midnight
It was at this precise moment , when all resources seemed to be fast exhausting themselves , that certain information reached the Castle , of the most important nature . The individual who obtained and transmitted it , had perilled his life in so doing -- but the result was a great one -- no less than the capital conviction and execution of seven of the most influential amongst the disaffected peasantry . Confidence was at once shaken in the secrecy of their associates ; distrust and suspicion followed . Many of the boldest sunk beneath the fear of betrayal , and themselves , became evidence for the crown ; and in five months , a county shaken with midnight meetings , and blazing with insurrectionary fires , became almost the most tranquil in its province . It may well be believed , that he who rendered this important service on this trying emergency , could not be passed over , and the name of J. Larkins soon after appeared in the Gazette as one of his Majesty 's justices of the peace for the county ; pretty much in the same spirit in which a country gentleman converts the greatest poacher in his neighbourhood by making him , his gamekeeper . In person he was a large and powerfully built man , considerably above six feet in height , and possessing great activity , combined with powers of enduring fatigue almost incredible . With an eye like a hawk , and a heart that never knew fear , he was the person , of all others , calculated to strike terror into the minds of the country people .