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ten, and the adoption of the most eligible, has been a matter of perplexing deliberation. Upon consulting the Greek Byzantine historians, it appears that the same diversity of appellation which now prevails, has obtained for seven centuries. In some of them we meet with Maometis, from which comes our Mahomet, the most popular and familiar title to the English ear; and in others, Machomed. Other varieties among ancient authors might doubtless be specified. But it will be observed, for the most part, that writers acquainted with the Arabic tongue and who have drawn their materials directly from the original fountains, as well as the great body of recent Oriental travellers, are very unanimous in adopting the orthography of the name which appears in our title page. If the Arabic usage be in fact the proper standard, as will probably be admitted, Mohammed, instead of either Mahomet, Mahomed, or Mahommed, is the genuine form of the name, and the mode in which it should be uniformly written and pronounced. The fact, that the example of most Oriental scholars of the present day has given currency to this form, and the probability that it will finally supplant all others, has induced. us, on the whole, to adopt it, though with considerable hesitation.

The foliowing list of names and titles frequently occurring in connexion with the affairs of the East, together with their etymological import, will not be deemed inappropriate to the object of the present work.

MOHAMMED,
AHMED.

MOSLEM,

MUSSULMAN,

ISLAM,

ISLAMISM.

From HAMAD; praised, highly celebrated, illustrious, glorious.

All from the same root, ASLAM; signifying to yield up, dedicate, consecrate entirely to the service of religion.

KORAN.-From KARA, to read; the reading, legend, or that which ought to be read.

CALIPH.-A Successor; from the Hebrew CHALAPH; to be changed, to succeed, to pass round in a revolution.

SULTAN. Originally from the Chaldaic SOLTAN; signifying authority, dominion, principality.

VIZIER. An assistant.

HADJ.-Pilgrimage; HADJI; one who makes the pilgrimage to Mecca.

SARACEN.-Etymology doubtful; supposed to be from SARAK, to steal; a plunderer, a robber.

HEJIRA, The Flight; applied emphatically to Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina. See page 106.

or

HEJRA.

MUFTI. The principal head of the Mohammedan religion, and the resolver of all doubtful points of the law.-An office of great dignity in the Turkish empire.

IMAM. A kind of priest attached to the mosques, whose duty it is occasionally to expound

a passage of the Koran. They, at the same time, usually follow some more lucra tive employment.

MOOLLAH.-The Moollahs form what is called the Ulema, or body of doctors in theology and jurisprudence, who are entrusted with the guardianship of the laws of the empire, and from whose number the Mufti is chosen.

EMIR.-Lineal descendants of the Prophet himself, distinguished by wearing turbans of deep sea-green, the colour peculiar to all the race of Mohammed. They have special immunities on the score of their descent, and one of them carries the green standard of the Prophet when the Grand Seignior appears in any public solemnity. PASHA. The title given to the provincial governors. A Pasha is to a province or pashalic, what the Sultan is to the empire, except that the judicial power is in the hands of the cadis, the provincial magistrates. The tails of a Pasha are the standards which he is allowed to carry; one of three tails is one of three standards, which number gives the power of life and death.

REIS EFFENDI.-This officer may be termed the High Chancellor of the Ottoman empire.

1

He is at the head of a class of attorneys

which at this time contains the best informed

men of the nation.

SERAGLIO. This word is derived from Serai, a term of Persian origin, signifying a palace. It is therefore improperly used as synony mous with Harem, the apartments of the women. The Seraglio is, in strictness of speech, the place where the court of the Grand Seignior is held; but it so happens that at Constantinople this building includes the imperial Harem within its walls.

CRESCENT, The national ensign of the Turks, surmounting the domes and minarets at-tached to their mosques, as the Cross does the churches of the Roman Catholics in Christian countries. This peculiar and universal use of the Crescent is said to have owed its origin to the fact, that at the time of Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina the moon was new. Hence the half moon is commemorative of that event.

SUBLIME PORTE. This title, which is frequently applied to the court, cabinet, or executive department of the Ottoman empire, is derived, as the words import, from a lofty arched gateway of splendid construction, forming the principal entrance to the Seraglio or palace. It is a phrase equivalent to "Court of St. James," "Court of St. Cloud," &c.

As one grand object continually aimed at by the compiler of the ensuing pages has been to exhibit the Arabian prophet as a signal instrument in the hands of Providence, and to put the whole system of his imposture, with its causes, accompaniments, and effects, where it properly belongs, into the great scheme of the Divine administration of the world, it is hoped that the prophetic investigations of this subject in the Appendix will not be overlooked. The writer is disposed to lay a peculiar, perhaps an unreasonable, stress of estimation upon this portion of the work. Not that he deems the interpretation proposed as infallible, but he is in hopes that this essay towards a right explication may contribute somewhat to inspire a more general interest in this province of scriptural elucida tion, and thus to pave the way for the eventual correction of the errors of this and every preceding exposition. No one who admits the truth of revelation but will acknowledge that events, which are so overruled in the providence of God as to revolutionize a great portion of the civilized and Christian world, are important enough to claim a place in the prophetic developements of futurity; and if predicted, these predictions, when accomplished, are worthy of being explained. Otherwise, we willingly and culpably forego one of the main arguments in favour of the truth and divinity of the inspired oracles.

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