A sudden cry startled the company, and at the same instant Garrick was thrown on his hands and knees on the floor by the act of Goldsmith's springing to his feet. “By the Lord, I've got it!” shouted Goldsmith. “The Jessamy Bride has given it to me, as I knew she would--the title of my comedy--she has just said it: '_She Stoops to Conquer_.'” CHAPTER XII. As a matter of course, Colman objected to the new title when Goldsmith communicated it to him the next day; but the latter was firm on this particular point. He had given the play its name, he said, and he would not alter it now on any consideration. Colman once again shrugged his shoulders. The production of the play gave him so much practice at shrugging, Goldsmith expressed his regret at not being able to introduce the part of a Frenchman, which he said he believed the manager would play to perfection. But when Johnson, who attended the rehearsal with Miss Reynolds, the whole Horneck family, Cradock and Murphy, asserted, as he did with his customary emphasis, that no better title than “She Stoops to Conquer” could be found for the comedy, Colman made no further objections, and the rehearsal was proceeded with. “Nay, sir,” cried Johnson, when Goldsmith was leaving his party in a box in order to go upon the stage, “Nay, sir, you shall not desert us. You must stay by us to let us know when the jests are spoken, so that we may be fully qualified to laugh at the right moments when the theatre is filled. Why, Goldy, you would not leave us to our own resources?” “I will be the Lieutenant Cook of the comedy, Dr. Johnson,” said Miss Horneck--Lieutenant Cook and his discoveries constituted the chief topics of the hour. “I believe that I know so much of the dialogue as will enable me to pilot you, not merely to the Otaheite of a jest, but to a whole archipelago of wit.” “Otaheite is a name of good omen,” said Cradock. “It is suggestive of palms, and '_palmam qui meruit ferat._'” “Sir,” said Johnson, “you should know better than to quote Latin in the presence of ladies. Though your remark is not quite so bad as I expected it would be, yet let me tell you, sir, that unless the wit in the comedy is a good deal livelier than yours, it will have a poor chance with the playgoers.” “Oh, sir, Dr. Goldsmith's wit is greatly superior to mine,” laughed Cradock. “Otherwise it would be my comedy that would be in rehearsal, and Dr. Goldsmith would be merely on a level with us who constitute his critics.” Goldsmith had gone on the stage and the rehearsal had begun, so that Johnson was enabled, by pretending to give all his attention to the opening dialogue, to hide his lack of an effective reply to Cradock for his insolence in suggesting that they were both on the same level as critics.