midnight
Being a determined champion of Paris Garden , he has chosen a sign corresponding to his habits ; and he deals in giving drink to the thirsty , that he himself may drink without paying , and receive pay for what is drunken by others . -- Let us enter the ever-open gate of this second Axylus . '' As they spoke , they entered the dilapidated tavern , which was , nevertheless , more ample in dimensions , and less ruinous , than many houses in the same evil neighbourhood . Two or three haggard , ragged drawers , ran to and fro , whose looks , like those of owls , seemed only adapted for midnight , when other creatures sleep , and who by day seemed bleared , stupid , and only half awake . Guided by one of these blinking Ganymedes , they entered a room , where the feeble rays of the sun were almost wholly eclipsed by volumes of tobacco-smoke , rolled from the tubes of the company , while out of the cloudy sanctuary arose the old chant of -- `` Old Sir Simon the King , And old Sir Simon the King , With his malmsey nose , And his ale-dropped hose , And sing hey ding-a-ding-ding . '' Duke Hildebrod , who himself condescended to chant this ditty to his loving subjects , was a monstrously fat old man , with only one eye ; and a nose which bore evidence to the frequency , strength , and depth of his potations . He wore a murrey-coloured plush jerkin , stained with the overflowings of the tankard , and much the worse for wear , and unbuttoned at bottom for the ease of his enormous paunch .