midnight
There was no relief even at night , for the warm air hung stagnant and suffocating , and the inside of my travelling coach was often like a furnace . We were at last approaching the conclusion of our journey , and had left Rome behind us . The day that we set out from Aversa was the hottest that I have ever felt , the sun beating down with an astonishing power even in the early hours , and the road being thick with a white and blinding dust . It was soon after midnight that our carriage began rattling over the great stone blocks with which the streets of Naples are paved . The suburbs that we at first passed through were , I remember , in darkness and perfect quiet ; but after traversing the heart of the city and reaching the western side , we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of an enormous and very dense crowd . There were lanterns everywhere , and interminable lanes of booths , whose proprietors were praising their wares with loud shouts ; and here acrobats , jugglers , minstrels , black-vested priests , and blue-coated soldiers mingled with a vast crowd whose numbers at once arrested the progress of the carriage . Though it was so late of a Sunday night , all seemed here awake and busy as at noonday .