midnight
Things he admitted were bad , but they might be worse . The monarchy existed still , and the House of Lords was , for a while at least , tolerated . Ireland was disturbed , but not in open rebellion ; and if we had no army to speak of , we still had a navy , and even the present Admiralty only lost about five ships a year ! Till long after midnight did they fence with each other , with buttons on their foils -- very harmlessly , no doubt , but very uselessly too : Brammell could make nothing of a man who neither wanted to hear about finance or taxation , court scandal , schools , or public robbery ; and though he could not in so many words ask -- What have you come for ? why are you here ? he said this in full fifty different ways for three hours and more . ` You make some stay amongst us , I trust ? '