fable rests. The foundation of my story, therefore, has as little to do with Holy Writ as have the dreams of the later Platomists, or the reveries of the Jewish divines; and, in appropriating the notion thus to the uses of poetry, I have done no more than eatablish it in that region of fiction, to which the opinions of the most rational Fathers, and. of all other Christian theologians, have long ago consigned it. In addition to the fitness of the subject for poetry, it struck me also as capable of affording an allegorical medium, through which might be shadowed out (as I have endeavoured to do in the following stories,) the fall of the Soul from its original purity-the loss of THE LOVES OF THE ANGELS. 'TWAS when the world was in its prime, Alas, that Passion should profane, Should fall on hearts of heavenly birth; And oh, that stain so dark should fall From Woman's love, most sad of all! B One evening, in that time of bloom, Three noble youths conversing lay; And, as they look'd, from time to time, To the far sky where Daylight furl'd His radiant wing, their brows sublime Bespoke them of that distant worldCreatures of light, such as still play, Like motes in sunshine, round the Lord, And through their infinite array Transmit each moment, night and day, The echo of His luminous word! Of Heaven they spoke, and, still more oft, Of the bright eyes that charm'd them thence; Till, yielding gradual to the soft For Woman's smile he lost the skies. The First who spoke was one, with look The least celestial of the three A Spirit of light mould, that took The prints of earth most yieldingly; Who, ev'n in heaven, was not of those Nearest the Throne, but held a place Far off, among those shining rows That circle out through endless space, And o'er whose wings the light from Him In the great centre falls most dim. Still fair and glorious, he but shone Sighing as through the shadowy Past FIRST ANGEL'S STORY. 'Twas in a land, that far away Oh beautiful, but fatal sight!— Which, while it hid no single gleam Pausing in wonder I look'd on, While playfully around her breaking |