10 o'clock
-- _ King John . _ The room , into which Bertram now introduced himself , was spacious beyond any thing that he had anticipated : but , spacious as it was , it seemed barely sufficient for its different occupants . A large playbill , hung in a very conspicuous situation , announced the play of Venice Preserved for representation on that evening . It was now a good deal after 10 o'clock , and the performance was over : but the Venetian _ Nobili _ , in the dignified solemnity of their black dresses , were scattered about the room in parties -- or laying aside the costlier part of their finery in a remote corner partly screened off from public view , which had been allotted to them as a tiring room . Round about the fire-place , in an elevated sort of _ dais _ which had been railed off into a bar , a canopy of smoke proclaimed that a festive party were somewhere seated beneath it . On advancing a few steps further , Bertram could distinguish their faces and arrangement . Close by the fire side sate a huge Dutchman with a huge pipe , solemnly fixing his eyes upon the pomp of clouds which he had created or was in the act of creating , and apparently solacing himself with some vague images of multiplication and division .