uty with our ideas of angels, their
employments are dissimilar; and, as they have no place in heaven, their
abode is different. Neither do they resemble those intelligences, whom,
on account of their wisdom, the Platonists denominated Daemons; nor
do they correspond either to the guardian Genii of the Romans, or the
celestial virgins of paradise, whom the Arabs denominate Houri. But the
Peris hover in the balmy clouds, live in the colours of the rainbow,
and, as the exquisite purity of their nature rejects all nourishment
grosser than the odours of flowers, they subsist by inhaling the
fragrance of the jessamine and rose. Though their existence is not
commensurate with the bounds of human life, they are not exempted from
the common fate of mortals.--With the Peris, in Persian mythology, are
contrasted the Dives, a race of beings, who differ from them in sex,
appearance, and disposition. These are represented as of the male sex,
cruel, wicked, and of the most hideous aspect; or, as they are described
by Mr Finch, "with ugly shapes, long horns, staring eyes, shaggy hair,
great fangs, ugly paws, long tails, with such horrible difformity and
deformity, that I wonder the poor women are not frightened therewith."
Though they live very long, their lives are limited, and they are
obnoxious to the blows of a human foe. From the malignancy of their
nature, they not only wage war with mankind, but persecute the Peris
with unremitting ferocity. Such are the brilliant and fanciful colours
in which the imaginations of the Persian poets have depicted the
charming race of the Peris; and, if we consider the romantic gallantry
of the knights of chivalry, and of the crusaders, it will not appear
improbable, that their charms might occasionally fascinate the fervid
imagination of an amorous troubadour. But, further; the intercourse of
France and Italy with the Moors of Spain, and the prevalence of the
Arabic, as the language of science in the dark ages, facilitated the
introduction of their mythology amongst the nations of the west. Hence,
the romances of France, of Spain, and of Italy, unite in describing the
Fairy as an inferior spirit, in a beautiful female form, possessing many
of the amiable qualities of the eastern Peri. Nay, it seems sufficiently
clear, that the romancers borrowed from the Arabs, not merely the
general idea concerning those spirits, but even the names of individuals
amongst them. The Peri, _Mergian Banou_ (see _Herbel