midday
The last trumpet could not have diffused in Mayence more terror and confusion than did this extraordinary tale . No sooner did the Dominican prior hear of this accident than he ran to the assembled Chapter , and gave , by his information , a new turn to the affair . The Archbishop would willingly have suppressed the whole business ; but it was now time for the Chapter to take it up , and all the canons were unanimously of opinion , that so strange a circumstance ought to be communicated to the Holy Father at Rome . They now became infuriated , and nothing but the midday bell had power to separate them . From that moment , all Mayence , clergy and laity , divided into two parties ; and for many years nothing was heard , spoken , or dreamt of , but the Devil , the white nun , and Father Gebhardt . The matter was argued from the pulpit of every sect : mountebanks , Capuchins , and dog-doctors , made it their theme ; while the lawyers , after having taken the depositions of the nun and the father , and confronted them with each other , wrote folio volumes concerning the sinful and unsinful chances of the dream . Was this a time for Faustus and his discoveries to succeed ?