four o’clock in the
afternoon
Can any one fail to have noticed them in the streets on Sunday ? And were there ever such harmless efforts at the grand and magnificent as the young fellows display ! We walked down the Strand , a Sunday or two ago , behind a little group ; and they furnished food for our amusement the whole way . They had come out of some part of the city ; it was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon ; and they were on their way to the Park . There were four of them , all arm-in-arm , with white kid gloves like so many bridegrooms , light trousers of unprecedented patterns , and coats for which the English language has yet no name -- a kind of cross between a great-coat and a surtout , with the collar of the one , the skirts of the other , and pockets peculiar to themselves . Each of the gentlemen carried a thick stick , with a large tassel at the top , which he occasionally twirled gracefully round ; and the whole four , by way of looking easy and unconcerned , were walking with a paralytic swagger irresistibly ludicrous . One of the party had a watch about the size and shape of a reasonable Ribstone pippin , jammed into his waistcoat-pocket , which he carefully compared with the clocks at St. Clement 's and the New Church , the illuminated clock at Exeter ` Change , the clock of St. Martin 's Church , and the clock of the Horse Guards .