Cyril, the version of Symmachus also rendered them. This translation of the passage removes all difficulty, and at once relieves the Sacred History of an extravagance, which, however it may suit the imagination of the poet, is inconsistent with all our notions, both philosophical and religious.

PAGE 8.

Transmit each moment, night and day,
The echo of His luminous word!

Dionysius (De Coelest. Hierarch.) is of opinion, that when Isaiah represents the Seraphim as crying out

66

one unto the other," his intention is to describe those communications of the Divine thought and will, which are continually passing from the higher orders of the angels to the lower :—οία και αυτές τις θεοτατες Σερα φιμ οἱ θεολογοι φασιν έτερον προς τον έτερον κεκραγέναι, σαφως εν τέτω, καθαπερ οιμαι, δηλωντες, ότι των θεολο γικών γνώσεων οἱ πρῶτοι τοις δευτεροις μεταδιδοασι. — See also, in the Paraphrase of Pachymer upon Dionysius,. cap. 2. rather a striking passage, in which he represents all living creatures as being, in a stronger or fainter degree, "echoes of God."

PAGE II.

One of earth's fairest womankind
Half veil'd from view, or rather shrined
In the clear crystal of a brook.

This is given upon the authority, or rather according to the fancy, of some of the Fathers who suppose that the women of earth were first seen by the angels in this

situation; and St. Basil has even made it the serious foundation of rather a rigorous rule for the toilette of his fair disciples; adding, ἱκανον γαρ εςι παραγυμνόμενον καλλος και υίες θες προς ήδονην γοητευσαι, και ὡς ανθρωπες διαταυτην αποθνήσκοντας, θνητες αποδείξαι. De Vera Virginitat. tom. i. p. 747. edit. Paris. 1618.

PAGE 15.

The Spirit of yon beauteous star.

It is the opinion of Kircher, Ricciolus, etc. (and was, I believe, to a certain degree, that of Origen) that the stars are moved and directed by intelligences or angels who preside over them. Among other passages from Scripture in support of this notion, they cite those words of the Book of Job, "When the morning stars sang together."-Upon which Kircher remarks, "Non de materialibus intelligitur." Itin. 1. Isagog. Astronom. See also Caryl's most wordy Commentary on the same

text.

PAGE 17.

And the bright Watchers near the throne.

"The Watchers, the offspring of Heaven."-Book of Enoch. In Daniel also the angels are called watchers :— "And behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from Heaven." iv. 13.

PAGE 19.

Then, too, that juice of earth, etc. etc.

For all that relates to the nature and attributes of angels, the time of their creation, the extent of their

knowledge, and the power which they possess, or can occasionally assume of performing such human functions as eating, drinking, etc. etc., I shall refer those who are inquisitive upon the subject to the following works: The Treatise upon the Celestial Hierarchy, written under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, in which, among much that is heavy and trifling, there are some sublime notions concerning the agency of these spiritual creatures-The Questions" de Cognitione Angelorum" of St. Thomas, where he examines most prolixly into such puzzling points as "whether angels illuminate each other," "whether they speak to each other," etc. etc.-The Thesaurus of Cocceius, containing extracts from almost every theologian that has written on the subject-The 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters, sixth book, of "l'Histoire des Juifs," where all the extraordinary reveries of the Rabbins* about angels and dæmons are enumerated-The Questions attributed

*The following may serve as specimens:-" Les Anges ne savent point la langue chaldaïque; c'est pourquoi ils ne portent point à Dieu les oraisons de ceux qui prient dans cette langue. Ils se trompent souvent; ils ont des erreurs dangereuses; car l'Ange de la mort, qui est chargé de faire mourir un homme, en prend quelquefois un autre, ce qui cause de grands désordres. Ils sont

chargés de chanter devant Dieu le cantique, Saint, Saint est le Dieu des armées; mais ils ne remplissent cet office qu'une fois le jour, dans une semaine, dans un mois, dans un an, dans un siècle, ou dans l'éternité. L'Ange qui luttoit contre Jacob le pressa de le laisser aller, lorsque l'Aurore parut, parce que c'étoit son tour de chanter le cantique ce jour-la, ce qu'il n'avoit encore jamais fait."

to St. Athanasius—The Treatise of Bonaventure upon the Wings of the Seraphim*—and, lastly, the ponderous folio of Suarez“ de. Angelis,” where the reader will find all that has ever been fancied or reasoned, upon a subject which only such writers could have contrived to render so dull.

PAGE 20.

Then first the fatal wine-cup rain’d, etc. Some of the circumstances of this story were suggested to me by the Eastern legend of the two angels, Harut and Marut, as it is given by Mariti, who

says,

that the author of the Taalim founds upon it the Mahometan prohibition of wine. The Bahardanush tells the story differently.

PAGE 20.

Why, why have hapless Angels eyes? Tertullian imagines that the words of St. Paul, “ Woman ought to have a veil on her head, t on account of the angels," have an evident reference to the fatal

а

* This work (which, notwithstanding its title, is, probably, quite as dull as the rest) I have not, myself, been able to see, having searched for it in vain through the King's Library al Paris, though assisted by the zeal and kindness of M. Langlés and M. Vonpradt, whose liberal administration of that most liberal establishment, entitles them - not only for the immediate effect of such conduct, but for the useful and civilizing example it holds forth to the most cordial gratitude of the whole literary world.

+ 1 Corinth. xi. 10. Dr. Macknight's Translation.

effects which the beauty of women once produced upon these spiritual beings. See the strange passage of this Father (de Virgin. Velandis), beginning “ Si enim propter angelos,” etc. where his editor Pamelius endeavours to save his morality at the expense of his Latinity, by substituting the word " excussat” for “excusat. Such instances of indecorum, however, are but too common throughout the Fathers, in proof of which I need only refer to some passages in the same writer's treatise, “ De Animâ,"—to the Second and Third Books of the Pædagogus of Clemens Alexandrinus, and to the instances which La Mothe le Vayer has adduced from Chrysostom in his Hexameron Rustique, Journée Seconde.

PAGE 25.
When Lucifer, in falling, bore

The third of the bright stars away. " And his tail drew the third part of the stars of Heaven, and did cast them to the earth.” Revelat. xii. 4.—“ Docent sancti (says Suarez) supremum angelum traxisse secum tertiam partem stellarum.” Lib. 7. cap. 7.

66

PAGE 25.
Rise, in earth's beauty, to repair

That loss of light and glory there! The idea of the Fathers was that the vacancies, occasioned in the different orders of angels by the fall, were to be filled up from the human race. There is, however, another opinion, backed by Papal authority, that it was only the tenth order of the Celestial Hierarchy that fell, and that, therefore, the promotions which