midnight
I have not yet had a guinea brief . My only chance is , to be sent out as judge to Sierra Leone , or perhaps to be made a commissioner of the Court of Requests . _ B. _ You are indeed humble in your aspirations . I recollect the time , Ansard , when you dreamt of golden fame , and aspired to the wool-sack -- when your ambition prompted you to midnight labour , and you showed an energy -- _ A. _ -LRB- _ putting his hands up to his forehead , with his elbows on the table . _ -RRB- What can I do , Barnstaple ? If I trust to briefs , my existence will be but brief -- we all must live . _ B. _ I will not reply as Richelieu did to a brother author , `` Je ne vois pas la nécessité , '' but this I do say , that if you are in future to live by supplying the public with such nonsense , the shorter your existence the better .