… clubs. A favourite in society, he was ‘clubbable’, to use the term coined by Samuel Johnson and he was also known for drinking heavily and gambling. 1 He was a great socializer, using conversation as a social art and political tool and … 2 vols. (London: John Murray, 1830), p. 398. Lord Byro n would add in his Journals , recalling Sheridan’s propensity for drinking, ‘Let me begin the evening with Sheridan [...] Sheridan for dinner […] Sheridan for claret or port […] Sheridan … from Parliament, he is said to have watched his Drury Lane Theatre burn to the ground at the Piazza Coffee-House , drinking and wittingly remarking ‘A man may surely be able to take a glass of wine by his own fireside’ (Moore, Memoirs …