eed made
far the greater figure; for he liked to _cut a dash_, as he called
it. It was his delight to make the ancient gentry of the
neighborhood stare, at seeing a grazier vie with them in show, and
exceed them in expense. And while it was the study of Worthy to
conform to his station, and to set a good example to those about
him, it was the delight of Bragwell to eclipse, in his way of life,
men of larger fortune. He did not see how much his vanity raised the
envy of his inferiors, the ill-will of his equals, and the contempt
of his betters.

His wife was a notable stirring woman, but vain, violent, and
ambitious; very ignorant, and very high-minded. She had married
Bragwell before he was worth a shilling, and as she had brought him
a good deal of money, she thought herself the grand cause of his
rising in the world; and thence took occasion to govern him most
completely. Whenever he ventured to oppose her, she took care to put
him in mind that he owed every thing to her; that had it not been
for her, he might still have been stumping after a plow-tail, or
serving hogs in old Worthy's farm-yard; but that it was she who made
a gentleman of him. In order to set about making him a gentleman,
she had begun by teasing him till he had turned away all his poor
relations who worked on the farm; she next drew him off from keeping
company with his old acquaintances, and at last persuaded him to
remove from the place where he had got his money. Poor woman! she
had not sense and virtue enough to see how honorable it is for a man
to raise himself in the world by fair means, and then to help
forward his poor relations and friends; engaging their services by
his kindness, and endeavoring to turn his own advancement in life to
the best account, and of making it the instrument of assisting those
who had a natural claim to his protection.

Mrs. Bragwell was an excellent mistress, according to her own
notions of excellence; for no one could say she ever lost an
opportunity of scolding a servant, or was ever guilty of the
weakness of overlooking a fault. Toward her two daughters her
behavior was far otherwise. In them she could see nothing but
perfections, but her extravagant fondness for these girls was full
as much owing to pride as to affection. She was bent on making a
family, and having found out that she was too ignorant, and too much
trained to the habits of getting money, ever to hope to make a
figure herself, she looked to h