midnight
Poor Tom was wont to promise amendment , and would keep his promise faithfully so long as no supreme temptation , in the shape of a visit from some friend of the jolly-good-fellow species , arose to vanquish his good resolutions . But a good-tempered , generous-hearted young man who farms his own land , has three or four good horses in his stable , a decent cellar of honest port and sherry -- `` none of your wishy-washy sour stuff in the way of hock or claret , '' cried Tom Halliday -- and a very comfortable balance at his banker 's , finds it no easy matter to shake off friends of the jolly-good-fellow fraternity . In London Mr. Halliday found the spirit of jolly-dog-ism rampant . George Sheldon had always been his favourite of these two brothers ; and it was George who lured him from the safe shelter of Fitzgeorge-street and took him to mysterious haunts , whence he returned long after midnight , boisterous of manner and unsteady of gait , and with garments reeking of stale tobacco-smoke . He was always good-tempered , even after these diabolical orgies on some unknown Brocken , and protested indistinctly that there was no harm , -- '' ` pon m ' wor ' , ye know , ol' gur ' ! Geor ' an ' me -- half-doz ' oyst ` r -- c ` gar -- botl ' p ' l ale -- str ' t home , '' and much more to the same effect . When did any married man ever take more than half a dozen oysters -- or take any undomestic pleasure for his own satisfaction ?