CHAP. IX. It is sad to relate, that the match mercenary on the one side, constrained on the other turned out most inausA.D. 1617. piciously. Sir John Villiers was created Viscount Parbeck; but, after much dissension between him and his wife, she eloped from him with Sir Robert Howard, and, after travelling abroad in man's attire, died young, leaving a son, who, on the ground of illegitimacy, was not allowed to inherit the estate and honours of her husband. A.D. 1621. business of the Privy Council. The next four years of Coke's life were passed very intends to the gloriously. Bacon still enjoyed the lustre and the profits of the judicial office of Lord Chancellor, while he himself, regarded with suspicion, was condemned to the obscure and gratuitous labour of the Council table, corresponding pretty nearly to that of our "Judicial Committee." He likewise sat occasionally in the Star Chamber; and he consented to act in several commissions issued by the Government.+ The Lord Chancellor tried to keep him in good humour by warm thanks for his exertions, and by vague promises that he should have the Lord Treasurer's place, or some other great preferment. "If Sir Edward Coke," says he in a letter to Buckingham, “continue sick or keep in, I fear his Majesty's service will languish too in those things which concern the law." Again, "Sir Edward Coke keeps in still, and we have miss of him." § Afterwards," Sir Edward Coke was at Friday's hearing, but in his nightcap; and complained to me he was ambulent and not current. I would be sorry he should fail us in this cause: therefore I desired his Majesty to signify to him, taking knowledge of some light indisposition of his, how much he should think his service disadvantaged if he should be at any Hatton on this occasion in her husband's absence; but we are informed that the year before, when the King dined at Wimbledon with her father Lord Exeter, "the Lady Hatton was there, and well graced, for the King kissed her twice." -Nichol's Progresses of James, vol. iii. p. 177. * He was resworn a Privy Councillor, Sept. 1617. For the banishment of Jesuits and seminary priests (Rymer's Fœdera, xvii. 93.); for negotiating a treaty between the Dutch and English merchants, touching their trade to the East Indies (ibid. 170.); for inquiring into fines belonging to the Crown in regard of manorial dues (ibid. 224.); and for examining into the prevalent offences of transporting ordnance into foreign parts (ibid. 273.). † Bacon's Works, v. 511. § Ibid. vi. 214. day away."* A reason assigned for the suspension of Council СНАР. A.D. 1621 He sits in Sitting in the Star Chamber, he was particularly zealous -1625. in supporting a prosecution against certain Dutch merchants the Star charged with the crime of exporting the coin; he voted that Chamber. they should be fined 150,000l. for an offence then considered "enormous, as going to the dispoverishment of the realm.” ‡ In two other cases, which excited much interest at the time, his severity was supposed to have been sharpened by the recollection of personal injuries. It may be recollected how the Lord Treasurer Suffolk had lectured him for his presumption in making his coachman ride bare-headed before him. The same Lord Treasurer had himself fallen into disgrace, and was now prosecuted in the Star Chamber, along with his lady, for corrupt dealings in a branch of the public revenue. "Sir Edward presiding when sentence was to be pronounced, he led the way in a long and learned speech, shewing how often Treasurers had pillaged the King and the people; and, trying to prove that by the Earl and Countess the King had lost 50,000l., he proposed that they should be fined double that sum, and imprisoned till the fine was paid on the suggestion of Lord Chief Justice Hobart, it was reduced to 30,000l., for which they were committed to the Tower." § Coke was most vindictive against Yelverton, the Attorney General, who had filed the information against him in the Star Chamber for the forcible rescue of his daughter. This distinguished lawyer, who had prosecuted so many others, having incurred the displeasure of Buckingham, was himself prosecuted in the Star Chamber, on the pretence that he had inserted some clauses, in a charter to the City of London, for which he had no warrant from the King. Sir Edward Coke, whose place it was to begin, after a long and bitter speech against him, proposed that he should be fined 60007., be dismissed from his office, and be imprisoned in the Bacon's Works, vi. 230. † Ibid. 230. 239. IX. CHAP. Tower during the King's pleasure. Upon the intercession of other members of the Court, the fine was moderated to 40007., and the rest of the sentence was entirely submitted to his Majesty.* A.D. 1620. Coke a missioner of the Trea sury. The Lord Treasurer's office being put into commission, Lord Com Coke was for some time a Lord of the Treasury along with Archbishop Abbott†, and he seemed to be coming into greater favour, as if the King had been about to act upon the suggestion that he might be useful in the repair of the revenue. Bacon gave the following astute advice," As I think it were good his hopes were at an end in some kind, so I could wish they were raised in some other." ‡ Accordingly, his opinion was asked about the propriety of calling a new parliament, after parliaments had been disused for six whole years. § We are told that he was in most of the confidential conferences of state on the management of the elections, although he could scarcely have been consulted when the proclamation was settled in which the King warned his faithful subjects not to return to the House of Commons "bankrupts nor necessitous persons, who may desire long parliaments for their private protection; nor yet curious and wrangling lawyers, who may seek reputation by stirring needless questions.”+ Coke himself was elected for the borough of Liskeard, in Cornwall; and there seemed a prospect of his cordially cooperating with the Government. He might have thought that this course would not be inconsistent with his independence or his patriotism, for the Lord Chancellor had declared that the elections were to be carried on " without packing, or degenerating arts, but rather according to true policy."¶ There was, however, too much reciprocal jealousy rankling in the minds of the rivals to render it possible that they should ever cordially act together, although terms of decent courtesy had for some time been established between them. Coke's envy was now much excited by the immense glory Stephens's Introduction, p. 17. Coke escaped the disgrace of the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh, and probably could have made no effort to save him. † Devon's Pell Records, temp. Jac. I. Bacon's Works, v. 381. § Ibid. 531. Ibid. 536. ¶ Bacon's Works, .531. CHAP. IX. which Bacon acquired by the publication of the Novum ORGANUM. Having received a copy from the author, he wrote in the fly-leaf, "Edw. C. ex dono Auctoris," and he vented his spleen in the following sarcastic lines, which he His treatsubjoined: "Auctori Consilium. Instaurare paras veterum documenta sophorum, In the titlepage, which bore the device of a ship passing under "It deserves not to be read in schooles, But to be freighted in the Ship of Fools.” A.D. 1620. ment of the presentation copy of Bacon's Novum Organum. Just as parliament was about to assemble, a vacancy occurred in the high offices to which Coke aspired, and he might have been appeased. But Bacon was so much intoxicated by his political ascendency and his literary fame, that he thought he might now safely despise the power of his rival, and slight him with impunity. Accordingly, Montagu, Coke's Dec. 14. successor as Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was promoted 1620. to be Lord Treasurer, and raised to the peerage; and the Jan. 29. Chief Justiceship of the King's Bench, instead of being 1621. restored to him who had held it with such lustre, was conferred upon an obscure lawyer called Sir James Ley.t The ex-Chief Justice was highly exasperated, and he resolved to devote himself to revenge. He cared little for the office of High Steward of the University of Cambridge, which had lately been conferred upon him; and patriotism was his only resource. Coke disappointed in not being made Lord Trea surer. It should be related of him, however, that, although he had no taste for polite literature or philosophy, he did not waste his leisure in idleness, but took delight in juridical studies. After his dismission from the office of Chief Justice, He comhe prepared the 12th and 13th Parts of his Reports, which, pletes his as they contained a good deal against the High Commission and proCourt, and against the King's power to issue proclamations ceeds with altering the law of the land, were not published in his life- mentary time. He then began his great work-called his "First on Little Alluding to Sebastian Brand's famous "SHYP OF FOLYS."-This presentation copy of the Novum Organum is still preserved at Holkham. † Orig. Jur. 104. "Reports, his Com. ton. СНАР. A.D. 1621. Parliament meets. Feb. 16. Coke prompts and conducts the proceed Institute"-the Commentary on Littleton, which may be considered the "Body of the Common Law of England." This was the solace of his existence-for he still lived separate from his wife-and, amidst the distractions of politics, no day passed over him without his indulging in an exercitation to illustrate Villenage, Continual Claim, Collateral Warranty, or some other such delightful subject. The meeting of parliament, on the 30th of January, 1621, may be considered the commencement of that great movement which, exactly twenty-eight years afterwards, led to the decapitation of an English sovereign under a judicial sentence pronounced by his subjects. The Puritans had been gradually gaining strength, and were returned in considerable numbers to the new House of Commons. Sir Edward Coke, who had hitherto professed high-Church principles, placed himself at their head, and, in struggling for the redress of grievances, he was supported by men of all parties except the immediate retainers of the Court. The irregular modes resorted to for the purpose of raising money, particularly by the grant of monopolies, in violation of the engagements contracted by the Crown at the conclusion of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, had filled the whole nation with discontent. Sir Edward Coke, to establish his popularity, began his operations by moving an address to the King "for the better execution of the laws against Jesuits, Seminary Priests, and Popish Recusants," which was carried almost unanimously. ings which The Upper House having concurred in the address, it was read to James by Lord Bacon. This was the last time of his officiating as Chancellor in the royal presence. led to the downfall of Bacon. His destruction was at hand, and all the proceedings against him were conducted or prompted by his revengeful rival. A motion being made by Mr. Secretary Calvert for a supply, Sir Edward Coke moved, as an amendment, "That supply and grievances should be referred together to a committee of the whole House." We have the following abstract of his speech: “Virtus silere in convivio, vitium in consilio.' I joy that all are bent with alacrity against the enemies of God and us, — Jesuits, Seminaries, and Popish Catholics. The indulgence shown |