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SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE
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. 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:
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:
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 passages in Romeo and Juliet? Much more might be written on this subject.
Robert Rawlinson.
At the Hull meeting of the British Association, Mr. Russell, farmer, Kilwhiss, Fife, read a paper on "The Action of the Winds which veer from the South-west to West, and North-west to North." This he wound up by a reference to Shakspeare, which may be worthy of noting:
"In concluding, I cannot help remarking that this circuit of the wind from SW. by W. to NW. or N., from our insular position, imparts to our climate its fickleness and inconstancy. How often will our brightest sky become suffused by the blackest vapours on the slightest breach of SW. wind, and the clouds will then disappear as speedily as they formed, when the NW. upper current forces their stratum of moist air to rise and mingle with the dryer current above. I do not know who first noticed and recorded this change of the wind from SW. to NW., but the regularity of the phenomenon must teach us that the law which it obeys is part of a grand system, and invites us to trace its action. I do not think it will be out of place to point out the fact that the great English poet seems to have been quite familiar with this feature of our weather, not only in its most striking manifestations in the autumn and winter months, to which he especially refers, but even in its more pleasant aspects of summer. Shakspeare likens the wind in this shifting to an individual who pays his addresses in succession to two fair ones—first he wooes the North, but in courting that frigid beauty a difference takes place, whereupon he turns his back upon her and courts the fair South. You will observe the lines are specially applied to the winter season—
'And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence,
Turning this face to the dew-dropping south.'
—I am not aware that the philosophic truth contained in these lines has ever before been pointed out. The beautiful lines which the poet, in his prodigality, put into the mouth of one of his gay frolicsome characters, the meaning of them he no doubt thought might have been understood by every one; but his commentators do not seem to have done so. In some editions turning his side has been put for face, which is feeble and unmeaning. And I do not think the recent emendation by Mr. Collier on the text is any improvement, where tide is substituted for face, which impairs both the beauty and harmony of the metaphor."
Anon.
A Word for "the Old Corrector."—Allow me, as an avowed enemy to "the Old Corrector's" novelties, render "the Great Unknown" one act of justice. I am convinced there are but two practically possible hypotheses, on which to account for the MS. emendations: either the emendations were for the most part made from some authoritative document, or they are parts of a modern fabrication. No third supposition can be reasonably maintained. Mr. Knight's view, for example, gives no account of the immense number of coincidences with the conjectural emendations of the commentators. Whichever of the two hypotheses be the true one, I need hardly say that Mr. Collier's name is a sufficient guarantee for all honorable dealing, so far as he is connected with the MS. corrections.
Permit me farther to do an act of justice to Mr. Collier himself. In my note on a passage in The Tempest, I stated that Mr. Collier had overlooked a parallel passage in Richard II. It was I who had overlooked Mr. Collier's supplemental note. However, I must add, that how Mr. Collier could persuade himself to print heat for "cheek," in his "monovolume edition," after he had seen the passage in Richard II., is utterly beyond my power of comprehension.
C. Mansfield Ingleby.
Birmingham.
Minor Notes
Injustice, its Origin.—In looking through a file of papers a few days since, I met with the following as being the origin of this term, and would ask if it is correct?
"When Nushervan the Just was out on a hunting excursion, his companions, on his becoming fatigued, recommended him to rest, while they should prepare him some food. There being no salt, a slave was dispatched to the nearest village to bring some. But as he was going, Nushervan said, 'Pay for the salt you take, in order that it may not become a custom to rob, and the village ruined.' They said, 'What harm will this little quantity do?' He replied, The origin of injustice in the world was at first small, but every one that came added to it, until it reached its present magnitude.'"
W. W.
Malta.
Two Brothers of the same Christian Name.—An instance of this occurs in the family of Croft of Croft Castle. William Croft, Esq., of Croft Castle, had issue Sir Richard Croft, Knight, his son and heir, the celebrated soldier in the wars of the Roses, and Richard Croft, Esq., second son, "who, by the description of Richard Croft the Younger, received a grant of lands" in 1461. (Retrospective Review, 2nd Series, vol. i. p. 472.)
Tewars.
Female Parish Clerk.—In the parish register of Totteridge appears the following:
"1802, March 2. Buried, Elizabeth King, widow, for forty-six years clerk of this parish, in the ninety-first year of her age."—Burn on Parish Registers, 110.
Is there any similar instance on record of a woman being a parish clerk?
Y. S. M.
Queries
DESCENDANTS OF MILTON
It is well known that the issue of the poet became extinct in 1754, unless they survived in the descendants of Caleb Clarke, the only son of Milton's third daughter, Deborah. Caleb Clarke went out to Madras, and was parish clerk at Fort St. George from 1717 to 1719. In addition to a daughter, who died in infancy, he had two sons, Abraham and Isaac; of neither of whom is anything known, except that the former married a person of the same surname as himself; and had a daughter Mary, baptised in 1727. Sir James Mackintosh made some ineffectual attempts to trace them, and came to the conclusion that they had migrated to some other part of India.
I am perhaps catching at a straw: but it is possible there may be something more than a coincidence in the name of Milton Clark, who is spoken of in the fourth chapter of the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin as brother to Lewis Clark, the original of the character of George Harris. Perhaps some of your transatlantic friends can inform us:
1st. Whether there is, or has been, in use any system of assigning names to slaves, which would account for their bearing the Christian and surname of their owners or other free men, and thus lead to the inference that there has been some free man of the name of Milton Clark.
2nd. Whether there is any family in America of the name of Clark, in which Milton, or even Abraham or Isaac, is known to have been adopted as a Christian name; and, if so, whether there is any tradition in the family of migration from India.
J. F. M.
AN ANXIOUS QUERY FROM THE HYMMALAYAS
I was honoured, a few days ago, with a communication from India, which contains a Query that is out of my power to answer. But being very solicitous to do my best towards affording the desired information, I bethought myself of sending the letter, in extenso, for insertion in your very valuable and exceedingly useful miscellany. I venture to think that you will agree with me, that the interesting nature of the communication entitles it to a place in "N. & Q." As the letter speaks for itself, I shall say no more about it, but proceed to transcribe the greatest part of it at once.
"Landour Academy, May 26th, 1853.
"Rev. M. Margoliouth,
"Sir,—I do not know in what terms to apologise to you for this communication, especially as it may entail trouble on you, which can result in my advantage alone.
"I am a Jew, believing that Jesus is the Messiah; and I trust this will induce you to assist me in my search after some of my relations whom I believe to be in England.
"I wrote to Dr. Adler, Chief Rabbi of the Jews in England, some years ago, but his information was limited to some distant connexions, the Davises, Isaacs, and Lewises, who still professed Judaism. Subsequent inquiries discovered two uncles of mine, Charles Lewes and Mordan Lewes, in London, who informed me that my grandfather, Isaac Levi, was for ten years a clergyman of the Church of England, and had congregation at Lynn, in Norfolk, and that he had published a tract against Judaism. Beyond this I can get no farther information: my uncles are either too poor or unwilling to prosecute their inquiries any farther. Could you ascertain for me whether my grandfather left any family, and if any member is still alive? My object is to discover their existence, and to renew a correspondence which has been interrupted for more than forty years.
"I am the grandson of Isaac Levi, for many years dead, reader of a congregation of Jews in London; my father, Benjamin Levi, is still alive, and is with me. I keep a school at Landour, in the Hymmalayas, in the north-western provinces of India. I have been led to write to you after reading your Pilgrimage to the Land of My Fathers, and seeing in it that you are the author of a work entitled The Jews in Great Britain, which I have not seen, and concluding from this that if any one can obtain information you can.
"I send this letter to Messrs. Smith and Elder, booksellers, of Cornhill, London, with a request to send it to you through your publisher, Mr. R. Bentley," &c. &c.
I do not feel justified in publishing the last two paragraphs in my correspondent's letter, and have therefore omitted them. I shall feel extremely obliged to any of the readers of "N. & Q." who could and would help me to answer the anxious Query from the Hymmalayas.
M. M.
Wybunbury, Nantwich.
Minor Queries
"De la Schola de Sclavoni."—On a large marble slab at North Stoneham, near Southampton, is the following, inscription:
Año Dni MCCCCLXXXI Sepvltvra de la Schola de Sclavoni."
Is this the burial-place of the family of one of the foreign merchants settled in this country, and can any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." give any information about it?
John S. Burn.
Mineral Acids.—As it is generally supposed that these powerful solvents were not known anterior to circiter A.D. 1100, I should be glad to learn what opinion is entertained by the learned concerning the death of the prophet Haken al Mokannah. This person is said to have disappeared in 785, or 163 of the Hejrah, by casting himself into a barrel of corrosive fluids, which dissolved his body. Is it not the best supposition, that this story was supposed by Khondemir and others, in more advanced ages of science, to account for the fact of his having disappeared, and of his real fate having never been ascertained? I have never seen this apparent anticipation of chemical discoveries animadverted on.
A. N.
Richard Geering.—Wanted, arms, pedigree, and particulars of the family of Richard Geering, one of the six clerks in Chancery in Ireland from March 1700 to April 1735. One of his daughters, Prudence, married, in 1722, Charles Coote, Esq., M.P., and by him was mother of the last Earl of Bellamont. Another daughter, Susannah, was wife of Mr. Charles Wilson; who was, it is believed, a connexion of the family of Ward of Newport, in Shropshire. Any information about Mr. Wilson's ancestry would be very acceptable.
Y. S. M.
Stipendiary Curates.—What is the earliest mention of stipendiary curates in our ecclesiastical establishment? And what other national churches have priests placed in a corresponding position?
Berosus.
Our Lady of Rounceval.—Can you or any of your correspondents furnish me with particulars of our Lady of Rounceval?
A. J. Dunkin.
Roden's Colt.—A lady of a certain age is said in common parlance to be "Forty, save one, the age of Roden's colt." What can Nimrod tell us touching this proverbialised animal?
R. C. Warde.
Kidderminster.
Sir Christopher Wren and the Young Carver.—A reader has a floating notion in his head of having once read in the Literary Gazette a strange story of a country boy going to town to seek employment as a carver or sculptor; of his being accosted by Sir Christopher Wren, and offering to carve for him a sow and pigs, &c. Can any correspondent have pity on him, and tell him where to find the tale?
A. H.
Vellum Cleaning.—Are there not preparations in use for cleaning the backs of old vellum-bound books without destroying the polish? How made, or where procurable?
J. F. M.
Dionysia in Bœotia.—Can any of your readers refer me to a passage in any ancient author in which this supposed town is mentioned?
Dumersan refers to Diodorus Siculus as his authority for its existence, but my search in that author has been vain, and I am not alone in that respect.
Augustus Langdon.
Bloomsbury.
Poll Tax in 1641.—I find in Somers' Tracts, 2nd ed. vol. iv. p. 298.:
"The copy of an order agreed upon in the House of Commons upon Friday, 18th June, wherein every man is rated according to his estate, for the king's use."
Is there on record the return made to this order; and where may it be consulted?
Tewars.
Thomas Chester, Bishop of Elphin, 1580.—This prelate, who was the second son of Sir William Chester, Kt., Lord Mayor of London in 1560, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Lovett, Esq., of Astwell in Northamptonshire, is said by Anthony à Wood (Athenaæ Oxon., ed. Bliss, vol. ii. p. 826.) to have "given way to fate at Killiathar in that city, in the month of June in 1584." The calendars of the Will Office of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury do not contain his name; can any of your Irish contributors inform me whether his will was proved in Ireland? I should be glad to know, too, what will offices exist in Ireland, and from what period they date their commencement. He is said to have married –, daughter of Sir James Clavering, Kt., of Axwell Park in Northumberland: does any pedigree of the Claverings supply this lady's Christian name? His eldest brother, William Chester, Esq., married his cousin-german Judith, daughter and co-heiress of Anthony Cave, Esq., of Chichley Hall, Bucks, and was ancestor to the extinct family of the baronets of that name and place. Bishop Chester died s. p.
Tewars.
Rev. Urban Vigors.—Amongst the chaplains of King Charles I., was there one of the name of Vigors, the Rev. Urban Vigors of Taunton? Any particulars of him will be acceptable.
Y. S. M.
Early English MSS.—What is the earliest document, of any historical import to this country, now existing in MS.?
T. Hughes.
Curing of Henry IV.—The best account of the curing of Hen. IV. from the leprosy: vide Lambard's Dictionary, p. 306.
A. J. Dunkin.
Standard of Weights and Measures.—I would gladly learn something of the system of weights and measures in other countries, and particularly whether in England and America there exists for this object any government inspection; and if so, how this is executed? A list of works on this subject would be most welcome. I am acquainted only with the works of Ravon, Fabrication des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1843, and of Tarbé, Poids, Mesures et Vérification, both found in the Encyclopédie Roret; and the Vollständige Darstellung des Masz- and Gewicht-Systems in Grossherzogthum Hessen, by F. W. Grimm, Darmstadt, 1840.—From the Navorscher.
Φ. Φ.
Parish Clerks' Company.—
"In making searches in registers of parishes within the bills of mortality, a facility is afforded by the company of parish clerks; by paying a fee of about two guineas, a circular is sent to all the parish clerks, with the particulars of information required: the registers are accordingly searched, and the result communicated to the clerk of the company."
The above I give from Burn's History of Parish Registers, p. 217. note, published in 1829. Is this the case at present and if so, what is the direction of the clerk of the Company? I wish this system existed in Oxford.
Y. S. M.
Orange Blossom.—Can any reader of "N. & Q." inform me why the flowers of the orange blossom are so universally used in the dress of a bride? and from what date they have been so used?
Augusta.
Mr. Pepys his Queries.—I cannot say that I met with Pepys as Fielding did Shakspeare, in a Journey from this World to the next; but I met with seven of his Queries among the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian, addressed to Sir William Dugdale, a name dear to all orthodox antiquaries. It would appear the Secretary to the Admiralty felt the want of a "medium of inter-communication" in his day. Here are his Queries:
1. Whether any foreigners are to be found in our list of English admirals?
2. The reason or account to be given of the place assigned to our admirals in the Act of Precedence?
3. Whether any of the considerable families of our nobility or gentry have been raised by the sea?
4. Some instances of the greatest ransoms heretofore set upon prisoners of greatest quality.
5. The descent and posterity of Sir Francis Drake; and what estate is now in the possession of any of his family derived from him.
6. Who Sir Anthony Ashby was?
7. What are and have been generally the professions, trades, or qualifications, civil or military, that have and do generally raise families in England to wealth and honour in Church and State?
J. Yeowell.
50. Burton Street.
Foreign Medical Education.—Can any contributor direct me to any sources of information on the regulations concerning medical instruction and medical degrees in the principal universities on the Continent?
Medicus.
