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ON the 12th of March, as I was about to retire to rest, I opened a chink of the window-shutter to let in light in the morning, when I was startled by the magnificent spectacle : such a night of cloudless glory I have seldom seen. The moon was in the midnight splendour of her ripening second quarter; her eastern horn not quite filled, but shining calmly down with a rich golden lustre out of the deep purple sky behind, whose concave was spangled with silvery stars. But what caught my attention was, that close to her, at apparently not more than a yard's distance, was a fiery red and brilliant star, which a glance told me was Mars, evidently in conjunction with the moon. Remembering that there was to be an occultation of that planet by the moon some night this month-for I am not a professed astronomer-I immediately concluded that this was the very night in question.

THE NIGHT-WATCH.

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What a fortunate occurrence! "Forthwith to rub the sleep from my eyes, to reapparel myself," to betake myself to the Nautical Almanac, was the work of a moment. To my great annoyance, however, I found that the occultation would not take place for nearly three hours. It was then about a quarter to twelve: this was a long wait for a tired and sleepy man. There was no alternative. If I went to bed, I should certainly never awake in time, and the whole phenomenon would be a real occultation to me. Then, the opportunity was so tempting, and a planet's occultation such a comparatively rare event, it must not be lost; so I made up my mind at once to fight resolutely with sleep, and see it out. I proceeded, therefore, in the first place, to prepare my great gun, a large refracting telescope 10 feet 6 inches in focus; and having examined the relative position and appearance of the two bodies in question, I commenced my lonely but deeply-fascinating watch.

All was silent in the house; every one sunk in slumber but myself. Alone, in my observatory-which is merely a room, from the south and west windows of which my large telescope is directed-I sat down. No sound broke the perfect stillness that reigned, save the ticking of the clock at hand, or the scraping of some restless mouse in the wainscot, or now and then a gentle sigh of the wind that stole mournfully past the open window, and away round the corners of the house. I took up a volume, and tried to pass some of the interval in reading, but in vain. That view through the open window fascinated me. My attention wandered from my book, and every now and then I was compelled to get up and take a glance through the telescope, or stand gazing away amidst the multitude of the starry host. And ever and anon the eye reverted to those two distant shining orbs. There they are, about to overtake and pass each other in the silent sea of space, as ships meet and pass on

with a joyous hail in our terrestrial oceans; but no sound will be heard from them,-no ships are they, but mighty worlds on the ocean of infinity seen from this terrestrial shore, vast worlds rolling on, sweeping silently and swiftly through the darkness, but not within reach or hail of each other. No; one is so far behind the other, at such an immeasurable distance,* that if either were burst into fragments, and disappeared from its place in the sky, the other would not miss it, the thunder of its explosion would never be heard. On they sail through that cloudless blue, that wondrous, mysterious, aerial ocean on which they float; and to us, looking thus at them, they seem (distant as they are from each other) as though they were about to clash together. See how near they have approached one another!

But, hark! Again the wind! it is rising. What a blast was that that swept by! I got up and looked out; the sky was changed. On the horizon had been lying a mass of fleecy white clouds, while the sky above was pure and cloudless, and blue as sapphire. Low moans and gusts of wind, however, now arose that shook the window-sashes with a sudden wrench. I now observed these white clouds slowly ascending from the horizon to the zenith, and dispersing themselves through the clear space. However, the two objects of my solicitude remained still unobscured. Mars had drawn much nearer to his bright companion, so as to be nestling under her south-eastern edge, presenting a beautiful contrast of colour,-his fiery red being set off by the peculiar silvery white of the moon. While I was thus admiring this fine effect, a striking change took place. Without the appearance of a cloud near them, suddenly a bright and brilliant halo, or rather rainbow, glowed around them, encircling them both. The colours were the most vivid and beautiful I ever saw, and the whole assumed the

*144 millions of miles.

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appearance of an old-fashioned brooch which used to be greatly admired, called a cat's-eye, and composed of diamonds and other precious stones set with opal, which refracts the prismatic colours. This phenomenon came like one of the magic changes in a dissolving view, pale at first, and gathering strength until it had attained its maximum of brilliancy, in which green and scarlet had the predominance, until the eye actually ached with the intense glory of the spectacle (so like that described by the prophet Ezekiel, i. 28), rendered the more striking by there being no appearance of a cloud in the neighbourhood of the moon, but a clear, open expanse of dark space relieved against which these brilliant colours were exhibited; when, having at length exhausted themselves, they faded away, gradually leaving the two bodies they had encircled clear and untinted as before.

I now directed my attention to the telescope to watch the progress of the occultation. To the naked eye Mars did not appear more than two inches (apparently) from the moon's limb; but one glance through the telescope separates him several yards. To all appearance he had, however, just got into the field of view with the moon, part of the unenlightened edge of which, with its crater, was visible just opposite to him. The appearance of the two bodies was very beautiful. The disc of Mars was large and well defined: in his centre was distinctly visible one of those strange and irregular spots or dark patches, for which he is remarkable, and which are believed to be-and no doubt the tracing of his oceans, marking him out as a world like ourselves; indeed, the periods of his days and seasons correspond in a great measure to our own, his polar snows melting during his summer, to return again in winter. The ruddy complexion of this planet was still conspicuous through the telescope, proving that it is caused by something in him, and not in us, and either owing to his

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atmosphere or soil-the latter being the most probable. The power on the telescope being upwards of 120, only a portion of the moon's limb was visible, being that which Mars was approaching. Several craters were distinctly and beautifully defined; and, as a small portion remained still unenlightened, bright islands of light, as the tops of mountains illumined while the base was in darkness, were to be seen. The part where Mars would first come in apparent contact with her was at the south-eastern edge, where a large, shallow, dishshaped crater, named Schikard, lay upon the very border of light and darkness, part of it, indeed, extending into the dark. Several small mountains, or elevations, were visible within the bounds, or vast area of this enormous crater, or wall-surrounded plain, which (at a guess, I should say) was at least seventy miles in diameter. Mars, whose apparent progress was visible every few moments, seemed to be advancing directly for this crater, as though. he were about to roll into it. My whole attention was now engaged and absorbed by the interest of this strange and beautiful sight; no sportsman, I am sure, ever watched with more intense interest the course of a favourite horse making for the winning post than I now watched the course of these two worlds, one above four thousand, and the other two thousand miles in diameter, overtaking or passing one another in the boundless sky; for those who are not acquainted with the nature of an occultation should know that it is not a meeting from opposite sides that takes place on these occasions; but a race in the heavens, in which of course the moon is the victor, having the shortest course to run, and, accordingly, she overtakes and passes the distant planet: the appearance, however, was just the opposite to the view of the spectator at the telescope. As was natural, the larger body appeared stationary, and the smaller moving like a ship approaching a bright island. I gazed at this quiet,

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