about two o'clock in the
afternoon
On the other hand , the doctor with great warmth alleged , that those officers ought to suffer death , or banishment at least , for having plundered the people in this manner , which was so impudent and barefaced , as plainly to prove they were certain of escaping with impunity , and that they were old offenders in the same degree of delinquency . He said , that the greatest man in Athens would have been condemned to perpetual exile , and seen his estate confiscated for public use , had he dared in such a licentious manner to violate the rights of a fellow-citizen ; and as for the little affronts to which a man may be subject from the petulance of the multitude , he looked upon them as glorious indications of liberty , which ought not to be repressed , and would at any time rejoice to find himself overthrown in a kennel by the insolence of a son of freedom , even though the fall should cost him a limb ; adding , by way of illustration , that the greatest pleasure he ever enjoyed was in seeing a dustman wilfully overturn a gentleman 's coach , in which two ladies were bruised , even to the danger of their lives . Pallet , shocked at the extravagance of this declaration , `` If that be the case , '' said he , `` I wish you may see every bone in your body broke by the first carman you meet in the streets of London . '' This argument being discussed , and the reckoning discharged without any deduction , although the landlord , in stating the articles , had an eye to the loss he had sustained by his own countrymen , they departed from Arras , and arrived in safety at Lisle , about two o'clock in the afternoon . They had scarce taken possession of their lodgings , in a large hotel in the Grande Place , when the innkeeper gave them to understand , that he kept an ordinary below , which was frequented by several English gentlemen who resided in town , and that dinner was then set upon the table . Peregrine , who seized all opportunities of observing new characters , persuaded his company to dine in public ; and they were accordingly conducted to the place , where they found a mixture of Scotch and Dutch officers , who had come from Holland to learn their exercises at the academy , and some gentlemen in the French service , who were upon garrison duty in the citadel . Among these last was a person about the age of fifty , of a remarkably genteel air and polite address , dignified with a Maltese cross , and distinguished by the particular veneration of all those who knew him .