to influence the mind of the favourite. To the king, he also expressed himself very fully, dissuading him from suffering the affair to proceed; but adding, with the marvellous subserviency which distinguished him, that if the king was resolved that the match should go on, he then desired to receive his particular will and commandments, that he might conform himself thereto, imagining (though he would not wager on women's minds) that he could more prevail with the mother than any other man. The Lady Hatton, indeed, probably from a spirit of opposition to her husband, was strongly opposed to the marriage, which, it is said, did not meet with the approbation of the young lady herself. Lady Hatton, determined not to yield in a matter which concerned her prerogative as a wife and a mother, secretly conveyed the daughter away, and concealed her in the house of Sir Edmund Withipole, near Oatlands. As soon as Sir Edward had discovered the place of her retreat, he wrote to Buckingham to procure a warrant from the privy council, for the restoration of his daughter; but, being too impatient to wait for a reply, in company with his sons he went to Sir Edmund Withipole's house, and brought back his daughter by force. Bacon, for this pretended offence, prevailed upon Yelverton, the attorney-general, to file an information in the Star-Chamber, against Coke; all proceedings in which were, however, suspended by an order from court. A reconciliation was effected between Sir Edward and his lady; and Bacon, finding that Buckingham, and consequently the king, were determined to prosecute the match, applied himself to the forwarding of it, with the same devotion with which he had formerly opposed it. On the return of the king from Scotland, Sir Edward Coke was admitted to his presence, and was soon afterwards restored to his seat at the council-table. The marriage between his daughter and Sir John Villiers was celebrated at Hampton Court, with all imaginable splendour.

The disputes between Coke and his lady, who was a woman of a most violent and ungovernable temper, were a subject of public notoriety and scandal. Upon one occasion, when she entertained the king at her house in Holborn, she is said to have given strict orders that neither Sir Edward, nor any of his servants, should be admitted. To such a pitch did her intemperate conduct carry her, that she was committed to custody for a libel upon her husband. The liberal settlement which she made upon her daughter, procured her release.

Although Sir Edward Coke was thus restored to favour, he received no other appointment than that of privy counsellor; but had he been of a malignant disposition, that office would have enabled him to gratify it in the fullest manner, for nearly all his greatest enemies were successively brought to the

council-table, for various misdemeanors. The Lord Treasurer Suffolk and his lady were disgraced for corruption; Sir Henry Yelverton was sentenced to fine and imprisonment, for certain delinquencies; and lastly, the Lord Chancellor Bacon was convicted of bribery, and disgraced. To the honour of Sir Edward Coke, who was one of the committee appointed to prepare the charges against the chancellor, he displayed great moderation and forbearance, in his conduct towards his fallen enemy.

It was about this period, that the house of commons began to assume that bold and independent tone, to which the progress of liberal opinions, and the improving state of society, entitled it. Popular grievances were discussed with freedom, and it was evident that the voice of the people was not to be checked at the pleasure of the sovereign, as it had been in the time of the Tudors. Sir Edward Coke had long been a member of the house, and was much respected both for his talents and integrity. The part which he acted well became him as a constitutional lawyer, and he strenuously upheld the authority of parliament, and the privileges of the commons. On the 6th of February, 1620, a debate of great importance came on, in which the infringement of liberty of speech and other grievances were considered. Upon this occasion, Coke expressed himself with great warmth against the power assumed by the crown, of dispensing with acts of parliament by the royal proclamation.

When the privileges of the commons again came in question, in the case of Sir Edwin Sands, Coke took so active a part in the dispute, that, on the 27th of December, 1621, he was committed to the Tower; and his chambers in the Temple were broken open, in order that his papers might be examined. On the 6th of January following, he was once more called before the privy council, and charged with having concealed certain papers in the case of the Earl of Somerset ; a groundless imputation, as it should seem, from the circumstance of his being soon afterwards released from custody, although he was again dismissed from the council-table, with strong marks of the king's displeasure. As the conduct of Sir Edward Coke, in the house of commons, was by no means agreeable to James's notions of good government, he was appointed, together with Sir Edwin Sands, and some other obnoxious persons, a commissioner to inquire into the state of Ireland, although he does not appear to have been called upon to execute the duties of his office. On the death of James, and the accession of his son, Coke was appointed sheriff of Buckinghamshire, in order to prevent his appearance in the house of commons; but in the parliament of 1628, he was returned for

that county, and distinguished himself greatly by his zealous exertions in favour of the liberty of the subject. This, indeed, is the most brilliant portion of Coke's laborious and honourable life. He saw with regret and indignation the attempts which the crown was making to entrench upon the privileges of the commons, and through them upon the rights of the people; and he resolutely opposed those measures with all the weight of his high character and profound constitutional learning. Anxious to secure in the most legal and efficacious manner the liberties of the country, he proposed and framed the Petition of Rights, and boldly attacked the Duke of Buckingham, though he had formerly commended his conduct in the breaking off of the Spanish match. On a member of the house adverting to the conduct of the duke, the speaker rose up, and said, That he was ordered to command him not to proceed." A deep silence ensued, and the members were prohibited from quitting the house. Sir Edward Coke at length rose. We give the whole of his speech upon this occasion, as it at once displays his integrity and boldness, and the pithy and forensic style of his oratory.

"We have dealt with that duty and moderation that never was the like rebus sic stantibus, after such a violation of the liberties of the subjects; let us take this to heart. In 30 Edward III. were they then in doubt in parliament to name men that misled the king? They accused John de Gaunt, the king's son, and Lord Latimer, and Lord Nevil, for misadvising the king, and they went to the tower for it. Now, when there is such a downfal of the state, shall we hold our tongues? How shall we answer our duties to God and men? 7 Hen. IV. parl. rep. No. 31, 32, and 11 Hen. IV. No. 13; there the council are complained of, and are removed from the king. They mewed up the king, and dissuaded him from the common good. And why are we now retired from that way we were in? Why may we not name those that are the cause of all our evils? In 4 Hen. III. and 27 Ed. III. and 13 Ric. II. the parliament moderateth the king's prerogative, and nothing grows to abuse but this house hath power to treat of it. What shall we do? Let us palliate no longer. If we do, God will not prosper us. I think the Duke of Buckingham is the cause of all our miseries; and till the king be informed thereof we shall never go out with honour, or sit with honour here. That man is the grievance of grievances. Let us set down the cause of all our disasters, and all will reflect upon him."

So great was the zeal which our representatives, at this period of our history, displayed in the performance of their duties, that many members wept bitterly, as we are credibly informed, on the speaker delivering the above message to the house, and Sir Edward Coke, in the course of his speech, sate down to wipe away his tears!

On the dissolution of this parliament, which took place in March 1628, O. S., Coke retired to his house at Stoke-Pogis, in Buckinghamshire, where he spent the remainder of his life in an honourable retirement. He died on the 3rd of September, 1634, though his last moments are said to have been disturbed by the malice of his enemies, Shortly before his death, Sir Francis Windebanke entered his house by virtue of an Order of Council, to search for seditious papers, and carried away all the MSS. which the industry and learning of Coke had collected. Many years afterwards these were restored to his son, upon petition to the house of commons.

Of the general character and conduct of Sir Edward Coke, an idea may be formed even from the foregoing imperfect sketch; but duly to appreciate his merits as a lawyer would almost require the lucubrationes viginti annorum of which he himself speaks. "His learned and judicious works on the law," says Fuller, "will be admired by judicious posterity as long as Fame has a trumpet left her, and any breath to blow therein." He has been emphatically and truly called, the oracle of the law, for his name alone confers an almost undisputed authority. His learning was, at once, profound, excursive, and curious. When he applied the powers of his strong mind to the illustration of a legal question, he wholly exhausted the subject, and rather than quit it, he would resort even to remote analogies. With the grounds and reasons of the common law he was perfectly familiar, and, upon the whole, may be considered the most consummate lawyer of his own or of any other time. His works, the honourable monuments of his unconquerable industry, for they were composed in the precious intervals of a more than usually active professional life, have received from succeeding times those marks of distinction which are due to their merits. His Institutes and Reports are called, par excellence, The Institutes and The Reports, and his first Institute, the Commentary upon Littleton, has become the bible of the law.* In the course of his laborious researches, some inaccuracies and incongruities necessarily

he

* Some passages in the writings of Sir Edward Coke gave offence to the king, and a committee was appointed to examine his Reports, but the inquiry was never proceeded in. Bacon, who was capable of doing his enemy justice, says, "To give every man his due, had it not been for Sir Edward Coke's Reports, which, though they may have errors, and some peremptory and extrajudicial resolutions, more than are warranted, yet contain infinite good decisions and rulings over of cases; the law, by this time, had been almost like a ship without ballast."

occur, more especially in the posthumous portions of his works. The incorruptible integrity which he displayed in his professional character is, even more than his learning, worthy of the highest praise. His preferment was always obtained, to use his own words, without either prayers or pence, and, in an age more than usually corrupt, he avoided the general con

tamination.

As a writer, though his style is excursive, it is yet exceedingly pregnant and full of matter. The prefaces to his Reports, which exhibit all the richness of the Elizabethan age, are perhaps the best specimens of his composition. We have selected, as a short instance of his peculiar style, a sentence from the conclusion of the fourth Institute, which presents a melancholy picture of a lawyer's occupations.

“Whilst we were in hand with these four parts of the Institutes, we often having occasion to go into the city, and from thence into the country, did in some sort envy the state of the honest ploughman, and other mechanics, for the one when he was at his work would merrily sing, and the ploughman whistle some self-pleasing tune, and yet their work both proceeded and succeeded; but he that takes upon himself to write doth captivate all the faculties and powers both of his mind and body, and must be only intentive to that which he collecteth, without any expression of joy or cheerfulness, whilst he is in his work."

In person, Sir Edward Coke, according to Fuller, was well proportioned, his features regular, his countenance always grave and composed, and his air and manner of speaking full of dignity. He was neat, but not nice in his dress, and his common saying was, "That the cleanness of a man's clothes ought to put him in mind of keeping all clean within." habits must necessarily have been strict and laborious, and we learn from his grandson, Roger Coke, that " when he lay at the Temple, he measured out his time at regular hours, two whereof were to go to bed at nine o'clock, and in the morning to rise at three."

His

Sir Edward Coke amassed a large fortune, and left a numerous posterity to enjoy it. Sir Thomas Coke, afterwards Earl of Leicester, by whom the magnificent edifice of Holkham was built, was a lineal descendant of the chief justice, From him that splendid mansion, with the princely fortune of the family, descended to its present possessor, who rivals, in the length of his public life, and his zeal in the cause of constitutional freedom, the patriotic virtues of his celebrated an

cestors.