five o'clock in the afternoon
Edmund Spenser . We had seen all that Youghal could offer to the tourist ; we were yearning for Salemina ; we wanted to hear Benella talk about ` the science ' ; we were eager to inspect the archaeologist , to see if he ` would do ' for Salemina instead of the canon , or even the minor canon , of the English Church , for whom we had always privately destined her . Accordingly we decided to go by an earlier train , and give our family a pleasant surprise . It was five o'clock in the afternoon when our car trundled across St. Patrick 's Bridge , past Father Mathew 's statue , and within view of the church and bells of Shandon , that sound so grand on the pleasant waters of the river Lee . Away to the west is the two-armed river . Along its banks rise hills , green and well wooded , with beautiful gardens and verdant pastures reaching to the very brink of the shining stream . It was Saturday afternoon , and I never drove through a livelier , quainter , more easy-going town .