In the dead vast and middle of the night.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 2.

On his bold visage middle age

Had slightly press'd its signet sage,

Yet had not quench'd the open truth

And fiery vehemence of youth:

Forward and frolic glee was there,

The will to do, the soul to dare.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lady of the Lake. Canto i. Stanza 21.

And on the Tree of Life,

The middle tree and highest there that grew,

Sat like a cormorant.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 194.