ten at night
Day of the month and year , November the thirtieth , one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five . London Time by the great clock of Saint Paul 's , ten at night . All the lesser London churches strain their metallic throats . Some , flippantly begin before the heavy bell of the great cathedral ; some , tardily begin three , four , half a dozen , strokes behind it ; all are in sufficiently near accord , to leave a resonance in the air , as if the winged father who devours his children , had made a sounding sweep with his gigantic scythe in flying over the city . What is this clock lower than most of the rest , and nearer to the ear , that lags so far behind to-night as to strike into the vibration alone ?