. The Houblon family, its story and times. one appreciated it more thanold Mrs. Houblon, who delighted in both. They wereonce described by a friend as a great contrast at a party :Johns wife as a vision of pink, ringlets, and diamonds ;Charless, as snow-white, arms, neck, and all—and witha crimson camelia in her hair. In the letters and journals of the Miss Houblons we have various refer-ences to their neigh-bours in Berkshire,the Pophams ofLittlecote, and to thelovely Mary-Anne,who afterwards be-came Charless knowsabout the ancienthouse and its manyeerie was pro
. The Houblon family, its story and times. one appreciated it more thanold Mrs. Houblon, who delighted in both. They wereonce described by a friend as a great contrast at a party :Johns wife as a vision of pink, ringlets, and diamonds ;Charless, as snow-white, arms, neck, and all—and witha crimson camelia in her hair. In the letters and journals of the Miss Houblons we have various refer-ences to their neigh-bours in Berkshire,the Pophams ofLittlecote, and to thelovely Mary-Anne,who afterwards be-came Charless knowsabout the ancienthouse and its manyeerie was probably SirWalter Scotts fam-ous note to Rokeby ^which excited in-terest in the old storyof Wild Dayrell, andturned curious eyesupon Littlecote. Be-fore those early daysit had been worth noones while closely toexamine the hauntedroom, the scene ofthe tragedy ; but it is a fact that the particulars describedin the Rokeby note (and they are but little altered now)all existed in the youth of Mary-Anne Popham, even 1 Note X., Littlecote Mrs. Archer Houblon (;;,V Bramston). EARLY VICTORIA 295 to the curtains out of which the patch was cut andre-sewn. Unfortunately, so great was the interest mani-fested in these, that General Leyborne Popham, theowner of Littlecote,^ finally caused them to be burnt. About 1834 Charles Eyres mother and sisters wereliving- with him at Welford, which is about seven milesfrom Littlecote. The young squirewas very busy settling his yeomanrybusiness, besides being now a Magis-trate. Mama, Charles, and I,wrote his sister, dined at GeneralPophams on Saturday. . It isone of the pleasantest houses to goto. . Wednesday they came here,the whole party, at 3 oclock, andstayed dinner. Miss Popham wehave longed to see more of. Her brother stayed tosleep, and go with Charles and Fred to an archery meet-ing 12 miles off, and Charles went to Littlecote withhim afterwards and stays there till Monday.^
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