three o'clock
Thousands of gentlemen , who have survived the relish of active fashionable pursuits , pass their life in that state without tasting the delight of one new sensation . They rise in the morning merely because Nature will not allow them to remain longer in bed . They begin the day without motive or purpose , and close it after having performed the same unvaried round as the most thoroughbred domestic animal that ever dwelt in manse or manor-house . If you ask them at three o'clock where they are to dine , they can not tell you ; but about the wonted dinner-hour , batches of these forlorn bachelors find themselves diurnally congregated , as if by instinct , around a cozy table in some snug coffee-house , where , after inspecting the contents of the bill of fare , they discuss the news of the day , reserving the scandal , by way of dessert , for their wine . Day after day their respective political opinions give rise to keen encounters , but without producing the slightest shade of change in any of their old ingrained and particular sentiments . Some of their haunts , I mean those frequented by the elderly race , are shabby enough in their appearance and circumstances , except perhaps in the quality of the wine . Everything in them is regulated by an ancient and precise economy , and you perceive , at the first glance , that all is calculated on the principle of the house giving as much for the money as it can possibly afford , without infringing those little etiquettes which persons of gentlemanly habits regard as essentials .