midnight
In a crowd , I am like the somnambulist in the highest degree of the luminous crisis , when it is said a new world is unfolded to his contemplation , wherein all things have an intimate affinity with the state of man , and yet bear no resemblance to the objects that address themselves to his corporeal faculties . This delightful experience , as it may be called , I have enjoyed this evening , to an exquisite degree , at the funeral of the king ; but , although the whole succession of incidents is indelibly imprinted on my recollection , I am still so much affected by the emotion excited , as to be incapable of conveying to you any intelligible description of what I saw . It was indeed a scene witnessed through the medium of the feelings , and the effect partakes of the nature of a dream . I was within the walls of an ancient castle , `` So old as if they had for ever stood , So strong as if they would for ever stand , '' and it was almost midnight . The towers , like the vast spectres of departed ages , raised their embattled heads to the skies , monumental witnesses of the strength and antiquity of a great monarchy . A prodigious multitude filled the courts of that venerable edifice , surrounding on all sides a dark embossed structure , the sarcophagus , as it seemed to me at the moment , of the heroism of chivalry . `` A change came o'er the spirit of my dream , '' and I beheld the scene suddenly illuminated , and the blaze of torches , the glimmering of arms , and warriors and horses , while a mosaic of human faces covered like a pavement the courts .