The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-16 00:00:00

THE ECLIPSE.:

At about 25 minutes past 1 a aught break in the
clouds allowed the sun to be seen for a moment.
The shadow of the mom was then full upon it, the
sun itself appearing like a young crescent moon of
some two c,r three days old. The light he gave at
this moment was pale and watery, and the sub-
stance of the moon seemed of a dull pewtery colour.
Beyond this glimpse, which only lasted for a
minut', nothing more was seen, anti only the rapid
increase of natural daylight showed that the sun
was not eclipsed for ever.
No other nearly total eclipse such as that of yes-
terday will, we believe, again occur in England
during the remainder of the present century.

FROM ST. PAUL'S GALLERY.
The wind was cold and cutting ; the fog was
dense, and what was still more vexatious, we could
see that the atmosphere below was comparatively
clear, while there Ras not the slightest symptom
of any of those remarkable features for which every
one, book in ono hand and coloured glass in the
other, was patiently waiting. At twenty minutes
to twelve o'clock we got our first glimpse of the
eclipse. A small section of a circle might be ob-
served to be quite black on the bright surface, and
for that moment only during the day were the
coloured glasses rendered necessary. Subsequently,
the clouds closed in again, and the patient " watch-
ers on the tower" had nothing for it but to wrap
themselves up from the cold and wind, to read
their little books where alone the more remarkable
features of the eclipse were to be found. We had,
it is true, a gradually increasing gloom, but still
nothing unusual in foggy weather, and as the
moon drew across the sun, and more and more
shut us out from the rays of the latter. there was a
peculiar chill like that of nightfall, which was un-
comfortably perceptible at our elevated position.
The gallery at this moment as if completely enve-
loped in fog, the limits of which were, however,
quite definable, as it formed a sort of deep band,
which left the street below almost clear, while the
atmosphere above—that is, between us and the
clouds—had a comparatively rarified look. The
river must have been quite clear of vapour, for we
could see the hltle steamers shooting up and down,
and the barges gliding lazily along, and even on.
Southwark-bridge there was no difficulty in dis-
cerning the foot-passengers. On descending into
the street we were surprised to see a general ab-
sence of curiosity respecting the great event.
Business was going on everywhere as usual, and
the people in the shops declared that "they had
seen much darker days without any eclipse at all.

GREENWICH.
The morning
Bet in fine with but little cloud
until the phenomenon commenced, when the sun
was lost to view, heavy
clouds gradually covering
the sky. At noon for about two minutes the sun's
crescent became visible through the cloud ; and
again was seen at half-past 12 o'clock. After this
time the landscape became of a brownish tint, and
at one'o'clock its hue
was not unlike that expe-
rienced previous to a heavy storm of thunder and
rain. A minute or two after the totality it became
perceptibly
lighter, and the sun's crescent was
again seen through the clouds for a few minutes,
and then again wai lost to view, and seen no more.
The birds were singing merrily throughout the
occurrence, and animals seemed no way disturbed.
18 T"__,.

_le subjoined accounts from the country make it
evident that the eclipse
took place under circum-
stances which gave much the same appearance as it
presented in the metropolis :
DONCASTER.
At Doncaster the sky Was overcast with clouds
throughout the period of the eclipse, and none of
the expected phenomena were observable, except a
darkening of the earth and air, not exceeding at
any time that which usually accompanies a heavy
and a peculiar stillness of the
m
Type of the smallest size could be
thunderstorm,raet a cioswp ieh atmosphere. Type
ea r l y
ordinary facility
ing the ob3curation. The Great Northern Com-
pany bad a special train this morning to Peter-
borough, one of the central points of observation
indicated by the astronomers, and a considerable m
number of persons, including at any time dur-
ing
scientific men
from Leeds, Sheffield, and the north, availed
themselves of the opportunity afforded of getting
within the most favourable range of vision.

SIGHT FROM THE VICTORIA TOWER.
A large number of persons resorted to the highest
buildings in the metropolis to view the eclipse, and
the highest peak of all—the Victoria Tower—was
honoured in this way with a numerous attendance
of visitors, among whom were even ladies, who
braved the real fatigue, and terrors, such as they
are, of the giddy ascent, and same officers of the
Life Guards, who in pursuit of science managed to
climb without mishap, accompanied and incom-
moded by their jackboots and mediaeval spurs, to
the very summit of the noble edifice. We need
scarcely say that, as far as the eclipse was concerned,
no one saw better up there than they did from the
ground ; in fact, of the actual eclipse but very little
could be seen at all.
On the summit of the tower, when the eclipse
commenced the wind vas strong and almost vio-
lently gusty, and went bellowing and howling up
and down the great central staircase with a noise
particularly ominous and unpleasant.
Even for some little time after the sun had been
partially obscured by clouds, the extent of the
prospect seen from the tower was as we have said
most grand. Greenwich Hospital, apparently sur-
rounded at the back with fields and dark patches of
woodland, could be distinctly seen, while on the
south the Crystal Palace, dwarfed seemingly to the
proportion of a neat conservatory, formed a promi-
nent object. To the west the view was more hazy,
but still open ground round Bayswater and Pad-
dington was plainly visible, and hills about Kew
and Fulham were (not to be mistaken for any-
thing but hills. About half an hour after the
eclipse had commenced and all this was changed—
Greenwich Hospital, the Crystal Palace, the hills
at Fulham, and neat white houses of Bayswater had
all disappeared, and in their place was a band of
sad coloured misty twilight, which seemed to con-
ceal everything within its mournful folds and to be
slowly enclosing the great city.
From this time (about half-past 12) the growth
of the obscurity was rapid and palpable. Every
minute London seemed enveloped more and more
iu an unnatural gloom—neither dawn nor evening.
Every minute, as the spectator moved round the
battlements of the Tower and overlooked London
from each of its four sides, he could notice the in-
crease of gloom and miss some conspicuous struc-
ture from among the great mass of edifices beneath
him. The Monument and St. Paul's went among
the first, the high bulk of the latter waning into a
darkish mass, and then losing itself amid the
general gloem, exactly as a dissolving picture fades
from view. On the south side of the water the
dome of Bethlehem became almost indistinct with
that of the great metropolitan cathedral, and at
last the whole of Lambeth gradually resembled a
level dark-looking mass, like a tract of Log land
seen from a distance. Buckingham-palace early
lost its individuality, and it was difficult to dis-
tinguish its massive form from the dark-looking
grass of the Park in which it stood. As the
time of the !greatest obscurration approached
the gloom deepened and deepened in pro-
portion, and with it the stillness of all around
grew more and more heavy and observable. One
o'clock struck, and as it struck the darkness seemed
to us to be greatest and most solemn. Lambeth
Palace could just be distinguished on one side, and
Westminster Abbey and (but very dimly) the
Westminster Hospital on the other. The Horse
Guards could not be distinguished in Parliament-
street, and both the Nelson column and St. Mar-
tin's church were for a time invisible in the thick-
look'ng air ; only the towers of the old Abbey and
the spires of the New Houses were at all distinctly
visible for a minute or so, and on them the dark-
ness had the effect of seeming to increase both their
spectator. Almost
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greatest obscuration
was passed the very rapid return of light could be
distinctly marked as building after building seemed
to creep forth again into existence.