their habits and their feelings; but this great revolution was reserved for another and a later period. [1] In confirmation of this pithy sentence of Schlegel's, I may cite a remarkable passage from the celebrated Lessing, which, as coming from an Infidel, may perhaps have more weight with the Unitarian. "If Christ," he says, "is not truly God, then Mohammedanism was an undoubted improvement on the Christian religion: Mahomet, on such a supposition, would indisputably have been a greater man than Christ, as he would have been far more veracious, more circumspect, and more zealous for the honour of God, since Christ, by his expressions, would have given dangerous occasion for idolatry; while, on the other hand, not a single expression of the kind can be laid to the charge of Mahomet."--_Lessing's Beiträge zur Geschichte und Litteratur._ Vol. II. p. 410.--_Trans._ [2] By this expression, Schlegel does not mean to question the supernatural agency that produced those obstacles.--_Trans_ [3] From the Latin word _Pagus_, a rural district. END OF LECTURE X. LECTURE XI. Of the ancient Germans, and of the invasion of the Northern tribes.--The march of Nature in the historical development of Nations.--Further diffusion and internal consolidation of Christianity.--Great corruption of the world.--Rise of Mahometanism.