the secret
doubts of the wife of Mahomet. As if he had been a privy counsellor
of the prophet, Boulainvilliers (p. 272, &c.) unfolds the sublime and
patriotic views of Cadijah and the first disciples.]

[Footnote 113: Vezirus, portitor, bajulus, onus ferens; and this
plebeian name was transferred by an apt metaphor to the pillars of the
state, (Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. p. 19.) I endeavor to preserve the
Arabian idiom, as far as I can feel it myself in a Latin or French
translation.]

[Footnote 114: The passages of the Koran in behalf of toleration are
strong and numerous: c. 2, v. 257, c. 16, 129, c. 17, 54, c. 45, 15,
c. 50, 39, c. 88, 21, &c., with the notes of Maracci and Sale. This
character alone may generally decide the doubts of the learned, whether
a chapter was revealed at Mecca or Medina.]

[Footnote 115: See the Koran, (passim, and especially c. 7, p. 123, 124,
&c.,) and the tradition of the Arabs, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 35-37.)
The caverns of the tribe of Thamud, fit for men of the ordinary stature,
were shown in the midway between Medina and Damascus. (Abulfed Arabiae
Descript. p. 43, 44,) and may be probably ascribed to the Throglodytes
of the primitive world, (Michaelis, ad Lowth de Poesi Hebraeor. p.
131-134. Recherches sur les Egyptiens, tom. ii. p. 48, &c.)]

Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants.--Part V.

The people of Mecca were hardened in their unbelief by superstition and
envy. The elders of the city, the uncles of the prophet, affected to
despise the presumption of an orphan, the reformer of his country: the
pious orations of Mahomet in the Caaba were answered by the clamors of
Abu Taleb. "Citizens and pilgrims, listen not to the tempter, hearken
not to his impious novelties. Stand fast in the worship of Al Lata and
Al Uzzah." Yet the son of Abdallah was ever dear to the aged chief: and
he protected the fame and person of his nephew against the assaults of
the Koreishites, who had long been jealous of the preeminence of
the family of Hashem. Their malice was colored with the pretence of
religion: in the age of Job, the crime of impiety was punished by
the Arabian magistrate; [116] and Mahomet was guilty of deserting and
denying the national deities. But so loose was the policy of Mecca,
that the leaders of the Koreish, instead of accusing a criminal,
were compelled to employ the measures of persuasion or violence. They
repeatedly addressed Abu Taleb in the style of repr