four o'clock on Saturday
But for the postponement , readers of this history might -- nay , would -- have been able to absorb a vivid and masterly account of the great struggle , with a careful description of the tactics by which victory was achieved . They would have been told the disposition of the various regiments , the stratagems , the dashing advances , the skilful retreats , and the Lessons of the War . As it is , owing to the mistaken good-nature of the rival generals , the date of the fixture was changed , and practically all that a historian can do is to record the result . A slight mist had risen as early as four o'clock on Saturday . By night-fall the atmosphere was a little dense , but the lamp-posts were still clearly visible at a distance of some feet , and nobody , accustomed to living in London , would have noticed anything much out of the common . It was not till Sunday morning that the fog proper really began . London awoke on Sunday to find the world blanketed in the densest , yellowest London particular that had been experienced for years .