midnight
`` Faith , a man might do worse than win so much beauty and wealth . But the creature is arrogant , and calls me ` child ; ' and half the peerage is after her . But we 'll have our jest with the city scrub , Ralph ; not because I bear him malice , but because I hate his wife . And we 'll have our masquerading some time after midnight ; if you can borrow a little finery . '' Mr. Dubbin was released from his lady 's _ sotto voce _ lecture at this instant , and Lord Rochester continued his communication in a whisper , the Honourable Jeremiah assenting with nods and chucklings , while Masaroon whistled for a fresh tankard , and plied the honest merchant with a glass which he never allowed to be empty . The taste for masquerading was a fashion of the time , as much as combing a periwig , or flirting a fan . While Rochester was planning a trick upon the citizen , Lady Fareham was whispering to De Malfort under cover of the fiddles , which were playing an Italian pazzemano , an air beloved by Henrietta of Orleans , who danced to that music with her royal brother-in-law , in one of the sumptuous ballets at St. Cloud .