"Fetch me 'Rasselas,' my dear, out of the book-room."

When I had brought it to her, she turned to Captain Brown -

"Now allow me to read you a scene, and then the present company can
judge between your favourite, Mr Boz, and Dr Johnson."

She read one of the conversations between Rasselas and Imlac, in a
high-pitched, majestic voice: and when she had ended, she said, "I
imagine I am now justified in my preference of Dr Johnson as a
writer of fiction." The Captain screwed his lips up, and drummed
on the table, but he did not speak. She thought she would give him
a finishing blow or two.

"I consider it vulgar, and below the dignity of literature, to
publish in numbers."

"How was the Rambler published, ma'am?" asked Captain Brown in a
low voice, which I think Miss Jenkyns could not have heard.

"Dr Johnson's style is a model for young beginners. My father
recommended it to me when I began to write letters--I have formed
my own style upon it; I recommended it to your favourite."

"I should be very sorry for him to exchange his style for any such
pompous writing," said Captain Brown.

Miss Jenkyns felt this as a personal affront, in a way of which the
Captain had not dreamed. Epistolary writing she and her friends