midnight
`` We have had enough for to-night , '' said Mr. Gaskell ; `` let us stop . I shall be locked out . '' He shut the piano , and as he did so the clock in New College tower struck twelve . He left the room running , but was late enough at his college door to be reported , admonished with a fine against such late hours , and confined for a week to college ; for being out after midnight was considered , at that time at least , a somewhat serious offence . Thus for some days the musical practice was compulsorily intermitted , but resumed on the first evening after Mr. Gaskell 's term of confinement was expired . After they had performed several suites of Graziani , and finished as usual with the `` Areopagita , '' Mr. Gaskell sat for a time silent at the instrument , as though thinking with himself , and then said -- `` I can not say how deeply this old-fashioned music affects me . Some would try to persuade us that these suites , of which the airs bear the names of different dances , were always written rather as a musical essay and for purposes of performance than for persons to dance to , as their names would more naturally imply .