things: for he not only made them miserable in this world, but deprived them of the joys of paradise. He not only excluded them from that place, but he turned its joy into an occasion of sorrow; for it is pretended that he taught, that the pleasures of marriage which men shall enjoy after this life, shall be furnished them by virgins of a ravishing beauty, whom God creates in Heaven, and who are destined for them from all eternity; and as to women, that they shall not enter into paradise, nor approach nearer to it than is necessary to discover across the pallisadoes what shall be done there. Thus their eyes shall be witnesses of the happiness of men, and of the pleasure they shall take with these celestial maids. What can be imagined more grievous? Is not this to be ingenious in mortifying our neighbours? Lucretius tells us, that it is pleasant to see a shipwreck when it is not feared; but all things are quite contrary in Mahomet's system for women; the sight of a happiness of which they are deprived must needs afflict them, and it will be so much the more grievous to them, as well because it will discover the pleasures which another enjoys, as because they will see the happiness which they want; for the torment of jealousy proceeds not so much from the want of a thing, as from knowing that others enjoy it. I have heard many people say, and I think I have read it, that the damned shall have a very exact idea of the happiness of paradise, that so the knowledge of the great joys which they have missed, may augment their despair; and that the devil shall make use of this artifice to render them more miserable. This is to understand very well the way of heightening the pains of the miserable: and therefore we may say in a word, that Mahomet could not have discovered his cruelty more maliciously; for he would have women see at a distance, that which can only create unprofitable temptation, and insupportable grief.

However to declare the matter as it is indeed, I must acquaint you, that neither the Koran, nor learned Mahometans say, that the women are excluded from paradise; yet I thought I might relate what so many authors have asserted on the subject.

There is some occasion to wonder why the Mahommetan religion should be so unkind to the female sex, since it was founded by a man so excessively lascivious, and since his laws were deposited in the hands of a woman, and another was to give the interpretation of them as she pleased. We have already shown that Ayesha was looked upon as a prophetess and an oracle; and that she was indeed a pope among the Mahometans. Mr Herbelot relates, "that she had among them a very great authority, even in matters of doctrine and religion, and that they often had recourse to her to learn some tradition of Mahomet, and that she undertook to condemn the Caliph Othman for impiety." She might then have settled matters upon a footing very suitable to women. Whence then came it to pass, that she did not do it? Was she of the humour of certain women, who are the first and most fierce in defaming their own sex? May this be looked upon as a proof of that which is sometimes said, "that the authority of men is never greater than when a woman is seated on the throne, and that the authority of women is never greater than when the sceptre is in the hands of a man?" For my part, I know nothing of the matter; let speculative men exercise their wit as much as they please upon this question; but consider, I pray you, the influence of the fair sex upon the foundation of Mahomet, and how the passions of a woman very quickly spread in it the seeds of discord. Follow the tracks of Ali's schism, and you will find the lewdness of Ayesha whom he accused, to be the source of it; this woman never forgave him: she hindered him three times successively from arriving at the dignity of caliph, and after he had obtained it,

she made a league against him, and put herself at the head of 30,000 men. She lost the battle, and was taken, and sent back to Medina, where she died, and was buried near to Mahomet; but the league she had made to revenge the death of Othman, died not with her. Ali was at last killed upon this pretence, and thence arose a great schism, which still continues.

(Curious predictions of the fall of.)

There are several predictions extant, which have threatened Mahometanism a long while. Bibliander affirms," that there is a famous prophecy among the Mahometans, which strikes a great terror both into men and women, and which says, that the empire shall be destroyed by the sword of the Christians.' The prophecy is expressed in the following words, which are translated out of Persian into Latin by Georgievitz: our emperor shall come, shall take the kingdom of the Gentiles, shall take the red apple, shall subdue it even unto seven years; if the sword of the Gentiles shall not rise again, he shall reign over them twelve years, shall build a house, shall plant a vineyard, shall enclose gardens with a hedge, shall have a son and a daughter; after twelve years, the sword of the Christians shall rise up, which shall beat back the Turk." Sansovin published a book in 1570, wherein he affirms," that there is a prediction, that the laws of Mahomet shall last no longer than a thousand years, and that the empire of the Turks shall fall under the fifteenth sultan.' He adds, "that Leo the philosopher, emperor of Constantinople, has said, in one of his books, that a light-haired family, with its competitors, shall put all Mahometanism to flight, and shall seize him who is possessed of the seven mountains.' The same emperor makes mention of a column which was at Constantinople, whose inscriptions the patriarch of the place explained, and said that they signified," that the Venetians and Musco

vites shall take the city of Constantinople; and, after some disputes, they shall chuse with one consent, and crown a Christian emperor.

This light-haired family, so fatal to the Mussulmen, puts me in mind of a passage of Dr Spon, which I shall set down. "Of all the Christan princes, there is none, whom the Turk fears so much as the great Czar of Muscovy; and I have heard some Greeks say, and among the rest, the Sieur Manno-Mannea, a merchant of the city of Arta, a man of wit and learning for that country, that there was a prophecy among them, which imported, that the empire of the Turks was to be destroyed by a nation chrysogenos, that is, light-haired; which cannot be attributed to any but the Muscovites, who are almost all light-haired." There is mention made of this in the " Miscellaneous Thoughts upon Comets," on occasion of I know not what tradition which is current, "that the fates have promised the French the glory of destroying the Turks." The prophecy of the Abyssinians mentions only a Christian king, who shall be born in the north. "Mecca, Medina, and the other cities of Arabia Felix shall hereafter be destroyed, and the ashes of Mahomet and his priests be dissipated; and that some Christian prince, born in the northern regions, shall perform all this, who shall also seize on Egypt and Palestine." It is pretended, that a book was written in Arabic concerning this prophecy, before the taking of Damietta, and that this book was found by the Christians. Willichius relates, "that the Turks find in their annals, that the reign of Mahomet shall continue until the arrival of the light-haired boys; 'donec veniant figliuoli biondi, flavi et albi filii, vel filii ex Septentrione flavis et albis capillis.'" Some think that this denotes the Swedes; but Antony Torquato, a famous astrologer, applies it to the king of Hungary.

If we should ascribe all these prophetical threat

nings to one cause only, we should be mistaken. The desire some have to comfort themselves with the hopes of the destruction of a furious persecutor, makes them easily find this destruction in the predictions of Scripture, or in some other things. Thus, there are some who foretel through credulity and illusion. The desire of comforting people, and dissipating their fears, obliges some to suppose that the scripture, prodigies, and many other prognostics, promise the approaching ruin of the power which they now fear. Thus there are some who foretel things out of policy. Those who do it in order to render their troops more courageous, are prophets of the same kind. There are others who prophecy, in order to stir up insurrection in an enemy's country; for instance, to encourage the Greeks, who acknowledge the Grand Seignor for their prince, to take arms against their master.*.-Art. MAHOMET.

MARGARET OF NAVARRE.

Reflection on her religious liberality.

THE generosity wherewith queen Margaret protected several persons of merit, persecuted for the sake of religion, is highly to her honour. I do not examine whether Florimond de Remond has it from good authority, that she protested at her death, that what she had done for the followers of the new opinions, proceeded rather from compassion than from any ill will to the ancient religion of her fathers; but granting her protestation to be sincere, I maintain, there was something more heroical in her compassion and generosity, than there would have been, had she been persuaded that the fugitives she protected were orthodox. For a princess, or any other woman, to do good to those whom she takes to be the household of faith,

* These remarks, in reference to the Muscovites and the Greeks, are curious, looking to the present state of things in the same quarter of Europe.-ED.