Ebook The Life of Mahomet From Original Sources

Eighteen years have passed since the last edition of this Book was sent to press. Having in that period studied much that bears on the subject, I have made free use of a New edition to introduce alterations wherever advisable, as well as to omit certain pas sages which unduly burdened the page, and in some instances may have embodied speculations at the best but conjectural. The original work was published in 1861 in four volumes, with profuse notes and references, also with introductory chapters on the Early History of Arabia' and an Essay on the 'sources for the Biography of Mahomet — the Coran and Tradition.' In the Second edition most of these were omitted, and the Essay was removed to the close of the Volume. But as the value of a history depends entirely on the credibility of the evidence on which it is based, I have placed the Essay on the subject at the be ginning of the present volume.