedly viewed every thing worthy notice in Athens; but as the painter has not yet finished his drawings, we shall remain here some days longer, during which we mean to make an excursion to the Islands of Salamis, Ægina, &c. But as they contain nothing worthy description, I will close this sketch of the history and antiquities of this interesting city, with a short account of the religion of its present inhabitants. About one-fifth of them are Turks, and the rest Greeks.

GREEK RELIGION.

St. Paul, you recollect, visited Athens, and the other states of Greece, to preach Christianity; and notwithstanding all the anathemas the Pope has denounced against the Greeks, there is, in fact, but little difference between their religion, and that of the Roman Catholics. They equally make use of the sign of the cross; worship images; pray to the saints; have confessors; and believe in transubstantiation, although they do not kneel at the elevation of the Host. If they deny the doctrine of purgatory, they admit something very like it, in praying for the souls of the dead. Their Bishops and superior clergy are never permitted to marry; but a simple priest is allowed that indulgence once in his life, though he can never take a second wife. They acknowledge the Pope to be the chief of the Patriarchs, but deny his having the power of granting indulgences; and this was his Holiness's first reason for accusing them of schism.

It is true, there is another grand point in which they dissent both from the Roman Catholics and the Protestants; I mean the article of the Holy Ghost, which they say can proceed from the Father only. There are some less essential differences, such as their using leavened bread in the consecration of the Sacrament, and mixing the bread and wine together. And they also differ in the ceremonies of baptism, marriage, and burial. In the first they give three complete immersions. The second is performed by the priest's changing the ring from the bride's to the bridegroom's finger, saying a few words, and then from the bridegroom's to the bride's. He repeats this ceremony about thirty times, without any alteration, and when he desists, it is again as often performed by each of the godfathers and godmothers. Their funerals are like those of the savages--howling and making hideous cries till the corpse is interred, and then feasting over the grave.

The Patriarch of Constantinople is the head of the Greek Church, and has under him the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Damascus, and Alexandria. St. Polycarp is their favorite Saint. He was one of St. John's disciples, and suffered martyrdom at Smyrna, of which he was the first Archbishop.

MAHOMETAN RELIGION.

From the religion of the Greeks, I naturally turn to that of the Turks. To have a just idea of this, it is necessary that we should divest ourselves of every prejudice; and in arraigning the character of a man whom death has prevented from appearing in his own defence, Justice ever requires, that if we do not put the most favorable construction on his actions, we should, at least, treat them with impartiality.

To speak candidly then, Mahomet might be a religious and a moral man. His father left him in rather penurious circumstances, but profiting to the utmost by the education his friends could afford him, and always preserving a most unexceptionable character, he rose to be factor of a rich widow, whom he afterwards married; and becoming, by this connection, a person of some consequence in his country, he felt it his duty to devote himself to its welfare.

He saw, with the utmost concern, that the Jews and the Christians were constantly at variance, and that Idolatry was daily gaining ground. To check the progress of a practice so unworthy the human mind, and so degrading to our Divine Maker, appeared to him an object worthy his whole attention. Filled with this idea, it became the constant subject of his thoughts, and after long revolving it in his mind, he, at length, conceived it impossible to attain his end by any other method, but by that of uniting the Jews and the Christians in one religion. And this he knew could only be effected by admitting part of the tenets of both.

For this purpose, he acknowledged Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, whom the Jews regarded as their chief Prophets, to whom he added our Blessed Saviour; in commemoration of whose mildness and beneficence, he called him the Breath of God--the most flattering appellation he could offer, confident with the delicacy it was necessary to observe towards the Jews. Nevertheless, a Christian cannot sufficiently lament, that he was obliged to make concessions to a people execrated by God. But as his only object was to restore the divine worship to its original purity, he conceived that the Almighty would not be displeased at the means he was about to adopt to attain so laudable an end.

The first person to whom he communicated his design, was her in whom, as a good man, he was most interested, I mean his wife. She readily embraced his sentiments, and, in a short time, many of their relations adopted their opinions. Nevertheless, the Arabs in general continued obstinate in their superstition and idolatry; and as Mahomet as yet only made use of the gentle methods of persuasion, his proselytes increased so slowly, that he had reason to despair of success, unless he could make it be believed that he received supernatural assistance.

Thus far his conduct is irreproachable, since we may forgive his endeavouring to compound the Jewish and Christian religions, which in him, was at worst but an error in judgment. But from this moment, he began to lose sight of the delicacy and patriotic disinterestedness by which he was hitherto actuated, and we must resign him to the lash of the Christian and Jewish divines, both of whom have agreed in stigmatizing him by the epithet of "Impostor." Nevertheless a philanthropic mind will always be inclined to pity him, and to lament that a man naturally religious, with so noble an object in view, should be drawn into measures unworthy the piety of his primitive intentions.

He pretended, or perhaps his enthusiasm made him believe, that the Angel Gabriel had appeared to him; and, in the name of God, charged him with his mission. But still his progress was not equal to his wishes; he therefore made use of another imposture, and declared that he had been carried up to Heaven, and conversed with God. This, and some miracles he was said to have performed, gave him an unbounded sway over the minds of the people. But the persecution of the Government increasing with his success, he was several times obliged to fly from Mecca. Hitherto he had preached nothing but peace; but his fame having now spread, and gained him many proselytes in the neighbouring states, he found himself in a condition to accomplish by force, what he had in vain attempted by persuasion. Provoked at the opposition he met with, he gave out that God, irritated at the obstinacy of his enemies, had ordered him to take up arms against them. He therefore raised an army, with which he beat the Koreish, or head tribe of Mecca, in the famous battle of Bedr, and gained many other victories, each of which increasing his fame and his followers, he usurped the civil and military authority, as well as the religious, and before he died, had the satisfaction of seeing himself acknowledged by many of the Eastern nations.

The Mahometans date their Hegira from the period of their Prophet's [Sidenote: A. D. 622.] flight from Mecca to Medina, during which such miracles, they say, were performed in his favor, that it was no longer possible to doubt his being the Messenger of God.

In addition to his being an Impostor, and making use of violent measures, it is farther objected against Mahomet, that he makes his paradise consist in sensual pleasures; but in this he conformed to the dispositions of the people he held it out to. He tells them that it is inhabited by female angels, whose charms surpass conception, and who, although adorned by the most delicate modesty, will yield to the embraces of the Faithful. That they live in large pavilions of hollow pearls, in the midst of refreshing fountains and shady groves, abounding with the most delicious fruits. Besides which, the fleetest horses, elegantly caparisoned, and every thing else they may desire, will immediately spring up for them.

His faith consists in belief in God, and predestination; in his Angels, his Scriptures, and his Prophets; in the Resurrection and final Judgment. On that awful day the principal questions asked the Mahometans will be, How they spent their time? How they acquired and used their wealth? What use they made of their knowledge? and how they exercised their bodies?

Infidels and hypocrites will be damned without redemption; but the good and bad actions of the Mahometans will be balanced against each other, and the punishments of the guilty will be in proportion to their sins; the slightest of which will be nine hundred years confinement in a hell, so very hot as to make the brain boil through the skull; and the heaviest nine thousand in a place where the heat is seven times more horrible.

Oppressors, and such as have been guilty of malice or injustice, will be obliged to suffer in the next world for the sins of those whom they injured in this. An idea that cannot be too much admired.

Another striking instance of the humanity of Mahomet's disposition, is the great encomiums he conferred upon Charity. He tells his followers that nothing will be more acceptable to God than alms; and to shew our gratitude to him for those we are constantly receiving at his hands, he orders that they shall pray at least five times a day; and that there may be no excuse for neglecting this duty, the muezzins are obliged to ascend the steeples at stated times, and there apprise the people that "it is time to pray."

In this we see both gratitude and wisdom; and to do ample justice to Mahomet, it only remains to examine how far his religion tended to promote the happiness and prosperity of his brethren. To do this, we must keep their country in view. It will then readily occur to us, that the Arabians living in a state of warfare, population must necessarily decrease, and the number of women considerably exceed that of the men. What remedy could he apply to this evil, but a plurality of wives? Or how put a stop to drunkenness, but by prohibiting wine? The climate of Arabia is hot; heat produces wantonness, wantonness leads to prostitution, and prostitution creates sin, disease, and depopulation. These are crying evils, and the only method to prevent them was, by forbidding every intercourse between the two sexes, man and wife only excepted. For she must be an abandoned woman indeed, who will make the first advances to impure love, and these to a man to whom she had never before spoken.

But as a farther encouragement to population, and that the female captives taken in war might be of service to the state, he tolerates masters lying with their slaves, who, on their part, are to preserve all the modesty and discretion of a wife, and in return, are always to be treated with tenderness.

That Mahomet allowed these indulgences, more through policy than inclination, is evident, since even his bitterest enemies have never accused him of bigamy, or of impure love, before the death of his first wife. If he afterwards became abandoned, it is no wonder, for he had then cast off his pious principles; and every wise person knows, whatever pretenders to philosophy may say, that a man, when he abandons religion, generally abandons morality also.

Upon the whole, I believe, this is by much the most favorable account ever written of Mahomet by a Christian; yet, if we analyze the writings of our own theologists, and set aside their abusive epithets, we shall find that I have said nothing more than they themselves have admitted; because, not understanding the Turkish language, I have trusted to them for matters of fact, although, in justice to a dead man, I could not ascribe to ambition and selfishness, what might originally proceed from virtue, however different a turn it might afterwards take.

To close this essay with the candour with which I have conducted it, we must allow, that as a patriot and a politician, Mahomet merits a great share of our commendation. But how unworthy a divine mission will his latter conduct appear, when compared with that of our Saviour. Neither persecution nor torture, could provoke the Blessed Jesus to a deviation from his Heavenly Mildness; but constantly adhering to the will of our Father, he lived, and he died for the good of mankind.