midnight
The gentlewoman was a person of virtue and merit , but was unlucky in her choice of a husband -- Porteous was no better a husband than he had been a son . They were not long married when he began to ill-use her . He dragged her out of bed by the hair of the head , and beat her to the effusion of blood . The whole neighbourhood were alarmed sometimes at midnight by her shrieks and cries ; so much so , indeed , that a lady living above them was obliged , between terms , to take a lodging elsewhere for her own quiet . Mrs Porteous was obliged to separate from her husband , and this was her requital for having been the occasion of his advancement . His command of the city-guard gave him great opportunities of displaying his evil temper , and manifesting his ungovernable passions . Seldom a day passed but some of his men experienced his severity .