But it is frequently
figurative, frequently poetical, sometimes sublime. And amidst
all its defects, it will remain the greatest of all monuments of
uncultivated and illiterate genius.
[Footnote A: "Abuleda, Chron. p. 27. Boulainvilliers, Vie de
Mahomet, b. ii. p. 175. This latter writer exhibits the singular
phenomenon of the native of a Christian country, unreasonably
prejudiced in favour of the Arabian impostor. That he did not
live, however, to finish his curious performance, is the
misfortune of the republic of letters." ]
"The plan was carefully reserved by Mahomet for the mature age
of forty years. Thus digested however, and communicated with the
nicest art and the most fervid eloquence, he had the
mortification to find his converts, at the end of three years,
amount to no more than forty persons. But the ardour of this
hero was invincible, and his success was finally adequate to his
wishes. Previous to the famous aera of his flight from Mecca, he
had taught his followers, that they had no defence against the
persecution of their enemies, but invincible patience. But the
opposition he encountered obliged him to change his maxims. He
now inculcated the duty of extirpating the enemies of God, and
held forth the powerful allurements of conquest and plunder.
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