First Sentence

"THE Arabians, who are also by the Greek, and in imitation of them, by Latin writers, called Saracens, are divided by their historians into three classes: 1. The primitive Arabians, who inhabited Arabia immediately after the flood: of whom nothing now remains but the names of their tribes, as Adites, Thamudites, &c. and some traditional stories of their punishment for not hearkening to the prophets sent to reclaim them; which stories, however fabulous, have not only served to furnish the Arabian poets with subjects and allusions, but are mentioned in a serious manner by Mohammed, in the Koran, in order to deter his followers from disbelieving his mission and rejecting his doctrine."