Doctor, in his severest voice; 'when we read of costly
entertainments such as these, and still remember, that we have a
Titus--'

'What would be your mother's feelings if you died of apoplexy!' said Mr
Feeder.

'A Domitian--'

'And you're blue, you know,' said Mr Feeder.

'A Nero, a Tiberius, a Caligula, a Heliogabalus, and many more, pursued
the Doctor; 'it is, Mr Feeder--if you are doing me the honour to
attend--remarkable; VERY remarkable, Sir--'

But Johnson, unable to suppress it any longer, burst at that moment into
such an overwhelming fit of coughing, that although both his immediate
neighbours thumped him on the back, and Mr Feeder himself held a glass
of water to his lips, and the butler walked him up and down several
times between his own chair and the sideboard, like a sentry, it was a
full five minutes before he was moderately composed. Then there was a
profound silence.

'Gentlemen,' said Doctor Blimber, 'rise for Grace! Cornelia, lift Dombey
down'--nothing of whom but his scalp was accordingly seen above
the tablecloth. 'Johnson will repeat to me tomorrow morning before
breakfast, without book, and from the Greek Testament, the first chapter
of the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians. We will resume our
studies, Mr Feeder, in half-an-hour.'

The young gentlemen bowed and withdrew. Mr Feeder did likewise.
During the half-hour, the young gentlemen, broken into pairs, loitered
arm-in-arm up and down a small piece of ground behind the house, or
endeavoured to kindle a spark of animation in the breast of Briggs. But
nothing happened so vulgar as play. Punctually at the appointed time,
the gong was sounded, and the studies, under the joint auspices of
Doctor Blimber and Mr Feeder, were resumed.

As the Olympic game of lounging up and down had been cut shorter than
usual that day, on Johnson's account, they all went out for a walk
before tea. Even Briggs (though he hadn't begun yet) partook of this
dissipation; in the enjoyment of which he looked over the cliff two or
three times darkly. Doctor Blimber accompanied them; and Paul had the
honour of being taken in tow by the Doctor himself: a distinguished
state of things, in which he looked very little and feeble.

Tea was served in a style no less polite than the dinner; and after tea,
the young gentlemen rising and bowing as before, withdrew to fetch up
the unfinished tasks of that day, or to get up the already looming tasks
of to-morrow. In the m