midnight
Being now respected alike for his wisdom and his sagacity , as much as he always was for his intrepidity and his character as a successful crusader , he was repeatedly employed by the Court of France in settling the troublesome and intricate affairs in which the Norman possessions of the English crown involved the rival nations . William Rufus was not insensible to his merit , nor blind to the importance of gaining his good will ; and finding out his anxiety that Hereward should be restored to the land of his fathers , he took , or made an opportunity , by the forfeiture of some rebellious noble , of conferring upon our Varangian a large district adjacent to the New Forest , being part of the scenes which his father chiefly frequented , and where it is said the descendants of the valiant squire and his Bertha have subsisted for many a long year , surviving turns of time and chance , which are in general fatal to the continuance of more distinguished families . -LSB- Illustration -RSB- Tales of my Landlord . As I stood by yon roofless tower , Where the wa ` flower scents the dewy air , Where the howlet mourns in her ivy bower , And tells the midnight moon her care : The winds were laid , the air was still , The stars they shot along the sky ; The Fox was howling on the hill , And the distant echoing glens reply . ROBERT BURNS . INTRODUCTION . -- -LRB- 1832 . -RRB-