[ "Midnight Discourse" ]
This anonymous essay, a meditation on the sounds of night, appeared in the November 14, 1868, issue of All the Year Round, the weekly literary and cultural magazine founded, owned, and edited by Charles Dickens.
The author remarks on the various noises heard at night on a country estate: the sounds of wild creatures, livestock, and even the sound of a stray dog looking for food:
There is a plaintive whimper under the window sad to hear. It is the voice of a poor hungry dog strayed hither to look for food. Catching the sound of the intruder's voice, our well-fed pets set up for justices of peace, and raise their voices to put down the base cur who dares to hint that he is hungry. Loud thunders the deep bass bark of the Newfoundland in his kennel, the dog of the large honest head and well-knit limbs. Shrill rings the pert treble yap, yap, of the toy terrier in her basket. Thus they add their contribution to the voices of midnight. (XX: 545)