Parish, who had just married, as my Wife and I thought, a very good Sort of a
Woman. We had not, however, lived one Month together before I plainly perceived
this good Sort of Woman had taken a great Prejudice against my Amelia; for
which, if I had not known something of the human Passions, and that high Place
which Envy holds among them, I should not have been able to account: For so far
was my Angel from having given her any Cause of Dislike, that she had treated
her not only with Civility but Kindness.
    Besides Superiority in Beauty, which, I believe, all the World would have
allowed to Amelia, there was another Cause of this Envy, which I am almost
ashamed to mention, as it may well be called my greatest Folly. You are to know
then, Madam, that from a Boy I had been always fond of driving a Coach, in which
I valued myself on having some Skill. This, perhaps, was an innocent, but I
allow it to have been a childish Vanity. As I had an Opportunity, therefore, of
buying an old Coach and Harness very cheap, (indeed they cost me but Twelve
Pound) and as I considered that the same Horses which drew my Waggons, would
likewise draw my Coach, I resolved on indulging myself in the Purchase.
    The Consequence of setting up this poor old Coach is inconceivable. Before
this, as my Wife and myself had very little distinguished ourselves from the
other Farmers and their Wives, either in our Dress, or our Way of Living, they
treated us as their Equals; but now they began to consider us as elevating
ourselves into a State of Superiority, and immediately began to envy, hate, and
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 not doubting but it arose in me from the same Ostentation, they began to
hate me likewise, and to turn my Equipage into Ridicule; asserting that my
Horses, which were as well matched as any in the Kingdom, were of different
Colours and Sizes; with much more of that Kind of Wit, the only Basis of which
is lying.
    But what will appear most surprising to you, Madam, was, that the Curate's
Wife, who being lame, had more Use of the Coach than my Amelia, (indeed, she
seldom went to Church in any other Manner) was one of my bitterest Enemies on
the Occasion. If she had ever any Dispute with