Page:Devonshire Characters and Strange Events.djvu/528

O once I could He on the best,
    The best of good beds made of down,
If sure of a flock of good straw
    I am glad to keep off the cold ground.
Some say that Old Care killed the cat,
    And starv'd her for fear she should die;
Henceforth I'll be wiser than that,
    To my cares bid for ever good-bye.
        So adieu to old England, adieu!
            And adieu to some thousands of pounds!
        If the world had been done, ere my life was begun,
            My sorrows would then have had bounds.

Mrs. Gifford was left very badly off. All she had for her maintenance was the rent of four small fields all that remained of the land as yet unsold.

Edward Gifford returned from sea in 1764, having been absent eight years. He had received over a hundred pounds of prize money in addition to his wages, which were considerable; but as he reappeared in Ashburton his pockets were nearly empty. The little property yet left was therefore turned into money, and Edward Gifford set up a second time as glazier, plumber, and house-painter. William was now sent to the free school in S. Laurence's Chapel, the master of which was Hugh Smerdon. This school was founded by Bishop Stapeldon in the tower of the old Chantry Chapel. On the dissolution of the chantries, the scholars and master moved out of the tower into the body of the chapel. It was further endowed with funds by Edward Gould, Esq., of Pridhamsleigh, and Mr. Peter Blundell, of Tiverton. In this school William Gifford learned to read, write, and cypher. He remained there till his father's death three years later. Edward Gifford had learned nothing by his misfortunes. He preferred to drain the pewter in the tavern to doing pewterer's work in the shop. He died and was buried 9 June, 1767, leaving beside a widow and