them of paradise was to be taken, not literally, but in a metaphorical sense (as it is said the Magians do the description of Zoroaster's2), this might, perhaps make some atonement; but the contrary is so evident from the whole tenour of the Korân, that although some 4 Nishmat hayim, f. 32. 5 Midrash, Tehillim, fl. II. 6 Sadder, porta 5. 7 Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 265. 8 Rev. xxi. 10, &c., and xxii. I, 2. 9 Luke xxii. 29, 30, &c. 10 I would not, however, undertake to defend all the Christian writers in this particular; witness that one passage of Irenæus, wherein he introduces a tradition of St. John that our LORD should say, "The days shall come, in which there shall be vines, which shall have each ten thousand branches, and every of those branches shall have ten thousand lesser branches, and every of these branches shall have ten thousand twigs, and every one of these twigs shall have ten thousand clusters of grapes, and in every one of these clusters there shall be ten thousand grapes, and every one of these grapes being pressed shall yield two hundred and seventy-five gallons of wine; and when a man shall take hold of one of these sacred bunches, another bunch shall cry out, I am a better bunch: take me, and bless the LORD by me," &c. Iren. l. 5, c. 33. 11 Matth. xxii. 30. 1 Vide Rabelais, Pantagr. l. 5, c. 7. A better authority than this might, however, be alleged in favour of Mohammed's judgment in this respect; I mean that of Plato, who is said to have proposed, in his ideal commonwealth, as the reward of valiant men and consummate soldiers, the kisses of boys and beauteous damsels. Vide Gell. Noct. Att. l. 18, c. 2. 2 Vide Hyde. de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 266.