never to have hesitated to garble facts, or to blend maxims of wisdom and holiness with scenes and descriptions congenial only with such lustful imaginations as his own.

CHAPTER II.

THE KORAN.

THE second chapter of the Koran bears the title of "The Cow," and a more extraordinary example of the inimitable character of the book there cannot be. It appears to combine the most sovereign contempt for those to whom it is addressed with an utter disregard of truth. If it kept a little closer to the Pentateuch, it might be looked upon as an unsuccessful attempt to travesty parts of the Old Testament; but it is too grotesque to admit even of such a supposition. The Koran is, in fact, a labyrinth to which Mohammed is the only clue.

The title of "The Cow" was given, we are told, by Mr. Sale, to this chapter, on account of the story it contains about a red heifer,* which story is as follows:

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And when Moses said unto his people, Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow; they answered, Dost thou make a jest of us? Moses said, God forbid

* The epithet, in the original, is yellow; but has been thus changed, Mr. Sale says, to conform with our usage in speaking of the colour of cattle.

that I should be one of the foolish. They said, Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would show us what cow it is. Moses answered, He saith, she is neither an old cow, nor a young heifer, but of a middle age between both; do ye therefore that which ye are commanded. They said, Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would show us what colour she is of. Moses answered, He saith, she is a red cow, intensely red, her colour rejoiceth the beholders. They said, Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would further show us what cow it is, for several cows with us are like one another, and we, if God please, will be directed. Moses answered, He saith, she is a cow not broken to plough the earth, or water the field, a sound one, there is no blemish in her. They said, Now hast thou brought the truth. Then they sacrificed her; yet they wanted but little of leaving it undone. And when ye slew a man, and contended among yourselves concerning him, God brought forth to light that which ye concealed. For we said, Strike the dead body with part of the sacrificed cow; so God raiseth the dead to life, and sheweth you his signs, that peradventure ye may understand. Then were your hearts hardened after this, even as stones, or exceeding them in hardness; for from some stones have rivers bursted forth, others have been rent in sunder, and water hath issued from them, and others have fallen down for fear of God. But God is not regardless of what

ye

do." *

*Sale's Koran, 4to. ch. 2. p. 18.

Now it is not very clear what is meant, in the above extract, by the words "yet they wanted but little of leaving it undone." This, however, Mr. Sale undertakes to account for by "the exorbitant price which," he says, "they were obliged to pay for the heifer "—and so delighted does he always seem with his task of commentator, that he has subjoined the following version of the whole story; which may serve as a sample of that ingenious and industrious gentleman's mode of illuminating the dark parts of the grossest imposture that was ever palmed upon the

world :

"A certain man at his death left his son, then a child, a cow-calf, which wandered in the desert till he came to age; at which time his mother told him the heifer was his, and bid him fetch her, and sell her for three pieces of gold. When the young man came to the market with his heifer, an angel in the shape of a man accosted him, and bid him six pieces of gold for her; but he would not take the money till he had asked his mother's consent, which when he had obtained, he returned to the market-place, and met the angel, who now offered him twice as much for the heifer, provided he would say nothing of it to his mother; but the young man, refusing, went and acquainted her with the additional offer. The woman perceiving it was an angel, bid her son go back, and ask him what was to be done with the heifer; where

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upon the angel told the young man, that in a little time, the children of Israel would buy that heifer of him at any price. And soon after it happened that an Israelite, named Hammiel, was killed by a relation of his, who, to prevent discovery, conveyed the body to a place considerably distant from that where the fact was committed. The friends of the slain man accused some other persons of the murder before Moses; but they denying the fact, and there being no evidence to convict them, God commanded a cow, of such and such particular marks, to be killed; but there being no other which answered the description except the orphan's heifer, they were obliged to buy her for as much gold as her hide would hold; according to some, for her full weight in gold; and as others say, for ten times as much. This heifer they sacrificed; and the dead body, being by divine direction struck with a part of it, revived, and, standing up, named the person who had killed him; after which it immediately fell down dead again. The whole story seems to be borrowed from the red heifer, which was ordered by the Jewish law to be burnt, and the ashes kept for purifying those who happened to touch a dead corpse."* Borrowed with a vengeance! might it not rather be said "stolen and murdered?" a compliment which my old master, Dr. Cardew, used often to pay the exercises

*Numb. xix. Consult rather, Deut. xxi. Where a heifer is directed to be slain for the expiation of an uncertain murder.