8 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



I pass to the records of eclipses which have occurred 

 more recently. 



William of Malmesbury relates that the eclipse of 

 August 2, 1133, presaged the death of Henry I. ' The 

 elements showed their grief,' he says, ' at the passing 

 away of this great king. For on that day the sun hid 

 his resplendent face at the sixth hour, in fearful dark- 

 ness, disturbing men's minds by his eclipse.' 



Seven years later another remarkable eclipse oc- 

 curred which is thus referred to by the same writer : 

 *Tn Lent, the sun and the moon darkened about 

 noontide, when men were eating; and they lighted 

 candles to eat by. That was the thirteenth day before 

 the calends of April.' (The worthy chronicler might 

 as well have adhered to the more usual method of 

 expressing the date.) 'Men were very much struck 

 with wonder.' ' The darkness became so great,' he 

 says elsewhere, ' that men feared the ancient chaos 

 was about to return, and on going out, they perceived 

 several stars around the sun.' 



Amongst all the eclipses hitherto mentioned there 

 is only one viz. the eclipse of Thales which is com- 

 parable with that of August 17. And among more 

 recent eclipses there is only one other approaching it 

 in magnitude. This eclipse, which occurred on June 

 17, 1433, was visible in Scotland, and was long 

 remembered in that country as ' the Black Hour.' It 

 occurred at about three o'clock in the afternoon, and the 

 records preserved respecting it relate that nothing was 

 visible during the height of the totality. Professor 



