Before Webster's Dictionary, before the Oxford English Dictionary, there was Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language.  Johnson was a man of preeminence.  He was a Shakespearian scholar, an essayist of the first degree, a master critic, a speaker, a man of letters.  He was even the subject of what is perhaps the greatest biography ever written, James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. 

When Samuel Johnson came to town, the line of those who wished to meet him was long.  And that line reached all levels of society.  In his masterful biography of Samuel Johnson, Peter Martin recounts the story of a meeting between King George III and Johnson in February of 1767.  The King was a fan of Johnson and had been told that Johnson occasionally came to the King's Library (which was located where Buckingham Palace now sits).  I'll let Martin tell this part of the story:

"Seeing Johnson enter and settle down with a book by the fire in the library to study, the King's godson and future Librarian, Sir Frederick Barnard, promptly informed the King and led him briskly by candlelight along some dark passages and through a private door into the library.  When Barnard whispered into his ear, 'Here is the King', Johnson 'started up' and stood motionless facing the sovereign.  The King walked over and they began to talk."

The King wanted Johnson to write some more.  Johnson replied that he had already pretty much told the world what he knew.

A man of precision as well.

In appearance, Martin describes Johnson:

"Bewigged, muscular and, for his day, unusually tall at six feet, his massive frame famously dressed in crumpled and soiled clothes, beset by involuntary tics and erratic movements that startled many, opinionated, deferred to, feared for his strong rebuttals, powered in his inimitable and legendary conversation by a prodigious memory, . ."

But what of Boswell's routines?  What was everyday life like for the man?  Sadly, it was often quite wretched.  Johnson suffered from an incredible number of ailments including many that kept him from being able to lie down for long periods of time.  As a result, Johnson was what could only be termed as a "late riser".  Johnson's frequent caretaker, Hester Lynch Thrale, describes his daily habits:

He "would not rise in the morning until twelve o'clock perhaps, and oblige me to make breakfast for him till the bell rung for dinner, though much displeased if the toilet was neglected, and though much of the time passed together was spent blaming or deriding, very justly, my neglect of economy, and waste of money which might make many families happy."

Indeed, Johnson was a night owl, if not by choice.  He claimed that his mind wandered wildly when he tried to sleep.  As a result, it was not uncommon for Johnson to be out until 4:00 a.m. visiting, having tea or conversation with a variety of individuals.  Johnson once wrote:  "I lie down that my acquaintance may sleep; but I lie down to endure oppressive misery and, and soon rise again to pass the night in misery and pain."

One of the great routines of Johnson's life was "The Club". The Club, which met at Turk's Head Tavern, was a gentleman's club of like-minded individuals conceived for dining and drinking.  Its members were some of the day's greatest scholars, thinkers and artists.  For nearly twenty years, starting in 1764, Johnson, Edmund Burke, painter, Joshua Reynold, actor Oliver Goldsmith and others met one night a week from 7:00 p.m. until whenever to discuss anything but politics and religion.

Accounts have Johnson writing commonly in the evening.  He often dined with friends and seemed happy in waking hours in spite of his many ailments.  And his odd routine didn't seem to harm his achievements.