"derstand such mysteries as the loves of the "Angels,-at least they are mysteries to me. "Moore, too, is writing on the same text.

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Any thing that he writes must succeed. "

I told him that the laughter of the fiends in the Cave of Caucasus reminded me of the snoring of the Furies in the Eumenides' of Eschylus.

"I have never read any of his plays since I "left Harrow," said Lord Byron. "Shelley, "when I was in Switzerland, translated the "Prometheus' to me before I wrote my ode; "but I never open a Greek book. Shelley "tells me that the choruses in Heaven and "Earth' are deficient. He thinks that

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lyrical poetry should be metrically regular.

Surely this is not the case with the Greek "choruses that he makes such a fuss about.

"However, Hunt will be glad of it for his "new periodical work. I talked of writing "a second part to it; but it was only as "Coleridge promised a second part to "Christabel.' I will tell you how I had "an idea of finishing it:

"Let me see-where did I leave off? Oh, "with Azazael and Samiasa refusing to obey "the summons of Michael, and throwing off "their allegiance to Heaven. They rise into "the air with the two sisters, and leave this

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globe to a fate which, according to Cuvier, "it has often undergone, and will under

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go again. The appearance of the land "strangled by the ocean will serve by way of 66 scenery and decorations. The affectionate "tenderness of Adah for those from whom "she is parted, and for ever, and her fears "contrasting with the loftier spirit of Aholi

"bamah triumphing in the hopes of a new "and greater destiny, will make the dia

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logue. They in the mean time continue

"their aërial voyage, every where denied "admittance in those floating islands on the "sea of space, and driven back by guar"dian-spirits of the different planets, till "they are at length forced to alight on the

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only peak of the earth uncovered by wa

❝ter.

Here a parting takes place between "the lovers, which I shall make affecting

enough. The fallen angels are suddenly "called, and condemned,-their destination "and punishment unknown. The sisters "still cling to the rock, the waters mount"ing higher and higher. Now enter Ark. "The scene draws up, and discovers Japhet

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endeavouring to persuade the Patriarch, "with very strong arguments of love and "pity, to receive the sisters, or at least

VOL. I.

"Adah, on board. Adah joins in his en"treaties, and endeavours to cling to the "sides of the vessel. The proud and ،، haughty Aholibamah scorns to pray either "to God or man, and anticipates the grave "by plunging into the waters. Noah is still " inexorable. The surviving daughter of Cain "is momentarily in danger of perishing before "the eyes of the Arkites. Japhet is in

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despair. The last wave sweeps her from "the rock, and her lifeless corpse floats past "in all its beauty, whilst a sea-bird screams

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over it, and seems to be the spirit of her

angel lord.-I once thought of conveying "the lovers to the moon, or one of the

planets; but it is not easy for the ima

gination to make any unknown world more "beautiful than this; besides, I did not "think they would approve of the moon as 66 a residence. I remember what Fontenelle

"said of its having no atmosphere, and thè "dark spots being caverns where the in"habitants reside. There was another ob66 jection: all the human interest would "have been destroyed, which I have even "endeavoured to give my Angels. It was a very Irish kind of compliment Jeffrey

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paid to Moore's 'Lalla Rookh,' when he "said the loves were those of angels; mean"ing that they were like nothing on earth. "What will he say of The Loves of the

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6

Angels?'-that they are like (for he has "nothing left) nothing in Heaven?

"I wrote "The Prophecy of Dante' at "the suggestion of the Countess. I was at "that time paying my court to the Guic66 cioli, and addressed the dedicatory sonnet "to her. She had heard of my having writ"ten something about Tasso, and thought