ome time
without it, on account of illness, I thought it better not to return to
it."

Another time he said of tea: "What a delightful beverage must that be
that pleases all palates at a time when they can take nothing else at
breakfast."

[Illustration: FIREPLACE IN THE COFFEE ROOM OF THE OLD COCK TAVERN]

[Illustration: MORNING GOSSIP IN THE COFFEE ROOM OF THE OLD COCK
TAVERN]

In his early days Johnson had David Garrick as an unwilling pupil. After
the actor had become famous and his prosperity had turned his head, he
was wont to "put the table in a roar" by mimicking the doctor's
grimaces. There is a story that on the occasion of a certain dinner
party where both were guests, Garrick indulged in a coarse jest on the
great man's table manners. After the merriment had subsided, Doctor
Johnson arose solemnly and said:

"Gentlemen, you must doubtless suppose from the extreme familiarity with
which Mr. Garrick has thought fit to treat me that I am an acquaintance
of his; but I can assure you that until I met him here, I never saw him
but once before--and then I paid five shillings for the sight."

A certain sycophant, thinking to curry favor with Johnson, took to
laughing loud and long at everything he said. Johnson's patience at last
became exhausted, and after a particularly objectionable outburst, he
turned upon the boor with:

"Pray sir, what is the matter? I hope I have not said anything which you
can comprehend!"

Because of his physical and mental disabilities Dr. Johnson was not a
good social animal. Nevertheless, when it pleased his humor, he could be
the cavalier, for his mind overcame every impediment.

It is related of him that once when a lady who was showing him around
her garden expressed her regret at being unable to bring a particular
flower to perfection, he arose gallantly to the occasion by taking her
hand and remarking:

"Then, madam, permit me to bring perfection to the flower!"

Again, when Mrs. Siddons, the great English tragedienne, called upon him
in his chambers and the servant did not promptly bring her a chair, his
quick wit made capital of the incident by the remark:

"You see, madam, wherever you go there are no seats to be had!"

John Thomas Smith in his _Antiquarian Rambles in the Streets of London_
(1846), tells an amusing incident in the life of Sir George Etherege,
the playright, who having run up a bill at Locket's ordinary, a coffee
house much frequented by dramatist