eleven o'clock
The _ raffinés _ despise the theatre , '' said Peter Sherringham in the manner of a man abreast with the culture of his age and not to be captured by a surprise . '' _ Connu , connu _ ! '' `` It will be known better yet , wo n't it ? when the essentially brutal nature of the modern audience is still more perceived , when it has been properly analysed : the _ omnium gatherum _ of the population of a big commercial city at the hour of the day when their taste is at its lowest , flocking out of hideous hotels and restaurants , gorged with food , stultified with buying and selling and with all the other sordid preoccupations of the age , squeezed together in a sweltering mass , disappointed in their seats , timing the author , timing the actor , wishing to get their money back on the spot -- all before eleven o'clock . Fancy putting the exquisite before such a tribunal as that ! There 's not even a question of it . The dramatist would n't if he could , and in nine cases out of ten he could n't if he would .