2O6 ON THE EXERTIONS amusements. The midnight hour was heretofore used proverbially to eXpress late revelling. But from the present in- version of hours, that would give an idea. not only of dulness and vulgarity, but it would rather designate'the hour when company met, than when they parted. Midnight was once the time which closed the scene of dissipation ; it is now. that of commencing it. .And it is scarcely extravagant to say, that the morning frequenters of the charitable meetings join them not many hours after the others return from the scene of their unquiet pleasures. In the one case, no neighbourhood is kept awake by unseasonable noise and knockings, no servants. are exposed to corruptions abroad, nor robbed of quiet rest at home. To, turn fr.om the metropolis to the provinces. compare the little absences from _home of. ladies who inspect the concerns, and give instruction to the poor,. with the long and frequent
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