Every one knows the tradition attached to the manor of Littlecott in
Wiltshire, and the alleged means by which Chief Justice Sir John Popham
acquired its possession. It is told by Aubrey, Sir Walter Scott, and many
others, and is too notorious to be here repeated. Let me ask you or your
learned correspondents whether there exists any refutation of a charge so
seriously detrimental to the character of any judge, and so inconsistent
with the reputation which Chief Justice Popham enjoyed among his
cotemporaries? See Lord Ellesmere's notice of him in the case of the
Postnati (_State Trials_, ii. 669.), and Sir Edward Coke's flattering
picture of him at the end of Sir Drew Drury's case (_Reports_, vi. 75.).
Are there any records showing that a Darell was ever in fact arraigned on a
charge of murder, and the name of the judge who presided at the trial? Is
the date known of the death of the last Darell who possessed the estate, or
that of Sir John Popham's acquisition of it? The discovery of these might
throw great light on the subject, and possibly afford a complete
contradiction.
Sir Francis Bacon, in his argument against Sir John Hollis and others for
traducing public justice, states that--
"Popham, a great judge in his time, was complained of by petition to
Queen Elizabeth; it was committed {219} to four privy councillors, but
the same was found to be slanderous, and the parties punished in the
court."--_State Trials_, vol. ii. p. 1029.
If this petition could be discovered, and it should turn out that the
slander complained of in it had reference to this story, the investigation
which it then underwent by the four privy councillors, and the chief
justice's enjoyment of his high office for so many subsequent years, would
go far to prove the utter falsehood of the charge. This is a "consummation
devoutly to be wished" by every one who feels an interest in the purity of
the bench, and particularly by the present possessors of the estate, who
must be anxious for their ancestor's fame.
Your useful publication has acted the part of the "detective police" in the
elucidation of many points of history less interesting than this, and I
trust you will consider the case curious enough to justify a close
examination.