ner we are justified in believing, knowing that in 1798
he was raised to the position of captain and adjutant of the regiment.

While in Dereham, Sergeant-major Borrow made the acquaintance of Ann
Parfrement, the daughter of a small farmer of French Huguenot extraction,
living at Dumpling Green, an open neighbourhood in the outskirts of the
town. This acquaintance ripened into a mutual attachment, and on Borrow
receiving promotion the two were united in marriage. Two children were
born to them; the younger of whom, George Henry Borrow, was born on July
5th, 1803.

The wandering instinct that George afterwards developed may well have
been the natural outcome of the roving life of his early years. Before
he was many months old, his parents, obedient to the dictates of military
command, had moved from Dereham to Canterbury. The year 1809, however,
saw them back again in the little Norfolk town with which Borrow's
earliest recollections were associated.

East Dereham is a town of Anglo-Saxon foundation, and strange legends and
traditions are interwoven with its history. To-day it is chiefly known
for the fact that the bones of the poet Cowper rest beneath the chancel
of its ancient church. To this church of St. Nicholas, George was taken
by his parents every Sunday. Writing in after years, he says, "Twice
every Sunday I was regularly taken to the church, where, from a corner of
the large spacious pew, lined with black leather, I would fix my eyes on
the dignified High-church rector, and the dignified High-church clerk,
and watch the movement of their lips, from which, as they read their
respective portions of the venerable Liturgy, would roll many a
portentous word descriptive of the wondrous works of the Most High."

The vicar of Dereham at this time was the Rev. Charles Hyde Wollaston.
The "dignified High-church clerk" was George Philo (spelt Philoh in
"Lavengro"), an old soldier, retired on a pension.

The Borrows remained in Dereham only a few months, but their stay in the
place was ever after a memorable one in George's mind, for the occurrence
of a great event. A young lady, a friend of the family, presented him
with a copy of "Robinson Crusoe." This book first aroused in him a
desire for knowledge. For hours together he sat poring over its pages,
until, "under a shoulder-of-mutton sail, I found myself cantering before
a steady breeze over an ocean of enchantment, so well pleased with my
voyage that I ca