about
eleven o'clock
If my blood did not _ boil _ within me , it warmed exceedingly , as the vision of other times and far different scenes crossed my brain , and was reflected from my heart . From the works of our historians -- of Knox and Woodrow in particular -- I had early become acquainted with the history of those times , -LRB- which are still continuing to interest our feelings and influence our judgment ;-RRB- and I could not fail to image out more particularly the dismal aspect which this very locality presented in 1679 . Whilst engaged one evening in these reveries , I inadvertently wandered away behind the church , and stood looking out upon the moonshine , which , `` o'er the dark a silver mantle threw ; '' whilst the officer of the Greyfriars ' Church , seeing nobody in the yard , quietly and unperceived by me , locked the door , and retired to his home in the Netherbow . Accordingly , when I began to think , about eleven o'clock , of home and repose , I was not a little surprised to find all egress by the customary outlet impossible . The night was indeed lovely -- mild and still ; but yet there was something not altogether satisfactory in being compelled to enjoy it in company with the dead of many generations . A large mastiff , too , which had concealed itself for some time under the wall , came forth into the moonlight , with a bone in his jaws -- manifestly a human skull . -LSB- Footnote 1 : Edinburgh Castle -RSB- `` And I saw the lean dog , _ beneath the wall _ , Hold o'er the dead its carnival ; And its white tusks crunched o'er the whiter skull As it slipped through its jaws , when the edge grew dull , As it lazily mumbled the bones of the dead . ''