midnight
It would indeed be a poor-spirited heroine who could not deftly turn a sonnet to night or to the moon , however profound her woes . Superhuman strength and courage is an endowment necessary to all who would dwell in the realms of terror and survive the fierce struggle for existence . Peacock , in _ Nightmare Abbey _ , paints the Shelley of 1812 in Scythrop , who devours tragedies and German romances , and is troubled with a `` passion for reforming the world . '' `` He slept with _ Horrid Mysteries _ under his pillow , and dreamed of venerable eleutherarchs and ghastly confederates holding midnight conventions in subterranean caves ... He had a certain portion of mechanical genius which his romantic projects tended to develop . He constructed models of cells and recesses , sliding panels and secret passages , that would have baffled the skill of the Parisian police . '' His bearing was that of a romantic villain : `` He stalked about like the grand Inquisitor , and the servants flitted past him like familiars . '' Although Shelley outgrew his youthful taste for horrors , his early reading left traces on the imagery and diction of his poetry .