eleven o'clock
So impatient was he to see his friend that he would not let even the first evening of his return pass without coming round to John 's rooms . The two young men sat without lights until the night was late ; and Mr. Gaskell had much to narrate of his travels , and spoke specially of the beautiful music which he had heard at Easter in the Roman churches . He had also had lessons on the piano from a celebrated professor of the Italian style , but seemed to have been particularly delighted with the music of the seventeenth-century composers , of whose works he had brought back some specimens set for piano and violin . It was past eleven o'clock when Mr. Gaskell left to return to New College ; but the night was unusually warm , with a moon near the full , and John sat for some time in a cushioned window-seat before the open sash thinking over what he had heard about the music of Italy . Feeling still disinclined for sleep , he lit a single candle and began to turn over some of the musical works which Mr. Gaskell had left on the table . His attention was especially attracted to an oblong book , bound in soiled vellum , with a coat of arms stamped in gilt upon the side . It was a manuscript copy of some early suites by Graziani for violin and harpsichord , and was apparently written at Naples in the year 1744 , many years after the death of that composer .