( ^54 ) 
total Darknefs. But he obferved the Occupations of the 
three Spots, viz, of the firfl and greateft at 8 h . 34. 1 i". of 
the fecond at 8b, 35'. 1 5", and of the laftat8 h . 36'. 5-5". 
He noted alfothe End of total Darknefs at 9b. 14'. 37'^ 
and the exadt End of the Eclipfe at io h * zt'- 57". 
We have received feveral Accounts from fome Places 
which lay near the Track of the Center of the Shade, 
and which might have been very proper to determine the 
greateft Continuance of the Darknefs ; as from Plymouth , 
Exeter , Weymouth , Daventry, Northampton and Lynn regis , 
all agreeing that the whole Sun was obfcured at thofe Pla- 
ces full four Minutes, and at fome of them rather more. 
But thefe Obfervers give us no Account how they meafured 
this Time, and therefore it may well be fuppofed they 
took it in a round Number, and perhaps from pocket Mi- 
nute-Watches. What I think may beft be relied on for this 
Purpofe, are two correfponding Obfervations made, the 
one at Barton near Kettering in Ncrthamptonjhire, where 
by the Obfervation of John Bridges Efq; Treafurer of his 
Majeftys Revenue of Excife, and R. S. S. with a good 
Pendulum-Clock and all due Care, the whole Sun was hid 
no more than 3'. 5 3". The other was by Wit. John White* 
fide, A. M. Keeper of the Ajhmolean Mufeum at Oxford, and 
a skilful Mathematician, who obferved after the fame man- 
ner, at King’ s-Walden in Hertfordjhire near Hitchin , that 
the total Eclipfe continued but 3'- $2". Hence it follows 
that the Center of the Shade paft near the middle between 
thefe two Places, which are but 30 Geographical Miles 
afunder, and fituate near at right Angles to the Way of 
the Shade, and therefore that the total Obfcurity, where 
longeft, could laft but about 3'. 57", or perhaps a fecond or 
two more at Lynn and lefsat Plymouth : the Velocity of the 
Progrefs of the Shade gradually decreaftng, and its Dia- 
meter encreafing as it paft on to the Eaftwards. And this 
Situation of the middle Line is confirmed by an Obferva- 
tion 
