Pearce. Edward Mitchell a Justice marries in 1654. In 1657 William Etwall, clerk, is chosen parish register of that district and sworn before William Yorke Esq., in accordance with the late Act for registering marriages. It was always left to the option of the contracting parties to adopt which of the two forms they preferred. OLIVER'S STORM. "His dying groans, his last breath shakes our Isle 3rd September. The tempest known as "Oliver's Storm," which accompanied the Protector's death, left the traces of its fury in several parts of England. Aubrey records that it blew down on Erchfont green an elm so large in the butt that as it lay prostrate he was unable to look over it. TRADESMEN'S TOKENS. In Fuller's "Worthies" Devizes is styled "the best and biggest town for trading in the Shire." And no doubt Fuller was well able to speak on the subject, for he had ofttimes traversed this district as chaplain to Lord Hopton. The number of trading tokens issued in this town do not however bear any large proportion to those of surrounding places, and Salisbury and Malmesbury appear to have taken the lead. This practice commenced on the revival of trade under the Protectorate, and lingered more or less for a century after. The following specimens of Devizes coins have escaped the accidents of all devouring time. See J. Y. Akerman's Lists. In the field H.I.S. and three cinquefoils. In the field R.W. two cinquefoils or mullets and four pellets. In the field R.W. and pellets. Tallow Chandler's arms. CHANDLER IN YE DEVIZES. In the field, the date 1669 and F.M.P. RICHARD WOOTTEN. Rev. Obv. Rev. Obv. Rev. Obv. JOHN FRY 1664. Rev. IN THE DEVIZES. A right hand open. GRACE NASH OF THE. A castle. DEVISES 1652. Three cloves. IN THE DEVIZES 1663. In the field R.S. and pellets. Two tobacco pipes and the letters I.F. [an inn keeper apparently.] Obv. STEPHEN BAYLEY OF. A mermaid. DEVIZES. MERCER. In the field, S.B. 1668. WILLIAM SOMNER OF. Grocer's arms. THE DEVIZES. GROCER. RICHARD CROMWELL; PROTECTOR. 1658. Very few of the addresses from counties and corporate bodies to the Protector Richard were published verbatim, but an abstract of some of the more florid and devotional was printed in a small octavo, among which is a brief notice of that from Devizes, professing to be executed by the Mayor and Magistrates in behalf of themselves and the Corporation. After condoling with his Highness on the loss of his father, the writers "congratulate him as the noble branch of that most renowned stock;" and after the adoption of a Scripture analogy, the use of which may be almost termed profane, conclude by professing their readiness and willingness to stand by him in the work to which he had been thus raised. The address from gentlemen, ministers, and freeholders of the county, delivered by the High Sheriff Isaac Burgess Esq. of Marlborough, is recorded in a Diurnal of the 8th November 1658, and breathes the same sentiments.1 The members for Devizes in Richard's Parliament were Edward Scotten and Chaloner Chute jun, The latter was the son of Chaloner Chute of The Vine, Hants, Esq., who sat for Middlesex, as he had previously done in Oliver's last Parliament. The elder Chute, one of the most respected lawyers of his time, was chosen Speaker of Richard's Parliament, but he speedily resigned from ill health, arising as was said, from anxiety of mind as to the probable turn of affairs. He died immediately after. Sir Lislebone Long, a relation of Walter Long of Wilts, consented to occupy the Speaker's chair during Mr. Chute's indisposition, but strange to say he also surrendered the honour in a few days and like his predecessor was struck with mortal sickness and died the day after his resignation. The younger Chaloner Chute, the Member for Devizes, married Katharine daughter of Richard Lord Dacre and sister of Francis Lord Dacre who sat for Sussex in one of Oliver's Parliament's. Meanwhile the widow of the said Richard Lord Dacre was the second wife of the elder 1 When Richard Cromwell retired into private life, he carried with him these precious documents, in which the people of England had so spontaneously laid their lives and fortunes at his feet. They were deposited in a small round trunk in an upper room of his house; and it is further related as one of his favourite practices on the introduction of a new friend to his select circle, that the bottles were carried upstairs after dinner, and the new comer directed to sit on the aforesaid trunk, and in that position to drink to the good people of England, all whose lives and estates were now at his feet. The trunk would then be opened, and some of the most adulatory specimens perused, amid roars of laughter. Among them all, there could have been few if any, more expressive of dutiful allegiance than that from the antient and loyal borough of the Devizes. Chute. [In 1842 died Elizabeth wife of William Chute, M.P. for Hants, at The Vine, aged 73. She was daughter of Joshua Smith of Erle Stoke, Esq., M.P. for Devizes. In the Church of Sherbourn St. John, Hants, on the left of the East window, is a mural monument of white marble, surmounted by a shield bearing three swords bar-wise, points towards the dexter, for Chute:-on an escutcheon of pretence, a saltire between three crescents; in base, a dolphin, for Smith of Erle-Stoke. Sacred to the memory of William John Chute of The Vine, Esq., M.P. for Hants, who died 1824. He was the last descendant of the Speaker resident at The Vine. The present W. L. Wiggett Chute Esq., is not descended from the Chute family.]1 THE RESTORATION 1660. King Charles II. was proclaimed in Devizes by Isaac Burgess Esq., of Marlborough, apparently in the capacity of Sheriff of the County, the office to which he was nominated in 1659. The affair was solemnised in this town by the usual orgies. £5 is paid for wine when the Sheriff proclaimed; twice that sum at the Vension feast, and more than £33 for altering the maces. In other respects, nothing very ruinous In 1 CROMWELL OF DEVIZES. 1604 the name of William Cromwell occurs as that of the deceased vicar of Stanton Barnard, one among many other indications of the presence of the Cromwells in this county. The name is also frequent at Potterne and Keevil. One of the younger sons of Sir Henry Cromwell grandfather to the Protector, was Sir Philip Cromwell of Biggin near Upham, knighted by James I. and it is from his branch that certain of the sons are supposed to have migrated into Wiltshire, a fact confirmed by the coat of arms which Edmondson gives to the Wiltshire family of Cromwell alias Williams. The Rev. Mark Noble writing about 1780 says "There is a family of Cromwell of Broomsgrove who came from Devizes, the grandfather of whom was a schoolmaster and their great-grandfather a clergyman. Their father hated the name of Cromwell, because of Oliver the Protector." Noble's Protectorate i. 36. Another of the younger sons of Sir Henry Cromwell aforesaid was Henry Cromwell of Upham Esq., whose name, in conjunction with that of his wife Eluzai, appears in the Wiltshire Institutions, 1617, as the patron of Newton Toney Church. That Lady was the widow of Jones Esq. of Newton Toney. attended the reactionary national movement, and the borough continued to look after its own domestic affairs. Among private defaulters (or rather, restorers) may be mentioned en passant the name of Edward Northey. Master William Prynne, now the humble servant of the party who had cut off his ears, presents in May 1660 a report from the Committee of Discoveries, in respect of public or royal property lying in the hands of private individuals, and under the head of "Discoveries by confession" we find the name of Edward Northey of Devizes who holds the sum of £6 7s. 6d. though the capacity in which he holds it, is not stated. Commons' Journals vol. viii. p. 37. BOROUGH MEMBERS. 1660 April 27. In the House of Commons Mr. Turner reports from the Committee of Privileges and Elections, touching the double return from the borough of Devizes,-That William Lewis and Robert Aldworth, Esquires are returned by the Mayor under the common seal, and that William Lewis and John Norden are returned by the Burgesses. It is the opinion of the Committee that Mr. Aldworth ought to sit, until the merits of the cause be determined. Commons' Journals. [Whether it was Mr. Mayor or the Free Burgesses who upon this occasion evinced the greater solicitude to conciliate the Court, there are perhaps no data for determining, beyond the known fact that the name of John Norden appears in the list of fifteen Wiltshire gentlemen pricked at the period of the Restoration for a new order of knighthood to be called "The Royal Oak;" a scheme which was never carried into execution. SIR PETER VANLORE AND THE DEVIZES PARKS. 1662. It was during the second year after the Restoration that an adjustment took place of the long disputed inheritance of the Devizes Old and New Parks and other lands, in favour of the heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore. But we must first go back to the period when the attainder of Lord Seymour of Sudeley |