2>"» S. VII. ApRir- 2. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



285 



to the inheritance, that the old registers in the pa- 

 rish had been mutilated, so that the name or 

 names in question might not appear. It should 

 be mentioned that John Churchill, the first and 

 great Duke of Marlborough, having no heirs male, 

 all his English honours, &c., were settled on his 

 daughters and their heirs male by act of parlia- 

 ment, 21st Dec. 1706. He died in June, 1722, 

 and is now represented by the male descendant of 

 his second daughter, the Lady Anne Churchill, 

 who married Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunder- 

 land, and whose son Charles succeeded as 3rd 

 Duke of Marlborough, I have not now before me 

 some authorities to trace John Churchill's descent 

 from or connexion with the Peverels of Bradford 

 Peverel, near Dorchester ; but from memory I 

 believe in the Duke's relationship with other fami- 

 lies in Dorset also. Referring to the mutilated 

 registers, having heard the above, I sought an op- 

 portunity of looking over the old registers in that 

 parish, and certainly saw in two or three instances 

 that entries had been wholly or in part cut out. 

 This confirms the tradition as to the registers, and 

 from my own knowledge I believe in the rest. I 

 give no names, lest I may prejudice any one ; but 

 I shall readily communicate all particulars to any 

 correspondent interested in the case, on address- 

 ing a line for me to the Editor. Simon Ward. 



Sir Isaac Wake (2°^ S. vii. 32.) — There are 

 three or four letters of his when ambassador to 

 Savoy, dated 1619 — 21, in Cabala, Letters of State 

 and Govei'nment, 1691. The following is an ex- 

 tract from an unpublished letter of the ambas- 

 sador to Sir Fulke Greville, which is preserved in 

 the muniment room of Warwick Castle. W. S. 



Hastings. 



" The misterions proceeding of tlie Duke of Ossuna (at 

 Naples) hath given occasion unto some to discourse as if 

 he intended to make himselfe king of that country', &c. 

 .... I have in my hands a manuscript discourse written 

 by a Spanish Friar, uppon the apparition of the last 

 Comet, and addressed unto the King of Spayne in the 

 forme of a letter; Avherein the Astrologer doth asseur- 

 rantly affirme, that a famous Republique whose metro- 

 politan cittj' seated in the sea had the first foundation 

 layed in Rivoalto, such a yeare, day, and houre, shall in 

 the yeare 1619 fall under the subjection of the King of 

 Spayne. Perhaps the Duke of Ossuna hath caused this 

 prediction to be written, and divulged expressly* to inti- 

 midate the Venetians ; but I rather thinke the Friar's 

 pen did run over with Madera, or that some melancholy 

 humor had gotten the possession of his brayne ; for he 

 doth not confine the Spanish conquest to Venice or Italy 

 alone, but hath made bold, without asking his Ma""> any 

 leave, to bestowe uppon the King of Spayne the two 

 crowns of England and Ireland, and to invest him in an 

 universal monarchic, greater than an}' hath yet been in 

 the worlde. Itf we or the Venetians should chance to ex- 

 communicate this Friar for raving. I doubt he would 

 hardly get absolution at Rome, considering that he hath 

 confidently prophecyed in this exstaticall discourse the 

 death of Paulus 5th in this yeare. 



"Here they thinke of nothing at this present, but upon 

 providing to receave the Prince of Piedmont and his 



Princesse, with feasts. Triumphs, Toumayes, Triumphal 

 arches, and all externall demonstrations of joye that the 

 wits of these Poets can invent ; and that her passage 

 over Mount-Senis may not seenie tedious, they are build- 

 ing a banqueting house upon the highest top of that hill, 

 and providing to make a Naumachia in the lake, the 

 pleasure whereof may beguile the time, and divert their 

 eyes from observing the precipices. Halfe Turin is al- 

 most pulled downe uppon the sodaine, that the streets 

 maj- be made more faire, large, and uniforme; so that 

 now a mason and Carpenter are as much in request as 

 heretofore a Coronel and a Captaine ; and I may truly 

 saj', that our Swords are turned into Spades and our 

 Speares into Mattocks. 



" So craving pardon for the tediousnesse of this 

 discourse, I desire to rest 

 " ¥■■ II" 

 " Most faithfully 



to command, 



" Isaac Wake. 

 25«' July-) 

 "Turin, r4-^-g„f,}lG19.'' 



Curious Charge of Treason (2""^ S. vii. 243.) — 

 Your correspondent W. B. C. surprises me, when 

 he states that he can find no History of England 

 where I could get the term " respectable grocer " 

 from. Has W. B. C. ever read any History of 

 England ? If not, and as he seeks for infor- 

 mation, I beg to refer him to Speed's History of 

 Great Bintain, p. 867. ; Noorthouck's History of 

 London, p. 100. ; Harrison's History of London, 

 p. 117.; and Raymond's JTisfo/'?/ of England, p. 

 242., in the whole of which, and in some others 

 that I cannot call to mind just now, I have read 

 that Walter Walker, who was executed for trea- 

 son, temp. Edward IV., was a grocer. 



Mr. Foss says that Walter Walker was a pub- 

 lican, and kept an inn, the sign of which was the 

 Crown. Therefore I considered at the time I 

 read the account in " N. & Q." given by Mb. 

 Foss, that it was " quite a new reading ;" and if 

 W. B. C. will admit that Walter Walker was exe- 

 cuted in the time of Edward IV., I think he will 

 also acknowledge, after referring to my autho- 

 rities, that it is " totally " different from the 

 " facts." My quotation from Shakspeare was 

 merely to show that our great dramatist was also 

 acquainted with this curious charge of treason. 



Phillip Colson. 



The Longest Lawsuits (2"*^ S. vii. 218.) —In re- 

 ply to Alexander Andrewes's inquiry, I beg to 

 forward a cutting from Cox's Monthly Legal Cir- 

 cular, No. 13., for March 1, 1859, where, amongst 

 the "Legal Scraps," the following is printed: — 



" In 1842, a paragraph appeared in one or two of the 

 London newspapers, headed the ' Longest Lawsuit,' in 

 which both facts and names were sadly blundered. The 

 famous ' Berkeley' suit lasted 190 (instead of 120) years, 

 having commenced shortly after the death of Thomas, 

 fourth Baron Berkeley, in the 5th of Henry V. (141C), 

 and terminated in the 7th of James I. (1609). It arose 

 out of the marriage of Elizabeth, only daughter and 

 heiress of the above Baron, with Richard Beauchanip, 

 Earl of Warwick, their descendants having continually 



