CHAPTERVIII.Section 51.THE Perspective of the Clouds was entirely new; and remarkable both for Beauty and Grandeur.The lowest Bed of Vapour thatfirstput on the Appearance of Cloud was ofa pure white; in detached Fleeces; encreasing as they rose. They presently coalesced, and were aggrandized intoa Seaof Cotton, but morewhite; anddazling: tufted here and there by the light Play of Air, and gentle Breezes in every Direction: but where undisturbed, the Whole became anextended Firmament orwhiteFloor of thin Cloud, thro’ whose Intervals the Sun must shine with fiercer Gleam. The upper Surface was quite even: not blended with the Air above, but defined and separated with the utmost Exactness; being condensed by the Coolness, and checked in their Ascent, by the Levity of the superior Regions.Thro’ thiswhiteFloor uprose in splendid Majesty and awful Grandeur, at great and unequal Distances, a vast Assemblage ofThunder-Clouds: each Congeries consisting of whole Acres in the densest Form.Circular Boundary of thecelestialProspect from the Balloonabovethe clouds.52. Their conglomerate and fringed Tops rising, at different Distances, in circular Order, one above the other, to the Number ofthirty: till they became imperceptible from their remote Situation: the Eye commanding an Extent of 102 Miles.[18]Their Form was, as if Pieces of Ordnance were discharged perpendicularly upwards into the Air: and that the Smoke had consolidated, at the Instant of Explosion, into Masses of Snow or Hail: had penetrated thro’ the upper Surface orwhiteFloor of common Clouds, and there remained visible, and at Rest.Some indeed had not wholly lost their Motion: continuing still to be lifted up. Others ponderous and sleepy, nodded, by mere Weight, their monstrous Heads. It seemed as if they had persisted in mounting upwards, till they coud rise no higher: their lower Parts pressing perpendicularlyagainst the upper, which gradually swelled them out onall Sides. By partial and temporary Movements ofthe Air, some broadunwieldyCaps lost theverticalDirection of their Columns. The Columns likewise underwent a similar and gradual Change: rolling from their Pedestals or spiral Bases; and, at Times, assumingevery organized Shapethat Fancy coud suggest.Opinion of Philosophers.53. The imperceptibly slow yet perpetual Changes they underwent, strongly called to Remembrance, theOpinion of the great Berkeley,[19]as well as of the ancient Philosophers, that AIR GIVES FORM TO THINGS: scarcely a Breath of which seemed, however, to disturb their general Order.The Constitution of these enormous Masses was such as to reflectsomeof the Sun’s Rays, and to transmitothersin a Variety of Colouring.The Colours of the Thunder Clouds.54. The Parts next the Sun were of asnowyWhiteness. Then of abright luminous Yellowmelting into adusky Sulphur: afterwards of aPurple. The Rays being now shorn; a Degree of Opacity and Transmission took Place throu’ half the Substance of the Cloud, which seemed of atransparent Bluelike theOnyx.Delightful Tints visible only from the Balloon.55. Thesedelightful Tintsmust be ever eclipsed to a Spectator on the Surface of the Earth, looking upwards throu’ the gross Atmosphere that surrounds it; but highlyinterestingto one whois suspended in a ratified and unencumbered Medium of the etherial Regions, where the Eye darts without Resistance above Clouds, and all visible Vapour.T. Baldwin Arm. delt.et pinxt.Heath sculpt.Aviewfrom theBalloonat itsGreatestelevation seePage IIII.a.Publish’d May 1st.1786, by T. Baldwin Chester.Note: the Print, representing a circular View from the Balloon at its greatest Elevation, is taken from a Scene described in the above Chapter.
CHAPTERVIII.
Section 51.THE Perspective of the Clouds was entirely new; and remarkable both for Beauty and Grandeur.
The lowest Bed of Vapour thatfirstput on the Appearance of Cloud was ofa pure white; in detached Fleeces; encreasing as they rose. They presently coalesced, and were aggrandized intoa Seaof Cotton, but morewhite; anddazling: tufted here and there by the light Play of Air, and gentle Breezes in every Direction: but where undisturbed, the Whole became anextended Firmament orwhiteFloor of thin Cloud, thro’ whose Intervals the Sun must shine with fiercer Gleam. The upper Surface was quite even: not blended with the Air above, but defined and separated with the utmost Exactness; being condensed by the Coolness, and checked in their Ascent, by the Levity of the superior Regions.
Thro’ thiswhiteFloor uprose in splendid Majesty and awful Grandeur, at great and unequal Distances, a vast Assemblage ofThunder-Clouds: each Congeries consisting of whole Acres in the densest Form.
Circular Boundary of thecelestialProspect from the Balloonabovethe clouds.
52. Their conglomerate and fringed Tops rising, at different Distances, in circular Order, one above the other, to the Number ofthirty: till they became imperceptible from their remote Situation: the Eye commanding an Extent of 102 Miles.[18]
Their Form was, as if Pieces of Ordnance were discharged perpendicularly upwards into the Air: and that the Smoke had consolidated, at the Instant of Explosion, into Masses of Snow or Hail: had penetrated thro’ the upper Surface orwhiteFloor of common Clouds, and there remained visible, and at Rest.
Some indeed had not wholly lost their Motion: continuing still to be lifted up. Others ponderous and sleepy, nodded, by mere Weight, their monstrous Heads. It seemed as if they had persisted in mounting upwards, till they coud rise no higher: their lower Parts pressing perpendicularlyagainst the upper, which gradually swelled them out onall Sides. By partial and temporary Movements ofthe Air, some broadunwieldyCaps lost theverticalDirection of their Columns. The Columns likewise underwent a similar and gradual Change: rolling from their Pedestals or spiral Bases; and, at Times, assumingevery organized Shapethat Fancy coud suggest.
Opinion of Philosophers.
53. The imperceptibly slow yet perpetual Changes they underwent, strongly called to Remembrance, theOpinion of the great Berkeley,[19]as well as of the ancient Philosophers, that AIR GIVES FORM TO THINGS: scarcely a Breath of which seemed, however, to disturb their general Order.
The Constitution of these enormous Masses was such as to reflectsomeof the Sun’s Rays, and to transmitothersin a Variety of Colouring.
The Colours of the Thunder Clouds.
54. The Parts next the Sun were of asnowyWhiteness. Then of abright luminous Yellowmelting into adusky Sulphur: afterwards of aPurple. The Rays being now shorn; a Degree of Opacity and Transmission took Place throu’ half the Substance of the Cloud, which seemed of atransparent Bluelike theOnyx.
Delightful Tints visible only from the Balloon.
55. Thesedelightful Tintsmust be ever eclipsed to a Spectator on the Surface of the Earth, looking upwards throu’ the gross Atmosphere that surrounds it; but highlyinterestingto one whois suspended in a ratified and unencumbered Medium of the etherial Regions, where the Eye darts without Resistance above Clouds, and all visible Vapour.
T. Baldwin Arm. delt.et pinxt.Heath sculpt.Aviewfrom theBalloonat itsGreatestelevation seePage IIII.a.Publish’d May 1st.1786, by T. Baldwin Chester.
T. Baldwin Arm. delt.et pinxt.
Heath sculpt.
Aviewfrom theBalloonat itsGreatestelevation seePage IIII.a.Publish’d May 1st.1786, by T. Baldwin Chester.
Note: the Print, representing a circular View from the Balloon at its greatest Elevation, is taken from a Scene described in the above Chapter.