of Moses, the mother of Jesus, and Fatima, the best beloved of his daughters. “Was she not old?” said Ayesha, with the insolence of a blooming beauty; “has not God given you a better in her place?” “No, by God,” said Mahomet, with an effusion of honest gratitude, “there never can be a better! She believed in me when men despised me; she relieved my wants, when I was poor and persecuted by the world.” 165 158 (return) [ For the domestic life of Mahomet, consult Gagnier, and the corresponding chapters of Abulfeda; for his diet, (tom. iii. p. 285-288;) his children, (p. 189, 289;) his wives, (p. 290-303;) his marriage with Zeineb, (tom. ii. p. 152-160;) his amour with Mary, (p. 303-309;) the false accusation of Ayesha, (p. 186-199.) The most original evidence of the three last transactions is contained in the xxivth, xxxiiid, and lxvith chapters of the Koran, with Sale’s Commentary. Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 80-90) and Maracci (Prodrom. Alcoran, part iv. p. 49-59) have maliciously exaggerated the frailties of Mahomet.] 159 (return) [ Incredibile est quo ardore apud eos in Venerem uterque solvitur sexus, (Ammian. Marcellin. l. xiv. c. 4.)] 160 (return) [ Sale (Preliminary Discourse, p. 133-137) has recapitulated the laws of marriage, divorce, &c.; and the curious reader of Selden’s Uror Hebraica will recognize many Jewish ordinances.] 161 (return) [ In a memorable case, the Caliph Omar decided that all presumptive evidence was of no avail; and that all the four witnesses must have actually seen stylum in pyxide, (Abulfedae Annales Moslemici, p. 71, vers. Reiske.)] 162 (return) [ Sibi robur ad generationem, quantum triginta viri habent, inesse jacteret: ita ut unica hora posset undecim foeminis satisfacere, ut ex Arabum libris refert Stus. Petrus Paschasius, c. 2., (Maracci, Prodromus Alcoran, p. iv. p. 55. See likewise Observations de Belon, l. iii. c. 10, fol. 179, recto.) Al Jannabi (Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 287) records his own testimony, that he surpassed all men in conjugal vigor; and Abulfeda mentions the exclamation of Ali, who washed the body after his death, “O propheta, certe penis tuus coelum versus erectus est,” in Vit. Mohammed, p. 140.] 163 (return) [ I borrow the style of a father of the church, (Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 108.)]