two o'clock in the afternoon
The word poet shall be remembered with everlasting honour , when the title Marquis shall -- Pshaw ! ` On another occasion an actress , who , strange to tell , happened very deservedly to be popular , and whom before she arrived at the dignity of a London theatre I had known in the country , recommended me to a dutchess . To this dutchess I went day after day ; and day after day was subjected for hours to the prying , unmannered , insolence of her countless lacquies . This time she was not yet stirring , though it was two o'clock in the afternoon ; the next she was engaged with an Italian vender of artificial flowers ; the day after the prince and the devil does not know who beside were with her ; and so on , till patience and spleen were at daggers drawn . ` At last , from the hall I was introduced to the drawing-room , where I was half amazed to find myself . Could it be real ? Should I , after all , see a creature so elevated ; so unlike the poor compendium of flesh and blood with which I crawled about the earth ?