I wish much that Coke had completed his triumph, by receiving the intelligence with indifference, or at. least with composure. But there is extant a letter from Mr. John Castle, written three days after, containing the striking passage:—

Nov. 19.

He sheds

dismissal.

"A thunderbolt has fallen upon my Lord Coke in the King's Bench, which has overthrown him from the roots. tears on his The supersedeas was carried to him by Sir George Coppin, who, at the presenting of it, saw that magnanimity and supposed greatness of spirit to fall into a very narrow room, for he received it with dejection and tears. Tremor et successio non cadunt in fortem et constantem virum.”*

He soon rallies and

behaves with

This momentary weakness ought to be forgiven him, for he behaved with unflinching courage while the charges were pending against him; firmness. and he knew well that, by yielding the Chief Clerkship to Buckingham, he might easily have escaped further molestation, but "he stood upon a rule made by his own wisdom,-that a judge must not pay a bribe or take a bribe." We ought likewise to recollect, that although at first he was stunned by the blow, he soon rallied from it, in spite of sore domestic annoyances; and that he afterwards not only took ample revenge on his enemies, but conferred lasting benefits on his country.

The week after Coke's dismissal, Chamberlain wrote to a friend,

"If Sir Edward Coke could bear his misfortunes constantly it were no disgrace to him, for he goes away with a general applause and good opinion. And the King himself, when he told his resolution at the council table to remove him, yet gave this character, that he thought him no ways corrupt, but a good Justice-with so many other good words, as if he meant to hang him with a silken halter. Hitherto he bears himself well, but especially towards his lady, without any complaint of her demeanour towards him; though her own friends are grieved at it, and her * See Disraeli's Character of James I., p. 125.

+ Hackett's Life of Lord Keeper Williams, ii. 120.

father sent to him to know all the truth, and to show him how much he disallowed her courses, having divided herself from him, and disfurnished his house in Holborn and at Stoke of whatsoever was in them, and carried all the moveables and plate she could come by God knows where, and retiring herself into obscure places both in town and country. He gave a good answer likewise to the new Chief Justice, who sending to him to buy his collar of S. S., he said he would not part with it, but leave it to his posterity, that they might one day know that they had a Chief Justice to their ancestor.' He is now retired to his daughter Sadler's, in Hertfordshire, and from thence it is thought into Norfolk. He hath dealt bountifully with his servants; and such as had places under him, he hath willed them to set down truly what they gained, and he will make it good to them, if they be willing to tarry and continue about him."**

The public were at no loss to discern the true cause of his dismissal when they knew that his successor, before being appointed, was compelled to sign an agreement binding himself to dispose of the Chief Clerkship for the benefit of Buckingham, and when they saw two trustees for Buckingham admitted to the place as soon as the new Chief Justice was sworn in. Bacon now made a boast to the favourite of his good management :

:

Nov. 29.

"I did cast myself," says he in a letter to Buckingham, " that if your Lordship's deputies had come in by Sir E. Coke, who was tied (that is, under an agreement with Somerset), it would have been subject to some clamour from Somerset, and some question what was forfeited-by Somerset's attainder being but a felony-to the King; but now, they coming in from a new Chief Justice, all is without question or scruple."

* Nichol's Progresses of James, vol. iii. 228.

CHAPTER IX.

CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF SIR EDWARD COKE TILL HE WAS SENT PRISONER TO THE TOWER.

COKE was supposed by mankind and by himself to be disgraced and ruined. Nevertheless his story is more interesting, and he added more to his own fame as well as conferred greater benefits on his country, than if he had quietly continued to go through the routine of his judicial duties till his faculties decayed.

*

Bacon's vengeance was not yet by any means satiated. Having artfully brought about the fall of his rival, he wrote him a most insulting letter by way of consolation and advice; he still persecuted him on the absurd charge of attacking the Royal prerogative in his Reports; he appointed a commission of the Judges to revise them; and he meditated an information against him in the Star Chamber for malversation in office, in the hope of a heavy fine being imposed upon him. These spiteful designs seemed now easily within for he had reached the summit of power, his ambition: the Great Seal was his own, and he expected the King and Buckingham to continue submissive to his will.

March 7, his

1617.

Coke's con

But Coke's energy and integrity triumphed. At the age of sixty-six, from exercise and temperduct after his ance his health was unimpaired, and his mental faculties seemed to become more elastic. With malicious pleasure he discovered that the new Chancellor was giddy by his elevation; and

disgrace.

* Bacon's Works, v. 403; Lives of the Chancellors, ii. 358.

+ Bacon's Works, vi. 409.

he sanguinely hoped that, from his reckless and unprincipled proceedings, before long an opportunity would occur of precipitating him from his pride of place into the depth of humiliation.

The ex-Chief Justice, a few weeks after his dismissal, contrived to have an interview with the King, and was rather graciously received by him; but he knew that he had no chance of being restored to power except by the favour of Buckingham, whom he had so deeply offended.

His plan to circumvent Bacon by

marrying his Sir John Villiers.

daughter to

With great dexterity he laid a plan, which had very nearly succeeded, before Lord Chancellor Bacon was warm in the marble chair. Lady Hatton, although she hated her aged husband, and was constantly keeping him in hot water, occasionally lived with him, and had brought him a daughter, called "The Lady Frances," only fourteen years old, who was a very rich heiress, as her mother's possessions were entailed upon her, and she expected a share of the immense wealth of her father. This little girl was pretty to boot; and she had attracted the notice of Buckingham's elder brother, Sir John Villiers, who was nearly thrice her age, and was exceedingly poor. Sir Edward Coke, while Chief Justice, had scorned the idea of such a match; but it was now suggested to him by Secretary Winwood as the certain and the only means of restoring him to favour at Court.

Soon after Bacon's elevation, the King went to Scotland, attended by Buckingham, to pay a longpromised visit to his countrymen; and the Chancellor, being left behind as the representive of the executive government, played "fantastic tricks" which were not expected from a philosopher in the enjoyment of supreme power. Winwood, the Secretary of State, his colleague, he treated with as little ceremony as he

might have done a junior clerk or messenger belonging to the Council Office. There is no such strong bond of union as a common hatred of a third person, and the insulted statesman suggested to the ex-Chief Justice that the favourite might easily be regained by matching the heiress with his brother.

This is the least reputable passage in the whole life of Sir Edward Coke. He thought of nothing but of recovering himself from disgrace and humbling an enemy therefore he jumped at the proposal, and, without consulting Lady Hatton, or thinking for a moment of the inclinations of the young lady, he went to Sir John Villiers and offered him his daughter, with all her fortune and expectations, expressing high satisfaction at the thought of an alliance with so distinguished a family. Sir John, as may be supposed, professed a never-dying attachment to the Lady Frances, and said that, "although he would have been well pleased to have taken her in her smock, he should be glad, by way of curiosity, to know how much could be assured by marriage settlement upon her and her issue?" Sir Edward, with some reluctance, came to particulars, which were declared to be satisfactory, and the match was considered as made.

July. Resentment of Lady

carries off

But when the matter was broken to Lady Hatton she was in a frantic rage; not so much because she disapproved of Sir John Villiers for her sonHatton, who in-law, as that such an important arrangement had been made in the family without her opinion being previously asked upon it. She reproached Sir Edward the more bitterly on account of his ingratitude for her recent services; as, notwithstanding occasional frowardness, she had been kind to him in his troubles.* When the first

and conceals their daughter.

* Chamberlain, in a letter dated 22nd of June, 1616, says, "The Lady Hatton

stood by him in great stead, both in soliciting at the council table, wherein