article of the creed of Mahomet, is that there is no other God but one, which they have from the Koran." The Mahometans call their religion Islam, denoting resignation or submission to the will of God. The Koran is held in great veneration by the Mahometans, they swear by it, and always take it with them on celebrated occasions. The words Al-Koran signify-the reading.

The best description I can find of the pretended Paradise of Mahomet I shall give with great curtailment. "As plenty of water is one of the greatest additions to the pleasantry of any place, the Koran often speaks of the rivers of Paradise, some of these rivers they say flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey, all taking their rise from the root of the tree Tuba (or the tree of happiness.) The tree of Tuba is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in one hundred years. But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing girls of Paradise called from their large black eyes Shur-al-oyan, the enjoyment of whose company will be the principal felicity of the faithful. They are created not of clay but of musk-being, as their prophet often affirms in the Koran, free from all defects,

they are of the strictest modesty, and secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow-pearls so large that (as some traditions have it) one of them will be sixty miles long, by sixty broad." I need not dwell longer on this piece of absurdity. I have merely extracted this short account to give an idea of the Mahometan Paradise. It may be as well to observe in conclusion that Friday is the day of Mahometan public worship and that they have two annual feasts named Beiram. Burton observes that" they look for their prophet Mahomet as Jews do for their Messiah, they fast a month together sometimes, and must not eat a bit till the sun be set."

Such then is a slight sketch of the Mahometan religion and its founder, extracted from the best authors, the perusal of which I trust will be interesting to those who have never read about the subject.

The historical works on which I have made drafts are chiefly Elphinstone's History of India, Dow's History of Hindostan, Anquetil's Universal History, Readings in Biography, Keightley's Outlines of History, Gibbon, and the old edition of Chambers' Encyclopædia, in the latter of which the whole account of Mahomet and his religion, is a compilation from Sale's Koran, Mo

sheim's Ecclesiastical History and other useful works. My reason for compiling this tedious essay is to prepare the reader for the next paper, for without some description of the subject, it could not be properly understood.

POLYPHILUS.

Thursday, February 22,1844,

No. 24.

The Vision of Mahomet.

"When the organs of sense want their due repose and necessary reparations, and the body is no longer able to keep pace with that spiritual substance to which it is united, the soul exerts herself in her several faculties, and continues in action till her partner is again qualified to bear her company. In this case, dreams look like the relaxations and amusements of the soul, when she is disincumbered of her machine, her sports, and recreations, when she has laid her charge asleep."

ADDISON ON DREAMS.

"And coming events cast their shadows before."

CAMPBELL.

1

On a green meadow nigh a rivulet,

The future prophet of Arabia slept,

The golden west proclaimed the sun was set,
And wandering Arabs now dead silence kept :

2

"Hail! weary man, that shalt be more than king
Hark to my words most mighty Mahomet!
With thy great fame sweet Araby shall ring
Thy sun of splendour has not risen yet."

3

Who's this, the future prophet, wond'ring cries
Whose sweet voice utters forth prognostic joy?
He stares around, when lo! before his eyes
A nymph, who in the stream, was listening by

:

4

Beside her stood sweet black-eyed girls with flowers Which shed their fragrance, round the liquid queen; Attendants; always partners of those bowers Where deigned to dwell, her, ne'er by mortal seen.

5

They boast the eyes of gentle Arab maids
Daughters of nature and of solitude,

In them he views the Houris of these shades,
On which none dare save Islam e'er intrude.

6

Lady I thank thee! ere the words he gave,
The prophet wond'ring, finds himself alone;
For underneath the dark blue limpid wave
Has fled this phantom, this unearthly one.

7

He wakes, and from the summit of a hill
The propbet smiles o'er Felix: all around
Sweet Nature green, the evening calm and still
Save in the distance, some wild Magian sound.

8

'Tis fond idolaters, their gods adoring Dark to the light of pure devotion sway While the wild eagle of the desert soaring

Shrieks loud to shame, their wild idolatry.