few minutes before twelve o’clock
Mr. Snodgrass , as usual , took a great mass of notes , which would no doubt have afforded most useful and valuable information , had not the burning eloquence of the words or the feverish influence of the wine made that gentleman 's hand so extremely unsteady , as to render his writing nearly unintelligible , and his style wholly so . By dint of patient investigation , we have been enabled to trace some characters bearing a faint resemblance to the names of the speakers ; and we can only discern an entry of a song -LRB- supposed to have been sung by Mr. Jingle -RRB- , in which the words ` bowl ' ` sparkling ' ` ruby ' ` bright ' and ` wine ' are frequently repeated at short intervals . We fancy , too , that we can discern at the very end of the notes , some indistinct reference to ` broiled bones ' ; and then the words ` cold ' ` without ' occur : but as any hypothesis we could found upon them must necessarily rest upon mere conjecture , we are not disposed to indulge in any of the speculations to which they may give rise . We will therefore return to Mr. Tupman ; merely adding that within some few minutes before twelve o'clock that night , the convocation of worthies of Dingley Dell and Muggleton were heard to sing , with great feeling and emphasis , the beautiful and pathetic national air of ` We wo n't go home till morning , We wo n't go home till morning , We wo n't go home till morning , Till daylight doth appear . ' The quiet seclusion of Dingley Dell , the presence of so many of the gentler sex , and the solicitude and anxiety they evinced in his behalf , were all favourable to the growth and development of those softer feelings which nature had implanted deep in the bosom of Mr. Tracy Tupman , and which now appeared destined to centre in one lovely object . The young ladies were pretty , their manners winning , their dispositions unexceptionable ; but there was a dignity in the air , a touch-me-not - ishness in the walk , a majesty in the eye , of the spinster aunt , to which , at their time of life , they could lay no claim , which distinguished her from any female on whom Mr. Tupman had ever gazed . That there was something kindred in their nature , something congenial in their souls , something mysteriously sympathetic in their bosoms , was evident .