Tregonwell Frampton (Vol. iv., p. 474.).
—Noble mentions two engravings of this gentleman in the Continuation to Granger, vol. ii. p. 387., from a portrait by J. Wootton; the oldest, by J. Faber, describes him as "Royal Studkeeper at Newmarket;" the other, dated 1791, by J. Jones, styles him "the Father of the Turf;" and his death in 1728, æt. eighty-six, is recorded on a monument in the parish church of All Saints, Newmarket, as well as the circumstance of his having been keeper of the running horses to King William III. and his three royal successors.
Frampton, according to Noble, who quotes from some other author, was a thorough good groom only, yet would have made a good minister of state had he been trained to it, and no one in his day was so well acquainted with the pedigrees of race-horses. I am not aware of there being any reference to Tregonwell Frampton in the Rambler, but he has frequently been denounced as the author of an unparalleled act of barbarity to a race-horse, which is detailed in the Adventurer, No. 37., as delicately as such a subject would permit. In justice to the accused I must say, that I always considered the story as physically impossible; and had this not been the case, it cannot be credited that the author of so great an enormity could have been continued in the service of the Crown. Still the essayist, who wrote nearly a century ago, thus closes his recital:—
"When I had heard this horrid narrative, which indeed I remembered to be true, I turned about in honest confusion, and blushed that I was a man."
I hope some of your correspondents may be able to clear Frampton from the dreadful imputation.
B.
Longueville MSS. (Vol. iii., p. 449.).
—This collection (of 187 volumes) is better known by the name of the Yelverton MSS., from having belonged to Sir Christopher Yelverton, Bart., who died in 1654, and whose son Henry (by Susan, Baroness Grey of Ruthin) was created Viscount Longueville in 1690. From him (who died in 1704) these MSS. descended to his grandson, Henry, third Earl of Sussex, who deceased in 1799 without male issue. In April, 1781, this collection of MSS. (then stated to consist of 179 volumes, and eight wanting to complete the series) was offered for purchase to the trustees of the British Museum for 3000 guineas, and declined. The loss of these eight volumes is accounted for by a note of Gough (written in 1788), in Nichols' Literary Anecdotes, vol. iii. p. 622., by which it appears, that in 1784 the collection was submitted to sale by public auction; but "after the sale of a few lots, the sale was stopped." Gough adds, "They were all given by Lord Sussex to Lord Calthorpe, whose mother was of that family [Barbara, eldest daughter of Henry, Viscount Longueville], and at his death had not been opened, nor perhaps since." These MSS. are now, I believe, in the possession of the present Lord Calthorpe.
F. MADDEN.