"The doctor, after a little hesitation, said he had been thinking on
this subject, and proposed to me to turn farmer. At the same time he
offered to let me his parsonage, which was then become vacant; he said
it was a farm which required but little stock, and that little should
not be wanting.

"I embraced this offer very eagerly, and Amelia received the news with
the highest transports of joy. Thus, you see me degraded from my former
rank in life; no longer Captain Booth, but Farmer Booth.

"For a year all went well; love, health, and tranquillity filled our
lives. Then a heavy blow befell us, and we were robbed of our dear
friend the doctor, who was chosen to attend the young lord, the son of
the patron of the living, in his travels as a tutor.

"By this means I was bereft not only of the best companion in the world,
but of the best counsellor, and in consequence of this loss I fell into
many errors.

"The first of these was in enlarging my business by adding a farm of one
hundred a year to the parsonage, in renting which I had also as bad a
bargain as the doctor had before given me a good one. The consequence of
which was that whereas at the end of the first year I was L80 to the
good, at the end of the second I was nearly L40 to the bad.

"A second folly I was guilty of was in uniting families with the curate
of the parish, who had just married. We had not, however, lived one
month together before I plainly perceived the curate's wife had taken a
great prejudice against my wife, though my Amelia had treated her with
nothing but kindness, and, with the mischievous nature of envy, spread
dislike against us.

"My greatest folly, however, was the purchase of an old coach. The
farmers and their wives considered that the setting up of a coach was
the elevating ourselves above them, and immediately began to declare war
against us. The neighbouring little squires, too, were uneasy to see a
poor renter become their equal in a matter in which they placed so much
dignity, and began to hate me likewise.

"My neighbours now began to conspire against me. Whatever I bought, I
was sure to buy dearer, and when I sold, I was obliged to sell cheaper
than any other. In fact, they were all united; and while they every day
committed trespasses on my lands with impunity, if any of my cattle
escaped into their fields I was either forced to enter into a law-suit
or to make amends for the damage sustained.

"The consequence of all