to say, the proceeding does not seem to have seriously shaken the faith of any of his followers-least of all, of those who were most interested and injured. Judging Mahomet, then, according to his own principles, we find in him comparatively little to condemn. As in every one else, a few crimes and errors deface a generally noble career. He wrought a great reform, and that, on the whole, by what his fellows regarded as noble means. For a corrupt, debasing and sanguinary idolatry he substituted the worship of the one God and taught men that that one God was alike almighty and all-righteous. He gathered his people together into one nation and gave them civil and moral precepts imperfect, indeed, but far better than any that they had previously possessed. Their most revolting practices, as infanticide, he utterly abolished. Others, as title of wives or concubines. Any excess beyond this limit is strictly forbidden and severely punished. One can hardly blame a man who attempts a great reform because he does not attempt a still greater. But the reformer is of all men the most bound to observe his own laws. Had Mahomet practised polygamy all his days, and after the promulgation of his precepts sternly kept himself within his own limits, no man could have blamed him. But in Mahomet, living as he had previously lived, the practice of polygamy at all was a sad falling off. The man who could spend his youth apparently in perfect constancy, certainly in perfect harmony and affection, with the motherly Khadijah, really need not have set up a seraglio of youthful beauties in his own declining years. Still less should he have restricted others and absolved himself from his own restrictions, keeping other men to four and allow-polygamy and private revenge, he subjected ing unlimited numbers to himself. Least of all should he have produced divine revelations to justify in himself what was condemned even by the imperfect morals of his times. If I can believe that Mahomet ever stooped to conscious imposture, it certainly was in the cases of Zeinab, the wife of Zeyd, and of Mary the Egyptian. The beauty of Zeinab drew from Mahomet an expression of admiration. Her husband, Zeyd, divorced her. But by Arabian custom for a man to espouse the widow or divorced wife of his freedman was esteemed a species of incest. A new revelation obviated the difficulty. "Whatever thou hast said," replied Sheikh In this case the only thing that can be Maghareh, "respecting the former condition of urged in Mahomet's favor is the very monthe Arabs is true. Their food was green lizstrousness of the proceeding. The impos- ards; they buried their infant daughters alive ture, if an imposture, was almost too bare--nay, some of them feasted on dead carcases faced to be ventured upon. And, strange and drank blood, while others slew their rela to stringent regulations. In some respects, as the prohibition of wine, the character of his teaching was positively ascetic. To the world at large Mahomet has been of a truth. the Antichrist, the false prophet, the abomination of desolation, but to the Arab of the seventh century he was the greatest of benefactors. The reply of the Saracen envoy to the Persian king Yezdejird when he reproached the Arabs with their poverty and savage mode of life contains a grand summary of the immediate results of Mahomet's teaching. tions and thought themselves great and valiant | Compare Mahomet with the notorious imposwhen by such an act they became possessed of more property; they were clothed with hair garments, knew not good from evil, and made no distinction between that which is lawful and that which is unlawful. Such was our But God in his mercy has sent us, by a holy prophet, a sacred volume which teaches us the true faith." Pity indeed that so noble a discourse should thus continue: "By it we are commanded to bear with infidels and to exchange our poor and miserable condition for that of wealth and power.' state. But, after all, comes the great question, Was the man who effected in his own day so great a reform an impostor? Was his whole career one of sheer hypocrisy? Was his divine mission a mere invention of his own of whose falsehood he was conscious throughout? Such was the notion of the elder controversialists, like Prideaux, but to an unprejudiced observer it carries its confutation with it on the face of it. Surely nothing but a consciousness of really righteous intentions could have carried Mahomet so steadily and consistently, without ever flinching or wavering, without ever betraying himself to his most intimate companions, from his first revelation to Khadijah to his last agony in the arms of Ayesha. If the whole was imposture, it was an imposture utterly without parallel, from its extraordinary subtlety and the wonderful long-sightedness and constancy which one must attribute to its author. Whether persecuted or triumphant, whether in the hour of victory at Beder or in the hour of defeat at Ohud, whether corresponding with the kings of the earth or with rivals of his own people, his lofty spirit never deserted him for a moment. tors who appeared in imitation of him at the close of his career. Mahomet had no miracle but his Koran; Al Assouad, Tuleila and Moseilama deceived the senses of their followers by tricks of vulgar sleight-of-hand, while some of them relieved them from the heavy observances of prayer and fasting laid upon them by the ascetic of Mecca. Compare Moseilama and Mahomet. Compare their letters. "From Moseilama the Apostle of God to Mahomet the Apostle of God: Now let the earth be half mine and half thine." "From Mahomet the Apostle of God to Moseilama the Liar: The earth is God's; he giveth it for inheritance to such of his servants as he pleaseth, and the happy issue shall attend those that fear him." Surely in one we see the timid, bungling, doubting production of a conscious impostor, while the other displays the lofty confidence of one who fully believed in his own claims. Again, in the hour of death, amidst agony and delirium, not a word escapes him to betray any flaw or doubt in his pretensions. His last unconnected, half-inarticulate words still spoke of his hopes in Paradise, of his "fellow-citizens on high." Surely he was not playing the hypocrite at that awful moment. That Mahomet in his early career was actuated by the noblest intentions and that he fully believed in his own mission is, I think, perfectly evident. That prosperity corrupted him, though it did not wholly turn him astray, is, I think, no less evident. That confidence in his own teaching followed him to the last is equally so. But this is by no means inconsistent with some alloy of conscious imposture during the later and less noble portion of his career. This view has been adopted by many emiby many eminent writers who fully acquit him of all imposture at the beginning. That he fell off in many respects is clear; he may have even fallen so far as to put forth as divine revelations mere excuses for his own frailty or devices to obtain his own ends. Yet I would not willingly believe this. I would rather believe, as appears to have been the view of Dr. Möhler, that even where Mahomet most grievously erred he still never stooped to conscious forgery. Accustomed to regard all his impulses as arising from divine inspiration, he may, when one false step had permanently degraded him, have sincerely recognized a divine command in the mere impulses of his passions, or even in suggestions the reverse of divine. His moral sense was evidently obscured; he he may have been open to the charge of self-delusion; but I do not believe that at any moment he was the conscious deluder of others. Mahometanism is a national system which attempts to be universal, and which most grievously fails in the attempt. Its great rite is typical of this its aspect. Mahomet did not, or could not, rise above a local worship; he had, therefore, a holy place a place of pilgrimage. Sprung from the blood of the hereditary guardians of the Kaaba, it was the object of his life to restore that venerated temple to its true purpose, to expel the idols from the holy place of Abraham and Ishmael. His traditionary love so clung around it that he adopted from its local worship many grotesque and superstitious ceremonies which seem strangely at variance with the generally reasonable and decorous ritual of the Moslem. In an Arab, a son of Ishmael, all this was, if not rational, at least natural. But why should Persians, Moors, Turks and Indians, aliens from the stock of Abraham, be sent to worship at a shrine the whole of whose associations belong to another nation? Going on pilgrimage somewhere seems a natural impulse among men of all creeds, but why should any but Arabs compass the Kaaba of Abraham or reverence the holy well of Ishmael? To a devout Mahometan the tomb of Mahomet himself would seem the most natural object of pilgrimage. And so it is; to this day many of the Faithful from distant lands are not satisfied with the communication in the national worship of Arabia which their law requires, but follow a truer impulse in turning aside to pray at the tomb of the Prophet of their own faith. In one or two respects Mahometanism has actually appeared as a retrograde system, even among heathen nations. One cannot doubt that the doctrine of fatalism had a wonderful effect in animating the spirits of the first Saracens, but its ultimate effect has been pernicious to the last degree. When the first heat of enthusiasm is over, this same doctrine leads to quite opposite results. It becomes a mere excuse for stupid and listless idleness; submission to the divine will is held to render all human exertion superfluous. Nothing in the world is so energetic. as a Mahometan nation in its youth; nothing is so utterly feeble as a Mahometan nation in its old age. The religious and moral aspect of Mahomet is one of the most wonderful phenomena which history or moral philosophy can present. A man himself sincere and righteous, the greatest of reformers and benefactors to his own people, a preacher and legislator of truth and civilization, has eventually done more than any mortal man to hinder the progress alike of truth and of civilization. The religious reformer has checked the advance of Christianity; the political reformer has checked the advance of freedom, and, indeed, of organized government in any shape; the moral reformer has set his seal to the fearful evils of polygamy and sla very. Whether Mahomet be personally the Antichrist of Scripture I do not profess to determine, but I do know that his religion, approximating as it does so closely to Christianity without being Christian, has eventually proved, above all others, emphatically Antichristian. Such has been the fearful result of one, at most of two, false steps, in his personal history. A little more inquiry, and Mahomet might have proved a Christian missionary; and had he only abstained from attacking other nations, he might in any case have been honored as the benefactor of his own. As it is, from the Atlantic to the Ganges, the creed of Islam, engrafted on the old social and political system of the East, has proved the bitterest of all foes to Christian faith and Western law. No opposition, political or the ological, ever approached the bitterness which reigned for centuries between the champions of either faith, whether in the school of disputation or on the field of battle. No warfare has ever called forth such enthusiasm on either side as that in which the Cross and the Crescent have sunk and risen with the defeat and the triumph of the contending hosts. EDWARD A. FREEMAN, M. A. THE DILEMMA. JULIA, my love, as Alfred does not seem to be much of a wine-bibber, suppose you show him the improvements in the gardens and hothouses, whilst we sexagenarians remain where we are to drink to the health of both and talk over a few family matters." Alfred, thus called upon, could not avoid rising from his seat and offering Julia his She took it with a blush, and they walked off together in silence. arm. "How devotedly he loves me!" thought Julia, with a sigh. "No, no! I cannot break his heart.' "Poor girl!" thought Alfred, bringing one of the curls of his whiskers more killingly over his cheek; "her affections are irrevocably fixed upon me; the slightest attention calls to her face all the roses of Sharon." They proceeded down a long gravel-walk bordered on both sides with fragrant and flowery shrubs, but, except that the pebbles rubbed against each other as they passed over them, there was not a sound to be heard. Julia, however, was observed to hem twice, and we have been told that Fitzelarence coughed more than once. At length the lady stopped and plucked a rose; Fitzclarence stopped also, and plucked a lily. Julia smiled; so did Alfred. Julia's smile was chased away by a sigh; Alfred immediately sighed also. Checking himself, however, he saw the absolute necessity of commencing a conversation. "Miss Appleby!" said he at last. "It is two years, I think, since we parted." "Yes; two years on the fifteenth of this | ture, "lest you be transported for perjury. month." You are my own, my very best Alfred!" Alfred was silent. "How she adores me!" thought he; "she can tell to a moment how long it is since we last met." There was a pause. “You have seen, no doubt, a great deal since you left Malhamdale?" said Julia. "Oh, a very great deal," replied her lover. Miss Appleby hemmed once more, and then drew in a vast mouthful of courage: "I understand the ladies of England and Ireland are much more attractive than those of Wales." "Generally speaking, I believe they are. "Sir !" "That is, I mean- I beg your pardon. The truth is I should have said thatthat You have dropped your rose.' Fitzclarence stooped to pick it up, but in so doing the little miniature which he wore round his neck escaped from under his waistcoat, and, though he did not observe it, it was hanging conspicuous on his breast, like an order, when he presented the flower to Julia. "Good heavens, Fitzclarence! that is my WE cousin Rosalind." "Your cousin Rosalind! Where? How? The miniature! It is all over with me! The murder is out! Lord bless me, Julia! how pale you have grown! Yet hear me! Be comforted. I am a very wretch, but I shall be faithful. Do not turn away, love; do not weep. Julia, Julia, what is the matter with you? By Jove! she is in hysterics; she will go distracted. Julia, I will marry you, I swear to you by—” "Do not swear by anything at all," cried Julia, unable any longer to conceal her rap FROM THE GREEK OF THUCYDIDES. HEN the Lacedæmonians had heard the charges brought by the allies against the Athenians, and their rejoinder, they ordered everybody but themselves to withdraw, and deliberated alone. The majority were agreed that there was now a clear case against the Athenians, and that they must fight at once. But Archidamus, their king, who was held to be both an able and a prudent man, came forward and spoke as follows: "At my age, Lacedæmonians, I have had experience of many wars, and I see several of you who are as old as I am, and who will |