LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 207 



years has here left a cloud of mystery to hang on 

 the life and actions of Mohammed. We merely 

 learn from Abulfeda, that God had inspired him with 

 a love of solitude and retirement ; and that every 

 year, for a month at a time, he withdrew to the cave 

 of Mount Hara, three miles from Mecca, where he 

 devoted himself to fasting:, prayer, and meditation. 

 This studied and sanctimonious austerity was no 

 doubt preparatory to his grand design. Retirement 

 is not only the school of genius, — it is the fitting 

 nursery of enthusiasm. The practice has been com- 

 mon in all countries. It is amid the solitudes of 

 gi-oves and grottoes, far removed from the bustle and 

 distractions of the world, that the mind of the vision- 

 ary finds its proper element : witness the converse 

 of Minos with Jove on Mount Ida, and the nightly 

 visits which Numa received from his fabled nymph 

 Egeria. The oracles or spiritual beings they consult 

 dwell not in cities or crowds, but among the echoes 

 of woods and rocks. The affected seclusion of the 

 Arabian impostor was conformable to that of other 

 enthusiasts. In the solemn obscurity of Hara he 

 laid the foundation of his future greatness ; for it 

 was in the silence of that retreat that he meditated 

 the scheme of his religion, perhaps the subjugation 

 of his country. 



It has been matter of controversy, whether in 

 these transactions Mohammed ought to be regarded 

 as a cunning knave or the dupe of enthusiasm. 

 The point is scarcely worth the disputing ; for no 

 imposture, civil or religious, was ever successful 

 without a mixture of both. Had the Arabian ad- 

 venturer been the mere dupe of a heated imagina- 

 tion, he might have continued to preach his doc- 

 trines with all the fervour of an apostle, among the 

 tribes of the desert or the tents of the pilgrims ; but 

 his piety would hardly have dreamed of cutting- its 

 way with a sword to a temporal throne. Fanaticism 

 was with him an earlier passion than ambition, and 



