Oct. 8. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



337 



Those who study Shakspeare should, to undei'- 

 stand him, thoroughly study Nature at the same 

 time : but to our meteorology. Recent observers 

 have classified clouds as under : 



There are composite forms of cloud, varieties of 

 the above, which need not be noticed here. The 

 Cumulus is the parent cloud, and pi'odiices every 

 other form of cloud known, or which can exist. 

 Mountain ranges and currents of air of unequal 

 temperatures may produce visible vapour, but not 

 true cloud. 



Cumulus. This cloud is always formed at " the 

 dew point." The vapour of the lower atmosphere, 

 at this elevation, is condensed, or rendered visible. 

 In fog the dew point is at the surftice of the earth ; 

 in summer it may be several thousands of feet 

 above. The Cumulus cloud forms from below. 

 The invisible vapour of the lower atmosphere is 

 condensed, parts with its thousand degrees of 

 latent heat, which rush upwards, forcing the va- 

 pour into the vast hemispherical heaps of snowy, 

 glittering clouds, which, seen in midday, appear 

 huge mountains of clouds ; the "cloud-land" of 

 the poet, floating in liquid air. The Cumulus 

 cloud is ever changing in foi'm. Cumulating 

 from a level base, the top is mounting higher and 

 higher, until the excessive moisture is precipitated 

 in heavy rain, hail, or thunder showers. 



The tops of the Cumulus, carried away by the 

 upper equatorial currents, form the Cirrus clouds, 

 which clouds must be frozen vapour, as they are 

 generally from twenty to thirty thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea. The base of the Cu- 

 mulus is probably never more, in England, than 

 five thousand feet high, rarely this. The Nimbus is 

 the Cumulus shedding its vapour in rain ; and the 

 Stratus is the partially exhausted and fading Nimbus. 



Poets in all ages have watched the clouds with 

 interest ; and Shakspeare has not only correctly 

 described them, but has, in metaphor, used them 

 in some of his sublimest passages. Ariel will 

 " ride on the curled clouds" to Prospero's "strong 

 bidding task ;" that is, ride on the highest Cirrus 

 cloud, in regions impassable to man. How admir- 

 ably the raining Cumulus (Nimbus cloud) is de- 

 scribed in the same play : 



" Trinculo. Here's neitlicr bush * nor shrub, to bear 

 oHT any weathe r at all, and another storm brewing. I 



* Bush, not brush, as misprinted in Knight's edition. 



hear It sing i' the wiud : yond' same black cloud, yond' 

 huge one, looks like a foul''' bumbard that would slied 

 his liquor .... 



• • • • Yond' same cloud cannot choose but fail 

 by pailfuls." 



Hamlet points to a changing Cumulus cloud, 

 when he says to Polonius, "Do you see that cloud, 

 that almost in shape like a camel ?" 



'• Fol. By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed. 

 Ham. Methinks it is like a weasel. 

 Pol. It is back'd like a weasel. 

 Ham. Or like a whale ? 

 Pol. Very like a whale." 



But the finest cloud passage in the whole range 

 of literature is contained in Antony and Cleopatra, 

 painting, as it does, the fallen and wasting state of 

 the emperor (Act IV. Sc. 12.) : 



" Ant. Eros, thou yet behold'st me ? 



Eros. Ay, noble lord ! 



Ant. Sometime we see a cloud that's dragonish: 

 A vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion, 

 A tower'd citadel, a pendant rock, 

 A forked mountain, or blue promontory 

 With trees npon't, that nod unto the world. 

 And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these 



signs : 

 Tliey are black vesper's pageants. 



Eros, Ay, my lord. 



Ant. That which is now a horse, even with a thought, 

 The rack dislimns ; and makes it indistinct, 

 As water is in water. 



Eros. It does, my lord. 



Ant, My good knave, Eros, now thy captain Is 

 Even such a body : here I am Antony ; 

 Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave." 



Those who wish to understand this sublime pas- 

 sage must watch a bank of Cumulus clouds at the 

 western sky on a summer's evening. The tops of 

 the clouds must not be more than five or ten de- 

 grees above the apparent horizon. There must 

 also be a clear space upwards, and the sun fairly 

 set to the last stages of twilight. It will then be 

 comprehended as to what is meant by "black 

 vesper's pageants," and Warton and Knight Avill 

 no more mislead by their note. It is only at 

 "black vespers " that such a pageant can be seen, 

 when the liberated heat of the Cumulus cloud is 

 forcing the vapour into the grand or fantastic 

 shapes indicated to the poet's eye and mind. 



How truly does Antony read his own condition 

 in the changing and perishable clouds. Shakspeare 

 names or alludes to the clouds in more than one 

 hundred passages, and the form of cloud is ever 

 correctly indicated. Who does not remember the 



* Foul. Surely this ought to he full. A foul bum- 

 hard might be empty. " Foulness" and " shedding his 

 liquor" are not necessarily contingent; but fulness 

 and overflowing are. A full vessel, shaken, cannot 

 choose " but shed his liquor," 



