eleven o'clock
Should any of his loved ones make some fatal _ faux pas _ , his tears , like those of the recording angel , would blot out the error . His eyes would refuse to see faults , if there should be faults , in those whom he himself had nurtured . Therefore , though he came with his colleagues to the Weights and Measures , he did not himself take part in the examination . At eleven o'clock the Board-room was opened , and the candidates walked in and seated themselves . Fear of Sir Gregory , and other causes , had thinned the number . Poor Jones , who by right of seniority should have had the prize , declined to put himself in competition with his juniors , and in lieu thereof sent up to the Lords of the Treasury an awful memorial spread over fifteen folio pages -- very uselessly . The Lords of the Treasury referred it to the three kings , whose secretary put a minute upon it .