The book is a moderate quarto, in Spanish, written in a very legible hand, but a little damaged towards the latter end. It contains two hundred and twenty-two chapters of unequal length, and four hundred and twenty pages; and is said, in the front, to be translated from the Italian, by an Arragonian Moslem, named Mostafa de Aranda. There is a preface prefixed to it, wherein the discoverer of the original MS., who was a Christian monk, called Fra Marino, tells us, that having accidentally met with a writing of Irenæus (among others), wherein he speaks against St. Paul, alleging, for his authority, the gospel of St. Barnabas, he became exceedingly desirous to find this gospel; and that God, of his mercy, having made him very intimate with Pope Sixtus V., one day, as they were together in that Pope's library, his holiness fell asleep, and he, to employ himself, reaching down a book to read, the first he laid his hand on proved to be the very gospel he wanted; overjoyed at the discovery, he scrupled not to hide his prize in his sleeve, and on the Pope's awaking took leave of him, carrying with him that celestial treasure, by reading of which he became a convert to Mohammedism.

This gospel of Barnabas contains a complete history of Jesus Christ from his birth to his ascension; and most of the circumstances of the four real gospels are to be found therein, but many of them turned, and some artfully enough, to favour the Mohammedan system. From the design of the whole, and the frequent interpolations of stories and passages wherein Mohammed is spoken of and foretold by name, as the messenger of GOD, and the great prophet who was to perfect the dispensation of Jesus, it appears to be a most barefaced forgery. One particular I observe therein induces me to believe it to have been dressed up by a renegade Christian, slightly instructed in his new religion, and not educated a Mohammedan (unless the fault be imputed to the Spanish, or perhaps the Italian translator, and not to the original compiler), I mean the giving to Mohammed the title of Messiah, and that not once or twice only, but in several places; whereas the title of the Messiah, or, as the Arabs write it, al Masîh, i. e. Christ, is appropriated to Jesus in the Korân, and is constantly applied by the Mohammedans to him, and never to their own prophet. The passages produced from the Italian MS. by M. de la Monnoye are to be seen in this Spanish version almost word for word.

But to return to the following work. Though I have freely censured the former translation of the Korân, I would not therefore be suspected of a design to make my own pass as free from faults: I am very sensible it is not; and I make no doubt but the few who are able to discern them, and know the difficulty of the undertaking, will give me fair quarter. I likewise flatter myself that they, and all considerate persons, will excuse the delay which has happened in the publication of this work, when they are informed that it was carried out at leisure times only, and amidst the necessary avocations of a troublesome profession.

A SKETCH

OF THE

LIFE OF GEORGE SALE.

Of the life of GEORGE SALE, a man of extensive learning, and considerable literary talent, very few particulars have been transmitted to us by his contemporaries. He is said to have been born in the county of Kent, and the time of his birth must have been not long previous to the close of the seventeenth century. His education he received at the King's School, Canterbury. Voltaire, who bestows high praise on the version of the Korân, asserts him to have spent five and twenty years in Arabia, and to have acquired in that country his profound knowledge of the Arabic language and customs. On what authority this is asserted, it would now be fruitless to endeavour to ascertain. But that the assertion is an erroneous one, there can be no reason to doubt; it being opposed by the stubborn evidence of dates and facts. It is almost certain that Sale was brought up to the law, and that he practised it for many years, if not till the end of his career. He is said, by a co-existing writer, to have quitted his legal pursuits, for the purpose of applying himself to the study of the eastern and other languages, both ancient and modern. His guide through the labyrinth of the oriental dialects was Mr. Dadichi, the king's interpreter. If it be true that he ever relinquished the practice of the law, it would appear that he must have resumed it before his decease; for, in his address to the reader, prefixed to the Korân, he pleads, as an apology for the delay which had occurred in publishing the volume, that

the work " was carried on at leisure times only, and amidst the necessary avocations of a troublesome profession." This alone would suffice to I show that Voltaire was in error. But to this must be added, that the existence of Sale was terminated at an early period, and that in at least his latter years, he was engaged in literary labours of no trifling magnitude. The story of his having, during a quarter of a century, resided in Arabia, becomes, therefore, an obvious impossibility, and must be dismissed to take its place among those fictions by which biography has often been encumbered and disgraced.

Among the few productions of which Sale is known to be the author, is a part of "The Genera' Dictionary," in ten volumes, folio. To the translation of Bayle, which is incorporated with this voluminous work, he is stated to have been a large contributor.

When the plan of the Universal History was arranged, Sale was one of those who were selected to carry it into execution. His coadjutors were Swinton, eminent as an antiquary, and remarkable for absence of mind; Shelvocke, originally a naval officer; the well-informed, intelligent, and laborious Campbell; that singular character, George Psalmanazar; and Archibald Bower, who afterwards became an object of unenviable notoriety. The portion of the history which was supplied by Sale comprises "The Introduction, containing the Cosmogony, or Creation of the World;" and the whole, or nearly the whole, of the succeeding chapter, which traces the narrative of events from the creation to the flood. In the performance of his task, he displays a thorough acquaintance with his subject; and his style, though not polished into elegance, is neat and perspicuous. In a French biographical dictionary, of anti-liberal principles, a writer accuses him of having adopted a system hostile to tradition and the scriptures, and composed his account of the Cosmogony with the view of giving currency to his heretical opinions. Either the accuser never read the article which he censures, or he has wilfully misrepresented it; for it affords the fullest contradiction to the charge, as does also the sequent chapter; and he must, therefore, be contented to choose between the demerit of being a slanderer through blundering and reckless 'gnorance, or through sheer malignity of heart.

1nough his share in these publications affords proof of the erudition and ability of Sale, it probably would not alone have been sufficient to preserve his name from oblivion. His claim to be remembered rests principally on his version of the Korân, which appeared in November, 1734, in a quarto volume, and was inscribed to Lord Carteret. The dedicator does not disgrace himself by descending to that fulsome adulatory style which was then too frequently employed in addressing the great. As a translator, he had the field almost entirely to himself; there being at that time no English translation of the Mohammedan civil and spiritual code, except a bad copy of the despicable one by Du Ryer. His performance was universally and justly approved of, still remains in repute, and is not likely to be superseded by any other of the kind. It may, perhaps, be regretted, that he did not preserve the division into verses, as Savary has since done, instead of connecting them into a continuous narrative. Some of the poetical spirit is unavoidably lost by the change. But this is all that can be objected to him. It is, I believe, admitted, that he is in no common degree faithful to his original; and his numerous notes, and Preliminary Discourse, manifest such a perfect knowledge of Eastern habits, manners, traditions, and laws, as could have been acquired only by an acute mind, capable of submitting to years of patient toil.

But, though his work passed safely through the ordeal of criticism, it has been made the pretext for a calumny against him. It has been declared, that he puts the Christian religion on the same footing with the Mohammedan; and some charitable persons have even supposed him to have been a disguised professor of the latter. The origin of this slander we may trace back to the strange obliquity of principles, and the blind merciless rage, which are characteristic of bigotry. Sale was not one of those who imagine that the end sanctifies the means, and that the best interests of mankind can be advanced by violence, by railing, or by deviating from the laws of truth, in order to blacken an adversary. He enters into the consideration of the character of Mohammed with a calm philosophic spirit; repeatedly censuring his imposture, touching upon his

subterfuges and inventions, but doing justice to him on those points on which the pretended prophet is really worthy of praise The rules which, in his address to the reader, he lays down for the conversion of Mohammedans, are dictated by sound sense and amiable feelings. They are, however, not calculated to satisfy those who think the sword and the faggot 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 law. givers, 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.