218 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 



miracles were more numerous than those of all the 

 inspired teachers who had gone before him. 



The first of these signal performances was the 

 miracle of the Splitting ; alluding to his cleaving the 

 orb of the moon in twain. The Koreish, wishmg 

 to confound him before the eyes of his fellow-citi- 

 zens, had challenged him to verify his clanns by 

 bringing that luminary from heaven in presence of 

 the whole assembly. INIohammed accepted the pro- 

 posal with confidence. At his command the sky 

 was darkened at noon ; when the obedient planet, 

 though but five days old, appeared full-orbed, leaped 

 from the firmament, and, bounding through the air, 

 alighted on the summit of the Kaaba, which it en- 

 circled by seven distinct revolutions. Turning to 

 the Prophet, it did him reverence, addressed him in 

 very elegant Arabic, and pronounced a discourse in 

 his praise, concluding with the formula of the Mos- 

 lem creed. These salutations finished, it entered 

 the right sleeve of his mantle, and made its exit by 

 the left. Then descending from the collar of his 

 robe to the fringe, it mounted into the air, sepa- 

 rating into two halves. In this manner it resumed 

 its station in the sky, the parts gradually miiting in 

 one round and luminous orb, as before. Such is 

 the substance of a ridiculous fiction invented by the 

 biographers of Mohammed, who have coloured it 

 with more extravagance and minuteness of detail 

 than we have ventured to narrate. 



The next legendary adventure of the Prophet is 

 yet more extraordinary— the Mesra, or famous noc- 

 turnal journey to heaven ; of which the Eastern 

 writers, in the wild dehrium of their fancy, have 

 given the most laboured and grotesque descriptions. 

 With subUme touches of imagination, that would 

 have done honour to the muse of Milton or Dante, 

 they have mixed a legion of idle phantoms and pue- 

 rile wonders too shocking and extravagant even for 

 the creduhty of childhood. 



