ggit had two large
coloured bottles in his windows more than we had; but then we had two
horses, and he had only one. He tied over the corks of his bottles with
red-coloured paper; we covered up the lips of our vials with delicate
blue. It certainly was the case--for though an enemy I'll do him
justice--that, after Mr Brookes had left us, Mr Pleggit had two
shopmen, and Mr Cophagus only one; but then that one was Mr Japhet
Newland; besides, one of his assistants had only one eye, the other
squinted horribly, so if we measured by eyes, I think the advantage was
actually on our side; and, as far as ornament went, most decidedly; for
who would not prefer putting on his chimney-piece one handsome, elegant
vase, than two damaged, ill-looking pieces of crockery? Mr Pleggit had
certainly a gilt mortar and pestle over his door, which Mr Cophagus had
omitted when he furnished his shop; but then the mortar had a great
crack down the middle, and the pestle had lost its knob. And let me ask
those who have been accustomed to handle it, what is a pestle without a
knob? On the whole, I think, with the advantage of having two fronts,
like Janus, we certainly had the best of the comparison; but I shall
leave the impartial to decide.

All I can say is, that the feuds of the rival houses were most bitter--
the hate intense--the mutual scorn unmeasurable. Did Mr Ebenezer
Pleggit meet Mr Phineas Cophagus in the street, the former immediately
began to spit as if he had swallowed some of his own vile adulterated
drugs; and in rejoinder, Mr Cophagus immediately raised the cane from
his nose high above his forehead in so threatening an attitude as almost
to warrant the other swearing the peace against him, muttering, "Ugly
puppy--knows nothing--um--patients die--and so on."

It may be well supposed that this spirit of enmity extended through the
lower branches of the rival houses--the assistants and I were at deadly
feud; and this feud was even more deadly between the boys who carried
out the medicines, and whose baskets might, in some measure, have been
looked upon as the rival ensigns of the parties, they themselves
occupying the dangerous and honourable post of standard bearers.

Timothy, although the kindest-hearted fellow in the world, was as good a
hater as Dr Johnson himself could have wished to meet with; and when
sometimes his basket was not so well filled as usual, he would fill it
up with empty bottles below, rather than that