TALBOT2864

Lulworth Villa
Babbicombe
Torquay.
May 25 – 1874

My dear Henry,

You are very kind & goodnatured to have so speedily procured the size of your old Oak. I will add your story of Owen Glendower, who seems to have been partial to hollow trees, & of whom I have two already.¹ I hope you will not think me too tiresome in sending a few pages, here & there, of my rough copy, to show you my plan & intention respecting the trees (including all I can of historic interest, tradition, & size;) as I should be so very glad to obtain the opinion of a person of your mental calibre, & experience, as to whether you agree with Emily Mundy² & myself, that they would prove of general interest. There is certainly scarcely a chance of my being ever able to afford to publish my MS, as I do not suppose anyone will ever leave me any money, but it makes a great difference in the care & pleasure with which I write, if done with a view to such a possibility. I believe ¾ of my trees no longer exist; but I should lose those of greatest historic interest did I not include all worthy of notice, & many seem to have disappeared in 1829, & 1836. The latter was, I know, the year of a dreadful storm, which blew down M. Q. of Scots Thorn at Duddingstone near Edinburgh, respecting which there was a most curious tradition of her planting it with the Regent Murray; & Professor Balfour says that the Regents Thorn in his garden in the Canongate (now called Moray House) was blown down the same year.³ I would not miss the Royal Oak nor Glastonbury Thorn, although neither of the original trees exist, & even a very old descendant of the latter, which Gilpin saw in 1801, & I saw in 1835, & both believed to be the ancient one, has now been gone [15?] years.⁴

Some of the Elms are wonderful. One at Northover House, near Ilchester, was a real curiosity, branching out into 7 large limbs at 12 feet from the ground, & upon these was constructed a room which held 20 persons, where M^r Chichester used to hold his justice meetings. How undignified! to be dealing out justice up in a tree. This was blown down in 1833.⁵ There is, or was, also, one in the passage leading to Spring Gardens, planted by the D. of Gloucester, brother to Charles 1^st6 – As the King went from St James’s to execution, he pointed it out, & mentioned the circumstance. Three very curious Mulberry trees I have mentioned – one of which your Caroline⁷ told me at Sion House; another described by C. Traherne at Christ’s College, Cambridge, under which Milton used to sit, & the gardener enquired of them why the Americans visited the tree so much, & one man knelt before it. They said it was probably because Milton was a Republican.⁸ The third still exists in the garden of the Treasurer’s house at Christ’s Hospital, & is said to have grown from a slip taken from one which grew over the graves of the two murdered Princes in the Tower. Last year it was in full bloom & had fine fruit.⁹

I never heard of the Carclew Oak, or I would mention its size, though it has no history.¹⁰ I have 71 Oaks. Three, remarkable only for size, are the Three Shire Oak, which drips over 777 square yards, & shades a part of 3 counties, York, Derby, & Nottingham; the Spread Oak in Worksop Park, which could shelter 1,000 horse, & the Newnham Courtenay, which sheltered 2,420 men.¹¹ The “Robur Brittaneum” at Rycote Park, near Thame, is also a monster.¹² I have got the account & the engraving of poor Sir Charles’s “Pinus Lemoniensis”,¹³ & some wonderful Silver Firs in different Parks, with all the curious trees I can find, to enormous hollies, & gigantic Ivy, with every Photograph, or engraving that I can collect, which I value very much. So you see that all are fish that come to my net. The Welbeck Oaks are remarkable.¹⁴

I have just completed my clean copy of the Oaks, leaving a space for further information should it come, & am proceeding to other trees. I see that E. Lllewellyn¹⁵ when mentioning the Annas Thorn, takes it from “Memorials of a Quiet Life”, Vol. 1 p. 285.¹⁶ I do not know the Book, but conclude it gave no further account, as she tells me to enquire, which I have done unsuccessfully. It says “standing in the exact Spot” as mentioned in Domesday book, as if it was likely to move about! But it seems that was wrong. I have a curious print of the Tortworth Chestnut, as it really is now – such a ruin!¹⁷ & endless Q. Eliz^th & Anne Boleyn trees, & the Ampthill Oak.¹⁸ How curious that the gates of Holland House opening towards Earl’s Court, should be part of the old Grille of the Bastille.¹⁹

I have been writing several articles for Magazines, chiefly of a historical nature, which my two critics C. Traherne, & E. Mundy, like, but I cannot get admittance anywhere. They only want tales & novels, or now & then an Essay, & really the essay on Talleyrand in “Cornhill” was old & worn out in subjects, & shamefully incorrect & ignorant²⁰ – Several others were on worn out subjects. Amongst mine are “Royal Residences in Germany”, the “Coronation of F. J. Emp^r of Austria²¹ as K. of Hungary; (very curious –) an Hungarian funeral” “Curious carved Work”, 2 or 3 translations of French tales not published excepting in Feuilletons;²² & what I think is curious, & ought to please, “Remarkable Superstitions.” Not ghosts & 2^nd sights, but such as linger amongst the peasantry, & are mostly curiously derived from religious sources. I have seen articles admitted on “folk lore” – quite another branch of the subject, being merely customs. Mine are beliefs, but I do not know where to offer them, nor who would take them. I venture to add a chance page or two from my rough copy of that also, to know if you think there is any Magazine whom that would please. I was recommended to the “People’s Magazine”, which however has come to an end.

I have only been received in one Magazine, & that a youthful one, & that I gave up as the pay was bad, & I could not be scrimped in ideas or length. Those articles pleased very much – “Curious flowers & trees” which told even E. Llewellyn something – “Remarkable Clocks”, which interested much, especially an unique account of the Strasbourg Clock, which I got from a private & unknown old source – & some two affecting & unknown historical imprisonments, &c. These were in “Aunt Judy’s Magazine”.²³

And now I hope I have not tired out your patience; & shall not tire it still more by my specimen s pages, of course better written out, & often corrected in expression. It is a great pleasure in my entire solitude, (I have not left my room for 11 years, owing to a spine complaint, & other illnesses,) to have received some new ideas. C. Traherne & Emily Mundy are the only two who interest themselves about my writings. I suffice to myself, am never dull, & amuse myself wonderfully in writing & reading, but it is refreshing to receive help from you. My grand MS, which E.M. says is delightful, is lying in abeyance, as I cannot publish. It is “Anecdotes”, not a history, “of the Franco-German War,” & is interesting & curious beyond belief²⁴ – just what have never been published. C. Traherne equally enjoys it.

Your aff^te
Louisa Charlotte Frampton.

Think of my having omitted an Elm between Moreton & Lulworth, on M^r Weld’s land – a magnificent tree in its prime a few years ago, 3 feet, 2 inches longer in girth at a foot further from the ground, than the famous Chepstead Elm²⁵–