the entire meaning and system of nature, which fills
every part and space of the picture with coincidences of witness, which
come out upon us, as they would from the reality, more fully and deeply
in proportion to the knowledge we possess and the attention we give,
admirable or not? I could go on writing page after page on every sky of
Turner's, and pointing out fresh truths in every one. In the Havre, for
instance, of the Rivers of France we have a new fact pointed out to us
with respect to these cirri, namely, their being so faint and
transparent as not to be distinguishable from the blue of the sky, (a
frequent case,) except in the course of a sunbeam, which, however, does
not illumine their edges, they being not solid enough to reflect light,
but penetrates their whole substance, and renders them flat, luminous
forms in its path, instantly and totally lost at its edge. And thus a
separate essay would be required by every picture, to make fully
understood the new phenomena which it treated and illustrated. But after
once showing what are the prevailing characteristics of these clouds, we
can only leave it to the reader to trace them wherever they occur. There
are some fine and characteristic passages of this kind of cloud given by
Stanfield, though he dares not use them in multitude, and is wanting in
those refined qualities of form which it is totally impossible to
explain in words, but which, perhaps, by simple outlines, on a large
scale, selected from the cloud forms of various artists, I may in
following portions of the work illustrate with the pencil.

Sec. 14. The color of the upper clouds.

Of the colors of these clouds I have spoken before, (Sec. I. Chap. II.;)
but though I then alluded to their purity and vividness, I scarcely took
proper notice of their variety; there is indeed in nature variety in all
things, and it would be absurd to insist on it in each case, yet the
colors of these clouds are so marvellous in their changefulness, that
they require particular notice. If you watch for the next sunset, when
there are a considerable number of these cirri in the sky, you will see,
especially at the zenith, that the sky does not remain of the same color
for two inches together; one cloud has a dark side of cold blue, and a
fringe of milky white; another, above it, has a dark side of purple and
an edge of red; another, nearer the sun, has an under-side of orange
and an edge of gold; these you will find ming