L. near the ruins of Cufa". Many thousands of CHA P. the Schiites repofe in holy ground at the feet of the vicar of God; and the defert is vivified by the numerous and annual vifits of the Persians, who esteem their devotion not lefs meritorious than the pilgrimage of Mecca. The perfecutors of Mahomet ufurped the inheritance of his children; and the champions of idolatry became the fupreme heads of his religion and empire. The oppofition of Abu Sophian had been fierce and obftinate; his converfion was tardy and reluctant; his new faith was fortified by neceffity and intereft; he ferved, he fought, perhaps he believed; and the fins of the time of ignorance were expiated by the recent merits of the family of Ommiyah. Moawiyah, the fon of Abu Sophian, and of the cruel Henda, was dignified in his early youth with the office or title of secretary of the prophet: the judgment of Omar entrusted him with the government of Syria; and he administered that important province above forty years either in a fubordinate or fupreme rank. Without renouncing the fame of valour and liberality, he affected the reputation of humanity and moderation: a grateful people was attached to their benefactor; and the victorious Moslems were enriched with the fpoils of Cyprus and Rhodes. The facred duty of pursuing the affaffins of Othman was the engine and pretence of 177 The city of Meshed Ali, five or fix miles from the ruins of Cufa, and ene hundred and twenty to the south of Bagdad, is of the fize and form of the modern Jerufalem. Mefhed Hofein, larger and more populous, is at the distance of thirty miles. Reign of Moawiyah, or 661 630. CHAP. his ambition. The bloody fhirt of the martyr L. Death of Hofein, was expofed in the mosch of Damafcus: the emir deplored the fate of his injured kinfman; and fixty thousand Syrians were engaged in his fervice by an oath of fidelity and revenge. Amrou, the conqueror of Egypt, himfelf an army, was the first who faluted the new monarch, and divulged the dangerous fecret, that the Arabian caliphs might be created elsewhere than in the city of the prophet 178 The policy of Moawiyah eluded the valour of his rival; and, after the death of Ali, he negotiated the abdication of his fon Haffan, whofe mind was either above or below the government of the world, and who retired without a figh from the palace of Cufa to an humble cell near the tomb of his grandfather. The afpiring wishes of the caliph were finally crowned by the important change of an elective to an hereditary kingdom. Some murmurs of freedom or fanaticifm attefted the reluctance of the Arabs, and four citizens of Medina refufed the oath of fidelity; but the defigns of Moawiyah were conducted with vigour and addrefs; and his fon Yezid, a feeble and diffolute youth, was proclaimed as the commander of the faithful and the fucceffor of the apostle of God. A familiar ftory is related of the benevolence of A. D. 680, one of the fons of Ali. In ferving at table, a flave had inadvertently dropt a difh of fcalding broth on his mafter the heedlefs wretch fell proftrate, to Oct. 10. 178 I borrow, on this occafion, the strong sense and expreffion of Tacitus (Hift. i. 4.): Evulgato imperii arcano poffe imperatorem alibi quam Romæ fieri. deprecate L.. deprecate his punishment, and repeated a verfe of CHAP the Koran; "Paradife is for those who command "their anger:"-" I am not angry:"-" and "for those who pardon offences:"-" I pardon “I your offence:"-" and for those who return "good for evil:"-" I give you your liberty, "and four hundred pieces of filver." With an equal measure of piety, Hofein, the younger brother of Haffan, inherited a remnant of his father's fpirit, and ferved with honour against the Chrif. tians in the fiege of Conftantinople. The primogeniture of the line of Hafhem, and the holy character of grandfon of the apoftle, had centered in his perfon, and he was at liberty to profecute his claim against Yezid the tyrant of Damascus, whofe vices he defpifed, and whofe title he had never deigned to acknowledge. A lift was fecretly tranfmitted from Cufa to Medina, of one hundred and forty thousand Moflems, who profeffed their attachment to his caufe, and who were eager to draw their fwords fo foon as he should appear on the banks of the Euphrates, Against the advice of his wifest friends, he refolved to truft his perfon and family in the hands of a perfidious people. He traverfed the defert of Arabia with a timorous retinue of women and children; but as he approached the confines of Irak, he was alarmed by the folitary or hoftile face of the country, and fufpected either the defection or ruin of his party. His fears were juft; Obeidollah, the governor of Cufa, had extinguifhed the firft fparks of an infurrection; and Hofein, in the plain of Kerbelâ, was encompaffed by a body of five thousand horfe, COHA P. who intercepted his communication with the city L. and the river. He might ftill have efcaped to a an example in the prophet." He preffed his friends to confult their fafety by a timely flight: they unanimously refused to defert or furvive their beloved master; and their courage was fortified by a fervent prayer and the affurance of paradife. On the morning of the fatal day, he mounted on horseback, with his fword in one hand and the Koran L. Koran in the other: his generous band of mar. CHA P. tyrs confifted only of thirty-two horfe and forty foot; but their flanks and rear were fecured by the tent-ropes, and by a deep trench which they had filled with lighted faggots, according to the practice of the Arabs. The enemy advanced with reluctance; and one of their chiefs deferted, with thirty followers, to claim the partnership of inevitable death. In every close onfet, or fingle combat, the despair of the Fatimites was invincible; but the furrounding multitudes galled them from a distance with a cloud of arrows, and the horses and men were fucceffively flain: a truce was allowed on both fides for the hour of prayer; and the battle at length expired by the death of the laft of the companions of Hofein. Alone, weary, and wounded, he feated himfelf at the door of his tent. As he tasted a drop of water, he was pierced in the mouth with a dart: and his fon and nephew, two beautiful youths, were killed in his arms. He lifted his hands to heaven, they were full of blood, and he uttered a funeral prayer for the living and the dead. In a tranfport of despair his fifter iffued from the tent, and adjured the general of the Cufians, that he would not fuffer Hofein to be murdered before his eyes: a tear trickled down his venerable beard; and the boldeft of his foldiers fell back on every fide as the dying hero threw himself among them. The remorseless Shamer, a name detefted by the faithful, reproached their cowardice; and the grandfon of Mahomet was flain with three and thirty ftrokes of lances and fwords. After they had trampled on |