ten o'clock
`` Then be hang 'd , sir , but all the town shall hear to-morrow of the frog and the pool ! No , sir : I am off to see the world -- `` ` Says he : `` This is better than moping in school ! '' ' '' `` Your Highnesses , '' pleaded the unhappy man , `` if , to please you , I sang that idiocy , which , for fifty years now , I had forgotten -- '' `` Exc 'll ` nt shong , '' says Prince Rupert , waking up ; `` less have ' t again ! '' * * * * * To be short , ten o'clock was striking from St. Mary 's spire when , with a prince on either side of me , and thirty guineas in my pocket -LRB- which was all the loose gold he had -RRB- , I walked forth from Master Carter 's door . To make up the deficiency , their highnesses had insisted on furnishing me with a suit made up from the simplest in their joint wardrobes -- riding-boots , breeches , buff-coat , sash , pistols , cloak , and feather 'd hat , all of which fitted me excellently well . By the doors of Christ Church , before we came to the south gate , Prince Rupert , who had been staggering in his walk , suddenly pull 'd up , and leaned against the wall . `` Why -- odd 's my life -- we 've forgot a horse for him ! ''