Robert Levet (1705–1782), a Yorkshireman who became a Parisian waiter, then garnered some training as an apothecary and moved to London, was eulogised by the poet Samuel Johnson, with whom Levet shared a friendship of thirty-six years, in Johnson's poem "On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet." Levet (sometimes spelled Levett) was described as "an obscure practiser in physick amongst the lower people." Levet was born in Kirk Ella five miles west of Hull, Yorkshire. Levet moved to Paris, where he found work as a waiter. Along the way, he picked up some training as an apothecary.