about one
o'clock
see , he 's got his knocket full of pockers ! he 's got his knocket full of pockers -- see here , your Worship '' -- `` What _ do _ you mean , sir , by such gibberish ? '' inquired the magistrate , in so stern a tone as drew the speaker 's attention to the little transposition of letters which he had made in his headlong haste to detect the falsehood of the delinquent ; who , finding the dismal strait to which he was driven , and feeling really very ill , begged for mercy -- which , after a very severe rebuke , the pallid culprit being confronted by seven knockers lying before him in a row , all of them having been taken out of his own pockets , he obtained , on condition of his making compensation to the injured parties , who compounded with him for twelve pounds . -LSB- 5 -RSB- After paying a couple of pounds to the poor-box , he was discharged ; crawled into a coach , and , in a very sad condition , reached his rooms about one o'clock , and got into bed in a truly deplorable state -- never once recollecting that , at that precise hour , he ought to have been taking the chair of the meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Civil and Religious Discord . As , however , his misfortunes were , in the newspapers , assigned , not to `` Tittlebat Titmouse , '' but to one '' _ John Smith _ , '' the exact state of the case never transpired to the worthy gentlemen who had been so unaccountably deprived of his services ; and who , on inquiry , were told by his fluent valet , that Mr. Titmouse 's late hours at the House had brought on a slight and sudden attack of -- jaundice ; on hearing which , they begged he might be assured of their respectful sympathy , and hearty wishes for his restoration ; and tried very hard to sound the valet on the subject of his master 's compensating for his absence by some donation or subscription ; but the fellow was very obtuse , and they were compelled to depart disappointed . I should have thought that the foregoing would have proved a lesson to Mr. Titmouse , and restrained him for some time from yielding to his cursed propensity to drink . Yet was it otherwise -- and I shall tell the matter exactly as it happened .