ing discoverable
during the total phase by exhibiting a coppery hue.

In A.D. 755 [or 756 in orig.], on November 23, there happened an
exceedingly interesting event which stands, I think, without a precedent
in the annals of science--an eclipse of the Moon contemporaneous with an
occultation of a planet by the Moon. This singular combination is thus
described in the annals of Roger de Hoveden[129]:--"On the 8th day
before the Calends of December the Moon on her 15th day being about her
full, appeared to be covered with the colour of blood, and then the
darkness decreasing she returned to her usual brightness; but, in a
wondrous manner, a bright star followed the Moon, and passing across
her, preceded her when shining, at the same distance which it had
followed her before she was darkened." The details here given are not
astronomically quite correct, but let that pass; the writer's intention
is fairly clear. Calculation shows that the eclipse occurred on November
23, and that the planet, which was Jupiter, was concealed in the evening
by the Moon for about an hour from 7h. 30m. to 8h. 30m. p.m., the
immersion taking place about the end of the total phase. This is the
first occultation of a star or planet by the Moon observed and recorded
in England.

Under the year 795 the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ says:--"In this year the
Moon was eclipsed between cockcrowing and dawn on the 5th of the Calends
of April; and Eardwalf succeeded to the kingdom of the Northumbrians on
the 2nd of the Ides of May." This signifies that the eclipse happened on
March 28 between 3h. and 6h. in the morning, the method of dividing the
hours of night into equal portions of three hours each being still in
use. There was no eclipse in 795 on the date in question but there was
one in 796, so we may suppose an error in the year. This assumed,
Johnson found that the eclipse began at about 4h. a.m., was total for
nearly an hour, and ended at about 71/2h., so that the Moon set eclipsed.
But the above assumption is dispensed with by Lynn who substitutes one
of his own.[130] For "5th of the _Calends_" he reads "5th of the
_Ides_," which means April 9; and on that day in 795 he says there was
an eclipse of the Moon, but I have not found any other record of it.

In the year A.D. 800, according to the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, "the
Moon was eclipsed at the 2nd hour of the night (8h. p.m.) on the 17th
day of the Calends of February." Johnson finds that there was