hammedans, are dictated by sound sense and amiable feelings. They are, however, not calculated to satisfy those who think the sword and the fagot to be the only proper instruments for the extirpation of heresy. That he places Islamism on an equality with Christianity is a gross falsehood. "As Mohammed," says he, "gave his Arabs the best religion he could, preferable, at least, to those of the ancient pagan lawgivers, I confess I cannot see why he deserves not equal respect, though not with Moses or Jesus Christ, whose laws came really from heaven, yet with Minos or Numa, notwithstanding the distinction of a learned writer, who seems to think it a greater crime to make use of an imposture to set up a new religion, founded on the acknowledgment of one true God, and to destroy idolatry, than to use the same means to gain reception to rules and regulations for the more orderly practice of heathenism already established." This, and no more, is "the very head and front of his offending; and from this it would, I think, be difficult to extract any proof of his belief in the divine mission of Mohammed. If the charge brought against him be not groundless, he must have added to his other sins that of being a consummate hypocrite, and that, too, without any obvious necessity; he having been, till the period of his decease, a member of the Society for the Promoting of Christian Knowledge. In 1736 a society was established for the encouragement of learning. It comprehended many noblemen, and some of the most eminent literary men of that day. Sale was one of the founders of it, and was appointed on the first committee. The meetings were held weekly, and the committee decided upon what works should be printed at the expense of the society, or with its assistance, and what should be the price of them. When the cost of printing was repaid, the property of the work reverted to the author. This establishment did not, I imagine, exist for any length of time. The attention of the public has been recently called to a plan of a similar kind. Sale did not long survive the carrying of this scheme into effect. He died of a fever, on the 13th of November, 1736, at his house in Surreystreet, Strand, after an illness of only eight days, and was buried at St. Clement Danes. He was under the age of forty when he was thus suddenly snatched from his family, which consisted of a wife and five children. Of his sons, one was educated at New College, Oxford, of which he became Fellow, and he was subsequently elected to a Fellowship in Winchester College. Sale is described as having had "a healthy constitution, and a communicative mind in a comely person." His library was valuable, and contained many rare and beautiful manuscripts in the Persian, Turkish, Arabic, and other languages; a circumstance which seems to show that poverty, so often the lot of men whose lives are devoted to literary pursuits, was not one of the evils with which he was compelled to encounter. R. A. DAVENPORT ADVERTISEMENT. THE present Edition of Sale's Translation of the Korân will, it is hoped, be found to possess some advantages over every other. Many useful notes, and several hundred various readings, are added from the French version by Savary. Of the various readings, the major part give a different meaning from that which is adopted by the English translator; while the others, though agreeing with his idea of the text, are more poetically expressed. Great care has been taken to prevent the work from being disfigured by typographical errors, which are peculiarly objectionable in a work of this kind, because they render it unsafe to be consulted. A Sketch of the Life of Sale is also prefixed, which, though brief, contains several particulars not hitherto stated by any of his biographers, and vindicates, and it is believed satisfactorily, his memory from some aspersions that have been illiberally cast upon it by the prejudiced or the ignorant. Sect. CONTENTS. A TABLE OF THE SECTIONS OF THE PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. Page 1 23 40 1. Of the Arabs before Mohammed; or, as they express it, in the Time of 2. Of the State of Christianity, particularly of the Eastern Churches, and of 3. Of the Korân itself, the Peculiarities of that book; the Manner of its 4. Of the Doctrines and positive precepts of the Korân which relate to Faith 7. Of the Months commanded by the Korân to be kept sacred; and of the 8. Of the principal Sects among the Mohammedans; and of those who have 50 87 94 105 • 107 -Intitled, The Declaration of Immunity (Conversion); containing 139 (130) verses 10.-Intitled, Jonas; containing 109 verses 33-Intitled, The Confederates (The Conspirators); containing 73 verses 341 37-Intitled, Those who rank themselves in Order (The Classes); containing 182 verses . 371 41.-Intitled, Are distinctly explained (The Explanation); containing 54 (55) verses 49-Intitled, The Inner Apartments (The Sanctuary); containing 18 verses 420 51-Intitled, The Dispersing (The Breath of the Winds); containing 60 verses 422 425 • The titles and figures within parentheses are those which are given in the translation by SAVARY. Chap. 53.-Intitled, The Star; containing 61 verses 58.-Intitled, She who disputed (The Complaint); containing 22 verses 63.-Intitled, The Hypocrites (The Impious); containing 11 verses. 65.-Intitled, Divorce; containing 12 verses 69.-Intitled, The Infallible (The Inevitable Day); containing 52 verses 68.-Intitled, The Pen; containing 52 verses 70.-Intitled, The Steps (The Classes or The Orders); containing 44 verses 71.-Intitled, Noah; containing 28 verses 76.-Intitled, Man; containing 31 (30) verses 72.-Intitled, The Genii; containing 28 verses 73.-Intitled, The Wrapped up (The Prophet clothed in his Dress); containing 19 (20) verses 77.-Intitled, Those which are sent (The Messengers); containing 50 verses 78.-Intitled, The News (The Important News); containing 40 (41) verses 79.-Intitled, Those who tear forth (The Ministers of Vengeance); containing 46 (47) verses 80.-Intitled, He frowned (The Frowning Brow); containing 42 verses 81.-Intitled, The Folding up (The Darkness); containing 29 (28) verses 82.-Intitled, The Cleaving asunder (The Breaking); containing 19 verses 83.-Intitled, Those who give short Measure or Weight (The Unjust Measure); containing 36 478 479 84.-Intitled, The Rending in sunder (The Opening); containing 23 (25) verses 85.-Intitled, The Celestial Signs; containing 22 verses 482 88.-Intitled, The Overwhelming (The Gloomy Veil); containing 26 (27) 86.-Intitled, The Star which appeared by Night (The Nocturnal Star); containing 17 verses 87.-Intitled, The Most High; containing 19 verses 93.-Intitled, The Brightness (The Sun in his Meridian); containing 11 verses 491 492 • 498 96.-Intitled, Congealed Blood (The Union of the Sexes); containing 19 verses 100.-Intitled, The War Horses which run swiftly (The Coursers); containing 11 verses 496 107.-Intitled, Necessaries (The Succouring Hand); containing 7 verses 112.-Intitled, The Declaration of God's Unity (Unity); containing 4 verses 113.-Intitled, The Day-break (The God of Morning); containing 5 verses 114.-Intitled, Men; containing 6 verses 498 . 499 499 501 501 502 |