ten o’clock
But the choicest spot in all Scotland-yard was the old public-house in the corner . Here , in a dark wainscoted-room of ancient appearance , cheered by the glow of a mighty fire , and decorated with an enormous clock , whereof the face was white , and the figures black , sat the lusty coalheavers , quaffing large draughts of Barclay 's best , and puffing forth volumes of smoke , which wreathed heavily above their heads , and involved the room in a thick dark cloud . From this apartment might their voices be heard on a winter 's night , penetrating to the very bank of the river , as they shouted out some sturdy chorus , or roared forth the burden of a popular song ; dwelling upon the last few words with a strength and length of emphasis which made the very roof tremble above them . Here , too , would they tell old legends of what the Thames was in ancient times , when the Patent Shot Manufactory was n't built , and Waterloo-bridge had never been thought of ; and then they would shake their heads with portentous looks , to the deep edification of the rising generation of heavers , who crowded round them , and wondered where all this would end ; whereat the tailor would take his pipe solemnly from his mouth , and say , how that he hoped it might end well , but he very much doubted whether it would or not , and could n't rightly tell what to make of it -- a mysterious expression of opinion , delivered with a semi-prophetic air , which never failed to elicit the fullest concurrence of the assembled company ; and so they would go on drinking and wondering till ten o'clock came , and with it the tailor 's wife to fetch him home , when the little party broke up , to meet again in the same room , and say and do precisely the same things , on the following evening at the same hour . About this time the barges that came up the river began to bring vague rumours to Scotland-yard of somebody in the city having been heard to say , that the Lord Mayor had threatened in so many words to pull down the old London-bridge , and build up a new one . At first these rumours were disregarded as idle tales , wholly destitute of foundation , for nobody in Scotland-yard doubted that if the Lord Mayor contemplated any such dark design , he would just be clapped up in the Tower for a week or two , and then killed off for high treason . By degrees , however , the reports grew stronger , and more frequent , and at last a barge , laden with numerous chaldrons of the best Wallsend , brought up the positive intelligence that several of the arches of the old bridge were stopped , and that preparations were actually in progress for constructing the new one .