In spite of his niggardly treatment of John Chekyng, it is certain that Cromwell was in very comfortable circumstances during his years of service under Wolsey. An inventory of his goods at his house at Austin Friars, dated June 26, 1527[82], which exists to-day at the Public Record Office, proves that his dwelling was furnished handsomely if not luxuriously, while a draft of his will, written July 12, 1529[83], indicates that his property at that time was by no means inconsiderable. It is to this document that we owe the greater part of our present information concerning Cromwell’s family. It is written in the hand of Cromwell’s chief clerk, and was altered at a later date by Cromwell himself[84]. The document is for the most part self-explanatory, but there are a few interesting facts to be especially noted in connexion with it. The bequests to Cromwell’s daughters ‘Anne and Grace’ and to his ‘litill Doughter Grace’ are our only proof that he had other children than Gregory; and the fact that both these items were crossed out after the year 1529 possibly indicates that the daughters died when young. We also learn that Cromwell’s nephew Richard, the son of Katherine Cromwell and Morgan Williams, had followed in his uncle’s footsteps, and was ‘s_er_u_au_nt w_i_t_h_ my lorde Marques Dorssett’ at the time that the will was first composed; but he certainly received other employment soon afterwards, for the name of his master was scored through in the will by Cromwell at a later date, and we also know from other sources that Richard Williams entered his uncle’s service and was active in suppressing the monasteries and in subduing the Pilgrimage of Grace, during the year 1536 and afterwards[85]. Before this date he had changed his name to Cromwell, and later became great-grandfather to the Protector[86]. His mother died before 1529, for Cromwell in his will refers to Elizabeth Wellyfed as his ‘onlye Suster.’ Cromwell’s wife, as we have already seen, had also died before the will was made; her sister Joan married a certain John Williamson, an old friend of Cromwell’s, who later figured prominently in the latter’s service. We also meet with many of the other names mentioned in this will, in Cromwell’s later correspondence. Nearly all the friends of his earlier days were employed by him in one capacity or another as spies, agents, or even minor ambassadors to foreign Courts, after he had entered the King’s service. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III THE WILL OF THOMAS CROMWELL R.O. Cal. iv. 5772 (1)