sperous yeoman
class, and I have known farm-houses in East Anglia not one whit larger
dignified by the name of 'hall.' Nearly opposite is a pond. The trim
hedges are a delight to us to-day, but you must cast your mind back to a
century ago when they were entirely absent. The house belonged to George
Borrow's maternal grandfather, Samuel Perfrement, who farmed the
adjacent land at this time. Samuel and Mary Perfrement had eight
children, the third of whom, Ann, was born in 1772.

In February 1793 Ann Perfrement, aged twenty-one, married Thomas Borrow,
aged thirty-five, in the Parish Church of East Dereham, and of the two
children that were born to them George Henry Borrow was the younger.
Thomas Borrow was the son of one John Borrow of St. Cleer in Cornwall,
who died before this child was born, and is described by his
grandson[3] as the scion 'of an ancient but reduced Cornish family,
tracing descent from the de Burghs, and entitled to carry their arms.'
This claim, of which I am thoroughly sceptical, is endorsed by Dr.
Knapp,[4] who, however, could find no trace of the family earlier than
1678, the old parish registers having been destroyed. When Thomas Borrow
was born the family were in any case nothing more than small farmers,
and Thomas Borrow and his brothers were working on the land in the
intervals of attending the parish school. At the age of eighteen Thomas
was apprenticed to a maltster at Liskeard, and about this time he joined
the local Militia. Tradition has it that his career as a maltster was
cut short by his knocking his master down in a scrimmage. The victor
fled from the scene of his prowess, and enlisted as a private soldier in
the Coldstream Guards. This was in 1783, and in 1792 he was transferred
to the West Norfolk Militia; hence his appearance at East Dereham,
where, now a serjeant, his occupations for many a year were recruiting
and drilling.[5] It is recorded that at a theatrical performance at East
Dereham he first saw, presumably on the stage of the county-hall, his
future wife--Ann Perfrement. She was, it seems, engaged in a minor part
in a travelling company, not, we may assume, altogether with the
sanction of her father, who, in spite of his inheritance of French
blood, doubtless shared the then very strong English prejudice against
the stage. However, Ann was one of eight children, and had, as we shall
find in after years, no inconsiderable strength of character, and so may
well at twenty ye