twelve o’clock
However , he was got out -- here he is again , looking as he always does , as if he had been in a bandbox ever since the last session . There he is , at his old post every night , just as we have described him : and , as characters are scarce , and faithful servants scarcer , long may he be there , say we ! Now , when you have taken your seat in the kitchen , and duly noticed the large fire and roasting-jack at one end of the room -- the little table for washing glasses and draining jugs at the other -- the clock over the window opposite St. Margaret 's Church -- the deal tables and wax candles -- the damask table-cloths and bare floor -- the plate and china on the tables , and the gridiron on the fire ; and a few other anomalies peculiar to the place -- we will point out to your notice two or three of the people present , whose station or absurdities render them the most worthy of remark . It is half-past twelve o'clock , and as the division is not expected for an hour or two , a few Members are lounging away the time here in preference to standing at the bar of the House , or sleeping in one of the side galleries . That singularly awkward and ungainly-looking man , in the brownish-white hat , with the straggling black trousers which reach about half-way down the leg of his boots , who is leaning against the meat-screen , apparently deluding himself into the belief that he is thinking about something , is a splendid sample of a Member of the House of Commons concentrating in his own person the wisdom of a constituency . Observe the wig , of a dark hue but indescribable colour , for if it be naturally brown , it has acquired a black tint by long service , and if it be naturally black , the same cause has imparted to it a tinge of rusty brown ; and remark how very materially the great blinker-like spectacles assist the expression of that most intelligent face . Seriously speaking , did you ever see a countenance so expressive of the most hopeless extreme of heavy dulness , or behold a form so strangely put together ?