48 History of Nature. [Boo* II. 



the Harbour, and thus greatly distressed the State of his 

 Country. Be ye prosperous, then, for your excellency, 

 O noble Interpreters of the Heavens ! capable of Nature's 

 Works, and the Devisers of that Reason whereby ye have 

 subdued both Gods and Men. For who is he that, seeing 

 these Things, and the ordinary Labours (since that this Term 

 is now taken up) of the Stars, would not bear with his own 

 Infirmity, and excuse this Necessity of being born to die ? 

 Now, for this present, I will briefly and summarily touch 

 those principal Points which are acknowledged concerning 

 the said Eclipses, having lightly rendered a Reason thereof in 

 the proper Places : for neither doth such proving and argu- 

 ing of these Matters belong properly to our purposed Work ; 

 neither is it less Wonder to be able to yield the Reasons and 

 Causes of all Things than to be constant in some. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

 Of Eclipses. 



IT is certain, that all Eclipses in 222 Months have their 

 Revolutions, and return to their former Points : as also that 

 the Sun's Eclipse never happeneth but either in the last of 

 the old, or first of the new, Moon ; which they call the Con- 

 junction : and that the Moon is never eclipsed but in the 

 full, and always somewhat anticipateth the former Eclipse. 

 Moreover, that every Year both Planets are eclipsed at cer- 

 tain Days and Hours under the Earth. Neither be these 

 Eclipses seen in all Places when they are above the Earth, 

 by Reason sometimes of cloudy Weather, but more often, for 

 that the Globe of the Earth hindereth the Sight of the Con- 

 vexity of the Heaven. Within these two hundred Years it 

 was found out by the Sagacity of Hipparchus, that the Moon 

 sometime was eclipsed twice in five Months' Space, and the 

 Sun likewise in seven. Also that the Sun and Moon twice 

 in thirty Days were darkened above the Earth : though this 

 was not seen equally in all Quarters, but by Men in divers 

 Places : and that which is most surprising in this Wonder, 

 is, that when it is agreed that the Moon's Light is dimmed 



