_The Meteorology of Shakspeare._--A treatise might be written on
meteorology, and might be illustrated entirely by passages taken from the
writings of "the world's greatest poet." "N. & Q." may not be the fitting
medium for a lengthened treatise, but it is the most proper depository of a
few loose Notes on the subject. {337} Those who study Shakspeare should, to
understand him, thoroughly study Nature at the same time: but to our
meteorology. Recent observers have classified clouds as under:
______________________________________________________________
|Howard's Latin | Foster's English | Local Names. |
|Nomenclature. | Names. | |
|_______________|_____________________|______________________|
|Cumulus. | Stackencloud. | Woolbag. |
|Cirrus. | Curlcloud. | Goatshair, Grey |
|Stratus. | Fallcloud. | Marestails. |
|Nimbus. | Raincloud. | |
|_______________|_____________________|______________________|
There are composite forms of cloud, varieties of the above, which need not
be noticed here. The Cumulus is the parent cloud, and produces 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 surface 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 vapour
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 form.
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 Cumulus 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 admirably the raining Cumulus (Nimbus
cloud) is described in the same play:
"_Trinculo._ Here's neither bush[4] nor shrub, to bear off any weather
at all, and another storm brewing. I hear it sing i' the wind: yond'
same black cloud, yond' huge one, looks like a foul[5] bumbard that
would shed his liquor ...
... Yond' same cloud cannot choose but fall 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?"
"_Pol._ 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 upon't, that nod unto the world,
And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs:
They 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 passage 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 degrees 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 will 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 {338} passages in _Romeo and Juliet_? Much more might be
written on this subject.