the hour of five
Once more the pure Briton and the mixed if not fused English engaged , Bacchus for instrument this time , Bacchus for arbiter of the fray . You may imagine ! says the Dame . She cites the old butler at Esslemont , ` as having been much questioned on the subject by her family relative , Dr. Glossop , and others interested to know the smallest items of the facts , ' -- and he is her authority for the declaration that the Welsh gentlemen and the English gentlemen , ` whatever their united number , ' consumed the number of nine dozen and a half of old Esslemont wine before they rose , or as possibly sank , at the festive board at the hour of five of the morning . Years later , this butler , Joshua Queeney , ` a much enfeebled old man , ' retold and enlarged the tale of the enormous consumption of his best wine ; with a sacred oath to confirm it , and a tear expressive of elegiacal feelings . ` They bled me twelve dozen , not a bottle less , ' she quotes him , after a minute description of his countenance and scrupulously brushed black suit , pensioner though he had become . He had grown , during the interval , to be more communicative as to particulars .