rientale of D'Herbelot, (under the names of Aboubecre,
Omar Othman, Ali, &c.;) from the Annals of Abulfeda, Abulpharagius, and
Elmacin, (under the proper years of the Hegira,) and especially from
Ockley's History of the Saracens, (vol. i. p. 1-10, 115-122, 229, 249,
363-372, 378-391, and almost the whole of the second volume.) Yet we
should weigh with caution the traditions of the hostile sects; a stream
which becomes still more muddy as it flows farther from the source.
Sir John Chardin has too faithfully copied the fables and errors of the
modern Persians, (Voyages, tom. ii. p. 235-250, &c.)]

The birth, the alliance, the character of Ali, which exalted him above
the rest of his countrymen, might justify his claim to the vacant throne
of Arabia. The son of Abu Taleb was, in his own right, the chief of the
family of Hashem, and the hereditary prince or guardian of the city and
temple of Mecca. The light of prophecy was extinct; but the husband
of Fatima might expect the inheritance and blessing of her father:
the Arabs had sometimes been patient of a female reign; and the two
grandsons of the prophet had often been fondled in his lap, and shown
in his pulpit as the hope of his age, and the chief of the youth of
paradise. The first of the true believers might aspire to march before
them in this world and in the next; and if some were of a graver and
more rigid cast, the zeal and virtue of Ali were never outstripped by
any recent proselyte. He united the qualifications of a poet, a soldier,
and a saint: his wisdom still breathes in a collection of moral and
religious sayings; [167] and every antagonist, in the combats of the
tongue or of the sword, was subdued by his eloquence and valor. From the
first hour of his mission to the last rites of his funeral, the apostle
was never forsaken by a generous friend, whom he delighted to name his
brother, his vicegerent, and the faithful Aaron of a second Moses. The
son of Abu Taleb was afterwards reproached for neglecting to secure his
interest by a solemn declaration of his right, which would have silenced
all competition, and sealed his succession by the decrees of Heaven. But
the unsuspecting hero confided in himself: the jealousy of empire,
and perhaps the fear of opposition, might suspend the resolutions of
Mahomet; and the bed of sickness was besieged by the artful Ayesha, the
daughter of Abubeker, and the enemy of Ali. [1671]

[Footnote 167: Ockley (at the end of his secon