for Flanders no less than 40,000 pieces of cloth.' Clothmaking now became one of the staple manufactures of England, and instead of allowing the foreigners to export the raw wool, work it up abroad by foreign artisans, and return it for sale in the English markets, the English merchants themselves employed the English artisans, aided by the numerous Protestant refugees who had fled into England from French Flanders and the Low Countries, to work up the raw material, when they became large exporters instead of importers of the manufactured articles. Into this trade of cloth manufacture Hugh Myddelton entered with great energy; and he prosecuted it with so much success, that in a speech delivered by him in the House of Commons on the proposed cloth patent, he stated that he and his partner then maintained several hundred families by that trade.2

3

Besides engaging in this new born branch of manufacture, it is not improbable that Myddelton's enterprising spirit, encouraged by his intimacy with Raleigh and other sea captains, including his own brother William, who had made profitable captures on the Spanish main,led him to embark in the maritime adventures which were so common at that period, though they would now be regarded as little better than piracy. Drake sacked the Spanish towns, burnt their ships, and carried off their gold, while England was yet at peace with Spain. Drake's vessels were the property of private persons, who sent them forth upon adventures on the high seas; and the results were so astounding, that it was no wonder the example should be followed, more especially after Spain had declared war against England. The

Pictorial History of England,' | light, even at that time; for Camden vol. ii., p. 784.

2 House of Commons' Journals,' vol. i., p. 491. (20th May, 1614.)

3 The proceedings of Drake seem to have been regarded by some in this

66

says, Nothing troubled Drake more than that some of the chief men at court refused to accept the gold which he offered them, as being gotten by piracy."

records of the corporation of London contain some curious entries relative to the fitting out of the ships which were sent to sea for the capture of galleons, and the subsequent division of the spoil. On such occasions the several companies of the city combined with the corporation in forming a common purse, and bound themselves by agreement to share in the loss or gain of their adventures, in proportion to the amounts severally subscribed by them. In 1593 we find a richly laden carrack captured by Sir Walter Raleigh, and brought into the Thames a prize; and on the 15th of November, in that year, a committee was appointed "on behalf of such of the city companies as had ventured in the late fleet, to join with such honourable personages as the Queen hath appointed, to take a perfect view of all such goods, prizes, spices, jewels, pearls, treasures, &c., lately taken in the carrack, and to make sale and division thereof." It appears that 12,000l. (or equivalent to about four times the value of our present money) was divided amongst the companies which had adventured; and 8000l. was similarly netted by them on another occasion. But the poor of the city were not forgotten in the distribution of the money; two shillings in the pound of the clear gain having been divided among the poor people living within the freedom visited by the plague.

2

16 Corporation of City of London Records,' jor. 23, fol. 156.

2 The plague was then a frequent visitor in the city. Numerous proclamations were made by the Lord Mayor and Corporation on the subject, proclamations ordering wells and pumps to be drawn, and streets to be cleaned, and precepts for removing hogs out of London, and against the selling or eating of pork. Wherever the plague was in a house, the inhabitant thereof was enjoined to set up outside a pole of the length of seven feet, with a bundle of straw at the top, as a sign that the deadly visitant

was within. Wife, children, and servants belonging to that house must wear white rods in their hands for thirty-six days before they were considered purged. It was also ordered subsequently, that on the street-door of every house infected, or upon a post thereby, the inhabitant must exhibit imprinted on paper a token of St. Anthony's Cross, otherwise called the sign of the Taw T, that all persons might have knowledge that such house was infected.-Corporation of City of London Records,' jor. 12, fol. 136. No. 1. Years 1590 to 1694.

At a comparatively advanced age, Myddelton took to himself a wife; and the rank and fortune of the lady he married afford some indication of the position he had then attained. She was Miss Elizabeth Olmstead, the daughter and sole heiress of John Olmstead of Ingatestone, Essex, with whom the thriving goldsmith and merchant adventurer received a considerable accession of property. That he had secured the regard of his neighbours, and did not disdain to serve them in the local offices to which they chose to elect him, is apparent from the circumstance that he officiated for three years as churchwarden for the parish of St. Matthew, to which post he was appointed in the year 1598. But he had public honours offered to him of a more distinguished character. He continued to keep up a friendly connection with his native town of Denbigh, and he seems to have been mainly instrumental in obtaining for the borough its charter of incorporation in the reign of Elizabeth. In return for this service the burgesses elected him their first alderman, and in that capacity he signed the first by-laws of the borough in 1597. On the back of the document are some passages in his hand-writing, commencing with "Tafod aur yngenau dedwydd" [A golden tongue is in the mouth of the blessed], followed by other aphorisms, and concluding with some expressions of regret at parting with his brethren, the burgesses of Denbigh, whom he had specially visited on the

occasion.

On his next visit to the town he appears to have entered upon a mining enterprise, in the hope of being able to find coal in the neighbourhood. In a letter written by him in 1625 to Sir John Wynne, he thus refers to the adventure:-"It may please you to understand that my first undertaking of publick works was amongst my own people, within less than a myle of the place where I hadd my first beinge (24 or 25 years

since), in seekinge of coals for the town of Denbighe." Myddelton was most probably deceived by the slaty appearance of the soil into the belief that coal was to be found in the neighbourhood, and after spending a good deal of money in the search, he finally gave it up as a hopeless undertaking.

CHAPTER III.

HUGH MYDDELTON, M.P.-THE NEW RIVER WORKS BEGUN.

Thus

IN 1603 Hugh Myddelton was returned representative of his native town to the first parliament summoned by James I. In those days the office of representative was not so much coveted as it is now, and boroughs remote from the metropolis were occasionally under the necessity of paying their members to induce them to serve. it was an advantage to the burgesses of Denbigh that they had a man so able to represent them as Hugh Myddelton, resident in London, and who was moreover an alderman and a benefactor of the town. His two brothers-Thomas Myddelton, citizen and grocer, and Robert, citizen and skinner, of London-were members of the same parliament, and we find Hugh and Robert frequently associated on committees of inquiry into matters connected with trade and finance. Among the first committees to which we find the brothers appointed was one on the subject of a bill for explanation of the Statute of Sewers, and another for the bringing of a fresh stream of running water from the river of Lea, or Uxbridge, to the north parts of the city of London.' Thus the providing of a better supply of water to the inhabitants of the metropolis came very early under his notice, and doubtless had some influence in directing his future action on the subject.

At the same time the business in Bassishaw-street was not neglected, for, shortly after the arrival of King James in London, we find Myddelton supplying jewelry for

1 'Commons' Journals,' vol. i. 262. 31st January, 1605.