midnight
In vain the imperial court wooed him to its pleasures ; in vain the camp proffered him the oblivion of renown . Ah ! could he tear himself from a spot where morning and night he could see afar , amidst the valley , the roof that sheltered Leoline , and on which every copse , every turf , reminded him of former days ? His solitary life , his midnight vigils , strange scrolls about his chamber , obtained him by degrees the repute of cultivating the darker arts ; and shunning , he became shunned by all . But still it was sweet to hear from time to time of the increasing sanctity of her in whom he had treasured up his last thoughts of earth . She it was who healed the sick ; she it was who relieved the poor ; and the superstition of that age brought pilgrims from afar to the altars that she served . Many years afterwards , a band of lawless robbers , who ever and anon broke from their mountain fastnesses to pillage and to desolate the valleys of the Rhine , -- who spared neither sex nor age , neither tower nor hut , nor even the houses of God Himself , -- laid waste the territories round Bornhofen , and demanded treasure from the convent .