CliAl'. V. 



OF 15KA1>IX<; 11AVKX. 



137 



Haven AY;IS begged first of all of King James by one 

 Mi 1 , .loin i (lihb, being a groom of his bedchamber, and the man 

 that King James trusted to carry the reprieve to Winchester for 

 my Lord George Cobham and Sir Walter Rawleigh, when some of 

 them were on the scaffold to be executed. This man was put on to 

 beg it of King James by one Sir Bevis Thelwall, who was then one 

 of the pages of the bedchamber. After he had begged it, Sir Bevis 

 would give him nothing for it until the haven were cleared ; for 

 the gentlemen of the island whose lands joined to the haven chal- 

 lenged it as belonging unto them. King James was wonderful 

 earnest in the business, both because it concerned his old servant, 

 and also because it would be a leading case for the fens in Lincoln- 

 shire. After the verdict went in the Chequer against the gentlemen, 

 then Sir Bevis Thelwall would give nothing for it till he could see 

 that it was feasible to be inned from the sea ; whereupon one Sir 

 Hugh Myddelton was called in to assist and undertake the work, 

 and Dutchmen were brought out of the Low Countries, and they 

 began to inn the haven about the 20th of December, 1620. Then, 

 when it was taken in, King James compelled Thelwall and Myddel- 

 ton to give John Gribb (who the King caUed 'Father') 2000/. 1 

 Afterwards Sir Hugh Myddelton, like a crafty fox and subtle citizen, 

 put it off wholly to Sir Bevis Thelwall, betwixt whom afterwards 

 there was a great suit in the Chancery ; but Sir Bevis did enjoy it 

 some eight years, and bestowed much money in building of a barn- 

 house, mill, fencing of it, and in many other necessary works. 



"But now let me tell you somewhat of Sir Bevis Thelwall and 

 Sir Hugh Myddelton, and of the nature of the ground after it was 

 inned, and the cause of the last breach. Sir Bevis was a gentle- 

 man's son in Wales, bound apprentice to a mercer in Cheapside, 

 and afterwards executed that trade till King James came into Eng- 

 land : then he gave up, and purchased to be one of the pages of the 

 bedchamber, where, being an understanding man, and knowing how 

 to handle the Scots, did in that infancy gain a fair estate by getting 

 the Scots to beg for themselves that which he first found out for them, 

 and then himself buying of them with ready money under half the 

 value. He was a very bold fellow, and one that King James very 



1 On the 30th June, 1(522, the ha- 

 ven was granted by the King (the 

 original grant to Gibb having been can- 

 celled) t> Hugh Myddelton, Esquire, 

 Robert Bateman, Citizen andSkynner, 

 of London, and Richard Middleton, 

 Citi/eii and (inxvr, in consideration of 



20007. paid to the King by Hugh 

 Myddelton, viz., 10007. down, and the 

 remaining 10007. by two half-yearly 

 payments at Lady-day and Michael- 

 mas, 1622 ; the King passing the 

 10007. and the bonds for the two 

 sums of 5007. to John Gibb. 



