I found myself enabled, by that concentration of thought which retirement alone gives, to call up around me some of the sunniest of those Eastern scenes which have since been welcomed in India itself, as almost native to its elime.

But, abortive as had now been all my efforts to woo the shy spirit of Poesy, amidst such unquiet scenes, the course of reading I found time to pursue, on the subject of Egypt, was of no small service in storing my mind with the Various knowledge respecting that country, which some years later I turned to account, in writing the story of the Epicurean. The kind falities, indeed, towards this object, which sue of the most distinguished French scholars and artists afforded me, are still remembered by me with thankfulness. Besides my old acquaintance, Denon, whose drawings of Egypt, then of some value, I frequently consuited, I found Mons. Fourier and Mons. Langlès no less prompt in placing books at my disposal. With Humboldt, also, who was at that time in Paris, I had more than once some conversation on the subject of Egypt, and remember his expressing himself in no very laratory terms respecting the labours of the French savans in that country.

I had now been foiled and frustrated in two of those literary projects on which I had counted most sanguinely in the calculation of my rescarces; and, though I had found sufficient time to furnish my musical publisher with the Eighth Number of the Irish Melodies, and also 3 Number of the National Airs, these works alone, I knew, would yield but an insufficient supply, compared with the demands so closely and threateningly hanging over me. In this culty I called to mind a subject, the Eastern allegory of the Loves of the Angels, — on which I had, some years before, begun a prose story, but in which, as a theme for poetry, I had now been anticipated by Lord Byron, in one of the most sublime of his many poetical racles, “Heaven and Earth." Knowing how soon I should be lost in the shadow into which gigantic a precursor would cast me, I had endeavoured, by a speed of composition which must have astonished my habitually slow pen,

to get the start of my noble friend in the time of publication, and thus afforded myself the sole chance I could perhaps expect, under such unequal rivalry, of attracting to my work the attention of the public. In this humble speculation, however, I failed; for both works, if I recollect right, made their appearance at the same time.

In the meanwhile, the negotiation which had been entered into with the American claimants, for a reduction of the amount of their demands upon me, had continued to "drag its slow length along;" nor was it till the month of September, 1822, that, by a letter from the Messrs. Longman, I received the welcome intelligence that the terms offered, as our ultimatum, to the opposite party, had been at last accepted, and that I might now with safety return to England. I lost no time, of course, in availing myself of so welcome a privilege; and as all that remains now to be told of this trying episode in my past life may be comprised within a small compass, I shall trust to the patience of my readers for tolerating the recital.

On arriving in England I learned, for the first time, having been, till then, kept very much in darkness on the subject, that, after a long and frequently interrupted course of negotiation, the amount of the claims of the American merchants had been reduced to the sum of one thousand guineas, and that towards the payment of this the uncle of my deputy,— a rich London merchant,- had been brought, with some difficulty, to contribute three hundred pounds. I was likewise informed, that a very dear and distinguished friend of mine, to whom, by his own desire, the state of the negotiation was, from time to time, reported, had, upon finding that there appeared, at last, some chance of an arrangement, and learning also the amount of the advance made by my deputy's relative, immediately deposited in the hands of a banker the remaining portion (7507.) of the required sum, to be there in readiness for the final settlement of the demand.

Though still adhering to my original purpose of owing to my own exertions alone the means of relief from these difficulties, I yet felt a pleasure in allowing this thoughtful de

Though this effort of the poet's purse was but, as usual, a new launch into the Future,a new anticipation of yet unborn means, the result showed that at least in this instance, I had not counted on my bank "in nubibus" too sanguinely; for, on receiving my publishers' account, in the month of June following, I found 1000l. placed to my credit from the sale of the Loves of the Angels, and 500/. from the Fables of the Holy Alliance.

I must not omit to mention, that, among th resources at that time placed at my disposa was one small and sacred sum, which had bee set apart by its young possessor for some suc beneficent purpose. This fund, amounting t about 300l., arose from the proceeds of th sale of the first edition of a biographical work then recently published, which will long b memorable, as well from its own merits an subject, as from the lustre that has been sinc shed back upon it from the public career of in noble author. To a gift from such hand might well have been applied the words of Ovi

acceptissima semper

Munera sunt, auctor quæ pretiosa facit.

THE Eastern story of the angels Harut and Marut1, and the Rabbinical fictions of the loves of Uzziel and Shámchazai, are the only sources to which I need refer, for the origin of the notion on which this Romance is founded. 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 light and happiness which it suffers, in the pursuit of this world's perishable pleasures - and the punishments, both from conscience and Divine justice, with which impurity, pride, and presumptuous inquiry into the awful secrets of Heaven are sure to be visited. The beautiful story of Cupid and Psyche owes its chief charm to this sort of "veiled meaning," and it has been my wish (however I may have failed in the attempt) to communicate to the following pages the same moral interest.

Among the doctrines, or notions, derived by Plate from the East, one of the most natural and

1 See note on page 186.

2 Hyde, de Relig. Vet. Persarum, p. 272.

3 The account which Macrobius gives of the downward journey of the Soul, through that gate or the zodiac which opens into the lower spheres, is a curious specimen of the wild fancies passed for philosophy in ancient times.

* In Somn. Scipionis, cap. 12.

sublime is that which inculcates the pre-existenc of the soul, and its gradual descent into this dar material world, from that region of spirit and ligh which it is supposed to have once inhabited, an to which, after a long lapse of purification ac trial, it will return. This belief, under variou symbolical forms, may be traced through almos all the Oriental theologies. The Chaldeans repre sent the Soul as originally endowed with wings which fall away when it sinks from its nativ element, and must be reproduced before it ca hope to return. Some disciples of Zoroaster ons inquired of him, "How the wings of the Sou might be made to grow again?"-"By sprinklin them," he replied, “with the Waters of Life.""But where are those Waters to be found?" the asked. "In the Garden of God," replied Zord aster.

The mythology of the Persians has allegorise the same doctrine, in the history of those genii light who strayed from their dwellings in the star and obscured their original nature by mixtur with this material sphere; while the Egyptian

In the system of Manes, the luminous or spiritual priteis owes its corruption not to any evil tendency of its own, but to violent inroad of the spirits of darkness, who, finding themselves the neighbourhood of this pure light, and becoming passionate enamoured of its beauty, break the boundaries between them, a take forcible possession of it.

+ See a Treatise "De la Religion des Perses," by the Ab Foucher, Mémoires de l'Académie, tom. xxxi. p. 456.

enecting it with the descent and ascent of the sun in the zodiac, considered Autumn as emblemare of the Soul's decline towards darkness, and the re-appearance of Spring as its return to life and light.

Besides the chief spirits of the Mahometan heaven, such as Gabriel, the angel of Revelations, Israfil, by whom the last trumpet is to be sounded, and Azrael, the angel of death, there were also a rumber of subaltern intelligences, of which tradition has preserved the names, appointed to preside over the different stages, or ascents, into which the celestial world was supposed to be vided. Thus Kelail governs the fifth heaven; while Sadiel, the presiding spirit of the third, is employed in steadying the motions of the earth, which would be in a constant state of actation, if this angel did not keep his foot planted apa its orb.

Among other miraculous interpositions in favour of Mahomet, we find commemorated in the pages of the Koran the appearance of five thousand anyls on his side at the battle of Bedr.

The ancient Persians supposed that Ormuzd❘ pointed thirty angels to preside successively over the days of the month, and twelve greater opes to assume the government of the months emselves; among whom Bahman (to whom Oruzd committed the custody of all animals, except man,) was the greatest. Mihr, the angel

1* We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and placed therein a guard of angels."— Koran, chap. xli.

See D'Herbelot, passim.

of the 7th month, was also the spirit that watched over the affairs of friendship and love; - Chûr had the care of the disk of the sun; - Mah was agent for the concerns of the moon ; - Isphandrmaz (whom Cazvin calls the Spirit of the Earth) was the tutelar genius of good and virtuous women, &c. &c. &c. For all this the reader may consult the 19th and 20th chapters of Hyde de Relig. Vet. Persarum, where the names and attributes of these daily and monthly angels are with much minuteness and erudition explained. It appears. from the Zend-avesta, that the Persians had a certain office or prayer for every day of the month (addressed to the particular angel who presided over it), which they called the Sirouzé. The Celestial Hierarchy of the Syrians, as described by Kircher, appears to be the most regularly graduated of any of these systems. In the sphere of the Moon they placed the angels, in that of Mercury the archangels, Venus and the Sun contained the Principalities and the Powers; —and so on to the summit of the planetary system, where in the sphere of Saturn, the Thrones had their station. Above this was the habitation of the Cherubim in the sphere of the fixed stars; and still higher, in the region of those stars which are so distant as to be imperceptible, the Seraphim, we are told, the most perfect of all celestial creatures, dwelt.

The Sabeans also (as D'Herbelot tells us) had their classes of angels, to whom they prayed as mediators, or intercessors; and the Arabians worshipped female angels, whom they called Benad Hasche, or, Daughters of God.

Where Nature knows not night's delay,
But springs to meet her bridegroom, Day,
Upon the threshold of the skies.
One morn, on earthly mission sent,1

And mid-way choosing where to light,
I saw, from the blue element-

Oh beautiful, but fatal sight!
One of earth's fairest womankind,
Half veil'd from view, or rather shrin'd
In the clear crystal of a brook;

Which, while it hid no single gleam
Of her young beauties, made them look
More spirit-like, as they might seem
Through the dim shadowing of a dream.
Pansing in wonder I look'd on,

While, playfully around her breaking
The waters, that like diamonds shone,

She mov'd in light of her own making.
At length, as from that airy height
I gently lower'd my breathless flight,
The tremble of my wings all o'er

(For through each plume I felt the thrill)
Startled her, as she reach'd the shore

Of that small lake-her mirror still-
Above whose brink she stood, like snow
When rosy with a sunset glow.
Never shall I forget those eyes!-
The shame, the innocent surprise
Of that bright face, when in the air
Uplooking, she beheld me there.
It seem'd as if each thought, and look,
And motion, were that minute chain'd
Fast to the spot, such root she took,
And

like a sunflower by a brook,
With face upturn'd—so still remain’d!

In pity to the wond'ring maid,

Though loth from such a vision turning,
Downward I bent, beneath the shade

Of my spread wings to hide the burning
Of glances, which--I well could feel-
For me, for her, too warmly shone;
But, ere I could again unseal
My restless eyes, or even steal

One sidelong look, the maid was gone-
Hid from me in the forest leaves,

Sadden as when, in all her charms
Of full-blown light, some cloud receives
The Moon into his dusky arms.

Tis not in words to tell the pow'r,
The despotism that, from that hour,

It appears that, in most languages, the term employed for an angel means also a messenger. Firischteh, the Persian word for

is derived (says D'Herbelot) from the verb Firischtin, to send. The Hebrew term, too, Melak, has the same signification.

? The name given by the Mahometans to the infernal regions, over which, they say, the angel Tabhek presides.

By the seven gates of hell, mentione 1 in the Koran, the commentators understand seven different departments or wards, in which

Passion held o'er me. Day and night
I sought around each neighbouring spot;
And, in the chase of this sweet light,

My task, and heav'n, and all forgot; -
All, but the one, sole, haunting dream
Of her I saw in that bright stream.

Nor was it long, ere by her side

I found myself, whole happy days, List'ning to words, whose music vied

With our own Eden's seraph lays, When seraph lays are warm'd by love, But, wanting that far, far above!And looking into eyes where, blue And beautiful, like skies seen through The sleeping wave, for me there shone A heaven, more worshipp'd than my own. Oh what, while I could hear and see Such words and looks, was heav'n to me? Though gross the air on earth I drew, 'Twas blessed, while she breath'd it too; Though dark the flow'rs, though dim the sky, Love lent them light, while she was nigh. Throughout creation I but knew Two separate worlds-the one, that small, Belov'd, and consecrated spot Where LEA was- the other, all

The dull, wide waste, where she was not! But vain my suit, my madness vain; Though gladly, from her eyes to gain One earthly look, one stray desire, I would have torn the wings, that hung Furl'd at my back, and o'er the Fire In GEHIM's pit their fragments flung;"Twas hopeless all-pure and unmov'd She stood, as lilies in the light

--

Of the hot noon but look more white; And though she lov'd me, deeply lov'd, 'Twas not as man, as mortal-no, Nothing of earth was in that glowShe lov'd me but as one, of race Angelic, from that radiant place She saw so oft in dreams-that Heaven,

To which her prayers at morn were sent, And on whose light she gaz'd at even, Wishing for wings, that she might go Out of this shadowy world below, To that free, glorious element!

Well I remember by her side Sitting at rosy even-tide,

seven different sorts of sinners are to be punished. The first, called Gehennem, is for sinful Mussulmans; the second, Ladha, for Christian offenders; the third, Hothama, is appointed for Jews; and the fourth and fifth, called Sair and Sacar, are destined to receive the Sabeans and the worshippers of fire: in the sixth, named Gehim, those pagans and idolaters who admit a plurality of gods are placed; while into the abyss of the seventh, called Derk Asfal, or the Deepest, the hypocritical canters of all religions are thrown.