Morwenstow, Cornwall.
_Sir John Perrot_ (Vol. ii., p. 217.).--This Query surprises me. Sir
John Perrot was not governor of Ireland _in the reign of Henry VIII._,
and your correspondent E.N.W. is mistaken in his belief that Sir John
was _beheaded_ in the reign of Elizabeth. He was convicted of treason
16th June, 1592, and died in the Tower in September following. In the
_British Plutarch_, 3rd edit., 1791, vol. i. p. 121., is _The Life of
Sir John Perrot_. The authorities given are Cox's _History of Ireland;
Life of Sir John Perrot_, 8vo., 1728; _Biographia Britannica_; Salmon's
_Chronological History_; to which I may add the following references:--
Howell's _State Trials_, i. 1315; Camden's _Annals_; Naunton's
_Fragmenta Regalia_; Lloyd's _State Worthies_; Nash's _Worcestershire_;
Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, iii. 297.; Strype's _Annals_, iii.
337, 398-404.; _Stradling Letters_, 48-50.; Nare's _Life of Lord
Burghley_, iii. 407.; _Fourth Report of Deputy Keeper of Public
Records_, Appendix, ii. 281. Dean Swift, in his _Introduction to Polite
Conversation_, says,--
"Sir John Perrot was the first man of quality whom I find upon
the record to have sworn by _God's wounds_. He lived in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was supposed to be a natural son
of Henry VIII., who might also have been his instructor."