midnight
Convinced of the instability of all mundane affairs and being , moreover , a man of original notions as well as something of an artist in costumery , he was led to create that picturesque body of men , the local Militia , which survives to this day and would alone entitle him to the grateful notice of posterity . These elegant warriors , he calculated , would serve both for the purpose of infusing terror into the minds of potential enemies , and of acting as a decorative body-guard to enhance his own public appearances on gala days . He threw his whole soul into the enterprise . After the corps had been duly established , he amused himself by drilling them on Sunday afternoons and modelling new buttons for their uniforms ; to give them the requisite military stamina he over-fed and starved them by turns , wrapped them in sheepskin overcoats for long route-marches in July , exercised them in sham fights with live grapeshot and unblunted stilettos and otherwise thinned their ranks of undesirables , and hardened their physique , by forcing them to escalade horrible precipices at midnight on horseback . He was a martinet ; he knew it ; he gloried on the distinction . `` All the world loves a disciplinarian , '' he was wont to say . Nevertheless , like many great princes , he realized that political reasons might counsel at times an abatement of rigour .