We come next to the BIOGRAPHERS. In many respects Sprenger does them justice; although we shall find, upon the whole, that he entertains a strong prejudice against the class. 

We have already seen that, not being bound by the stringent rules of the Sunna, the Biographers have preserved to us interesting narratives and valuable clues to truth, which the professional Collector cast aside because they did not answer to the technical requirements of traditionary evidence, or square with his own theological notions. Another distinguishing feature of their writings is, that they often supply us with a connected narrative, to produce which the traditions forming it are fused into one another, and the authorities for the whole given at the beginning of the story. This, however, is not always the case; the greater part of Wâckidi, for example, is composed of separate traditions each with its separate string of authorities, and with the same formalities as in the regular collections. 

Some of these consolidated narratives take the form of an Episode or Romance; and Sprenger, though perhaps pushing his theory too far, has given us an ingenious clue to their origin. It is the practice of the Moslem world, during the first ten days of Rabî I. (the month in which Mahomet was born) for the faithful to meet in their family circles, and listen to recitals of his birth, miracles, and death. In opulent houses there is often retained for the purpose a professional Bard, who repeats his story from memory, or extemporises it in the style of the ancient rhapsodists. To aid the reciter, we have a mass of popular works, the most noted being that of Bakry (A.H. 763). They are called Moulûd Sharîf ("The Ennobled Nativity"); one of these, written in the Urdoo language, was reviewed in this periodical.¹ They are filled with childish tales, and resemble fiction so much more than history, that, as remarked even by a Mahometan writer, they abound with names of persons, places, kings, and kingdoms, which never existed. We do not know when such annual recitations commenced; but we are assured by Kazrûni that the festival of the birth of Mahomet has been celebrated from the earliest times. Now, if we compare, for instance, the narrative of the Prophet's