midnight
Prague was ours , and almost without the loss of a man , so masterly had been Count Saxe 's dispositions . There is something appalling in the sight of a town taken in the night . Although Prague was supposed to be taken by assault , it was really carried by strategy , and there were none of the horrors of a capture by storming . But the horrible fears of the inhabitants , the terrors of the women and children , the dreadful midnight awakening -- all , all , have in them something calculated to affright the soul . These things passed through my mind , when , with my men posted according to Count Saxe 's orders , I listened to the cries , the screams of frightened creatures , and imagined the shuddering terrors behind the walls of those tall old houses , their peaks shining in the white moonlight . And then , by an accident in handling a torch , one of those tall old houses by the market-place caught fire . Instantly , it was like Bedlam ; at every one of the many windows appeared people shrieking , praying , crying .