THE

Crockford.

LOVES OF THE ANGELS,

A Poem.

BY THOMAS MOORE.

It happened, after the sons of men had multiplied in
those days, that daughters were born to them elegant and
beautiful; and when the Angels, the sons of heaven, beheld
them, they became enamoured of them." The Book of
Enoch," chap. vii. sect. 2.

PHILADELPHIA:

PRINTED BY R. RHODES,

No. 6, Oak Street.

1823.

PREFACE.

THIS Poem, somewhat different in form, and much more limited in extent, was originally designed as an episode for a work, about which I have been, at intervals, employed during the last two years. Some months since, however, I found that my friend Lord Byron had, by accidental coincidence, chosen the same subject for a Drama; and, as I could not but feel the disadvantage of coming, after so formidable a rival, I thought it best to publish my humble sketch immediately, with such altera

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tions and additions as I had time to make, and thus, by an earlier appear" ance in the literary horizon, give myself the chance of what astronomers call an Heliacal rising, before the luminary, in whose light I was to be lost, should appear.

As objections may be made, by persons whose opinions I respect, to the selection of a subject of this nature from the Scripture, I think it right to remark that, in point of fact, the subject is not scriptural-the notion upon which it is founded (that of the love of Angels for women) having originated in an erroneous translation by the LXX. of that verse in the sixth chapter of Genesis, upon which the sole authority for the

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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 God, 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 the same moral interest to the following pages.