William’s grandfather was dissipated and extravagant, and his father, Edward, was not much better. He had been sent to the Grammar School at Exeter, but ran away, and entered on board a man-of-war. His father bought him out, but he was incorrigible; he again ran away, and joined Bampfylde-Moore Carew in his vagabondage, when the latter was an old man. On leaving this choice society he became a plumber and glazier at Ashburton, and married a carpenter’s daughter named Elizabeth Cain, 3 September, 1750.[20] Edward Gifford now moved to South Molton and set up there; but after four or five years, having involved himself in trouble by attempting to excite a riot in a Methodist conventicle, he deemed it advisable to show a pair of heels, and went to sea on board the _Lyon_, a transport. Mrs. Gifford then returned to her native place, Ashburton, where William was born. So away went Edward, singing, I doubt not, a popular Devonshire song-- My fortune is pretty well spent, My lands and my cattle and corn; I must put on a face of content, When as naked as when I was born. No more I’ll be troubled with wealth, My pockets are drained full dry, I walk where I please for my health, And never fear robbing, not I. * * * * * O once I could lie 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.