midnight
They have a smattering of literature , and use a great deal of French in their conversation : they have something of romance in their composition , and have been known to marry for love . In short , there is in their whole nature , a more roving , liberal , Continental character of dissipation , than belongs to the cold , tame , dull , prim , hedge-clipped indolence of more national exquisitism . Into this set , out of the other set , fell young Godolphin ; and oh ! the merry mornings at actresses ' houses ; the jovial suppers after the play ; the buoyancy , the brilliancy , the esprit , with which the hours , from midnight to cockcrow , were often pelted with rose-leaves and drowned in Rhenish . By degrees , however , as Godolphin warmed into his attendance at the playhouses , the fine intellectual something that lay yet undestroyed at his heart stirred up emotions which he felt his more vulgar associates were unfitted to share . There is that in theatrical representation which perpetually awakens whatever romance belongs to our character . The magic lights ; the pomp of scene ; the palace , the camp ; the forest ; the midnight wold ; the moonlight reflected on the water ; the melody of the tragic rhythm ; the grace of the comic wit ; the strange art that give such meaning to the poet 's lightest word ; -- the fair , false , exciting life that is detailed before us -- crowding into some three little hours all that our most busy ambition could desire -- love , enterprise , war , glory !