C A I, 



i all conspiring to produce a sensation of disgust and 

 L. / 1.' horror. His countenance, which was natural). 



pulsivc, was m th: improved by art, for we 



nl. I that he practised at his mirror all the frown* 

 and distortions of face which he deemed best calcula- 

 ted to inspire terror. He was not deficient cither in 

 t.ilents or education ; and would have made no con- 

 temptible figure as an orator ; but his chief attention 

 was directed to the acquisition of fame as a d. 

 musician, gladiator, and charioteer. Caprice and 

 cruelly, those constant attributes of tyranny, were 

 the most prominent features of this disposition, and, 

 combined with sensuality and cowardice, formed near- 

 ly the whole of his character. As Seneca justly ob- 

 serves, Calig'ila seems to have been produced by na- 

 ture for the purpose of shewing what mischief could 

 be accomplished by the greatest depravity, supported 

 by the greatest power. See tiuelonius. Universal 

 Hislora. Crevicr. (E) 



CALIPH, or KHALI i-', the title by which the 

 successors of Mahomet were distinguished. As the 

 history of the caliphs has already been given in its 

 proper place, (see ARABIA), all we propose at pre- 

 sent is to give a short sketch of their general charac- 

 ter, and of the nature of the office with which they 

 were invested. 



The immediate successors of the founder of a new 

 religion, and a new empire, widely extended, but not 

 yet fully confirmed, found themselves under the ne- 

 cessity of imitating the qualities, by which he had 

 succeeded in establishing his character as a prophet, 

 and his power as a sovereign. An affectation of en- 

 thusiastic devotion, and of rigid austerity, was essen- 

 tial to the impostor, who pretended an immediate 

 commission from heaven. The piety of Mahomet 

 was habitual and ardent ; his pretended intercourse 

 \vith the Almighty, frequent and ostentatious ; and, 

 except in one species of indulgence, which he granted 

 liberally to the faithful, and which formed the most 

 attractive allurement of his paradise, his temperance 

 and sobriety were singular and exemplary. In these 

 qualities he seemed even to be surpassed by the en- 

 thusiasm, the austerity, and the abstinence of the first 

 caliphs. All the time which they could spare from 

 the duties of royalty, was spent in prayer or in preach- 

 ing, before the sepulchre of the prophet. Abubeker, 

 on being elected to the caliphate, ordered his daugh 

 ter Ayesha to take a strict account of his private pa- 

 trimony, that it might be easily ascertained by his 

 subjects, how far he was enriched or impoverished 

 by hi* exalted office. He claimed, as his just n. ward 

 for the service of the state, an annual salary of three 

 pieces of gold, with the maintenance of a single ca- 

 mel, and a black slave ; but on ihe Friday of each 

 week he distributed the remainder of his private for- 

 tune, and the public treasure, amongst the most wor- 

 thy and the most indigent of the Moslems ; a course 

 garment, and five pieces of gold, were all the riches 

 he had to bequeath to his successor. The mortifica- 

 tions and the humility of Omar were still more rigid, 

 or more ostentatious than those of Abubeker. Bar- 

 ley bread, or dates, were his only food ; water was 

 his drink ; his gown was torn in twelve places ; and 

 a Persian satrap, who came to do him homage, found 



' A L 



him asleep among beggar* on the steps of the MOMJI 



of Medina. 



An uiurper, who, without any peculiar advantage* 

 of wealth or family, propose* to raite himself to ab> 

 boli.te power, must secure the aflection* and the coo. 

 iidutce of hit countrymen, by profuse liberality, in- 

 sinuating affability, and humble condescension. The 

 pretended apottle of Cod, satisfied with the power 

 of royalty, affected to disdain it pomp ; submitted 

 even to the menial offices of the family ; kindled the 

 fire ; milked the ewe* ; and mended with hi* own 

 hand* hi* shoe* and hi* garment*. Hi* faithful ad- 

 herents were rewarded by munificent present*; the 

 wavering were confirmed by *plrndid promises ; and 

 all his countrymen were gratified by the gracious 

 smile of the prophet, who imposed on them the yoke 

 of spiritual and temporal bondage. These popular 

 qualifications were cultivated with no less ati< ution 

 and effect by the earliest of his successors. Multi- 

 tudes were fed by the bounty of Abubeker, the mild- 

 ness and condescension of whose general demeanour 

 conciliated every heart. The manners of Omar were 

 equally modest and unassuming ; and his bounty, 

 like his treasures, was still more ample thau that of 

 his amiable predecessor. To Abbas, the uncle of 

 the pn phet. he assigned an allowance of twenty-five 

 thousand pieces of silver ; to each of the aged war- 

 riors, who survived the battle of Beder, he allotted 

 five thousand pieces ; and rewarded with an annual 

 pension of three thousand, the last and meanest of 

 the followers of Mahomet. 



To found a new dynasty among a people so enter- 

 prising and warlike as the Arabs, required the daz- 

 zling accomplishments of a hero, as weU as the sanctity 

 of a prophet, and the prudence and sagacity of a 

 statesman. The splendid victories of Mahomet were 

 continually add'ng credibility to his pretensions is 

 the messenger of G>d, commissioned to propagate the 

 true religion, by persuasion or by the sword ; to con- 

 vert or to exterminate the unbelieving nation* through- 

 out the world. His successors gloried in the distinc- 

 tion of being commanders of the faithful. The war- 

 like virtues of Abubeker, Omar, and Othman, had 

 been displayed under the banner* of the prophet ; and 

 the hope of dominion, or of paradise, made them 

 ready to encounter every peril in the propagation of 

 the faith. Omar, in his reign of ten years, reduced 

 thirty-six thousand cities, or strong holds, to his 

 obedience ; demolished four thousand churches or 

 temples of the infidels ; and erected fourteen hundred 

 mosques for the exercise of the Mahometan worship. 

 In one hundred years after the flight of Mahomet 

 from Mecca, the empire of his successors extended 

 from India to the Atlantic ocean, comprehending the 

 widely distant regions of Persia, Syria, Egypt, 

 frica, a:.d Spain. 



When the power of the caliph* was confirmed be- 

 yond the fear of revolution, they forgot the real or 

 affected virtues, which their predecessors had found 

 necessary to its acquisition. Their interest, indeed, 

 prevented any abatement of their zeal for the exten- 

 sion of Islamism : but the moderation, the affability, 

 the self-denial, even the courage by which the fiit 

 caliphs were distinguished, soon gave way to the love 



