Derived ultimately from imperial aulic art, the scheme was well established in the Christian repertoire by the ninth century.

Now in due order all again Into its place he puts; The Sanctuary arranges; then Withdraws, and that upshuts.

He burst into the sitting-room, covered with meal and panting like a bellowsed horse, frightening my grandmother almost into hysterics.

Is death closer than they think? [Samuel Langhorne] Clemens sets the scene with a numinous description of the men waiting in the corncrib in the veiled moonlight.