midnight
Perhaps a little occurrence , which Mr. Dangerfield himself utterly despised , may have had something to do with his bitter temper , and gave an unsatisfactory turn to his thoughts . It took place on the eventful night of the tempest . If some people saw visions that night , others dreamed dreams . In a midnight storm like this , time was when the solemn peal and defiant clang of the holy bells would have rung out confusion through the winged hosts of ` the prince of the powers of the air , ' from the heights of the abbey tower . Everybody has a right to his own opinion on the matter . Perhaps the prince and his army are no more upon the air on such a night than on any other ; or that being so , they no more hastened their departure by reason of the bells than the eclipse does by reason of the beating of the Emperor of China 's gongs . But this I aver , whatever the cause , upon such nights of storm , the sensoria of some men are crossed by such wild variety and succession of images , as amounts very nearly to the Walpurgis of a fever .