nscience would be soothed by the
persuasion, that he alone was absolved by the Deity from the obligation
of positive and moral laws. If he retained any vestige of his native
innocence, the sins of Mahomet may be allowed as an evidence of his
sincerity. In the support of truth, the arts of fraud and fiction may be
deemed less criminal; and he would have started at the foulness of the
means, had he not been satisfied of the importance and justice of the
end. Even in a conqueror or a priest, I can surprise a word or action
of unaffected humanity; and the decree of Mahomet, that, in the sale of
captives, the mothers should never be separated from their children, may
suspend, or moderate, the censure of the historian.

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

The good sense of Mahomet 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. 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. Such were the calm and rational precepts of the legislator:
but in his private conduct, Mahomet indulged the appetites