“Dr. Harrison, at whose rectory we were staying, came to our assistance.  He asked me if I had any prospect of going again into the army; if not, what scheme of life I proposed to myself.

“I told him that as I had no powerful friends, I could have but little expectations in a military way; that I was incapable of thinking of any other scheme, for I was without the necessary knowledge or experience, and was likewise destitute of money to set up with.

“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.