both the king and Thomas Cromwell met with an ample reward; perhaps the latter was happy to raise up one of his family to assist and support him. It is certain that on 8 March 1537/8, he had the grant of the nunnery of Hinchingbrooke, in Huntingdonshire. The value of it, as stated in the deed was £19. 9s. 2d.; but we must suppose this monastery to have been very much under-rated: for the grant states the lands and premises given to Sir Richard as lying in the several parishes and hamlets of Hinchinbrooke, Huntingdon, Stewkley-Magna, Stewkley-Parva, Turkington, Houghton, Esington, Alconbury, Paxton-Magna, Paxton-Parva, Hail Weston, Waresley and Bawynhoo, all in the county of Huntingdon; Eltisley, Bottisham and Boxworth in Cambridgeshire; Staplewe, and Bewlow, in Bedfordshire; Hamildon-Parva, in Rutland; and Stoke Doyle and Oakley, in Northamptonshire. The same year he had also a royal grant of the monastery of Sawtry-Judith, in the county of Huntingdon, valued £199 11s. 1d. 9 April 1539, he received for the trifling sum of £1 0s. 5d. a grant of certain premises, lying in Eynesbury, Eton, and Little Paxton in Huntingdonshire, belonging to the late dissolved chantry of Swavesey, in the county of Cambridge. These were very considerable places; but in the same year he had a grant from the crown of the Abbey of the Grey-Friars, in Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk; and 4 March 1540, also the site of the rich Abbey of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, with the several meres or lakes belonging to it, in the same parish; it is expressed in the grant, that it passed in consideration of his good service, and the payment of £4,963 4s. 2d. to be held in capite by knights service. Considerable as this sum then was, it was trifling in comparison of the prodigious value of that abbey and the annual revenue amounted to £1,987. 15s. 3d. The other grants, though many of them were not wholly free, were probably upon easy conditions. It is very certain that the dissolved religious houses were disposed of, for almost nothing; and this knight, we may presume, from his alliance with the vicar-general (who, in fact, had the disposal of them) had great favour shown him; especially, as he was beloved by the sovereign, and was a Visitor; all these grants passed to him by the names of Rich. Williams, otherwise Cromwell. Member of Parliament and High Sheriff By