midnight
For a time hunger and sleep contended , till the constellations reeled before my eyes and then were lost . I strove to rise , but my heavy lids closed , my limbs over-wearied , claimed repose -- I rested my head on the stone , I yielded to the grateful sensation of utter forgetfulness ; and in that scene of desolation , on that night of despair -- I slept . -LSB- 1 -RSB- Calderon de la Barca . THE stars still shone brightly when I awoke , and Taurus high in the southern heaven shewed that it was midnight . I awoke from disturbed dreams . Methought I had been invited to Timon 's last feast ; I came with keen appetite , the covers were removed , the hot water sent up its unsatisfying steams , while I fled before the anger of the host , who assumed the form of Raymond ; while to my diseased fancy , the vessels hurled by him after me , were surcharged with fetid vapour , and my friend 's shape , altered by a thousand distortions , expanded into a gigantic phantom , bearing on its brow the sign of pestilence . The growing shadow rose and rose , filling , and then seeming to endeavour to burst beyond , the adamantine vault that bent over , sustaining and enclosing the world .