ten at night
The writer is but brought to mention the battle because he must needs follow , in all events , the fortunes of the humble adventurer whose life lie records . Yet this necessarily involves some general view of each conspicuous incident in which he shares . Several circumstances of the place and time served to invest the fight with a certain scenic atmosphere casting a light almost poetic over the wild gloom of its tragic results . The battle was fought between the hours of seven and ten at night ; the height of it was under a full harvest moon , in view of thousands of distant spectators crowning the high cliffs of Yorkshire . From the Tees to the Humber , the eastern coast of Britain , for the most part , wears a savage , melancholy , and Calabrian aspect . It is in course of incessant decay . Every year the isle which repulses nearly all other foes , succumbs to the Attila assaults of the deep .