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The earlier species of superstitious belief are now passed away, and the remembrance of them only serves to adorn poetic fiction. In eastern countries, where the imagination is more susceptible, men have yielded a religious faith to one, the rapid extension of whose tenets, though subsequent indeed to his death, was as astonishing as the boldness and effrontery of his attempt; which may be considered without a parallel in the annals of imposture.

Mahomet, the original contriver and founder of the false religion so extensively professed in the East, has always been designated, par excellence, “The Impostor.” He was born at Mecca, in the year of our Lord 571, of the tribe of the Koreshites, the noblest and most powerful in the country. In his youth he was employed by his uncle, a merchant, as a camel-driver; and, as a term of reproach, and proof of the lowness of his origin, his enemies used to call him “The Camel-driver.” When he was once in the market-place of Bostra with his camels, it is asserted, that he was recognised by a learned monk, called Bahira, as a prophet; the monk pretended to know him by a halo of divine light around his countenance, and he hailed him with joy and veneration.