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 Benab Hasche, or, Daughters of God.

THE LOVES OF THE ANGELS.

"T WAS when the world was in its prime,
When the fresh stars had just begun
Their race of glory, and young Time

Told his first birth-days by the sun;
When, in the light of Nature's dawn.
Rejoicing, men and angels met *
On the high hill and sunny lawn,-
Ere sorrow came, or Sin had drawn

'Twixt man and heaven her curtain yet!
When earth lay nearer to the skies

Than in these days of crime and woe,
And mortals saw, without suprise,
In the mid-air, angelic eyes

Gazing upon this world below.

Alas, that Passion should profane,

Ev'n then, the morning of the earth!

* The Mahometans believe, says D'Herbelot, that in that early period of the world, "les hommes n'eurent qu'une seule religion, et furent souvent visités des Anges, qui leur donnoient la main."

That, sadder still, the fatal stain

Should fall on hearts of heavenly birth -
And that from Woman's love should fall
So dark a stain, most sad of all!

One evening, in that primal hour,
On a hill's side, where hung the ray
Of sunset, brightening rill and bower,
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 world.
Spirits, who once, in brotherhood

Of faith and bliss, near ALLA stood,

And o'er whose cheeks full oft had blown

The wind that breathes from ALLA's throne,*
Creatures 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 charmed them thence;
Till yielding gradual to the soft

And balmy evening's influence

"To which will be joined the sound of the bells hanging on the trees, which will be put in motion by the wind proceeding from the Throne, so often as the Blessed wish for music."- See Sale's Koran, Prelim. Dissert.

The silent breathing of the flowers

The melting light that beam'd above,
As on their first, fond, erring hours,
Each told the story of his love,
The history of that hour unblest,
When, like a bird, from its high nest
Won down by fascinating eyes,

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 Heaven's centre falls most dim.

Still fair and glorious, he but shone

Among those youths the' unheavenliest one
A creature, to whom light remain'd
From Eden still, but alter'd, stain'd,

*The ancient Persians supposed that this Throne was placed in the Sun, and that through the stars were distributed the various classes of Angels that encircled it.

The Basilidians supposed that there were three hundred and sixty-five orders of angels, "dont la perfection alloit en décroissant, à mesure qu'ils s'éloignoient de la première classe d'esprits placés dans le premier ciel." See Dupuis, Orig. des Cultes, tom. ii. p. 112.