midnight
Quelled , and in strange awe they listened , and when the music ceased , unable at once to return to the simple prose of their chambers , they lingered , commenting on the mock taste of the architecture of the dining-hall , and laughing at the inflated inscription over the doorway . `` It is worse , '' said Mike , `` than the Middle Temple Hall -- far worse ; but I like this old colonnade , there is something so suggestive in this old inscription in bad Latin . ` Vetustissima Templariorum porticu Igne consumptâ ; an 1679 Nova hæc sumptibus medii Templie extructa an 1681 Gulielmo Whiteloche arm Thesauör . ' '' Once or twice a week Hall dined at the Cock for the purpose of meeting his friends , whom he invited after dinner to his rooms to smoke and drink till midnight . His welcome was so cordial that all were glad to come . The hospitality was that which is met in all chambers in the Temple . Coffee was made with difficulty , delay , and uncertain result ; a bottle of port was sometimes produced ; of whiskey and water there was always plenty .