VII. A.D. 1606. CHAP. might be, but that he was an humble petitioner for mercy and some moderation of justice," Coke replied, with a coldblooded cruelty which casts an eternal stain upon his memory, "that he must not look to the King to be honoured in the manner of his death, having so far abandoned all religion and humanity in his action; but that he was rather to admire the great moderation and mercy of the King in that, for so exorbitant a crime, no new torture answerable thereto was devised to be inflicted on him. And for his wife and children: whereas he said that for the Catholic cause he was content to neglect the ruin of himself, his wife, his estate, and all, he should have his desire, as it is in the Psalms: Let his wife be a widow, and his children vagabonds; let his posterity be destroyed, and in the next generation let his name be quite put out." Trial of Garnet the Jesuit. March 28. 1606. I am glad for the honour of humanity to add, from the report, "Upon the rising of the court, Sir Everard Digby, bowing himself towards the Lords, said, "If I may but hear any of your Lordships say you forgive me, I shall go more cheerfully to the gallows.' Whereunto the Lords said, 'God forgive you, and we do.'"* There was still greater interest excited by the case of Garnet, the Superior of the Jesuits, who was suspected of having devised the plot - who had certainly concealed it when he knew it - but against whom there was hardly any legal evidence. His trial came on at the Guildhall of the city of London, King James being present, with all the most eminent men of the time. Coke tried to outdo his exertions against the conspirators who had taken an active part in preparing the grand explosion. When he had detailed many things which took place in the reign of Elizabeth, he turned away from the jury and addressed the King, showing how his Majesty was entitled to the crown of England as the true heir of Edward the Confessor as well as of William the Conqueror, and how he was descended from the sovereign who had united the white and the red roses. "But," exclaimed the orator, "a more famous union is, by the goodness of the Almighty, perfected in his Majesty's person of * 2 St. Tr. 159-195. VII. A.D. 1606. divers lions- two famous, ancient, and renowned kingdoms, CHAP. not only without blood or any opposition, but with such an universal acclamation and applause of all sorts and degrees, as it were with one voice, as never was seen or read of. And therefore, most excellent King, - for to him I will now speak, "Cum triplici fulvum conjunge leone leonem, a He again asserted that a miracle had been worked to save and to direct the King: "God put it into his Majesty's heart to prorogue the parliament; and, further, to open and enlighten his understanding out of a mystical and dark letter, like an angel of God, to point to the cellar and command that it be searched; so that it was discovered thus miraculously but even a few hours before the design should have been executed." Thus he described the prisoner: "He was a corrector of the common law print with Mr. Tottle the printer, and now he is to be corrected by the law. He hath many gifts and endowments of nature by art learned good linguist and by profession a Jesuit and a Superior. Indeed, he is superior to all his predecessors in devilish a doctor of Jesuits; that is, a doctor of six D's,– as Dissimulation, Deposing of princes, Disposing of kingdoms, Daunting and Deterring of subjects, and Destruction." Then he wittily and tastefully concluded: “Qui cum Jesu itis, non itis cum Jesuitis, for they encourage themselves in mischief, and commune among themselves secretly how they may lay snares, and say that no man shall see them. But God shall suddenly shoot at them with a swift arrow, that they shall be wounded; insomuch that whoso seeth it shall say this hath God done,' for they shall perceive that it is his work."* treason The prisoner was found guilty; but, giving credit to all the depositions and confessions, they did not prove upon him a higher offence than misprision of treason, in not revealing what had been communicated to him in confession: and ex 2 St. Tr. 217-358. CHAP. Coke made tice of the Common ecution was delayed for two months, till, after much equivocation, he was induced by various contrivances to admit that the plot had been mentioned to him on other occasions, although he averred to the last that, instead of consenting to it, he had attempted to dissuade Fawkes and the other conspirators from persisting in it. This was the last prosecution in which Coke appeared before the public as Attorney General. He had filled the office above twelve years-the most discreditable portion of his career. While a law officer of the Crown, he showed a readiness to obtain convictions for any offences, and against any individuals, at the pleasure of his employers; and he became hardened against all the dictates of justice, of pity, of remorse, and of decency. He gave the highest satisfaction first to Burleigh, and then to his son and successor, Robert Cecil, become Earl of Salisbury, and all legal dignities which fell were within his reach; but, fond of riches rather than of ease, he not only despised puisneships, but he readily consented to Anderson and Gawdy being successively appointed to the office of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, at that time the most lucrative, and considered the most desirable, in Westminster Hall next to that of Lord Chancellor. The Attorney General was supposed to hold by as secure a tenure as a Judge; and his fees, particularly from the Court of Wards and Liveries, were enormous*, so that he was often unwilling to be "forked up to the bench," which, with a sad defalcation of income, offered him little increase of dignity; for, till the elevation of Jeffreys in the reign of James II., no common law judge had been made a peer. But, at last, Coke felt fatigued, if not satiated, with amassChief Jus- ing money at the bar, and, on the death of Gawdy, he resigned his office of Attorney General and became Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. As a preliminary, he took upon himself the degree of Serjeant-at-law; and he gave rings with the motto, "Lex est tutissima cassis.” Pleas. June 30. 1606.† The salary of Attorney General was only 811. 6s. 8d., but his official emoluments amounted to 70001, a year. Coke's private practice, besides, must have been very profitable to him. † Dug. Or. Jur. p. 102. Mr. Covertry, afterwards Lord Keeper, whom he had much СНАР. patronised, acted as his PONY.* "He was sworn in Chancery as Serjeant," says Judge Croke, the reporter, "and afterwards went presently into the Treasury of the Common Bench, and there by Popham, Chief Justice, his party robes were put on, and he forthwith, the same day, was brought to the bar as Serjeant, and presently after, his writ read and count pleaded, he was created Chief Justice, and sat the same day, and afterwards rose and put off his party robes and put on his robes as a Judge, and the second day after he went to Westminster, with all the Society of the Inner Temple attending upon him."† The ceremony of riding from Serjeants' Inn to Westminster in the party-coloured robes of a Serjeant was dispensed with in his case by special favour; but when Sir Henry Yelverton, on his promotion soon after, requested the like privilege," the Judges resolved that the precedent of Sir Edward Coke ought not to be followed." ‡ * I have been favoured, by a learned and witty friend of mine, with the following "Note on the Serjeant's Pony.-When the utter barrister is advanced ad gradum servientis ad legem,' he gives, as the reporters of all the courts never omit to record, a ring with a motto; a posy, sometimes more or less applicable to the donor or to the occasion,- sometimes to neither. These rings are presented to persons high in station (that for the sovereign is received by the hands of the Lord Chancellor), and to all the dignitaries of the law, by a barrister whom the serjeant selects for that honourable service, and who is called his Pony.' Why? Simply because the offering he brings is the honorarium, compounding, or composition, which is paid by the learned graduate upon his degree of serjeant-at-law. IGNORAMUS (act ii. scene 7.) enters with money in a bag. Ignor. Hic est legem pone. Hic sunt sexcentæ coronæ pro meo caro corde Rosabelia.' Upon which passage says the learned commentator Hawkins: Legem pone. This appears to have been a cant term for ready money.' Dr. Heylin, in his Voyage of France,' p. 292., speaking of the university of Orleans, In the bestowing of their degrees here they are very liberal, and deny no man that is able to pay his fees. Legem ponere is with them more powerful than legem dicere; and he that hath but his gold ready, shall have a sooner despatch than the best scholar upon the ticket. In the translation of Rabelais by Ozell, c. xii. book 4., the phrase En payant' is rendered the Legem Pone.' They were all at our service for the Legem Pone.' 'And finally, Tusser, in his Good Husbandly Lessons worthy to be followed by such as will thrive, prefixed to his Four Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, recommends punctuality in payment of debts by the following distich: In the language, therefore, of a serjeant's posy, Ex æquo et bono,' I should say that, regard being had to the valuable consideration of which he is the bearer, his pony's derivation savours more of the bonus than the equus." Cro Jac. 125. Ibid. vol. iii. introd. p. 7. VII. A.D. 1606. VIII. A. D. 1606. torious conduct as a Judge. CHAPTER VIII. CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF SIR EDWARD OKE TILL HE WAS CHAP. COKE, while Attorney General, was liable to the severest censure: he unscrupulously stretched the prerogative of the Crown, showing himself for the time utterly regardless of His meri- public liberty; he perverted the criminal law to the oppression of many individuals; and the arrogance of his demeanour to all mankind is unparalleled. But he made a noble amends. The whole of his subsequent career is entitled to the highest admiration. Although holding his judicial office at the pleasure of a King and of ministers disposed to render Courts of Justice the instruments of their tyranny and caprice, he conducted himself with as much lofty independence as any who have ornamented the bench since the time when a judge can only be removed from his office for misconduct, on the joint address of the two Houses of Parliament. Not only was his purity unsuspected in an age when the prevalence of corruption is supposed by some to palliate the repeated instances of bribe-taking proved upon Bacon, but he presented the rare spectacle of a magistrate contemning the threats of power, without ever being seduced by the love of popular applause to pronounce decisions which could not be supported by precedent and principle. His manners even became much more bland; he listened with patience to tedious arguments; he was courteous when it was necessary to interpose, and, in passing sentence on those who were convicted, he showed more tenderness for them than he had been accustomed to do for those whom he prosecuted while they were still presumed to be innocent. A.D. 1606 -1613. He remained Chief Justice of the Common Pleas above seven years; and, considering his profound learning and unwearied diligence, we may, without disparagement to any هوش |