midnight
Who are _ they _ ? who are the cowled monks , the hooded friars who glide with shrouded faces in the procession of life , muttering in an unknown tongue words of mysterious import ? Who are _ they _ ? the midnight assassins of reputation , who lurk in the by-lanes of society , with dagger tongues sharpened by invention and envenomed by malice , to draw the blood of innocence , and , hyena-like , banquet on the dead ? Who are _ they _ ? They are a multitude no man can number , black-stoled familiars of the inquisition of slander , searching for victims in every city , town , and village , wherever the heart of humanity throbs , or the ashes of mortality find rest . Oh , coward , coward world -- skulkers !