It was an awkward thing for the first law officer of the Crown, celebrated for his juridical knowledge, and always professing a profound reverence for ecclesiastical authority, to set at defiance the spiritual head of the Church, and to run the risk of the "greater excommunication," whereby he would not only be debarred from the sacraments and from all intercourse with the faithful, but would forfeit his property, and be liable to perpetual imprisonment. However, he determined to run all risks rather than lose

He breaks a canon of the

Church. the prize within his reach; and on the 24th of November, 1598, in the evening, in a private house, without license or banns, was he married to the Lady Hatton, in the presence of her father, who gave her

away.

He is prosecuted in the

Court.

Coke probably hoped that this transgression would be overlooked; for Whitgift had been his tutor at college, and, on his being made Ecclesiastical Attorney General, had kindly sent him a Greek Testament, with a message 66 that he had studied the common law long enough, and that he should thereafter study the law of God." But this pious primate now showed that he was no respecter of persons, for he immediately ordered a suit to be instituted in his court against Coke, the bride, the Lord Burleigh, and Henry Bathwell, the rector of Okeover, the priest who had performed the ceremony. A libel was exhibited against them, concluding for the greater excommunication" as the appropriate punish

ment.

Mr. Attorney made a most humble submission; and, in consequence, there was passed a dispensation under the archiepiscopal seal, which is registered in the archives of Lambeth Palace, absolving all the defendants from the penalties which they had incurred, and alleging their "ignorance of the ecclesiastical law" as

an excuse for their misconduct, and for the mercy extended to them.

second wife

However, the union turned out as might have been foreseen, a most unhappy one. There was His quarrels not only a sad disparity of years, but an with his utter discrepancy of tastes and of manners between the husband and wife. He was a mere lawyer, devoted to his briefs, and hating all gaiety and expense. She delighted above all things in hawking, in balls, and in masques: though strictly virtuous, she was fond of admiration, and, instead of conversing with grave judges and apprentices of the law, she liked to be surrounded by young gallants who had served under Sir Philip Sydney and the Earl of Essex, and could repeat the verses of Spenser and Lord Surrey. She would never even take her second husband's name, for in doing so she must have been contented with the homely appellation of “Mrs. Coke," or Cook," as she wrote it, for it was not till the following reign that he reached the dignity of knighthood.

Within a year after their marriage they had a daughter, about whom we shall have much to relate: but after her birth they lived little together, although they had the prudence to appear to the world to be on decent terms till this heiress was marriageable,-when their quarrels disturbed the public peace-were discussed in the Star Chamber-and agitated the Court of James I. as much as any question of foreign war which arose during the whole course of his reign.

Accession of

In the last illness of Queen Elizabeth, Coke did not, like some of her other courtiers, open a communication with her successor; but he always James I. maintained the right of the Scottish line, notwithstanding the will of Henry VIII., which gave a preference to the issue of the Duchess of Suffolk,

and he assisted Sir Robert Cecil in the measures taken to secure the succession of the true heir.

A.D. 1603.

Coke prepared the dry lawyer-like proclamation of the new monarch, which was adopted in preference to the rhetorical one offered by Bacon, declaring "that no man's virtue should be left idle, unemployed, or unrewarded." The Attorney General was included in the warrant under the sign manual for continuing in office the ministers of the Crown, and on the 22nd of April his patent was renewed under the Great Seal. He did not show the same impatience as his rival to gain the King's personal notice, and he was not introduced into the royal presence for several weeks. At last, at a grand banquet, given in the palace at Greenwich to the principal persons knighted. of the kingdom, James, with many civil speeches, conferred upon him the honour of knighthood, along with Lee the Lord Mayor of London, and Crook the Recorder. To his credit it should be remembered, that he at no time strove to gain the favour of the great, —that he never mixed in court intrigues,—and that he was contented to recommend himself to promotion by what he considered to be the faithful discharge of his official duties.

May 23.
Coke is

Nov. 17.

language to Sir Walter Raleigh.

His first appearance as public prosecutor in the new reign was on the trial, before a special comHis insulting mission at Winchester, of Sir Walter Raleigh, charged with high treason by entering into a plot to put the Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne; and here, I am sorry to say that, by his brutal conduct to the accused, he brought permanent disgrace upon himself and upon the English bar. He must have been aware that, notwithstanding the mysterious and suspicious circumstances which surrounded this affair, he had no sufficient case against the prisoner, even by written depositions and according

to the loose notions of evidence then subsisting; yet he addressed the jury, in his opening, as if he were scandalously ill-used by any defence being attempted. While he was detailing the charge, which he knew could not be established, of an intention to destroy the King and his children, at last the object of his calumny interposed and the following dialogue passed between them :

Raleigh: "You tell me news I never heard of.” Attorney General: "Oh, sir, do I? I will prove you the notoriest traitor that ever held up his hand at the bar of any court." R.: "Your words cannot condemn me; my innocency is my defence. Prove one of these things wherewith you have charged me, and I will confess the whole indictment, and that I am the horriblest traitor that ever lived, and worthy to be crucified with a thousand thousand torments." A. G.: "Nay, I will prove all thou art a monster: thou hast an English face, but a Spanish heart." R.: "Let me answer for myself." A. G.: "Thou shalt not." R.: "It concerneth my life." A. G.: "Oh! do I

touch you?"

The proofless narrative having proceeded, Raleigh again broke out with the exclamation, "You tell me news, Mr. Attorney!" and thus the altercation was renewed :

A. G.: "Oh, sir, I am the more large because I know with whom I deal; for we have to deal to-day with a man of wit. I will teach you before I have done." R.: "I will wash my hands of the indictment, and die a true man to the King." A.G.:"You are the absolutest traitor that ever was." R.:"Your phrases will not prove it." A. G. (in a tone of assumed calmness and tenderness): “ You, my masters of the jury, respect not the wickedness and hatred of the man; respect his cause: if he be guilty, I know you will have care of it, for the preservation of the King, the continuance of the Gospel authorised, and the good of us all." R.: "I do not hear yet that you have offered one word of proof against me. If my Lord Cobham be a traitor, what is that to me ?" by thy instigation, thou viper; for I thou thee, thou traitor."*

A. G.: "All that he did was

shall not be amiss; and as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of paper. Let there be gall enough in thy ink."-Twelfth

* Sir Toby, in giving directions to Sir Andrew for his challenge to Viola, is supposed to allude to this scene :"If thou thous't him some thrice, it Night, act iii. sc. 2. VOL. I.

X

The depositions being read, which did not by any means make out the prisoner's complicity in the plot, he observed,

"You try me by the Spanish Inquisition, if you proceed only by circumstances, without two witnesses." A. G.: "This is a treasonable speech." R.: "I appeal to God and the King in this point, whether Cobham's accusation is sufficient to condemn me?" A. G.: "The King's safety and your clearing cannot agree. I protest before God I never knew a clearer treason. Go to, I will lay thee upon thy back for the confidentest traitor that ever came at a bar."

At last, all present were so much shocked that the Earl of Salisbury, himself one of the Commissioners, rebuked the Attorney General, saying, "Be not so impatient, good Mr. Attorney; give him leave to speak." A. G.: “If I may not be patiently heard, you will encourage traitors and discourage us. I am the King's sworn servant, and must speak." The reporter relates that "here Mr. Attorney sat down in a chafe, and would speak no more until the Commissioners urged and entreated him. After much ado he went on, and made a long repetition of all the evidence, thus again addressing Sir Walter: 'Thou art the most vile and execrable traitor that ever lived. I want words sufficient to express thy viprous treasons.'"

Of course there was a verdict of guilty; but public feeling was so outraged, that the sentence could not then be carried into execution. He languished many years in prison, and, after his unfortunate expedition to Guiana, the atrocity was perpetrated of ordering him to be hanged, drawn, and quartered on this illegal judgment.

Sir Edward Coke's arrogance to the whole bar, and to all who approached him, now became almost insufferable. His demeanour was particularly offensive to his rival, who, although without office, excited his