Dr Johnson (and Hough)

 

Dr Samuel Johnson lived and worked in Gough Square between 1748 and 1759 and it is one of the few residential houses of its age that still survive in the City of London.

The house has been restored to its original condition with panelled rooms, a pine staircase, and a collection of period furniture, prints and portraits.

Although Dr Johnson’s life and works are rightly celebrated here, it is famous for the memorial to the doctor’s favourite cat, Hodge, whose statue adorns the square. The good doctor fed Hodge with oysters, (a cheap food then) and one can be seen in his bowl on the statue. 

‘Who, by his master when caressed, 

Warmly his gratitude expressed, 

And never failed his thanks to purr, 

Whene'er he stroked his sable fur.’

www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/famous/hodge.html

Dr Johnson’s House