 His visitors were encouraged to pay homage to the Bard by writing verses in Shakespeare's honour and placing them at the foot of the statue. Garrick had the best of them published anonymously in the London journals. Some found this practice cloying; Samuel Foote commented sarcastically that Garrick had "dedicated a temple to a certain divinity ... before whose shrine frequent libations are made, and on whose alter the fat of venison, a viand grateful to this deity, is seen often to smoke."
