about noon
Mr Welles was highly accomplished and highly fashionable ; he played ombre and basset , the spinnet and the violin ; he sang and danced well , composed anagrams and acrostics , was a good rider , hunted fearlessly and gamed high , interlarded his conversation with puns , and was a thorough adept at small talk . He was personally acquainted with every actor on the London stage , and by sight with every politician in the Cabinet . His manners were of the new school then just rising -- which means , that they were very free and easy , removed from all the minute and often cumbersome ceremonies which had distinguished the old school . He generally rose about noon , dined at three p.m. , spent the evening at the opera or theatre , and went to bed towards morning . Add to this , that he collected old china , took much snuff , combed his wig in public , and was unable to write legibly or spell correctly -- and a finished portrait is presented of Mr Marcus Welles , and through him of a fashionable London gentleman of his day . The impression made by Mr Welles on the ladies at the Abbey was of varied character . Madam commended him , but with that faint praise which is nearly akin to censure .