[Footnote 111: Before I enter on the history of the prophet,
it is incumbent on me to produce my evidence. The Latin,
French, and English versions of the Koran are preceded by
historical discourses, and the three translators, Maracci,
(tom. i. p. 10 - 32,) Savary, (tom. i. p. 1 - 248,) and
Sale, (Preliminary Discourse, p. 33 - 56,) had accurately
studied the language and character of their author. Two
professed Lives of Mahomet have been composed by Dr.
Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, seventh edition, London, 1718, in
octavo) and the count de Boulainvilliers, (Vie de Mahomed,
Londres, 1730, in octavo: ) but the adverse wish of finding
an impostor or a hero, has too often corrupted the learning
of the doctor and the ingenuity of the count. The article
in D'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orient. p. 598 - 603) is chiefly
drawn from Novairi and Mirkond; but the best and most
authentic of our guides is M. Gagnier, a Frenchman by birth,
and professor at Oxford of the Oriental tongues. In two
elaborate works, (Ismael Abulfeda de Vita et Rebus gestis
Mohammedis, &c. Latine vertit, Praefatione et Notis
illustravit Johannes Gagnier, Oxon. 1723, in folio. La Vie
de Mahomet traduite et compilee de l'Alcoran, des Traditions
Authentiques de la Sonna et des meilleurs Auteurs Arabes;
Amsterdam, 1748, 3 vols. in 12mo.,) he has interpreted,
illustrated, and supplied the Arabic text of Abulfeda and Al
Jannabi; the first, an enlightened prince who reigned at
Hamah, in Syria, A.D. 1310 - 1332, (see Gagnier Praefat. ad
Abulfed.;) the second, a credulous doctor, who visited Mecca
A.D. 1556. (D'Herbelot, p. 397. Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 209,
210.) These are my general vouchers, and the inquisitive
reader may follow the order of time, and the division of
chapters. Yet I must observe that both Abulfeda and Al
Jannabi are modern historians, and that they cannot appeal
to any writers of the first century of the Hegira. Note: A
new Life, by Dr. Weil, (Stuttgart. 1843,) has added some few
traditions unknown in Europe. Of Dr. Weil's Arabic
scholarship, which professes to correct many errors in
Gagnier, in Maracci, and in M. von Hammer, I am no judge.
But it is remarkable that he does not seem acquainted with
the passage of Tabari, translated by Colonel Vans Kennedy,
in the Bombay Transactions, (vol. iii.,) the earliest and
most important addition made to the traditionary Life of
Mahomet. I am inclined to think Colonel Vans Kennedy's
appreciation of the prophet's character, which may be
overlooked in a criticism on Voltaire's Mahomet, the most
just which I have ever read. The work of Dr. Weil appears
to me most valuable in its dissection and chronological view
of the Koran. - M. 1845]