be credited. It is ridiculed by Camden as an old wife's fable; while Leland gives us a memoir of this identical personage, whose name should hence appear to be of some importance as connected with the early history of the town. He is said to have come originally from Souldburg; and entering the Humber in a single vessel of small dimensions, he landed at Grimsby old haven, which, extending inland, met, in its course, another arm of the sea, and together they formed a small island, surrounded on all sides by bogs and swamps, which were wholly covered with water at spring tides. At this time Gryme was miserably poor, and almost destitute of the common necessaries of life; for Leland represents this "poor Fisschar" as being so very needy, that he was not "able to kepe his Sunne Cuaran for poverty."* Here, on a rising ground, he built his house, and from hence he commenced a very lucrative traffic with Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Other merchants having, in process of time, settled near him, invited by the commercial advantages offered by this excellent harbour; they jointly constructed convenient appendages for extensive trade, and the town soon rose into considerable importance, governed by Gryme himself, who had now amassed great riches, and lived in his own town, like a petty prince, on his hereditary dominions. His sovereignty, however, could not

* Collect. vol. 2, p. 511.

be thus established without an adequate cause, and he is accordingly said to have saved, from the peril of shipwreck, very soon after his arrival on this coast, a young man named Haveloc, the son of Guthrum, King of Denmark; who, being afterwards conveyed to the British court, made such a favourable representation of the services of his preserver, that many privileges were conferred upon the town which he is said to have founded, and at length, according to some authorities, Haveloc, his protogee, received the King's daughter in marriage, and the Danish monarch, granted an immunity from all tolls and dues, at the port of Elsineur, to every individual burgess or householder of Grymsby.

Although Peter Langtoft expresses a doubt about the credibility of this tale, arising from the difficulty of finding competent authorities for it, yet it may have some correspondence with certain incidents which did actually take place at the period alluded to, about the middle of the ninth century; and might advance a merchant of Grymsby, whose name was Gryme, to considerable rank and fortune: for one of the ancient seals of the borough, of which I have caused an engraving to be made, fully corroborates the most important passages in his history. On this seal* is represented the gigantic figure of a man, brandishing a drawn sword in his right hand, and bearing on his left arm a circular

• Vid. Plate 2. Fig. 1.

pour

target. The word Gryem near him, indicates that this is the identical person named in the foregoing legend; for he is represented as being tall and majestic in his stature. On his right hand is trayed a youth, with a crown over his head to denote his royal extraction, and near him the word Habloc. On the other hand is represented a female figure, crowned with a regal diadem; whom, by the inscription round her person, we discover to be Goldeburgh, the young princess who is said to have been married to Haveloc. The legend is Sigillum: Comunitatis: Grimebye*; and this, as well as the names, is in the Saxon character; which leads us to the obvious conclusion, that the seal was cut and used by the town of Grymsby, before the Danes succeeded in establishing their dominion in Britain; and most probably was granted by the Anglo-Saxon government, during the life-time of Gryme, with other privileges which contributed to restore this port to opulence and respectability, after it had been deserted by its primitive inhabitants, on the first invasion of Lindesey by the Danes.

An ancient monument, still in existence, offers a further testimony to corroborate the story of Gryme and Haveloc. A large stone, composed of imperishable materials, said to have been brought by the Danes, out of their own country, forms the landmark which separates the parish of Grimsby from the adjoining hamlet of Wellow; and is know at this day by the significant appellation of Haveloc's