f the prophet, and the murders of Caab, and Sophian, which he
prompted and approved, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 69, 97, 208.)]

Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants.--Part VII.

The good sense of Mahomet [158] despised the pomp of royalty: the
apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family: he kindled
the fire, swept the floor, milked the ewes, and mended with his own
hands his shoes and his woollen garment. Disdaining the penance and
merit of a hermit, he observed, without effort or vanity, the abstemious
diet of an Arab and a soldier. On solemn occasions he feasted his
companions with rustic and hospitable plenty; but in his domestic life,
many weeks would elapse without a tire being kindled on the hearth of
the prophet. The interdiction of wine was confirmed by his example;
his hunger was appeased with a sparing allowance of barley-bread:
he delighted in the taste of milk and honey; but his ordinary food
consisted of dates and water. Perfumes and women were the two sensual
enjoyments which his nature required, and his religion did not forbid;
and Mahomet affirmed, that the fervor of his devotion was increased by
these innocent pleasures. The heat of the climate inflames the blood
of the Arabs; and their libidinous complexion has been noticed by the
writers of antiquity. [159] Their incontinence was regulated by the
civil and religious laws of the Koran: their incestuous alliances were
blamed; the boundless license of polygamy was reduced to four legitimate
wives or concubines; their rights both of bed and of dowry were
equitably determined; the freedom of divorce was discouraged, adultery
was condemned as a capital offence; and fornication, in either sex, was
punished with a hundred stripes. [160] Such were the calm and rational
precepts of the legislator: but in his private conduct, Mahomet indulged
the appetites of a man, and abused the claims of a prophet. A special
revelation dispensed him from the laws which he had imposed on his
nation: the female sex, without reserve, was abandoned to his desires;
and this singular prerogative excited the envy, rather than the scandal,
the veneration, rather than the envy, of the devout Mussulmans. If we
remember the seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines of the
wise Solomon, we shall applaud the modesty of the Arabian, who espoused
no more than seventeen or fifteen wives; eleven are enumerated who
occupied at Medina their separa