* THE very artists have names like angels: Siorentino, Fra Angelico,

Melozzo da Forli, Ghirlandaio and a host of others. Celestial colours,

azure and gold, silver and white create realms of glory. Embroideries of

feathery wings, frescos with harps and trumpets, eighteenth-century

shepherdesses, garlands, lilies and cupids crowd into the pages of

Gilded Angels.

''Where the bright Seraphim in burning row, their loud up-lifted

angel-trumpets blow,'' wrote John Milton in 1633. Among further poetic

gems from Shakespeare, Longfellow and Byron nestle cut-put paper angels

and cherub mobiles to ding dong merrily on high.

Many an atheist or agnostic who thinks that angels are over the top

responds to the visual, musical and poetic celebration of the glittering

messengers. Gilded Angels (Letts, #6.95) is a Christmas present for

those who suspend disbelief, love colour, and appreciate artistic

interpretations of the denizens of the best of all possible heavens.