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the legitimacy of their birth; and one of the Fatimite caliphs silenced an indiscreet question by drawing his cimeter: "This," said Moez, "is my pedigree; and these," casting a handful of gold to his soldiers, - "and these are my kindred and my children." In the various conditions of princes, or doctors, or nobles, or merchants, or beggars, a swarm of the genuine or fictitious descendants of Mahomet and Ali is honored with the appellation of sheiks, or sherifs, or emirs. In the Ottoman empire they are distinguished by a green turban; receive a stipend from the treasury; are judged only by their chief; and, however debased by fortune or character, still assert the proud preeminence of their birth. A family of three hundred persons, the pure and orthodox branch of the caliph Hassan, is preserved without taint or suspicion in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and still retains, after the revolutions of twelve centuries, the custody of the temple, and the sovereignty of their native land. The fame and merit of Mahomet would ennoble a plebeian race, and the ancient blood of the Koreish transcends the recent majesty of the kings of the earth. ^186

[Footnote 181: The general article of Imam, in D'Herbelot's Bibliotheque, will indicate the succession; and the lives of the twelve are given under their respective names.]

[Footnote 182: The name of Antichrist may seem ridiculous, but the Mahometans have liberally borrowed the fables of every religion, (Sale's Preliminary Discourse, p. 80, 82.) In the royal stable of Ispahan, two horses were always kept saddled, one for the Mahadi himself, the other for his lieutenant, Jesus the son of Mary.]

[Footnote 183: In the year of the Hegira 200, (A.D. 815.) See D'Herbelot, p. 146]

[Footnote 184: D'Herbelot, p. 342. The enemies of the Fatimites disgraced them by a Jewish origin. Yet they accurately deduced their genealogy from Jaafar, the sixth Imam; and the impartial Abulfeda allows (Annal. Moslem. p. 230) that they were owned by many, qui absque controversia genuini sunt Alidarum, homines propaginum suae gentis exacte callentes. He quotes some lines from the celebrated Scherif or Rahdi, Egone humilitatem induam in terris hostium? (I suspect him to be an Edrissite of Sicily,) cum in Aegypto sit Chalifa de gente Alii, quocum ego communem habeo patrem et vindicem.]

[Footnote 185: The kings of Persia in the last century are descended from Sheik Sefi, a saint of the xivth century, and through him, from Moussa Cassem, the son of Hosein, the son of Ali, (Olearius, p. 957. Chardin, tom. iii. p. 288.) But I cannot trace the intermediate degrees in any genuine or fabulous pedigree. If they were truly Fatimites, they might draw their origin from the princes of Mazanderan, who reigned in the ixth century, (D'Herbelot, p. 96.)]

[Footnote 186: The present state of the family of Mahomet and Ali is most accurately described by Demetrius Cantemir (Hist. of the Othmae Empire, p. 94) and Niebuhr, (Description de l'Arabie, p. 9 - 16, 317 &c.) It is much to be lamented, that the Danish traveller was unable to purchase the chronicles of Arabia.]

The talents of Mahomet are entitled to our applause; but his success has, perhaps, too strongly attracted our admiration. Are we surprised that a multitude of proselytes should embrace the doctrine and the passions of an eloquent fanatic? In the heresies of the church, the same seduction has been tried and repeated from the time of the apostles to that of the reformers. Does it seem incredible that a private citizen should grasp the sword and the sceptre, subdue his native country, and erect a monarchy by his victorious arms? In the moving picture of the dynasties of the East, a hundred fortunate usurpers have arisen from a baser origin, surmounted more formidable obstacles, and filled a larger scope of empire and conquest. Mahomet was alike instructed to preach and to fight; and the union of these opposite qualities, while it enhanced his merit, contributed to his success: the operation of force and persuasion, of enthusiasm and fear,