nal; 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.

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 woolen 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 fire 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
offense; 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 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,