four o’clock
We assure them that we are not about to become political , neither have we the slightest intention of being more prosy than usual -- if we can help it . It has occurred to us that a slight sketch of the general aspect of ` the House , ' and the crowds that resort to it on the night of an important debate , would be productive of some amusement : and as we have made some few calls at the aforesaid house in our time -- have visited it quite often enough for our purpose , and a great deal too often for our personal peace and comfort -- we have determined to attempt the description . Dismissing from our minds , therefore , all that feeling of awe , which vague ideas of breaches of privilege , Serjeant-at-Arms , heavy denunciations , and still heavier fees , are calculated to awaken , we enter at once into the building , and upon our subject . Half-past four o'clock -- and at five the mover of the Address will be ` on his legs , ' as the newspapers announce sometimes by way of novelty , as if speakers were occasionally in the habit of standing on their heads . The members are pouring in , one after the other , in shoals . The few spectators who can obtain standing-room in the passages , scrutinise them as they pass , with the utmost interest , and the man who can identify a member occasionally , becomes a person of great importance . Every now and then you hear earnest whispers of ` That 's Sir John Thomson . '