Rascally Conduct of the Prince of Nimbus.
The Prince of Nimbus, whose goodnature we have celebrated, was not good
for nothing. Having graciously permitted all the suitors of the Princess
Cirrha to go down to earth and labour for her hand, he took advantage of
their absence, and, having the coast clear, importuned the daughter of
King Cumulus with his own addresses. Cirrha was not disposed to listen
to them, but the rogue her father was ambitious. He desired to make a
good alliance, and that object was better gained by intermarriage with a
prince than with a subject. “There will be an uproar,” said the old man,
“when those fellows down below come back. They will look black and no
doubt storm a little, but we’ll have our royal marriage
notwithstanding.” So the Prince of Nimbus married Cirrha, and Nephelo
arrived at the court of King Cumulus one evening during the celebration
of the bridal feast. His wrath was seen on earth in many parts of
England in the shape of a great thunderstorm on the 16th of July. The
adventures of the other suitors, they being thus cheated of their
object, need not be detailed. As each returns he will be made acquainted
with the scandalous fraud practised by the Prince of Nimbus, and this
being the state of politics in Cloud-Land at the moment when we go to
press, we may fairly expect to witness five or six more thunderstorms
before next winter. Each suitor, as he returns and finds how shamefully
he has been cheated, will create a great disturbance; and no wonder.
Conduct so rascally as that of the Prince of Nimbus is enough to fill
the clouds with uproar.