autumn noon
On a bright day in September of the year 1649 Mr. William Prynne , a suspended Member of Parliament , sat at the window of his lodging in the Strand , London , where the Thames at high water brimmed softly against the lawn , bearing barges , wherries , and other small craft , and gleaming very pleasantly in the slant brightness of an autumn noon . The unprosperous politician looked upon the fair scene with quiet cheer . He was a man of austere aspect , and looked farther advanced in middle life than was actually the case . For he was bearing the unjust weight of a double enmity ; and though his after conduct showed that the world 's injustice by no means threw him off his moral balance , yet it is impossible for a man to get into a position where every one but himself seems wrong and not acquire a certain sense of solitude , which , with a grave nature , will make him graver still .