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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15257-8.txt b/15257-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ba10db --- /dev/null +++ b/15257-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4342 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck, by Thomas Longueville + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck + A Scandal of the XVIIth Century + +Author: Thomas Longueville + +Release Date: March 4, 2005 [EBook #15257] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURIOUS CASE OF LADY PURBECK *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +THE + +CURIOUS CASE + +OF + +LADY PURBECK + +A SCANDAL OF THE XVIITH CENTURY + +BY THE AUTHOR OF + +"THE LIFE OF SIR KENELM DIGBY," "THE ADVENTURES +OF KING JAMES II.," "MARSHAL TURENNE" +"THE LIFE OF A PRIG," ETC. + +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. +39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON +NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA + +1909 + + + + +PREFACE + + +The curious case of Lady Purbeck is here presented without +embellishment, much as it has been found in old books and old +manuscripts, chiefly at the Record Office and at the British Museum. +Readers must not expect to find any "well-drawn characters," "fine +descriptions," "local colour," or "dramatic talent," in these pages, +on each of which Mr. Dry-as-dust will be encountered. Possibly some +writer of fiction, endowed with able hands directed by an imaginative +mind, may some day produce a readable romance from the rough-hewn +matter which they contain: but, as their author's object has been to +tell the story simply, as it has come down to us, and, as much as was +possible, to let the contemporaries of the heroine tell it in their +own words, he has endeavoured to suppress his own imagination, his own +emotions, and his own opinions, in writing it. He has the pleasure of +acknowledging much useful assistance and kind encouragement in this +little work from Mr. Walter Herries Pollock. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I. + PAGE + + Sir Edward Coke--Lady Elizabeth Hatton--Bacon--Marriage of Coke + and Lady Elizabeth--Birth of the Heroine 1 + + CHAPTER II. + + Rivalry of Coke and Bacon--Quarrelling between Coke and Lady + Elizabeth--Coke offends the King and loses his offices--Letter of + Bacon to Coke 10 + + CHAPTER III. + + Coke tries to regain the favour of Buckingham and the King by offering + his daughter to Sir John Villiers--Anger of Lady Elizabeth--Lady + Elizabeth steals away with her daughter 21 + + CHAPTER IV. + + Coke besieges his wife and carries off his daughter--Coke and Winwood + _v_. Lady Elizabeth and Bacon--Charges and counter-charges 30 + + CHAPTER V. + + Lady Elizabeth tries to recover her daughter--Her scheme for a match + between Frances Coke and the Earl of Oxford--Bacon, finding that + he has offended both Buckingham and the King, turns round and + favours the match with Villiers--Trial of Lady Exeter--Imprisonment + of Lady Elizabeth at an Alderman's house 39 + + CHAPTER VI. + + Frances is tortured into consent--The marriage--Lady Elizabeth comes + into royal favour and Coke falls out of it--Lady Elizabeth's + dinner-party to the King--Carleton and his wife quarrel about + her 52 + + CHAPTER VII. + + Buckingham ennobles his own family--Villiers becomes Lord + Purbeck--Purbeck and the Countess of Buckingham become + Catholics--Rumours that Purbeck is insane 64 + + CHAPTER VIII. + + The insanity question--Quite sane--Thought insane again--Letter + from Lady Purbeck to Buckingham--Birth of Robert Wright--Sir + Robert Howard 74 + + CHAPTER IX. + + Proceedings instituted against Sir Robert Howard and Lady + Purbeck--Buckingham's correspondence about them with his + lawyers--Lanier, the King's musician--Buckingham accuses Lady + Purbeck of witchcraft--Dr. Lambe--Laud and witchcraft 83 + + CHAPTER X. + + Trial of Lady Purbeck before the High Commission--The + sentence--Archbishop Laud--The Ambassador of + Savoy--Escape--Clun--Some of our other characters--Lady Purbeck + goes to Stoke Pogis to take care of her father--Death of Coke 102 + + CHAPTER XI. + + Lady Purbeck goes to London--Laud--Arrest of Lady Purbeck and Sir + Robert Howard--Question of her virtue at that time--Lord + Danby--Guernsey--Paris--Sir Robert Howard turns the tables on + Laud--Changes of religion 114 + + CHAPTER XII. + + Lady Purbeck in Paris--The English Ambassador--Serving a writ--Lady + Purbeck at a convent--Sir Kenelm Digby--His letter about + Lady Purbeck--Lady Purbeck returns to England 125 + + CHAPTER XIII. + + Lord Purbeck takes Lady Purbeck back again as his wife--He + acknowledges Robert Wright as his own son--Death of Lady + Purbeck--Retrospect of her life and character--Her + descendants--Claims to the title of Viscount Purbeck 137 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "After this alliance, + Let tigers match with hinds, and wolves with sheep, + And every creature couple with its foe." + DRYDEN. + + +The political air of England was highly charged with electricity. +Queen Elizabeth, after quarrelling with her lover, the Earl of Essex, +had boxed his ears severely and told him to "go to the devil;" +whereupon he had left the room in a rage, loudly exclaiming that he +would not have brooked such an insult from her father, and that much +less would he tolerate it from a king in petticoats. + +This well-known incident is only mentioned to give an idea of the +period of English history at which the following story makes its +start. It is not, however, with public, but with private life that we +are to be here concerned; nor is it in the Court of the Queen, but in +the humbler home of her Attorney-General, that we must begin. In a +humbler, it is true, yet not in a very humble home; for Mr. Attorney +Coke had inherited a good estate from his father, had married an +heiress, in Bridget Paston, who brought him the house and estate of +Huntingfield Hall, in Suffolk, together with a large fortune in hard +cash; and he had a practice at the Bar which had never previously been +equalled. Coke was in great sorrow, for his wife had died on the 27th +of June, 1598, and such was the pomp with which he determined to bury +her, that her funeral did not take place until the 24th of July. In +his memorandum-book he wrote on the day of her death: "Most beloved +and most excellent wife, she well and happily lived, and, as a true +handmaid of the Lord, fell asleep in the Lord and now reigns in +Heaven." Bridget had made good use of her time, for, although she died +at the age of thirty-three, she had, according to Burke, seven +children; but, according to Lord Campbell, ten. + +As Bridget was reigning in Heaven, Coke immediately began to look +about for a substitute to fill the throne which she had left vacant +upon earth. Youth, great personal beauty and considerable wealth, +thought this broken-hearted widower at the age of forty-six, would be +good enough for him, and the weeks since the true handmaid of the Lord +had left him desolate were only just beginning to blend into months, +when he fixed his mind upon a girl likely to fulfil his very moderate +requirements. He, a widower, naturally sought a widow, and, happily, +he found a newly made one. Youth she had, for she was only twenty; +beauty she must have had in a remarkable degree, for she was +afterwards one of the lovely girls selected to act with the Queen of +James I. in Ben Jonson's _Masque of Beauty_; and wealth she had in the +shape of immense estates. + +Elizabeth, grand-daughter of the great Lord Burghley, and daughter of +Burghley's eldest son Thomas Cecil, some years later Earl of Exeter, +had been married to the nephew and heir of Lord Chancellor Hatton. Not +very long after her marriage her husband had died, leaving her +childless and possessed of the large property which he had inherited +from his uncle. This young widow was a woman not only of high birth, +great riches, and exceptional beauty, but also of remarkable wit, and, +as if all this were not enough, she had, in addition, a violent temper +and an obstinate will. This Coke found out in her conduct respecting a +daughter who eventually became Lady Purbeck, the heroine of our little +story. + +Romance was not wanting in the Attorney-General's second wooing; for +he had a rival, whom Lord Campbell in his _Lives of the Chief +Justices_, describes as "then a briefless barrister, but with +brilliant prospects," a man of thirty-five, who happened to be Lady +Elizabeth's cousin. His name was Francis Bacon, afterwards Lord +Chancellor, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, and the author of the +_Novum Organum_ as well of a host of other works, including essays on +almost every conceivable subject. In the opinion of certain people, he +was also the author of the plays commonly attributed to one William +Shakespeare. This rival was good-looking, had a charming manner, and +was brilliant in conversation, while his range of subjects was almost +unlimited, whereas, the wooer in whom we take such an affectionate +interest, was wrinkled, dull, narrow-minded, unimaginative, selfish, +over-bearing, arrogant, illiterate, ignorant in almost everything +except jurisprudence, of which he was the greatest oracle then living, +and uninterested in everything except law, his own personal ambition, +and money-making. + +Shortly before Coke had marked the young and lovely Lady Elizabeth +Hatton for his own, Bacon had not only paid his court to her in +person, but had also persuaded his great friend and patron, Lord +Essex, to use his influence in inducing her to marry him. Essex did so +to the very best of his ability, a kind service for which Bacon +afterwards repaid him after he had fallen--we have seen that his star +was already in its decadence--by making every effort, and successful +effort, to get him convicted of treason, sentenced to death, and +executed. + +Which of these limbs of the law was the beautiful heiress to select? +She showed no inclination to marry Francis Bacon, and she was backed +up in this disinclination by her relatives, the Cecils. The head of +that family, Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth's Lord High Treasurer, was +particularly proud of his second son, Robert, whom he had succeeded in +advancing by leaps and bounds until he had become Secretary of State; +and Burghley and the rest of his family feared a dangerous rival to +Robert in the brilliant Bacon, who had already attracted the notice, +and was apparently about to receive the patronage, of the Court. If +Bacon should marry the famous beauty and become possessed of her large +fortune, there was no saying, thought the Cecils, but that he might +attain to such an exalted position as to put their own precocious +Robert in the shade. + +Bridget had not been in her grave four months when the great Lord +Burghley died. Coke attended his funeral, and a funeral being +obviously a fitting occasion on which to talk about that still more +dreary ceremony, a wedding, Coke took advantage of it to broach the +question of a marriage between himself and Lady Elizabeth Hatton. He +broached it both to her father, the new Lord Burghley, and to her +uncle, the much more talented Robert. Whatever their astonishment may +have been, each of these Cecils promised to offer no opposition to the +match. They probably reflected that the Attorney-General was a man in +a powerful position, and that, with his own great wealth combined with +that of Lady Elizabeth Hatton, he might possibly prove of service to +the Cecil family in the future. + +How the match, proposed under such conditions, came about, history +does not inform us, but, within six months of Bridget's funeral, her +widower embalmed her memory by marrying Elizabeth Hatton, a girl +fifteen years her junior. + +If any writer possessed of imagination should choose to make a novel +on the foundation of this simple story, he may describe to his readers +how the cross-grained and unattractive Coke contrived to induce the +fair Lady Elizabeth Hatton to accept him for a husband. The present +writer cannot say how this miracle was worked, for the simple reason +that he does not know. One incident in connection with the marriage, +however, is a matter of history. Elizabeth was not sufficiently proud +of her prospective bride-groom to desire to stand beside him at a +wedding before a large, fashionable, and critical assemblage in a +London church. If he would have her at all, she insisted that he must +take her in the only way in which he could get her, namely, by a +clandestine marriage, in a private house, with only two or three +witnesses. + +Now, if there was one thing more than another in which Mr. Attorney +Coke lived and moved and had his being, it was the law, to all +offenders against which he was an object of terror; and such a great +lawyer must have been fully aware that, by making a clandestine +marriage in a private house, he would render himself liable to the +greater excommunication, whereby, in addition to the minor annoyance +of being debarred from the sacraments, he might forfeit the whole of +his property and be subjected to perpetual imprisonment. To make +matters worse, Archbishop Whitgift had just issued a pastoral letter +to all the bishops in the province of Canterbury, condemning marriages +in private houses at unseasonable hours, and forbidding under the +severest penalties any marriage, except in a cathedral or in a parish +church, during the canonical hours, and after proclamation of banns +on three Sundays or holidays, or else with the license of the +ordinary. + +Rather than lose his prize, Coke, the great lawyer, determined to defy +the law, and to run all risks, risks which the bride seemed anxious to +make as great as possible; for, at her earnest request, or rather +dictation, the pair were married in a private house, without license +or banns, and in the evening, less than five months after Coke had +made the entry in his diary canonising Bridget. As the Archbishop had +been his tutor, Coke may have expected him to overlook this little +transgression. Instead of this, the pious Primate at once ordered a +suit to be instituted in his Court against the bridegroom, the bride, +the parson who had married them, and the bride's father, Lord +Burghley, who had given her away. Lord Campbell says that "a libel was +exhibited against them, concluding for the 'greater excommunication' +as the appropriate punishment." + +Mr. Attorney now saw that there was nothing to be done but to kiss the +rod. Accordingly, he made a humble and a grovelling submission, on +which the Archbishop gave a dispensation under his great seal, a +dispensation which is registered in the archives of Lambeth Palace, +absolving all concerned from the penalties they had incurred, and, as +if to complete the joke, alleging, as an excuse, ignorance of the law +on the part of the most learned lawyer in the kingdom. + +The newly married pair had not a single taste in common. The wife +loved balls, masques, hawking, and all sorts of gaiety; she delighted +in admiration and loved to be surrounded by young gallants who had +served in the wars under Sydney and Essex, and who could flatter her +with apt quotations from the verses of Spenser and Surrey. The +husband, on the contrary, detested everything in the form of fun and +frolic, loved nothing but law and money, loathed extravagance and +cared for no society, except that of middle-aged barristers and old +judges. As might be expected, the union of this singularly +ill-assorted couple was a most unhappy one. Indeed it was a case of-- + + "at home 'tis steadfast hate, + And one eternal tempest of debate."[1] + +Within a year of their marriage, that is to say in 1599, Lady +Elizabeth Hatton, as she still called herself, had a daughter. Here +again Burke and Lord Campbell are at variance. Burke says that by this +marriage Coke had two daughters, Elizabeth, who died unmarried, and +Frances, our heroine; whereas Lord Campbell says that Frances was born +within a year of their marriage and makes no mention of any Elizabeth. +It is pretty clear, from subsequent events, that, if there was an +Elizabeth, she must have died very young, and that Frances must have +been born almost as soon as was possible after the birth of her elder +sister.[2] + +The beginning of our heroine may make the end of our chapter. In the +next she will not be seen at all; but, as will duly appear, the events +therein recorded had a great--it might almost be said a +supreme--influence on her fortunes. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Young's _Love of Fame_. + +[2] Most of the matter in this chapter has been taken from _The Lives +of the Chief Justices of England_, by John, Lord Campbell. In two +volumes. London: John Murray, 1849, Vol. I., p. 239 _seq._, Chap. +VII. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure, + Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure." + _Don Juan_, xiii., 16. + + +Rivals in love, rivals in law, rivals for place, Coke and Bacon, while +nominally friends, were implacable enemies, but they sought their ends +by different methods. When James I. had ascended the throne, Bacon +began at once to seek his favour; but Coke took no trouble whatever +for that purpose, and he was not even introduced to the royal presence +until several weeks after the accession. Bacon, then a K.C., held no +office during the first four years of the new reign; but his literary +fame and his skilful advocacy at the Bar excited the jealousy of Coke. +On one occasion, Coke grossly insulted him in the Court of Exchequer, +whereupon Bacon said: "Mr. Attorney, I respect you but I fear you not; +and the less you speak of your own greatness, the more I will think of +it." Coke angrily replied: "I think scorn to stand upon terms of +greatness towards you, who are less than little--less than the least." + +Lord Campbell says that Sir Edward Coke's arrogance to the whole Bar, +and to all who approached him, now became almost insufferable, and +that "his demeanour was particularly offensive to his rival"--Bacon. +As to prisoners, "his brutal conduct ... brought permanent disgrace +upon himself and upon the English Bar." When Sir Walter Raleigh was +being tried for his life, but had not yet been found guilty, Coke said +to him: "Thou art the most vile and execrable traitor that ever lived. +I want words sufficient to express thy viprous treasons." When Sir +Everard Digby confessed that he deserved the vilest death, but humbly +begged for mercy and some moderation of justice, Coke told him that he +ought "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 upon him," and that, as to his wife and +children, he ought to desire the fulfilment of the words of the Psalm: +"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." According to Lord Campbell, Coke's "arrogance of demeanour to +all mankind is unparalleled." + +Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth, Coke, as Attorney-General, +had had another task well suited to his taste, that of examining the +prisoners stretched on the rack, at the Tower. Volumes of examinations +of prisoners under torture, in Coke's own handwriting, are still +preserved at the State Paper Office, which, says Campbell, +"sufficiently attest his zeal, assiduity and hard-heartedness in the +service.... He scrupulously attended to see the proper degree of pain +inflicted." Yet this severe prosecutor, bitter advocate and cruel +examiner, became a Chief Justice of tolerable courtesy, moderate +severity, and unimpeachable integrity. + +If he had everything his own way in the criminal court and the torture +chamber, Coke did not find his wishes altogether unopposed in his +family. To begin with, he suffered the perpetual insult of the refusal +on the part of his wife to be called by his name. If her first husband +had been of higher rank, it might have been another matter: but both +were only knights, and it was a parallel case to the widow Jones, +after she had married Smith, insisting upon still calling herself Mrs. +Jones. Lady Elizabeth defended her conduct on this point as +follows:[3] "I returned this answer: that if Sir Edward Cooke would +bury my first husband accordinge to his own directions, and also paie +such small legacys as he gave to divers of his friends, in all cominge +not to above £700 or £900, at the most that was left unperformed, he +having all Sir William Hatton's goods & lands to a large proportion, +then would I willingly stile myself by his name. But he never yielded, +so I consented not to the other." Whether Hatton or Coke, as an Earl's +daughter she was Lady Elizabeth, by which name alone let us know her. + +Campbell states that, after the birth of Frances, Sir Edward and Lady +Elizabeth "lived little together, although they had the prudence to +appear to the world to be on decent terms till the heiress was +marriageable." Coke had been astute enough to secure a comfortable +country-house, at a very convenient distance from London, through Lady +Elizabeth. Her ladyship had held a mortgage upon Stoke Pogis, a place +that belonged formerly to the Earls of Huntingdon,[4] and Coke, either +by foreclosing or by selling, obtained possession of the property. As +it stood but three or four miles to the north of Windsor, the +situation was excellent.[5] Sir Edward's London house was in the then +fashionable quarter of Holborn, a place to which dwellers in the city +used to go for change of air.[6] As Coke and his wife generally +quarrelled when together, the husband was usually at Holborn[7] when +the wife was at Stoke, and _vice-versā_. It was almost impossible that +Miss Frances should not notice the strained relations between her +parents. Nothing could have been much worse for the education of their +daughter than their constant squabblings; and, unless she differed +greatly from most other daughters, she would take advantage of their +mutual antipathies to play one against the other, a pleasing pastime, +by means of which young ladies, blessed with quarrelsome parents, +often obtain permissions and other good things of this world, which +otherwise they would have to do without. + +Lady Elizabeth found a friend and a sympathiser in her domestic +worries. Francis Bacon, the former lover of her fortune, if not of her +person, became her consoler and her counsellor. Let not the reader +suppose that these pages are so early to be sullied by a scandal. +Nothing could have been farther from reproach than the marital +fidelity of Lady Elizabeth, but it must have gratified Bacon to annoy +the man who had crossed and conquered him in love, or in what +masqueraded under that name, by fanning the flames of Lady Elizabeth's +fiery hatred against her husband. Hitherto, Coke had had it all his +own way. He had snubbed and insulted Bacon in the law courts, and he +had snatched a wealthy and beautiful heiress from his grasp. The wheel +of fortune was now about to take a turn in the opposite direction. + +About the year 1611, King James entertained the idea of reigning as an +absolute sovereign. Archbishop Bancroft flattered him in this notion, +and suggested that the King ought to have the privilege of "judging +whatever cause he pleased in his own person, free from all risk of +prohibition or appeal." James summoned the judges to his Council and +asked whether they consented to this proposal. Coke replied:-- + +"God has endowed your Majesty with excellent science as well as great +gifts of nature; but your Majesty will allow me to say, with all +reverence, that you are not learned in the laws of this your realm of +England, and I crave leave to remind your Majesty that causes which +concern the life or inheritance, or goods or fortunes of your subjects +are not to be decided by natural reason, but by the artificial reason +and judgment of law, which law is an art which requires long study and +experience before that a man can attain to the cognizance of it." + +On hearing this, James flew into a rage and said: "Then am I to be +_under_ the law--which it is treason to affirm?" + +To which Coke replied: "Thus wrote Braxton: 'Rex non debet esse sub +homine, sed sub _Deo et Lege_.'"[8] + +Coke had the misfortune to offend the King in another matter. James +issued proclamations whenever he thought that the existing law +required amendment. A reply was drawn up by Coke, in which he said: +"The King, by his proclamation or otherwise, cannot change any part +of the common law, or statute law, or the customs of the realm." This +still further aggravated James. + +Meanwhile Bacon, now Attorney-General, was high in the King's favour, +and he was constantly manoeuvring in order to bring about the downfall +of his rival. He persuaded James to remove Coke from the Common Pleas +to the King's Bench--a promotion, it is true, but to a far less +lucrative post. This greatly annoyed Coke, who, on meeting Bacon, +said: "Mr. Attorney, this is all your doing." For a time Coke +counteracted his fall in James's favour by giving £2,000 to a +"Benevolence," which the King had asked for the pressing necessities +of the Crown, a benevolence to which the other judges contributed only +very small sums. This fair weather, however, was not to be of long +duration. + +In 1616 Coke again offended the King. Bacon had declared his opinion +that the King could prohibit the hearing of any case in which his +prerogative was concerned. In the course of a trial which shortly +afterwards took place, Bacon wrote to the judges that it was "his +Majesty's express pleasure that the farther argument of the said cause +be put off till his Majesty's farther pleasure be known upon +consulting him." In a reply, drawn up by Coke and signed by the other +judges, the King was told that "we have advisedly considered of the +said letter of Mr. Attorney, and with one consent do hold the same to +be contrary to law, and such as we could not yield to by our oaths." + +James was furious. He summoned the judges to Whitehall and gave them a +tremendous scolding. They fell on their knees and all were submissive +except Coke, who boldly said that "obedience to his Majesty's command +... would have been a delay of justice, contrary to law, and contrary +to the oaths of the judges." + +Although Coke was now in terrible disgrace at Court, he might have +retained his office of Chief Justice, if he would have sanctioned a +job for Villiers, the new royal favourite. George Villiers, a young +man of twenty-four, since the fall of the Earl of Somerset had +centralised all power and patronage in his own hands. The chief +clerkship in the Court of King's Bench, a sinecure worth £4,000 a +year, was falling vacant, and Villiers wished to have the disposal of +it. The office was in the gift of Coke, and, when Bacon asked that its +gift should be placed in the hands of Villiers, Coke flatly refused +and thus offended the most powerful man in England. Nothing then +became bad enough for Coke and nothing in Coke could be good. His +reports of cases were carefully examined by Bacon, who pointed out to +the King many "novelties, errors, and offensive conceits" in them. The +upshot of the whole matter was that Coke was deprived of office. When +the news was communicated to him, says a contemporary letter, "he +received it with dejection and tears."[9] + +It would be natural to suppose that by this time Bacon had done enough +to satisfy his vengeance upon Coke. But no! He must needs worry him +yet further by an exasperating letter, from which some extracts shall +be given. It opens with a good deal of scriptural quotation as to the +wholesomeness of affliction. Then Bacon proceeds to say:[10] +"Afflictions level the mole-hills of pride, plough the heart and make +it fit for Wisdom to sow her seed, and for grace to bring forth her +increase. Happy is that man, therefore, both in regard of Heavenly and +earthly wisdom, that is thus wounded to be cured, thus broken to be +made straight, thus made acquainted with his own imperfections that he +may be perfect. Supposing this to be the time of your affliction, that +which I have propounded to myself is, by taking the seasonable +advantage, like a true friend (though far unworthy to be counted so) +to show your shape in a glass.... Yet of this resolve yourself, it +proceedeth from love and a true desire to do you good, that you, +knowing what the general opinion is may not altogether neglect or +contemn it, but mend what you may find amiss in yourself.... First, +therefore, behold your Errors: In discourse you delight to speak too +much.... Your affections are entangled with a love of your own +arguments, though they be the weaker.... Secondly, you cloy your +auditory: when you would be observed, speech must either be sweet, or +short. Thirdly, you converse with Books, not Men ... who are the best +Books. For a man of action & employment you seldom converse, & then +but with underlings; not freely but as a schoolmaster with his +scholars, ever to teach, never to learn.... You should know many of +these tales you tell to be but ordinary, & many other things, which +you repeat, & serve in for novelties to be but stale.... Your too much +love of the world is too much seen, when having the living" [income] +"of £10,000, you relieve few or none: the hand that hath taken so +much, can it give so little? Herein you show no bowels of +compassion.... We desire you to amend this & let your poor Tenants in +Norfolk find some comfort, where nothing of your Estate is spent +towards their relief, but all brought up hither, to the impoverishing +of your country.... When we will not mind ourselves, God (if we belong +to him) takes us in hand, & because he seeth that we have unbridled +stomachs, therefore he sends outward crosses." And Bacon ends by +commending poor Coke "to God's Holy Spirit ... beseeching Him to send +you a good issue out of all these troubles, & from henceforth to work +a reformation in all that is amiss, & a resolute perseverance, +proceeding, & growth, in all that is good, & that for His glory, the +bettering of yourself, this Church & Commonwealth; whose faithful +servant whilest you remain, I am a faithful servant unto you." + +If ever there was a case of adding insult to injury, surely this piece +of canting impertinence was one of the most outrageous. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] _Life of Sir Edward Coke._ By H.W. Woolrych. London: J. & W.T. +Clarke, 1826, pp. 145-48. + +[4] Lipscomb's _History and Antiquities of the Co. of Bucks_, 1847, +Vol. IV., p. 548. + +[5] Gray made the churchyard of Stoke Pogis the scene of his famous +Elegy, and he was buried there in 1771. + +[6] _Ency. Brit._, Vol. XIV. Article on London. + +[7] Lady Elizabeth's house in Holborn was called Hatton House. A +letter (_S.P. Dom._, James I., 13th July, 1622) says: "Lady Hatton +sells her house in Holborn to the Duke of Lennox, for £12,000." +Another letter (ib. 26th February, 1628) says that "Lady Hatton +complained so much of her bargain with the Duchess of Richmond for +Hatton House, that the Duchess has taken her at her word and left it +on her hands, whereby she loses £1,500 a year, and £6,000 fine." + +[8] "Under no man's judgment should the King lie; but under God and +the law only." + +[9] Letter from John Castle. See D'Israeli's _Character of James I._, +p. 125. + +[10] _Cabala Sive Scrina Sacra_: Mysteries of State and Government. In +_Letters of Illustrious Persons, etc_. London: Thomas Sawbridge and +others, 1791, p. 86. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Marriage is a matter of more worth + Than to be dealt in by attorneyship." + _Henry VI._, I., v., 5. + + +If Bacon flattered himself that he had extinguished Coke for good and +all, he was much mistaken. It must have alarmed him to find that Lady +Elizabeth, after constant quarrels with her husband and ceasing to +live with him, had taken his part, now that he had been dismissed from +office, that she had solicited his cause at the very Council +table,[11] and that she had quarrelled with both the King and the +Queen about the treatment of her husband, with the result that she had +been forbidden to go to Court, and had begun to live again with Coke, +taking with her her daughter, now well on in her 'teens. + +There was a period of hostilities, however, early in the year 1617. +Sir Edward and Lady Elizabeth went to law about her jointure. In May +Chamberlain wrote to Carleton:-- + +"The Lord Coke & his lady hath great wars at the council table. I was +there on Wednesday, but by reason of the Lord Keeper's absence, there +was nothing done. What passed yesterday I know not yet: but the first +time she came accompanied with the Lord Burghley" (her eldest +brother), "& his lady, the Lord Danvers" (her maternal grandfather), +"the Lord Denny" (her brother-in-law), "Sir Thomas Howard" (her +nephew, afterwards first Earl of Berkshire) "& his lady, with I know +not how many more, & declaimed bitterly against him, and so carried +herself that divers said Burbage" [the celebrated actor of that time] +"could not have acted better. Indeed, it seems he [Sir Edward Coke] +hath carried himself very simply, to say no more, in divers matters: +and no doubt he shall be sifted thoroughly, for the King is much +incensed against him, & by his own weakness he hath lost those few +friends he had." + +It is clear from this letter that, although her husband was one of the +greatest lawyers of the day, Lady Elizabeth was not at all afraid of +pitting herself against him in Court, where indeed she seems to have +proved the better pleader of the pair. + +This dispute was patched up. On 4th June Chamberlain wrote: "Sir +Edward Coke & his Lady, after so much animosity and wrangling, are +lately made friends; & his curst heart hath been forced to yield more +than ever he meant; but upon this agreement he flatters himself that +she will prove a very good wife." So Coke and his "very good wife" +settled down together again. We shall see presently whether there was +to be a perpetual peace between them. + +While Bacon was meditating an information against Sir Edward Coke in +the Star Chamber for malversation of office, in the hope that a heavy +fine might be imposed upon him, Coke also was plotting. He discovered +that Bacon, who had been made Lord Keeper early in the year 1617, had +had his head turned by his promotion and had become giddy on his +pinnacle of greatness; or, to use Bacon's own words, that he was +suffering acutely from an "unbridled stomach." Of this Coke determined +to take advantage. + +Looking back upon his own fall, Coke considered that the final crash +had been brought about not, as Bacon had insinuated in his letter, by +offending the Almighty, but by offending Villiers, now Earl of +Buckingham, and he came to the conclusion that his best hope of +recovering his position would be to find some method of doing that +Earl a service. Now, Buckingham had an elder brother, Sir John +Villiers, who was very poor, and for whom he was anxious to pick up an +heiress. The happy thought struck Coke that, as all his wife's +property was entailed on her daughter, Frances, he might secure +Buckingham's support by selling the girl to Buckingham's brother, for +the price of Buckingham's favour and assistance. It was most fortunate +that Frances was exceedingly beautiful, and that Sir John Villiers was +unattractive and much older than she was; because this would render +the amount of patronage, due in payment by Buckingham to Coke, so much +the greater. + +James I. and Buckingham had gone to Scotland. In the absence of the +King and the Court, Bacon, as Lord Keeper, was one of the greatest men +left in London, and quite the greatest in his own estimation. Misled +by this idea of his own importance, he was imprudent enough to treat +his colleague, Winwood, the Secretary of State, with as little +ceremony as if he had been a junior clerk, thereby incurring the +resentment of that very high official. Common hatred of Bacon made a +strong bond of union between Coke and Winwood, and Winwood joined +readily in the plot newly laid by Coke. + +Sir John Villiers was already acquainted with Coke's pretty daughter; +and, when Coke went to him, suggested a match, and enlarged upon the +fortune to which she was sole heiress, Sir John professed to be over +head and ears in love with her, and observed that "although he would +have been well pleased to have taken her in her smoke [smock], he +should be glad, by way of curiosity, to know how much could be assured +by marriage settlement upon her and her issue."[12] With some +reluctance Sir Edward Coke then entered into particulars, and the +match was regarded as settled by both sides. + +Everything having been now satisfactorily arranged, it occurred to +Coke that possibly the time had arrived for informing, first his wife, +and afterwards his daughter, of the marriage to which he had agreed. + +Sir Edward had often seen his wife in a passion, and he had frequently +been a listener to torrents of abuse from her pretty lips and caustic +tongue. Although he had been notorious as the rudest member of the +Bar, he had generally come off second best in his frequent battles of +words with his beautiful helpmate. Stolid and unimpressible as he was, +he can hardly have been impervious to the effects of the verbal venom +with which she had constantly stung him. But all this had been mere +child's play in comparison with her fury on being informed that, +without so much as consulting her, her husband had definitely settled +a match for her only child with a portionless knight. A new weapon was +lying ready to her hand, and she made every possible use of it. It +consisted in the fact that, much as she and her husband had quarrelled +and lived apart, she had returned to him in the hour of his +tribulation, had fought his battles before the King and the Council, +and had even braved the royal displeasure and endured exile from the +Court, rather than desert him in his need. She bitterly reproached him +for repaying her constancy and sacrifices on his behalf by selling her +daughter without either inquiring as to the mother's wishes, or even +informing that mother of his intention. + +If Lady Elizabeth was infuriated at the news of the match, her +daughter was frenzied. She detested Sir John Villiers, and she +implored her parents never again to mention the question of her +marrying him. The mother and daughter were on one side and the father +on the other; neither would yield an inch, and Hatton House, Holborn, +became the scene of violent invective and bitter weeping. + +Buckingham is said to have promised Coke that, if he would bring about +the proposed marriage, he should have his offices restored to him. +Buckingham's mother, Lady Compton, also warmly supported the project. +She was what would now be called "a very managing woman." Since the +death of Buckingham's father, she had had two husbands, Sir William +Rayner and Sir Thomas Compton,[13] brother to the Earl of Northampton. +She was in high favour at Court, and she was created Countess of +Buckingham just a year later than the time with which we are now +dealing. As Buckingham favoured the match, of course the King favoured +it also; and, as has been seen, Winwood, the Secretary of State, +favoured it, simply because Bacon did not. + +On the other side, among the active opponents of the match, were Bacon +the Lord Keeper, Lord and Lady Burghley, Lord Danvers, Lord Denny, Sir +Thomas and Lady Howard, and Sir Edmund and Lady Withipole. + +Suddenly, to Coke's great satisfaction, Lady Elizabeth became, as he +supposed, calm and quiet. It was his habit to go to bed at nine +o'clock, and to get up very early. One night he went to bed at his +usual hour, under the impression that his wife was settling down +nicely and resigning herself to the inevitable. While he was in his +beauty-sleep, soon after ten, that excellent lady quietly left the +house with her daughter, and walked some little distance to a coach, +which she had engaged to be in waiting for them at an appointed place. +In this coach they travelled by unfrequented and circuitous roads, +until they arrived at a house near Oatlands, a place belonging to the +Earl of Argyll, but rented at that time by Lady Elizabeth's cousin, +Sir Edmund Withipole. The distance from Holborn to Oatlands, as the +crow flies, is about twenty miles; but, by the roundabout roads which +the fugitives took in order to prevent attempts to trace them, the +distance must have been considerable, and the journey, in the clumsy +coach of the period, over the rutted highways and the still worse +by-roads of those times, must have been long and wearisome. Oatlands +is close to Weybridge, to the south-west of London, in Surrey, just +over the boundary of Middlesex and about a mile to the south of the +river Thames. + +In Sir Edmund Withipole's house Lady Elizabeth and her daughter lived +in the strictest seclusion, and all precautions were taken to prevent +the place of their retreat from becoming known. And great caution was +necessary, for Lady Elizabeth and Frances were almost within a dozen +miles of Stoke Pogis, their country home; so that they would have been +in danger of being recognised, if they had appeared outside the house. + +But Lady Elizabeth was not idle in her voluntary imprisonment. She +conceived the idea that the best method of preventing a match which +she disliked for her daughter would be to make one of which she could +approve. Accordingly she offered Frances to young Henry de Vere, +eighteenth Earl of Oxford. Although to a lesser extent, like Sir John +Villiers, he was impecunious and on the look out for an heiress, his +father--who was distinguished for having been one of the peers +appointed to sit in judgment on Mary, Queen of Scots, for having had +command of a fleet to oppose the Armada, for his success in +tournaments, for his comedies, for his wit, and for introducing the +use of scents into England--having dissipated the large inheritance of +his family. + +Undoubtedly, Lady Elizabeth was a woman of considerable resource; but, +with all her virtues, she was not over-scrupulous; for, as Lord +Campbell says,[14] to induce her daughter to believe that Oxford was +in love with her, she "showed her a forged letter, purporting to come +from that nobleman, which asseverated that he was deeply attached to +her, and that he aspired to her hand." Lady Elizabeth was apparently +of opinion that everything--and everything includes lying and +forgery--is fair in love and war. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Chamberlain, in a letter dated 22nd June, 1616. + +[12] A quotation given by Lord Campbell (Vol. I., p. 297); but he does +not state his authority. + +[13] Arthur Wilson, in his life of James I. (_Camden, History of +England_, Vol. II., p. 727), tells the following story about Sir T. +Compton whom he calls "a low spirited man." "One Bird, a roaring +Captain, was the more insolent against him because he found him slow & +backward." After many provocations, Bird "wrought so upon his cold +temper, that Compton sent him a challenge." On receiving it, Bird told +Compton's second that he would only accept the challenge on condition +that the duel should take place in a saw-pit, "Where he might be sure +Compton could not run away from him." When both combatants were in the +saw-pit, Bird said: "Now, Compton, thou shalt not escape me," and +brandished his sword above his head. While he was doing this, Compton +"in a moment run him through the Body; so that his Pride fell to the +ground, and there did sprawl out its last vanity." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "There is no such thing as perfect secrecy." + --_South's Sermons._ + + +As might be expected, the whereabouts of the place for concealment of +Lady Elizabeth and her daughter leaked out and reached the ears of Sir +Edward Coke, who immediately applied to the Privy Council for a +warrant to search for his daughter. Bacon opposed it. Indeed, it is +said that Bacon had not only been all the time aware of the place of +the girl's retreat, but had also joined actively in the plot to convey +her to it. Because it was difficult to obtain a search-warrant from +the Privy Council, Coke got an order to the same effect from Winwood, +the Secretary of State;[15] and, although this order was of doubtful +regularity, Coke determined to act upon it. + +In July, 1617, Coke mustered a band of armed men, made up of his sons +(Bridget's sons), his servants and his dependents. He put on a +breastplate, and, with a sword at his side and pistols in the holsters +of his saddle, he placed himself at the head of his little army, and +gallantly led it to Oatlands to wage war upon his wife. + +On arriving at the house which he went to besiege, he found no +symptoms of any garrison for its defence. All was quiet, as if the +place were uninhabited, the only sign that an attack was expected +being that the gate leading to the house was strongly bolted and +barred. To force the gate open, if a work requiring hard labour, was +one of time, rather than of difficulty: and, when it had been +accomplished, the general courageously led his troops from the outer +defences to the very walls of the enemy's--that is to say of his +wife's--castle. + +The door of the house was found to be a very different thing from the +gate. The besiegers knocked, and pounded, and thumped, and pushed, and +battered: but that door withstood all their efforts. Again and again +Coke, with a loud voice, demanded his child, in the King's name. +"Remember," roared he to those within, "if we should kill any of your +people, it would be justifiable homicide; but, if any of you should +kill one of us, it would be MURDER!"[16] + +To this opinion of the highest legal authority, given gratis, silence +gave consent; for no reply was returned from the fortress, in which +the stillness must have made the attackers afraid that the foes had +fled. And then the bang, bang, banging on the door began afresh. + +One of Coke's lieutenants suddenly bethought him of a flank attack, +and, after sneaking round the house, this warrior adopted the +burglar's manoeuvre of forcing open a window, on the ground floor. One +by one the valiant members of Coke's little army climbed into the +house by this means, and the august person of the ex-Lord Chief +Justice himself was squeezed through the aperture. Nobody appeared to +oppose their search; but preparations to prevent it had evidently been +made with great care; for Chamberlain wrote that they had to "brake +open divers doors." + +Room after room was searched in vain; but, at last, Lady Elizabeth and +Frances were discovered hidden in a small closet. Both the father and +the mother clasped their daughter in their arms almost at the same +moment. The daughter clung to the mother; the father clung to the +daughter. Sir Edward pulled; Lady Elizabeth pulled; and, after a +violent struggle between the husband and the wife, Coke succeeded in +wrenching the weeping girl from her mother's arms.[17] Without a +moment's parley with his defeated antagonist, he dragged away his +prey, took her out of the house, placed her on horseback behind one of +her half-brothers, and started off with his whole cavalcade for his +house at Stoke Pogis. + +The writer is old enough to have seen farmers' wives riding behind +their husbands, on pillions. Most uncomfortable sitting those pillions +appeared to afford, and he distinctly remembers the rolling movements +to which the sitters seemed to be subjected. This was when the pace +was at a walk or a slow jog. But the unfortunate Frances must have +been rolled and bumped at speed; for there was a pursuit. In his +already quoted letter to Carleton, Chamberlain says that Sir Edward +Coke's "lady was at his heels, and, if her coach had not held"--_i.e._, +stuck in the mud of the appalling roads of the period--"in the +pursuit after him, there was like to be strange tragedies." Miss +Coke must have been long in forgetting that enforced ride of at least +a dozen long miles, on a pillion behind a brother, and as a prisoner +surrounded by an armed force. + +Campbell states that, on reaching Stoke Pogis, Coke locked his +daughter "in an upper chamber, of which he himself kept the key." +Possibly, Sir John Villiers' mother, Lady Compton, may have been +there, in readiness to receive her; for Chamberlain says that Coke +"delivered his daughter to the Lady Compton, Sir John's mother; but, +the next day, Edmondes, Clerk of the Council, was sent with a warrant +to have the custody of the lady at his own house." This was probably +Bacon's doing. + +Among the manuscripts at Trinity College, Cambridge, is a letter[18] +written from the Inner Temple to Mrs. Ann Sadler, a daughter of Sir +Edward Coke by his first wife. From this we learn that, on finding +herself robbed of her daughter, Lady Elizabeth hastened to London to +seek the assistance of her friend Bacon. In driving thither her coach +was "overturned." We saw that it had "held" in the heavy roads when +she was chasing her husband in it, and very likely its wheels may have +become loosened in some ruts on that occasion. An upset in a carriage, +however, was a common occurrence in those days, and, nothing daunted, +Lady Elizabeth managed to complete her journey to the house of Bacon +in London. + +When she reached it, she was told that the Lord Keeper was unwell and +in his room, asleep. She persuaded "the door-keeper" to take her to +the sitting-room next to his bedroom, in order that she might be "the +first to speak with him after he was stirring." The "door-keeper +fulfilled her desire and in the meantime gave her a chair to rest +herself in." Then he most imprudently left her, and she had not been +alone long when "she rose up and bounced against my Lord Keeper's +door." The noise not only woke up the sleeping Bacon, but "affrighted +him" to such an extent that he called for help at the top of his +voice. His servants immediately came rushing to his room. Doubtless he +was relieved at seeing them; but his feelings may have been somewhat +mixed when Lady Elizabeth "thrust in with them." He was on very +friendly terms with her; but it was disconcerting to receive a lady +from his bed when he was half awake and wholly frightened, especially +when, as the correspondent describes it, the condition of that lady +was like that of "a cow that had lost her calf." + +The upshot of this rather unusual visit was that Lady Elizabeth got +Bacon's warrant, as Lord Keeper, and also that of the Lord Treasurer +"and others of the Council, to fetch her daughter from the father and +bring them both to the Council." + +At that particular time Bacon had just made a blunder. He was well +aware of Buckingham's high favour with the King; but he scarcely +realised its measure. Indeed, since he had seen him last, and during +the time that the King had been in Scotland, Buckingham's influence +over James had increased enormously. It is true that Bacon had +enlisted the services of Buckingham to defeat Coke, and that he had +used him as a tool to secure the office of Lord Keeper: but, as the +occupier of that exalted position, he considered himself secure enough +to take his own line, and even to offer Buckingham some fatherly +advice, as will presently appear. + +Bacon now made another attack upon his enemy by summoning Coke before +the Star Chamber on a charge of breaking into a private house with +violence. On receiving this summons, Coke wrote to Buckingham, who was +with the King in the North, complaining that his wife, the Withipoles, +and their confederates, had conveyed his "dearest daughter" from his +house, "in most secret manner, to a house near Oatland, which Sir +Edmund Withipole had taken for the summer of my Lord Argyle." Then he +said: "I, by God's wonderful providence finding where she was, +together with my sons and ordinary attendants did break open two +doors, & recovered my daughter." His object, he said was, "First & +principally, lest his Majesty should think I was of confederacy with +my wife in conveying her away, or charge me with want of government in +my household in suffering her to be carried away, after I had engaged +myself to his Majesty for the furtherance of this match." + +Buckingham, at about the same time that he received Coke's letter, +received one in a very different tone from Bacon, in which he +said:[19] "Secretary Winwood has busied himself with a match between +Sir John Villiers & Sir Edward Coke's daughter, rather to make a +faction than out of any good affection to your lordship. The lady's +consent is not gained, _nor her mother's, from whom she expecteth a +great fortune_. This match, out of my faith & freedom to your +lordship, I hold very inconvenient, both for your mother, brother, & +yourself." + +"First. He shall marry into a disgraced house, which in reason of +state, is never held good." + +"Next. He shall marry into a troubled house of man & wife, which in +religion and Christian discretion is not liked." + +"Thirdly. Your lordship will go near to lose all such of your friends +as are adverse to Sir Edward Coke (myself only except, who, out of a +pure love & thankfulness, shall ever be firm to you).... Therefore, my +advice is, & your lordship shall do yourself a great honour, if, +according to religion & the law of God, your lordship will signify +unto my lady, your mother, that your desire is that the marriage be +not pressed or proceeded in without the consent of both parents, & so +either break it altogether, or defer any further delay in it (sic) +till your lordship's return." + +A few days later, on the 25th of July, Bacon wrote to an even greater +man than Buckingham, namely, to the King himself. "If," said he, +"there be any merit in drawing on this match, your Majesty should +bestow thanks, not upon the zeal of Sir Edward Coke to your Majesty, +nor upon the eloquent persuasions or pragmaticals of Mr. Secretary +Winwood; but upon them"--meaning himself--who "have so humbled Sir +Edward Coke, as he seeketh now that with submission which (as your +Majesty knoweth) before he rejected with scorn." And then he says that +if the King really wishes for the match, concerning which he should +like more definite orders, he will further it; for, says he, "though I +will not wager on women's minds, I can prevail more with the mother +than any other man." + +King James's reply is not in existence, and it is unknown; but, +judging from a further letter of Bacon's, it must have been rather +cold and unfavourable; and, in Bacon's second letter to the King, he +was foolish enough to express a fear lest Buckingham's "height of +fortune might make him too secure." In his answer to this second +letter of Bacon, James reproves him for plotting with his adversary's +wife to overthrow him, saying "this is to be in league with Delilah." +He also scolds Bacon for being afraid that Buckingham's height of +fortune might make him "misknow himself." The King protests that +Buckingham is farther removed from such a vice than any of his other +courtiers. Bacon, he says, ought to have written to the King instead +of to Buckingham about "the inconvenience of the match:" "that would +have been the part of a true servant to us, and of a true friend to +him [Buckingham]. But first to make an opposition, then to give +advice, by way of friendship, is to make the plough go before the +horse." + +By the time these letters had been carried backwards and forwards, to +and from Scotland and the North of England, a later date had been +reached than we have legitimately arrived at in our story, and we must +now go back to within a few days of Sir Edward Coke's famous raid at +Oatlands. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] _Chief Justices_, Vol. I., pp. 297-298 + +[15] _S.P. Dom._, James I., July, 1617. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley +Carleton. + +[16] Campbell, p. 298. + +[17] Lord Campbell's account. + +[18] Quoted by Spedding in his _Life of Bacon_. + +[19] Foard's _Life and Correspondence of Bacon_, p. 421. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "They've always been at daggers drawing, + And one another clapper-clawing." + Butler's _Hudibras, Hud._, II, 2. + + +Bacon had scarcely written his first letters to Buckingham and the +King, before he had instructed Yelverton, the Attorney-General, to +institute a prosecution against Sir Edward Coke, in the Star Chamber, +for the riot at Oatlands, which he made out to have been almost an act +of war against the King, in his realm. + +Her husband having carried away Frances by force, Lady Elizabeth made +an effort to recover her by a similar method. Gerrard wrote to +Carleton[20] that Lady Elizabeth, having heard that Frances was to be +taken to London, determined to meet her with an armed band and to +wrest her from Coke's power. + +"The Mother she procureth a Warrant from the Counsell Table whereto +were many of the Counsellors to take her agayne from him: goes to +meete her as she shold come up. In the coach with her the Lord +Haughton, Sir E. Lechbill, Sir Rob. Rich, and others, with 3 score men +and Pistolls; they mett her not, yf they had there had bin a notable +skirmish, for the Lady Compton was with Mrs. French in the Coach, and +there was Clem Coke, my Lord's fighting sonne; and they all swore they +would dye in the Place, before they would part with her." + +Without doubt, it was fortunate for both parties that they did not +meet each other. The attempt was a misfortune, as well as a defeat for +Lady Elizabeth; for while she failed to rescue her daughter, she also +gave her husband a fresh count to bring against her in the legal +proceedings which he forthwith instituted:--[21] + +"1. For conveying away her daughter clam et secreté. 2. For +endeavouring to bind her to my Lord Oxford without her father's +consent. 3. For counterfeiting a letter of my Lord Oxford offering her +marriage. 4. For plotting to surprise her daughter and take her away +by force, to the breach of the King's peace, and for that purpose +assembling a body of desperate fellows, whereof the consequences might +have been dangerous." + +To these terrible accusations Lady Elizabeth unblushingly replied: "1. +I had cause to provide for her quiet, Secretary Winwood threatening +she should be married from me in spite of my teeth, and Sir Edward +Coke intending to bestow her against her liking: whereupon she asked +me for help, I placed her at my cousin-german's house a few days for +her health and quiet. 2. My daughter tempted by her father's threats +and ill usuage, and pressing me to find a remedy, I did compassionate +her condition, and bethought myself of this contract with my Lord of +Oxford, if so she liked, and therefore I gave it to her to peruse and +consider by herself: she liked it, cheerfully writ it out with her own +hand, subscribed it, and returned it to me. 3. The end justifies--at +least excuses--the fact: for it was only to hold up my daughter's mind +to her own choice that she might with the more constancy endure her +imprisonment--having this only antidote to resist the poison--no +person or speech being admitted to her but such as spoke Sir John +Villiers' language. 4. Be it that I had some tall fellows assembled to +such an end, and that something was intended, who intended this?--the +mother! And wherefore? Because she was unnaturally and barbarously +secluded from her daughter, and her daughter forced against her will, +contrary to her vows and liking, to the will of him she disliked." + +She then goes on to describe, by way of recrimination, Sir Edward +Coke's "most notorious riot, committed at my Lord of Argyle's house, +where, without constable or warrant, well weaponed, he took down the +doors of the gatehouse and of the house itself, and tore the daughter +in that barbarous manner from her mother--justifying it for good law: +a word for the encouragement of all notorious and rebellious +malefactors from him who had been a Chief Justice, and reputed the +oracle of the law." + +A _State Paper_ (_Dom._, James I., 19th July, 1617, John Chamberlain +to Sir Dudley Carleton) tells us what followed. As correspondence with +Sir Dudley Carleton will be largely quoted in these pages, this +opportunity may be taken of observing that he was Ambassador, at +various times, in Savoy, in the Low Countries, and in Venice, that he +became one of Charles the First's principal Ministers of State, and +that he was eventually created Viscount Dorchester. + +"The next day being all convened before the Council, she" [Frances the +daughter] "was sequestered to Mr. Attorney, & yesterday, upon a +palliated agreement twixt Sir Edward Coke & his lady, she was sent to +Hatton House, with order that the Lady Compton should have access to +win her & wear her." One wonders whether the last "&" was accidentally +substituted for the word "or," by a slip of the pen. In any case to +"wear her" is highly significant! + +"It were a long story to tell all the passages of this business, which +hath furnished Paul's, & this town very plentifully the whole week." +[One of the ecclesiastical scandals of that period was that the nave +of St. Paul's Cathedral was a favourite lounge, and a regular exchange +for gossip.] "The Lord Coke was in great danger to be committed for +disobeying the Council's order, for abusing his warrant, & for the +violence used in breaking open the doors; to all of which he gave +reasonable answers, &, for the violence, will justify it by law, +though orders be given to prefer a bill against him in the Star +Chamber. He and his friends complain of hard measure from some of the +greatest at that Board, & that he was too much trampled upon with ill +language. And our friend" [Winwood] "passed not scot free from the +warrant, which the greatest there" [Bacon] "said was subject to a +_praemunire_, & withal, told the Lady Compton that they wished well to +her and her sons, & would be ready to serve the Earl of Buckingham +with all true affection, whereas others did it out of faction & +ambition." + +Bacon might swagger at the Council Board; but in his heart he was +becoming exceedingly uneasy. We saw, at the end of the last chapter, +that he had received a very sharp letter from the King; and now the +royal favourite himself also wrote in terms which showed, +unmistakably, how much Bacon had offended him.[22] + +"In this business of my brother's that you over-trouble yourself with, +I understand from London, by some of my friends, that you have carried +yourself with much scorn and neglect both towards myself and my +friends, which, if it prove true, I blame not you but myself." + +This was sufficiently alarming, and at least as much so was a letter +which came from the King himself in which was written:--[23] + +"Whereas you talk of the riot and violence committed by Sir Edward +Coke, we wonder you make no mention of the riot and violence of them +that stole away his daughter, which was the first ground of all that +noise." + +It is clear, therefore, that if things were going badly for Coke, they +were going almost worse for Bacon, who now found himself in a very +awkward position both with the King and with Buckingham. Nor was he +succeeding as well as he could have wished in his attacks upon Coke. +He had made an attack by proceeding against him for a certain action, +when a judge; but Coke had parried this thrust by paying what was then +a very large sum to settle the affair. + +In a letter to Carleton[24] Gerrard says:-- + +"The Lord Chiefe Justice Sir Ed. Coke hath payd 3500£ for composition +for taking common Bayle for some accused of Pyracye, which hath been +urged agaynst him since hys fall. And perhaps fearing more such claps; +intending to stand out the storme no longer, privately hath agreed on +a match with Sir John Villiers for hys youngest daughter Franche, the +mother's Darling, with which the King was acquainted withall and writt +to have it done before hys coming backe." + +And presently he says:-- + +"The caryadge of the business hath made such a ster in the Towne as +never was: Nothing can fully represent it but a Commedye." + +A letter written on the same day by Sir John Finet mentions the +projected marriage of Sir Edward Coke's daughter with Sir John +Villiers, who would have £2,000 a year from Buckingham, and be left +heir of his lands, as he was already of his Earldom, failing the +Earl's male issue. He adds that Sir Edward Coke went cheerily to visit +the Queen, and that the common people said he would die Lord +Treasurer. Such gossip as that must have been anything but amusing to +Bacon. + +The Coke-Villiers engagement had now become almost, if not quite, a +State affair. Nearly three weeks later Sir Horace Vere wrote to +Carleton:--[25] + +"I hear nothing so much spoken of here as that of Sir John Villiers +and Sir Ed. Coke's daughter. My Lady Hatton doth continue stiff +against yt, and yesterday I wayted upon my wife to my Lady of +Northumberland's. She tould my wife that she gives yt out that her +daughter is formmerlie contracted to an other and to such a one that +will not be afeard to plead his interest if he be put to yt." + +Six days afterwards a third candidate for Frances Coke was talked +about. George Gerrard wrote to the same correspondent:--[26] + +"The Lady Hatton's daughter to be maryed to one Cholmely a Baronet. Of +late here is by all the frendes of my Lady Hatton a Contract published +of Her Daughter Frances to the Erle of Oxford which was sent him to +Venice: to which he hath returned and answer that he will come +presently over, and see her fayre eyes and conclude the what he shall +thinke fit for him to doe: I have sent your Lordship Mis Frances +Coke's Love Letter to my Lord of Oxford herein concluded: I believe +you never read the like: Thys is like to become a grate business: for +the King hath shewed himselfe much in advancing thys matter for Sir +John Villiers." + +He says that Lady Elizabeth offers to give Lord Oxford "besydes her +daughter ... ten and thirty hundred pound a year, which will before +twenty years passe bee nigh 6000£ a yeare besydes two houses well +furnisht. A Greate fortune for my Ld. yett it is doubted wheather hee +will endanger the losse of the King's favor for so fayre a woman and +so fayre a fortune." + +The following is Frances Coke's enclosed "love letter" of which +Gerrard believed, as well he might, that Carleton "never read the +like." It is evidently the work of Lady Elizabeth:-- + +"I vow before God and take the Almighty to witness That I Frances Coke +Yonger daughter to Sir Ed. Coke late Lord Chiefe Justice of England, +doe give myselfe absolutely to Wife to Henry Ven. Viscount Balboke, +Erle of Oxenford, to whom I plight my fayth and inviolate vows, to +keepe myselfe till Death us do part: And if even I breake the least of +these I pray God Damne mee body and soule in Hell fyre in the world to +come: And in thys world I humbly Beseech God the Earth may open and +Swallowe mee up quicke to the Terror of all fayth breakers that +remayne alive. In witness whereof I have written all thys with my +owne hand and seald it with my owne seale (a hart crowned) which I +will weare till your retourne to make thys Good that I have sent you. +And for further witness I here underneath sett to my Name. + + "(Signed) FRANCES COKE in the Presence + "of my deare Mother + "ELIZA HATTON. + +["_July 10, 1617._"] + +Lady Elizabeth, however, failed to effect the match. Possibly the +letter just quoted may have been too strong meat for Oxford. Even her +skill in the gentle art of forgery proved unavailing. Whether Oxford +had no fancy for the girl, or the girl had no fancy for Oxford, does +not appear, and perhaps other causes may have prevented the marriage; +but, although he did not marry Frances, he married her first cousin, +Lady Diana, daughter of the second Earl of Exeter, a niece of Lady +Elizabeth, and, like Frances, both a great heiress and a beautiful +woman. Lord Oxford was killed, a few years afterwards, at the siege of +Breda in the Netherlands. + +Bacon, now thoroughly frightened, both by the King and by Buckingham, +began to trim, and before long he turned completely round and used his +influence with Lady Elizabeth to induce her to agree to the Sir John +Villiers-match. He wrote a letter on the 21st of August to Buckingham, +saying that he was doing all he could to further the marriage of Sir +John Villiers with Frances Coke. Among other things he said:-- + +"I did also send to my Lady Hatton, Coke's wife and some other special +friends to acquaint them that I would declare, if anything, for the +match so that they may no longer account on [my] assistance. I sent +also to Sir John Butler, and after by letter to my Lady [Compton] your +mother, to tender my performance of any good office toward the match." + +To this letter Buckingham sent a very chilling reply, whereupon Bacon, +in his anxiety, sent Yelverton in person to try to conciliate +Buckingham and the King, enjoining him to lie so hard and so +unblushingly as to declare that Bacon had never hindered, but had in +"many ways furthered the marriage;" that all he had done had been to +check Coke's "impertinent carriage" in the matter, which he wished had +"more nearly resembled the Earl of Buckingham's sweet disposition." + +Yet after faithfully fulfilling this nefarious errand, Yelverton +failed to conciliate Buckingham, for he wrote the following very +unsatisfactory report to Bacon:-- + +"The Earl [of Buckingham] professeth openly against you;" whereas, +"Sir Edward Coke, as if he were already on his wings, triumphs +exceedingly; hath much private conference with his Majesty, and in +public doth offer himself, and thrust upon the King with as great +boldness of speech as heretofore." + +Things were beginning to look desperate for Bacon! Indeed it seemed +as if affliction were about to "level the mole-hills," not now of +Coke's, but of Bacon's pride; "to plough" Bacon's heart and "make it +fit for Wisdom to sow her seed, and for Grace to bring forth her +increase," blessings which Bacon had so kindly & so liberally promised +to Coke in a letter already quoted. + +About the middle of August, Chamberlain wrote that Frances Coke was +staying with Sir Robert Coke, Sir Edward's son by his first wife, and +that Lady Elizabeth was with her all day, to prevent the access of +others; but that, finding her friends were deserting her, and that +"she struggles in vain" against the King's will, "she begins to come +about," and "upon some conditions will double her husband's portion +and make up the match and give it her blessing." Presently he says: +"But it seems the Lady Hatton would have all the honour and thanks, +and so defeat her husband's purpose, towards whom, of late, she has +carried herself very strangely, and, indeed, neither like a wife, nor +a wise woman." + +As Chamberlain says, Lady Elizabeth was determined that, if she had to +yield, she would be paid for doing so, and that her husband should +obtain none of the profits of the transaction. It was unfortunate that +that transaction should be the means of injuring her daughter whom she +loved; but it was very fortunate that it might be the means of +injuring her husband whom she hated. Her own account of her final +agreement to the marriage may be seen in a letter which she wrote to +the King in the following year:--[27] + +"I call to witness my Lord Haughton, whom I sent twyce to moove the +matter to my Lady Compton, so as by me she would take it. This was +after he had so fondly broke off with my Lorde of Bukingham, when he +ruled your Majestie's favour scarse at the salerie of a 1,000£. After +that my brother and sister of Burghly offered, in the Galerie Chamber +at Whitehall, theire service unto my Ladie Compton to further this +marriage, so as from me she would take it. Thirdly, myselfe cominge +from Kingstone in a coach with my Ladie Compton, I then offered her +that if shee would leave Sir Edward Cooke I would proceed with her in +this marriage." + +Although, as Chamberlain had written, Lady Elizabeth was now beginning +"to come about," in fact had come about, her faithful friend, Bacon, +in his frantic anxiety to regain the favour of Buckingham and the +King, ordered her to be arrested and kept in strict though honourable +confinement. In fact, to use a modern term, all the actors in this +little drama, possibly with the exception of Frances Coke and Sir John +Villiers, were prepared, at any moment, "to give each other away." +According to Foard,[28] Bacon was, at this time, busily engaged in +preparing for the trial of another member of Lady Elizabeth's family, +namely her stepmother, Lady Exeter.[29] + +By the irony of fate, it happened that the two mortal enemies, Coke +and Bacon, acted together in the matter of the incarceration of Lady +Elizabeth; for, while the former pleaded for it, the latter ordered +it. It was spent partly at the house of Alderman Bennet,[30] and +partly at that of Sir William Craven,[31] Lord Mayor of London in the +years 1610 and 1618, and father of the first Earl of Craven. In both +houses she was doubtless treated with all respect, and she must have +occupied a position in them something between that of a paying-guest +and a lunatic living in the private house of a doctor--not that there +was any lunacy in the mind of Lady Elizabeth. Quite the contrary! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCII, No. 101, 23rd July, 1617. + +[21] Campbell, Vol. I., p. 300. + +[22] Campbell, Vol. I., p. 301. + +[23] _Ibid._, p. 302. + +[24] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCII, No. 101, 22nd July, 1617. + +[25] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 18, 12th August, 1617. + +[26] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 28, 18th August, 1617. + +[27] _Life of Sir Edward Coke_. By Humphrey Woolrych. London: J. & +W.T. Clarke, 1826, pp. 146-48. + +[28] _Life and Correspondence of Francis Bacon_. London: Saunders, +Otley & Co., 1861, p. 459. + +[29] She was found innocent, and her accusers, Sir Thomas and Lady +Lake, were imprisoned and fined. £10,000 to the King, and £5,000 to +Lady Exeter as damages for the libel. A chambermaid who was one of the +witnesses, was whipped at the cart's tail for her perjury. Lady Roos, +the wife of Lady Exeter's step-grandson, and a daughter of the Lakes, +made a full confession that she had participated in spreading the +scandal. She was sentenced to be imprisoned during the King's +pleasure. + +[30] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., 6th October, 1617. Letter +from Sir Gerald Herbert. + +[31] Campbell, Vol. I., p. 303. fn. The imprisonment of what were +called "people of quality" usually took place either in the Tower or +in the private houses of Aldermen, in those times, although they were +sometimes imprisoned in the Fleet. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "Of all the actions of a man's life his marriage doth least + concern other people; yet of all actions of our life it is + most meddled with by other people." + SELDEN. + + +In all these negotiations, and caballings, and intriguings, the person +most concerned, Frances Coke, the beauty and the heiress, was only the +ball in the game. Neither her father nor her mother nor anybody else +either considered her feelings or consulted her wishes about the +proposed marriage, except so far as it was to their own personal +interest to do so. + +At last the poor girl yielded, or pretended to yield. Lord Campbell +says, as well he may, "and without doubt, just as Frances had before +copied and signed the contract with Lord Oxford, at the command of her +mother, she now copied and signed the following letter[32] to her +mother at the command of her father." + +"'MADAM, + +"'I must now humbly desire your patience in giving me leave to declare +myself to you, which is, that without your allowance and liking, all +the world shall never make me entangle or tie myself. But now, by my +father's especial commandment, I obey him in presenting to you my +humble duty in a tedious letter, which is to know your Ladyship's +pleasure, not as a thing I desire: but I resolve to be wholly ruled by +my father and yourself, knowing your judgments to be such that I may +well rely upon, and hoping that conscience and the natural affection +parents bear to children will let you do nothing but for my good, and +that you may receive comfort, I being a mere child and not +understanding the world nor what is good for myself. That which makes +me a little give way to it is, that I hope it will be a means to +procure a reconciliation between my father and your Ladyship. Also I +think it will be a means of the King's favour to my father. Himself +[Sir John Villiers] is not to be misliked: his fortune is very good, a +gentleman well born.... So I humbly take my leave, praying that all +things may be to every one's contentment. + + "'Your Ladyship's most obedient + "'and humble daughter for ever, + "'FRANCES COKE. + +"'Dear Mother believe there has no violent means been used to me by +words or deeds.'" + + * * * * * + +This, as Campbell says, has every appearance of being a letter copied +from one written by her father. There is also reason for believing +that Coke added the postscript for a very special purpose; for the +question arises how Frances, who is admitted on all sides to have +hated Sir John Villiers, could have been induced to copy and to sign +this letter. Was she literally forced to do so? There happens to be an +answer to that question. + + "_Notes of the Villiers Family._[33] + +"_N.B. I.B.N._ have heard it from a noble Peer, a near relation of the +Danvers family, and Mr. Villiers, Brother to the person who now claims +the Earldom of Buckingham, as his Brother assumed the Title, that the +Lady Frances Viscountess Purbeck was tyed to the Bed-Poste and +severely whipped into consent to marry with the Duke of Buckingham's +Brother, Sir John Villiers, A° 1617, who was 2 years after created +Viscount Purbeck." + +This was written after the death of Frances, but it has been accepted +as true, and that may well be. It is difficult in our days to believe +that a young lady could be put to physical torture by her father, +until she consented to marry a man whom she loathed; but the parental +ethics of those times were very different from those of our own. A man +like Coke would have no difficulty in persuading himself that a +marriage with Sir John Villiers would be for his daughter's welfare, +and, consequently, that a whipping to bring that marriage about would +also be for her welfare. + +Coke had often waited for the confessions of men who were in +frightful agony on the rack, in the dungeons of the Tower; so it must +have been a mere trifle to him to await his daughter's consent to a +marriage which she detested, while he whipped her, or watched her +being whipped, reflecting upon the luxury of the bed-post in +comparison with the agony of the rack, flattering himself that he was +acting in obedience to Holy Scripture, and piously meditating upon the +gratification he must be giving to the soul of Solomon by this +exercise of domestic discipline. But a reader may well wonder whether +the old brute considered for a moment the worthlessness of a form of +marriage obtained by torture, or the fact that such a so-called +marriage could be annulled without difficulty. + +Lady Elizabeth, perceiving that her only chance left of winning the +game was to over-trump her husband, and recognising that her only hope +of freedom and prosperity was by consenting to the wishes of +Buckingham and James, wrote to the King himself, to say that she would +agree to the marriage and would settle her property on her daughter +and Sir John Villiers. + +Eventually, "The marriage settlement," says Campbell, "was drawn under +the King's own superintendence, that both father and mother might be +compelled to do justice to Sir John Villiers and his bride; and on +Michaelmas Day the marriage was actually celebrated at Hampton Court +Palace, in the presence of the King and Queen and all the chief +nobility of England. Strange to say, Lady Hatton still remained in +confinement, while Sir Edward Coke, in nine coaches,"--one man in nine +coaches!--"brought his daughter and his friends to the palace, from his +son's at Kingston-Townsend. The banquet was most splendid: a masque was +performed in the evening; the stocking was thrown with all due spirit: +and the bride and bride-groom, according to long established fashion, +received the company at their couchée." + +In a footnote to _The Secret History of James I._, Vol. I., p. +444,[34] we read: + +"The Scottish historian, Johnstone, says that Purbeck's marriage was +celebrated amid the gratulation of the fawning courtiers, but stained +by the tears of the reluctant bride, who was a sacrifice to her +father's ambition of the alliance with Buckingham's family." + +Here is another account of the wedding, in a letter[35] from Sir +Gerard Herbert to Carleton:-- + +"Maie it please yor. Lordshippe. + +" ... I know not any news to write yor. Lo: other than the marriadge +of Sir John Villiers with my Lord Coke's youngest daughter, on Monday +last, beynge Michailmas day at Hampton Courte when King Queen and +prince were present in the chappell to see them married. My Lord Coke +gave his daughter to the Kinge (with some words of complement at the +givinge). The King gave her Sir John Villiers. The prince sate with +her to grand dynner and supper so to many Lordes and Ladies, my Lord +Canterbury, my Lord Treasurer, my Lord Chamberlayne, etc. The King +dynner and supper droncke healthe to the bride, the bridgegroome stood +behinde the bride; the dynner and supper. The Bride and Bridegroome +lay next day a bedd till past 12 a clocke, for the Kinge sent worde he +wold come to see them, therefore wold they not rise. My Lord Coke +looked with a merrie Countenance and sate at the dynner and supper, +but my Lady Hatton was not at the weddinge, but is still at Alderman +Bennettes prisonere. The King sent for her to the weddinge, but (she) +desired to be excused, sayinge she was sicke. My Lord of Buckingham, +mother, brethren, there soynes, and his sisters weare throughout day +at Court, my Lord Cooke's sonnes and there soynes, but I saw never a +Cecill. The Sonday my Lord Coke was restored to his place of +counsellor as before.... + + "Yo: Lo: in all service to commande + "(Signed) GERRARD HERBERT. + +"LONDON, this + "_6 Oct._" + +Lady Elizabeth would not submit to being let out of prison, just for +the day, in order to witness the wedding, which was to a large extent +a triumph for her husband. She meant, on the contrary, to have a +triumph on her own account. Her intention was that one of those who +had had a hand in putting her into prison--a prison which in fact was +a comfortable house--should come to take her out of it; and she was +determined to be escorted from her place of punishment, not as a +repentant criminal, but as a conquering heroine. + +In a letter to Carleton[36] Chamberlain says:-- + +"The King coming to towne yesterday it was told me that the Earle of +Buck, meant to go himself and fetch 'Lady Elizabeth' as yt were in +pomp Fr. William corner (where she hath ben so long committed), and +bring her to the King, who upon a letter of her submission is +graciously affected towards her. ... Seeing her yielding and as it +were won to geve her allowance to the late marriage," the King will +"give her all the contentment and countenance he can in hope of the +great portion she may bestow upon" Buckingham's brother, Sir John +Villiers; "for there is little or nothing more to be looked for from +Sr. Ed. Cooke, who hath redemed the land he had allotted his daughter +for 20,000£ so that they have already had 30,000£ of him paide +down.... She layes all the fault of her late troubles upon the +deceased secretarie," Winwood, "who not long since telling her brother +that for all her bitter speeches they two [Lady Elizabeth and her +husband] shold become goode frends again. She protested she wold +sooner be frends with the Devill." + +Lady Elizabeth was so much in the King's good graces that aspirants +for office tried to win her influence with James and Buckingham in +their favour. Chamberlain, in the letter quoted above, expresses the +wish that she might endeavour to obtain for Carleton the post of +Secretary of State, which had just then fallen vacant through the +death of Winwood. In a letter[37] written a fortnight later, however, +Chamberlain says:-- + +"Your father Savile is gon into Kent to his daughter Salley, the day +before his goings I met him and wisht him to applie the Lady Hatton, +whom he had alredy visited but moved her in nothing because the time +was not fit but she meant to do yt before he went. Some whisper that +she is alredy ingaged and meanes to employ her full force strength and +vertue for the L. Hawton or Hollis, who is become her prime privie +Counsailor and doth by all meanes interest and combine her with the +Lady of Suffolke and that house. A man whom Sir Edward Cooke can no +wayes indure, and from whose company he wold faine but cannot debarre +her." Obviously a very sufficient reason for liking him and espousing his +cause. + +Lady Elizabeth had fairly outwitted her husband; but, as will +presently be seen, she had not yet quite done with him. Another +account of her liberation is to be found in _Strafford's Letters and +Despatches_:--[38] + +"The expectancy of Sir Edward's rising is much abated by reason of his +lady's liberty, who was brought in great honour to Exeter House by my +Lord of Buckingham, from Sir William Craven's, whither she had been +remanded, presented by his Lordship to the King, received gracious +usage, reconciled to her daughter by his Majesty, and her house in +Holborn enlightened by his presence at dinner, where there was a royal +feast: and to make it more absolutely her own, express commandment +given by her Ladyship that neither Sir Edward Coke nor any of his +servants should be admitted." + +Here is another account[39] of the same banquet, as well as of one +given in return by Buckingham's mother, who was still hoping that Lady +Elizabeth would increase Sir John Villiers' allowance:-- + +"The Lady Hatton's feast was very magnificall and the King graced her +every way, and made foure of her creatures knights.... This weeke on +wensday [Lady Compton] made a great feast to the Lady Hatton, and much +court there is between them, but for ought I can heare the Lady Hatton +holdes her handes and gives not" (The original is much torn and +damaged here) "out of her milke so fouly [fully] as was expected which +in due time may turn the matter about againe.... There were some +errors at the Lady Hatton's feast (yf it were not of purpose) that the +L. Chamberlain and the L. of Arundell were not invited but went away +to theyre owne dinner and came backe to wait on the King and Prince: +but the greatest error was that the goodman of the house was neither +invited nor spoken of but dined that day at the Temple." Camden's +account of this dinner (Ed. 1719, Vol. II., p. 648), although very +abrupt, is to the point: "The wife of Sir Ed. Coke _quondam_ Lord +Chief Justice, entertained the King, Buckingham, and the rest of the +Peers, at a splendid dinner, and not inviting her husband." + +In a letter to Carlton[40] John Pory said of this dinner: "My Lo. Coke +only was absent, who in all vulgar opinions was there expected. His +Majesty was never merrier nor more satisfied, who had not patience to +sit a quarter of an hour without drinking the health of my Lady +Elizabeth Hatton, which was pledged first by my Lord Keeper [Bacon] +and my Lord Marquis Hamilton, and then by all the gallants in the next +room." + +This exclusion from her party was a direct and a very public insult to +Coke on the part of his wife, and, through consent, on that of the +King also. All Coke had gained by his daughter's marriage with Sir +John Villiers was restoration to the Privy Council. As he had made up +his mind to take his daughter to market, he should have made certain +of his bargain. This he failed to do. As has been shown, he promised +£10,000 down with her and £1,000 a year. This Buckingham did not +consider enough; but Coke refused to promise more, declaring that he +would not buy the King's favour too dear. In a letter to Carleton, +Chamberlain says that, if he had not "stuck" at this, Coke might have +been Lord Chancellor. As it was, he incurred the whole odium of having +sold his daughter, while his wife, who had gained the credit of +protesting against that atrocious bargain, quietly pocketed its price +in the coin of royal favour. Lady Elizabeth not only embroiled her own +family, but also brought discord about her affairs into the family of +another, as may be inferred from the following letter:--[41] + + "Elizabeth, Lady Hatton, to Carleton. +"MY LORDE, + +"I understande by your letter the quarrell of unkindness betweene +yourself and your wife, but having considered the cause of the +difference to proceed only from your loving respect shewne towards me, +I hope that my thankfulle acknowledgements will be sufficient +reconcilement to give you both proceedings for the continuance of your +wonted goode wille and affectione ... even though I understande by +your letter you thinke women to be capable of little else but +compliments. Wherefore to express a gracious courtesie for your +kindness as in the few wordes I am willing to utter you may assure +yourselfe yt my desire is to remayne + + "Your assured loving Frend + "(Signed) ELIZA HATTON. + +"HATTON HOUSE +"_20th March 1618._" + +One naturally wonders whether, if Carleton showed this letter to his +wife, it would tend to heal "the quarrell of unkindness" between them, +or to make it worse. Which effect was intended by the writer of the +letter is pretty evident. This little epistle might have been written +by Becky Sharpe. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[32] _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII. p. 17. + +[33] _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII., p. 17. (Brit. Museum MSS. No. 5834.) + +[34] Longmans & Co., 1811. + +[35] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 114, 6th October, 1617. + +[36] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 158, 31st Oct., 1617. + +[37] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIV., 15th November, 1617. + +[38] Vol. I., p. 5. + +[39] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIV., No. 30, 15th November, 1617. +Chamberlain to Carleton. + +[40] _S.P._, XCIV., No. 15. + +[41] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCVI., No. 69. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "What is wedlock forced, but a hell? "--_Henry VI._, I., v., 5. + + +Little is recorded of the early married life of Sir John and Lady +Villiers. Before it began they had both been mere pawns in the game, +and pawns they remained for a good many years afterwards. If before +her marriage the career of Lady Villiers had lain in the hands of her +father and her mother; after her marriage it was, for a time, in the +hands of her brother-in-law, Buckingham, as the career of Sir John +always had been and continued to be during the life of Buckingham. + +In the _Secret History of James I_.[42] we read concerning Buckingham: +"But I must tell you what got him most hatred, to raise brothers and +brothers-in-law to the highest ranks of nobility, which were not +capable of the place of scarce a justice of the peace; only his +brother, Purbeck, had more wit and honesty than all the kindred beside +and did keep him in some bounds of honesty and modesty, whilst he +lived about him, & would speake plaine English to him." If this be +true, there must have been some good in Sir John; but Buckingham was +impervious to his advice and treated him just as he pleased. It is +possible, again, that Lady Villiers, without having any of the +affection which a wife ought to have for a husband, may have had a +sort of respect for him as a man of probity, much older than herself, +who treated her well and even kindly. + +George Villiers, a mushroom-grown Duke himself, having made the King +create his mother Countess of Buckingham, bethought him of his eldest +brother and determined to make him a peer. And not only that. He also +conceived the idea of squeezing some more money out of his brother's +mother-in-law for him, by offering her a peerage, for the cash thus +obtained. It was suggested to her that she might be made Countess of +Westmorland; but "she refused to buy the title at the price +demanded."[43] Indeed, Lady Elizabeth was ready to fight anybody and +everybody. On the one hand, she resisted the attempts of the almighty +Buckingham to bleed her still further for Sir John Villiers, and, on +the other, she wrote to the King concerning her husband: "I find how +desirous he is to rubb up anie thing to make ill bloode betwixt my +sonne Villiers & myselfe."[44] Meanwhile she prosecuted her husband in +the Star Chamber. Mr. Brant wrote to Carleton: "... The Ladie Hatton +prevayleth exceedingly against her husband and hath driven him into a +numnesse of on side, which is a forerunner of ye dead palsie, though +now he be somewhat recovured." + +In May, 1619, Lady Elizabeth was informed that, if she would give that +isle, no longer an island, the Isle of Purbeck, which was her +property, to her son-in-law, she should be made Countess of Purbeck +and he Viscount Purbeck; but she refused to exchange good land for an +empty name. However, in July, Sir John Villiers was created Baron +Villiers of Stoke (Stoke Pogis) and Viscount Purbeck. This heaping up +of peerages in the Villiers family, in addition to the number of +valuable posts, and especially high ecclesiastical posts, obtained by +Buckingham for his friends, or for anybody who would bribe him heavily +enough to obtain them, led to much murmuring and ill-feeling among +those whom he did not thus favour, and greatly irritated the populace. +There was no apparent reason why Sir John Villiers should be ennobled, +and his peerages were looked upon as a glaring piece of jobbery. + +The Court also, at this time, was becoming unpopular. Buckingham was +filling it with licentious gallants and with ladies of a type to match +them. At Whitehall, there was a constant round of dissipation and +libertinism. Besides the very free and easy balls, masques and +banquets, there were what were called "quaint conceits" of more than +doubtful decency, and there was much buffoonery of a very low type. In +the _Secret History of the Court of James I._ it is recorded that, at +this time, namely, about 1618 or 1619, there were "none great with +Buckingham but bawds and parasites, and such as humoured him in his +unchaste pleasures; so that since his first being a pretty, harmless, +affable gentleman, he grew insolent, cruel, and a monster not to be +endured." + +Lord Purbeck held the appointment of Master of the Robes to Prince +Charles, and he seems to have lived in the palace of the Prince; for, +even as late as 1625, we read of Lady Purbeck remaining in "the +Prinses house."[45] In 1620 Chamberlain wrote to Carleton[46] that +when Buckingham was overpressed by business, he handed over suitors to +his brother Purbeck. On the 18th of January, 1620, a letter[47] of +Nethersole's states that Purbeck had resigned his post of Master of +the Robes, in order to become Master of the Horse to the Prince. + +At some date between that of his marriage in the year 1617 and 1622, +Purbeck was received into the Catholic Church, by Father Percy, alias +Fisher, a Jesuit. This step does not appear in any way to have +affected his position at Court. In a manuscript in the library of the +large Jesuit College of Stonyhurst,[48] in Lancashire, it is stated +that "the Viscount de Purbeck (sic) brother of the Marquis of +Buckingham, having been converted to the Catholic faith and +reconciled to the Holy Church, by Father John Persens, S.J., betook +himself to the Countess, his mother, and gave her so good an account +of the said Father, and of the consolation he had received of him, +that she greatly desired to speak to him, and sending him to call the +Father, she heard him discourse fully of the Catholic faith, &c." + +In _Laud's Diary_ there is an entry: "1622, April 23. Being the +Tuesday in Easter week, the King sent for me & set me into a course +about the countess of Buckingham, who about that time was wavering in +point of religion." And again: "May 24. The conference[49] between Mr. +Fisher [Percy] a Jesuit, & myself, before the lord Marquis of +Buckingham, & the countess, his mother." + +There are people who are of opinion that for a Protestant to become a +Catholic is an almost certain proof of madness; and such will rejoice +to hear that, some time after Lord Purbeck had been received into the +Catholic Church, he either showed, or is reputed to have shown, signs +of lunacy. + +Some authorities doubt whether Purbeck was ever out of his mind; but +on the whole the weight of evidence is against them. Yet there are +some rather unaccountable incidents in their favour. Again, when +anybody is reputed to be mad, exaggerated stories of his doings are +very likely to be spread about. Even in these days of advanced medical +science, it is sometimes difficult to decide whether a patient is +insane or not, and it is quite possible to suffer from very severe +fits of depression without being the subject of maniacal melancholia, +or from very violent fits of passion without being a madman. + +There is just a possibility, too, that Buckingham may have wished to +keep his brother quiet, or to get him out of the way, because that +brother "would speake plaine English to him" about his licentious +conduct and other matters, as we have already read. When a friend or a +relative tells a man that he is behaving scandalously, the recipient +of the information is apt to say that his informer is "cracked." + +The earliest hint of Lord Purbeck's insanity was given in 1620. "The +Lord Viscount Purbeck went abroad in the latter end of May 1620, under +colour of drinking the waters of Spaw, but in fact, as Camden tells +us, to hide his being run mad with pride."[50] The strongest evidence +of anything like actual madness is in a letter[51] from Chamberlain to +Carleton, written on 8th June, 1622. It may, however, be mere gossip. +"The Lord of Purbecke is out of order likewise, for this day +feurtnight getting into a roome next the street in Wallingford house, +he beat down the glasse windowes with his bare fists and all bloudied +&c." If this be true, may it not be possible that he was trying to +break his way out of a room in which Buckingham had locked him up on +the pretence that he was insane? Of Wallingford House the same +correspondent says in another letter: "Buckingham has bought Lord +Wallingford's house at Whitehall, by paying some money[52] making Sir +Thomas Howard, Visct. Andover, and some say, releasing the Earl and +Countess of Somerset." + +In August, 1623, the Duchess of Buckingham--this would be Buckingham's +wife and not his mother, the Countess of Buckingham--wrote to +Conway:-- + +"SIR,[53] + +"My sister and myselfe have seene a letter writt from you to Sir John +Keyesley concerning my Brother Purbeck, by his ma^ties command and +doubt not but his ma^tie hath bin informed with the most of his +distemper. Wee have bin with him the moste parte of this weeke at +London, and have found him very temperate by which wee thinke hee is +inclining towards his melancholye fitt, which if hee were in, then hee +might be perswaded any wayes, which at this instant hee will not, he +standeth so affected to the cittee and if there should be any violent +course taken with him, wee thinke he would be much the worse, for it, +and drive him quite besides himselfe. Therefore wee hould it best to +intreat Sir John Keysley and som other of his friends to beare him +companie in London and kepe him as private as they can for three or +four dayes till his dull fitt be upon him, and then hee may bee had +any whither. This in our judgment is the fittest course at this +present to be taken with him which we desire you will be pleased to +let his Ma^ty. knowe and I shall rest. + + "Your assured loving friend, + "(Signed) K. BUCKINGHAM." + +From this it would appear either that when Purbeck was in one of his +"melancholye fitts," he was quite tractable, but, at other times, he +was rather unmanageable; or that, when well, he refused to be ordered +about, but when ill, was too poorly to make any resistance. Conway[54] +replied as follows:-- + +"MOST GRATIOUS, + +"I have represented to his Ma^tie. your Letter, and he doth gratiously +observe those sweete and tender motions which rise in your minde, +suitable with your noble, gentle and milde disposition, in which you +excell your sex: especially where force or restraint should be done to +the brother of youre deare Lorde. + +"And I cannot expresse soe finely as his Ma^tie. did, how much he +priseth and loveth that blessed sweetness in you, and you in it. But I +must tell your Grace his Ma^tie. prays you, not to thinke it a little +distemper which carryed him to those publique actes, and publique +places, and to consider how irremediable it is, when his intemperance +hath carryed him to do some act of dishonour to himselfe, which may, +and must, reflect upon his most noble Brother, beyond the follies and +disprofits which he dayly practiseth. And that your Grace will not +only bee to suffer some sure course to bee taken for the conveying of +him into the country, but that you will advise it and assist it with +the most gentle (yet sure) wayes possible. That he may be restrayned +from the power and possibility of doing such acts as may scorne him, +or be dangerous to him: which these wayes of acting can never provide +for. For his Ma^tie. sayeth there cannot bee soe much as 'whoe would +have thought it,' which is the fooles answere, left for an error in +this: for whoe would not thinke that a distempered minde may doe the +worst to be done. His Ma^tie. therefore once more prayes you that his +former directions to Sir John Ersley may bee put in execution and the +safest and surest for the goode of the unfortunate noble person, and +honor of youre deare Lorde, his Ma^ties. dearest servant. + +"This is that I have in charge. My faith and duty calls for this +profession that noe man is more bound to study and endeavour the +preservation of the honor and good of those that have interest in my +noble patron than myselfe: nor noe man more bound and more ready to +obey your commandments than + + "Your Grace's most humble servant. + +"ALDERSHOT. 30 August 1623." + +The chief object aimed at by Conway and, as will be seen presently, by +the King, was to prevent any scandal or gossip about Purbeck's +behaviour injuring "his Ma^ties. dearest servant," Buckingham. +Purbeck's personal interests evidently counted for very little, if for +anything. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[42] P. 444 + +[43] Woolrych's _Life of Sir Ed. Coke_, p. 150. His authority for this +statement is Camden, Ann. Jac., p. 45. + +[44] Letter quoted by Woolrych. + +[45] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII., No. 52. + +[46] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CXII., No. 1. + +[47] _S.P. Dom._, James I., No. 18. + +[48] Stonyhurst MSS., _Anglię_, Vol. VII. And _Records of the English +Province of the Society of Jesus_, Series I., p. 532. + +[49] At a subsequent conference King James was present (_Diary of the +English College at Rome. The names of the Alumni,_ No. 181). Also +_Records of the English Province of the S.J.,_ Series I., p. 533. The +Countess of Buckingham subsequently became a Catholic, and her son, +the Duke, obtained leave from the King for Father Percy to "live on +parole in her house," which became his home in London for ten years +(_Ibid._, p. 531). + +[50] _Biog. Brit_., notice of Sir E. Coke. Footnote. + +[51] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CXXXI, No. 24. + +[52] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CXXVII., No. 35. Chamberlain to +Carleton, 19th January, 1622. James I., 1619-23, p. 337. The price +paid is said to have been £3,000. See Gardiner, Vol. IV., Chap. XL., +p. 279. Lord Wallingford was made Earl of Banbury, and the subsequent +claim to this title became as curious as that to the title of Purbeck, +which will be shown later. + +[53] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLI., No. 86. + +[54] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLI., No. 87, 30th August, 1623. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + " ... wed to one half lunatic." + _Taming of the Shrew_, II., I. + + +Poor Purbeck seems to have had many amateur keepers. The King gave +orders to a Sir John Hippisley to remove him from the Court, in +September, 1623; and on the and Sir John wrote to Conway:--[55] + +"NOBLE SIR, + +"I have received the King's command and your directions in your +letters to bring my Lord of Purbecke out of London which I have done +and have made no noise of it and have done all I could to give no +scandal to the Duke or Viscount: He is now at Hampton Court, but is +not willing to go any further till the king send express commande that +he shall not staye here. + +"Sir I have obeyed all the King's commandes and that without any +scandal to the Duke,"--always the point of main importance--"now my +humble request to you is that I may be free from entering any farther +in this business and that I may come and kiss his Maj^tes hand for now +I am fit.... There is one Mr. Aimes that knoweth my Lord of Purbecke +and fitte to be employed by rate he hath power to persuade him. I +beseech you grant me fair of this and you shall have it me + +"To be your faithfull servant ever to be commanded + + "(Signed) JO: HIPPISLEY. + +"HAMPTON COURT + "this 2 of _September_." + +From this it is very clear that Hippisley did not want to have +anything more to do with a disagreeable business; and the question +presents itself whether it was because he disliked acting as keeper to +a lunatic, or because he did not think Purbeck so mad as was +pretended, if mad at all, and objected to having a hand in a shady +transaction. + +In the same month, the King wrote himself to Purbeck.[56] The letter +is almost illegible; but its purport appears to be to urge Lord +Purbeck, out of consideration for Buckingham, as well as for his own +good, to go to, and to stay at, whatever place might be appointed for +him by the Earl of Middlesex. + +During the summer of the following year (1624), Purbeck seems to have +recovered his sanity; but only for a time, although a considerable +time. Chamberlain wrote[57] to Carleton:-- + +"MY VERY SWEETE LORD: + +" ... The Viscount Purbecke followed the court a good while in very +goode temper, and there was speech of making him a marquis that he +might go before his younger brother but I heare of late he is fallen +backe to his old craise and worse.... + + "Yo^r Lo^ps most assuredly + "at command, + + "(Signed) JOHN CHAMBERLAIN." + +This shows that, if Purbeck was insane, his insanity was intermittent; +and it could not have been chronic; for in later years we read that he +was managing his own affairs and that he married again, some time +after the death of Frances. + +From the following letter, written by Lady Purbeck to Buckingham, and +unfortunately undated, it would seem that Buckingham had driven her +from her home, when she had become the subject of a certain amount of +vague scandal, but, so far as was then known, or at least proved, of +nothing more; and that he had contrived that she should have none of +the wealth which she had brought to her husband. As will be seen, she +was apparently penniless, except for what she received from her mother +or her friends. + +"My Lord[58]:--Though you may judge what pleasure there is in the +conversation of a man in the distemper you see your brother in; yet, +the duty I owe to a Husband, and the affection I bear him (which +sickness shall not diminish) makes me much desire to be with him, to +add what comfort I can to his afflicted mind, since his only desire is +my company; which, if it please you to satisfy him in, I shall with a +very good will suffer with him, and think all but my duty, though I +think every wife would not do so. But if you can so far dispense with +the laws of God as to keep me from my Husband, yet aggravate it not by +restraining me from his means, and all other contentments; but, which +I think is rather the part of a Christian, you especially ought much +rather to study comforts for me, than to add ills to ills, since it is +the marriage of your brother makes me thus miserable. For if you +please but to consider, not only the lamentable estate I am in, +deprived of all comforts of a Husband, and having no means to live of; +besides falling from the hopes my fortune then did promise me; for you +know very well, I came no beggar to you, though I am like so to be +turn'd off. + +"For your own honour and conscience sake, take some course to give me +satisfaction, to tye my tongue from crying to God and the world for +vengeance, for the unwilling dealing I have received, and think not to +send me again to my Mother's, where I have stayed this quarter of a +year, hoping (for that Mother said you promised) order should be taken +for me; but I never received a penny from you. Her confidence in your +nobleness made me so long silent; but now, believe me, I will sooner +beg my bread in the streets, to all your dishonours, than any more +trouble my friends, and especially my Mother, who was not only content +to afford us part of the little means she hath left her, but whilst I +was with her, was continually distempered with devised Tales which +came from your Family,"--this refers to certain scandalous stories +about her own conduct--and withal lost your good opinion, which before +she either had, or you made shew of it; but had it been real, I can +not think her words would have been so translated, nor in the power of +discontented servants' tales to have ended it. + +"My Lord, if the great Honour you are in can suffer you to have so +mean a thought as of so miserable a creature as I am so made by too +much credulity of your fair promises, which I have waited for +performance of almost these five years: and now it were time to +despair, but that I hope you will one day be yourself, and be governed +by your own noble thoughts, and then I am assured to obtain what I +desire, since my desires be so reasonable, and but for mine own, which +whether you grant or not, the affliction my poor husband is in (if it +continue) will keep my mind in a continual purgatory for him, and will +suffer me to sign myself no other but your unfortunate sister + + "F. PURBECK." + +This letter may be taken as evidence of Purbeck's lunacy. On the other +hand it might possibly, if not plausibly, be argued that it may only +mean that he was in a very bad state of bodily health accompanied by +great mental depression. Some readers of these pages may have +experienced the capabilities of a liver in lowering the spirits. + +As Lady Purbeck says, her mother had now "lost the good opinion" of +Buckingham, and undoubtedly this was because she had refused to +increase his brother's allowance. So early as 28th November, 1618, +John Pary wrote to Carleton,[59] regretting that he had not applied to +Lady Bedford to use her influence in order to obtain a certain +appointment, instead of applying to Lady Elizabeth, who had fallen out +with Buckingham, and now had no influence whatever with him. + +Lady Elizabeth, therefore, after having risen by her own skill to be +one of the most influential women in England--perhaps the most +influential--and that in the face of enormous difficulties, was +beginning to fall from her high estate. And besides the bitter +disappointment of the loss of influence and of royal smiles, a +grievous and humiliating family sorrow was in store for her. + +These pages do not constitute a brief on behalf of Lady Purbeck. It is +desired that they should do her justice--full justice; but too little +is recorded of her personal character to permit any attempt to portray +it in detail, or even to make a bold sketch of its principal features. +Of her circumstances it is much easier to write with confidence. We +have already learned much about them. We have seen that she was +brought up in an atmosphere of perpetual domestic discord, ending in a +physical struggle between her father and her mother for the possession +of her person: that she was afterwards flogged until she consented to +make a marriage contract with a man much older than herself, whom she +disliked intensely--a form of marriage which was no marriage, as her +will for it was wanting and she was literally forced into it, if any +girl was ever forced into a marriage. + +An old husband hateful to a young wife would become yet more +unattractive if he became insane, or eccentric, or even an irritable +invalid. Then his change of religion would most likely annoy her +extremely. Whether a husband leaves his wife's religion for a better +or a worse religion, it is equally distasteful to her. + +Her condition would be made still further miserable when she was +turned out of her own home, and practically robbed of her own +possessions, luxuries and comforts. From what we have seen of her +mother, it is difficult to believe that she was a tenderhearted woman, +to whom a daughter would go for consolation in her affliction: nor +could that daughter place much confidence in a mother who had once +deceived her with a forged letter. To her father, who had treated her +with great brutality and had sold her just as he might have sold a +beast among his farm stock, she would be still less likely to turn for +comfort or for counsel. Add to all this that, as the wife of an +official in Prince Charles's household, and as the sister-in-law of +the reigning favourite, she was a good deal at the Court of James I. +at a time when it was one of the most dissolute in Europe; and it +will be easy to recognise that her whole life had been spent in +unwholesome atmospheres. + +When we consider the position of a very beautiful girl of between +twenty-one and twenty-four, who had had such an education, had endured +such villainous treatment, and was now placed under such trying +conditions, we can but feel prepared to hear that some or other of the +usual results of bad education, bad treatment, and bad surroundings +exhibited themselves, and surely if trouble, and worse than trouble, +was ever likely to come of a marriage that had been an empty form, +Lady Purbeck's was one after which it might be expected. + +And it came! Near Cripple Gate, at the North Wall of London, in +October, 1624, was born a boy named Robert Wright. More than a century +later the Vicar of the Parish was asked to refer to his registers +about this event, and he sent the following reply:--[60] + + "London, _April 10 1740._ + +SIR, + +"I have searched my Parish Register according to your directions and +have found the following Entry concerning Robert Wright. + + + "Christening in October 1624. + +"Robert, Son of John Wright, Gentleman, of Bishopthorpe in Yorkshire, +baptised in the Garden House of Mr. Manninge at the upper end of +White Cross Street ... 20th. + + "I am, Sir, + "Your very humble servant, + "WILL NICHOLLS, + "Vicar of St. Giles's Cripplegate." + +The father of this boy was, in reality, Sir Robert Howard, the fifth +son of the Earl of Suffolk, the Earl to whose vigilance the discovery +of the Gunpowder Plot is attributed by some authorities. But Suffolk +had incurred the enmity of Buckingham, had been deprived of the office +of Lord Treasurer, had been tried for peculation in the discharge of +it, and then condemned in the Star Chamber to imprisonment in the +Tower and a fine of £30,000. When he was liberated, he was told that +two of his sons, who held places in the King's household, were +expected to resign them; but Suffolk, in very spirited letters to the +King and to Buckingham (_Cabala_, pp. 333, 334), protested against +this. The whole family, therefore, was in bad odour at Court and with +Buckingham at this time. + +Sir Robert Howard was a brother of the first Earl of Berkshire, who +married a niece of Lady Elizabeth Hatton. It may possibly have been +through this connection by marriage that Sir Robert Howard became +acquainted and intimate with Lady Purbeck; and, to make a long story +short, let it be observed here that, in relation to the boy who was +christened Robert Wright, Lady Purbeck had had what, among the lower +classes, is euphemistically termed "a misfortune." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[55] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLIII., No. 6. + +[56] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLII, No. 13. + +[57] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXX., No. 54, 24th July, 1624. + +[58] _Cabala, Sive Scrinia Sacra_, etc., p. 318. + +[59] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CIII., No. 111. + +[60] _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII., pp. 17, 18. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." + _Henry VI._, 2, IV., 2. + + +Although Robert Wright was baptised in October, 1624, the date of his +birth is uncertain. He may have been born many months before his +baptism; but his being christened at a private house rather points the +other way. Anyhow, proceedings were instituted against Sir Robert +Howard and Lady Purbeck, long before the child was christened. In _The +Diary of Archbishop Laud_ occurs the following entry for the year +1624:-- + +"_Januar. 21. Friday._ The business of my _Lord Purbeck_, made known +unto me by my Lord Duke." This business of my Lord Purbeck may refer +exclusively to his insanity, or reputed insanity; but it seems more +probable that it has reference to the Howard-Purbeck scandal. + +A letter[61] from the Lord Keeper, Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, to +Buckingham, and written on 11th March, 1624, shows that the +proceedings against Sir Robert Howard and Lady Purbeck were in full +swing at that date. + +"May it please your Grace, + +"Sir Robert Howard appeared yesterday, and continues obstinate in his +refusal to swear. When we came to examine the Commission for our Power +to fine him for his Obstinacy, we found, that Sir Edward Coke +(foreseeing, out of a prophetical Spirit, how near it might concern a +Grand-Child of his own), hath expunged this Clause (by the Help of the +Earl of Salisbury) out of the Commission, and left us nothing but the +rusty Sword of the Church, Excommunication, to vindicate the Authority +of this Court. We have given him day until Saturday next, either to +conform, or to be excommunicated. She hath answered wittily, and +cunningly, but yet sufficient for the Cognisance of the Court: +Confesseth a Fame of Incontinence against her and Howard; but saith, +it was raised by her Husband's Kindred. I do not doubt, but the +Business will go on well; but (peradventure) more slowly, if Howard +continue refractory, for want of this power to fine and amerce him." + +That Lady Purbeck "answered wittily," or, as would now be said, +"cleverly" in court, is not to be wondered at; for was she not the +daughter of a father who had been the cleverest barrister of his day, +and of a mother who was more than a match for that cleverest of +barristers? + +A couple of days later the same correspondent wrote[62] to the Duke: +"For your Brother's Business, this is all I have to acquaint your +Grace with: Sir Robert Howard appeared, yesterday, at Lambeth, +pretended want of Council (the Doctors being out of Town) desired +respite until to-morrow, and had it granted by my Lord's Grace. Most +men think he will not take his Oath at all; I do incline to the +contrary Opinion, because, to my knowledge, he hath sent far and near, +for the most able Doctors in the Kingdom, to be feed for him, which +were great folly, if he intended not to answer. He is extreamly +commended for his closeness and secrecy by the major part of our +Auditors (the He and She Good-fellows of the Town,) and though he +refuseth to be a Confessor, yet he is sure to dye a Martyr, and most +of the Ladies in Town will worship at his Shrine. The Lady Hatton, +some nine days since was at Stoke, with the good Knight her Husband, +for some counsel in this particular; but he refused to meddle +therewithal, and dismist her Ladiship, when she had stayed with him +very lovingly half a quarter of an hour." + +There had been some sort of reconciliation between Coke and Lady +Elizabeth in July, 1621, says Woolrych in his life of Coke, "a +reconciliation effected through the mediation of the King." It was +not, however, cordial; for "we have good reason to suppose that they +lived apart to the day of Coke's death," says Campbell. At any rate +they were now on speaking terms, though that was about all; for, as we +have just seen, Coke refused to meddle in a matter upon which he was +eminently qualified to give an opinion, and he got rid of his wife +after an interview of seven minutes and a half, instead of giving her +the leisurely and lengthy advice and instructions which were the least +that she might have expected from him. Sympathy, of course, she could +not have hoped for. + +The proceedings against the two delinquents would appear to have been +in abeyance during the rest of the year; but in January, 1625, Sir +John Coke--the Secretary of State, not one of the Cokes of Sir +Edward's family--wrote[63] to Buckingham, saying that the King, +although so ill as scarcely to be able to sign his name, had put it to +the warrant sent by the Lord Chief Justice for authority to examine +into Lady Purbeck's business. This warrant, however, James either +issued with certain qualifications, or else privately advised +Buckingham only to act upon with prudence, as may be inferred from the +following letter,[64] written on February the 11th, by Buckingham to +the Lord Chief Justice:-- + +"I have moved the P. for a warrant from his ma^tie for the commitment +of Sir Ro. Howard and my sister Purbeck, but his ma^tie hath out of +his gracious and provident care of me dissuaded me in this lest upon +it coming to a publique hearing it might be thought that I had gained +power more by the way of favour than by the wayes of justice.... I +desire you to acquaint this bearer Mr. Innocent Lanier all the +particulars of this matter for I know him to be very honest, and +discreete and secret." The part of the letter immediately following is +illegible, but presently it goes on to say that Lanier[65] is much +trusted by his brother Purbeck; that Lanier will not otherwise be able +to keep his brother with him; and that, if he leaves, Sir Robert and +Lady Purbeck "by their crafty insinuations will draw from him speeches +to their advantage." + +Now, if Purbeck were still insane, or anything near it, no "speeches +drawn from him" could have had any effect for the advantage of Lady +Purbeck and Sir Robert. And it is clear from this letter that Lady +Purbeck was even at that time on good terms with her husband and able +to influence him. A reader might have been tempted to imagine that +Purbeck's "melancholy fitts" of insanity were the result of misery +about his wife's infidelity; but, if she could still "draw from him +speeches to her advantage," this cannot have been the case. The +prosecution of Lady Purbeck was pretty clearly at the instigation of +Buckingham and not of Purbeck. There is just a possibility that +Purbeck had refused to proceed against her, and that Buckingham +represented him as mad in order to act in his place, as his brother, +and divorce Lady Purbeck; although such a theory is not supported by +strong evidence. There is, however, this evidence in its support, that +Purbeck acknowledged the boy christened Robert Wright as his own son +some years later. + +It is true that, fifty years afterwards, in a petition to the House of +Lords[66] by Lord Denbigh against a claim made by a son of Robert +Wright, it is stated that Lord and Lady Purbeck had not lived together +as man and wife for two years before the birth of Robert Wright; and +that Lord Purbeck "was entrusted in the hands of physicians for the +cure of a melancholy distemper, occasioned by the cruelty and +disorders of his wife." But this claimed absence of two years, or +anything approaching two years, is very questionable, if not very +improbable; and although there is not much doubt as to the real +parentage of Robert Wright, Purbeck may have lived with his wife +sufficiently near the birth of the boy to imagine himself his father. +Indeed, as the following letter will show, she was so far at Court, as +to be living in Prince Charles's house so late as February, 1625, a +year after the birth of the boy. Moreover, as we have seen, Lord +Purbeck held office in Prince Charles's household, and from this it +might be inferred that Purbeck and Lady Purbeck were then together. +This is the more likely because in the following letter Buckingham +expresses a fear that his "brother will be also every day running to +her and give her occasion to worke on him by the subtlty of her +discourse." And if the husband and wife had access to each other when +the proceedings against the latter had gone so far, they are much more +likely to have been together during the year preceding the birth of +the boy. + +All this only affects the question whether Purbeck discredited his +wife's fidelity. Nothing has been said above in favour of the theory +that she was faithful. + +Buckingham experienced considerable difficulties in the prosecution of +Lady Purbeck. On 15th February, 1625, he wrote[67] from Newmarket to +the Lord Chief Justice:-- + +"MY LORD, + +"I understande you are not yet resolved to committ my sister Purbeck +who (if she be at Libbertie) will be still plotting and devising with +her ill counsellors to cover and conceal the truth and fowlness of her +crime and my brother will be also every day running to her and give +her occasion to worke on him by the subtlty of her discourse. It is +known that His Ma^tie was tender (at the first mention of this +business) of the hande of a Lady of her quallity but sure [if] he hath +fully understood the proofs and truth of her fault and how +dishonorably she hath carryed herself he would have no more support +showen to her than to an ordinary Lady in the like case for that she +hath by her ill carriage forfyted that hande." + +Things were not going so well now as they had been with Buckingham. +Within twelve months he was to be impeached in the House of Commons; +and, although still high in the royal favour, his King may not have +been so completely his servant at this time as he had been formerly. +Buckingham continues:-- + +"It is likewise very unfit she should remayne in the Prinses house for +defying which I thinke much aggravates her crimes and his highness +often speaks in distast of her continuance there. You are well +acquainted with the proof which is against her, so as I shall not nede +to tell you how much it reminds me to be carefull in the prosecution +of her faulte but I assure you there is nothing that more sollisits my +minde. I ... thanke you for the paynes you have always taken in this +business, which my earnest desire is to have to be fully discovered +and that you will for much oblige me by the continuance of the care +and diligence therein as that she may be tymely prevented in her +cunning endeavours to hinder the discovery of the truth of the facts +whereof she stands justly accused which (in my opinion) cannot be done +but by her present commitment. + + "And Sir, I rest, + "Your very loving friend. + +"Upon syght of the pregnancy of the proofes and the guiltiness of Sir +Rob. Howard and my sister, I desire that you will committ them to +prison with little respect, from where I heare Sir Rob. Howard is, for +an Alderman's House is rather an honour than disparagement to him and +rather a place of entertainment to him than a prison." It will be +observed that, although the accused persons had not yet been tried, +Buckingham wished them to be put into a place of punishment; a place +of mere detention would not satisfy him. + +Lanier, who, as Buckingham said in a letter quoted above, was much +trusted by his brother, seems to have been trusted by Purbeck without +reason, as he was evidently in the employment of Buckingham. + +A letter[68] written by Buckingham to Coventry, the Attorney-General, +and to Heath, the Solicitor-General, contains the following:-- + +"I perceive by your paper I have read how much I am beholding, and do +also understand by Innocent Larnier and others of the persons +themselves and my Lo: Chiefe justice have taken in the business +concerning the Lady Purbeck for which I thanke you:... but I did hope +you would have more discovered before this.... I desire you to say +what you think fitt to be done in the matter of the divorce of my +brother and to notify me your opinion thereupon and (if you thinke it +fitt to be proceeded in that) what is the speedyest worke that may be +taken therein." + +It was probably of this letter that Buckingham wrote[69] to Heath, the +Solicitor-General, on 16th February, 1625, from Newmarket:-- + +"I have written a letter to yourself and to Mr. Attorney regarding +the business of the Lady Purbeck showing that I desire you principally +only to aggravate her crimes that the Lady by my humble and your like +kind favour may yet be kept in prison, before the returne to towne, +for other my brother who hopes to be going soune will not be kept from +her and she will (if he should meet with her) so worke on him by her +subtilty and that shee will draw from him something to the advantage +of her dishonourable cause and to her end." Here again is evidence +that Purbeck "will not be kept from" his wife; and that, if they meet +"shee will draw something to the advantage of her" case in the divorce +suit. In what form could this something come? Is it possible that +Buckingham may have thought that she might induce Purbeck to appear as +a witness in her favour? Or that she might persuade him to stop the +suit if he should happen to be sane enough to do so when it came on? + +The next letter has an interest, first, because it shows that Lady +Purbeck's child was really in the custody of Buckingham. Nominally it +was probably in that of Purbeck; but, if Purbeck as a lunatic was in +the custody of Buckingham, what was in Purbeck's custody would be in +Buckingham's custody. Presently, however, we shall hear of the child +being with its mother in her imprisonment at the house of an +Alderman. + +_Innocent Lanier to Buckingham_.[70] +"May it please your grace, + +"Appon my returne to London, I presently repayred to my Lo: Chiefe +Justice, where I found Mr. Attorney and Mr. Solicitor.... I have heer +inclosed fore your Grace ther letter which before it was sealed they +showed mee, being something contrary to their resolution last nyghte, +w^ch was, to have sent for Sr. Ro: Howard this morning, and so to +comitt him closs in the Fleett, but of this I presume ther letter will +give yor. Grace such satisfaction that I shall need neither to write +more of it, nor of what is yett past. They much desier yor. Grace's +coming to towne wch. I hope wilbe speedy as it wilbe materiall. I +finde them resolved to deale roundly in this Busnes as yor. Grace +desiers and are this morning in the examination of divers witness the +better to Inform themselves agaynst my Ladies coming this afternoone. +The next Day, they Intend to fall uppon Lambe and Frodsham. My Lady +uppon the receipt of my lo: Chiefe Justice letter is something +dismayed but resolved to prove a new lodging, and new keepers. The +Childe, and Nurse, must remayne with us till farther directions, +having nothing more at this present to aquaynt yor. Grace of, wth. my +humblest duty I take leave. + + "Yor. Grace's most humble and + "obedient Servant, + "(Signed) I. LANIER. + +"DENMARK HOUSE. + "_Feb. 19, 1625._" + +"_Enclosed_. Att. Gen. Coventry and Sol. Gen. Heath to Buckingham. + +"Have consulted with Sir Henry Martin on Lady Purbeck's business, and +think the best plan would be to have the case brought before the High +Commission Court, which can sit without delay, in the vacation, and +when the crime is proved there, the divorce can be obtained by +ordinary law. Think it unadvisable to send the culprits to prison, as +it is unusual for persons of their rank but advise that they may be +confined in the houses of Aldermen, where in fact they would probably +be more closely restrained than in prison." + +The last statement sounds curious; especially as we saw, a few pages +ago, that Buckingham wrote: "an Alderman's house is rather an honour +than disparagement," and "rather a place of entertainment than a +prison." + +Buckingham now sought a fresh weapon against his sister-in-law. A +couple of scoundrels, mentioned in Lanier's letter, and named Frodsham +and Lambe, men suspected of sorcery, offered to give evidence to the +effect that Lady Purbeck had paid them to help her to bewitch both +Purbeck and Buckingham. On the 16th of February, 1625, Buckingham +wrote[71] to Coventry, the Attorney-General:-- + +"I perceive by the paper I have received how much I am beholding to +you and do also understand by Innocent Lanier and others of the paynes +[you] and my lo. Chief Justice, have taken in the business concerning +the Lady Purbeck for which I thanke you ... but I did hope that you +would have some more discovered before this tyme. If Lambe and +ffrodsham may escape the one by saying what he did was but jugglinge +and the other by seeming to affect to be thought a juggler I believe +all that hath been already discovered of the truth of this business +will be deluded. I do therefore desire that you will take some sound +course with them to make them speake more directly and truly to the +point and to bout (?) them from their shifts, for Lambe hath hitherto +by such means played mock with the world to preserve himself. I desire +you to acquaint Innocent Lanier (who is appointed by my brother to +sollicit this business) with all the particulars and publique speeche +that he may the better know how to imploy this paynes for the +discovering of the knot of this villany. I desire you to say well what +is fitt to be done in the divorce of my brother and to notify me your +opinions thereon and (if you thinke it fitt to be pursued in this) +what is the speediest work that may be taken therein. And you discover +the best serving friend. + + "I rest, &c. + +"NEWMARKET." + +If this was true it would seem that Purbeck himself suspected that he +had been bewitched. + +Yet on that very same day Buckingham wrote to Heath, the +Solicitor-General, expressing his opinion that, unless Lady Purbeck +were put in prison, Lord Purbeck would not "be kept from her," which +does not look as if he can have been afraid lest she should bewitch +him. The letter runs:-- + +"I have written a letter to yourself and Mr. Attorney concerning the +business of the Lady Purbeck which I desire you on whose love to me I +principally rely to aggravate and ayre the crimes of that Lady and her +dealings with Lambe and the like, so soon as yet she may be before my +coming to London committed to some prison for otherwise my brother who +hopes to be going hence, will not be kept from her and she will (if he +should come to her) so worke on him by her subtilty as that she will +draw from him something to the advantage of her dishonourable ends and +to his prejudice. Iff ffrodsham and Lambe once feele or be brought to +feare their punishment I believe they will unfold much more than they +yet have, for it seems they have but boath sported in their +examinations, &c." + +This letter, again, proves that Lord Purbeck was on good terms with +Lady Purbeck, and that Buckingham was striving to keep them apart; and +it adds still further support to the theory that it was not Lord +Purbeck but Buckingham who was trying to divorce Lady Purbeck, by +"aggravating and airing her crimes." + +Buckingham himself was suspected of having dealings with Lambe on his +own account; for Arthur Wilson says, in his _Life of James I._:[72] +"Dr. Lamb, a man of an infamous Conversation, (having been arraigned +for a Witch, and found guilty of it at Worcester; and arraigned for a +Rape, and found guilty of it at the King's Bench-Bar at Westminster; +yet escaped the Stroke of Justice for both, by his Favour in Court) +was much employed by the Mother and the Son," _i.e._, by the Duke of +Buckingham and his mother. If this be true, Buckingham's conduct +towards Lady Purbeck, in connection with Lambe, does not seem to have +been very straightforward. + +Lambe's "favour in Court," however, proved no protection to him in the +streets. Whitelock writes[73] in 1632: "This Term the business of the +Death of Doctor Lamb was in the King's Bench, wherein it appeared that +he was neither Dr. nor any way Lettered, but a man odious to the +Vulgar, for some Rumors that went of him, that he was a Conjurer or +Sorcerer, and he was quarrelled with in the Streets in London, and as +the people more and more gathered about him, so they pelted him with +rotten Eggs, Stones, and other riff raff, justled him, beat him, +bruised him, and so continued pursuing him from Street to Street, till +they were five hundred people together following him. This continued +three hours together until Night, and no Magistrate or Officer of the +Peace once showed himself to stop this Tumult: so the poor man being +above eighty years of age, died of this violence, and no Inquisition +was taken of it, nor any of the Malefactors discovered in the City." + +On the 26th of February Chamberlain wrote[74] to Carleton:-- + +"The Lady Purbecke w^th her young sonne, and Sr. Robert Howard are +committed to the custodie of Generall Aldermen Barkham and Freeman to +be close kept. When she was carried to Sergeants ynne to be examined +by the new L. Chiefe Justice and others she saide she marvailled what +those poore old cuckolds had to say to her. There is an imputation +laide on her that with powders and potions she did intoxicate her +husbands braines, and practised somewhat in that kinde upon the D. of +Buckingham. This (they say) is confest by one Lambe a notorious old +rascall that was condemned the last sommer at the Ks. bench for a rape +and arraigned some yeare or two before at Worcester for bewitching my +L. Windsor ... I see not what the fellow can gaine by this confession +but to be hangd the sooner. Would you thinke the Lady Hattens stomacke +could stoupe to go seeke her L. Cooke at Stoke for his counsaile and +assistance in this business?" + +It would appear that Buckingham really believed Lady Purbeck to have +possessed herself of some powers of witchcraft and that he felt +considerable uneasiness on his own account, as well as on his +brother's, in connection with it; for he seems to have consulted some +other sorcerer, with the object of out-witching the witchery of Lady +Purbeck. In some notes[75] by Archbishop Laud for a letter to +Buckingham, the following cautious remarks are to be found:-- + +"I remember your Grace when I came to you on other busyness told me +you were gladd I was come, for you were about to send for me, that you +calld me asyde into the gallerye behind yo^r lodgings bye the back +stayres. There you told me of one that had made a great offer of an +easy and safe cure of your G. brother the Ld. Purbecke. + +"That it much trobbled you when he did but beginne to express himselfe +because he sayde he would doe it bye onlye touchinge his head with his +hands[76] w^ch made yo^r Grace jealous in as much as he mentioned noe +Naturall Medicine. + +"Upon this yo^r Gr. was pleased to aske what I thought of it. I +answered these were busynesses which I had little looked into. But I +did not believe the touch of his hand, or any mans els could produce +such effects. + +"Your G. asked farther if I remembered whether you might not +entertayne him farther in discourse to see whether he would open or +express any unlawfull practises; w^ch I thought you might for it went +no farther than discourse. + +"And to mye remembrance your Grace sayde that he offered to laye his +hand on your head sayinge, I would doe noe more than thiss; And that +thereupon you started backe, fearinge some sorcerye or ye like, and +that you were not quiett till you had spoken with me about it. This, +or much to this effect is the uttermost I can remember that passed at +ye time." + +Buckingham had evidently felt some scruples about meddling with the +Black Art, and had consulted Laud on the question. It is also pretty +plain that Laud was anxious not to offend Buckingham, yet, at the same +time, wished to guard against any possibility of being accused of +approving, or even of conniving at, witchcraft. These notes occur in a +"draft of a speech, in the handwriting of Bishop Laud, and apparently +intended to be addressed to the House of Commons, by the Duke of +Buckingham. It has not been found that this latter speech was ever +actually spoken." + +So far as accusations against Lady Purbeck of witchcraft were +concerned, Buckingham must have found that he had no case; for, in a +letter[77] to Carleton, written on 12th March, 1625, Chamberlain says +that the charge of sorcery had been dropped; but that Lady Purbeck was +to be prosecuted for incontinency. He adds that Sir Robert Howard was +a close prisoner in the Fleet in spite of the advice given by the +Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General three weeks earlier--and +that Lady Purbeck was a prisoner at Alderman Barkham's, had no +friends who would stand bail for her, and was asking Buckingham to +let her have a little money with which to pay her counsel's fees. +Eleven days later Chamberlain again wrote[78] to Carleton, saying that +Lady Purbeck was acquitting herself well in the Court of High +Commission; that a servant of the Archbishop's had been committed for +saying that she had been hardly used, and that she called this man one +of her martyrs. He also states that Sir Robert Howard had been +publicly excommunicated at St. Paul's Cross, for refusing to answer. + +How long the delinquents were kept in captivity is very doubtful. +Little else is recorded of either of them during the next two years; +but, at the time of their trial in 1627, they would seem to have been +at liberty. The reason of this long interval between the trial in the +Court of High Commission in 1625 and that before the same Court in +1627 seems inexplicable. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[61] _Cabala_, p. 281. + +[62] _Cabala_, p. 282. + +[63] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXII, No. 79. + +[64] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 41 + +[65] Innocent Lanier was one of the King's musicians. + +[66] _MSS. of the House of Lords_, 228, 30th April, 1675. _Hist. Com. +MSS._, Ninth Report, Part II., p. 50. + +[67] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 52. + +[68] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 65, 16th February, +1625. + +[69] _Ibid._, No. 66. + +[70] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIV., Nos. 7 and 7.1. + +[71] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 65. + +[72] _Camden, Complete History of England_, Vol. II., p. 791 (ed. +1719). + +[73] _Memorials of the English Affairs_, etc., p. 17. + +[74] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIV., No. 47. + +[75] _S.P. Dom._, Charles I., Vol. XXVI., No. 30. + +[76] This looks like an anticipation of Mesmer. + +[77] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXV., No. 48. + +[78] _S.P. Dom._, James I., No. 99. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "Let us give great Praise to God, and little Laud to the Devil." + + (Grace said by the Court Jester, Archie Armstrong, when he + had begged to act as chaplain, in the absence of that + official, at the dinner-table of Charles I. Archbishop Laud + was little in stature.) + + +The following account of the trial of Lady Purbeck in 1627 is given by +Archbishop Laud:--[79] + +"Now the Cause of _Sir Robert Howard_ was this: He fell in _League_ +with the _Lady Viscountess Purbeck_. The _Lord Viscount Purbeck_ +being in some weakness and distemper, the Lady used him at her +pleasure, and betook her self in a manner, wholly to Sir Robert +Howard, and had a Son by him. She was delivered of this Child in a +Clandestine way, under the Name of _Mistress Wright_. These things +came to be known, and she was brought into the _High-Commission_, and +there, after a Legal Proceeding, was found guilty of _Adultery_, and +sentenced to do _Pennance_: Many of the great Lords of the Kingdom +being present in Court, and agreeing to the Sentence." + +A marginal note states that there were present Sir Thomas Coventry, +the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, the Earls of Manchester, Pembroke, +Montgomery and Dorset, Viscount Grandison, five Bishops, two Deans and +several other dignitaries, clerical and legal. + +Laud continues: "Upon this Sentence she withdrew her-self, to avoid +the Penance. This Sentence passed at _London-House,_ in Bishop +_Mountains_ time, _Novemb. 19. An. Dom. 1627_. I was then present, as +Bishop of _Bath_ and _Wells_." + +The sentence in question was that Lady Purbeck was to be separated +from her husband, and that she should do penance, bare-footed, and +clad in a white sheet, in the chapel of the Savoy; but a decree of +divorce was not given. + +No attempt shall be made here to excuse or palliate the sins of Lady +Purbeck; but it may be observed in relation to Laud's mention of her +having been found guilty of adultery by the Court, that, although she +might be guilty of that offence according to the civil law, she was +not guilty of it morally; because her so-called marriage was no +marriage at all, since she was forced into it against her will. + +It cannot be a matter for surprise that Lady Purbeck "withdrew +herself" rather than do penance, barefooted, in a white sheet in a +fashionable church, and before a crowded congregation, for a crowd +there would certainly have been to enjoy the spectacle of the public +penance of a Viscountess. For some time her place of withdrawal or, +to speak plainly, her place of hiding, was undiscovered. As we have +seen, she was sentenced on the 19th of November. She was not arrested; +but she was commanded to "present herself" on a certain Sunday at the +Savoy chapel, to perform her public penance. As might have been +expected, she did not present herself, to the great disappointment of +a large congregation, and she thereby exposed herself to arrest. The +officials did not discover her place of retreat until about Christmas. +The following story of an incident that then happened in connection +with this matter is told by Sir John Finett.[80] + +A serjeant-at-arms, accompanied by other officers of justice and their +men, proceeded to the house in which Lady Purbeck was concealed, and +at once guarded every door into the street; but admittance was +refused, and the Countess of Buckingham sent "a gentleman" to the +"Ambassador of Savoy," whose garden adjoined that of the house in +which Lady Purbeck was staying, to beg the Ambassador that he would +allow the officers to pass through his house and garden into the +garden of Lady Purbeck's house of refuge "for her more easy +apprehension and arrest that way." + +The Ambassador refused, considering it an indignity to be asked to +allow men of such a type a free passage through his house, and feeling +horrified at the idea of lending assistance to "the surprise and +arrest of a fair lady, his neighbour." After many protests, however, +he consented to the entrance of one constable into his garden, and the +man was to avail himself of an opportunity which, said the Ambassador, +would occur at dinner-time, of passing into the garden of the next +house and arresting Lady Purbeck. + +In the meantime the Ambassador called his page, "a handsome fair boy," +and, with the help of his attendants, dressed him in women's clothes. +He then ordered his coach to be brought round, and when it came, his +attendants, ostentatiously, but with a show of great hurry and fear of +discovery, ran out of the house with the sham-lady and "thrust her +suddenly into" the carriage, which immediately drove off. + +The constable, congratulating himself upon his sharpness in +discovering, as he thought, the escape of Lady Purbeck, at once gave +the alarm to his followers outside. The coach "drove fast down the +Strand, followed by a multitude of people, and those officers, not +without danger to the coachman, from their violence, but with ease to +the Ambassador, that had his house by this device cleaned of the +constable." + +While all this turmoil was going on in the Strand, Lady Purbeck went +quietly away to another place of hiding; but her escape got the +gallant and kind-hearted Ambassador into great trouble. Buckingham was +enraged when he heard of the trick. Sir John Finett shall himself tell +us what followed. Buckingham, he says, declared that "all this was +done of designe for the ladies escape, (which in that hubbub she +made), to his no small prejudice and scorn, in a business that so +nearly he said concerned him, (she being wife to his brother), and +bringing him children of anothers begetting; yet such as by the law +(because begotten and born while her husband was in the land) must be +of his fathering. + +"The ambassador for his purgation from this charge, went immediately +to the Duke at Whitehall, but was denied accesse: Whereupon repairing +to my Lord Chamberlain for his mediation, I was sent to him by his +lordship, to let him know more particularly the Duke's displeasure, +and back by the ambassador to the Duke with his humble request but of +one quarter of an hours audience for his disblaming. But the duke +returning answer, that having always held him so much his friend and +given him so many fair proofs of his respects, he took his proceeding +so unkindly, as he was resolved not to speak with him. I reported this +to the ambassador, and had for his only answer, what reason cannot do, +time will. Yet, after this the Earls of Carliel and Holland +interposing; the ambassador, (hungry after his peace from a person of +such power, and regarding his masters service and the public affairs), +he a seven night after obtained of the duke an interview in Whitehall +garden, and after an hours parley, a reconciliation." + +As has just been seen, the officers of the law lost sight of Lady +Purbeck. So also, for the present do we; but we know what became of +her; for she was taken by Sir Robert Howard to his house at Clun, in +the extreme south-west of Shropshire, where a small promontory of that +county is bordered by Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Herefordshire. +It is probable that, so long as she was far away from the Court and +from London, Buckingham and the authorities took no trouble to find +her or her paramour, and almost connived at their escape. + +During their absence from our view, it may add to the interest of our +story to observe the conditions at that time of some of the other +characters who have figured in it, and to consider certain +circumstances of the period at which we are halting. Looking back a +little way, we shall find that King James, who we noticed was so ill +as to be only just able to sign an order connected with the +proceedings against Lady Purbeck, died in March, 1625, and that the +very correct Charles I. was King during the subsequent proceedings. + +Going further back still, we find that Bacon, who had succeeded in +overthrowing Coke, was himself overthrown in 1621, three years after +the marriage of Coke's daughter to Sir John Villiers, and shortly +after Bacon himself had been created Viscount St. Albans. Bacon was +impeached on charges of official corruption, and his old enemy, Sir +Edward Coke, who was then a member of Parliament, was to have had the +pleasure of conducting the impeachment. Coke, however, was deprived of +that gratification by Bacon's plea of Guilty, and was obliged to +content himself with attending the Speaker to the bar of the House of +Lords when judgment was to be prayed, and with hearing the Chief +Justice, by order of the Lords, condemn Bacon to a fine of £40,000, +incapacity ever to hold any office again, exile from Court, and +imprisonment in the Tower during the King's pleasure. + +It was generally supposed that the exultant Coke would now be offered +the Great Seal; but, to the astonishment of the world and to Coke's +unqualified chagrin, the King proclaimed Williams, "a shrewd Welsh +parson," as Lord Campbell calls him, Lord Keeper in the place of +Bacon. After this disappointment, Coke became even fiercer against the +Court than he had been before Bacon's disgrace. Bacon's fine was +remitted, "the King's pleasure" as to the length of his imprisonment +was only four days, he was allowed to return to Court, and he was +enabled to interest himself with the literary pursuits which he loved +better than law and almost as much as power; but he was harassed by +want of what, perhaps, he may have loved most of all, namely money, +and he died in 1626, five years after his fall and condemnation. + +Although Buckingham was at the summit of his glory, everything did not +go well with him during the period at which he was scheming to rid his +brother of Lady Purbeck. In 1623 he went to Spain with Prince Charles +to arrange a marriage with the Infanta, a match which he failed to +bring about. In 1626 he was impeached, though unsuccessfully, by the +House of Commons. In 1627 he commanded an expedition to the Isle of +Rhé against the French, on behalf of the Huguenots, and completely +failed in the attempt. In 1628 a new Parliament threw the blame upon +him of all the troubles and drawbacks from which the country was then +suffering; and, in August, the same year, he was murdered by an +assassin less than twelve months after he had succeeded in his +proceedings against Lady Purbeck. + +It was not until shortly after the death of Bacon that his rival, Sir +Edward Coke, reached the zenith of his fame as a politician. Only a +few months before the death of Buckingham, Coke framed the celebrated +Petition of Rights, a document which has often been spoken of as the +second _Magna Charta_. He had gained little through his attempt to +bribe Buckingham by giving his daughter and her wealth to Buckingham's +brother, and he was now exasperated against the royal favourite and +that favourite's royal master. "In the House of Commons, Sir Ed. +Coke," says Whitelock in his _Memorials_[81] "named the Duke to be the +cause of all their miseries, and moves to goe to the King, and by word +to acquaint him." Rushworth writes[82] more fully of this speech of +Coke's. "Sir Edward Cook spake freely.... 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 causes of all our +disasters, and all will reflect upon him." And Coke was as bitter +against the King. A little later Charles I. had issued a warrant for a +certain commission, when, in a conference with the Lords, Coke +moved[83] "That the Warrant may be damned and destroyed." + +After the prorogation of Parliament which soon followed, Coke retired +into private life and lived at Stoke Pogis, where he is supposed to +have encouraged his neighbour, Hampden, in his plots against the +Court. + +In the year 1632 Lady Purbeck left Sir Robert Howard to live with and +take care of her father. She probably went to him on hearing that he +had been seriously hurt by a fall from his horse. In his diary[84] +Coke thus describes this accident: "The 3rd of May, 1632, riding in +the morning in Stoke, between eight and nine o'clock to take the air, +my horse under me had a strange stumble backwards and fell upon me +(being above eighty years old) where my head lighted near to sharp +stubbles, and the heavy horse upon me." He declares that he suffered +"no hurt at all;" but, as a matter of fact, he received an internal +injury. + +Lord Campbell says that, from this time "his only domestic solace +was the company of his daughter, Lady Purbeck, whom he had +forgiven,--probably from a consciousness that her errors might be +ascribed to his utter disregard of her inclinations when he concerted +her marriage. She continued piously to watch over him till his death." + +Lady Elizabeth was never reconciled to her husband. On the contrary, +she seems to have been very anxiously awaiting his death in order to +take possession of Stoke Pogis. Garrard, in a letter[85] to Lord +Deputy Strafford written in 1633, says: "Sir Edward Coke was said to +be dead, all one morning in Westminster Hall, this term, insomuch that +his wife got her brother, Lord Wimbledon, to post with her to Stoke, +to get possession of that place; but beyond Colebrook they met with +one of his physicians coming from him, who told her of his much +amendment, which made them also return to London; some distemper he +had fallen into for want of sleep, but is now well again." Lady +Elizabeth's keen disappointment may be readily imagined. + +It is not likely that the couple of years spent by Lady Purbeck with +her father can have been very pleasant ones. He was bad-tempered, +ill-mannered, cantankerous and narrow-minded, and he must also have +been a dull companion; for beyond legal literature he had read but +little. Lord Campbell says: "He shunned the society of" his +contemporaries, "Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, as of _vagrants_ who +ought to be set in the stocks, or whipped from tithing to tithing." + +Nor can Lady Purbeck have found him a very tractable patient. He had +no faith in either physicians or physic. Mead wrote[86]to Sir Martin +Stuteville: "Sir Edward Coke being now very infirm in body, a friend +of his sent him two or three doctors to regulate his health, whom he +told that he had never taken physic since he was born, and would not +now begin; and that he had now upon him a disease which all the drugs +of Asia, the gold of Africa, nor all the doctors of Europe could +cure--old age. He therefore both thanked them and his friend that sent +them, and dismissed them nobly with a reward of twenty pieces to each +man." Doubtless a troublesome invalid for a daughter to manage. + +At last it became apparent that the end was rapidly approaching, and +then Lady Purbeck was subjected to a most embarrassing annoyance. Two +days before her father's death she was summoned from his bedside to +receive Sir Francis Windebank, the Secretary of State, who had arrived +at the house, accompanied by several attendants, bringing in his hand +an order from the King and Council to search Sir Edward Coke's mansion +for seditious papers and, if any were found, to arrest him. + +Sir Francis, on hearing the critical condition of Sir Edward, assured +Lady Purbeck that he would give her father no personal annoyance; but +he insisted on searching all the rooms in the house except that in +which Coke was lying; and he carried away every manuscript that he +could find, including even Sir Edward's will--a depredation which +subsequently caused his family great inconvenience. It is believed +that Coke was kept in ignorance of this raid upon his house, probably +by the care and vigilance of Lady Purbeck. Thus his last hours were +undisturbed, and on the 3rd of September, 1634, in the 83rd year of +his age, died one of the most disagreeable men of his times, but the +most incorruptible judge in a period of exceptional judicial +corruption. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[79] _The History of the Troubles and Tryal of the most Reverend +Father in God, and Blessed Martyr, William Laud, Archbishop of +Canterbury_. Wrote by Himself, during his Imprisonment in the Tower: +London, R. Chiswell, 1695, p. 146. + +[80] _Finetti Philoxenis_, London, 1636, p. 239. + +[81] P. 10. + +[82]_Historical Collections_, p. 607 (ed. 1659). + +[83] Rushworth's _Collections_, p. 616. + +[84] Campbell, Vol. I., p. 334. + +[85] _Strafford Letters_, I., p. 265. + +[86] Harleian MS. 390, fol. 534. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "The circle smil'd, then whisper'd, and then sneer'd, + The misses bridled, and the matrons frown'd; + Some hoped things might not turn out as they fear'd: + Some would not deem such women could be found, + Some ne'er believed one half of what they heard: + Some look'd perplex'd, and others look'd profound." + _Don Juan_, ix., 78. + + +Soon after the death of Sir Edward Coke, up to the date of which event +his daughter had apparently been taking care of him with great filial +piety for two years and living a virtuous life, she came to London. +About this coming to London Archbishop Laud must be allowed to have +his say,[87] albeit not altogether a pleasant say:-- + +"They," _i.e._, Sir Robert Howard and Lady Purbeck, "grew to such +boldness, that he brought her up to London and lodged her in +Westminster. This was so near the Court and in so open view, that the +King and the Lords took notice of it, as a thing full of Impudence, +that they should so publickly adventure to outface the Justice of the +Realm, in so fowl a business. And one day, as I came of course to wait +on his Majesty, he took me aside, and told me of it, being then +Archbishop of Canterbury; and added, that it was a great reproach to +the Church and Nation; and that I neglected my Duty, in case I did not +take order for it. I made answer, she was a Wife of a Peer of the +Realm; and that without his leave I could not attach her; but that now +I knew his Majesty's pleasure, I would do my best to have her taken, +and brought to Penance, according to the sentence against her. The +next day I had the good hap to apprehend both her and Sir Robert; and +by order of the High-Commission-Court, Imprisoned her in the +Gate-House and him in the Fleet. This was (as far as I remember) upon +a Wednesday; and the Sunday sevennight after, was thought upon to +bring her to Penance. She was much troubled at it, and so was he." + +In the _Strafford Papers_[88] there is a letter to the Lord Deputy +from Garrard, in which he says that, after Lady Purbeck's sentence +some years earlier, she had evaded it by flight and had "not been much +looked after since;" but that "this winter she lodged herself on the +Water side over against Lambeth, I fear too near the road of the +Archbishop's barge; whereof some complaint being made, she had the +Sergeant at Arms sent with the warrant of the Lords and the Council to +carry her to the Gate-House, whence she will hardly get out until she +hath done her penance. The same night was a warrant sent signed by the +Lords, to the Warden of the Fleet, to take Sir Robert Howard at +Suffolk House, and to carry him to the Fleet; but there was never any +proceeding against him, for he refused to take the oath _ex-officio_, +and had the Parliament to back him out, but I fear he will not escape +so now." + +It is open to those who may like to do so to take Laud's words as +meaning that Lady Purbeck and Sir Robert Howard were again living +together in immorality. Possibly that may have been Laud's meaning. If +it was, he may have been mistaken. The world is seldom very charitable +and, when Sir Robert and Lady Purbeck were both in London--which was +comparatively a small place in those days--the gossips would naturally +put the worst construction on the matter. If the very proper Charles +I. heard such rumours, he would most likely believe them; so also +would Laud. + +From the meagre evidence existing on the question, there is much--the +present writer thinks most--to be said in favour of the theory that +the relations of Lady Purbeck to Sir Robert Howard were, at this time, +perfectly innocent, and that they had been so ever since she had left +him to live with her father, two years earlier. To begin with, is it +likely that if, after so long a separation, the pair had wished to +resume their illicit intercourse, they would have chosen London as the +place in which to do so? Sir Robert may, or may not, have obtained for +Lady Purbeck her lodging. If he did, there was not necessarily any +harm in that. + +Then the fact of Lady Purbeck's returning openly to London looks as if +she was conscious of innocence since she had left Sir Robert a couple +of years earlier, and as if she believed that the innocence of her +recent life was generally known. And, indeed, she might naturally +suppose that because, as Garrard wrote, she "had not been much looked +after" by the authorities, when she had gone into the country to +continue her offence many years earlier, she was perfectly safe in +returning to London now that she was living a life of virtue. + +Sir Robert Howard, says Garrard's letter, was sought for and taken at +Suffolk House, the London home of his brother, whereas Lady Purbeck +was taken at, and living at, a house "on the Water side, over against +Lambeth." This does not absolutely prove that they were not living +together; but it is certainly evidence in that direction. + +Again, although it is possible that the King and Laud may have +believed in the revival of the criminal intercourse between Lady +Purbeck and Sir Robert, it is equally possible that they did not, and +that they merely considered it "boldness" and a "thing full of +Impudence" to "publickly adventure to outface the Justice of the +Realm," when a woman under sentence to do public penance for grave +immorality--a woman who had fled to a remote part of the country to +escape from that penance--came back to London and took up her quarters +"so near the Court, and in so open view," as if nothing had happened; +and that, as the sentence had never been repealed, they thought it +ought to be executed. + +It might even be contended that the conduct of the King and Laud looks +in favour of the innocence of Lady Purbeck, at that time; for, if they +had had any evidence of a fresh offence, far from being content with +executing the sentence for the old transgression, they would probably, +if not certainly, have prosecuted her again for the new one, and have +either added to the severity of the first sentence, or passed a second +to follow it, as a punishment for the second crime. + +Be all this as it may, one thing is certain, namely, that the King and +Laud were determined to carry out the sentence which had been passed +some seven or eight years earlier, now that the escaped convict had +had what Laud calls the "Impudence" to come to the capital; and it +appears that Sir Robert was to be proceeded against in the Star +Chamber upon the old charge. + +Apart from any concern on his own account, Sir Robert was greatly +distressed that Lady Purbeck should be exposed to public punishment +for an offence of the past, of which he himself was at least equally +guilty. In the hope of saving her from it, he took into his counsel +"Sir ... of Hampshire," some friend whose name is illegible in Laud's +MS. + +We must now turn attention, for a little time, elsewhere. The first +Earl of Danby was a man of great respectability, and he had +distinguished himself in arms, both on sea and on land. He was a +Knight of the Garter and the Governor of Guernsey, and he had been +Lord President of Munster. He had always done those things that he +ought to have done, with as great a regularity as his attainted elder +brother, Sir Charles Danvers, had done those things that he ought not +to have done. + +This paragon of a bachelor, at the age of sixty-two, received a visit +at his Government House in Guernsey from a youth who requested a +private interview. This having been granted, the boy, to the +astonishment of Lord Danby, proclaimed himself to be his Lordship's +cousin, Frances, Lady Purbeck.[89] + +In a former chapter we saw that Lady Purbeck had escaped from +punishment through the medium of a boy dressed up like a woman. The +process had now been reversed: for she had escaped from the +Gate-House--a woman dressed up like a boy. The Sir Somebody Something +of Hampshire, says Laud, "with Money, corrupted the Turn-Key of the +Prison (so they call him) and conveyed the Lady Forth, and after that +into France in Man's Apparel (as that Knight himself hath since made +his boast). This was told me the Morning after the escape: And you +must think, the good Fellowship of the Town was glad of it." Lady +Purbeck, however, did not go first into France. As we have seen, she +went to Guernsey and placed herself under the protection of her old +cousin, Lord Danby. + +That old cousin must have wished devoutly that she had placed herself +anywhere else. For the Governor of one of the King's islands to +receive and to shelter a criminal flying from justice was a very +embarrassing position. On the other hand, to refuse protection to a +helpless lady, and that lady a kinswoman, much more to betray her into +the hands of her enemies, would have been an act from which any +honourable man might well shrink. The possibility that it might be +discovered in the island that he was entertaining a woman in male +attire must also have been an annoying uncertainty to the immaculate +Governor of Guernsey. Over the details of this perplexing situation +history has kindly thrown a veil; indeed, we learn nothing further +about Lady Purbeck's proceedings until we read, in the already noticed +letter of Garrard's, that she landed at St. Malo, whence she +eventually went to Paris. + +It seems safe to infer that whatever protection and hospitality her +relative, Lord Danby, may have afforded to Lady Purbeck, he was +heartily glad to get rid of her. If she had originally intended to go +to Paris, she would scarcely have made the long voyage of nearly two +hundred miles out of her way to Guernsey, and the most natural +explanation of that voyage is that she had hoped and expected to +obtain concealment, hospitality, and a refuge in the house of her +relative. Instead of conceding her these privileges for any length of +time, Lord Danby evidently speeded the parting guest with great +celerity. + +While all this was going on, Sir Robert Howard remained under arrest +in London. Laud, writing of Lady Purbeck's escape, says: "In the mean +time, I could not but know, though not perhaps prove as then, that Sir +Robert Howard laboured and contrived this conveyance. And thereupon in +the next sitting of the High-Commission, Ordered him to be close +Prisoner, till he brought the Lady forth. So he continued Prisoner +about some two or three months." + +It may be observed here that some years later, in fact in the year +1640, Sir Robert Howard turned the tables upon Laud for this +transaction. "On Munday, December 21," wrote Laud in 1640, "upon a +Petition of Sir Robert Howard, I was condemned to pay Five Hundred +Pounds unto him for false Imprisonment. And the Lords Order was so +strict, that I was commanded to pay him the Money presently, or give +Security to pay it in a very short time. I payed it, to satisfie the +Command of the House: but was not therein so well advised as I might +have been, being Committed for Treason." Laud was at that time a +prisoner in the Tower, only to leave it for execution. In addition to +this £500, Sir Robert was ordered to have a fine of £250 paid to him +by the sorcerer, Lambe, and another fine of £500 by a man named +Martin;[90] so altogether, the Long Parliament assigned him,£1,250 +damages. + +In a letter to the Lord Deputy, dated 24th June, 1635,[91] Garrard +says: "Sir Robert Howard, after one month's close imprisonment in the +Fleet, obtained his liberty, giving £2,000 bond never more to come at +Lady Purbeck, wherein he stands bound alone; but for his appearance +within 30 days, if he be called, two of his brothers stand bound for +him in £1,500, so I hope there is an end of the business." + +On the 30th of July, 1635, the same correspondent wrote of Lady +Purbeck's being "in some part of France, where I wish she may stay, +but it seems not good so to the higher powers: for there is of late an +express messenger sent to seek her with the Privy Seal of his Majesty +to summon her into England, within six weeks after the receipt +thereof, which if she do not obey, she is to be proceeded against +according to the laws of this Kingdom." + +In a letter[92] from the "Rev. Mr. Thomas Garrard to the Lord Deputy," +dated 27th April, 1637, there is an announcement which may surprise +some readers:-- + +"Another of my familiar acquaintance has gone over to that Popish +religion, Sir Robert Howard, which I am very sorry for. My Lady +Purbeck left her country and religion both together, and since he will +not leave thinking of her, but live in that detestable sin, let him go +to that Church for absolution, for comfort he can find none in ours." + +Now, "the Reverend Mr. Garrard" can scarcely have known what Sir +Robert would, or would not, "leave thinking of," and, as to his living +"in that detestable sin," he and his fellow-sinner had not been even +in the same country for nearly two years at the time when Garrard was +writing; and, as we have already shown, the unlikelihood of their +having committed the sin in question for another couple of years +before that may be more than plausibly argued. And it should be +remembered that these two people could have no object in becoming +Catholics, unless they received the benefits of the Sacraments of the +Catholic Church; and as Catholics, they would believe that their +confessions would be sacrileges, their absolutions invalid, and their +communions the "eating and drinking their own damnation," unless they +confessed their immoralities among their other sins, with a firm +purpose never to commit them again. + +It is clear, therefore, that when they became Catholics Sir Robert +Howard and Lady Purbeck must have determined never to resume their +illicit intercourse; and, so far as is known, they never did so. In a +letter to Secretary Windebanke written from Paris, in July, 1636, Lord +Scudamore, after saying something about Lady Purbeck, adds: "She +expects every day Sir Robert Howard here:" but this must have been +mere gossip, for Scudamore cannot have been in the confidence of that +fugitive from England, Lady Purbeck, as he was English Ambassador at +Paris; moreover, he was a particular ally of Archbishop Laud,[93] +therefore, not likely to have relations with an escaped prisoner of +Laud's; although, as we shall presently find, another, although very +different, friend of Laud took her part. Nor is there anything to show +that Sir Robert Howard went to Paris. + +Respecting the matter of Sir Robert's submission to the Catholic +Church, the Reverend Mr. Garrard was perfectly right in saying: "Let +him go to that Church for absolution, for comfort he can find none in +ours." Whether the Catholic religion is the worst of religions or the +best of religions, it is the religion to which those in grievous +trouble, whether through misfortune or their own fault, most +frequently have recourse; a religion which offers salvation and solace +even to the adulterer, the thief, the murderer, or the perpetrator of +any other crimes, on condition of contrition and firm purpose of +amendment.[94] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[87] _History of the Troubles and Tryal of Archbishop Laud_ (ed. +1695), p. 146. + +[88] Vol. I., p. 390, 17th March, 1635. + +[89] _Strafford Papers_, Vol. I., p. 447. Letter from Garrard to the +Lord Deputy, dated 30th July, 1635. + +[90] Lingard, Vol. VII., Chap. V. + +[91] _Strafford Letters_, Vol. I., p. 434. + +[92] _Ibid._, Vol. II., p. 72. + +[93] "The remarkably studious, pious, and hospitable life he led, made +him respected & esteemed by all good men, especially by Laud, who +generally visited him in going to & from his Diocese of St. David's & +found his entertainment as kind and full of respect as ever he did +from any friend" (Burke's _Dormant and Extinct Peerages_, p. 483). + +[94] In _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII., p. 17, may be found the following +note, after a mention of Lady Purbeck: "Sir Robert Howard died April +22, 1653, and was buried at Clunn in Shropshire, leaving issue by +Catherine Nevill, his Wife, 3 sons, who, I presume, he married after +the Lady Purbeck's death which happened 8 years before his own. The +Epitaph in my Book in Folio of Lichfield, lent me by Mr. Mitton. Sir +Robert was 5th Son to Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, Lord Treasurer of +England." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "O must the wretched exile ever mourn, + Nor after length of rolling years return?" + DRYDEN. + + +Lady Purbeck was not to be left in peace in Paris. As Garrard had +said, a writ was issued commanding her to return to England upon her +allegiance, and it was sent to Paris by a special messenger who was +ordered to serve it upon her, if he could find her. The matter was +placed in the hands of the English Ambassador, and he describes what +followed in a letter[95] from Paris to the Secretary of State in +England:-- + +"Rt. Honble. + +"Your honours letters dated the 7th March--I received the 21 the same +style by the Courrier sent to serve his Majesties writt upon the Lady +Viscountesse Purbecke. They came to me about 11 of the clock in the +Morning. Upon the instant of his coming to me I sent a servant of myne +own to show him the house, where the Lady lived publiquely, and in my +neighbourhood." + +The business in hand, it will be observed, was not to arrest Lady +Purbeck, but simply to serve the writ upon her: a duty which proved +not quite so simple as might be supposed. On arriving at the house in +which Lady Purbeck was living, "the Courrier taking off his Messengers +Badge knocked at the doore to gett in. There came a Mayd to the doore +that would not open it, but peeped through a grating and asked his +businesse. He sayd, he was not in such hast but he could come againe +to-morrow. But the Mayd and the rest of the household having charge +not to open the doore, but to suche as were well knowne, the Messenger +could not gett in." + +This first failure would not in itself have much alarmed the +Ambassador; but he says: "In the afternoone, I understood that the +Lady had received notice 15 days before, that a privy seale was to +come for her, which had caused her ever since to keep her house +close." + +This made him nervous, and he tried to push the matter with greater +speed. + +"We endeavoured by severall ways," he wrote, "to have gotten the +Messenger into the house. But having considered and tryed till the +next day in the afternoone, we grew very doubtfull that the Messenger +might be suspected and that the Lady might slip away from that place +of her residence that night." + +Unless the writ could be properly served upon her, proceedings against +her could not be carried out in England, and, once out of the house in +which she now was known, or at least believed, to be, so slippery a +lady, as she had already proved herself, would be very difficult to +find. To effect an entrance into the house and to serve the writ upon +her personally was evidently impossible, and the only alternative was +to make sure that she was in the house and then to put the writ into +it in such a way that she could not avoid learning of its presence. +Therefore, says the Ambassador, "I directed this Bearer to put the Box +with the Privy Seale in it through some pane of a lower window into +the house and leaving it there to putt on his Badge, and knocking at +the doore of the house, if they would not suffer him to enter, then to +tell that party, whoe should speak to him at the dore, that he was +sent from the K. of Grate Britaine to serve his Majesties Privy Seale +upon the Lady Viscountess Purbeck, and that in regard he could not be +admitted in, he had left the Privy seale in a Box in such a place of +the house, and that in his Majesties name he required the Lady Purbeck +to take notice thereof at her perill." So far as getting the Privy +Seal inside the house was concerned, all went well. "The Messenger +being there, found an upper windowe neath the casements open, and +threw up the Box with the Privy seale in it through that windowe into +a Chamber, which some say is the Ladies Dining Roome, others, that it +is a Chamber of a Man servant waiting upon her." + +The writ was now safely lodged in the house; but the Ambassador had +ordered the messenger to take care to call the attention of some one +in it to the fact that the writ was there. Unfortunately, says the +Ambassador, this part of his instructions had been neglected. "The +Courrier returnes to me. And finding that he had forgotten to speake +at the dore as I had directed him, I caused him presently to returne +and to discharge himself in such sort as is above mentioned, which he +will depose he did." + +This was done, but even then something was still left undone; for it +yet remained to be proved that Lady Purbeck was actually in the house +at the time when the writ was thrown into it. The Ambassador conceived +the idea of obtaining such proof by means of a female witness. For +this purpose, he very ingeniously contrived to find a sister of one of +Lady Purbeck's servants, and, no doubt by the promise of a heavy +bribe, he persuaded her to go to the house, to ask to be admitted in +order to speak with her sister, to find out, when there, if Lady +Purbeck was in the house, and, if possible, to see her. This ruse was +singularly successful, for, as will be seen, the first person whom the +girl saw was Lady Purbeck herself. + +"A woman being sent to the house under Colour of speaking with a +sister of hers the Ladies servant, the Ladye herselfe came downe to +the dore, and opening it a little, soe that the woman saw her, she +sayd her sister should have leave to go home to her that night. And +therefore the Lady was in the house at the same time that the place of +her residence was served. She hath lived in that house about a month, +and there are (as I am informed) no other dwellers in it but herself." + +The writ had now been served, although not into the very hands of Lady +Purbeck yet it was hoped sufficiently in order to satisfy the law. But +all was not yet smooth. The Ambassador wrote:-- + +"The morrow after this was done, about midnight, there came some +officers with two coaches and 50 archers to divers houses to search +for the Lady being directed and instructed by a warrant from the +Cardinal that whereas there was a Messenger sent from England to offer +some affront to your Lady Purbeck in diminution of this Kings +jurisdiction, that therefore they should find out the sayd Lady and +protect her." + +This intervention on the part of the French Government made Lord +Scudamore fear lest _l'affaire Purbeck_ might lead to international +complications, and he presently adds: "Coming to the knowledge of this +particular this Morning I thought good to hasten the Messenger out of +the way." + +Fortunately for Lady Purbeck, she was not without a friend in Paris. +About a year before she went there, a curious character had arrived in +the person of Sir Kenelm Digby, a son of the Sir Everard Digby who had +been executed for having been concerned in the Gunpowder Plot. Sir +Kenelm was well known, both at home and abroad. He had stayed at +Madrid with his relative, the Earl of Bristol, at the time when +Prince Charles had gone to Spain to woo the Infanta. He had been a +brilliant ornament at the Court of Charles I.; but, like all the +relations of Bristol, he had been hated by Buckingham. Armed with +letters of marque, he had raised a fleet and ravaged the Mediterranean +in the character of a privateer. He was literary, philosophical, +metaphysical and scientific. When he came to Paris his beautiful wife +had been dead a couple of years, and the smart courtier had thrown off +his hitherto splendid attire, had clothed himself in black of the very +plainest, and had allowed his hair and beard to grow as they would, +ragged and untrimmed. Shortly before the arrival of Lady Purbeck in +Paris, Sir Kenelm had declared himself a Catholic; and the fact that +both he and Lady Purbeck had submitted themselves to the Catholic +Church may have formed a bond of union between them. Sir Kenelm soon +contrived to interest Cardinal Richelieu in Lady Purbeck's case, and +not only Richelieu but also the King and the Queen of France. + +A certain "E.R." wrote[96] to Sir R. Puckering: "The last week we had +certain news that the Lady Purbeck was declared a papist." And then he +went on to say that Louis XIIIth and the Queen of France, as well as +Cardinal Richelieu, had sent messages or letters to Charles I., +begging him to pardon Lady Purbeck and to allow her to return to +England. He also said that the French Ambassador at St. James's was +"very zealous in the business." Shortly afterwards he added: "It is +said she is altogether advised by Sir Kenelm Digby, who indeed hath +written over letters to some of his noble friends of the privy +council, wherein he hath set down what a convert this lady is become, +so superlatively virtuous and sanctimonious, as the like hath never +been seen in men or women; and therefore he does most humbly desire +their lordships to farther this lady's peace, and that she may return +into England, for otherwise she does resolve to put herself into some +monastery. I hear his Majesty does utterly dislike that the lady is so +directed by Sir Kenelm Digby, and that she fares nothing better for +it." + +Of course anybody would naturally sneer at the suggestion that the +convert to a religion other than his own could possibly be remarkable +for either virtue or sanctity: but there is no visible reason for +sympathising with the sneers of (E.R.), or for doubting Sir Kenelm +Digby's evidence respecting Lady Purbeck. + +It may be a question whether Lady Purbeck ever intended "to put +herself into some monastery," in the sense of becoming a nun. She did, +however, put herself into a monastery in a very different way. It was, +and still is, the custom in some convents to take in lodgers or +boarders, either for a short time, for a long time, or even for life. +The peace, the quiet, the regularity, and the religious services and +observances at such establishments are attractive to some people, +especially to those who are in trouble or difficulty. The +disadvantages are that, although the lodgers are perfectly free to go +where they please and to do what they please, they can generally only +get their meals at rigidly appointed hours, that the convent doors are +finally closed at a fixed time, usually a very early one; and that +after that closing time there is no admittance. Practically the latter +arrangement precludes all possibility of society in an evening, and +the present writer knows several Catholics of the most unimpeachable +orthodoxy, zeal, piety and virtue, who have tried living in convents +and monasteries, as boarders, both in Rome and in London, and have +given it up simply on account of those inconveniences. It was, +therefore, very unjust to speak ill of Lady Purbeck for not having +lived in a convent "according to that strictness as was expected," +because she left it. But this was done in the following letter:[97] +"The Lady Purbeck is come forth of the English Nunnerie. For, the Lady +Abbess being from home, somebody forgott to provide the Lady Purbeck +her dinner, and to leave the roome open where she used to dine at +night, expostulating with the Abbess, they agreed to part fairely, +which the Abbess was the more willing unto in regard the Lady Purbeck +did not live according to that strictness as was expected. Car. +Richelieu helped her into the Nunnerie." + +It may be inferred from this letter that Lady Purbeck left the convent +for the simple reason that she was not comfortable in it--even the +"superlatively virtuous" do not like to be dinnerless--and that, +either because she was unpunctual, or because she was inclined to make +complaints, the Abbess was relieved when she took her departure. But +by Scudamore's own showing they parted "fairely;" or, as we should now +say, good friends. + +Among Sir Kenelm Digby's English correspondents, while he was in +Paris, was Lord Conway, a soldier as devoted to literature as to arms, +and a general who always seemed fated to fight under disadvantages. +Shortly after the time with which we are at present dealing, he was +defeated when in command of the King's troops at Newcastle. Meanwhile, +Sir Kenelm was endeavouring to "fit him withal," in the matter of +"curious books," from Paris. As the letter[98] from Sir Kenelm to Lord +Conway, about to be quoted, has something in it about Lord Wimbledon, +it may be well to note that he was a brother of Lady Elizabeth Hatton +and therefore an uncle of Lady Purbeck. + +After observing that England has been singularly happy in producing +men like King Arthur and others who performed actions of only moderate +valour or interest, which subsequent ages mistook for great +achievements, he says:-- + +"But none will be more famous and admirable to our Nevewes(?) than the +noble valiant and ingenious Peer, the Lord Wimbledone, whose +epistle[99] exceedeth all that was ever done before by any so +victorious a generall of armies or so provident a governor of townes, +I only lament for it that it was not hatched in a season when it might +have done the honor to Baronius,[100] his collections, to have bin +inserted among them. + +"Here is a Lady that he hath reason to detest above all persons in the +worlde, if robbing a man of all the portion of witt, courage, +generousnesse, and other heroicall partes due to him, do meritt such +an inclination of the minde towardes them that have thus bereaved +them: for surely the Genius that governeth that family and that +distributeth to each of them their shares of natures guiftes was +either asleepe, or mistooke (or somewhat else was the cause) when he +gave my Lady of Purbecke a dubble proportion of these and all other +noble endowments, and left her poore Uncle, so naked and unfurnished: +Truly my lord to speake seriously I have not seen more prudence, +sweetinesse, goodnesse, honor and bravery shewed by any woman that I +know, than this unfortunate lady sheweth she hath a rich stock of. +Besides her naturall endowments, doubtlessly her afflictions adde +much: or rather have polished, refined and heightened what nature gave +her: and you know vexatio dat intellectum. Is it not a shame for you +Peeres (and neare about the king) that you will let so brave a lady +live as she doth in distress and banishment: when her exile serveth +stronger but to conceive scandalously of our nation, that we will not +permit those to live among us who have so much worth and goodnesse as +this lady giveth show off.... + + "Yo. Lo: most humble and affectionate + "servant, + "KENELM DIGBY." + +Sir Kenelm, like Scudamore, was on a friendly footing with Lady +Purbeck's chief enemy, Archbishop Laud, but in a very different sense. +When Sir Kenelm was a boy Laud had been his tutor, and a friendship +had sprung up between the master and the pupil which was not broken by +the conversion of the pupil to a religion greatly disliked by the +master. Subsequently, Sir Kenelm gave evidence in favour of his old +tutor, before the Committee appointed to prepare the prosecution of +Laud at his trial, and he sent kind messages to Laud in the Tower. +Unlike Scudamore, however, he was no admirer of Laud's religion or of +his ecclesiastical policy, if indeed of any of his policy. + +Although Sir Kenelm Digby, the King and the Queen of France, Cardinal +Richelieu, and the French Ambassador at the Court of St. James's did +their best to obtain forgiveness for Lady Purbeck, Charles I. was long +obdurate. At first, as we have seen, he had sent a writ commanding her +to return at once to her native country for punishment. When he had +withdrawn that writ, he for some time refused to allow her to return +at all, for any purpose. But troubles were brewing for Charles +himself, and, after Lady Purbeck had spent an exile of some length in +Paris, she was permitted to come to England, without any liability to +stand barefoot in a white sheet for the amusement of the congregation +in a fashionable London church on a Sunday morning. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[95] _S.P. For._, Charles I., France. Scudamore to Coke, 25th +March--4th April, 1636. This letter was addressed to Sir John Coke, +the Secretary of State. + +[96] _Court and Times of Charles I_. By D'Israeli, Vol. II., p. 242. + +[97] _S.P._, Charles I., France. Scudamore to Windebank, I/121 July, +1636. + +[98] _S.P. Dom._, Charles I., Vol. CCCXLIV., No. 58. Sir Kenelm Digby +to Edward Lord Conway and Kilultagh, 21/31 January, 1637. + +[99] Wimbledon was Governor of Portsmouth and the letter in question +was probably one mentioned by Walpole in his _Royal and Noble +Authors_, to the Mayor of Portsmouth "reprehending him for the +Townsmen not pulling off their hats to a Statue of the King Charles, +which his Lordship had erected there." Such an "epistle" might well +excite the derision and contempt of Sir Kenelm. + +[100] The author of _Annales Ecclesiastici_. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "To err is human, to forgive divine." + POPE. + + +Concerning Lady Purbeck's life, after her return to England, we have +the following evidence from _Coles' Manuscripts_. Let us observe, +first, that in the extract there is a mistake. It was not Lady +Purbeck, but the wife of her son, whose maiden name was Danvers. +Anybody who may choose to discredit the whole, on account of this +error, can do so if he pleases; but it is certain that Lord Purbeck +"owned the son" and that the son's grandson, "the Rev. Mr. Villiers," +claimed "the Title of Earl of Bucks." Therefore we see no reason for +doubting the statement that Lord Purbeck "took his Wife again." The +"after 16 years" would seem to tally with the undoubted facts. + +"[101]Lady Purbeck's name Danvers; absent from Husband 16 years: had +by Sir Robert Howard one son who married a Bertie, and took the Title +of Lord Purbeck, which Lady Purbeck's will I have. Lord Purbeck after +16 years took his wife again, and owned the Son, which 2nd Lord +Purbeck had one Son, Father of the Rev. Mr. Villiers, who now claims +the Title of Earl of Bucks. &c." + +It will be remembered that even when Lady Purbeck was being proceeded +against for unfaithfulness to her husband, at the instigation of +Buckingham, she was on friendly terms with Lord Purbeck, and that +Buckingham had considerable difficulty in keeping them apart: +consequently it is the less to be wondered at that Lord Purbeck "took +his wife again," after her return from exile. Not only was Lady +Purbeck now a reformed character, but, like Lord Purbeck, she was a +convert to the Catholic Church; and this would probably make him the +more inclined to receive her again as his wife and to trust her for +the future. At the time of their reunion Lady Purbeck must have been +about forty, and he must have been an oldish man; although not too old +to be a bridegroom, and no longer under suspicion of insanity; for, in +addition to starting a second time as husband to Frances, Lady +Purbeck, it is recorded that after her death, which occurred in five +or six years, he married again,[102] and survived his first wife by +twelve years. + +If the beginning of married life a second time, after an interval of +sixteen years--to say nothing of certain awkward incidents which had +transpired in the meantime--may have been a little out of the common, +it is more remarkable still that Lord Purbeck should have +acknowledged the boy, Robert Wright, as his son. As was shown in an +earlier chapter, it is just possible that he may have been ignorant of +the fact that the lad was not his own child, or rather, perhaps, that +he refused to believe in that fact. On the other hand, as the boy was +born in wedlock, he had in any case the right to acknowledge him as +such, if he so pleased. That was his concern, not ours, so we need not +cavil at it. + +His doing so may be accounted for by either of the two following +suppositions: namely, that he acknowledged the boy out of affection +for, and to please, his wife--possibly it may have been one of the +inducements held out to persuade her to return to him--or that he +gradually took a fancy to the lad and chose this method of adopting +him. Whatever the cause of his acknowledging the boy may have been, +that acknowledgment encourages the idea that good relations existed +between Lord and Lady Purbeck after what may almost be called their +second marriage, or, perhaps still better called, their first real +marriage with consent on both sides. + +Purbeck called the boy Robert Villiers, and would not allow him to be +spoken of as Robert Wright. When the lad came of age, Lord Purbeck +made him join with himself, as his son and heir, in the conveyance of +some lands, under the name of Robert Villiers,[103] the most formal of +legal recognitions. + +It is likely that her life soon became that of an invalid, for she +died in the year 1645, when staying with her mother at Oxford. In that +year the Court of Charles I. was at this town, which may account for +her own and her mother's presence there. As we saw, in the first +chapter, there is some question as to whether Lady Purbeck was born in +the year 1599 or in 1600, so she may have been either forty-five or +forty-six at the time of her death. Her life, although of very +moderate length, had been one of considerable adventure, which may +have told heavily upon her constitution; if her personal concerns were +peaceful at the time of her death, we know that the conditions of the +King and of the Court, together with the prospects of all of high rank +who were loyal to the Crown, were then causing great anxiety and +excitement at Oxford: and this may well have had a bad effect upon the +health of an invalid. + +Of Lady Purbeck's character much less is recorded than of the +characters of several other leading figures in this story--her father, +her mother, Bacon, Buckingham. We know, however, that she faithfully +nursed during his last two years her surly old father, who had treated +her abominably and spoiled her life; that she never lost the +friendship of Lord Purbeck; that, in her trouble she sought the +consolations of religion in a Church which would require a full +confession of her sins, accompanied by sincere repentance and virtuous +resolutions; that she bore an excellent character in Paris; and that +she spent her last years with her husband or her mother. It is true +that she had sinned, that she had sinned grievously; but, when we +consider her education under parents who were fighting like cat and +dog, the marriage which was forced upon her, and the dissolute Court +in which she, a singularly beautiful woman, spent the early years of +her married life, we may well hesitate before we look for stones to +cast at her memory. + +And, after all, the only description of her character, of any length, +which we have been able to find, namely, that given by Sir Kenelm +Digby, is highly favourable. If an apology be required for repeating +it, that apology is humbly given. + +After declaring that of "wit, courage, generosity, and other heroic +parts," nature had given Lady Purbeck "a double share," together with +"all other noble endowments," Sir Kenelm says: "I have not seen more +prudence, sweetness, honour and bravery shown by any woman that I +know, than this unfortunate lady showeth she hath such a rich stock +of. Besides her natural endowments, doubtless her afflictions add +much; or rather have polished, refined and heightened, what nature +gave her." + +Even when we have made due allowance for the fact that the pen of Sir +Kenelm Digby was inclined to be a little flowery, sufficient is left +in this description of Lady Purbeck to make her character attractive, +and we know that nature had added to her charms by endowing her with +exceptional beauty. No attempt shall be made here to exaggerate +either her attractions or her virtues, much less to extenuate or +minimise her faults; but let us at least forgive the latter. + +There are ladies who call the story of Mary Magdalen "beautiful," yet +would on no consideration tolerate a repetition of even its most +beautiful incidents, in real life. If she now existed, the greatest +concession they would make would be to subscribe towards sending her +to a Home for Fallen Women; or, which is more likely, they would ask +for an order of admission for her from someone else who subscribed to +such an institution. From such we cannot expect a charitable view of +_The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck_. + +It would be out of place to enter into petty theological questions in +a comparatively trivial work such as this--to inquire, for instance, +into the question whether it may not be as possible to be damned for +detraction as to be damned for adultery; but we may at least believe +that Lady Purbeck spent her later years in contrition for the past and +virtue in the present. + +We have now done with the curious case of Lady Purbeck, and it only +remains to say something about the less curious cases of some of her +descendants. + +It might be supposed that "Robert Wright," who was just of age at the +time of his mother's death, would be proud to bear the name of +Villiers and to be acknowledged as the rightful heir to the estates +and title of Viscount Purbeck. As time went on, however, he became +ashamed of those privileges.[104] The son of a Cavalier, he became a +Roundhead, and three years after the death of his mother he married +one of the daughters and co-heiresses of his relative, Sir John +Danvers, subsequently one of the judges who condemned King Charles I. +to death. + +He eventually obtained a patent from Oliver Cromwell to change his +name for that of his wife, declaring that he hated the name of +Villiers on account of the mischief which several of those who bore it +had done to the Commonwealth; and as to the title of Viscount Purbeck, +he disclaimed it with contempt. + +But before the Commonwealth Robert Danvers, as he even then called +himself, sat in the House of Commons as member for Westbury. When +people want titles, they do not always find it easy to obtain them; +but, when they do not want them, they cannot always get rid of them. +Robert was summoned to the House of Lords, as a peer, to answer the +very serious charge of having said that "he hated the Stuarts and that +if no person could be found to cut off the King's head, he would do it +himself." He refused to attend, on the ground that he was not a +member of the House of Lords but of the House of Commons. This plea +was not allowed, and he was actually compelled to kneel at the bar of +the House of Lords and to beg pardon for his criminal words. + +At the Restoration he remained an obstinate Roundhead, and, instead of +showing any desire to claim the title of Viscount Purbeck, he obtained +permission from Charles II. to levy a fine of his titles in possession +and in remainder. Then he retired to an estate which he owned in the +parish of Houghton in Radnorshire, bearing the curious name of +Siluria. He died in the year 1676, at Calais, and in his will he is +described as "Robert Danvers, alias Villiers, Esq." + +Robert's wife survived him, and, now that he and his idiosyncrasies +were safely out of the way, it occurred to this daughter of a regicide +that "the Right Honourable the Dowager Viscountess Purbeck" +would sound much more euphonious than "the widow Danvers;" +accordingly--solely for the sake of others--she adopted that title. At +the same time, her two sons, Robert and Edward, resumed the name of +Villiers. + +Immediately after the death of his father, Robert, the elder of the +two sons, took as much trouble to get summoned to the House of Lords +as his father had taken to escape from it. He sent a petition on the +subject to Charles II., who referred him to the House of Lords. His +claim was opposed. First, on the ground that his father had barred +his right to honours by the fine which he had levied, _i.e._, by +renouncing those honours, and, secondly, on the ground that his father +had not been a son of John Villiers, First Viscount Purbeck, but a son +of Sir Robert Howard. A petition[105] against the claim was presented +by the Earl of Denbigh, who professed himself "highly concerned in the +honour of the Duke of Buckingham and his sister, the Duchess of +Richmond & Lennox; Petitioner's mother, Susanna, having been the only +sister of the late Duke of Buckingham," and he prayed "the House to +examine the truth of these assertions, before allowing itself to be +contaminated by illegitimate blood." + +This warning to the Lords against contaminating itself by illegitimate +blood, at a time when Charles II. was constantly enriching it with his +own illegitimate offspring, or what at least purported to be so, is +rather entertaining. On the other hand, in support of the claim, the +claimant's counsel professed to be able to prove the legitimacy of +Robert Villiers, alias Wright.[106] + +The House of Lords after considering the matter petitioned the King to +allow the introduction of a Bill to disable Robert from claiming the +title of Viscount Purbeck: but seven peers opposed this petition +stating in writing that "the said claimant's right ... did, both at +the hearing at the bar and debate in the House, appear to them clear +in fact and law and above all objection." Charles II. replied that he +"would take it into consideration." This appears to have been the last +official word ever pronounced upon the subject, and nobody has since +then been summoned to the House of Lords as Viscount Purbeck. + +The claimant, however, continued to call himself Lord Purbeck. He came +to an early end, being killed in a duel by Colonel Luttrell, at Ličge, +when he was only twenty-eight; but he left a son. Nor did this son +only call himself Lord Purbeck, for on the death of the childless +second Duke of Buckingham, of whom Dryden wrote:--[107] + + Stiff in opinion--always in the wrong-- + Was everything by starts, but nothing long; + Who in the course of one revolving moon + Was chemist, fiddler, statesman and buffoon. + Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking: + Besides a thousand freaks that died in thinking; + +John Villiers, alias Danvers, alias Wright, in addition to the title +of Viscount Purbeck, assumed that of Earl of Buckingham, the reversion +of which had been secured by the first Earl and Duke to his brother +and his heirs, in the case of his own direct heirs failing. This +self-styled Earl squandered his fortune in a life of debauchery, and +then married the daughter of a clergyman, a widow with a large +jointure but about as dissolute in character as himself, which is +saying much. He left no sons. + +Such claims as there were to the titles of Purbeck and Buckingham then +lay with the Rev. George Villiers, Rector of Chalgrove, in +Oxfordshire. He was the son of Edward, the second son of the boy +christened Robert Wright. In the year 1723, on the death of his +cousin, the so-called Earl of Buckingham, this clergyman put in a +claim to the titles of Earl of Buckingham and Viscount Purbeck; but, +unlike his cousin, he does not appear to have ever "lorded" himself. + +This cleric left a son named George, who also became a parson, and +Vicar of Frodsham in Cheshire. Efforts were made in his youth to +obtain for him a summons to the House of Lords; but, in addition to +the doubtful character of his claims, he was no _persona grata_ to the +King, as he was known to be an ardent Jacobite. As Burke says: +"Republicans during the reign of the Stuarts--Jacobites during the +reign of the Guelphs--this unfortunate family seems always to have had +hold of the wrong end of the stick." As a rule, they appear to have +held that end of it, but certainly it is a rule to which George +Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham, was a remarkable exception. + +The Rev. George Villiers, who still owned property which had been +settled by Sir Edward Coke on his daughter, Lady Purbeck, died without +issue, in 1774, and his brother died a bachelor. The male line of +Villiers, alias Danvers, alias Wright, then expired. We hear no more +of any claims to the Purbeck peerage; henceforward the title which +stands at the head of this story was no longer to have any place in +living interests. At this point, let us also take leave of it; and the +author hopes that his readers, if ever reminded of this book by the +mention of Lady Purbeck, may not exclaim in the words of a character +in Macbeth:--"The devil himself could not pronounce a title more +hateful to mine ear." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[101] _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII., p. 17. + +[102] He married a daughter of Sir William Slingsby of Kippax, +Yorkshire. + +[103] Burke's _Extinct and Dormant Peerages_. + +[104] The authorities for most of what follows are _The Historical +MSS. Commission_, Ninth Report, Part II., p. 58; _MSS. of the House of +Lords_, 30th April, 5th May, and 3rd June, 1675, 14th March, 16th +June, and 9th July, 1678, and Burke's _Extinct and Dormant Peerages_. + +[105] _MSS. of the House of Lords_, 228, 30th April, 1675. + +[106] _MSS. of the House of Lords_, 228, 30th April, 1675. + +[107] _Absalom and Achitophel_, line 447, _seq._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck +by Thomas Longueville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURIOUS CASE OF LADY PURBECK *** + +***** This file should be named 15257-8.txt or 15257-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/2/5/15257/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck + A Scandal of the XVIIth Century + +Author: Thomas Longueville + +Release Date: March 4, 2005 [EBook #15257] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURIOUS CASE OF LADY PURBECK *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h4>THE</h4> + +<h2>CURIOUS CASE</h2> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h1>LADY PURBECK</h1> + +<h4>A SCANDAL OF THE XVIITH CENTURY</h4> +<br /> +<h5>BY THE AUTHOR OF</h5> + +<h5>"THE LIFE OF SIR KENELM DIGBY," "THE ADVENTURES<br /> +OF KING JAMES II.," "MARSHAL TURENNE"<br /> +"THE LIFE OF A PRIG," ETC. +</h5> + +<br /> +<h4>LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.<br /> +39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON<br /> +NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA +</h4> + +<h5>1909</h5> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE">PREFACE</a></h2> + + +<p class="TallCap">THE curious case of Lady Purbeck is here presented without +embellishment, much as it has been found in old books and old +manuscripts, chiefly at the Record Office and at the British Museum. +Readers must not expect to find any "well-drawn characters," "fine +descriptions," "local colour," or "dramatic talent," in these pages, +on each of which Mr. Dry-as-dust will be encountered. Possibly some +writer of fiction, endowed with able hands directed by an imaginative +mind, may some day produce a readable romance from the rough-hewn +matter which they contain: but, as their author's object has been to +tell the story simply, as it has come down to us, and, as much as was +possible, to let the contemporaries of the heroine tell it in their +own words, he has endeavoured to suppress his own imagination, his own +emotions, and his own opinions, in writing it. He has the pleasure of +acknowledging much useful assistance and kind encouragement in this +little work from Mr. Walter Herries Pollock.</p> + + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Sir Edward Coke—Lady Elizabeth Hatton—Bacon—Marriage of Coke +and Lady Elizabeth—Birth of the Heroine +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page1">1</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Rivalry of Coke and Bacon—Quarrelling between Coke and Lady +Elizabeth—Coke offends the King and loses his offices—Letter of +Bacon to Coke +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page10">10</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Coke tries to regain the favour of Buckingham and the King by offering +his daughter to Sir John Villiers—Anger of Lady Elizabeth—Lady +Elizabeth steals away with her daughter +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page21">21</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Coke besieges his wife and carries off his daughter—Coke and Winwood +<i>v</i>. Lady Elizabeth and Bacon—Charges and counter-charges +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page30">30</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Lady Elizabeth tries to recover her daughter—Her scheme for a match +between Frances Coke and the Earl of Oxford—Bacon, finding that +he has offended both Buckingham and the King, turns round and +favours the match with Villiers—Trial of Lady Exeter—Imprisonment +of Lady Elizabeth at an Alderman's house +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page39">39</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Frances is tortured into consent—The marriage—Lady Elizabeth comes +into royal favour and Coke falls out of it—Lady Elizabeth's +dinner-party to the King—Carleton and his wife quarrel about +her +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page52">52</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Buckingham ennobles his own family—Villiers becomes Lord +Purbeck—Purbeck and the Countess of Buckingham become +Catholics—Rumours that Purbeck is insane +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page64">64</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +The insanity question—Quite sane—Thought insane again—Letter +from Lady Purbeck to Buckingham—Birth of Robert Wright—Sir +Robert Howard +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page74">74</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Proceedings instituted against Sir Robert Howard and Lady +Purbeck—Buckingham's correspondence about them with his +lawyers—Lanier, the King's musician—Buckingham accuses +Lady Purbeck of witchcraft +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page83">83</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Trial of Lady Purbeck before the High Commission—The +sentence—Archbishop Laud—The Ambassador of +Savoy—Escape—Clun—Some of +our other characters—Lady Purbeck goes to Stoke Pogis to take +care of her father—Death of Coke +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page102">102</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Lady Purbeck goes to London—Laud—Arrest of Lady Purbeck and Sir +Robert Howard—Question of her virtue at that time—Lord +Danby—Guernsey—Paris—Sir Robert Howard turns the tables on +Laud—Changes of religion +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page114">114</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Lady Purbeck in Paris—The English Ambassador—Serving a writ—Lady +Purbeck at a convent—Sir Kenelm Digby—His letter about +Lady Purbeck—Lady Purbeck returns to England +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page125">125</a></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></p> +<p class="toc"> +Lord Purbeck takes Lady Purbeck back again as his wife—He +acknowledges Robert Wright as his own son—Death of Lady +Purbeck—Retrospect of her life and character—Her +descendants—Claims to the title of Viscount Purbeck +</p> +<p class="tocpage"><a href="#page137">137</a></p> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page1" id="page1"></a>[pg 1]</span> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"After this alliance,<br /></span> +<span>Let tigers match with hinds, and wolves with sheep,<br /></span> +<span>And every creature couple with its foe."<br /></span> +<span class="i16"><span class="sc">Dryden.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="sc">The</span> political air of England was highly charged with electricity. +Queen Elizabeth, after quarrelling with her lover, the Earl of Essex, +had boxed his ears severely and told him to "go to the devil;" +whereupon he had left the room in a rage, loudly exclaiming that he +would not have brooked such an insult from her father, and that much +less would he tolerate it from a king in petticoats.</p> + +<p>This well-known incident is only mentioned to give an idea of the +period of English history at which the following story makes its +start. It is not, however, with public, but with private life that we +are to be here concerned; nor is it in the Court of the Queen, but in +the humbler home of her Attorney-General, that we must begin. In a +humbler, it is true, yet not in a very humble home; for Mr. Attorney +Coke had inherited a good estate from his father, had married an +heiress, in Bridget Paston, who brought him the house and estate of +Huntingfield Hall, in Suffolk, together with a large fortune in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page2" id="page2"></a>[pg 2]</span> +hard +cash; and he had a practice at the Bar which had never previously been +equalled. Coke was in great sorrow, for his wife had died on the 27th +of June, 1598, and such was the pomp with which he determined to bury +her, that her funeral did not take place until the 24th of July. In +his memorandum-book he wrote on the day of her death: "Most beloved +and most excellent wife, she well and happily lived, and, as a true +handmaid of the Lord, fell asleep in the Lord and now reigns in +Heaven." Bridget had made good use of her time, for, although she died +at the age of thirty-three, she had, according to Burke, seven +children; but, according to Lord Campbell, ten.</p> + +<p>As Bridget was reigning in Heaven, Coke immediately began to look +about for a substitute to fill the throne which she had left vacant +upon earth. Youth, great personal beauty and considerable wealth, +thought this broken-hearted widower at the age of forty-six, would be +good enough for him, and the weeks since the true handmaid of the Lord +had left him desolate were only just beginning to blend into months, +when he fixed his mind upon a girl likely to fulfil his very moderate +requirements. He, a widower, naturally sought a widow, and, happily, +he found a newly made one. Youth she had, for she was only twenty; +beauty she must have had in a remarkable degree, for she was +afterwards one of the lovely girls selected to act with the Queen of +James I. in Ben Jonson's <i>Masque of Beauty</i>; and wealth she had in the +shape of immense estates. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span> +</p> + +<p>Elizabeth, grand-daughter of the great Lord Burghley, and daughter of +Burghley's eldest son Thomas Cecil, some years later Earl of Exeter, +had been married to the nephew and heir of Lord Chancellor Hatton. Not +very long after her marriage her husband had died, leaving her +childless and possessed of the large property which he had inherited +from his uncle. This young widow was a woman not only of high birth, +great riches, and exceptional beauty, but also of remarkable wit, and, +as if all this were not enough, she had, in addition, a violent temper +and an obstinate will. This Coke found out in her conduct respecting a +daughter who eventually became Lady Purbeck, the heroine of our little +story.</p> + +<p>Romance was not wanting in the Attorney-General's second wooing; for +he had a rival, whom Lord Campbell in his <i>Lives of the Chief +Justices</i>, describes as "then a briefless barrister, but with +brilliant prospects," a man of thirty-five, who happened to be Lady +Elizabeth's cousin. His name was Francis Bacon, afterwards Lord +Chancellor, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, and the author of the +<i>Novum Organum</i> as well of a host of other works, including essays on +almost every conceivable subject. In the opinion of certain people, he +was also the author of the plays commonly attributed to one William +Shakespeare. This rival was good-looking, had a charming manner, and +was brilliant in conversation, while his range of subjects was almost +unlimited, whereas, the wooer in whom we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" id="page4"></a>[pg 4]</span> +take such an affectionate +interest, was wrinkled, dull, narrow-minded, unimaginative, selfish, +over-bearing, arrogant, illiterate, ignorant in almost everything +except jurisprudence, of which he was the greatest oracle then living, +and uninterested in everything except law, his own personal ambition, +and money-making.</p> + +<p>Shortly before Coke had marked the young and lovely Lady Elizabeth +Hatton for his own, Bacon had not only paid his court to her in +person, but had also persuaded his great friend and patron, Lord +Essex, to use his influence in inducing her to marry him. Essex did so +to the very best of his ability, a kind service for which Bacon +afterwards repaid him after he had fallen—we have seen that his star +was already in its decadence—by making every effort, and successful +effort, to get him convicted of treason, sentenced to death, and +executed.</p> + +<p>Which of these limbs of the law was the beautiful heiress to select? +She showed no inclination to marry Francis Bacon, and she was backed +up in this disinclination by her relatives, the Cecils. The head of +that family, Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth's Lord High Treasurer, was +particularly proud of his second son, Robert, whom he had succeeded in +advancing by leaps and bounds until he had become Secretary of State; +and Burghley and the rest of his family feared a dangerous rival to +Robert in the brilliant Bacon, who had already attracted the notice, +and was apparently about to receive the patronage, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span> +of the Court. If +Bacon should marry the famous beauty and become possessed of her large +fortune, there was no saying, thought the Cecils, but that he might +attain to such an exalted position as to put their own precocious +Robert in the shade.</p> + +<p>Bridget had not been in her grave four months when the great Lord +Burghley died. Coke attended his funeral, and a funeral being +obviously a fitting occasion on which to talk about that still more +dreary ceremony, a wedding, Coke took advantage of it to broach the +question of a marriage between himself and Lady Elizabeth Hatton. He +broached it both to her father, the new Lord Burghley, and to her +uncle, the much more talented Robert. Whatever their astonishment may +have been, each of these Cecils promised to offer no opposition to the +match. They probably reflected that the Attorney-General was a man in +a powerful position, and that, with his own great wealth combined with +that of Lady Elizabeth Hatton, he might possibly prove of service to +the Cecil family in the future.</p> + +<p>How the match, proposed under such conditions, came about, history +does not inform us, but, within six months of Bridget's funeral, her +widower embalmed her memory by marrying Elizabeth Hatton, a girl +fifteen years her junior.</p> + +<p>If any writer possessed of imagination should choose to make a novel +on the foundation of this simple story, he may describe to his readers +how the cross-grained and unattractive Coke contrived to induce +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span> +the +fair Lady Elizabeth Hatton to accept him for a husband. The present +writer cannot say how this miracle was worked, for the simple reason +that he does not know. One incident in connection with the marriage, +however, is a matter of history. Elizabeth was not sufficiently proud +of her prospective bride-groom to desire to stand beside him at a +wedding before a large, fashionable, and critical assemblage in a +London church. If he would have her at all, she insisted that he must +take her in the only way in which he could get her, namely, by a +clandestine marriage, in a private house, with only two or three +witnesses.</p> + +<p>Now, if there was one thing more than another in which Mr. Attorney +Coke lived and moved and had his being, it was the law, to all +offenders against which he was an object of terror; and such a great +lawyer must have been fully aware that, by making a clandestine +marriage in a private house, he would render himself liable to the +greater excommunication, whereby, in addition to the minor annoyance +of being debarred from the sacraments, he might forfeit the whole of +his property and be subjected to perpetual imprisonment. To make +matters worse, Archbishop Whitgift had just issued a pastoral letter +to all the bishops in the province of Canterbury, condemning marriages +in private houses at unseasonable hours, and forbidding under the +severest penalties any marriage, except in a cathedral or in a parish +church, during the canonical hours, and after proclamation of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span> +banns +on three Sundays or holidays, or else with the license of the +ordinary.</p> + +<p>Rather than lose his prize, Coke, the great lawyer, determined to defy +the law, and to run all risks, risks which the bride seemed anxious to +make as great as possible; for, at her earnest request, or rather +dictation, the pair were married in a private house, without license +or banns, and in the evening, less than five months after Coke had +made the entry in his diary canonising Bridget. As the Archbishop had +been his tutor, Coke may have expected him to overlook this little +transgression. Instead of this, the pious Primate at once ordered a +suit to be instituted in his Court against the bridegroom, the bride, +the parson who had married them, and the bride's father, Lord +Burghley, who had given her away. Lord Campbell says that "a libel was +exhibited against them, concluding for the 'greater excommunication' +as the appropriate punishment."</p> + +<p>Mr. Attorney now saw that there was nothing to be done but to kiss the +rod. Accordingly, he made a humble and a grovelling submission, on +which the Archbishop gave a dispensation under his great seal, a +dispensation which is registered in the archives of Lambeth Palace, +absolving all concerned from the penalties they had incurred, and, as +if to complete the joke, alleging, as an excuse, ignorance of the law +on the part of the most learned lawyer in the kingdom.</p> + +<p>The newly married pair had not a single taste in common. The wife +loved balls, masques, hawking, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span> +and all sorts of gaiety; she delighted +in admiration and loved to be surrounded by young gallants who had +served in the wars under Sydney and Essex, and who could flatter her +with apt quotations from the verses of Spenser and Surrey. The +husband, on the contrary, detested everything in the form of fun and +frolic, loved nothing but law and money, loathed extravagance and +cared for no society, except that of middle-aged barristers and old +judges. As might be expected, the union of this singularly +ill-assorted couple was a most unhappy one. Indeed it was a case of—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"at home 'tis steadfast hate,<br /></span> +<span>And one eternal tempest of debate."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1" /><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Within a year of their marriage, that is to say in 1599, Lady +Elizabeth Hatton, as she still called herself, had a daughter. Here +again Burke and Lord Campbell are at variance. Burke says that by this +marriage Coke had two daughters, Elizabeth, who died unmarried, and +Frances, our heroine; whereas Lord Campbell says that Frances was born +within a year of their marriage and makes no mention of any Elizabeth. +It is pretty clear, from subsequent events, that, if there was an +Elizabeth, she must have died very young, and that Frances must have +been born almost as soon as was possible after the birth of her elder +sister.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2" /><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span> +</p> + +<p>The beginning of our heroine may make the end of our chapter. In the +next she will not be seen at all; but, as will duly appear, the events +therein recorded had a great—it might almost be said a +supreme—influence on her fortunes.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1" /><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Young's <i>Love of Fame</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2" /><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Most of the matter in this chapter has been taken from +<i>The Lives of the Chief Justices of England</i>, by John, Lord Campbell. +In two volumes. London: John Murray, 1849, Vol. I., p. 239 <i>seq.</i>, +Chap. VII.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure,<br /></span> +<span>Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure."<br /></span> +<span class="i12"><i>Don Juan</i>, xiii., 16.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><span class="sc">Rivals</span> in love, rivals in law, rivals for place, Coke and Bacon, while +nominally friends, were implacable enemies, but they sought their ends +by different methods. When James I. had ascended the throne, Bacon +began at once to seek his favour; but Coke took no trouble whatever +for that purpose, and he was not even introduced to the royal presence +until several weeks after the accession. Bacon, then a K.C., held no +office during the first four years of the new reign; but his literary +fame and his skilful advocacy at the Bar excited the jealousy of Coke. +On one occasion, Coke grossly insulted him in the Court of Exchequer, +whereupon Bacon said: "Mr. Attorney, I respect you but I fear you not; +and the less you speak of your own greatness, the more I will think of +it." Coke angrily replied: "I think scorn to stand upon terms of +greatness towards you, who are less than little—less than the least."</p> + +<p>Lord Campbell says that Sir Edward Coke's arrogance to the whole Bar, +and to all who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> +approached him, now became almost insufferable, and +that "his demeanour was particularly offensive to his rival"—Bacon. +As to prisoners, "his brutal conduct ... brought permanent disgrace +upon himself and upon the English Bar." When Sir Walter Raleigh was +being tried for his life, but had not yet been found guilty, Coke said +to him: "Thou art the most vile and execrable traitor that ever lived. +I want words sufficient to express thy viprous treasons." When Sir +Everard Digby confessed that he deserved the vilest death, but humbly +begged for mercy and some moderation of justice, Coke told him that he +ought "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 upon him," and that, as to his wife and +children, he ought to desire the fulfilment of the words of the Psalm: +"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." According to Lord Campbell, Coke's "arrogance of demeanour to +all mankind is unparalleled."</p> + +<p>Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth, Coke, as Attorney-General, +had had another task well suited to his taste, that of examining the +prisoners stretched on the rack, at the Tower. Volumes of examinations +of prisoners under torture, in Coke's own handwriting, are still +preserved at the State Paper Office, which, says Campbell, +"sufficiently attest his zeal, assiduity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> +and hard-heartedness in the +service.... He scrupulously attended to see the proper degree of pain +inflicted." Yet this severe prosecutor, bitter advocate and cruel +examiner, became a Chief Justice of tolerable courtesy, moderate +severity, and unimpeachable integrity.</p> + +<p>If he had everything his own way in the criminal court and the torture +chamber, Coke did not find his wishes altogether unopposed in his +family. To begin with, he suffered the perpetual insult of the refusal +on the part of his wife to be called by his name. If her first husband +had been of higher rank, it might have been another matter: but both +were only knights, and it was a parallel case to the widow Jones, +after she had married Smith, insisting upon still calling herself Mrs. +Jones. Lady Elizabeth defended her conduct on this point as +follows:<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3" /><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> "I returned this answer: that if Sir Edward Cooke would +bury my first husband accordinge to his own directions, and also paie +such small legacys as he gave to divers of his friends, in all cominge +not to above £700 or £900, at the most that was left unperformed, he +having all Sir William Hatton's goods & lands to a large proportion, +then would I willingly stile myself by his name. But he never yielded, +so I consented not to the other." Whether Hatton or Coke, as an Earl's +daughter she was Lady Elizabeth, by which name alone let us know her. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span> +</p> + +<p>Campbell states that, after the birth of Frances, Sir Edward and Lady +Elizabeth "lived little together, although they had the prudence to +appear to the world to be on decent terms till the heiress was +marriageable." Coke had been astute enough to secure a comfortable +country-house, at a very convenient distance from London, through Lady +Elizabeth. Her ladyship had held a mortgage upon Stoke Pogis, a place +that belonged formerly to the Earls of Huntingdon,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4" /><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and Coke, either +by foreclosing or by selling, obtained possession of the property. As +it stood but three or four miles to the north of Windsor, the +situation was excellent.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5" /><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Sir Edward's London house was in the then +fashionable quarter of Holborn, a place to which dwellers in the city +used to go for change of air.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6" /><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> As Coke and his wife generally +quarrelled when together, the husband was usually at Holborn<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7" /><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> when +the wife was at Stoke, and <i>vice-versâ</i>. It was almost impossible that +Miss Frances should +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span> +not notice the strained relations between her +parents. Nothing could have been much worse for the education of their +daughter than their constant squabblings; and, unless she differed +greatly from most other daughters, she would take advantage of their +mutual antipathies to play one against the other, a pleasing pastime, +by means of which young ladies, blessed with quarrelsome parents, +often obtain permissions and other good things of this world, which +otherwise they would have to do without.</p> + +<p>Lady Elizabeth found a friend and a sympathiser in her domestic +worries. Francis Bacon, the former lover of her fortune, if not of her +person, became her consoler and her counsellor. Let not the reader +suppose that these pages are so early to be sullied by a scandal. +Nothing could have been farther from reproach than the marital +fidelity of Lady Elizabeth, but it must have gratified Bacon to annoy +the man who had crossed and conquered him in love, or in what +masqueraded under that name, by fanning the flames of Lady Elizabeth's +fiery hatred against her husband. Hitherto, Coke had had it all his +own way. He had snubbed and insulted Bacon in the law courts, and he +had snatched a wealthy and beautiful heiress from his grasp. The wheel +of fortune was now about to take a turn in the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>About the year 1611, King James entertained the idea of reigning as an +absolute sovereign. Archbishop Bancroft flattered him in this notion, +and suggested that the King ought to have the privilege of "judging + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> +whatever cause he pleased in his own person, free from all risk of +prohibition or appeal." James summoned the judges to his Council and +asked whether they consented to this proposal. Coke replied:—</p> + +<p>"God has endowed your Majesty with excellent science as well as great +gifts of nature; but your Majesty will allow me to say, with all +reverence, that you are not learned in the laws of this your realm of +England, and I crave leave to remind your Majesty that causes which +concern the life or inheritance, or goods or fortunes of your subjects +are not to be decided by natural reason, but by the artificial reason +and judgment of law, which law is an art which requires long study and +experience before that a man can attain to the cognizance of it."</p> + +<p>On hearing this, James flew into a rage and said: "Then am I to be +<i>under</i> the law—which it is treason to affirm?"</p> + +<p>To which Coke replied: "Thus wrote Braxton: 'Rex non debet esse sub +homine, sed sub <i>Deo et Lege</i>.'"<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8" /><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>Coke had the misfortune to offend the King in another matter. James +issued proclamations whenever he thought that the existing law +required amendment. A reply was drawn up by Coke, in which he said: +"The King, by his proclamation or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span> +otherwise, cannot change any part +of the common law, or statute law, or the customs of the realm." This +still further aggravated James.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Bacon, now Attorney-General, was high in the King's favour, +and he was constantly manoeuvring in order to bring about the downfall +of his rival. He persuaded James to remove Coke from the Common Pleas +to the King's Bench—a promotion, it is true, but to a far less +lucrative post. This greatly annoyed Coke, who, on meeting Bacon, +said: "Mr. Attorney, this is all your doing." For a time Coke +counteracted his fall in James's favour by giving £2,000 to a +"Benevolence," which the King had asked for the pressing necessities +of the Crown, a benevolence to which the other judges contributed only +very small sums. This fair weather, however, was not to be of long +duration.</p> + +<p>In 1616 Coke again offended the King. Bacon had declared his opinion +that the King could prohibit the hearing of any case in which his +prerogative was concerned. In the course of a trial which shortly +afterwards took place, Bacon wrote to the judges that it was "his +Majesty's express pleasure that the farther argument of the said cause +be put off till his Majesty's farther pleasure be known upon +consulting him." In a reply, drawn up by Coke and signed by the other +judges, the King was told that "we have advisedly considered of the +said letter of Mr. Attorney, and with one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span> +consent do hold the same to +be contrary to law, and such as we could not yield to by our oaths."</p> + +<p>James was furious. He summoned the judges to Whitehall and gave them a +tremendous scolding. They fell on their knees and all were submissive +except Coke, who boldly said that "obedience to his Majesty's command +... would have been a delay of justice, contrary to law, and contrary +to the oaths of the judges."</p> + +<p>Although Coke was now in terrible disgrace at Court, he might have +retained his office of Chief Justice, if he would have sanctioned a +job for Villiers, the new royal favourite. George Villiers, a young +man of twenty-four, since the fall of the Earl of Somerset had +centralised all power and patronage in his own hands. The chief +clerkship in the Court of King's Bench, a sinecure worth £4,000 a +year, was falling vacant, and Villiers wished to have the disposal of +it. The office was in the gift of Coke, and, when Bacon asked that its +gift should be placed in the hands of Villiers, Coke flatly refused +and thus offended the most powerful man in England. Nothing then +became bad enough for Coke and nothing in Coke could be good. His +reports of cases were carefully examined by Bacon, who pointed out to +the King many "novelties, errors, and offensive conceits" in them. The +upshot of the whole matter was that Coke was deprived of office. When +the news was communicated to him, says a contemporary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span> +letter, "he +received it with dejection and tears."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9" /><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>It would be natural to suppose that by this time Bacon had done enough +to satisfy his vengeance upon Coke. But no! He must needs worry him +yet further by an exasperating letter, from which some extracts shall +be given. It opens with a good deal of scriptural quotation as to the +wholesomeness of affliction. Then Bacon proceeds to say:<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10" /><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +"Afflictions level the mole-hills of pride, plough the heart and make +it fit for Wisdom to sow her seed, and for grace to bring forth her +increase. Happy is that man, therefore, both in regard of Heavenly and +earthly wisdom, that is thus wounded to be cured, thus broken to be +made straight, thus made acquainted with his own imperfections that he +may be perfect. Supposing this to be the time of your affliction, that +which I have propounded to myself is, by taking the seasonable +advantage, like a true friend (though far unworthy to be counted so) +to show your shape in a glass.... Yet of this resolve yourself, it +proceedeth from love and a true desire to do you good, that you, +knowing what the general opinion is may not altogether neglect or +contemn it, but mend what you may find amiss in yourself.... First, +therefore, behold your Errors: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span> + In discourse you delight to speak too +much.... Your affections are entangled with a love of your own +arguments, though they be the weaker.... Secondly, you cloy your +auditory: when you would be observed, speech must either be sweet, or +short. Thirdly, you converse with Books, not Men ... who are the best +Books. For a man of action & employment you seldom converse, & then +but with underlings; not freely but as a schoolmaster with his +scholars, ever to teach, never to learn.... You should know many of +these tales you tell to be but ordinary, & many other things, which +you repeat, & serve in for novelties to be but stale.... Your too much +love of the world is too much seen, when having the living" [income] +"of £10,000, you relieve few or none: the hand that hath taken so +much, can it give so little? Herein you show no bowels of +compassion.... We desire you to amend this & let your poor Tenants in +Norfolk find some comfort, where nothing of your Estate is spent +towards their relief, but all brought up hither, to the impoverishing +of your country.... When we will not mind ourselves, God (if we belong +to him) takes us in hand, & because he seeth that we have unbridled +stomachs, therefore he sends outward crosses." And Bacon ends by +commending poor Coke "to God's Holy Spirit ... beseeching Him to send +you a good issue out of all these troubles, & from henceforth to work +a reformation in all that is amiss, & a resolute perseverance, +proceeding, & growth, in all that is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span> +good, & that for His glory, the +bettering of yourself, this Church & Commonwealth; whose faithful +servant whilest you remain, I am a faithful servant unto you."</p> + +<p>If ever there was a case of adding insult to injury, surely this piece +of canting impertinence was one of the most outrageous.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3" /><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Life of Sir Edward Coke.</i> By H.W. Woolrych. London: J. & +W.T. Clarke, 1826, pp. 145-48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4" /><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Lipscomb's <i>History and Antiquities of the Co. of Bucks</i>, +1847, Vol. IV., p. 548.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5" /><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Gray made the churchyard of Stoke Pogis the scene of his +famous Elegy, and he was buried there in 1771.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6" /><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Ency. Brit.</i>, Vol. XIV. Article on London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7" /><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Lady Elizabeth's house in Holborn was called Hatton +House. A letter (<i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., 13th July, 1622) says: "Lady +Hatton sells her house in Holborn to the Duke of Lennox, for £12,000." +Another letter (ib. 26th February, 1628) says that "Lady Hatton +complained so much of her bargain with the Duchess of Richmond for +Hatton House, that the Duchess has taken her at her word and left it +on her hands, whereby she loses £1,500 a year, and £6,000 fine."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8" /><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> "Under no man's judgment should the King lie; but under +God and the law only."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9" /><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Letter from John Castle. See D'Israeli's <i>Character of +James I.</i>, p. 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10" /><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Cabala Sive Scrina Sacra</i>: Mysteries of State and +Government. In <i>Letters of Illustrious Persons, etc</i>. London: Thomas +Sawbridge and others, 1791, p. 86.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Marriage is a matter of more worth<br /></span> +<span>Than to be dealt in by attorneyship."<br /></span> +<span class="i10"><i>Henry VI.</i>, I., v., 5.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><span class="sc">If</span> Bacon flattered himself that he had extinguished Coke for good and +all, he was much mistaken. It must have alarmed him to find that Lady +Elizabeth, after constant quarrels with her husband and ceasing to +live with him, had taken his part, now that he had been dismissed from +office, that she had solicited his cause at the very Council +table,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11" /><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and that she had quarrelled with both the King and the +Queen about the treatment of her husband, with the result that she had +been forbidden to go to Court, and had begun to live again with Coke, +taking with her her daughter, now well on in her 'teens.</p> + +<p>There was a period of hostilities, however, early in the year 1617. +Sir Edward and Lady Elizabeth went to law about her jointure. In May +Chamberlain wrote to Carleton:—</p> + +<p>"The Lord Coke & his lady hath great wars at the council table. I was +there on Wednesday, but by reason of the Lord Keeper's absence, there +was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span> +nothing done. What passed yesterday I know not yet: but the first +time she came accompanied with the Lord Burghley" (her eldest +brother), "& his lady, the Lord Danvers" (her maternal grandfather), +"the Lord Denny" (her brother-in-law), "Sir Thomas Howard" (her +nephew, afterwards first Earl of Berkshire) "& his lady, with I know +not how many more, & declaimed bitterly against him, and so carried +herself that divers said Burbage" [the celebrated actor of that time] +"could not have acted better. Indeed, it seems he [Sir Edward Coke] +hath carried himself very simply, to say no more, in divers matters: +and no doubt he shall be sifted thoroughly, for the King is much +incensed against him, & by his own weakness he hath lost those few +friends he had."</p> + +<p>It is clear from this letter that, although her husband was one of the +greatest lawyers of the day, Lady Elizabeth was not at all afraid of +pitting herself against him in Court, where indeed she seems to have +proved the better pleader of the pair.</p> + +<p>This dispute was patched up. On 4th June Chamberlain wrote: "Sir +Edward Coke & his Lady, after so much animosity and wrangling, are +lately made friends; & his curst heart hath been forced to yield more +than ever he meant; but upon this agreement he flatters himself that +she will prove a very good wife." So Coke and his "very good wife" +settled down together again. We shall see presently whether there was +to be a perpetual peace between them. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span> +</p> + +<p>While Bacon was meditating an information against Sir Edward Coke in +the Star Chamber for malversation of office, in the hope that a heavy +fine might be imposed upon him, Coke also was plotting. He discovered +that Bacon, who had been made Lord Keeper early in the year 1617, had +had his head turned by his promotion and had become giddy on his +pinnacle of greatness; or, to use Bacon's own words, that he was +suffering acutely from an "unbridled stomach." Of this Coke determined +to take advantage.</p> + +<p>Looking back upon his own fall, Coke considered that the final crash +had been brought about not, as Bacon had insinuated in his letter, by +offending the Almighty, but by offending Villiers, now Earl of +Buckingham, and he came to the conclusion that his best hope of +recovering his position would be to find some method of doing that +Earl a service. Now, Buckingham had an elder brother, Sir John +Villiers, who was very poor, and for whom he was anxious to pick up an +heiress. The happy thought struck Coke that, as all his wife's +property was entailed on her daughter, Frances, he might secure +Buckingham's support by selling the girl to Buckingham's brother, for +the price of Buckingham's favour and assistance. It was most fortunate +that Frances was exceedingly beautiful, and that Sir John Villiers was +unattractive and much older than she was; because this would render +the amount of patronage, due in payment by Buckingham to Coke, so much +the greater. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span> +</p> + +<p>James I. and Buckingham had gone to Scotland. In the absence of the +King and the Court, Bacon, as Lord Keeper, was one of the greatest men +left in London, and quite the greatest in his own estimation. Misled +by this idea of his own importance, he was imprudent enough to treat +his colleague, Winwood, the Secretary of State, with as little +ceremony as if he had been a junior clerk, thereby incurring the +resentment of that very high official. Common hatred of Bacon made a +strong bond of union between Coke and Winwood, and Winwood joined +readily in the plot newly laid by Coke.</p> + +<p>Sir John Villiers was already acquainted with Coke's pretty daughter; +and, when Coke went to him, suggested a match, and enlarged upon the +fortune to which she was sole heiress, Sir John professed to be over +head and ears in love with her, and observed that "although he would +have been well pleased to have taken her in her smoke [smock], he +should be glad, by way of curiosity, to know how much could be assured +by marriage settlement upon her and her issue."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12" /><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> With some +reluctance Sir Edward Coke then entered into particulars, and the +match was regarded as settled by both sides.</p> + +<p>Everything having been now satisfactorily arranged, it occurred to +Coke that possibly the time had arrived for informing, first his wife, +and afterwards +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span> +his daughter, of the marriage to which he had agreed.</p> + +<p>Sir Edward had often seen his wife in a passion, and he had frequently +been a listener to torrents of abuse from her pretty lips and caustic +tongue. Although he had been notorious as the rudest member of the +Bar, he had generally come off second best in his frequent battles of +words with his beautiful helpmate. Stolid and unimpressible as he was, +he can hardly have been impervious to the effects of the verbal venom +with which she had constantly stung him. But all this had been mere +child's play in comparison with her fury on being informed that, +without so much as consulting her, her husband had definitely settled +a match for her only child with a portionless knight. A new weapon was +lying ready to her hand, and she made every possible use of it. It +consisted in the fact that, much as she and her husband had quarrelled +and lived apart, she had returned to him in the hour of his +tribulation, had fought his battles before the King and the Council, +and had even braved the royal displeasure and endured exile from the +Court, rather than desert him in his need. She bitterly reproached him +for repaying her constancy and sacrifices on his behalf by selling her +daughter without either inquiring as to the mother's wishes, or even +informing that mother of his intention.</p> + +<p>If Lady Elizabeth was infuriated at the news of the match, her +daughter was frenzied. She detested Sir John Villiers, and she +implored her parents never +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span> +again to mention the question of her +marrying him. The mother and daughter were on one side and the father +on the other; neither would yield an inch, and Hatton House, Holborn, +became the scene of violent invective and bitter weeping.</p> + +<p>Buckingham is said to have promised Coke that, if he would bring about +the proposed marriage, he should have his offices restored to him. +Buckingham's mother, Lady Compton, also warmly supported the project. +She was what would now be called "a very managing woman." Since the +death of Buckingham's father, she had had two husbands, Sir William +Rayner and Sir Thomas Compton,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13" /><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> brother to the Earl of Northampton. +She was in high favour at Court, and she was created Countess of +Buckingham just a year later than the time with which we are now +dealing. As Buckingham favoured the match, of course the King favoured +it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span> +also; and, as has been seen, Winwood, the Secretary of State, +favoured it, simply because Bacon did not.</p> + +<p>On the other side, among the active opponents of the match, were Bacon +the Lord Keeper, Lord and Lady Burghley, Lord Danvers, Lord Denny, Sir +Thomas and Lady Howard, and Sir Edmund and Lady Withipole.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, to Coke's great satisfaction, Lady Elizabeth became, as he +supposed, calm and quiet. It was his habit to go to bed at nine +o'clock, and to get up very early. One night he went to bed at his +usual hour, under the impression that his wife was settling down +nicely and resigning herself to the inevitable. While he was in his +beauty-sleep, soon after ten, that excellent lady quietly left the +house with her daughter, and walked some little distance to a coach, +which she had engaged to be in waiting for them at an appointed place. +In this coach they travelled by unfrequented and circuitous roads, +until they arrived at a house near Oatlands, a place belonging to the +Earl of Argyll, but rented at that time by Lady Elizabeth's cousin, +Sir Edmund Withipole. The distance from Holborn to Oatlands, as the +crow flies, is about twenty miles; but, by the roundabout roads which +the fugitives took in order to prevent attempts to trace them, the +distance must have been considerable, and the journey, in the clumsy +coach of the period, over the rutted highways and the still worse +by-roads of those times, must have been long and wearisome. Oatlands +is close to Weybridge, to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span> +the south-west of London, in Surrey, just +over the boundary of Middlesex and about a mile to the south of the +river Thames.</p> + +<p>In Sir Edmund Withipole's house Lady Elizabeth and her daughter lived +in the strictest seclusion, and all precautions were taken to prevent +the place of their retreat from becoming known. And great caution was +necessary, for Lady Elizabeth and Frances were almost within a dozen +miles of Stoke Pogis, their country home; so that they would have been +in danger of being recognised, if they had appeared outside the house.</p> + +<p>But Lady Elizabeth was not idle in her voluntary imprisonment. She +conceived the idea that the best method of preventing a match which +she disliked for her daughter would be to make one of which she could +approve. Accordingly she offered Frances to young Henry de Vere, +eighteenth Earl of Oxford. Although to a lesser extent, like Sir John +Villiers, he was impecunious and on the look out for an heiress, his +father—who was distinguished for having been one of the peers +appointed to sit in judgment on Mary, Queen of Scots, for having had +command of a fleet to oppose the Armada, for his success in +tournaments, for his comedies, for his wit, and for introducing the +use of scents into England—having dissipated the large inheritance of +his family.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly, Lady Elizabeth was a woman of considerable resource; but, +with all her virtues, she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span> +was not over-scrupulous; for, as Lord +Campbell says,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14" /><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> to induce her daughter to believe that Oxford was +in love with her, she "showed her a forged letter, purporting to come +from that nobleman, which asseverated that he was deeply attached to +her, and that he aspired to her hand." Lady Elizabeth was apparently +of opinion that everything—and everything includes lying and +forgery—is fair in love and war.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11" /><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Chamberlain, in a letter dated 22nd June, 1616.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12" /><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> A quotation given by Lord Campbell (Vol. I., p. 297); +but he does not state his authority.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13" /><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Arthur Wilson, in his life of James I. (<i>Camden, History +of England</i>, Vol. II., p. 727), tells the following story about Sir T. +Compton whom he calls "a low spirited man." "One Bird, a roaring +Captain, was the more insolent against him because he found him slow & +backward." After many provocations, Bird "wrought so upon his cold +temper, that Compton sent him a challenge." On receiving it, Bird told +Compton's second that he would only accept the challenge on condition +that the duel should take place in a saw-pit, "Where he might be sure +Compton could not run away from him." When both combatants were in the +saw-pit, Bird said: "Now, Compton, thou shalt not escape me," and +brandished his sword above his head. While he was doing this, Compton +"in a moment run him through the Body; so that his Pride fell to the +ground, and there did sprawl out its last vanity."</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"There is no such thing as perfect secrecy."<br /></span> +<span class="i12">—<i>South's Sermons.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="sc">As</span> might be expected, the whereabouts of the place for concealment of +Lady Elizabeth and her daughter leaked out and reached the ears of Sir +Edward Coke, who immediately applied to the Privy Council for a +warrant to search for his daughter. Bacon opposed it. Indeed, it is +said that Bacon had not only been all the time aware of the place of +the girl's retreat, but had also joined actively in the plot to convey +her to it. Because it was difficult to obtain a search-warrant from +the Privy Council, Coke got an order to the same effect from Winwood, +the Secretary of State;<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15" /><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and, although this order was of doubtful +regularity, Coke determined to act upon it.</p> + +<p>In July, 1617, Coke mustered a band of armed men, made up of his sons +(Bridget's sons), his servants and his dependents. He put on a +breastplate, and, with a sword at his side and pistols in the holsters +of his saddle, he placed himself at the head of his little +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span> +army, and +gallantly led it to Oatlands to wage war upon his wife.</p> + +<p>On arriving at the house which he went to besiege, he found no +symptoms of any garrison for its defence. All was quiet, as if the +place were uninhabited, the only sign that an attack was expected +being that the gate leading to the house was strongly bolted and +barred. To force the gate open, if a work requiring hard labour, was +one of time, rather than of difficulty: and, when it had been +accomplished, the general courageously led his troops from the outer +defences to the very walls of the enemy's—that is to say of his +wife's—castle.</p> + +<p>The door of the house was found to be a very different thing from the +gate. The besiegers knocked, and pounded, and thumped, and pushed, and +battered: but that door withstood all their efforts. Again and again +Coke, with a loud voice, demanded his child, in the King's name. +"Remember," roared he to those within, "if we should kill any of your +people, it would be justifiable homicide; but, if any of you should +kill one of us, it would be <span class="sc">Murder</span>!"<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16" /><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>To this opinion of the highest legal authority, given gratis, silence +gave consent; for no reply was returned from the fortress, in which +the stillness must have made the attackers afraid that the foes had +fled. And then the bang, bang, banging on the door began afresh.</p> + +<p>One of Coke's lieutenants suddenly bethought him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span> +of a flank attack, +and, after sneaking round the house, this warrior adopted the +burglar's manoeuvre of forcing open a window, on the ground floor. One +by one the valiant members of Coke's little army climbed into the +house by this means, and the august person of the ex-Lord Chief +Justice himself was squeezed through the aperture. Nobody appeared to +oppose their search; but preparations to prevent it had evidently been +made with great care; for Chamberlain wrote that they had to "brake +open divers doors."</p> + +<p>Room after room was searched in vain; but, at last, Lady Elizabeth and +Frances were discovered hidden in a small closet. Both the father and +the mother clasped their daughter in their arms almost at the same +moment. The daughter clung to the mother; the father clung to the +daughter. Sir Edward pulled; Lady Elizabeth pulled; and, after a +violent struggle between the husband and the wife, Coke succeeded in +wrenching the weeping girl from her mother's arms.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17" /><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Without a +moment's parley with his defeated antagonist, he dragged away his +prey, took her out of the house, placed her on horseback behind one of +her half-brothers, and started off with his whole cavalcade for his +house at Stoke Pogis.</p> + +<p>The writer is old enough to have seen farmers' wives riding behind +their husbands, on pillions. Most uncomfortable sitting those pillions +appeared to afford, and he distinctly remembers the rolling movements + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span> +to which the sitters seemed to be subjected. This was when the pace +was at a walk or a slow jog. But the unfortunate Frances must have +been rolled and bumped at speed; for there was a pursuit. In his +already quoted letter to Carleton, Chamberlain says that Sir Edward +Coke's "lady was at his heels, and, if her coach had not held"—<i>i.e.</i>, +stuck in the mud of the appalling roads of the period—"in +the pursuit after him, there was like to be strange tragedies." Miss +Coke must have been long in forgetting that enforced ride of at least +a dozen long miles, on a pillion behind a brother, and as a prisoner +surrounded by an armed force.</p> + +<p>Campbell states that, on reaching Stoke Pogis, Coke locked his +daughter "in an upper chamber, of which he himself kept the key." +Possibly, Sir John Villiers' mother, Lady Compton, may have been +there, in readiness to receive her; for Chamberlain says that Coke +"delivered his daughter to the Lady Compton, Sir John's mother; but, +the next day, Edmondes, Clerk of the Council, was sent with a warrant +to have the custody of the lady at his own house." This was probably +Bacon's doing.</p> + +<p>Among the manuscripts at Trinity College, Cambridge, is a letter<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18" /><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +written from the Inner Temple to Mrs. Ann Sadler, a daughter of Sir +Edward Coke by his first wife. From this we learn that, on finding +herself robbed of her daughter, Lady Elizabeth hastened to London to +seek the assistance of her friend Bacon. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34"></a>[pg 34]</span> + In driving thither her coach +was "overturned." We saw that it had "held" in the heavy roads when +she was chasing her husband in it, and very likely its wheels may have +become loosened in some ruts on that occasion. An upset in a carriage, +however, was a common occurrence in those days, and, nothing daunted, +Lady Elizabeth managed to complete her journey to the house of Bacon +in London.</p> + +<p>When she reached it, she was told that the Lord Keeper was unwell and +in his room, asleep. She persuaded "the door-keeper" to take her to +the sitting-room next to his bedroom, in order that she might be "the +first to speak with him after he was stirring." The "door-keeper +fulfilled her desire and in the meantime gave her a chair to rest +herself in." Then he most imprudently left her, and she had not been +alone long when "she rose up and bounced against my Lord Keeper's +door." The noise not only woke up the sleeping Bacon, but "affrighted +him" to such an extent that he called for help at the top of his +voice. His servants immediately came rushing to his room. Doubtless he +was relieved at seeing them; but his feelings may have been somewhat +mixed when Lady Elizabeth "thrust in with them." He was on very +friendly terms with her; but it was disconcerting to receive a lady +from his bed when he was half awake and wholly frightened, especially +when, as the correspondent describes it, the condition of that lady +was like that of "a cow that had lost her calf."</p> + +<p>The upshot of this rather unusual visit was that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span> + Lady Elizabeth got +Bacon's warrant, as Lord Keeper, and also that of the Lord Treasurer +"and others of the Council, to fetch her daughter from the father and +bring them both to the Council."</p> + +<p>At that particular time Bacon had just made a blunder. He was well +aware of Buckingham's high favour with the King; but he scarcely +realised its measure. Indeed, since he had seen him last, and during +the time that the King had been in Scotland, Buckingham's influence +over James had increased enormously. It is true that Bacon had +enlisted the services of Buckingham to defeat Coke, and that he had +used him as a tool to secure the office of Lord Keeper: but, as the +occupier of that exalted position, he considered himself secure enough +to take his own line, and even to offer Buckingham some fatherly +advice, as will presently appear.</p> + +<p>Bacon now made another attack upon his enemy by summoning Coke before +the Star Chamber on a charge of breaking into a private house with +violence. On receiving this summons, Coke wrote to Buckingham, who was +with the King in the North, complaining that his wife, the Withipoles, +and their confederates, had conveyed his "dearest daughter" from his +house, "in most secret manner, to a house near Oatland, which Sir +Edmund Withipole had taken for the summer of my Lord Argyle." Then he +said: "I, by God's wonderful providence finding where she was, +together with my sons and ordinary attendants did break open two +doors, & recovered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span> +my daughter." His object, he said was, "First & +principally, lest his Majesty should think I was of confederacy with +my wife in conveying her away, or charge me with want of government in +my household in suffering her to be carried away, after I had engaged +myself to his Majesty for the furtherance of this match."</p> + +<p>Buckingham, at about the same time that he received Coke's letter, +received one in a very different tone from Bacon, in which he +said:<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19" /><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> "Secretary Winwood has busied himself with a match between +Sir John Villiers & Sir Edward Coke's daughter, rather to make a +faction than out of any good affection to your lordship. The lady's +consent is not gained, <i>nor her mother's, from whom she expecteth a +great fortune</i>. This match, out of my faith & freedom to your +lordship, I hold very inconvenient, both for your mother, brother, & +yourself."</p> + +<p>"First. He shall marry into a disgraced house, which in reason of +state, is never held good."</p> + +<p>"Next. He shall marry into a troubled house of man & wife, which in +religion and Christian discretion is not liked."</p> + +<p>"Thirdly. Your lordship will go near to lose all such of your friends +as are adverse to Sir Edward Coke (myself only except, who, out of a +pure love & thankfulness, shall ever be firm to you).... Therefore, my +advice is, & your lordship shall do yourself a great honour, if, +according to religion & +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span> + the law of God, your lordship will signify +unto my lady, your mother, that your desire is that the marriage be +not pressed or proceeded in without the consent of both parents, & so +either break it altogether, or defer any further delay in it (sic) +till your lordship's return."</p> + +<p>A few days later, on the 25th of July, Bacon wrote to an even greater +man than Buckingham, namely, to the King himself. "If," said he, +"there be any merit in drawing on this match, your Majesty should +bestow thanks, not upon the zeal of Sir Edward Coke to your Majesty, +nor upon the eloquent persuasions or pragmaticals of Mr. Secretary +Winwood; but upon them"—meaning himself—who "have so humbled Sir +Edward Coke, as he seeketh now that with submission which (as your +Majesty knoweth) before he rejected with scorn." And then he says that +if the King really wishes for the match, concerning which he should +like more definite orders, he will further it; for, says he, "though I +will not wager on women's minds, I can prevail more with the mother +than any other man."</p> + +<p>King James's reply is not in existence, and it is unknown; but, +judging from a further letter of Bacon's, it must have been rather +cold and unfavourable; and, in Bacon's second letter to the King, he +was foolish enough to express a fear lest Buckingham's "height of +fortune might make him too secure." In his answer to this second +letter of Bacon, James reproves him for plotting with his adversary's +wife to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span> +overthrow him, saying "this is to be in league with Delilah." +He also scolds Bacon for being afraid that Buckingham's height of +fortune might make him "misknow himself." The King protests that +Buckingham is farther removed from such a vice than any of his other +courtiers. Bacon, he says, ought to have written to the King instead +of to Buckingham about "the inconvenience of the match:" "that would +have been the part of a true servant to us, and of a true friend to +him [Buckingham]. But first to make an opposition, then to give +advice, by way of friendship, is to make the plough go before the +horse."</p> + +<p>By the time these letters had been carried backwards and forwards, to +and from Scotland and the North of England, a later date had been +reached than we have legitimately arrived at in our story, and we must +now go back to within a few days of Sir Edward Coke's famous raid at +Oatlands.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14" /><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Chief Justices</i>, Vol. I., pp. 297-298</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15" /><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., July, 1617. Chamberlain to Sir +Dudley Carleton.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16" /><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Campbell, p. 298.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17" /><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Lord Campbell's account.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18" /><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Quoted by Spedding in his <i>Life of Bacon</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19" /><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Foard's <i>Life and Correspondence of Bacon</i>, p. 421.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"They've always been at daggers drawing,<br /></span> +<span>And one another clapper-clawing."<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Butler's <i>Hudibras, Hud.</i>, II, 2.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><span class="sc">Bacon</span> had scarcely written his first letters to Buckingham and the +King, before he had instructed Yelverton, the Attorney-General, to +institute a prosecution against Sir Edward Coke, in the Star Chamber, +for the riot at Oatlands, which he made out to have been almost an act +of war against the King, in his realm.</p> + +<p>Her husband having carried away Frances by force, Lady Elizabeth made +an effort to recover her by a similar method. Gerrard wrote to +Carleton<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20" /><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> that Lady Elizabeth, having heard that Frances was to be +taken to London, determined to meet her with an armed band and to +wrest her from Coke's power.</p> + +<p>"The Mother she procureth a Warrant from the Counsell Table whereto +were many of the Counsellors to take her agayne from him: goes to +meete her as she shold come up. In the coach with her the Lord +Haughton, Sir E. Lechbill, Sir Rob. Rich, and others, with 3 score men +and Pistolls; they mett her not, yf they had there had bin a notable +skirmish, for the Lady Compton was with Mrs. French in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span> + Coach, and +there was Clem Coke, my Lord's fighting sonne; and they all swore they +would dye in the Place, before they would part with her."</p> + +<p>Without doubt, it was fortunate for both parties that they did not +meet each other. The attempt was a misfortune, as well as a defeat for +Lady Elizabeth; for while she failed to rescue her daughter, she also +gave her husband a fresh count to bring against her in the legal +proceedings which he forthwith instituted:—<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21" /><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>"1. For conveying away her daughter clam et secreté. 2. For +endeavouring to bind her to my Lord Oxford without her father's +consent. 3. For counterfeiting a letter of my Lord Oxford offering her +marriage. 4. For plotting to surprise her daughter and take her away +by force, to the breach of the King's peace, and for that purpose +assembling a body of desperate fellows, whereof the consequences might +have been dangerous."</p> + +<p>To these terrible accusations Lady Elizabeth unblushingly replied: "1. +I had cause to provide for her quiet, Secretary Winwood threatening +she should be married from me in spite of my teeth, and Sir Edward +Coke intending to bestow her against her liking: whereupon she asked +me for help, I placed her at my cousin-german's house a few days for +her health and quiet. 2. My daughter tempted by her father's threats +and ill usuage, and pressing me to find a remedy, I did compassionate +her condition, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span> +bethought myself of this contract with my Lord of +Oxford, if so she liked, and therefore I gave it to her to peruse and +consider by herself: she liked it, cheerfully writ it out with her own +hand, subscribed it, and returned it to me. 3. The end justifies—at +least excuses—the fact: for it was only to hold up my daughter's mind +to her own choice that she might with the more constancy endure her +imprisonment—having this only antidote to resist the poison—no +person or speech being admitted to her but such as spoke Sir John +Villiers' language. 4. Be it that I had some tall fellows assembled to +such an end, and that something was intended, who intended this?—the +mother! And wherefore? Because she was unnaturally and barbarously +secluded from her daughter, and her daughter forced against her will, +contrary to her vows and liking, to the will of him she disliked."</p> + +<p>She then goes on to describe, by way of recrimination, Sir Edward +Coke's "most notorious riot, committed at my Lord of Argyle's house, +where, without constable or warrant, well weaponed, he took down the +doors of the gatehouse and of the house itself, and tore the daughter +in that barbarous manner from her mother—justifying it for good law: +a word for the encouragement of all notorious and rebellious +malefactors from him who had been a Chief Justice, and reputed the +oracle of the law."</p> + +<p>A <i>State Paper</i> (<i>Dom.</i>, James I., 19th July, 1617, John Chamberlain +to Sir Dudley Carleton) tells us what followed. As correspondence with +Sir Dudley +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span> + Carleton will be largely quoted in these pages, this +opportunity may be taken of observing that he was Ambassador, at +various times, in Savoy, in the Low Countries, and in Venice, that he +became one of Charles the First's principal Ministers of State, and +that he was eventually created Viscount Dorchester.</p> + +<p>"The next day being all convened before the Council, she" [Frances the +daughter] "was sequestered to Mr. Attorney, & yesterday, upon a +palliated agreement twixt Sir Edward Coke & his lady, she was sent to +Hatton House, with order that the Lady Compton should have access to +win her & wear her." One wonders whether the last "&" was accidentally +substituted for the word "or," by a slip of the pen. In any case to +"wear her" is highly significant!</p> + +<p>"It were a long story to tell all the passages of this business, which +hath furnished Paul's, & this town very plentifully the whole week." +[One of the ecclesiastical scandals of that period was that the nave +of St. Paul's Cathedral was a favourite lounge, and a regular exchange +for gossip.] "The Lord Coke was in great danger to be committed for +disobeying the Council's order, for abusing his warrant, & for the +violence used in breaking open the doors; to all of which he gave +reasonable answers, &, for the violence, will justify it by law, +though orders be given to prefer a bill against him in the Star +Chamber. He and his friends complain of hard measure from some of the +greatest at that Board, & that he was too much +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span> +trampled upon with ill +language. And our friend" [Winwood] "passed not scot free from the +warrant, which the greatest there" [Bacon] "said was subject to a +<i>praemunire</i>, & withal, told the Lady Compton that they wished well to +her and her sons, & would be ready to serve the Earl of Buckingham +with all true affection, whereas others did it out of faction & +ambition."</p> + +<p>Bacon might swagger at the Council Board; but in his heart he was +becoming exceedingly uneasy. We saw, at the end of the last chapter, +that he had received a very sharp letter from the King; and now the +royal favourite himself also wrote in terms which showed, +unmistakably, how much Bacon had offended him.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22" /><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>"In this business of my brother's that you over-trouble yourself with, +I understand from London, by some of my friends, that you have carried +yourself with much scorn and neglect both towards myself and my +friends, which, if it prove true, I blame not you but myself."</p> + +<p>This was sufficiently alarming, and at least as much so was a letter +which came from the King himself in which was written:—<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23" /><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>"Whereas you talk of the riot and violence committed by Sir Edward +Coke, we wonder you make no mention of the riot and violence of them +that stole away his daughter, which was the first ground of all that +noise." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" id="page44"></a>[pg 44]</span> +</p> + +<p>It is clear, therefore, that if things were going badly for Coke, they +were going almost worse for Bacon, who now found himself in a very +awkward position both with the King and with Buckingham. Nor was he +succeeding as well as he could have wished in his attacks upon Coke. +He had made an attack by proceeding against him for a certain action, +when a judge; but Coke had parried this thrust by paying what was then +a very large sum to settle the affair.</p> + +<p>In a letter to Carleton<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24" /><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Gerrard says:—</p> + +<p>"The Lord Chiefe Justice Sir Ed. Coke hath payd 3500£ for composition +for taking common Bayle for some accused of Pyracye, which hath been +urged agaynst him since hys fall. And perhaps fearing more such claps; +intending to stand out the storme no longer, privately hath agreed on +a match with Sir John Villiers for hys youngest daughter Franche, the +mother's Darling, with which the King was acquainted withall and writt +to have it done before hys coming backe."</p> + +<p>And presently he says:—</p> + +<p>"The caryadge of the business hath made such a ster in the Towne as +never was: Nothing can fully represent it but a Commedye."</p> + +<p>A letter written on the same day by Sir John Finet mentions the +projected marriage of Sir Edward Coke's daughter with Sir John +Villiers, who would have £2,000 a year from Buckingham, and be left + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span> +heir of his lands, as he was already of his Earldom, failing the +Earl's male issue. He adds that Sir Edward Coke went cheerily to visit +the Queen, and that the common people said he would die Lord +Treasurer. Such gossip as that must have been anything but amusing to +Bacon.</p> + +<p>The Coke-Villiers engagement had now become almost, if not quite, a +State affair. Nearly three weeks later Sir Horace Vere wrote to +Carleton:—<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25" /><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>"I hear nothing so much spoken of here as that of Sir John Villiers +and Sir Ed. Coke's daughter. My Lady Hatton doth continue stiff +against yt, and yesterday I wayted upon my wife to my Lady of +Northumberland's. She tould my wife that she gives yt out that her +daughter is formmerlie contracted to an other and to such a one that +will not be afeard to plead his interest if he be put to yt."</p> + +<p>Six days afterwards a third candidate for Frances Coke was talked +about. George Gerrard wrote to the same correspondent:—<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26" /><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>"The Lady Hatton's daughter to be maryed to one Cholmely a Baronet. Of +late here is by all the frendes of my Lady Hatton a Contract published +of Her Daughter Frances to the Erle of Oxford which was sent him to +Venice: to which he hath returned and answer that he will come +presently over, and see her fayre eyes and conclude the what he shall +thinke +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span> +fit for him to doe: I have sent your Lordship Mis Frances +Coke's Love Letter to my Lord of Oxford herein concluded: I believe +you never read the like: Thys is like to become a grate business: for +the King hath shewed himselfe much in advancing thys matter for Sir +John Villiers."</p> + +<p>He says that Lady Elizabeth offers to give Lord Oxford "besydes her +daughter ... ten and thirty hundred pound a year, which will before +twenty years passe bee nigh 6000£ a yeare besydes two houses well +furnisht. A Greate fortune for my Ld. yett it is doubted wheather hee +will endanger the losse of the King's favor for so fayre a woman and +so fayre a fortune."</p> + +<p>The following is Frances Coke's enclosed "love letter" of which +Gerrard believed, as well he might, that Carleton "never read the +like." It is evidently the work of Lady Elizabeth:—</p> + +<p>"I vow before God and take the Almighty to witness That I Frances Coke +Yonger daughter to Sir Ed. Coke late Lord Chiefe Justice of England, +doe give myselfe absolutely to Wife to Henry Ven. Viscount Balboke, +Erle of Oxenford, to whom I plight my fayth and inviolate vows, to +keepe myselfe till Death us do part: And if even I breake the least of +these I pray God Damne mee body and soule in Hell fyre in the world to +come: And in thys world I humbly Beseech God the Earth may open and +Swallowe mee up quicke to the Terror of all fayth breakers that +remayne alive. In witness whereof I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span> +have written all thys with my +owne hand and seald it with my owne seale (a hart crowned) which I +will weare till your retourne to make thys Good that I have sent you. +And for further witness I here underneath sett to my Name.</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"(Signed) <span class="sc">Frances Coke</span> in the Presence</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"of my deare Mother</p> +<p class="letterClose3">"<span class="sc">Eliza Hatton</span>.</p> + +<p class="letterClose7">["<i>July 10, 1617.</i>"]</p> + + +<p>Lady Elizabeth, however, failed to effect the match. Possibly the +letter just quoted may have been too strong meat for Oxford. Even her +skill in the gentle art of forgery proved unavailing. Whether Oxford +had no fancy for the girl, or the girl had no fancy for Oxford, does +not appear, and perhaps other causes may have prevented the marriage; +but, although he did not marry Frances, he married her first cousin, +Lady Diana, daughter of the second Earl of Exeter, a niece of Lady +Elizabeth, and, like Frances, both a great heiress and a beautiful +woman. Lord Oxford was killed, a few years afterwards, at the siege of +Breda in the Netherlands.</p> + +<p>Bacon, now thoroughly frightened, both by the King and by Buckingham, +began to trim, and before long he turned completely round and used his +influence with Lady Elizabeth to induce her to agree to the Sir John +Villiers-match. He wrote a letter on the 21st of August to Buckingham, +saying that he was doing all he could to further the marriage of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span> + Sir +John Villiers with Frances Coke. Among other things he said:—</p> + +<p>"I did also send to my Lady Hatton, Coke's wife and some other special +friends to acquaint them that I would declare, if anything, for the +match so that they may no longer account on [my] assistance. I sent +also to Sir John Butler, and after by letter to my Lady [Compton] your +mother, to tender my performance of any good office toward the match."</p> + +<p>To this letter Buckingham sent a very chilling reply, whereupon Bacon, +in his anxiety, sent Yelverton in person to try to conciliate +Buckingham and the King, enjoining him to lie so hard and so +unblushingly as to declare that Bacon had never hindered, but had in +"many ways furthered the marriage;" that all he had done had been to +check Coke's "impertinent carriage" in the matter, which he wished had +"more nearly resembled the Earl of Buckingham's sweet disposition."</p> + +<p>Yet after faithfully fulfilling this nefarious errand, Yelverton +failed to conciliate Buckingham, for he wrote the following very +unsatisfactory report to Bacon:—</p> + +<p>"The Earl [of Buckingham] professeth openly against you;" whereas, +"Sir Edward Coke, as if he were already on his wings, triumphs +exceedingly; hath much private conference with his Majesty, and in +public doth offer himself, and thrust upon the King with as great +boldness of speech as heretofore."</p> + +<p>Things were beginning to look desperate for Bacon! +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49"></a>[pg 49]</span> + Indeed it seemed +as if affliction were about to "level the mole-hills," not now of +Coke's, but of Bacon's pride; "to plough" Bacon's heart and "make it +fit for Wisdom to sow her seed, and for Grace to bring forth her +increase," blessings which Bacon had so kindly & so liberally promised +to Coke in a letter already quoted.</p> + +<p>About the middle of August, Chamberlain wrote that Frances Coke was +staying with Sir Robert Coke, Sir Edward's son by his first wife, and +that Lady Elizabeth was with her all day, to prevent the access of +others; but that, finding her friends were deserting her, and that +"she struggles in vain" against the King's will, "she begins to come +about," and "upon some conditions will double her husband's portion +and make up the match and give it her blessing." Presently he says: +"But it seems the Lady Hatton would have all the honour and thanks, +and so defeat her husband's purpose, towards whom, of late, she has +carried herself very strangely, and, indeed, neither like a wife, nor +a wise woman."</p> + +<p>As Chamberlain says, Lady Elizabeth was determined that, if she had to +yield, she would be paid for doing so, and that her husband should +obtain none of the profits of the transaction. It was unfortunate that +that transaction should be the means of injuring her daughter whom she +loved; but it was very fortunate that it might be the means of +injuring her husband whom she hated. Her own account of her final +agreement to the marriage may be seen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id="page50"></a>[pg 50]</span> +in a letter which she wrote to +the King in the following year:—<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27" /><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>"I call to witness my Lord Haughton, whom I sent twyce to moove the +matter to my Lady Compton, so as by me she would take it. This was +after he had so fondly broke off with my Lorde of Bukingham, when he +ruled your Majestie's favour scarse at the salerie of a 1,000£. After +that my brother and sister of Burghly offered, in the Galerie Chamber +at Whitehall, theire service unto my Ladie Compton to further this +marriage, so as from me she would take it. Thirdly, myselfe cominge +from Kingstone in a coach with my Ladie Compton, I then offered her +that if shee would leave Sir Edward Cooke I would proceed with her in +this marriage."</p> + +<p>Although, as Chamberlain had written, Lady Elizabeth was now beginning +"to come about," in fact had come about, her faithful friend, Bacon, +in his frantic anxiety to regain the favour of Buckingham and the +King, ordered her to be arrested and kept in strict though honourable +confinement. In fact, to use a modern term, all the actors in this +little drama, possibly with the exception of Frances Coke and Sir John +Villiers, were prepared, at any moment, "to give each other away." +According to Foard,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28" /><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> Bacon was, at this time, busily engaged in +preparing for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span> +trial of another member of Lady Elizabeth's family, +namely her stepmother, Lady Exeter.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29" /><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>By the irony of fate, it happened that the two mortal enemies, Coke +and Bacon, acted together in the matter of the incarceration of Lady +Elizabeth; for, while the former pleaded for it, the latter ordered +it. It was spent partly at the house of Alderman Bennet,<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30" /><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> and +partly at that of Sir William Craven,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31" /><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Lord Mayor of London in the +years 1610 and 1618, and father of the first Earl of Craven. In both +houses she was doubtless treated with all respect, and she must have +occupied a position in them something between that of a paying-guest +and a lunatic living in the private house of a doctor—not that there +was any lunacy in the mind of Lady Elizabeth. Quite the contrary!</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20" /><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCII, No. 101, 23rd July, +1617.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21" /><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Campbell, Vol. I., p. 300.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22" /><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Campbell, Vol. I., p. 301.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23" /><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 302.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24" /><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCII, No. 101, 22nd July, +1617.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25" /><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 18, 12th August, +1617.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26" /><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 28, 18th August, +1617.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27" /><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Life of Sir Edward Coke</i>. By Humphrey Woolrych. London: +J. & W.T. Clarke, 1826, pp. 146-48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28" /><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Life and Correspondence of Francis Bacon</i>. London: +Saunders, Otley & Co., 1861, p. 459.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29" /><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> She was found innocent, and her accusers, Sir Thomas and +Lady Lake, were imprisoned and fined. £10,000 to the King, and £5,000 +to Lady Exeter as damages for the libel. A chambermaid who was one of +the witnesses, was whipped at the cart's tail for her perjury. Lady +Roos, the wife of Lady Exeter's step-grandson, and a daughter of the +Lakes, made a full confession that she had participated in spreading +the scandal. She was sentenced to be imprisoned during the King's +pleasure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30" /><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCIII., 6th October, 1617. +Letter from Sir Gerald Herbert.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31" /><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Campbell, Vol. I., p. 303. fn. The imprisonment of what +were called "people of quality" usually took place either in the Tower +or in the private houses of Aldermen, in those times, although they +were sometimes imprisoned in the Fleet.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52"></a>[pg 52]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Of all the actions of a man's life his marriage doth least + concern other people; yet of all actions of our life it is + most meddled with by other people."</p></div> +<p class="author"><span class="sc">Selden.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">In</span> all these negotiations, and caballings, and intriguings, the person +most concerned, Frances Coke, the beauty and the heiress, was only the +ball in the game. Neither her father nor her mother nor anybody else +either considered her feelings or consulted her wishes about the +proposed marriage, except so far as it was to their own personal +interest to do so.</p> + +<p>At last the poor girl yielded, or pretended to yield. Lord Campbell +says, as well he may, "and without doubt, just as Frances had before +copied and signed the contract with Lord Oxford, at the command of her +mother, she now copied and signed the following letter<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32" /><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> to her +mother at the command of her father."</p> + +<p>"'<span class="sc">Madam</span>,</p> + +<p>"'I must now humbly desire your patience in giving me leave to declare +myself to you, which is, that without your allowance and liking, all +the world shall never make me entangle or tie myself. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span> + But now, by my +father's especial commandment, I obey him in presenting to you my +humble duty in a tedious letter, which is to know your Ladyship's +pleasure, not as a thing I desire: but I resolve to be wholly ruled by +my father and yourself, knowing your judgments to be such that I may +well rely upon, and hoping that conscience and the natural affection +parents bear to children will let you do nothing but for my good, and +that you may receive comfort, I being a mere child and not +understanding the world nor what is good for myself. That which makes +me a little give way to it is, that I hope it will be a means to +procure a reconciliation between my father and your Ladyship. Also I +think it will be a means of the King's favour to my father. Himself +[Sir John Villiers] is not to be misliked: his fortune is very good, a +gentleman well born.... So I humbly take my leave, praying that all +things may be to every one's contentment.</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"'Your Ladyship's most obedient</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"'and humble daughter for ever,</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"'<span class="sc">Frances Coke</span>.</p> + +<p>"'Dear Mother believe there has no violent means been used to me by +words or deeds.'"</p> + + +<p>This, as Campbell says, has every appearance of being a letter copied +from one written by her father. There is also reason for believing +that Coke added the postscript for a very special purpose; for the +question arises how Frances, who is admitted on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span> +all sides to have +hated Sir John Villiers, could have been induced to copy and to sign +this letter. Was she literally forced to do so? There happens to be an +answer to that question.</p> + +<p class="center">"<i>Notes of the Villiers Family.</i><a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33" /><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p>"<i>N.B. I.B.N.</i> have heard it from a noble Peer, a near relation of the +Danvers family, and Mr. Villiers, Brother to the person who now claims +the Earldom of Buckingham, as his Brother assumed the Title, that the +Lady Frances Viscountess Purbeck was tyed to the Bed-Poste and +severely whipped into consent to marry with the Duke of Buckingham's +Brother, Sir John Villiers, A° 1617, who was 2 years after created +Viscount Purbeck."</p> + +<p>This was written after the death of Frances, but it has been accepted +as true, and that may well be. It is difficult in our days to believe +that a young lady could be put to physical torture by her father, +until she consented to marry a man whom she loathed; but the parental +ethics of those times were very different from those of our own. A man +like Coke would have no difficulty in persuading himself that a +marriage with Sir John Villiers would be for his daughter's welfare, +and, consequently, that a whipping to bring that marriage about would +also be for her welfare.</p> + +<p>Coke had often waited for the confessions of men +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span> +who were in +frightful agony on the rack, in the dungeons of the Tower; so it must +have been a mere trifle to him to await his daughter's consent to a +marriage which she detested, while he whipped her, or watched her +being whipped, reflecting upon the luxury of the bed-post in +comparison with the agony of the rack, flattering himself that he was +acting in obedience to Holy Scripture, and piously meditating upon the +gratification he must be giving to the soul of Solomon by this +exercise of domestic discipline. But a reader may well wonder whether +the old brute considered for a moment the worthlessness of a form of +marriage obtained by torture, or the fact that such a so-called +marriage could be annulled without difficulty.</p> + +<p>Lady Elizabeth, perceiving that her only chance left of winning the +game was to over-trump her husband, and recognising that her only hope +of freedom and prosperity was by consenting to the wishes of +Buckingham and James, wrote to the King himself, to say that she would +agree to the marriage and would settle her property on her daughter +and Sir John Villiers.</p> + +<p>Eventually, "The marriage settlement," says Campbell, "was drawn under +the King's own superintendence, that both father and mother might be +compelled to do justice to Sir John Villiers and his bride; and on +Michaelmas Day the marriage was actually celebrated at Hampton Court +Palace, in the presence of the King and Queen and all the chief + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span> +nobility of England. Strange to say, Lady Hatton still remained in +confinement, while Sir Edward Coke, in nine coaches,"—one man in nine +coaches!—&brought his daughter and his friends to the palace, from his son's +at Kingston-Townsend. The banquet was most splendid: a masque was +performed in the evening; the stocking was thrown with all due spirit: +and the bride and bride-groom, according to long established fashion, +received the company at their couchée."</p> + +<p>In a footnote to <i>The Secret History of James I.</i>, Vol. I., p. +444,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34" /><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> we read:</p> + +<p>"The Scottish historian, Johnstone, says that Purbeck's marriage was +celebrated amid the gratulation of the fawning courtiers, but stained +by the tears of the reluctant bride, who was a sacrifice to her +father's ambition of the alliance with Buckingham's family."</p> + +<p>Here is another account of the wedding, in a letter<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35" /><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> from Sir +Gerard Herbert to Carleton:—</p> + +<p>"Maie it please yor. Lordshippe.</p> + +<p>" ... I know not any news to write yor. Lo: other than the marriadge +of Sir John Villiers with my Lord Coke's youngest daughter, on Monday +last, beynge Michailmas day at Hampton Courte when King Queen and +prince were present in the chappell to see them married. My Lord Coke +gave his daughter to the Kinge (with some words of complement +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span> +at the +givinge). The King gave her Sir John Villiers. The prince sate with +her to grand dynner and supper so to many Lordes and Ladies, my Lord +Canterbury, my Lord Treasurer, my Lord Chamberlayne, etc. The King +dynner and supper droncke healthe to the bride, the bridgegroome stood +behinde the bride; the dynner and supper. The Bride and Bridegroome +lay next day a bedd till past 12 a clocke, for the Kinge sent worde he +wold come to see them, therefore wold they not rise. My Lord Coke +looked with a merrie Countenance and sate at the dynner and supper, +but my Lady Hatton was not at the weddinge, but is still at Alderman +Bennettes prisonere. The King sent for her to the weddinge, but (she) +desired to be excused, sayinge she was sicke. My Lord of Buckingham, +mother, brethren, there soynes, and his sisters weare throughout day +at Court, my Lord Cooke's sonnes and there soynes, but I saw never a +Cecill. The Sonday my Lord Coke was restored to his place of +counsellor as before....</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"Yo: Lo: in all service to commande</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"(Signed) <span class="sc">Gerrard Herbert</span>.</p> +<p class="letterClose7">"<span class="sc">London</span>, this</p> +<p class="letterClose5">"<i>6 Oct.</i>"</p> + +<p>Lady Elizabeth would not submit to being let out of prison, just for +the day, in order to witness the wedding, which was to a large extent +a triumph for her husband. She meant, on the contrary, to have a +triumph on her own account. Her intention +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span> +was that one of those who +had had a hand in putting her into prison—a prison which in fact was +a comfortable house—should come to take her out of it; and she was +determined to be escorted from her place of punishment, not as a +repentant criminal, but as a conquering heroine.</p> + +<p>In a letter to Carleton<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36" /><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> Chamberlain says:—</p> + +<p>"The King coming to towne yesterday it was told me that the Earle of +Buck, meant to go himself and fetch 'Lady Elizabeth' as yt were in +pomp Fr. William corner (where she hath ben so long committed), and +bring her to the King, who upon a letter of her submission is +graciously affected towards her. ... Seeing her yielding and as it +were won to geve her allowance to the late marriage," the King will +"give her all the contentment and countenance he can in hope of the +great portion she may bestow upon" Buckingham's brother, Sir John +Villiers; "for there is little or nothing more to be looked for from +Sr. Ed. Cooke, who hath redemed the land he had allotted his daughter +for 20,000£ so that they have already had 30,000£ of him paide +down.... She layes all the fault of her late troubles upon the +deceased secretarie," Winwood, "who not long since telling her brother +that for all her bitter speeches they two [Lady Elizabeth and her +husband] shold become goode frends again. She protested she wold +sooner be frends with the Devill."</p> + +<p>Lady Elizabeth was so much in the King's good +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span> +graces that aspirants +for office tried to win her influence with James and Buckingham in +their favour. Chamberlain, in the letter quoted above, expresses the +wish that she might endeavour to obtain for Carleton the post of +Secretary of State, which had just then fallen vacant through the +death of Winwood. In a letter<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37" /><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> written a fortnight later, however, +Chamberlain says:—</p> + +<p>"Your father Savile is gon into Kent to his daughter Salley, the day +before his goings I met him and wisht him to applie the Lady Hatton, +whom he had alredy visited but moved her in nothing because the time +was not fit but she meant to do yt before he went. Some whisper that +she is alredy ingaged and meanes to employ her full force strength and +vertue for the L. Hawton or Hollis, who is become her prime privie +Counsailor and doth by all meanes interest and combine her with the +Lady of Suffolke and that house. A man whom Sir Edward Cooke can no +wayes indure, and from whose company he wold faine but cannot debarre +her." Obviously a very sufficient reason for liking him and espousing his +cause.</p> + +<p>Lady Elizabeth had fairly outwitted her husband; but, as will +presently be seen, she had not yet quite done with him. Another +account of her liberation is to be found in <i>Strafford's Letters and +Despatches</i>:—<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38" /><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>"The expectancy of Sir Edward's rising is much abated by reason of his +lady's liberty, who was brought +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span> +in great honour to Exeter House by my +Lord of Buckingham, from Sir William Craven's, whither she had been +remanded, presented by his Lordship to the King, received gracious +usage, reconciled to her daughter by his Majesty, and her house in +Holborn enlightened by his presence at dinner, where there was a royal +feast: and to make it more absolutely her own, express commandment +given by her Ladyship that neither Sir Edward Coke nor any of his +servants should be admitted."</p> + +<p>Here is another account<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39" /><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> of the same banquet, as well as of one +given in return by Buckingham's mother, who was still hoping that Lady +Elizabeth would increase Sir John Villiers' allowance:—</p> + +<p>"The Lady Hatton's feast was very magnificall and the King graced her +every way, and made foure of her creatures knights.... This weeke on +wensday [Lady Compton] made a great feast to the Lady Hatton, and much +court there is between them, but for ought I can heare the Lady Hatton +holdes her handes and gives not" (The original is much torn and +damaged here) "out of her milke so fouly [fully] as was expected which +in due time may turn the matter about againe.... There were some +errors at the Lady Hatton's feast (yf it were not of purpose) that the +L. Chamberlain and the L. of Arundell were not invited but went away +to theyre owne dinner and came backe to wait on the King and Prince: +but the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span> +greatest error was that the goodman of the house was neither +invited nor spoken of but dined that day at the Temple." Camden's +account of this dinner (Ed. 1719, Vol. II., p. 648), although very +abrupt, is to the point: "The wife of Sir Ed. Coke <i>quondam</i> Lord +Chief Justice, entertained the King, Buckingham, and the rest of the +Peers, at a splendid dinner, and not inviting her husband."</p> + +<p>In a letter to Carlton<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40" /><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> John Pory said of this dinner: "My Lo. Coke +only was absent, who in all vulgar opinions was there expected. His +Majesty was never merrier nor more satisfied, who had not patience to +sit a quarter of an hour without drinking the health of my Lady +Elizabeth Hatton, which was pledged first by my Lord Keeper [Bacon] +and my Lord Marquis Hamilton, and then by all the gallants in the next +room."</p> + +<p>This exclusion from her party was a direct and a very public insult to +Coke on the part of his wife, and, through consent, on that of the +King also. All Coke had gained by his daughter's marriage with Sir +John Villiers was restoration to the Privy Council. As he had made up +his mind to take his daughter to market, he should have made certain +of his bargain. This he failed to do. As has been shown, he promised +£10,000 down with her and £1,000 a year. This Buckingham did not +consider enough; but Coke refused to promise more, declaring that he +would +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span> +not buy the King's favour too dear. In a letter to Carleton, +Chamberlain says that, if he had not "stuck" at this, Coke might have +been Lord Chancellor. As it was, he incurred the whole odium of having +sold his daughter, while his wife, who had gained the credit of +protesting against that atrocious bargain, quietly pocketed its price +in the coin of royal favour. Lady Elizabeth not only embroiled her own +family, but also brought discord about her affairs into the family of +another, as may be inferred from the following letter:—<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41" /><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>"Elizabeth, Lady Hatton, to Carleton.<br /> +"<span class="sc">My Lorde</span>,</p> + +<p>"I understande by your letter the quarrell of unkindness betweene +yourself and your wife, but having considered the cause of the +difference to proceed only from your loving respect shewne towards me, +I hope that my thankfulle acknowledgements will be sufficient +reconcilement to give you both proceedings for the continuance of your +wonted goode wille and affectione ... even though I understande by +your letter you thinke women to be capable of little else but +compliments. Wherefore to express a gracious courtesie for your +kindness as in the few wordes I am willing to utter you may assure +yourselfe yt my desire is to remayne</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"Your assured loving Frend</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"(Signed) <span class="sc">Eliza Hatton</span>.</p> + +<p class="letterClose4">"Hatton House</p> +<p class="letterClose5">"<i>20th March 1618.</i>"</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span> + +<p>One naturally wonders whether, if Carleton showed this letter to his +wife, it would tend to heal "the quarrell of unkindness" between them, +or to make it worse. Which effect was intended by the writer of the +letter is pretty evident. This little epistle might have been written +by Becky Sharpe.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32" /><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Coles' MSS.</i>, Vol. XXXIII. p. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33" /><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Coles' MSS.</i>, Vol. XXXIII., p. 17. (Brit. Museum MSS. +No. 5834.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34" /><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Longmans & Co., 1811.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35" /><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 114, 6th +October, 1617.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36" /><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 158, 31st Oct., +1617.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37" /><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCIV., 15th November, 1617.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38" /><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Vol. I., p. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39" /><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCIV., No. 30, 15th +November, 1617. Chamberlain to Carleton.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40" /><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>S.P.</i>, XCIV., No. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41" /><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. XCVI., No. 69.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"What is wedlock forced, but a hell? "—<i>Henry VI.</i>, I., v., 5.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><span class="sc">Little</span> is recorded of the early married life of Sir John and Lady +Villiers. Before it began they had both been mere pawns in the game, +and pawns they remained for a good many years afterwards. If before +her marriage the career of Lady Villiers had lain in the hands of her +father and her mother; after her marriage it was, for a time, in the +hands of her brother-in-law, Buckingham, as the career of Sir John +always had been and continued to be during the life of Buckingham.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Secret History of James I</i>.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42" /><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> we read concerning Buckingham: +"But I must tell you what got him most hatred, to raise brothers and +brothers-in-law to the highest ranks of nobility, which were not +capable of the place of scarce a justice of the peace; only his +brother, Purbeck, had more wit and honesty than all the kindred beside +and did keep him in some bounds of honesty and modesty, whilst he +lived about him, & would speake plaine English to him." If this be +true, there must have been some good in Sir John; but Buckingham was +impervious +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span> +to his advice and treated him just as he pleased. It is +possible, again, that Lady Villiers, without having any of the +affection which a wife ought to have for a husband, may have had a +sort of respect for him as a man of probity, much older than herself, +who treated her well and even kindly.</p> + +<p>George Villiers, a mushroom-grown Duke himself, having made the King +create his mother Countess of Buckingham, bethought him of his eldest +brother and determined to make him a peer. And not only that. He also +conceived the idea of squeezing some more money out of his brother's +mother-in-law for him, by offering her a peerage, for the cash thus +obtained. It was suggested to her that she might be made Countess of +Westmorland; but "she refused to buy the title at the price +demanded."<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43" /><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> Indeed, Lady Elizabeth was ready to fight anybody and +everybody. On the one hand, she resisted the attempts of the almighty +Buckingham to bleed her still further for Sir John Villiers, and, on +the other, she wrote to the King concerning her husband: "I find how +desirous he is to rubb up anie thing to make ill bloode betwixt my +sonne Villiers & myselfe."<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44" /><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Meanwhile she prosecuted her husband in +the Star Chamber. Mr. Brant wrote to Carleton: " ... The Ladie Hatton +prevayleth exceedingly against her husband and hath driven him into a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span> +numnesse of on side, which is a forerunner of ye dead palsie, though +now he be somewhat recovured."</p> + +<p>In May, 1619, Lady Elizabeth was informed that, if she would give that +isle, no longer an island, the Isle of Purbeck, which was her +property, to her son-in-law, she should be made Countess of Purbeck +and he Viscount Purbeck; but she refused to exchange good land for an +empty name. However, in July, Sir John Villiers was created Baron +Villiers of Stoke (Stoke Pogis) and Viscount Purbeck. This heaping up +of peerages in the Villiers family, in addition to the number of +valuable posts, and especially high ecclesiastical posts, obtained by +Buckingham for his friends, or for anybody who would bribe him heavily +enough to obtain them, led to much murmuring and ill-feeling among +those whom he did not thus favour, and greatly irritated the populace. +There was no apparent reason why Sir John Villiers should be ennobled, +and his peerages were looked upon as a glaring piece of jobbery.</p> + +<p>The Court also, at this time, was becoming unpopular. Buckingham was +filling it with licentious gallants and with ladies of a type to match +them. At Whitehall, there was a constant round of dissipation and +libertinism. Besides the very free and easy balls, masques and +banquets, there were what were called "quaint conceits" of more than +doubtful decency, and there was much buffoonery of a very low type. In +the <i>Secret History of the Court of James I.</i> it is recorded that, at +this time, namely, about 1618 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span> +or 1619, there were "none great with +Buckingham but bawds and parasites, and such as humoured him in his +unchaste pleasures; so that since his first being a pretty, harmless, +affable gentleman, he grew insolent, cruel, and a monster not to be +endured."</p> + +<p>Lord Purbeck held the appointment of Master of the Robes to Prince +Charles, and he seems to have lived in the palace of the Prince; for, +even as late as 1625, we read of Lady Purbeck remaining in "the +Prinses house."<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45" /><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> In 1620 Chamberlain wrote to Carleton<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46" /><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> that +when Buckingham was overpressed by business, he handed over suitors to +his brother Purbeck. On the 18th of January, 1620, a letter<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47" /><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> of +Nethersole's states that Purbeck had resigned his post of Master of +the Robes, in order to become Master of the Horse to the Prince.</p> + +<p>At some date between that of his marriage in the year 1617 and 1622, +Purbeck was received into the Catholic Church, by Father Percy, alias +Fisher, a Jesuit. This step does not appear in any way to have +affected his position at Court. In a manuscript in the library of the +large Jesuit College of Stonyhurst,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48" /><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> in Lancashire, it is stated +that "the Viscount de Purbeck (sic) brother of the Marquis of +Buckingham, having been converted to the Catholic faith and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span> +reconciled to the Holy Church, by Father John Persens, S.J., betook +himself to the Countess, his mother, and gave her so good an account +of the said Father, and of the consolation he had received of him, +that she greatly desired to speak to him, and sending him to call the +Father, she heard him discourse fully of the Catholic faith, &c."</p> + +<p>In <i>Laud's Diary</i> there is an entry: "1622, April 23. Being the +Tuesday in Easter week, the King sent for me & set me into a course +about the countess of Buckingham, who about that time was wavering in +point of religion." And again: "May 24. The conference<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49" /><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> between Mr. +Fisher [Percy] a Jesuit, & myself, before the lord Marquis of +Buckingham, & the countess, his mother."</p> + +<p>There are people who are of opinion that for a Protestant to become a +Catholic is an almost certain proof of madness; and such will rejoice +to hear that, some time after Lord Purbeck had been received into the +Catholic Church, he either showed, or is reputed to have shown, signs +of lunacy.</p> + +<p>Some authorities doubt whether Purbeck was ever out of his mind; but +on the whole the weight of evidence is against them. Yet there are +some rather +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span> +unaccountable incidents in their favour. Again, when +anybody is reputed to be mad, exaggerated stories of his doings are +very likely to be spread about. Even in these days of advanced medical +science, it is sometimes difficult to decide whether a patient is +insane or not, and it is quite possible to suffer from very severe +fits of depression without being the subject of maniacal melancholia, +or from very violent fits of passion without being a madman.</p> + +<p>There is just a possibility, too, that Buckingham may have wished to +keep his brother quiet, or to get him out of the way, because that +brother "would speake plaine English to him" about his licentious +conduct and other matters, as we have already read. When a friend or a +relative tells a man that he is behaving scandalously, the recipient +of the information is apt to say that his informer is "cracked."</p> + +<p>The earliest hint of Lord Purbeck's insanity was given in 1620. "The +Lord Viscount Purbeck went abroad in the latter end of May 1620, under +colour of drinking the waters of Spaw, but in fact, as Camden tells +us, to hide his being run mad with pride."<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50" /><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> The strongest evidence +of anything like actual madness is in a letter<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51" /><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> from Chamberlain to +Carleton, written on 8th June, 1622. It may, however, be mere gossip. +"The Lord of Purbecke is out of order likewise, for this day +feurtnight getting into a roome next the street in Wallingford house, +he beat down the glasse +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span> +windowes with his bare fists and all bloudied +&c." If this be true, may it not be possible that he was trying to +break his way out of a room in which Buckingham had locked him up on +the pretence that he was insane? Of Wallingford House the same +correspondent says in another letter: "Buckingham has bought Lord +Wallingford's house at Whitehall, by paying some money<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52" /><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> making Sir +Thomas Howard, Visct. Andover, and some say, releasing the Earl and +Countess of Somerset."</p> + +<p>In August, 1623, the Duchess of Buckingham—this would be Buckingham's +wife and not his mother, the Countess of Buckingham—wrote to +Conway:—</p> + +<p>"<span class="sc">Sir</span>,<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53" /><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>"My sister and myselfe have seene a letter writt from you to Sir John +Keyesley concerning my Brother Purbeck, by his ma<span class="super">ties</span> command and +doubt not but his ma<span class="super">tie</span> hath bin informed with the most of his +distemper. Wee have bin with him the moste parte of this weeke at +London, and have found him very temperate by which wee thinke hee is +inclining towards his melancholye fitt, which if hee were in, then hee +might be perswaded any wayes, which at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span> +this instant hee will not, he +standeth so affected to the cittee and if there should be any violent +course taken with him, wee thinke he would be much the worse, for it, +and drive him quite besides himselfe. Therefore wee hould it best to +intreat Sir John Keysley and som other of his friends to beare him +companie in London and kepe him as private as they can for three or +four dayes till his dull fitt be upon him, and then hee may bee had +any whither. This in our judgment is the fittest course at this +present to be taken with him which we desire you will be pleased to +let his Ma<span class="super">ty</span>. knowe and I shall rest.</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"Your assured loving friend,</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"(Signed) K. <span class="sc">Buckingham</span>."</p> + +<p>From this it would appear either that when Purbeck was in one of his +"melancholye fitts," he was quite tractable, but, at other times, he +was rather unmanageable; or that, when well, he refused to be ordered +about, but when ill, was too poorly to make any resistance. Conway<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54" /><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +replied as follows:—</p> + +<p>"<span class="sc">Most Gratious</span>,</p> + +<p>"I have represented to his Ma<span class="super">tie</span>. your Letter, and he doth gratiously +observe those sweete and tender motions which rise in your minde, +suitable with your noble, gentle and milde disposition, in which you +excell your sex: especially where force or restraint should be done to +the brother of youre deare Lorde. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72"></a>[pg 72]</span> +</p> + +<p>"And I cannot expresse soe finely as his Ma<span class="super">tie</span>. +did, how much he +priseth and loveth that blessed sweetness in you, and you in it. But I +must tell your Grace his Ma<span class="super">tie</span>. prays you, not to thinke it a little +distemper which carryed him to those publique actes, and publique +places, and to consider how irremediable it is, when his intemperance +hath carryed him to do some act of dishonour to himselfe, which may, +and must, reflect upon his most noble Brother, beyond the follies and +disprofits which he dayly practiseth. And that your Grace will not +only bee to suffer some sure course to bee taken for the conveying of +him into the country, but that you will advise it and assist it with +the most gentle (yet sure) wayes possible. That he may be restrayned +from the power and possibility of doing such acts as may scorne him, +or be dangerous to him: which these wayes of acting can never provide +for. For his Ma<span class="super">tie</span>. sayeth there cannot bee soe much as 'whoe would +have thought it,' which is the fooles answere, left for an error in +this: for whoe would not thinke that a distempered minde may doe the +worst to be done. His Ma<span class="super">tie</span>. therefore once more prayes you that his +former directions to Sir John Ersley may bee put in execution and the +safest and surest for the goode of the unfortunate noble person, and +honor of youre deare Lorde, his Ma<span class="super">ties</span>. dearest servant.</p> + +<p>"This is that I have in charge. My faith and duty calls for this +profession that noe man is more bound to study and endeavour the +preservation of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span> +the honor and good of those that have interest in my +noble patron than myselfe: nor noe man more bound and more ready to +obey your commandments than</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"Your Grace's most humble servant.</p> + +<p class="letterClose7">"<span class="sc">Aldershot</span>. 30 August 1623."</p> + +<p>The chief object aimed at by Conway and, as will be seen presently, by +the King, was to prevent any scandal or gossip about Purbeck's +behaviour injuring "his Ma<span class="super">ties</span>. dearest servant," Buckingham. +Purbeck's personal interests evidently counted for very little, if for +anything.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42" /><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> P. 444</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43" /><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Woolrych's <i>Life of Sir Ed. Coke</i>, p. 150. His authority +for this statement is Camden, Ann. Jac., p. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44" /><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Letter quoted by Woolrych.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45" /><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII., No. 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46" /><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CXII., No. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47" /><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., No. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48" /><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Stonyhurst MSS., <i>Angliæ</i>, Vol. VII. And <i>Records of the +English Province of the Society of Jesus</i>, Series I., p. 532.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49" /><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> At a subsequent conference King James was present +(<i>Diary of the English College at Rome. The names of the Alumni,</i> No. +181). Also <i>Records of the English Province of the S.J.,</i> Series I., +p. 533. The Countess of Buckingham subsequently became a Catholic, and +her son, the Duke, obtained leave from the King for Father Percy to +"live on parole in her house," which became his home in London for ten +years (<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 531).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50" /><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Biog. Brit</i>., notice of Sir E. Coke. Footnote.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51" /><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CXXXI, No. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52" /><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CXXVII., No. 35. Chamberlain +to Carleton, 19th January, 1622. James I., 1619-23, p. 337. The price +paid is said to have been £3,000. See Gardiner, Vol. IV., Chap. XL., +p. 279. Lord Wallingford was made Earl of Banbury, and the subsequent +claim to this title became as curious as that to the title of Purbeck, +which will be shown later.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53" /><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLI., No. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54" /><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLI., No. 87, 30th August, +1623.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">" ... wed to one half lunatic."<br /></span> +<span class="i8"><i>Taming of the Shrew</i>, II., I.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><span class="sc">Poor</span> Purbeck seems to have had many amateur keepers. The King gave +orders to a Sir John Hippisley to remove him from the Court, in +September, 1623; and on the and Sir John wrote to Conway:—<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55" /><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>"<span class="sc">Noble Sir</span>,</p> + +<p>"I have received the King's command and your directions in your +letters to bring my Lord of Purbecke out of London which I have done +and have made no noise of it and have done all I could to give no +scandal to the Duke or Viscount: He is now at Hampton Court, but is +not willing to go any further till the king send express commande that +he shall not staye here.</p> + +<p>"Sir I have obeyed all the King's commandes and that without any +scandal to the Duke,"—always the point of main importance—"now my +humble request to you is that I may be free from entering any farther +in this business and that I may come and kiss his Maj<span class="super">tes</span> +hand for now +I am fit.... There is one Mr. Aimes that knoweth my Lord of Purbecke +and fitte to be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span> +employed by rate he hath power to persuade him. I +beseech you grant me fair of this and you shall have it me</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"To be your faithfull servant ever to be commanded</p> + +<p class="letterClose2">"(Signed) JO: <span class="sc">Hippisley</span>.</p> + +<p class="letterClose4">"Hampton Court</p> +<p class="letterClose5">"this 2 of <i>September</i>."</p> + +<p>From this it is very clear that Hippisley did not want to have +anything more to do with a disagreeable business; and the question +presents itself whether it was because he disliked acting as keeper to +a lunatic, or because he did not think Purbeck so mad as was +pretended, if mad at all, and objected to having a hand in a shady +transaction.</p> + +<p>In the same month, the King wrote himself to Purbeck.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56" /><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> The letter +is almost illegible; but its purport appears to be to urge Lord +Purbeck, out of consideration for Buckingham, as well as for his own +good, to go to, and to stay at, whatever place might be appointed for +him by the Earl of Middlesex.</p> + +<p>During the summer of the following year (1624), Purbeck seems to have +recovered his sanity; but only for a time, although a considerable +time. Chamberlain wrote<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57" /><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> to Carleton:—</p> + +<p>"<span class="sc">My Very Sweete Lord</span>:</p> + +<p>" ... The Viscount Purbecke followed the court a good while in very +goode temper, and there +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span> +was speech of making him a marquis that he +might go before his younger brother but I heare of late he is fallen +backe to his old craise and worse....</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"Yo<span class="super">r</span> Lo<span class="super">ps</span> most assuredly</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"at command,</p> +<p class="letterClose3">"(Signed) +<span class="sc">John Chamberlain</span>."</p> + +<p>This shows that, if Purbeck was insane, his insanity was intermittent; +and it could not have been chronic; for in later years we read that he +was managing his own affairs and that he married again, some time +after the death of Frances.</p> + +<p>From the following letter, written by Lady Purbeck to Buckingham, and +unfortunately undated, it would seem that Buckingham had driven her +from her home, when she had become the subject of a certain amount of +vague scandal, but, so far as was then known, or at least proved, of +nothing more; and that he had contrived that she should have none of +the wealth which she had brought to her husband. As will be seen, she +was apparently penniless, except for what she received from her mother +or her friends.</p> + +<p>"My Lord<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58" /><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a>:—Though you may judge what pleasure there is in the +conversation of a man in the distemper you see your brother in; yet, +the duty I owe to a Husband, and the affection I bear him (which +sickness shall not diminish) makes me much desire to be with him, to +add what comfort I can to his afflicted mind, since his only desire is +my company; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span> +which, if it please you to satisfy him in, I shall with a +very good will suffer with him, and think all but my duty, though I +think every wife would not do so. But if you can so far dispense with +the laws of God as to keep me from my Husband, yet aggravate it not by +restraining me from his means, and all other contentments; but, which +I think is rather the part of a Christian, you especially ought much +rather to study comforts for me, than to add ills to ills, since it is +the marriage of your brother makes me thus miserable. For if you +please but to consider, not only the lamentable estate I am in, +deprived of all comforts of a Husband, and having no means to live of; +besides falling from the hopes my fortune then did promise me; for you +know very well, I came no beggar to you, though I am like so to be +turn'd off.</p> + +<p>"For your own honour and conscience sake, take some course to give me +satisfaction, to tye my tongue from crying to God and the world for +vengeance, for the unwilling dealing I have received, and think not to +send me again to my Mother's, where I have stayed this quarter of a +year, hoping (for that Mother said you promised) order should be taken +for me; but I never received a penny from you. Her confidence in your +nobleness made me so long silent; but now, believe me, I will sooner +beg my bread in the streets, to all your dishonours, than any more +trouble my friends, and especially my Mother, who was not only content +to afford us part of the little means she hath left her, but whilst I +was with her, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span> +was continually distempered with devised Tales which +came from your Family,"—this refers to certain scandalous stories +about her own conduct—and withal lost your good opinion, which before +she either had, or you made shew of it; but had it been real, I can +not think her words would have been so translated, nor in the power of +discontented servants' tales to have ended it.</p> + +<p>"My Lord, if the great Honour you are in can suffer you to have so +mean a thought as of so miserable a creature as I am so made by too +much credulity of your fair promises, which I have waited for +performance of almost these five years: and now it were time to +despair, but that I hope you will one day be yourself, and be governed +by your own noble thoughts, and then I am assured to obtain what I +desire, since my desires be so reasonable, and but for mine own, which +whether you grant or not, the affliction my poor husband is in (if it +continue) will keep my mind in a continual purgatory for him, and will +suffer me to sign myself no other but your unfortunate sister</p> + +<p class="letterClose6">"<span class="sc">F. Purbeck</span>."</p> + +<p>This letter may be taken as evidence of Purbeck's lunacy. On the other +hand it might possibly, if not plausibly, be argued that it may only +mean that he was in a very bad state of bodily health accompanied by +great mental depression. Some readers of these pages may have +experienced the capabilities of a liver in lowering the spirits. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span> +</p> + +<p>As Lady Purbeck says, her mother had now "lost the good opinion" of +Buckingham, and undoubtedly this was because she had refused to +increase his brother's allowance. So early as 28th November, 1618, +John Pary wrote to Carleton,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59" /><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> regretting that he had not applied to +Lady Bedford to use her influence in order to obtain a certain +appointment, instead of applying to Lady Elizabeth, who had fallen out +with Buckingham, and now had no influence whatever with him.</p> + +<p>Lady Elizabeth, therefore, after having risen by her own skill to be +one of the most influential women in England—perhaps the most +influential—and that in the face of enormous difficulties, was +beginning to fall from her high estate. And besides the bitter +disappointment of the loss of influence and of royal smiles, a +grievous and humiliating family sorrow was in store for her.</p> + +<p>These pages do not constitute a brief on behalf of Lady Purbeck. It is +desired that they should do her justice—full justice; but too little +is recorded of her personal character to permit any attempt to portray +it in detail, or even to make a bold sketch of its principal features. +Of her circumstances it is much easier to write with confidence. We +have already learned much about them. We have seen that she was +brought up in an atmosphere of perpetual domestic discord, ending in a +physical struggle between her father and her mother for the possession + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span> +of her person: that she was afterwards flogged until she consented to +make a marriage contract with a man much older than herself, whom she +disliked intensely—a form of marriage which was no marriage, as her +will for it was wanting and she was literally forced into it, if any +girl was ever forced into a marriage.</p> + +<p>An old husband hateful to a young wife would become yet more +unattractive if he became insane, or eccentric, or even an irritable +invalid. Then his change of religion would most likely annoy her +extremely. Whether a husband leaves his wife's religion for a better +or a worse religion, it is equally distasteful to her.</p> + +<p>Her condition would be made still further miserable when she was +turned out of her own home, and practically robbed of her own +possessions, luxuries and comforts. From what we have seen of her +mother, it is difficult to believe that she was a tenderhearted woman, +to whom a daughter would go for consolation in her affliction: nor +could that daughter place much confidence in a mother who had once +deceived her with a forged letter. To her father, who had treated her +with great brutality and had sold her just as he might have sold a +beast among his farm stock, she would be still less likely to turn for +comfort or for counsel. Add to all this that, as the wife of an +official in Prince Charles's household, and as the sister-in-law of +the reigning favourite, she was a good deal at the Court of James I. +at a time when +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span> +it was one of the most dissolute in Europe; and it +will be easy to recognise that her whole life had been spent in +unwholesome atmospheres.</p> + +<p>When we consider the position of a very beautiful girl of between +twenty-one and twenty-four, who had had such an education, had endured +such villainous treatment, and was now placed under such trying +conditions, we can but feel prepared to hear that some or other of the +usual results of bad education, bad treatment, and bad surroundings +exhibited themselves, and surely if trouble, and worse than trouble, +was ever likely to come of a marriage that had been an empty form, +Lady Purbeck's was one after which it might be expected.</p> + +<p>And it came! Near Cripple Gate, at the North Wall of London, in +October, 1624, was born a boy named Robert Wright. More than a century +later the Vicar of the Parish was asked to refer to his registers +about this event, and he sent the following reply:—<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60" /><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p class="letterDate">"<span class="sc">London</span>, <i>April 10 1740.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Sir</span>,</p> + +<p>"I have searched my Parish Register according to your directions and +have found the following Entry concerning Robert Wright.</p> + + +<p class="center">"Christening in October 1624.</p> + +<p>"Robert, Son of John Wright, Gentleman, of Bishopthorpe in Yorkshire, +baptised in the Garden +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span> + House of Mr. Manninge at the upper end of +White Cross Street ... 20th.</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"I am, Sir,</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"Your very humble servant,</p> +<p class="letterClose3">"<span class="sc">Will Nicholls</span>,</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"Vicar of St. Giles's Cripplegate."</p> + +<p>The father of this boy was, in reality, Sir Robert Howard, the fifth +son of the Earl of Suffolk, the Earl to whose vigilance the discovery +of the Gunpowder Plot is attributed by some authorities. But Suffolk +had incurred the enmity of Buckingham, had been deprived of the office +of Lord Treasurer, had been tried for peculation in the discharge of +it, and then condemned in the Star Chamber to imprisonment in the +Tower and a fine of £30,000. When he was liberated, he was told that +two of his sons, who held places in the King's household, were +expected to resign them; but Suffolk, in very spirited letters to the +King and to Buckingham (<i>Cabala</i>, pp. 333, 334), protested against +this. The whole family, therefore, was in bad odour at Court and with +Buckingham at this time.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert Howard was a brother of the first Earl of Berkshire, who +married a niece of Lady Elizabeth Hatton. It may possibly have been +through this connection by marriage that Sir Robert Howard became +acquainted and intimate with Lady Purbeck; and, to make a long story +short, let it be observed here that, in relation to the boy who was +christened Robert Wright, Lady Purbeck had had what, among the lower +classes, is euphemistically termed "a misfortune."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55" /><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLIII., No. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56" /><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLII, No. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57" /><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXX., No. 54, 24th July, +1624.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58" /><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>Cabala, Sive Scrinia Sacra</i>, etc., p. 318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59" /><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CIII., No. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60" /><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Coles' MSS.</i>, Vol. XXXIII., pp. 17, 18.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."<br /></span> +<span class="i12"><i>Henry VI.</i>, 2, IV., 2.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="sc">Although</span> Robert Wright was baptised in October, 1624, the date of his +birth is uncertain. He may have been born many months before his +baptism; but his being christened at a private house rather points the +other way. Anyhow, proceedings were instituted against Sir Robert +Howard and Lady Purbeck, long before the child was christened. In <i>The +Diary of Archbishop Laud</i> occurs the following entry for the year +1624:—</p> + +<p>"<i>Januar. 21. Friday.</i> The business of my <i>Lord Purbeck</i>, made known +unto me by my Lord Duke." This business of my Lord Purbeck may refer +exclusively to his insanity, or reputed insanity; but it seems more +probable that it has reference to the Howard-Purbeck scandal.</p> + +<p>A letter<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61" /><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> from the Lord Keeper, Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, to +Buckingham, and written on 11th March, 1624, shows that the +proceedings against Sir Robert Howard and Lady Purbeck were in full +swing at that date. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span> +</p> + +<p>"May it please your Grace,</p> + +<p>"Sir Robert Howard appeared yesterday, and continues obstinate in his +refusal to swear. When we came to examine the Commission for our Power +to fine him for his Obstinacy, we found, that Sir Edward Coke +(foreseeing, out of a prophetical Spirit, how near it might concern a +Grand-Child of his own), hath expunged this Clause (by the Help of the +Earl of Salisbury) out of the Commission, and left us nothing but the +rusty Sword of the Church, Excommunication, to vindicate the Authority +of this Court. We have given him day until Saturday next, either to +conform, or to be excommunicated. She hath answered wittily, and +cunningly, but yet sufficient for the Cognisance of the Court: +Confesseth a Fame of Incontinence against her and Howard; but saith, +it was raised by her Husband's Kindred. I do not doubt, but the +Business will go on well; but (peradventure) more slowly, if Howard +continue refractory, for want of this power to fine and amerce him."</p> + +<p>That Lady Purbeck "answered wittily," or, as would now be said, +"cleverly" in court, is not to be wondered at; for was she not the +daughter of a father who had been the cleverest barrister of his day, +and of a mother who was more than a match for that cleverest of +barristers?</p> + +<p>A couple of days later the same correspondent wrote<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62" /><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> to the Duke: +"For your Brother's Business, this is all I have to acquaint your +Grace with: Sir +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id="page85"></a>[pg 85]</span> + Robert Howard appeared, yesterday, at Lambeth, +pretended want of Council (the Doctors being out of Town) desired +respite until to-morrow, and had it granted by my Lord's Grace. Most +men think he will not take his Oath at all; I do incline to the +contrary Opinion, because, to my knowledge, he hath sent far and near, +for the most able Doctors in the Kingdom, to be feed for him, which +were great folly, if he intended not to answer. He is extreamly +commended for his closeness and secrecy by the major part of our +Auditors (the He and She Good-fellows of the Town,) and though he +refuseth to be a Confessor, yet he is sure to dye a Martyr, and most +of the Ladies in Town will worship at his Shrine. The Lady Hatton, +some nine days since was at Stoke, with the good Knight her Husband, +for some counsel in this particular; but he refused to meddle +therewithal, and dismist her Ladiship, when she had stayed with him +very lovingly half a quarter of an hour."</p> + +<p>There had been some sort of reconciliation between Coke and Lady +Elizabeth in July, 1621, says Woolrych in his life of Coke, "a +reconciliation effected through the mediation of the King." It was +not, however, cordial; for "we have good reason to suppose that they +lived apart to the day of Coke's death," says Campbell. At any rate +they were now on speaking terms, though that was about all; for, as we +have just seen, Coke refused to meddle in a matter upon which he was +eminently qualified to give an opinion, and he got rid of his wife +after an interview of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" id="page86"></a>[pg 86]</span> +seven minutes and a half, instead of giving her +the leisurely and lengthy advice and instructions which were the least +that she might have expected from him. Sympathy, of course, she could +not have hoped for.</p> + +<p>The proceedings against the two delinquents would appear to have been +in abeyance during the rest of the year; but in January, 1625, Sir +John Coke—the Secretary of State, not one of the Cokes of Sir +Edward's family—wrote<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63" /><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> to Buckingham, saying that the King, +although so ill as scarcely to be able to sign his name, had put it to +the warrant sent by the Lord Chief Justice for authority to examine +into Lady Purbeck's business. This warrant, however, James either +issued with certain qualifications, or else privately advised +Buckingham only to act upon with prudence, as may be inferred from the +following letter,<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64" /><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> written on February the 11th, by Buckingham to +the Lord Chief Justice:—</p> + +<p>"I have moved the P. for a warrant from his ma<span class="super">tie</span> for the commitment +of Sir Ro. Howard and my sister Purbeck, but his ma<span class="super">tie</span> hath out of +his gracious and provident care of me dissuaded me in this lest upon +it coming to a publique hearing it might be thought that I had gained +power more by the way of favour than by the wayes of justice.... I +desire you to acquaint this bearer Mr. Innocent Lanier all the +particulars of this matter for I know him to be very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span> +honest, and +discreete and secret." The part of the letter immediately following is +illegible, but presently it goes on to say that Lanier<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65" /><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> is much +trusted by his brother Purbeck; that Lanier will not otherwise be able +to keep his brother with him; and that, if he leaves, Sir Robert and +Lady Purbeck "by their crafty insinuations will draw from him speeches +to their advantage."</p> + +<p>Now, if Purbeck were still insane, or anything near it, no "speeches +drawn from him" could have had any effect for the advantage of Lady +Purbeck and Sir Robert. And it is clear from this letter that Lady +Purbeck was even at that time on good terms with her husband and able +to influence him. A reader might have been tempted to imagine that +Purbeck's "melancholy fitts" of insanity were the result of misery +about his wife's infidelity; but, if she could still "draw from him +speeches to her advantage," this cannot have been the case. The +prosecution of Lady Purbeck was pretty clearly at the instigation of +Buckingham and not of Purbeck. There is just a possibility that +Purbeck had refused to proceed against her, and that Buckingham +represented him as mad in order to act in his place, as his brother, +and divorce Lady Purbeck; although such a theory is not supported by +strong evidence. There is, however, this evidence in its support, that +Purbeck acknowledged the boy christened Robert Wright as his own son +some years later. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id="page88"></a>[pg 88]</span> +</p> + +<p>It is true that, fifty years afterwards, in a petition to the House of +Lords<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66" /><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> by Lord Denbigh against a claim made by a son of Robert +Wright, it is stated that Lord and Lady Purbeck had not lived together +as man and wife for two years before the birth of Robert Wright; and +that Lord Purbeck "was entrusted in the hands of physicians for the +cure of a melancholy distemper, occasioned by the cruelty and +disorders of his wife." But this claimed absence of two years, or +anything approaching two years, is very questionable, if not very +improbable; and although there is not much doubt as to the real +parentage of Robert Wright, Purbeck may have lived with his wife +sufficiently near the birth of the boy to imagine himself his father. +Indeed, as the following letter will show, she was so far at Court, as +to be living in Prince Charles's house so late as February, 1625, a +year after the birth of the boy. Moreover, as we have seen, Lord +Purbeck held office in Prince Charles's household, and from this it +might be inferred that Purbeck and Lady Purbeck were then together. +This is the more likely because in the following letter Buckingham +expresses a fear that his "brother will be also every day running to +her and give her occasion to worke on him by the subtlty of her +discourse." And if the husband and wife had access to each other when +the proceedings against the latter had gone so far, they are much more +likely to have been together +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span> +during the year preceding the birth of +the boy.</p> + +<p>All this only affects the question whether Purbeck discredited his +wife's fidelity. Nothing has been said above in favour of the theory +that she was faithful.</p> + +<p>Buckingham experienced considerable difficulties in the prosecution of +Lady Purbeck. On 15th February, 1625, he wrote<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67" /><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> from Newmarket to +the Lord Chief Justice:—</p> + +<p>"<span class="sc">My Lord</span>,</p> + +<p>"I understande you are not yet resolved to committ my sister Purbeck +who (if she be at Libbertie) will be still plotting and devising with +her ill counsellors to cover and conceal the truth and fowlness of her +crime and my brother will be also every day running to her and give +her occasion to worke on him by the subtlty of her discourse. It is +known that His Ma<span class="super">tie</span> was tender (at the first mention of this +business) of the hande of a Lady of her quallity but sure [if] he hath +fully understood the proofs and truth of her fault and how +dishonorably she hath carryed herself he would have no more support +showen to her than to an ordinary Lady in the like case for that she +hath by her ill carriage forfyted that hande."</p> + +<p>Things were not going so well now as they had been with Buckingham. +Within twelve months he was to be impeached in the House of Commons; +and, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90"></a>[pg 90]</span> +although still high in the royal favour, his King may not have +been so completely his servant at this time as he had been formerly. +Buckingham continues:—</p> + +<p>"It is likewise very unfit she should remayne in the Prinses house for +defying which I thinke much aggravates her crimes and his highness +often speaks in distast of her continuance there. You are well +acquainted with the proof which is against her, so as I shall not nede +to tell you how much it reminds me to be carefull in the prosecution +of her faulte but I assure you there is nothing that more sollisits my +minde. I ... thanke you for the paynes you have always taken in this +business, which my earnest desire is to have to be fully discovered +and that you will for much oblige me by the continuance of the care +and diligence therein as that she may be tymely prevented in her +cunning endeavours to hinder the discovery of the truth of the facts +whereof she stands justly accused which (in my opinion) cannot be done +but by her present commitment.</p> + +<p class="letterClose3">"And Sir, I rest,</p> +<p class="letterClose3">"Your very loving friend.</p> + +<p>"Upon syght of the pregnancy of the proofes and the guiltiness of Sir +Rob. Howard and my sister, I desire that you will committ them to +prison with little respect, from where I heare Sir Rob. Howard is, for +an Alderman's House is rather an honour than disparagement to him and +rather a place of entertainment +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span> +to him than a prison." It will be +observed that, although the accused persons had not yet been tried, +Buckingham wished them to be put into a place of punishment; a place +of mere detention would not satisfy him.</p> + +<p>Lanier, who, as Buckingham said in a letter quoted above, was much +trusted by his brother, seems to have been trusted by Purbeck without +reason, as he was evidently in the employment of Buckingham.</p> + +<p>A letter<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68" /><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> written by Buckingham to Coventry, the Attorney-General, +and to Heath, the Solicitor-General, contains the following:—</p> + +<p>"I perceive by your paper I have read how much I am beholding, and do +also understand by Innocent Larnier and others of the persons +themselves and my Lo: Chiefe justice have taken in the business +concerning the Lady Purbeck for which I thanke you:... but I did hope +you would have more discovered before this.... I desire you to say +what you think fitt to be done in the matter of the divorce of my +brother and to notify me your opinion thereupon and (if you thinke it +fitt to be proceeded in that) what is the speedyest worke that may be +taken therein."</p> + +<p>It was probably of this letter that Buckingham wrote<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69" /><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> to Heath, the +Solicitor-General, on 16th February, 1625, from Newmarket:—</p> + +<p>" +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span> +I have written a letter to yourself and to Mr. Attorney regarding +the business of the Lady Purbeck showing that I desire you principally +only to aggravate her crimes that the Lady by my humble and your like +kind favour may yet be kept in prison, before the returne to towne, +for other my brother who hopes to be going soune will not be kept from +her and she will (if he should meet with her) so worke on him by her +subtilty and that shee will draw from him something to the advantage +of her dishonourable cause and to her end." Here again is evidence +that Purbeck "will not be kept from" his wife; and that, if they meet +"shee will draw something to the advantage of her" case in the divorce +suit. In what form could this something come? Is it possible that +Buckingham may have thought that she might induce Purbeck to appear as +a witness in her favour? Or that she might persuade him to stop the +suit if he should happen to be sane enough to do so when it came on?</p> + +<p>The next letter has an interest, first, because it shows that Lady +Purbeck's child was really in the custody of Buckingham. Nominally it +was probably in that of Purbeck; but, if Purbeck as a lunatic was in +the custody of Buckingham, what was in Purbeck's custody would be in +Buckingham's custody. Presently, however, we shall hear of the child +being with its mother in her imprisonment at the house of an +Alderman. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span> +</p> + +<p><i>Innocent Lanier to Buckingham</i>.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70" /><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> +"May it please your grace,</p> + +<p>"Appon my returne to London, I presently repayred to my Lo: Chiefe +Justice, where I found Mr. Attorney and Mr. Solicitor.... I have heer +inclosed fore your Grace ther letter which before it was sealed they +showed mee, being something contrary to their resolution last nyghte, +w<span class="super">ch</span> was, to have sent for Sr. Ro: Howard this morning, and so to +comitt him closs in the Fleett, but of this I presume ther letter will +give yor. Grace such satisfaction that I shall need neither to write +more of it, nor of what is yett past. They much desier yor. Grace's +coming to towne wch. I hope wilbe speedy as it wilbe materiall. I +finde them resolved to deale roundly in this Busnes as yor. Grace +desiers and are this morning in the examination of divers witness the +better to Inform themselves agaynst my Ladies coming this afternoone. +The next Day, they Intend to fall uppon Lambe and Frodsham. My Lady +uppon the receipt of my lo: Chiefe Justice letter is something +dismayed but resolved to prove a new lodging, and new keepers. The +Childe, and Nurse, must remayne with us till farther directions, +having nothing more at this present to aquaynt yor. Grace of, wth. my +humblest duty I take leave.</p> + + +<p class="letterClose1">"Yor. Grace's most humble and</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"obedient Servant,</p> +<p class="letterClose3">"(Signed) I. <span class="sc">Lanier</span></p> + +<p class="letterClose4">"Denmark House</p> +<p class="letterClose5">"<i>Feb. 19, 1625.</i>"</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span> + + +<p>"<i>Enclosed</i>. Att. Gen. Coventry and Sol. Gen. Heath to Buckingham.</p> + +<p>"Have consulted with Sir Henry Martin on Lady Purbeck's business, and +think the best plan would be to have the case brought before the High +Commission Court, which can sit without delay, in the vacation, and +when the crime is proved there, the divorce can be obtained by +ordinary law. Think it unadvisable to send the culprits to prison, as +it is unusual for persons of their rank but advise that they may be +confined in the houses of Aldermen, where in fact they would probably +be more closely restrained than in prison."</p> + +<p>The last statement sounds curious; especially as we saw, a few pages +ago, that Buckingham wrote: "an Alderman's house is rather an honour +than disparagement," and "rather a place of entertainment than a +prison."</p> + +<p>Buckingham now sought a fresh weapon against his sister-in-law. A +couple of scoundrels, mentioned in Lanier's letter, and named Frodsham +and Lambe, men suspected of sorcery, offered to give evidence to the +effect that Lady Purbeck had paid them to help her to bewitch both +Purbeck and Buckingham. On the 16th of February, 1625, Buckingham +wrote<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71" /><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> to Coventry, the Attorney-General:—</p> + +<p>"I perceive by the paper I have received how much I am beholding to +you and do also understand by Innocent Lanier and others of the paynes +[you] +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span> + and my lo. Chief Justice, have taken in the business concerning +the Lady Purbeck for which I thanke you ... but I did hope that you +would have some more discovered before this tyme. If Lambe and +ffrodsham may escape the one by saying what he did was but jugglinge +and the other by seeming to affect to be thought a juggler I believe +all that hath been already discovered of the truth of this business +will be deluded. I do therefore desire that you will take some sound +course with them to make them speake more directly and truly to the +point and to bout (?) them from their shifts, for Lambe hath hitherto +by such means played mock with the world to preserve himself. I desire +you to acquaint Innocent Lanier (who is appointed by my brother to +sollicit this business) with all the particulars and publique speeche +that he may the better know how to imploy this paynes for the +discovering of the knot of this villany. I desire you to say well what +is fitt to be done in the divorce of my brother and to notify me your +opinions thereon and (if you thinke it fitt to be pursued in this) +what is the speediest work that may be taken therein. And you discover +the best serving friend.</p> + +<p class="letterClose6">"I rest, &c.</p> + +<p class="letterClose4">"Newmarket."</p> + +<p>If this was true it would seem that Purbeck himself suspected that he +had been bewitched.</p> + +<p>Yet on that very same day Buckingham wrote to Heath, the +Solicitor-General, expressing his opinion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id="page96"></a>[pg 96]</span> +that, unless Lady Purbeck +were put in prison, Lord Purbeck would not "be kept from her," which +does not look as if he can have been afraid lest she should bewitch +him. The letter runs:—</p> + +<p>"I have written a letter to yourself and Mr. Attorney concerning the +business of the Lady Purbeck which I desire you on whose love to me I +principally rely to aggravate and ayre the crimes of that Lady and her +dealings with Lambe and the like, so soon as yet she may be before my +coming to London committed to some prison for otherwise my brother who +hopes to be going hence, will not be kept from her and she will (if he +should come to her) so worke on him by her subtilty as that she will +draw from him something to the advantage of her dishonourable ends and +to his prejudice. Iff ffrodsham and Lambe once feele or be brought to +feare their punishment I believe they will unfold much more than they +yet have, for it seems they have but boath sported in their +examinations, &c."</p> + +<p>This letter, again, proves that Lord Purbeck was on good terms with +Lady Purbeck, and that Buckingham was striving to keep them apart; and +it adds still further support to the theory that it was not Lord +Purbeck but Buckingham who was trying to divorce Lady Purbeck, by +"aggravating and airing her crimes."</p> + +<p>Buckingham himself was suspected of having dealings with Lambe on his +own account; for Arthur +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97"></a>[pg 97]</span> + Wilson says, in his <i>Life of James I.</i>:<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72" /><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> +"Dr. Lamb, a man of an infamous Conversation, (having been arraigned +for a Witch, and found guilty of it at Worcester; and arraigned for a +Rape, and found guilty of it at the King's Bench-Bar at Westminster; +yet escaped the Stroke of Justice for both, by his Favour in Court) +was much employed by the Mother and the Son," <i>i.e.</i>, by the Duke of +Buckingham and his mother. If this be true, Buckingham's conduct +towards Lady Purbeck, in connection with Lambe, does not seem to have +been very straightforward.</p> + +<p>Lambe's "favour in Court," however, proved no protection to him in the +streets. Whitelock writes<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73" /><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> in 1632: "This Term the business of the +Death of Doctor Lamb was in the King's Bench, wherein it appeared that +he was neither Dr. nor any way Lettered, but a man odious to the +Vulgar, for some Rumors that went of him, that he was a Conjurer or +Sorcerer, and he was quarrelled with in the Streets in London, and as +the people more and more gathered about him, so they pelted him with +rotten Eggs, Stones, and other riff raff, justled him, beat him, +bruised him, and so continued pursuing him from Street to Street, till +they were five hundred people together following him. This continued +three hours together until Night, and no Magistrate or Officer of the +Peace once showed himself to stop this Tumult: so the poor man being + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" id="page98"></a>[pg 98]</span> +above eighty years of age, died of this violence, and no Inquisition +was taken of it, nor any of the Malefactors discovered in the City."</p> + +<p>On the 26th of February Chamberlain wrote<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74" /><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> to Carleton:—</p> + +<p>"The Lady Purbecke w<span class="super">th</span> her young sonne, and Sr. Robert Howard are +committed to the custodie of Generall Aldermen Barkham and Freeman to +be close kept. When she was carried to Sergeants ynne to be examined +by the new L. Chiefe Justice and others she saide she marvailled what +those poore old cuckolds had to say to her. There is an imputation +laide on her that with powders and potions she did intoxicate her +husbands braines, and practised somewhat in that kinde upon the D. of +Buckingham. This (they say) is confest by one Lambe a notorious old +rascall that was condemned the last sommer at the Ks. bench for a rape +and arraigned some yeare or two before at Worcester for bewitching my +L. Windsor ... I see not what the fellow can gaine by this confession +but to be hangd the sooner. Would you thinke the Lady Hattens stomacke +could stoupe to go seeke her L. Cooke at Stoke for his counsaile and +assistance in this business?"</p> + +<p>It would appear that Buckingham really believed Lady Purbeck to have +possessed herself of some powers of witchcraft and that he felt +considerable uneasiness on his own account, as well as on his +brother's, in connection with it; for he seems to have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span> +consulted some +other sorcerer, with the object of out-witching the witchery of Lady +Purbeck. In some notes<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75" /><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> by Archbishop Laud for a letter to +Buckingham, the following cautious remarks are to be found:—</p> + +<p>"I remember your Grace when I came to you on other busyness told me +you were gladd I was come, for you were about to send for me, that you +calld me asyde into the gallerye behind yo<span class="super">r</span> lodgings bye the back +stayres. There you told me of one that had made a great offer of an +easy and safe cure of your G. brother the Ld. Purbecke.</p> + +<p>"That it much trobbled you when he did but beginne to express himselfe +because he sayde he would doe it bye onlye touchinge his head with his +hands<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76" /><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> w<span class="super">ch</span> made yo<span class="super">r</span> Grace jealous in as much as he mentioned noe +Naturall Medicine.</p> + +<p>"Upon this yo<span class="super">r</span> Gr. was pleased to aske what I thought of it. I +answered these were busynesses which I had little looked into. But I +did not believe the touch of his hand, or any mans els could produce +such effects.</p> + +<p>"Your G. asked farther if I remembered whether you might not +entertayne him farther in discourse to see whether he would open or +express any unlawfull practises; w<span class="super">ch</span> I thought you might for it went +no farther than discourse.</p> + +<p>"And to mye remembrance your Grace sayde +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span> +that he offered to laye his +hand on your head sayinge, I would doe noe more than thiss; And that +thereupon you started backe, fearinge some sorcerye or ye like, and +that you were not quiett till you had spoken with me about it. This, +or much to this effect is the uttermost I can remember that passed at +ye time."</p> + +<p>Buckingham had evidently felt some scruples about meddling with the +Black Art, and had consulted Laud on the question. It is also pretty +plain that Laud was anxious not to offend Buckingham, yet, at the same +time, wished to guard against any possibility of being accused of +approving, or even of conniving at, witchcraft. These notes occur in a +"draft of a speech, in the handwriting of Bishop Laud, and apparently +intended to be addressed to the House of Commons, by the Duke of +Buckingham. It has not been found that this latter speech was ever +actually spoken."</p> + +<p>So far as accusations against Lady Purbeck of witchcraft were +concerned, Buckingham must have found that he had no case; for, in a +letter<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77" /><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> to Carleton, written on 12th March, 1625, Chamberlain says +that the charge of sorcery had been dropped; but that Lady Purbeck was +to be prosecuted for incontinency. He adds that Sir Robert Howard was +a close prisoner in the Fleet in spite of the advice given by the +Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General three weeks earlier—and +that Lady Purbeck was a prisoner at Alderman Barkham's, had no + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> +friends who would stand bail for her, and was asking Buckingham to +let her have a little money with which to pay her counsel's fees. +Eleven days later Chamberlain again wrote<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78" /><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> to Carleton, saying that +Lady Purbeck was acquitting herself well in the Court of High +Commission; that a servant of the Archbishop's had been committed for +saying that she had been hardly used, and that she called this man one +of her martyrs. He also states that Sir Robert Howard had been +publicly excommunicated at St. Paul's Cross, for refusing to answer.</p> + +<p>How long the delinquents were kept in captivity is very doubtful. +Little else is recorded of either of them during the next two years; +but, at the time of their trial in 1627, they would seem to have been +at liberty. The reason of this long interval between the trial in the +Court of High Commission in 1625 and that before the same Court in +1627 seems inexplicable.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61" /><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>Cabala</i>, p. 281.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62" /><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> <i>Cabala</i>, p. 282.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63" /><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXXXII, No. 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64" /><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 41</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65" /><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Innocent Lanier was one of the King's musicians.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66" /><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>MSS. of the House of Lords</i>, 228, 30th April, 1675. +<i>Hist. Com. MSS.</i>, Ninth Report, Part II., p. 50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67" /><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68" /><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 65, 16th +February, 1625.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69" /><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, No. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70" /><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXXXIV., Nos. 7 and 7.1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71" /><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72" /><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> <i>Camden, Complete History of England</i>, Vol. II., p. 791 +(ed. 1719).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73" /><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>Memorials of the English Affairs</i>, etc., p. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74" /><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXXXIV., No. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75" /><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, Charles I., Vol. XXVI., No. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76" /><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> This looks like an anticipation of Mesmer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77" /><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., Vol. CLXXXV., No. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78" /><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, James I., No. 99.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p class="center">"Let us give great Praise to God, and little Laud to the Devil."</p> +<blockquote class="note"> +(Grace said by the Court Jester, Archie Armstrong, when he +had begged to act as chaplain, in the absence of that +official, at the dinner-table of Charles I. Archbishop Laud +was little in stature.) +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="sc">The</span> following account of the trial of Lady Purbeck in 1627 is given by +Archbishop Laud:—<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79" /><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<p>"Now the Cause of <i>Sir Robert Howard</i> was this: He fell in <i>League</i> +with the <i>Lady Viscountess Purbeck. </i> The <i>Lord Viscount Purbeck</i> +being in some weakness and distemper, the Lady used him at her +pleasure, and betook her self in a manner, wholly to Sir Robert +Howard, and had a Son by him. She was delivered of this Child in a +Clandestine way, under the Name of <i>Mistress Wright</i>. These things +came to be known, and she was brought into the <i>High-Commission</i>, and +there, after a Legal Proceeding, was found guilty of <i>Adultery</i>, and +sentenced to do <i>Pennance</i>: Many of the great Lords of the Kingdom +being present in Court, and agreeing to the Sentence."</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span> +A marginal note states that there were present Sir Thomas Coventry, +the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, the Earls of Manchester, Pembroke, +Montgomery and Dorset, Viscount Grandison, five Bishops, two Deans and +several other dignitaries, clerical and legal.</p> + +<p>Laud continues: "Upon this Sentence she withdrew her-self, to avoid +the Penance. This Sentence passed at <i>London-House,</i> in Bishop +<i>Mountains</i> time, <i>Novemb. 19. An. Dom. 1627</i>. I was then present, as +Bishop of <i>Bath</i> and <i>Wells</i>."</p> + +<p>The sentence in question was that Lady Purbeck was to be separated +from her husband, and that she should do penance, bare-footed, and +clad in a white sheet, in the chapel of the Savoy; but a decree of +divorce was not given.</p> + +<p>No attempt shall be made here to excuse or palliate the sins of Lady +Purbeck; but it may be observed in relation to Laud's mention of her +having been found guilty of adultery by the Court, that, although she +might be guilty of that offence according to the civil law, she was +not guilty of it morally; because her so-called marriage was no +marriage at all, since she was forced into it against her will.</p> + +<p>It cannot be a matter for surprise that Lady Purbeck "withdrew +herself" rather than do penance, barefooted, in a white sheet in a +fashionable church, and before a crowded congregation, for a crowd +there would certainly have been to enjoy the spectacle of the public +penance of a Viscountess. For some time +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" id="page104"></a>[pg 104]</span> +her place of withdrawal or, +to speak plainly, her place of hiding, was undiscovered. As we have +seen, she was sentenced on the 19th of November. She was not arrested; +but she was commanded to "present herself" on a certain Sunday at the +Savoy chapel, to perform her public penance. As might have been +expected, she did not present herself, to the great disappointment of +a large congregation, and she thereby exposed herself to arrest. The +officials did not discover her place of retreat until about Christmas. +The following story of an incident that then happened in connection +with this matter is told by Sir John Finett.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80" /><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<p>A serjeant-at-arms, accompanied by other officers of justice and their +men, proceeded to the house in which Lady Purbeck was concealed, and +at once guarded every door into the street; but admittance was +refused, and the Countess of Buckingham sent "a gentleman" to the +"Ambassador of Savoy," whose garden adjoined that of the house in +which Lady Purbeck was staying, to beg the Ambassador that he would +allow the officers to pass through his house and garden into the +garden of Lady Purbeck's house of refuge "for her more easy +apprehension and arrest that way."</p> + +<p>The Ambassador refused, considering it an indignity to be asked to +allow men of such a type a free passage through his house, and feeling +horrified at the idea of lending assistance to "the surprise and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span> +arrest of a fair lady, his neighbour." After many protests, however, +he consented to the entrance of one constable into his garden, and the +man was to avail himself of an opportunity which, said the Ambassador, +would occur at dinner-time, of passing into the garden of the next +house and arresting Lady Purbeck.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the Ambassador called his page, "a handsome fair boy," +and, with the help of his attendants, dressed him in women's clothes. +He then ordered his coach to be brought round, and when it came, his +attendants, ostentatiously, but with a show of great hurry and fear of +discovery, ran out of the house with the sham-lady and "thrust her +suddenly into" the carriage, which immediately drove off.</p> + +<p>The constable, congratulating himself upon his sharpness in +discovering, as he thought, the escape of Lady Purbeck, at once gave +the alarm to his followers outside. The coach "drove fast down the +Strand, followed by a multitude of people, and those officers, not +without danger to the coachman, from their violence, but with ease to +the Ambassador, that had his house by this device cleaned of the +constable."</p> + +<p>While all this turmoil was going on in the Strand, Lady Purbeck went +quietly away to another place of hiding; but her escape got the +gallant and kind-hearted Ambassador into great trouble. Buckingham was +enraged when he heard of the trick. Sir John Finett shall himself tell +us what followed. Buckingham, he says, declared that "all this was + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span> +done of designe for the ladies escape, (which in that hubbub she +made), to his no small prejudice and scorn, in a business that so +nearly he said concerned him, (she being wife to his brother), and +bringing him children of anothers begetting; yet such as by the law +(because begotten and born while her husband was in the land) must be +of his fathering.</p> + +<p>"The ambassador for his purgation from this charge, went immediately +to the Duke at Whitehall, but was denied accesse: Whereupon repairing +to my Lord Chamberlain for his mediation, I was sent to him by his +lordship, to let him know more particularly the Duke's displeasure, +and back by the ambassador to the Duke with his humble request but of +one quarter of an hours audience for his disblaming. But the duke +returning answer, that having always held him so much his friend and +given him so many fair proofs of his respects, he took his proceeding +so unkindly, as he was resolved not to speak with him. I reported this +to the ambassador, and had for his only answer, what reason cannot do, +time will. Yet, after this the Earls of Carliel and Holland +interposing; the ambassador, (hungry after his peace from a person of +such power, and regarding his masters service and the public affairs), +he a seven night after obtained of the duke an interview in Whitehall +garden, and after an hours parley, a reconciliation."</p> + +<p>As has just been seen, the officers of the law lost sight of Lady +Purbeck. So also, for the present do we; but we know what became of +her; for she was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span> +taken by Sir Robert Howard to his house at Clun, in +the extreme south-west of Shropshire, where a small promontory of that +county is bordered by Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Herefordshire. +It is probable that, so long as she was far away from the Court and +from London, Buckingham and the authorities took no trouble to find +her or her paramour, and almost connived at their escape.</p> + +<p>During their absence from our view, it may add to the interest of our +story to observe the conditions at that time of some of the other +characters who have figured in it, and to consider certain +circumstances of the period at which we are halting. Looking back a +little way, we shall find that King James, who we noticed was so ill +as to be only just able to sign an order connected with the +proceedings against Lady Purbeck, died in March, 1625, and that the +very correct Charles I. was King during the subsequent proceedings.</p> + +<p>Going further back still, we find that Bacon, who had succeeded in +overthrowing Coke, was himself overthrown in 1621, three years after +the marriage of Coke's daughter to Sir John Villiers, and shortly +after Bacon himself had been created Viscount St. Albans. Bacon was +impeached on charges of official corruption, and his old enemy, Sir +Edward Coke, who was then a member of Parliament, was to have had the +pleasure of conducting the impeachment. Coke, however, was deprived of +that gratification by Bacon's plea of Guilty, and was obliged to +content +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108"></a>[pg 108]</span> +himself with attending the Speaker to the bar of the House of +Lords when judgment was to be prayed, and with hearing the Chief +Justice, by order of the Lords, condemn Bacon to a fine of £40,000, +incapacity ever to hold any office again, exile from Court, and +imprisonment in the Tower during the King's pleasure.</p> + +<p>It was generally supposed that the exultant Coke would now be offered +the Great Seal; but, to the astonishment of the world and to Coke's +unqualified chagrin, the King proclaimed Williams, "a shrewd Welsh +parson," as Lord Campbell calls him, Lord Keeper in the place of +Bacon. After this disappointment, Coke became even fiercer against the +Court than he had been before Bacon's disgrace. Bacon's fine was +remitted, "the King's pleasure" as to the length of his imprisonment +was only four days, he was allowed to return to Court, and he was +enabled to interest himself with the literary pursuits which he loved +better than law and almost as much as power; but he was harassed by +want of what, perhaps, he may have loved most of all, namely money, +and he died in 1626, five years after his fall and condemnation.</p> + +<p>Although Buckingham was at the summit of his glory, everything did not +go well with him during the period at which he was scheming to rid his +brother of Lady Purbeck. In 1623 he went to Spain with Prince Charles +to arrange a marriage with the Infanta, a match which he failed to +bring about. In +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span> + 1626 he was impeached, though unsuccessfully, by the +House of Commons. In 1627 he commanded an expedition to the Isle of +Rhé against the French, on behalf of the Huguenots, and completely +failed in the attempt. In 1628 a new Parliament threw the blame upon +him of all the troubles and drawbacks from which the country was then +suffering; and, in August, the same year, he was murdered by an +assassin less than twelve months after he had succeeded in his +proceedings against Lady Purbeck.</p> + +<p>It was not until shortly after the death of Bacon that his rival, Sir +Edward Coke, reached the zenith of his fame as a politician. Only a +few months before the death of Buckingham, Coke framed the celebrated +Petition of Rights, a document which has often been spoken of as the +second <i>Magna Charta</i>. He had gained little through his attempt to +bribe Buckingham by giving his daughter and her wealth to Buckingham's +brother, and he was now exasperated against the royal favourite and +that favourite's royal master. "In the House of Commons, Sir Ed. +Coke," says Whitelock in his <i>Memorials</i><a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81" /><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> "named the Duke to be the +cause of all their miseries, and moves to goe to the King, and by word +to acquaint him." Rushworth writes<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82" /><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> more fully of this speech of +Coke's. "Sir Edward Cook spake freely.... 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, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span> +we shall never go out with honour, or sit with honour here; that man +is the Grievance of Grievances: let us set down the causes of all our +disasters, and all will reflect upon him." And Coke was as bitter +against the King. A little later Charles I. had issued a warrant for a +certain commission, when, in a conference with the Lords, Coke +moved<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83" /><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> "That the Warrant may be damned and destroyed."</p> + +<p>After the prorogation of Parliament which soon followed, Coke retired +into private life and lived at Stoke Pogis, where he is supposed to +have encouraged his neighbour, Hampden, in his plots against the +Court.</p> + +<p>In the year 1632 Lady Purbeck left Sir Robert Howard to live with and +take care of her father. She probably went to him on hearing that he +had been seriously hurt by a fall from his horse. In his diary<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84" /><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> +Coke thus describes this accident: "The 3rd of May, 1632, riding in +the morning in Stoke, between eight and nine o'clock to take the air, +my horse under me had a strange stumble backwards and fell upon me +(being above eighty years old) where my head lighted near to sharp +stubbles, and the heavy horse upon me." He declares that he suffered +"no hurt at all;" but, as a matter of fact, he received an internal +injury.</p> + +<p>Lord Campbell says that, from this time "his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span> +only domestic solace was +the company of his daughter, Lady Purbeck, whom he had +forgiven,—probably from a consciousness that her errors might be +ascribed to his utter disregard of her inclinations when he concerted +her marriage. She continued piously to watch over him till his death."</p> + +<p>Lady Elizabeth was never reconciled to her husband. On the contrary, +she seems to have been very anxiously awaiting his death in order to +take possession of Stoke Pogis. Garrard, in a letter<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85" /><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> to Lord +Deputy Strafford written in 1633, says: "Sir Edward Coke was said to +be dead, all one morning in Westminster Hall, this term, insomuch that +his wife got her brother, Lord Wimbledon, to post with her to Stoke, +to get possession of that place; but beyond Colebrook they met with +one of his physicians coming from him, who told her of his much +amendment, which made them also return to London; some distemper he +had fallen into for want of sleep, but is now well again." Lady +Elizabeth's keen disappointment may be readily imagined.</p> + +<p>It is not likely that the couple of years spent by Lady Purbeck with +her father can have been very pleasant ones. He was bad-tempered, +ill-mannered, cantankerous and narrow-minded, and he must also have +been a dull companion; for beyond legal literature he had read but +little. Lord Campbell says: "He shunned the society of" his +contemporaries, "Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, as of <i>vagrants</i> who + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span> +ought to be set in the stocks, or whipped from tithing to tithing."</p> + +<p>Nor can Lady Purbeck have found him a very tractable patient. He had +no faith in either physicians or physic. Mead wrote<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86" /><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a>to Sir Martin +Stuteville: "Sir Edward Coke being now very infirm in body, a friend +of his sent him two or three doctors to regulate his health, whom he +told that he had never taken physic since he was born, and would not +now begin; and that he had now upon him a disease which all the drugs +of Asia, the gold of Africa, nor all the doctors of Europe could +cure—old age. He therefore both thanked them and his friend that sent +them, and dismissed them nobly with a reward of twenty pieces to each +man." Doubtless a troublesome invalid for a daughter to manage.</p> + +<p>At last it became apparent that the end was rapidly approaching, and +then Lady Purbeck was subjected to a most embarrassing annoyance. Two +days before her father's death she was summoned from his bedside to +receive Sir Francis Windebank, the Secretary of State, who had arrived +at the house, accompanied by several attendants, bringing in his hand +an order from the King and Council to search Sir Edward Coke's mansion +for seditious papers and, if any were found, to arrest him.</p> + +<p>Sir Francis, on hearing the critical condition of Sir Edward, assured +Lady Purbeck that he would give her father no personal annoyance; but +he insisted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span> +on searching all the rooms in the house except that in +which Coke was lying; and he carried away every manuscript that he +could find, including even Sir Edward's will—a depredation which +subsequently caused his family great inconvenience. It is believed +that Coke was kept in ignorance of this raid upon his house, probably +by the care and vigilance of Lady Purbeck. Thus his last hours were +undisturbed, and on the 3rd of September, 1634, in the 83rd year of +his age, died one of the most disagreeable men of his times, but the +most incorruptible judge in a period of exceptional judicial +corruption.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79" /><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>The History of the Troubles and Tryal of the most +Reverend Father in God, and Blessed Martyr, William Laud, Archbishop +of Canterbury</i>. Wrote by Himself, during his Imprisonment in the +Tower: London, R. Chiswell, 1695, p. 146.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80" /><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> <i>Finetti Philoxenis</i>, London, 1636, p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81" /><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> P. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82" /><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a><i>Historical Collections</i>, p. 607 (ed. 1659).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83" /><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Rushworth's <i>Collections</i>, p. 616.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84" /><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Campbell, Vol. I., p. 334.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85" /><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> <i>Strafford Letters</i>, I., p. 265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86" /><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Harleian MS. 390, fol. 534.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The circle smil'd, then whisper'd, and then sneer'd,<br /></span> +<span>The misses bridled, and the matrons frown'd;<br /></span> +<span>Some hoped things might not turn out as they fear'd:<br /></span> +<span>Some would not deem such women could be found,<br /></span> +<span>Some ne'er believed one half of what they heard:<br /></span> +<span>Some look'd perplex'd, and others look'd profound."<br /></span> +<span class="i14"><i>Don Juan</i>, ix., 78.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><span class="sc">Soon</span> after the death of Sir Edward Coke, up to the date of which event +his daughter had apparently been taking care of him with great filial +piety for two years and living a virtuous life, she came to London. +About this coming to London Archbishop Laud must be allowed to have +his say,<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87" /><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> albeit not altogether a pleasant say:—</p> + +<p>"They," <i>i.e.</i>, Sir Robert Howard and Lady Purbeck, "grew to such +boldness, that he brought her up to London and lodged her in +Westminster. This was so near the Court and in so open view, that the +King and the Lords took notice of it, as a thing full of Impudence, +that they should so publickly adventure to outface the Justice of the +Realm, in so fowl a business. And one day, as I came of course to wait +on his Majesty, he took me aside, and told +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> +me of it, being then +Archbishop of Canterbury; and added, that it was a great reproach to +the Church and Nation; and that I neglected my Duty, in case I did not +take order for it. I made answer, she was a Wife of a Peer of the +Realm; and that without his leave I could not attach her; but that now +I knew his Majesty's pleasure, I would do my best to have her taken, +and brought to Penance, according to the sentence against her. The +next day I had the good hap to apprehend both her and Sir Robert; and +by order of the High-Commission-Court, Imprisoned her in the +Gate-House and him in the Fleet. This was (as far as I remember) upon +a Wednesday; and the Sunday sevennight after, was thought upon to +bring her to Penance. She was much troubled at it, and so was he."</p> + +<p>In the <i>Strafford Papers</i><a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88" /><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> there is a letter to the Lord Deputy +from Garrard, in which he says that, after Lady Purbeck's sentence +some years earlier, she had evaded it by flight and had "not been much +looked after since;" but that "this winter she lodged herself on the +Water side over against Lambeth, I fear too near the road of the +Archbishop's barge; whereof some complaint being made, she had the +Sergeant at Arms sent with the warrant of the Lords and the Council to +carry her to the Gate-House, whence she will hardly get out until she +hath done her penance. The same night was a warrant sent signed by the +Lords, to the Warden of the Fleet, to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span> +take Sir Robert Howard at +Suffolk House, and to carry him to the Fleet; but there was never any +proceeding against him, for he refused to take the oath <i>ex-officio</i>, +and had the Parliament to back him out, but I fear he will not escape +so now."</p> + +<p>It is open to those who may like to do so to take Laud's words as +meaning that Lady Purbeck and Sir Robert Howard were again living +together in immorality. Possibly that may have been Laud's meaning. If +it was, he may have been mistaken. The world is seldom very charitable +and, when Sir Robert and Lady Purbeck were both in London—which was +comparatively a small place in those days—the gossips would naturally +put the worst construction on the matter. If the very proper Charles +I. heard such rumours, he would most likely believe them; so also +would Laud.</p> + +<p>From the meagre evidence existing on the question, there is much—the +present writer thinks most—to be said in favour of the theory that +the relations of Lady Purbeck to Sir Robert Howard were, at this time, +perfectly innocent, and that they had been so ever since she had left +him to live with her father, two years earlier. To begin with, is it +likely that if, after so long a separation, the pair had wished to +resume their illicit intercourse, they would have chosen London as the +place in which to do so? Sir Robert may, or may not, have obtained for +Lady Purbeck her lodging. If he did, there was not necessarily any +harm in that. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span> +</p> + +<p>Then the fact of Lady Purbeck's returning openly to London looks as if +she was conscious of innocence since she had left Sir Robert a couple +of years earlier, and as if she believed that the innocence of her +recent life was generally known. And, indeed, she might naturally +suppose that because, as Garrard wrote, she "had not been much looked +after" by the authorities, when she had gone into the country to +continue her offence many years earlier, she was perfectly safe in +returning to London now that she was living a life of virtue.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert Howard, says Garrard's letter, was sought for and taken at +Suffolk House, the London home of his brother, whereas Lady Purbeck +was taken at, and living at, a house "on the Water side, over against +Lambeth." This does not absolutely prove that they were not living +together; but it is certainly evidence in that direction.</p> + +<p>Again, although it is possible that the King and Laud may have +believed in the revival of the criminal intercourse between Lady +Purbeck and Sir Robert, it is equally possible that they did not, and +that they merely considered it "boldness" and a "thing full of +Impudence" to "publickly adventure to outface the Justice of the +Realm," when a woman under sentence to do public penance for grave +immorality—a woman who had fled to a remote part of the country to +escape from that penance—came back to London and took up her quarters +"so near the Court, and in so open view," as if nothing had happened; +and that, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118"></a>[pg 118]</span> +as the sentence had never been repealed, they thought it +ought to be executed.</p> + +<p>It might even be contended that the conduct of the King and Laud looks +in favour of the innocence of Lady Purbeck, at that time; for, if they +had had any evidence of a fresh offence, far from being content with +executing the sentence for the old transgression, they would probably, +if not certainly, have prosecuted her again for the new one, and have +either added to the severity of the first sentence, or passed a second +to follow it, as a punishment for the second crime.</p> + +<p>Be all this as it may, one thing is certain, namely, that the King and +Laud were determined to carry out the sentence which had been passed +some seven or eight years earlier, now that the escaped convict had +had what Laud calls the "Impudence" to come to the capital; and it +appears that Sir Robert was to be proceeded against in the Star +Chamber upon the old charge.</p> + +<p>Apart from any concern on his own account, Sir Robert was greatly +distressed that Lady Purbeck should be exposed to public punishment +for an offence of the past, of which he himself was at least equally +guilty. In the hope of saving her from it, he took into his counsel " +Sir ... of Hampshire," some friend whose name is illegible in Laud's +MS.</p> + +<p>We must now turn attention, for a little time, elsewhere. The first +Earl of Danby was a man of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> +great respectability, and he had +distinguished himself in arms, both on sea and on land. He was a +Knight of the Garter and the Governor of Guernsey, and he had been +Lord President of Munster. He had always done those things that he +ought to have done, with as great a regularity as his attainted elder +brother, Sir Charles Danvers, had done those things that he ought not +to have done.</p> + +<p>This paragon of a bachelor, at the age of sixty-two, received a visit +at his Government House in Guernsey from a youth who requested a +private interview. This having been granted, the boy, to the +astonishment of Lord Danby, proclaimed himself to be his Lordship's +cousin, Frances, Lady Purbeck.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89" /><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>In a former chapter we saw that Lady Purbeck had escaped from +punishment through the medium of a boy dressed up like a woman. The +process had now been reversed: for she had escaped from the +Gate-House—a woman dressed up like a boy. The Sir Somebody Something +of Hampshire, says Laud, "with Money, corrupted the Turn-Key of the +Prison (so they call him) and conveyed the Lady Forth, and after that +into France in Man's Apparel (as that Knight himself hath since made +his boast). This was told me the Morning after the escape: And you +must think, the good Fellowship of the Town was glad of it." Lady +Purbeck, however, did not go first into France. As we have seen, she +went to Guernsey and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span> +placed herself under the protection of her old +cousin, Lord Danby.</p> + +<p>That old cousin must have wished devoutly that she had placed herself +anywhere else. For the Governor of one of the King's islands to +receive and to shelter a criminal flying from justice was a very +embarrassing position. On the other hand, to refuse protection to a +helpless lady, and that lady a kinswoman, much more to betray her into +the hands of her enemies, would have been an act from which any +honourable man might well shrink. The possibility that it might be +discovered in the island that he was entertaining a woman in male +attire must also have been an annoying uncertainty to the immaculate +Governor of Guernsey. Over the details of this perplexing situation +history has kindly thrown a veil; indeed, we learn nothing further +about Lady Purbeck's proceedings until we read, in the already noticed +letter of Garrard's, that she landed at St. Malo, whence she +eventually went to Paris.</p> + +<p>It seems safe to infer that whatever protection and hospitality her +relative, Lord Danby, may have afforded to Lady Purbeck, he was +heartily glad to get rid of her. If she had originally intended to go +to Paris, she would scarcely have made the long voyage of nearly two +hundred miles out of her way to Guernsey, and the most natural +explanation of that voyage is that she had hoped and expected to +obtain concealment, hospitality, and a refuge in the house of her +relative. Instead of conceding her these privileges for any +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span> +length of +time, Lord Danby evidently speeded the parting guest with great +celerity.</p> + +<p>While all this was going on, Sir Robert Howard remained under arrest +in London. Laud, writing of Lady Purbeck's escape, says: "In the mean +time, I could not but know, though not perhaps prove as then, that Sir +Robert Howard laboured and contrived this conveyance. And thereupon in +the next sitting of the High-Commission, Ordered him to be close +Prisoner, till he brought the Lady forth. So he continued Prisoner +about some two or three months."</p> + +<p>It may be observed here that some years later, in fact in the year +1640, Sir Robert Howard turned the tables upon Laud for this +transaction. "On Munday, December 21," wrote Laud in 1640, "upon a +Petition of Sir Robert Howard, I was condemned to pay Five Hundred +Pounds unto him for false Imprisonment. And the Lords Order was so +strict, that I was commanded to pay him the Money presently, or give +Security to pay it in a very short time. I payed it, to satisfie the +Command of the House: but was not therein so well advised as I might +have been, being Committed for Treason." Laud was at that time a +prisoner in the Tower, only to leave it for execution. In addition to +this £500, Sir Robert was ordered to have a fine of £250 paid to him +by the sorcerer, Lambe, and another fine of £500 by a man named +Martin;<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90" /><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> so altogether, the Long Parliament assigned him,£1,250 +damages. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span> +</p> + +<p>In a letter to the Lord Deputy, dated 24th June, 1635,<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91" /><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Garrard +says: "Sir Robert Howard, after one month's close imprisonment in the +Fleet, obtained his liberty, giving £2,000 bond never more to come at +Lady Purbeck, wherein he stands bound alone; but for his appearance +within 30 days, if he be called, two of his brothers stand bound for +him in £1,500, so I hope there is an end of the business."</p> + +<p>On the 30th of July, 1635, the same correspondent wrote of Lady +Purbeck's being "in some part of France, where I wish she may stay, +but it seems not good so to the higher powers: for there is of late an +express messenger sent to seek her with the Privy Seal of his Majesty +to summon her into England, within six weeks after the receipt +thereof, which if she do not obey, she is to be proceeded against +according to the laws of this Kingdom."</p> + +<p>In a letter<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92" /><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> from the "Rev. Mr. Thomas Garrard to the Lord Deputy," +dated 27th April, 1637, there is an announcement which may surprise +some readers:—</p> + +<p>"Another of my familiar acquaintance has gone over to that Popish +religion, Sir Robert Howard, which I am very sorry for. My Lady +Purbeck left her country and religion both together, and since he will +not leave thinking of her, but live in that detestable sin, let him go +to that Church for absolution, for comfort he can find none in ours." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span> +</p> + +<p>Now, "the Reverend Mr. Garrard" can scarcely have known what Sir +Robert would, or would not, "leave thinking of," and, as to his living +"in that detestable sin," he and his fellow-sinner had not been even +in the same country for nearly two years at the time when Garrard was +writing; and, as we have already shown, the unlikelihood of their +having committed the sin in question for another couple of years +before that may be more than plausibly argued. And it should be +remembered that these two people could have no object in becoming +Catholics, unless they received the benefits of the Sacraments of the +Catholic Church; and as Catholics, they would believe that their +confessions would be sacrileges, their absolutions invalid, and their +communions the "eating and drinking their own damnation," unless they +confessed their immoralities among their other sins, with a firm +purpose never to commit them again.</p> + +<p>It is clear, therefore, that when they became Catholics Sir Robert +Howard and Lady Purbeck must have determined never to resume their +illicit intercourse; and, so far as is known, they never did so. In a +letter to Secretary Windebanke written from Paris, in July, 1636, Lord +Scudamore, after saying something about Lady Purbeck, adds: "She +expects every day Sir Robert Howard here:" but this must have been +mere gossip, for Scudamore cannot have been in the confidence of that +fugitive from England, Lady Purbeck, as he was English Ambassador at +Paris; moreover, he was a particular +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id="page124"></a>[pg 124]</span> +ally of Archbishop Laud,<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93" /><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> +therefore, not likely to have relations with an escaped prisoner of +Laud's; although, as we shall presently find, another, although very +different, friend of Laud took her part. Nor is there anything to show +that Sir Robert Howard went to Paris.</p> + +<p>Respecting the matter of Sir Robert's submission to the Catholic +Church, the Reverend Mr. Garrard was perfectly right in saying: "Let +him go to that Church for absolution, for comfort he can find none in +ours." Whether the Catholic religion is the worst of religions or the +best of religions, it is the religion to which those in grievous +trouble, whether through misfortune or their own fault, most +frequently have recourse; a religion which offers salvation and solace +even to the adulterer, the thief, the murderer, or the perpetrator of +any other crimes, on condition of contrition and firm purpose of +amendment.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94" /><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87" /><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> <i>History of the Troubles and Tryal of Archbishop Laud</i> +(ed. 1695), p. 146.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88" /><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Vol. I., p. 390, 17th March, 1635.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89" /><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> <i>Strafford Papers</i>, Vol. I., p. 447. Letter from Garrard +to the Lord Deputy, dated 30th July, 1635.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90" /><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Lingard, Vol. VII., Chap. V.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91" /><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> <i>Strafford Letters</i>, Vol. I., p. 434.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92" /><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. II., p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93" /><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> "The remarkably studious, pious, and hospitable life he +led, made him respected & esteemed by all good men, especially by +Laud, who generally visited him in going to & from his Diocese of St. +David's & found his entertainment as kind and full of respect as ever +he did from any friend" (Burke's <i>Dormant and Extinct Peerages</i>, p. +483).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94" /><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> In <i>Coles' MSS.</i>, Vol. XXXIII., p. 17, may be found the +following note, after a mention of Lady Purbeck: "Sir Robert Howard +died April 22, 1653, and was buried at Clunn in Shropshire, leaving +issue by Catherine Nevill, his Wife, 3 sons, who, I presume, he +married after the Lady Purbeck's death which happened 8 years before +his own. The Epitaph in my Book in Folio of Lichfield, lent me by Mr. +Mitton. Sir Robert was 5th Son to Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, Lord +Treasurer of England."</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125"></a>[pg 125]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"O must the wretched exile ever mourn,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Nor after length of rolling years return?"<br /></span> +<span class="i18"><span class="sc">Dryden.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="sc">Lady Purbeck</span> was not to be left in peace in Paris. As Garrard had +said, a writ was issued commanding her to return to England upon her +allegiance, and it was sent to Paris by a special messenger who was +ordered to serve it upon her, if he could find her. The matter was +placed in the hands of the English Ambassador, and he describes what +followed in a letter<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95" /><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> from Paris to the Secretary of State in +England:—</p> + +<p>"Rt. Honble.</p> + +<p>"Your honours letters dated the 7th March—I received the 21 the same +style by the Courrier sent to serve his Majesties writt upon the Lady +Viscountesse Purbecke. They came to me about 11 of the clock in the +Morning. Upon the instant of his coming to me I sent a servant of myne +own to show him the house, where the Lady lived publiquely, and in my +neighbourhood." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126"></a>[pg 126]</span> +</p> + +<p>The business in hand, it will be observed, was not to arrest Lady +Purbeck, but simply to serve the writ upon her: a duty which proved +not quite so simple as might be supposed. On arriving at the house in +which Lady Purbeck was living, "the Courrier taking off his Messengers +Badge knocked at the doore to gett in. There came a Mayd to the doore +that would not open it, but peeped through a grating and asked his +businesse. He sayd, he was not in such hast but he could come againe +to-morrow. But the Mayd and the rest of the household having charge +not to open the doore, but to suche as were well knowne, the Messenger +could not gett in."</p> + +<p>This first failure would not in itself have much alarmed the +Ambassador; but he says: "In the afternoone, I understood that the +Lady had received notice 15 days before, that a privy seale was to +come for her, which had caused her ever since to keep her house +close."</p> + +<p>This made him nervous, and he tried to push the matter with greater +speed.</p> + +<p>"We endeavoured by severall ways," he wrote, "to have gotten the +Messenger into the house. But having considered and tryed till the +next day in the afternoone, we grew very doubtfull that the Messenger +might be suspected and that the Lady might slip away from that place +of her residence that night."</p> + +<p>Unless the writ could be properly served upon her, proceedings against +her could not be carried out in England, and, once out of the house in +which she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127"></a>[pg 127]</span> +now was known, or at least believed, to be, so slippery a +lady, as she had already proved herself, would be very difficult to +find. To effect an entrance into the house and to serve the writ upon +her personally was evidently impossible, and the only alternative was +to make sure that she was in the house and then to put the writ into +it in such a way that she could not avoid learning of its presence. +Therefore, says the Ambassador, "I directed this Bearer to put the Box +with the Privy Seale in it through some pane of a lower window into +the house and leaving it there to putt on his Badge, and knocking at +the doore of the house, if they would not suffer him to enter, then to +tell that party, whoe should speak to him at the dore, that he was +sent from the K. of Grate Britaine to serve his Majesties Privy Seale +upon the Lady Viscountess Purbeck, and that in regard he could not be +admitted in, he had left the Privy seale in a Box in such a place of +the house, and that in his Majesties name he required the Lady Purbeck +to take notice thereof at her perill." So far as getting the Privy +Seal inside the house was concerned, all went well. "The Messenger +being there, found an upper windowe neath the casements open, and +threw up the Box with the Privy seale in it through that windowe into +a Chamber, which some say is the Ladies Dining Roome, others, that it +is a Chamber of a Man servant waiting upon her."</p> + +<p>The writ was now safely lodged in the house; but the Ambassador had +ordered the messenger to take +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" id="page128"></a>[pg 128]</span> +care to call the attention of some one +in it to the fact that the writ was there. Unfortunately, says the +Ambassador, this part of his instructions had been neglected. "The +Courrier returnes to me. And finding that he had forgotten to speake +at the dore as I had directed him, I caused him presently to returne +and to discharge himself in such sort as is above mentioned, which he +will depose he did."</p> + +<p>This was done, but even then something was still left undone; for it +yet remained to be proved that Lady Purbeck was actually in the house +at the time when the writ was thrown into it. The Ambassador conceived +the idea of obtaining such proof by means of a female witness. For +this purpose, he very ingeniously contrived to find a sister of one of +Lady Purbeck's servants, and, no doubt by the promise of a heavy +bribe, he persuaded her to go to the house, to ask to be admitted in +order to speak with her sister, to find out, when there, if Lady +Purbeck was in the house, and, if possible, to see her. This ruse was +singularly successful, for, as will be seen, the first person whom the +girl saw was Lady Purbeck herself.</p> + +<p>"A woman being sent to the house under Colour of speaking with a +sister of hers the Ladies servant, the Ladye herselfe came downe to +the dore, and opening it a little, soe that the woman saw her, she +sayd her sister should have leave to go home to her that night. And +therefore the Lady was in the house at the same time that the place of +her residence was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129"></a>[pg 129]</span> +served. She hath lived in that house about a month, +and there are (as I am informed) no other dwellers in it but herself."</p> + +<p>The writ had now been served, although not into the very hands of Lady +Purbeck yet it was hoped sufficiently in order to satisfy the law. But +all was not yet smooth. The Ambassador wrote:—</p> + +<p>"The morrow after this was done, about midnight, there came some +officers with two coaches and 50 archers to divers houses to search +for the Lady being directed and instructed by a warrant from the +Cardinal that whereas there was a Messenger sent from England to offer +some affront to your Lady Purbeck in diminution of this Kings +jurisdiction, that therefore they should find out the sayd Lady and +protect her."</p> + +<p>This intervention on the part of the French Government made Lord +Scudamore fear lest <i>l'affaire Purbeck</i> might lead to international +complications, and he presently adds: "Coming to the knowledge of this +particular this Morning I thought good to hasten the Messenger out of +the way."</p> + +<p>Fortunately for Lady Purbeck, she was not without a friend in Paris. +About a year before she went there, a curious character had arrived in +the person of Sir Kenelm Digby, a son of the Sir Everard Digby who had +been executed for having been concerned in the Gunpowder Plot. Sir +Kenelm was well known, both at home and abroad. He had stayed at +Madrid with his relative, the Earl of Bristol, at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" id="page130"></a>[pg 130]</span> +the time when +Prince Charles had gone to Spain to woo the Infanta. He had been a +brilliant ornament at the Court of Charles I.; but, like all the +relations of Bristol, he had been hated by Buckingham. Armed with +letters of marque, he had raised a fleet and ravaged the Mediterranean +in the character of a privateer. He was literary, philosophical, +metaphysical and scientific. When he came to Paris his beautiful wife +had been dead a couple of years, and the smart courtier had thrown off +his hitherto splendid attire, had clothed himself in black of the very +plainest, and had allowed his hair and beard to grow as they would, +ragged and untrimmed. Shortly before the arrival of Lady Purbeck in +Paris, Sir Kenelm had declared himself a Catholic; and the fact that +both he and Lady Purbeck had submitted themselves to the Catholic +Church may have formed a bond of union between them. Sir Kenelm soon +contrived to interest Cardinal Richelieu in Lady Purbeck's case, and +not only Richelieu but also the King and the Queen of France.</p> + +<p>A certain "E.R." wrote<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96" /><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> to Sir R. Puckering: "The last week we had +certain news that the Lady Purbeck was declared a papist." And then he +went on to say that Louis XIIIth and the Queen of France, as well as +Cardinal Richelieu, had sent messages or letters to Charles I., +begging him to pardon Lady Purbeck and to allow her to return to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131"></a>[pg 131]</span> + +England. He also said that the French Ambassador at St. James's was +"very zealous in the business." Shortly afterwards he added: "It is +said she is altogether advised by Sir Kenelm Digby, who indeed hath +written over letters to some of his noble friends of the privy +council, wherein he hath set down what a convert this lady is become, +so superlatively virtuous and sanctimonious, as the like hath never +been seen in men or women; and therefore he does most humbly desire +their lordships to farther this lady's peace, and that she may return +into England, for otherwise she does resolve to put herself into some +monastery. I hear his Majesty does utterly dislike that the lady is so +directed by Sir Kenelm Digby, and that she fares nothing better for +it."</p> + +<p>Of course anybody would naturally sneer at the suggestion that the +convert to a religion other than his own could possibly be remarkable +for either virtue or sanctity: but there is no visible reason for +sympathising with the sneers of (E.R.), or for doubting Sir Kenelm +Digby's evidence respecting Lady Purbeck.</p> + +<p>It may be a question whether Lady Purbeck ever intended "to put +herself into some monastery," in the sense of becoming a nun. She did, +however, put herself into a monastery in a very different way. It was, +and still is, the custom in some convents to take in lodgers or +boarders, either for a short time, for a long time, or even for life. +The peace, the quiet, the regularity, and the religious services and +observances at such establishments are attractive to some people, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" id="page132"></a>[pg 132]</span> +especially to those who are in trouble or difficulty. The +disadvantages are that, although the lodgers are perfectly free to go +where they please and to do what they please, they can generally only +get their meals at rigidly appointed hours, that the convent doors are +finally closed at a fixed time, usually a very early one; and that +after that closing time there is no admittance. Practically the latter +arrangement precludes all possibility of society in an evening, and +the present writer knows several Catholics of the most unimpeachable +orthodoxy, zeal, piety and virtue, who have tried living in convents +and monasteries, as boarders, both in Rome and in London, and have +given it up simply on account of those inconveniences. It was, +therefore, very unjust to speak ill of Lady Purbeck for not having +lived in a convent "according to that strictness as was expected," +because she left it. But this was done in the following letter:<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97" /><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> +"The Lady Purbeck is come forth of the English Nunnerie. For, the Lady +Abbess being from home, somebody forgott to provide the Lady Purbeck +her dinner, and to leave the roome open where she used to dine at +night, expostulating with the Abbess, they agreed to part fairely, +which the Abbess was the more willing unto in regard the Lady Purbeck +did not live according to that strictness as was expected. Car. +Richelieu helped her into the Nunnerie." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133"></a>[pg 133]</span> +</p> + +<p>It may be inferred from this letter that Lady Purbeck left the convent +for the simple reason that she was not comfortable in it—even the +"superlatively virtuous" do not like to be dinnerless—and that, +either because she was unpunctual, or because she was inclined to make +complaints, the Abbess was relieved when she took her departure. But +by Scudamore's own showing they parted "fairely;" or, as we should now +say, good friends.</p> + +<p>Among Sir Kenelm Digby's English correspondents, while he was in +Paris, was Lord Conway, a soldier as devoted to literature as to arms, +and a general who always seemed fated to fight under disadvantages. +Shortly after the time with which we are at present dealing, he was +defeated when in command of the King's troops at Newcastle. Meanwhile, +Sir Kenelm was endeavouring to "fit him withal," in the matter of +"curious books," from Paris. As the letter<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98" /><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> from Sir Kenelm to Lord +Conway, about to be quoted, has something in it about Lord Wimbledon, +it may be well to note that he was a brother of Lady Elizabeth Hatton +and therefore an uncle of Lady Purbeck.</p> + +<p>After observing that England has been singularly happy in producing +men like King Arthur and others who performed actions of only moderate +valour or interest, which subsequent ages mistook for great +achievements, he says:— +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span> +</p> + +<p>"But none will be more famous and admirable to our Nevewes(?) than the +noble valiant and ingenious Peer, the Lord Wimbledone, whose +epistle<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99" /><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> exceedeth all that was ever done before by any so +victorious a generall of armies or so provident a governor of townes, +I only lament for it that it was not hatched in a season when it might +have done the honor to Baronius,<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100" /><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> his collections, to have bin +inserted among them.</p> + +<p>"Here is a Lady that he hath reason to detest above all persons in the +worlde, if robbing a man of all the portion of witt, courage, +generousnesse, and other heroicall partes due to him, do meritt such +an inclination of the minde towardes them that have thus bereaved +them: for surely the Genius that governeth that family and that +distributeth to each of them their shares of natures guiftes was +either asleepe, or mistooke (or somewhat else was the cause) when he +gave my Lady of Purbecke a dubble proportion of these and all other +noble endowments, and left her poore Uncle, so naked and unfurnished: +Truly my lord to speake seriously I have not seen more prudence, +sweetinesse, goodnesse, honor and bravery shewed by any woman that I +know, than this unfortunate lady sheweth she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id="page135"></a>[pg 135]</span> +hath a rich stock of. +Besides her naturall endowments, doubtlessly her afflictions adde +much: or rather have polished, refined and heightened what nature gave +her: and you know vexatio dat intellectum. Is it not a shame for you +Peeres (and neare about the king) that you will let so brave a lady +live as she doth in distress and banishment: when her exile serveth +stronger but to conceive scandalously of our nation, that we will not +permit those to live among us who have so much worth and goodnesse as +this lady giveth show off....</p> + +<p class="letterClose1">"Yo. Lo: most humble and affectionate</p> +<p class="letterClose2">"servant,</p> +<p class="letterClose3">"<span class="sc">Kenelm Digby</span>."</p> + +<p>Sir Kenelm, like Scudamore, was on a friendly footing with Lady +Purbeck's chief enemy, Archbishop Laud, but in a very different sense. +When Sir Kenelm was a boy Laud had been his tutor, and a friendship +had sprung up between the master and the pupil which was not broken by +the conversion of the pupil to a religion greatly disliked by the +master. Subsequently, Sir Kenelm gave evidence in favour of his old +tutor, before the Committee appointed to prepare the prosecution of +Laud at his trial, and he sent kind messages to Laud in the Tower. +Unlike Scudamore, however, he was no admirer of Laud's religion or of +his ecclesiastical policy, if indeed of any of his policy.</p> + +<p>Although Sir Kenelm Digby, the King and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span> + Queen of France, Cardinal +Richelieu, and the French Ambassador at the Court of St. James's did +their best to obtain forgiveness for Lady Purbeck, Charles I. was long +obdurate. At first, as we have seen, he had sent a writ commanding her +to return at once to her native country for punishment. When he had +withdrawn that writ, he for some time refused to allow her to return +at all, for any purpose. But troubles were brewing for Charles +himself, and, after Lady Purbeck had spent an exile of some length in +Paris, she was permitted to come to England, without any liability to +stand barefoot in a white sheet for the amusement of the congregation +in a fashionable London church on a Sunday morning.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95" /><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> <i>S.P. For.</i>, Charles I., France. Scudamore to Coke, 25th +March—4th April, 1636. This letter was addressed to Sir John Coke, +the Secretary of State.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96" /><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> <i>Court and Times of Charles I</i>. By D'Israeli, Vol. II., +p. 242.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97" /><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> <i>S.P.</i>, Charles I., France. Scudamore to Windebank, +I/121 July, 1636.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98" /><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> <i>S.P. Dom.</i>, Charles I., Vol. CCCXLIV., No. 58. Sir +Kenelm Digby to Edward Lord Conway and Kilultagh, 21/31 January, +1637.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99" /><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Wimbledon was Governor of Portsmouth and the letter in +question was probably one mentioned by Walpole in his <i>Royal and Noble +Authors</i>, to the Mayor of Portsmouth "reprehending him for the +Townsmen not pulling off their hats to a Statue of the King Charles, +which his Lordship had erected there." Such an "epistle" might well +excite the derision and contempt of Sir Kenelm.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100" /><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> The author of <i>Annales Ecclesiastici</i>.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p class="center">"To err is human, to forgive divine."</p> +<p class="author"><span class="sc">Pope.</span></p> + + +<p><span class="sc">Concerning</span> Lady Purbeck's life, after her return to England, we have +the following evidence from <i>Coles' Manuscripts</i>. Let us observe, +first, that in the extract there is a mistake. It was not Lady +Purbeck, but the wife of her son, whose maiden name was Danvers. +Anybody who may choose to discredit the whole, on account of this +error, can do so if he pleases; but it is certain that Lord Purbeck +"owned the son" and that the son's grandson, "the Rev. Mr. Villiers," +claimed "the Title of Earl of Bucks." Therefore we see no reason for +doubting the statement that Lord Purbeck "took his Wife again." The +"after 16 years" would seem to tally with the undoubted facts.</p> + +<p>"<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101" /><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a>Lady Purbeck's name Danvers; absent from Husband 16 years: had +by Sir Robert Howard one son who married a Bertie, and took the Title +of Lord Purbeck, which Lady Purbeck's will I have. Lord Purbeck after +16 years took his wife again, and owned the Son, which 2nd Lord +Purbeck had one Son, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id="page138"></a>[pg 138]</span> + Father of the Rev. Mr. Villiers, who now claims +the Title of Earl of Bucks. &c."</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that even when Lady Purbeck was being proceeded +against for unfaithfulness to her husband, at the instigation of +Buckingham, she was on friendly terms with Lord Purbeck, and that +Buckingham had considerable difficulty in keeping them apart: +consequently it is the less to be wondered at that Lord Purbeck "took +his wife again," after her return from exile. Not only was Lady +Purbeck now a reformed character, but, like Lord Purbeck, she was a +convert to the Catholic Church; and this would probably make him the +more inclined to receive her again as his wife and to trust her for +the future. At the time of their reunion Lady Purbeck must have been +about forty, and he must have been an oldish man; although not too old +to be a bridegroom, and no longer under suspicion of insanity; for, in +addition to starting a second time as husband to Frances, Lady +Purbeck, it is recorded that after her death, which occurred in five +or six years, he married again,<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102" /><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> and survived his first wife by +twelve years.</p> + +<p>If the beginning of married life a second time, after an interval of +sixteen years—to say nothing of certain awkward incidents which had +transpired in the meantime—may have been a little out of the common, +it is more remarkable still that Lord Purbeck +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span> +should have +acknowledged the boy, Robert Wright, as his son. As was shown in an +earlier chapter, it is just possible that he may have been ignorant of +the fact that the lad was not his own child, or rather, perhaps, that +he refused to believe in that fact. On the other hand, as the boy was +born in wedlock, he had in any case the right to acknowledge him as +such, if he so pleased. That was his concern, not ours, so we need not +cavil at it.</p> + +<p>His doing so may be accounted for by either of the two following +suppositions: namely, that he acknowledged the boy out of affection +for, and to please, his wife—possibly it may have been one of the +inducements held out to persuade her to return to him—or that he +gradually took a fancy to the lad and chose this method of adopting +him. Whatever the cause of his acknowledging the boy may have been, +that acknowledgment encourages the idea that good relations existed +between Lord and Lady Purbeck after what may almost be called their +second marriage, or, perhaps still better called, their first real +marriage with consent on both sides.</p> + +<p>Purbeck called the boy Robert Villiers, and would not allow him to be +spoken of as Robert Wright. When the lad came of age, Lord Purbeck +made him join with himself, as his son and heir, in the conveyance of +some lands, under the name of Robert Villiers,<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103" /><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> the most formal of +legal recognitions.</p> + +<p>It is likely that her life soon became that of an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id="page140"></a>[pg 140]</span> +invalid, for she +died in the year 1645, when staying with her mother at Oxford. In that +year the Court of Charles I. was at this town, which may account for +her own and her mother's presence there. As we saw, in the first +chapter, there is some question as to whether Lady Purbeck was born in +the year 1599 or in 1600, so she may have been either forty-five or +forty-six at the time of her death. Her life, although of very +moderate length, had been one of considerable adventure, which may +have told heavily upon her constitution; if her personal concerns were +peaceful at the time of her death, we know that the conditions of the +King and of the Court, together with the prospects of all of high rank +who were loyal to the Crown, were then causing great anxiety and +excitement at Oxford: and this may well have had a bad effect upon the +health of an invalid.</p> + +<p>Of Lady Purbeck's character much less is recorded than of the +characters of several other leading figures in this story—her father, +her mother, Bacon, Buckingham. We know, however, that she faithfully +nursed during his last two years her surly old father, who had treated +her abominably and spoiled her life; that she never lost the +friendship of Lord Purbeck; that, in her trouble she sought the +consolations of religion in a Church which would require a full +confession of her sins, accompanied by sincere repentance and virtuous +resolutions; that she bore an excellent character in Paris; and that +she spent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id="page141"></a>[pg 141]</span> +her last years with her husband or her mother. It is true +that she had sinned, that she had sinned grievously; but, when we +consider her education under parents who were fighting like cat and +dog, the marriage which was forced upon her, and the dissolute Court +in which she, a singularly beautiful woman, spent the early years of +her married life, we may well hesitate before we look for stones to +cast at her memory.</p> + +<p>And, after all, the only description of her character, of any length, +which we have been able to find, namely, that given by Sir Kenelm +Digby, is highly favourable. If an apology be required for repeating +it, that apology is humbly given.</p> + +<p>After declaring that of "wit, courage, generosity, and other heroic +parts," nature had given Lady Purbeck "a double share," together with +"all other noble endowments," Sir Kenelm says: "I have not seen more +prudence, sweetness, honour and bravery shown by any woman that I +know, than this unfortunate lady showeth she hath such a rich stock +of. Besides her natural endowments, doubtless her afflictions add +much; or rather have polished, refined and heightened, what nature +gave her."</p> + +<p>Even when we have made due allowance for the fact that the pen of Sir +Kenelm Digby was inclined to be a little flowery, sufficient is left +in this description of Lady Purbeck to make her character attractive, +and we know that nature had added to her charms by endowing her with +exceptional beauty. No +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142"></a>[pg 142]</span> +attempt shall be made here to exaggerate +either her attractions or her virtues, much less to extenuate or +minimise her faults; but let us at least forgive the latter.</p> + +<p>There are ladies who call the story of Mary Magdalen "beautiful," yet +would on no consideration tolerate a repetition of even its most +beautiful incidents, in real life. If she now existed, the greatest +concession they would make would be to subscribe towards sending her +to a Home for Fallen Women; or, which is more likely, they would ask +for an order of admission for her from someone else who subscribed to +such an institution. From such we cannot expect a charitable view of +<i>The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck</i>.</p> + +<p>It would be out of place to enter into petty theological questions in +a comparatively trivial work such as this—to inquire, for instance, +into the question whether it may not be as possible to be damned for +detraction as to be damned for adultery; but we may at least believe +that Lady Purbeck spent her later years in contrition for the past and +virtue in the present.</p> + +<p>We have now done with the curious case of Lady Purbeck, and it only +remains to say something about the less curious cases of some of her +descendants.</p> + +<p>It might be supposed that "Robert Wright," who was just of age at the +time of his mother's death, would be proud to bear the name of +Villiers and to be acknowledged as the rightful heir to the estates + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143"></a>[pg 143]</span> +and title of Viscount Purbeck. As time went on, however, he became +ashamed of those privileges.<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104" /><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> The son of a Cavalier, he became a +Roundhead, and three years after the death of his mother he married +one of the daughters and co-heiresses of his relative, Sir John +Danvers, subsequently one of the judges who condemned King Charles I. +to death.</p> + +<p>He eventually obtained a patent from Oliver Cromwell to change his +name for that of his wife, declaring that he hated the name of +Villiers on account of the mischief which several of those who bore it +had done to the Commonwealth; and as to the title of Viscount Purbeck, +he disclaimed it with contempt.</p> + +<p>But before the Commonwealth Robert Danvers, as he even then called +himself, sat in the House of Commons as member for Westbury. When +people want titles, they do not always find it easy to obtain them; +but, when they do not want them, they cannot always get rid of them. +Robert was summoned to the House of Lords, as a peer, to answer the +very serious charge of having said that "he hated the Stuarts and that +if no person could be found to cut off the King's head, he would do it +himself." He refused to attend, on the ground that he was not a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span> +member of the House of Lords but of the House of Commons. This plea +was not allowed, and he was actually compelled to kneel at the bar of +the House of Lords and to beg pardon for his criminal words.</p> + +<p>At the Restoration he remained an obstinate Roundhead, and, instead of +showing any desire to claim the title of Viscount Purbeck, he obtained +permission from Charles II. to levy a fine of his titles in possession +and in remainder. Then he retired to an estate which he owned in the +parish of Houghton in Radnorshire, bearing the curious name of +Siluria. He died in the year 1676, at Calais, and in his will he is +described as "Robert Danvers, alias Villiers, Esq."</p> + +<p>Robert's wife survived him, and, now that he and his idiosyncrasies +were safely out of the way, it occurred to this daughter of a regicide +that "the Right Honourable the Dowager Viscountess Purbeck" would +sound much more euphonious than "the widow Danvers;" +accordingly—solely for the sake of others—she adopted that title. At +the same time, her two sons, Robert and Edward, resumed the name of +Villiers.</p> + +<p>Immediately after the death of his father, Robert, the elder of the +two sons, took as much trouble to get summoned to the House of Lords +as his father had taken to escape from it. He sent a petition on the +subject to Charles II., who referred him to the House of Lords. His +claim was opposed. First, on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id="page145"></a>[pg 145]</span> +ground that his father had barred +his right to honours by the fine which he had levied, <i>i.e.</i>, by +renouncing those honours, and, secondly, on the ground that his father +had not been a son of John Villiers, First Viscount Purbeck, but a son +of Sir Robert Howard. A petition<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105" /><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> against the claim was presented +by the Earl of Denbigh, who professed himself "highly concerned in the +honour of the Duke of Buckingham and his sister, the Duchess of +Richmond & Lennox; Petitioner's mother, Susanna, having been the only +sister of the late Duke of Buckingham," and he prayed "the House to +examine the truth of these assertions, before allowing itself to be +contaminated by illegitimate blood."</p> + +<p>This warning to the Lords against contaminating itself by illegitimate +blood, at a time when Charles II. was constantly enriching it with his +own illegitimate offspring, or what at least purported to be so, is +rather entertaining. On the other hand, in support of the claim, the +claimant's counsel professed to be able to prove the legitimacy of +Robert Villiers, alias Wright.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106" /><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p>The House of Lords after considering the matter petitioned the King to +allow the introduction of a Bill to disable Robert from claiming the +title of Viscount Purbeck: but seven peers opposed this petition +stating in writing that "the said claimant's right ... did, both at +the hearing at the bar and debate in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span> + House, appear to them clear +in fact and law and above all objection." Charles II. replied that he +"would take it into consideration." This appears to have been the last +official word ever pronounced upon the subject, and nobody has since +then been summoned to the House of Lords as Viscount Purbeck.</p> + +<p>The claimant, however, continued to call himself Lord Purbeck. He came +to an early end, being killed in a duel by Colonel Luttrell, at Liège, +when he was only twenty-eight; but he left a son. Nor did this son +only call himself Lord Purbeck, for on the death of the childless +second Duke of Buckingham, of whom Dryden wrote:—<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107" /><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Stiff in opinion—always in the wrong—<br /></span> +<span>Was everything by starts, but nothing long;<br /></span> +<span>Who in the course of one revolving moon<br /></span> +<span>Was chemist, fiddler, statesman and buffoon.<br /></span> +<span>Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking:<br /></span> +<span>Besides a thousand freaks that died in thinking;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>John Villiers, alias Danvers, alias Wright, in addition to the title +of Viscount Purbeck, assumed that of Earl of Buckingham, the reversion +of which had been secured by the first Earl and Duke to his brother +and his heirs, in the case of his own direct heirs failing. This +self-styled Earl squandered his fortune in a life of debauchery, and +then married the daughter of a clergyman, a widow with a large +jointure but about as dissolute in character as himself, which is +saying much. He left no sons. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span> +</p> + +<p>Such claims as there were to the titles of Purbeck and Buckingham then +lay with the Rev. George Villiers, Rector of Chalgrove, in +Oxfordshire. He was the son of Edward, the second son of the boy +christened Robert Wright. In the year 1723, on the death of his +cousin, the so-called Earl of Buckingham, this clergyman put in a +claim to the titles of Earl of Buckingham and Viscount Purbeck; but, +unlike his cousin, he does not appear to have ever "lorded" himself.</p> + +<p>This cleric left a son named George, who also became a parson, and +Vicar of Frodsham in Cheshire. Efforts were made in his youth to +obtain for him a summons to the House of Lords; but, in addition to +the doubtful character of his claims, he was no <i>persona grata</i> to the +King, as he was known to be an ardent Jacobite. As Burke says: +"Republicans during the reign of the Stuarts—Jacobites during the +reign of the Guelphs—this unfortunate family seems always to have had +hold of the wrong end of the stick." As a rule, they appear to have +held that end of it, but certainly it is a rule to which George +Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham, was a remarkable exception.</p> + +<p>The Rev. George Villiers, who still owned property which had been +settled by Sir Edward Coke on his daughter, Lady Purbeck, died without +issue, in 1774, and his brother died a bachelor. The male line of +Villiers, alias Danvers, alias Wright, then expired. We hear no more +of any claims to the Purbeck peerage; henceforward the title which +stands at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148"></a>[pg 148]</span> +the head of this story was no longer to have any place in +living interests. At this point, let us also take leave of it; and the +author hopes that his readers, if ever reminded of this book by the +mention of Lady Purbeck, may not exclaim in the words of a character +in Macbeth:—"The devil himself could not pronounce a title more +hateful to mine ear."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101" /><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> <i>Coles' MSS.</i>, Vol. XXXIII., p. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102" /><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> He married a daughter of Sir William Slingsby of +Kippax, Yorkshire.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103" /><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Burke's <i>Extinct and Dormant Peerages</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104" /><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> The authorities for most of what follows are <i>The +Historical MSS. Commission</i>, Ninth Report, Part II., p. 58; <i>MSS. of +the House of Lords</i>, 30th April, 5th May, and 3rd June, 1675, 14th +March, 16th June, and 9th July, 1678, and Burke's <i>Extinct and Dormant +Peerages</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105" /><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> <i>MSS. of the House of Lords</i>, 228, 30th April, 1675.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106" /><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> <i>MSS. of the House of Lords</i>, 228, 30th April, 1675.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107" /><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> <i>Absalom and Achitophel</i>, line 447, <i>seq.</i></p></div> +</div> +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck +by Thomas Longueville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURIOUS CASE OF LADY PURBECK *** + +***** This file should be named 15257-h.htm or 15257-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/2/5/15257/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck + A Scandal of the XVIIth Century + +Author: Thomas Longueville + +Release Date: March 4, 2005 [EBook #15257] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURIOUS CASE OF LADY PURBECK *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +THE + +CURIOUS CASE + +OF + +LADY PURBECK + +A SCANDAL OF THE XVIITH CENTURY + +BY THE AUTHOR OF + +"THE LIFE OF SIR KENELM DIGBY," "THE ADVENTURES +OF KING JAMES II.," "MARSHAL TURENNE" +"THE LIFE OF A PRIG," ETC. + +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. +39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON +NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA + +1909 + + + + +PREFACE + + +The curious case of Lady Purbeck is here presented without +embellishment, much as it has been found in old books and old +manuscripts, chiefly at the Record Office and at the British Museum. +Readers must not expect to find any "well-drawn characters," "fine +descriptions," "local colour," or "dramatic talent," in these pages, +on each of which Mr. Dry-as-dust will be encountered. Possibly some +writer of fiction, endowed with able hands directed by an imaginative +mind, may some day produce a readable romance from the rough-hewn +matter which they contain: but, as their author's object has been to +tell the story simply, as it has come down to us, and, as much as was +possible, to let the contemporaries of the heroine tell it in their +own words, he has endeavoured to suppress his own imagination, his own +emotions, and his own opinions, in writing it. He has the pleasure of +acknowledging much useful assistance and kind encouragement in this +little work from Mr. Walter Herries Pollock. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I. + PAGE + + Sir Edward Coke--Lady Elizabeth Hatton--Bacon--Marriage of Coke + and Lady Elizabeth--Birth of the Heroine 1 + + CHAPTER II. + + Rivalry of Coke and Bacon--Quarrelling between Coke and Lady + Elizabeth--Coke offends the King and loses his offices--Letter of + Bacon to Coke 10 + + CHAPTER III. + + Coke tries to regain the favour of Buckingham and the King by offering + his daughter to Sir John Villiers--Anger of Lady Elizabeth--Lady + Elizabeth steals away with her daughter 21 + + CHAPTER IV. + + Coke besieges his wife and carries off his daughter--Coke and Winwood + _v_. Lady Elizabeth and Bacon--Charges and counter-charges 30 + + CHAPTER V. + + Lady Elizabeth tries to recover her daughter--Her scheme for a match + between Frances Coke and the Earl of Oxford--Bacon, finding that + he has offended both Buckingham and the King, turns round and + favours the match with Villiers--Trial of Lady Exeter--Imprisonment + of Lady Elizabeth at an Alderman's house 39 + + CHAPTER VI. + + Frances is tortured into consent--The marriage--Lady Elizabeth comes + into royal favour and Coke falls out of it--Lady Elizabeth's + dinner-party to the King--Carleton and his wife quarrel about + her 52 + + CHAPTER VII. + + Buckingham ennobles his own family--Villiers becomes Lord + Purbeck--Purbeck and the Countess of Buckingham become + Catholics--Rumours that Purbeck is insane 64 + + CHAPTER VIII. + + The insanity question--Quite sane--Thought insane again--Letter + from Lady Purbeck to Buckingham--Birth of Robert Wright--Sir + Robert Howard 74 + + CHAPTER IX. + + Proceedings instituted against Sir Robert Howard and Lady + Purbeck--Buckingham's correspondence about them with his + lawyers--Lanier, the King's musician--Buckingham accuses Lady + Purbeck of witchcraft--Dr. Lambe--Laud and witchcraft 83 + + CHAPTER X. + + Trial of Lady Purbeck before the High Commission--The + sentence--Archbishop Laud--The Ambassador of + Savoy--Escape--Clun--Some of our other characters--Lady Purbeck + goes to Stoke Pogis to take care of her father--Death of Coke 102 + + CHAPTER XI. + + Lady Purbeck goes to London--Laud--Arrest of Lady Purbeck and Sir + Robert Howard--Question of her virtue at that time--Lord + Danby--Guernsey--Paris--Sir Robert Howard turns the tables on + Laud--Changes of religion 114 + + CHAPTER XII. + + Lady Purbeck in Paris--The English Ambassador--Serving a writ--Lady + Purbeck at a convent--Sir Kenelm Digby--His letter about + Lady Purbeck--Lady Purbeck returns to England 125 + + CHAPTER XIII. + + Lord Purbeck takes Lady Purbeck back again as his wife--He + acknowledges Robert Wright as his own son--Death of Lady + Purbeck--Retrospect of her life and character--Her + descendants--Claims to the title of Viscount Purbeck 137 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "After this alliance, + Let tigers match with hinds, and wolves with sheep, + And every creature couple with its foe." + DRYDEN. + + +The political air of England was highly charged with electricity. +Queen Elizabeth, after quarrelling with her lover, the Earl of Essex, +had boxed his ears severely and told him to "go to the devil;" +whereupon he had left the room in a rage, loudly exclaiming that he +would not have brooked such an insult from her father, and that much +less would he tolerate it from a king in petticoats. + +This well-known incident is only mentioned to give an idea of the +period of English history at which the following story makes its +start. It is not, however, with public, but with private life that we +are to be here concerned; nor is it in the Court of the Queen, but in +the humbler home of her Attorney-General, that we must begin. In a +humbler, it is true, yet not in a very humble home; for Mr. Attorney +Coke had inherited a good estate from his father, had married an +heiress, in Bridget Paston, who brought him the house and estate of +Huntingfield Hall, in Suffolk, together with a large fortune in hard +cash; and he had a practice at the Bar which had never previously been +equalled. Coke was in great sorrow, for his wife had died on the 27th +of June, 1598, and such was the pomp with which he determined to bury +her, that her funeral did not take place until the 24th of July. In +his memorandum-book he wrote on the day of her death: "Most beloved +and most excellent wife, she well and happily lived, and, as a true +handmaid of the Lord, fell asleep in the Lord and now reigns in +Heaven." Bridget had made good use of her time, for, although she died +at the age of thirty-three, she had, according to Burke, seven +children; but, according to Lord Campbell, ten. + +As Bridget was reigning in Heaven, Coke immediately began to look +about for a substitute to fill the throne which she had left vacant +upon earth. Youth, great personal beauty and considerable wealth, +thought this broken-hearted widower at the age of forty-six, would be +good enough for him, and the weeks since the true handmaid of the Lord +had left him desolate were only just beginning to blend into months, +when he fixed his mind upon a girl likely to fulfil his very moderate +requirements. He, a widower, naturally sought a widow, and, happily, +he found a newly made one. Youth she had, for she was only twenty; +beauty she must have had in a remarkable degree, for she was +afterwards one of the lovely girls selected to act with the Queen of +James I. in Ben Jonson's _Masque of Beauty_; and wealth she had in the +shape of immense estates. + +Elizabeth, grand-daughter of the great Lord Burghley, and daughter of +Burghley's eldest son Thomas Cecil, some years later Earl of Exeter, +had been married to the nephew and heir of Lord Chancellor Hatton. Not +very long after her marriage her husband had died, leaving her +childless and possessed of the large property which he had inherited +from his uncle. This young widow was a woman not only of high birth, +great riches, and exceptional beauty, but also of remarkable wit, and, +as if all this were not enough, she had, in addition, a violent temper +and an obstinate will. This Coke found out in her conduct respecting a +daughter who eventually became Lady Purbeck, the heroine of our little +story. + +Romance was not wanting in the Attorney-General's second wooing; for +he had a rival, whom Lord Campbell in his _Lives of the Chief +Justices_, describes as "then a briefless barrister, but with +brilliant prospects," a man of thirty-five, who happened to be Lady +Elizabeth's cousin. His name was Francis Bacon, afterwards Lord +Chancellor, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, and the author of the +_Novum Organum_ as well of a host of other works, including essays on +almost every conceivable subject. In the opinion of certain people, he +was also the author of the plays commonly attributed to one William +Shakespeare. This rival was good-looking, had a charming manner, and +was brilliant in conversation, while his range of subjects was almost +unlimited, whereas, the wooer in whom we take such an affectionate +interest, was wrinkled, dull, narrow-minded, unimaginative, selfish, +over-bearing, arrogant, illiterate, ignorant in almost everything +except jurisprudence, of which he was the greatest oracle then living, +and uninterested in everything except law, his own personal ambition, +and money-making. + +Shortly before Coke had marked the young and lovely Lady Elizabeth +Hatton for his own, Bacon had not only paid his court to her in +person, but had also persuaded his great friend and patron, Lord +Essex, to use his influence in inducing her to marry him. Essex did so +to the very best of his ability, a kind service for which Bacon +afterwards repaid him after he had fallen--we have seen that his star +was already in its decadence--by making every effort, and successful +effort, to get him convicted of treason, sentenced to death, and +executed. + +Which of these limbs of the law was the beautiful heiress to select? +She showed no inclination to marry Francis Bacon, and she was backed +up in this disinclination by her relatives, the Cecils. The head of +that family, Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth's Lord High Treasurer, was +particularly proud of his second son, Robert, whom he had succeeded in +advancing by leaps and bounds until he had become Secretary of State; +and Burghley and the rest of his family feared a dangerous rival to +Robert in the brilliant Bacon, who had already attracted the notice, +and was apparently about to receive the patronage, of the Court. If +Bacon should marry the famous beauty and become possessed of her large +fortune, there was no saying, thought the Cecils, but that he might +attain to such an exalted position as to put their own precocious +Robert in the shade. + +Bridget had not been in her grave four months when the great Lord +Burghley died. Coke attended his funeral, and a funeral being +obviously a fitting occasion on which to talk about that still more +dreary ceremony, a wedding, Coke took advantage of it to broach the +question of a marriage between himself and Lady Elizabeth Hatton. He +broached it both to her father, the new Lord Burghley, and to her +uncle, the much more talented Robert. Whatever their astonishment may +have been, each of these Cecils promised to offer no opposition to the +match. They probably reflected that the Attorney-General was a man in +a powerful position, and that, with his own great wealth combined with +that of Lady Elizabeth Hatton, he might possibly prove of service to +the Cecil family in the future. + +How the match, proposed under such conditions, came about, history +does not inform us, but, within six months of Bridget's funeral, her +widower embalmed her memory by marrying Elizabeth Hatton, a girl +fifteen years her junior. + +If any writer possessed of imagination should choose to make a novel +on the foundation of this simple story, he may describe to his readers +how the cross-grained and unattractive Coke contrived to induce the +fair Lady Elizabeth Hatton to accept him for a husband. The present +writer cannot say how this miracle was worked, for the simple reason +that he does not know. One incident in connection with the marriage, +however, is a matter of history. Elizabeth was not sufficiently proud +of her prospective bride-groom to desire to stand beside him at a +wedding before a large, fashionable, and critical assemblage in a +London church. If he would have her at all, she insisted that he must +take her in the only way in which he could get her, namely, by a +clandestine marriage, in a private house, with only two or three +witnesses. + +Now, if there was one thing more than another in which Mr. Attorney +Coke lived and moved and had his being, it was the law, to all +offenders against which he was an object of terror; and such a great +lawyer must have been fully aware that, by making a clandestine +marriage in a private house, he would render himself liable to the +greater excommunication, whereby, in addition to the minor annoyance +of being debarred from the sacraments, he might forfeit the whole of +his property and be subjected to perpetual imprisonment. To make +matters worse, Archbishop Whitgift had just issued a pastoral letter +to all the bishops in the province of Canterbury, condemning marriages +in private houses at unseasonable hours, and forbidding under the +severest penalties any marriage, except in a cathedral or in a parish +church, during the canonical hours, and after proclamation of banns +on three Sundays or holidays, or else with the license of the +ordinary. + +Rather than lose his prize, Coke, the great lawyer, determined to defy +the law, and to run all risks, risks which the bride seemed anxious to +make as great as possible; for, at her earnest request, or rather +dictation, the pair were married in a private house, without license +or banns, and in the evening, less than five months after Coke had +made the entry in his diary canonising Bridget. As the Archbishop had +been his tutor, Coke may have expected him to overlook this little +transgression. Instead of this, the pious Primate at once ordered a +suit to be instituted in his Court against the bridegroom, the bride, +the parson who had married them, and the bride's father, Lord +Burghley, who had given her away. Lord Campbell says that "a libel was +exhibited against them, concluding for the 'greater excommunication' +as the appropriate punishment." + +Mr. Attorney now saw that there was nothing to be done but to kiss the +rod. Accordingly, he made a humble and a grovelling submission, on +which the Archbishop gave a dispensation under his great seal, a +dispensation which is registered in the archives of Lambeth Palace, +absolving all concerned from the penalties they had incurred, and, as +if to complete the joke, alleging, as an excuse, ignorance of the law +on the part of the most learned lawyer in the kingdom. + +The newly married pair had not a single taste in common. The wife +loved balls, masques, hawking, and all sorts of gaiety; she delighted +in admiration and loved to be surrounded by young gallants who had +served in the wars under Sydney and Essex, and who could flatter her +with apt quotations from the verses of Spenser and Surrey. The +husband, on the contrary, detested everything in the form of fun and +frolic, loved nothing but law and money, loathed extravagance and +cared for no society, except that of middle-aged barristers and old +judges. As might be expected, the union of this singularly +ill-assorted couple was a most unhappy one. Indeed it was a case of-- + + "at home 'tis steadfast hate, + And one eternal tempest of debate."[1] + +Within a year of their marriage, that is to say in 1599, Lady +Elizabeth Hatton, as she still called herself, had a daughter. Here +again Burke and Lord Campbell are at variance. Burke says that by this +marriage Coke had two daughters, Elizabeth, who died unmarried, and +Frances, our heroine; whereas Lord Campbell says that Frances was born +within a year of their marriage and makes no mention of any Elizabeth. +It is pretty clear, from subsequent events, that, if there was an +Elizabeth, she must have died very young, and that Frances must have +been born almost as soon as was possible after the birth of her elder +sister.[2] + +The beginning of our heroine may make the end of our chapter. In the +next she will not be seen at all; but, as will duly appear, the events +therein recorded had a great--it might almost be said a +supreme--influence on her fortunes. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Young's _Love of Fame_. + +[2] Most of the matter in this chapter has been taken from _The Lives +of the Chief Justices of England_, by John, Lord Campbell. In two +volumes. London: John Murray, 1849, Vol. I., p. 239 _seq._, Chap. +VII. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure, + Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure." + _Don Juan_, xiii., 16. + + +Rivals in love, rivals in law, rivals for place, Coke and Bacon, while +nominally friends, were implacable enemies, but they sought their ends +by different methods. When James I. had ascended the throne, Bacon +began at once to seek his favour; but Coke took no trouble whatever +for that purpose, and he was not even introduced to the royal presence +until several weeks after the accession. Bacon, then a K.C., held no +office during the first four years of the new reign; but his literary +fame and his skilful advocacy at the Bar excited the jealousy of Coke. +On one occasion, Coke grossly insulted him in the Court of Exchequer, +whereupon Bacon said: "Mr. Attorney, I respect you but I fear you not; +and the less you speak of your own greatness, the more I will think of +it." Coke angrily replied: "I think scorn to stand upon terms of +greatness towards you, who are less than little--less than the least." + +Lord Campbell says that Sir Edward Coke's arrogance to the whole Bar, +and to all who approached him, now became almost insufferable, and +that "his demeanour was particularly offensive to his rival"--Bacon. +As to prisoners, "his brutal conduct ... brought permanent disgrace +upon himself and upon the English Bar." When Sir Walter Raleigh was +being tried for his life, but had not yet been found guilty, Coke said +to him: "Thou art the most vile and execrable traitor that ever lived. +I want words sufficient to express thy viprous treasons." When Sir +Everard Digby confessed that he deserved the vilest death, but humbly +begged for mercy and some moderation of justice, Coke told him that he +ought "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 upon him," and that, as to his wife and +children, he ought to desire the fulfilment of the words of the Psalm: +"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." According to Lord Campbell, Coke's "arrogance of demeanour to +all mankind is unparalleled." + +Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth, Coke, as Attorney-General, +had had another task well suited to his taste, that of examining the +prisoners stretched on the rack, at the Tower. Volumes of examinations +of prisoners under torture, in Coke's own handwriting, are still +preserved at the State Paper Office, which, says Campbell, +"sufficiently attest his zeal, assiduity and hard-heartedness in the +service.... He scrupulously attended to see the proper degree of pain +inflicted." Yet this severe prosecutor, bitter advocate and cruel +examiner, became a Chief Justice of tolerable courtesy, moderate +severity, and unimpeachable integrity. + +If he had everything his own way in the criminal court and the torture +chamber, Coke did not find his wishes altogether unopposed in his +family. To begin with, he suffered the perpetual insult of the refusal +on the part of his wife to be called by his name. If her first husband +had been of higher rank, it might have been another matter: but both +were only knights, and it was a parallel case to the widow Jones, +after she had married Smith, insisting upon still calling herself Mrs. +Jones. Lady Elizabeth defended her conduct on this point as +follows:[3] "I returned this answer: that if Sir Edward Cooke would +bury my first husband accordinge to his own directions, and also paie +such small legacys as he gave to divers of his friends, in all cominge +not to above L700 or L900, at the most that was left unperformed, he +having all Sir William Hatton's goods & lands to a large proportion, +then would I willingly stile myself by his name. But he never yielded, +so I consented not to the other." Whether Hatton or Coke, as an Earl's +daughter she was Lady Elizabeth, by which name alone let us know her. + +Campbell states that, after the birth of Frances, Sir Edward and Lady +Elizabeth "lived little together, although they had the prudence to +appear to the world to be on decent terms till the heiress was +marriageable." Coke had been astute enough to secure a comfortable +country-house, at a very convenient distance from London, through Lady +Elizabeth. Her ladyship had held a mortgage upon Stoke Pogis, a place +that belonged formerly to the Earls of Huntingdon,[4] and Coke, either +by foreclosing or by selling, obtained possession of the property. As +it stood but three or four miles to the north of Windsor, the +situation was excellent.[5] Sir Edward's London house was in the then +fashionable quarter of Holborn, a place to which dwellers in the city +used to go for change of air.[6] As Coke and his wife generally +quarrelled when together, the husband was usually at Holborn[7] when +the wife was at Stoke, and _vice-versa_. It was almost impossible that +Miss Frances should not notice the strained relations between her +parents. Nothing could have been much worse for the education of their +daughter than their constant squabblings; and, unless she differed +greatly from most other daughters, she would take advantage of their +mutual antipathies to play one against the other, a pleasing pastime, +by means of which young ladies, blessed with quarrelsome parents, +often obtain permissions and other good things of this world, which +otherwise they would have to do without. + +Lady Elizabeth found a friend and a sympathiser in her domestic +worries. Francis Bacon, the former lover of her fortune, if not of her +person, became her consoler and her counsellor. Let not the reader +suppose that these pages are so early to be sullied by a scandal. +Nothing could have been farther from reproach than the marital +fidelity of Lady Elizabeth, but it must have gratified Bacon to annoy +the man who had crossed and conquered him in love, or in what +masqueraded under that name, by fanning the flames of Lady Elizabeth's +fiery hatred against her husband. Hitherto, Coke had had it all his +own way. He had snubbed and insulted Bacon in the law courts, and he +had snatched a wealthy and beautiful heiress from his grasp. The wheel +of fortune was now about to take a turn in the opposite direction. + +About the year 1611, King James entertained the idea of reigning as an +absolute sovereign. Archbishop Bancroft flattered him in this notion, +and suggested that the King ought to have the privilege of "judging +whatever cause he pleased in his own person, free from all risk of +prohibition or appeal." James summoned the judges to his Council and +asked whether they consented to this proposal. Coke replied:-- + +"God has endowed your Majesty with excellent science as well as great +gifts of nature; but your Majesty will allow me to say, with all +reverence, that you are not learned in the laws of this your realm of +England, and I crave leave to remind your Majesty that causes which +concern the life or inheritance, or goods or fortunes of your subjects +are not to be decided by natural reason, but by the artificial reason +and judgment of law, which law is an art which requires long study and +experience before that a man can attain to the cognizance of it." + +On hearing this, James flew into a rage and said: "Then am I to be +_under_ the law--which it is treason to affirm?" + +To which Coke replied: "Thus wrote Braxton: 'Rex non debet esse sub +homine, sed sub _Deo et Lege_.'"[8] + +Coke had the misfortune to offend the King in another matter. James +issued proclamations whenever he thought that the existing law +required amendment. A reply was drawn up by Coke, in which he said: +"The King, by his proclamation or otherwise, cannot change any part +of the common law, or statute law, or the customs of the realm." This +still further aggravated James. + +Meanwhile Bacon, now Attorney-General, was high in the King's favour, +and he was constantly manoeuvring in order to bring about the downfall +of his rival. He persuaded James to remove Coke from the Common Pleas +to the King's Bench--a promotion, it is true, but to a far less +lucrative post. This greatly annoyed Coke, who, on meeting Bacon, +said: "Mr. Attorney, this is all your doing." For a time Coke +counteracted his fall in James's favour by giving L2,000 to a +"Benevolence," which the King had asked for the pressing necessities +of the Crown, a benevolence to which the other judges contributed only +very small sums. This fair weather, however, was not to be of long +duration. + +In 1616 Coke again offended the King. Bacon had declared his opinion +that the King could prohibit the hearing of any case in which his +prerogative was concerned. In the course of a trial which shortly +afterwards took place, Bacon wrote to the judges that it was "his +Majesty's express pleasure that the farther argument of the said cause +be put off till his Majesty's farther pleasure be known upon +consulting him." In a reply, drawn up by Coke and signed by the other +judges, the King was told that "we have advisedly considered of the +said letter of Mr. Attorney, and with one consent do hold the same to +be contrary to law, and such as we could not yield to by our oaths." + +James was furious. He summoned the judges to Whitehall and gave them a +tremendous scolding. They fell on their knees and all were submissive +except Coke, who boldly said that "obedience to his Majesty's command +... would have been a delay of justice, contrary to law, and contrary +to the oaths of the judges." + +Although Coke was now in terrible disgrace at Court, he might have +retained his office of Chief Justice, if he would have sanctioned a +job for Villiers, the new royal favourite. George Villiers, a young +man of twenty-four, since the fall of the Earl of Somerset had +centralised all power and patronage in his own hands. The chief +clerkship in the Court of King's Bench, a sinecure worth L4,000 a +year, was falling vacant, and Villiers wished to have the disposal of +it. The office was in the gift of Coke, and, when Bacon asked that its +gift should be placed in the hands of Villiers, Coke flatly refused +and thus offended the most powerful man in England. Nothing then +became bad enough for Coke and nothing in Coke could be good. His +reports of cases were carefully examined by Bacon, who pointed out to +the King many "novelties, errors, and offensive conceits" in them. The +upshot of the whole matter was that Coke was deprived of office. When +the news was communicated to him, says a contemporary letter, "he +received it with dejection and tears."[9] + +It would be natural to suppose that by this time Bacon had done enough +to satisfy his vengeance upon Coke. But no! He must needs worry him +yet further by an exasperating letter, from which some extracts shall +be given. It opens with a good deal of scriptural quotation as to the +wholesomeness of affliction. Then Bacon proceeds to say:[10] +"Afflictions level the mole-hills of pride, plough the heart and make +it fit for Wisdom to sow her seed, and for grace to bring forth her +increase. Happy is that man, therefore, both in regard of Heavenly and +earthly wisdom, that is thus wounded to be cured, thus broken to be +made straight, thus made acquainted with his own imperfections that he +may be perfect. Supposing this to be the time of your affliction, that +which I have propounded to myself is, by taking the seasonable +advantage, like a true friend (though far unworthy to be counted so) +to show your shape in a glass.... Yet of this resolve yourself, it +proceedeth from love and a true desire to do you good, that you, +knowing what the general opinion is may not altogether neglect or +contemn it, but mend what you may find amiss in yourself.... First, +therefore, behold your Errors: In discourse you delight to speak too +much.... Your affections are entangled with a love of your own +arguments, though they be the weaker.... Secondly, you cloy your +auditory: when you would be observed, speech must either be sweet, or +short. Thirdly, you converse with Books, not Men ... who are the best +Books. For a man of action & employment you seldom converse, & then +but with underlings; not freely but as a schoolmaster with his +scholars, ever to teach, never to learn.... You should know many of +these tales you tell to be but ordinary, & many other things, which +you repeat, & serve in for novelties to be but stale.... Your too much +love of the world is too much seen, when having the living" [income] +"of L10,000, you relieve few or none: the hand that hath taken so +much, can it give so little? Herein you show no bowels of +compassion.... We desire you to amend this & let your poor Tenants in +Norfolk find some comfort, where nothing of your Estate is spent +towards their relief, but all brought up hither, to the impoverishing +of your country.... When we will not mind ourselves, God (if we belong +to him) takes us in hand, & because he seeth that we have unbridled +stomachs, therefore he sends outward crosses." And Bacon ends by +commending poor Coke "to God's Holy Spirit ... beseeching Him to send +you a good issue out of all these troubles, & from henceforth to work +a reformation in all that is amiss, & a resolute perseverance, +proceeding, & growth, in all that is good, & that for His glory, the +bettering of yourself, this Church & Commonwealth; whose faithful +servant whilest you remain, I am a faithful servant unto you." + +If ever there was a case of adding insult to injury, surely this piece +of canting impertinence was one of the most outrageous. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] _Life of Sir Edward Coke._ By H.W. Woolrych. London: J. & W.T. +Clarke, 1826, pp. 145-48. + +[4] Lipscomb's _History and Antiquities of the Co. of Bucks_, 1847, +Vol. IV., p. 548. + +[5] Gray made the churchyard of Stoke Pogis the scene of his famous +Elegy, and he was buried there in 1771. + +[6] _Ency. Brit._, Vol. XIV. Article on London. + +[7] Lady Elizabeth's house in Holborn was called Hatton House. A +letter (_S.P. Dom._, James I., 13th July, 1622) says: "Lady Hatton +sells her house in Holborn to the Duke of Lennox, for L12,000." +Another letter (ib. 26th February, 1628) says that "Lady Hatton +complained so much of her bargain with the Duchess of Richmond for +Hatton House, that the Duchess has taken her at her word and left it +on her hands, whereby she loses L1,500 a year, and L6,000 fine." + +[8] "Under no man's judgment should the King lie; but under God and +the law only." + +[9] Letter from John Castle. See D'Israeli's _Character of James I._, +p. 125. + +[10] _Cabala Sive Scrina Sacra_: Mysteries of State and Government. In +_Letters of Illustrious Persons, etc_. London: Thomas Sawbridge and +others, 1791, p. 86. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Marriage is a matter of more worth + Than to be dealt in by attorneyship." + _Henry VI._, I., v., 5. + + +If Bacon flattered himself that he had extinguished Coke for good and +all, he was much mistaken. It must have alarmed him to find that Lady +Elizabeth, after constant quarrels with her husband and ceasing to +live with him, had taken his part, now that he had been dismissed from +office, that she had solicited his cause at the very Council +table,[11] and that she had quarrelled with both the King and the +Queen about the treatment of her husband, with the result that she had +been forbidden to go to Court, and had begun to live again with Coke, +taking with her her daughter, now well on in her 'teens. + +There was a period of hostilities, however, early in the year 1617. +Sir Edward and Lady Elizabeth went to law about her jointure. In May +Chamberlain wrote to Carleton:-- + +"The Lord Coke & his lady hath great wars at the council table. I was +there on Wednesday, but by reason of the Lord Keeper's absence, there +was nothing done. What passed yesterday I know not yet: but the first +time she came accompanied with the Lord Burghley" (her eldest +brother), "& his lady, the Lord Danvers" (her maternal grandfather), +"the Lord Denny" (her brother-in-law), "Sir Thomas Howard" (her +nephew, afterwards first Earl of Berkshire) "& his lady, with I know +not how many more, & declaimed bitterly against him, and so carried +herself that divers said Burbage" [the celebrated actor of that time] +"could not have acted better. Indeed, it seems he [Sir Edward Coke] +hath carried himself very simply, to say no more, in divers matters: +and no doubt he shall be sifted thoroughly, for the King is much +incensed against him, & by his own weakness he hath lost those few +friends he had." + +It is clear from this letter that, although her husband was one of the +greatest lawyers of the day, Lady Elizabeth was not at all afraid of +pitting herself against him in Court, where indeed she seems to have +proved the better pleader of the pair. + +This dispute was patched up. On 4th June Chamberlain wrote: "Sir +Edward Coke & his Lady, after so much animosity and wrangling, are +lately made friends; & his curst heart hath been forced to yield more +than ever he meant; but upon this agreement he flatters himself that +she will prove a very good wife." So Coke and his "very good wife" +settled down together again. We shall see presently whether there was +to be a perpetual peace between them. + +While Bacon was meditating an information against Sir Edward Coke in +the Star Chamber for malversation of office, in the hope that a heavy +fine might be imposed upon him, Coke also was plotting. He discovered +that Bacon, who had been made Lord Keeper early in the year 1617, had +had his head turned by his promotion and had become giddy on his +pinnacle of greatness; or, to use Bacon's own words, that he was +suffering acutely from an "unbridled stomach." Of this Coke determined +to take advantage. + +Looking back upon his own fall, Coke considered that the final crash +had been brought about not, as Bacon had insinuated in his letter, by +offending the Almighty, but by offending Villiers, now Earl of +Buckingham, and he came to the conclusion that his best hope of +recovering his position would be to find some method of doing that +Earl a service. Now, Buckingham had an elder brother, Sir John +Villiers, who was very poor, and for whom he was anxious to pick up an +heiress. The happy thought struck Coke that, as all his wife's +property was entailed on her daughter, Frances, he might secure +Buckingham's support by selling the girl to Buckingham's brother, for +the price of Buckingham's favour and assistance. It was most fortunate +that Frances was exceedingly beautiful, and that Sir John Villiers was +unattractive and much older than she was; because this would render +the amount of patronage, due in payment by Buckingham to Coke, so much +the greater. + +James I. and Buckingham had gone to Scotland. In the absence of the +King and the Court, Bacon, as Lord Keeper, was one of the greatest men +left in London, and quite the greatest in his own estimation. Misled +by this idea of his own importance, he was imprudent enough to treat +his colleague, Winwood, the Secretary of State, with as little +ceremony as if he had been a junior clerk, thereby incurring the +resentment of that very high official. Common hatred of Bacon made a +strong bond of union between Coke and Winwood, and Winwood joined +readily in the plot newly laid by Coke. + +Sir John Villiers was already acquainted with Coke's pretty daughter; +and, when Coke went to him, suggested a match, and enlarged upon the +fortune to which she was sole heiress, Sir John professed to be over +head and ears in love with her, and observed that "although he would +have been well pleased to have taken her in her smoke [smock], he +should be glad, by way of curiosity, to know how much could be assured +by marriage settlement upon her and her issue."[12] With some +reluctance Sir Edward Coke then entered into particulars, and the +match was regarded as settled by both sides. + +Everything having been now satisfactorily arranged, it occurred to +Coke that possibly the time had arrived for informing, first his wife, +and afterwards his daughter, of the marriage to which he had agreed. + +Sir Edward had often seen his wife in a passion, and he had frequently +been a listener to torrents of abuse from her pretty lips and caustic +tongue. Although he had been notorious as the rudest member of the +Bar, he had generally come off second best in his frequent battles of +words with his beautiful helpmate. Stolid and unimpressible as he was, +he can hardly have been impervious to the effects of the verbal venom +with which she had constantly stung him. But all this had been mere +child's play in comparison with her fury on being informed that, +without so much as consulting her, her husband had definitely settled +a match for her only child with a portionless knight. A new weapon was +lying ready to her hand, and she made every possible use of it. It +consisted in the fact that, much as she and her husband had quarrelled +and lived apart, she had returned to him in the hour of his +tribulation, had fought his battles before the King and the Council, +and had even braved the royal displeasure and endured exile from the +Court, rather than desert him in his need. She bitterly reproached him +for repaying her constancy and sacrifices on his behalf by selling her +daughter without either inquiring as to the mother's wishes, or even +informing that mother of his intention. + +If Lady Elizabeth was infuriated at the news of the match, her +daughter was frenzied. She detested Sir John Villiers, and she +implored her parents never again to mention the question of her +marrying him. The mother and daughter were on one side and the father +on the other; neither would yield an inch, and Hatton House, Holborn, +became the scene of violent invective and bitter weeping. + +Buckingham is said to have promised Coke that, if he would bring about +the proposed marriage, he should have his offices restored to him. +Buckingham's mother, Lady Compton, also warmly supported the project. +She was what would now be called "a very managing woman." Since the +death of Buckingham's father, she had had two husbands, Sir William +Rayner and Sir Thomas Compton,[13] brother to the Earl of Northampton. +She was in high favour at Court, and she was created Countess of +Buckingham just a year later than the time with which we are now +dealing. As Buckingham favoured the match, of course the King favoured +it also; and, as has been seen, Winwood, the Secretary of State, +favoured it, simply because Bacon did not. + +On the other side, among the active opponents of the match, were Bacon +the Lord Keeper, Lord and Lady Burghley, Lord Danvers, Lord Denny, Sir +Thomas and Lady Howard, and Sir Edmund and Lady Withipole. + +Suddenly, to Coke's great satisfaction, Lady Elizabeth became, as he +supposed, calm and quiet. It was his habit to go to bed at nine +o'clock, and to get up very early. One night he went to bed at his +usual hour, under the impression that his wife was settling down +nicely and resigning herself to the inevitable. While he was in his +beauty-sleep, soon after ten, that excellent lady quietly left the +house with her daughter, and walked some little distance to a coach, +which she had engaged to be in waiting for them at an appointed place. +In this coach they travelled by unfrequented and circuitous roads, +until they arrived at a house near Oatlands, a place belonging to the +Earl of Argyll, but rented at that time by Lady Elizabeth's cousin, +Sir Edmund Withipole. The distance from Holborn to Oatlands, as the +crow flies, is about twenty miles; but, by the roundabout roads which +the fugitives took in order to prevent attempts to trace them, the +distance must have been considerable, and the journey, in the clumsy +coach of the period, over the rutted highways and the still worse +by-roads of those times, must have been long and wearisome. Oatlands +is close to Weybridge, to the south-west of London, in Surrey, just +over the boundary of Middlesex and about a mile to the south of the +river Thames. + +In Sir Edmund Withipole's house Lady Elizabeth and her daughter lived +in the strictest seclusion, and all precautions were taken to prevent +the place of their retreat from becoming known. And great caution was +necessary, for Lady Elizabeth and Frances were almost within a dozen +miles of Stoke Pogis, their country home; so that they would have been +in danger of being recognised, if they had appeared outside the house. + +But Lady Elizabeth was not idle in her voluntary imprisonment. She +conceived the idea that the best method of preventing a match which +she disliked for her daughter would be to make one of which she could +approve. Accordingly she offered Frances to young Henry de Vere, +eighteenth Earl of Oxford. Although to a lesser extent, like Sir John +Villiers, he was impecunious and on the look out for an heiress, his +father--who was distinguished for having been one of the peers +appointed to sit in judgment on Mary, Queen of Scots, for having had +command of a fleet to oppose the Armada, for his success in +tournaments, for his comedies, for his wit, and for introducing the +use of scents into England--having dissipated the large inheritance of +his family. + +Undoubtedly, Lady Elizabeth was a woman of considerable resource; but, +with all her virtues, she was not over-scrupulous; for, as Lord +Campbell says,[14] to induce her daughter to believe that Oxford was +in love with her, she "showed her a forged letter, purporting to come +from that nobleman, which asseverated that he was deeply attached to +her, and that he aspired to her hand." Lady Elizabeth was apparently +of opinion that everything--and everything includes lying and +forgery--is fair in love and war. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Chamberlain, in a letter dated 22nd June, 1616. + +[12] A quotation given by Lord Campbell (Vol. I., p. 297); but he does +not state his authority. + +[13] Arthur Wilson, in his life of James I. (_Camden, History of +England_, Vol. II., p. 727), tells the following story about Sir T. +Compton whom he calls "a low spirited man." "One Bird, a roaring +Captain, was the more insolent against him because he found him slow & +backward." After many provocations, Bird "wrought so upon his cold +temper, that Compton sent him a challenge." On receiving it, Bird told +Compton's second that he would only accept the challenge on condition +that the duel should take place in a saw-pit, "Where he might be sure +Compton could not run away from him." When both combatants were in the +saw-pit, Bird said: "Now, Compton, thou shalt not escape me," and +brandished his sword above his head. While he was doing this, Compton +"in a moment run him through the Body; so that his Pride fell to the +ground, and there did sprawl out its last vanity." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "There is no such thing as perfect secrecy." + --_South's Sermons._ + + +As might be expected, the whereabouts of the place for concealment of +Lady Elizabeth and her daughter leaked out and reached the ears of Sir +Edward Coke, who immediately applied to the Privy Council for a +warrant to search for his daughter. Bacon opposed it. Indeed, it is +said that Bacon had not only been all the time aware of the place of +the girl's retreat, but had also joined actively in the plot to convey +her to it. Because it was difficult to obtain a search-warrant from +the Privy Council, Coke got an order to the same effect from Winwood, +the Secretary of State;[15] and, although this order was of doubtful +regularity, Coke determined to act upon it. + +In July, 1617, Coke mustered a band of armed men, made up of his sons +(Bridget's sons), his servants and his dependents. He put on a +breastplate, and, with a sword at his side and pistols in the holsters +of his saddle, he placed himself at the head of his little army, and +gallantly led it to Oatlands to wage war upon his wife. + +On arriving at the house which he went to besiege, he found no +symptoms of any garrison for its defence. All was quiet, as if the +place were uninhabited, the only sign that an attack was expected +being that the gate leading to the house was strongly bolted and +barred. To force the gate open, if a work requiring hard labour, was +one of time, rather than of difficulty: and, when it had been +accomplished, the general courageously led his troops from the outer +defences to the very walls of the enemy's--that is to say of his +wife's--castle. + +The door of the house was found to be a very different thing from the +gate. The besiegers knocked, and pounded, and thumped, and pushed, and +battered: but that door withstood all their efforts. Again and again +Coke, with a loud voice, demanded his child, in the King's name. +"Remember," roared he to those within, "if we should kill any of your +people, it would be justifiable homicide; but, if any of you should +kill one of us, it would be MURDER!"[16] + +To this opinion of the highest legal authority, given gratis, silence +gave consent; for no reply was returned from the fortress, in which +the stillness must have made the attackers afraid that the foes had +fled. And then the bang, bang, banging on the door began afresh. + +One of Coke's lieutenants suddenly bethought him of a flank attack, +and, after sneaking round the house, this warrior adopted the +burglar's manoeuvre of forcing open a window, on the ground floor. One +by one the valiant members of Coke's little army climbed into the +house by this means, and the august person of the ex-Lord Chief +Justice himself was squeezed through the aperture. Nobody appeared to +oppose their search; but preparations to prevent it had evidently been +made with great care; for Chamberlain wrote that they had to "brake +open divers doors." + +Room after room was searched in vain; but, at last, Lady Elizabeth and +Frances were discovered hidden in a small closet. Both the father and +the mother clasped their daughter in their arms almost at the same +moment. The daughter clung to the mother; the father clung to the +daughter. Sir Edward pulled; Lady Elizabeth pulled; and, after a +violent struggle between the husband and the wife, Coke succeeded in +wrenching the weeping girl from her mother's arms.[17] Without a +moment's parley with his defeated antagonist, he dragged away his +prey, took her out of the house, placed her on horseback behind one of +her half-brothers, and started off with his whole cavalcade for his +house at Stoke Pogis. + +The writer is old enough to have seen farmers' wives riding behind +their husbands, on pillions. Most uncomfortable sitting those pillions +appeared to afford, and he distinctly remembers the rolling movements +to which the sitters seemed to be subjected. This was when the pace +was at a walk or a slow jog. But the unfortunate Frances must have +been rolled and bumped at speed; for there was a pursuit. In his +already quoted letter to Carleton, Chamberlain says that Sir Edward +Coke's "lady was at his heels, and, if her coach had not held"--_i.e._, +stuck in the mud of the appalling roads of the period--"in the +pursuit after him, there was like to be strange tragedies." Miss +Coke must have been long in forgetting that enforced ride of at least +a dozen long miles, on a pillion behind a brother, and as a prisoner +surrounded by an armed force. + +Campbell states that, on reaching Stoke Pogis, Coke locked his +daughter "in an upper chamber, of which he himself kept the key." +Possibly, Sir John Villiers' mother, Lady Compton, may have been +there, in readiness to receive her; for Chamberlain says that Coke +"delivered his daughter to the Lady Compton, Sir John's mother; but, +the next day, Edmondes, Clerk of the Council, was sent with a warrant +to have the custody of the lady at his own house." This was probably +Bacon's doing. + +Among the manuscripts at Trinity College, Cambridge, is a letter[18] +written from the Inner Temple to Mrs. Ann Sadler, a daughter of Sir +Edward Coke by his first wife. From this we learn that, on finding +herself robbed of her daughter, Lady Elizabeth hastened to London to +seek the assistance of her friend Bacon. In driving thither her coach +was "overturned." We saw that it had "held" in the heavy roads when +she was chasing her husband in it, and very likely its wheels may have +become loosened in some ruts on that occasion. An upset in a carriage, +however, was a common occurrence in those days, and, nothing daunted, +Lady Elizabeth managed to complete her journey to the house of Bacon +in London. + +When she reached it, she was told that the Lord Keeper was unwell and +in his room, asleep. She persuaded "the door-keeper" to take her to +the sitting-room next to his bedroom, in order that she might be "the +first to speak with him after he was stirring." The "door-keeper +fulfilled her desire and in the meantime gave her a chair to rest +herself in." Then he most imprudently left her, and she had not been +alone long when "she rose up and bounced against my Lord Keeper's +door." The noise not only woke up the sleeping Bacon, but "affrighted +him" to such an extent that he called for help at the top of his +voice. His servants immediately came rushing to his room. Doubtless he +was relieved at seeing them; but his feelings may have been somewhat +mixed when Lady Elizabeth "thrust in with them." He was on very +friendly terms with her; but it was disconcerting to receive a lady +from his bed when he was half awake and wholly frightened, especially +when, as the correspondent describes it, the condition of that lady +was like that of "a cow that had lost her calf." + +The upshot of this rather unusual visit was that Lady Elizabeth got +Bacon's warrant, as Lord Keeper, and also that of the Lord Treasurer +"and others of the Council, to fetch her daughter from the father and +bring them both to the Council." + +At that particular time Bacon had just made a blunder. He was well +aware of Buckingham's high favour with the King; but he scarcely +realised its measure. Indeed, since he had seen him last, and during +the time that the King had been in Scotland, Buckingham's influence +over James had increased enormously. It is true that Bacon had +enlisted the services of Buckingham to defeat Coke, and that he had +used him as a tool to secure the office of Lord Keeper: but, as the +occupier of that exalted position, he considered himself secure enough +to take his own line, and even to offer Buckingham some fatherly +advice, as will presently appear. + +Bacon now made another attack upon his enemy by summoning Coke before +the Star Chamber on a charge of breaking into a private house with +violence. On receiving this summons, Coke wrote to Buckingham, who was +with the King in the North, complaining that his wife, the Withipoles, +and their confederates, had conveyed his "dearest daughter" from his +house, "in most secret manner, to a house near Oatland, which Sir +Edmund Withipole had taken for the summer of my Lord Argyle." Then he +said: "I, by God's wonderful providence finding where she was, +together with my sons and ordinary attendants did break open two +doors, & recovered my daughter." His object, he said was, "First & +principally, lest his Majesty should think I was of confederacy with +my wife in conveying her away, or charge me with want of government in +my household in suffering her to be carried away, after I had engaged +myself to his Majesty for the furtherance of this match." + +Buckingham, at about the same time that he received Coke's letter, +received one in a very different tone from Bacon, in which he +said:[19] "Secretary Winwood has busied himself with a match between +Sir John Villiers & Sir Edward Coke's daughter, rather to make a +faction than out of any good affection to your lordship. The lady's +consent is not gained, _nor her mother's, from whom she expecteth a +great fortune_. This match, out of my faith & freedom to your +lordship, I hold very inconvenient, both for your mother, brother, & +yourself." + +"First. He shall marry into a disgraced house, which in reason of +state, is never held good." + +"Next. He shall marry into a troubled house of man & wife, which in +religion and Christian discretion is not liked." + +"Thirdly. Your lordship will go near to lose all such of your friends +as are adverse to Sir Edward Coke (myself only except, who, out of a +pure love & thankfulness, shall ever be firm to you).... Therefore, my +advice is, & your lordship shall do yourself a great honour, if, +according to religion & the law of God, your lordship will signify +unto my lady, your mother, that your desire is that the marriage be +not pressed or proceeded in without the consent of both parents, & so +either break it altogether, or defer any further delay in it (sic) +till your lordship's return." + +A few days later, on the 25th of July, Bacon wrote to an even greater +man than Buckingham, namely, to the King himself. "If," said he, +"there be any merit in drawing on this match, your Majesty should +bestow thanks, not upon the zeal of Sir Edward Coke to your Majesty, +nor upon the eloquent persuasions or pragmaticals of Mr. Secretary +Winwood; but upon them"--meaning himself--who "have so humbled Sir +Edward Coke, as he seeketh now that with submission which (as your +Majesty knoweth) before he rejected with scorn." And then he says that +if the King really wishes for the match, concerning which he should +like more definite orders, he will further it; for, says he, "though I +will not wager on women's minds, I can prevail more with the mother +than any other man." + +King James's reply is not in existence, and it is unknown; but, +judging from a further letter of Bacon's, it must have been rather +cold and unfavourable; and, in Bacon's second letter to the King, he +was foolish enough to express a fear lest Buckingham's "height of +fortune might make him too secure." In his answer to this second +letter of Bacon, James reproves him for plotting with his adversary's +wife to overthrow him, saying "this is to be in league with Delilah." +He also scolds Bacon for being afraid that Buckingham's height of +fortune might make him "misknow himself." The King protests that +Buckingham is farther removed from such a vice than any of his other +courtiers. Bacon, he says, ought to have written to the King instead +of to Buckingham about "the inconvenience of the match:" "that would +have been the part of a true servant to us, and of a true friend to +him [Buckingham]. But first to make an opposition, then to give +advice, by way of friendship, is to make the plough go before the +horse." + +By the time these letters had been carried backwards and forwards, to +and from Scotland and the North of England, a later date had been +reached than we have legitimately arrived at in our story, and we must +now go back to within a few days of Sir Edward Coke's famous raid at +Oatlands. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] _Chief Justices_, Vol. I., pp. 297-298 + +[15] _S.P. Dom._, James I., July, 1617. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley +Carleton. + +[16] Campbell, p. 298. + +[17] Lord Campbell's account. + +[18] Quoted by Spedding in his _Life of Bacon_. + +[19] Foard's _Life and Correspondence of Bacon_, p. 421. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "They've always been at daggers drawing, + And one another clapper-clawing." + Butler's _Hudibras, Hud._, II, 2. + + +Bacon had scarcely written his first letters to Buckingham and the +King, before he had instructed Yelverton, the Attorney-General, to +institute a prosecution against Sir Edward Coke, in the Star Chamber, +for the riot at Oatlands, which he made out to have been almost an act +of war against the King, in his realm. + +Her husband having carried away Frances by force, Lady Elizabeth made +an effort to recover her by a similar method. Gerrard wrote to +Carleton[20] that Lady Elizabeth, having heard that Frances was to be +taken to London, determined to meet her with an armed band and to +wrest her from Coke's power. + +"The Mother she procureth a Warrant from the Counsell Table whereto +were many of the Counsellors to take her agayne from him: goes to +meete her as she shold come up. In the coach with her the Lord +Haughton, Sir E. Lechbill, Sir Rob. Rich, and others, with 3 score men +and Pistolls; they mett her not, yf they had there had bin a notable +skirmish, for the Lady Compton was with Mrs. French in the Coach, and +there was Clem Coke, my Lord's fighting sonne; and they all swore they +would dye in the Place, before they would part with her." + +Without doubt, it was fortunate for both parties that they did not +meet each other. The attempt was a misfortune, as well as a defeat for +Lady Elizabeth; for while she failed to rescue her daughter, she also +gave her husband a fresh count to bring against her in the legal +proceedings which he forthwith instituted:--[21] + +"1. For conveying away her daughter clam et secrete. 2. For +endeavouring to bind her to my Lord Oxford without her father's +consent. 3. For counterfeiting a letter of my Lord Oxford offering her +marriage. 4. For plotting to surprise her daughter and take her away +by force, to the breach of the King's peace, and for that purpose +assembling a body of desperate fellows, whereof the consequences might +have been dangerous." + +To these terrible accusations Lady Elizabeth unblushingly replied: "1. +I had cause to provide for her quiet, Secretary Winwood threatening +she should be married from me in spite of my teeth, and Sir Edward +Coke intending to bestow her against her liking: whereupon she asked +me for help, I placed her at my cousin-german's house a few days for +her health and quiet. 2. My daughter tempted by her father's threats +and ill usuage, and pressing me to find a remedy, I did compassionate +her condition, and bethought myself of this contract with my Lord of +Oxford, if so she liked, and therefore I gave it to her to peruse and +consider by herself: she liked it, cheerfully writ it out with her own +hand, subscribed it, and returned it to me. 3. The end justifies--at +least excuses--the fact: for it was only to hold up my daughter's mind +to her own choice that she might with the more constancy endure her +imprisonment--having this only antidote to resist the poison--no +person or speech being admitted to her but such as spoke Sir John +Villiers' language. 4. Be it that I had some tall fellows assembled to +such an end, and that something was intended, who intended this?--the +mother! And wherefore? Because she was unnaturally and barbarously +secluded from her daughter, and her daughter forced against her will, +contrary to her vows and liking, to the will of him she disliked." + +She then goes on to describe, by way of recrimination, Sir Edward +Coke's "most notorious riot, committed at my Lord of Argyle's house, +where, without constable or warrant, well weaponed, he took down the +doors of the gatehouse and of the house itself, and tore the daughter +in that barbarous manner from her mother--justifying it for good law: +a word for the encouragement of all notorious and rebellious +malefactors from him who had been a Chief Justice, and reputed the +oracle of the law." + +A _State Paper_ (_Dom._, James I., 19th July, 1617, John Chamberlain +to Sir Dudley Carleton) tells us what followed. As correspondence with +Sir Dudley Carleton will be largely quoted in these pages, this +opportunity may be taken of observing that he was Ambassador, at +various times, in Savoy, in the Low Countries, and in Venice, that he +became one of Charles the First's principal Ministers of State, and +that he was eventually created Viscount Dorchester. + +"The next day being all convened before the Council, she" [Frances the +daughter] "was sequestered to Mr. Attorney, & yesterday, upon a +palliated agreement twixt Sir Edward Coke & his lady, she was sent to +Hatton House, with order that the Lady Compton should have access to +win her & wear her." One wonders whether the last "&" was accidentally +substituted for the word "or," by a slip of the pen. In any case to +"wear her" is highly significant! + +"It were a long story to tell all the passages of this business, which +hath furnished Paul's, & this town very plentifully the whole week." +[One of the ecclesiastical scandals of that period was that the nave +of St. Paul's Cathedral was a favourite lounge, and a regular exchange +for gossip.] "The Lord Coke was in great danger to be committed for +disobeying the Council's order, for abusing his warrant, & for the +violence used in breaking open the doors; to all of which he gave +reasonable answers, &, for the violence, will justify it by law, +though orders be given to prefer a bill against him in the Star +Chamber. He and his friends complain of hard measure from some of the +greatest at that Board, & that he was too much trampled upon with ill +language. And our friend" [Winwood] "passed not scot free from the +warrant, which the greatest there" [Bacon] "said was subject to a +_praemunire_, & withal, told the Lady Compton that they wished well to +her and her sons, & would be ready to serve the Earl of Buckingham +with all true affection, whereas others did it out of faction & +ambition." + +Bacon might swagger at the Council Board; but in his heart he was +becoming exceedingly uneasy. We saw, at the end of the last chapter, +that he had received a very sharp letter from the King; and now the +royal favourite himself also wrote in terms which showed, +unmistakably, how much Bacon had offended him.[22] + +"In this business of my brother's that you over-trouble yourself with, +I understand from London, by some of my friends, that you have carried +yourself with much scorn and neglect both towards myself and my +friends, which, if it prove true, I blame not you but myself." + +This was sufficiently alarming, and at least as much so was a letter +which came from the King himself in which was written:--[23] + +"Whereas you talk of the riot and violence committed by Sir Edward +Coke, we wonder you make no mention of the riot and violence of them +that stole away his daughter, which was the first ground of all that +noise." + +It is clear, therefore, that if things were going badly for Coke, they +were going almost worse for Bacon, who now found himself in a very +awkward position both with the King and with Buckingham. Nor was he +succeeding as well as he could have wished in his attacks upon Coke. +He had made an attack by proceeding against him for a certain action, +when a judge; but Coke had parried this thrust by paying what was then +a very large sum to settle the affair. + +In a letter to Carleton[24] Gerrard says:-- + +"The Lord Chiefe Justice Sir Ed. Coke hath payd 3500L for composition +for taking common Bayle for some accused of Pyracye, which hath been +urged agaynst him since hys fall. And perhaps fearing more such claps; +intending to stand out the storme no longer, privately hath agreed on +a match with Sir John Villiers for hys youngest daughter Franche, the +mother's Darling, with which the King was acquainted withall and writt +to have it done before hys coming backe." + +And presently he says:-- + +"The caryadge of the business hath made such a ster in the Towne as +never was: Nothing can fully represent it but a Commedye." + +A letter written on the same day by Sir John Finet mentions the +projected marriage of Sir Edward Coke's daughter with Sir John +Villiers, who would have L2,000 a year from Buckingham, and be left +heir of his lands, as he was already of his Earldom, failing the +Earl's male issue. He adds that Sir Edward Coke went cheerily to visit +the Queen, and that the common people said he would die Lord +Treasurer. Such gossip as that must have been anything but amusing to +Bacon. + +The Coke-Villiers engagement had now become almost, if not quite, a +State affair. Nearly three weeks later Sir Horace Vere wrote to +Carleton:--[25] + +"I hear nothing so much spoken of here as that of Sir John Villiers +and Sir Ed. Coke's daughter. My Lady Hatton doth continue stiff +against yt, and yesterday I wayted upon my wife to my Lady of +Northumberland's. She tould my wife that she gives yt out that her +daughter is formmerlie contracted to an other and to such a one that +will not be afeard to plead his interest if he be put to yt." + +Six days afterwards a third candidate for Frances Coke was talked +about. George Gerrard wrote to the same correspondent:--[26] + +"The Lady Hatton's daughter to be maryed to one Cholmely a Baronet. Of +late here is by all the frendes of my Lady Hatton a Contract published +of Her Daughter Frances to the Erle of Oxford which was sent him to +Venice: to which he hath returned and answer that he will come +presently over, and see her fayre eyes and conclude the what he shall +thinke fit for him to doe: I have sent your Lordship Mis Frances +Coke's Love Letter to my Lord of Oxford herein concluded: I believe +you never read the like: Thys is like to become a grate business: for +the King hath shewed himselfe much in advancing thys matter for Sir +John Villiers." + +He says that Lady Elizabeth offers to give Lord Oxford "besydes her +daughter ... ten and thirty hundred pound a year, which will before +twenty years passe bee nigh 6000L a yeare besydes two houses well +furnisht. A Greate fortune for my Ld. yett it is doubted wheather hee +will endanger the losse of the King's favor for so fayre a woman and +so fayre a fortune." + +The following is Frances Coke's enclosed "love letter" of which +Gerrard believed, as well he might, that Carleton "never read the +like." It is evidently the work of Lady Elizabeth:-- + +"I vow before God and take the Almighty to witness That I Frances Coke +Yonger daughter to Sir Ed. Coke late Lord Chiefe Justice of England, +doe give myselfe absolutely to Wife to Henry Ven. Viscount Balboke, +Erle of Oxenford, to whom I plight my fayth and inviolate vows, to +keepe myselfe till Death us do part: And if even I breake the least of +these I pray God Damne mee body and soule in Hell fyre in the world to +come: And in thys world I humbly Beseech God the Earth may open and +Swallowe mee up quicke to the Terror of all fayth breakers that +remayne alive. In witness whereof I have written all thys with my +owne hand and seald it with my owne seale (a hart crowned) which I +will weare till your retourne to make thys Good that I have sent you. +And for further witness I here underneath sett to my Name. + + "(Signed) FRANCES COKE in the Presence + "of my deare Mother + "ELIZA HATTON. + +["_July 10, 1617._"] + +Lady Elizabeth, however, failed to effect the match. Possibly the +letter just quoted may have been too strong meat for Oxford. Even her +skill in the gentle art of forgery proved unavailing. Whether Oxford +had no fancy for the girl, or the girl had no fancy for Oxford, does +not appear, and perhaps other causes may have prevented the marriage; +but, although he did not marry Frances, he married her first cousin, +Lady Diana, daughter of the second Earl of Exeter, a niece of Lady +Elizabeth, and, like Frances, both a great heiress and a beautiful +woman. Lord Oxford was killed, a few years afterwards, at the siege of +Breda in the Netherlands. + +Bacon, now thoroughly frightened, both by the King and by Buckingham, +began to trim, and before long he turned completely round and used his +influence with Lady Elizabeth to induce her to agree to the Sir John +Villiers-match. He wrote a letter on the 21st of August to Buckingham, +saying that he was doing all he could to further the marriage of Sir +John Villiers with Frances Coke. Among other things he said:-- + +"I did also send to my Lady Hatton, Coke's wife and some other special +friends to acquaint them that I would declare, if anything, for the +match so that they may no longer account on [my] assistance. I sent +also to Sir John Butler, and after by letter to my Lady [Compton] your +mother, to tender my performance of any good office toward the match." + +To this letter Buckingham sent a very chilling reply, whereupon Bacon, +in his anxiety, sent Yelverton in person to try to conciliate +Buckingham and the King, enjoining him to lie so hard and so +unblushingly as to declare that Bacon had never hindered, but had in +"many ways furthered the marriage;" that all he had done had been to +check Coke's "impertinent carriage" in the matter, which he wished had +"more nearly resembled the Earl of Buckingham's sweet disposition." + +Yet after faithfully fulfilling this nefarious errand, Yelverton +failed to conciliate Buckingham, for he wrote the following very +unsatisfactory report to Bacon:-- + +"The Earl [of Buckingham] professeth openly against you;" whereas, +"Sir Edward Coke, as if he were already on his wings, triumphs +exceedingly; hath much private conference with his Majesty, and in +public doth offer himself, and thrust upon the King with as great +boldness of speech as heretofore." + +Things were beginning to look desperate for Bacon! Indeed it seemed +as if affliction were about to "level the mole-hills," not now of +Coke's, but of Bacon's pride; "to plough" Bacon's heart and "make it +fit for Wisdom to sow her seed, and for Grace to bring forth her +increase," blessings which Bacon had so kindly & so liberally promised +to Coke in a letter already quoted. + +About the middle of August, Chamberlain wrote that Frances Coke was +staying with Sir Robert Coke, Sir Edward's son by his first wife, and +that Lady Elizabeth was with her all day, to prevent the access of +others; but that, finding her friends were deserting her, and that +"she struggles in vain" against the King's will, "she begins to come +about," and "upon some conditions will double her husband's portion +and make up the match and give it her blessing." Presently he says: +"But it seems the Lady Hatton would have all the honour and thanks, +and so defeat her husband's purpose, towards whom, of late, she has +carried herself very strangely, and, indeed, neither like a wife, nor +a wise woman." + +As Chamberlain says, Lady Elizabeth was determined that, if she had to +yield, she would be paid for doing so, and that her husband should +obtain none of the profits of the transaction. It was unfortunate that +that transaction should be the means of injuring her daughter whom she +loved; but it was very fortunate that it might be the means of +injuring her husband whom she hated. Her own account of her final +agreement to the marriage may be seen in a letter which she wrote to +the King in the following year:--[27] + +"I call to witness my Lord Haughton, whom I sent twyce to moove the +matter to my Lady Compton, so as by me she would take it. This was +after he had so fondly broke off with my Lorde of Bukingham, when he +ruled your Majestie's favour scarse at the salerie of a 1,000L. After +that my brother and sister of Burghly offered, in the Galerie Chamber +at Whitehall, theire service unto my Ladie Compton to further this +marriage, so as from me she would take it. Thirdly, myselfe cominge +from Kingstone in a coach with my Ladie Compton, I then offered her +that if shee would leave Sir Edward Cooke I would proceed with her in +this marriage." + +Although, as Chamberlain had written, Lady Elizabeth was now beginning +"to come about," in fact had come about, her faithful friend, Bacon, +in his frantic anxiety to regain the favour of Buckingham and the +King, ordered her to be arrested and kept in strict though honourable +confinement. In fact, to use a modern term, all the actors in this +little drama, possibly with the exception of Frances Coke and Sir John +Villiers, were prepared, at any moment, "to give each other away." +According to Foard,[28] Bacon was, at this time, busily engaged in +preparing for the trial of another member of Lady Elizabeth's family, +namely her stepmother, Lady Exeter.[29] + +By the irony of fate, it happened that the two mortal enemies, Coke +and Bacon, acted together in the matter of the incarceration of Lady +Elizabeth; for, while the former pleaded for it, the latter ordered +it. It was spent partly at the house of Alderman Bennet,[30] and +partly at that of Sir William Craven,[31] Lord Mayor of London in the +years 1610 and 1618, and father of the first Earl of Craven. In both +houses she was doubtless treated with all respect, and she must have +occupied a position in them something between that of a paying-guest +and a lunatic living in the private house of a doctor--not that there +was any lunacy in the mind of Lady Elizabeth. Quite the contrary! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCII, No. 101, 23rd July, 1617. + +[21] Campbell, Vol. I., p. 300. + +[22] Campbell, Vol. I., p. 301. + +[23] _Ibid._, p. 302. + +[24] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCII, No. 101, 22nd July, 1617. + +[25] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 18, 12th August, 1617. + +[26] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 28, 18th August, 1617. + +[27] _Life of Sir Edward Coke_. By Humphrey Woolrych. London: J. & +W.T. Clarke, 1826, pp. 146-48. + +[28] _Life and Correspondence of Francis Bacon_. London: Saunders, +Otley & Co., 1861, p. 459. + +[29] She was found innocent, and her accusers, Sir Thomas and Lady +Lake, were imprisoned and fined. L10,000 to the King, and L5,000 to +Lady Exeter as damages for the libel. A chambermaid who was one of the +witnesses, was whipped at the cart's tail for her perjury. Lady Roos, +the wife of Lady Exeter's step-grandson, and a daughter of the Lakes, +made a full confession that she had participated in spreading the +scandal. She was sentenced to be imprisoned during the King's +pleasure. + +[30] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., 6th October, 1617. Letter +from Sir Gerald Herbert. + +[31] Campbell, Vol. I., p. 303. fn. The imprisonment of what were +called "people of quality" usually took place either in the Tower or +in the private houses of Aldermen, in those times, although they were +sometimes imprisoned in the Fleet. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "Of all the actions of a man's life his marriage doth least + concern other people; yet of all actions of our life it is + most meddled with by other people." + SELDEN. + + +In all these negotiations, and caballings, and intriguings, the person +most concerned, Frances Coke, the beauty and the heiress, was only the +ball in the game. Neither her father nor her mother nor anybody else +either considered her feelings or consulted her wishes about the +proposed marriage, except so far as it was to their own personal +interest to do so. + +At last the poor girl yielded, or pretended to yield. Lord Campbell +says, as well he may, "and without doubt, just as Frances had before +copied and signed the contract with Lord Oxford, at the command of her +mother, she now copied and signed the following letter[32] to her +mother at the command of her father." + +"'MADAM, + +"'I must now humbly desire your patience in giving me leave to declare +myself to you, which is, that without your allowance and liking, all +the world shall never make me entangle or tie myself. But now, by my +father's especial commandment, I obey him in presenting to you my +humble duty in a tedious letter, which is to know your Ladyship's +pleasure, not as a thing I desire: but I resolve to be wholly ruled by +my father and yourself, knowing your judgments to be such that I may +well rely upon, and hoping that conscience and the natural affection +parents bear to children will let you do nothing but for my good, and +that you may receive comfort, I being a mere child and not +understanding the world nor what is good for myself. That which makes +me a little give way to it is, that I hope it will be a means to +procure a reconciliation between my father and your Ladyship. Also I +think it will be a means of the King's favour to my father. Himself +[Sir John Villiers] is not to be misliked: his fortune is very good, a +gentleman well born.... So I humbly take my leave, praying that all +things may be to every one's contentment. + + "'Your Ladyship's most obedient + "'and humble daughter for ever, + "'FRANCES COKE. + +"'Dear Mother believe there has no violent means been used to me by +words or deeds.'" + + * * * * * + +This, as Campbell says, has every appearance of being a letter copied +from one written by her father. There is also reason for believing +that Coke added the postscript for a very special purpose; for the +question arises how Frances, who is admitted on all sides to have +hated Sir John Villiers, could have been induced to copy and to sign +this letter. Was she literally forced to do so? There happens to be an +answer to that question. + + "_Notes of the Villiers Family._[33] + +"_N.B. I.B.N._ have heard it from a noble Peer, a near relation of the +Danvers family, and Mr. Villiers, Brother to the person who now claims +the Earldom of Buckingham, as his Brother assumed the Title, that the +Lady Frances Viscountess Purbeck was tyed to the Bed-Poste and +severely whipped into consent to marry with the Duke of Buckingham's +Brother, Sir John Villiers, A deg. 1617, who was 2 years after created +Viscount Purbeck." + +This was written after the death of Frances, but it has been accepted +as true, and that may well be. It is difficult in our days to believe +that a young lady could be put to physical torture by her father, +until she consented to marry a man whom she loathed; but the parental +ethics of those times were very different from those of our own. A man +like Coke would have no difficulty in persuading himself that a +marriage with Sir John Villiers would be for his daughter's welfare, +and, consequently, that a whipping to bring that marriage about would +also be for her welfare. + +Coke had often waited for the confessions of men who were in +frightful agony on the rack, in the dungeons of the Tower; so it must +have been a mere trifle to him to await his daughter's consent to a +marriage which she detested, while he whipped her, or watched her +being whipped, reflecting upon the luxury of the bed-post in +comparison with the agony of the rack, flattering himself that he was +acting in obedience to Holy Scripture, and piously meditating upon the +gratification he must be giving to the soul of Solomon by this +exercise of domestic discipline. But a reader may well wonder whether +the old brute considered for a moment the worthlessness of a form of +marriage obtained by torture, or the fact that such a so-called +marriage could be annulled without difficulty. + +Lady Elizabeth, perceiving that her only chance left of winning the +game was to over-trump her husband, and recognising that her only hope +of freedom and prosperity was by consenting to the wishes of +Buckingham and James, wrote to the King himself, to say that she would +agree to the marriage and would settle her property on her daughter +and Sir John Villiers. + +Eventually, "The marriage settlement," says Campbell, "was drawn under +the King's own superintendence, that both father and mother might be +compelled to do justice to Sir John Villiers and his bride; and on +Michaelmas Day the marriage was actually celebrated at Hampton Court +Palace, in the presence of the King and Queen and all the chief +nobility of England. Strange to say, Lady Hatton still remained in +confinement, while Sir Edward Coke, in nine coaches,"--one man in nine +coaches!--"brought his daughter and his friends to the palace, from his +son's at Kingston-Townsend. The banquet was most splendid: a masque was +performed in the evening; the stocking was thrown with all due spirit: +and the bride and bride-groom, according to long established fashion, +received the company at their couchee." + +In a footnote to _The Secret History of James I._, Vol. I., p. +444,[34] we read: + +"The Scottish historian, Johnstone, says that Purbeck's marriage was +celebrated amid the gratulation of the fawning courtiers, but stained +by the tears of the reluctant bride, who was a sacrifice to her +father's ambition of the alliance with Buckingham's family." + +Here is another account of the wedding, in a letter[35] from Sir +Gerard Herbert to Carleton:-- + +"Maie it please yor. Lordshippe. + +" ... I know not any news to write yor. Lo: other than the marriadge +of Sir John Villiers with my Lord Coke's youngest daughter, on Monday +last, beynge Michailmas day at Hampton Courte when King Queen and +prince were present in the chappell to see them married. My Lord Coke +gave his daughter to the Kinge (with some words of complement at the +givinge). The King gave her Sir John Villiers. The prince sate with +her to grand dynner and supper so to many Lordes and Ladies, my Lord +Canterbury, my Lord Treasurer, my Lord Chamberlayne, etc. The King +dynner and supper droncke healthe to the bride, the bridgegroome stood +behinde the bride; the dynner and supper. The Bride and Bridegroome +lay next day a bedd till past 12 a clocke, for the Kinge sent worde he +wold come to see them, therefore wold they not rise. My Lord Coke +looked with a merrie Countenance and sate at the dynner and supper, +but my Lady Hatton was not at the weddinge, but is still at Alderman +Bennettes prisonere. The King sent for her to the weddinge, but (she) +desired to be excused, sayinge she was sicke. My Lord of Buckingham, +mother, brethren, there soynes, and his sisters weare throughout day +at Court, my Lord Cooke's sonnes and there soynes, but I saw never a +Cecill. The Sonday my Lord Coke was restored to his place of +counsellor as before.... + + "Yo: Lo: in all service to commande + "(Signed) GERRARD HERBERT. + +"LONDON, this + "_6 Oct._" + +Lady Elizabeth would not submit to being let out of prison, just for +the day, in order to witness the wedding, which was to a large extent +a triumph for her husband. She meant, on the contrary, to have a +triumph on her own account. Her intention was that one of those who +had had a hand in putting her into prison--a prison which in fact was +a comfortable house--should come to take her out of it; and she was +determined to be escorted from her place of punishment, not as a +repentant criminal, but as a conquering heroine. + +In a letter to Carleton[36] Chamberlain says:-- + +"The King coming to towne yesterday it was told me that the Earle of +Buck, meant to go himself and fetch 'Lady Elizabeth' as yt were in +pomp Fr. William corner (where she hath ben so long committed), and +bring her to the King, who upon a letter of her submission is +graciously affected towards her. ... Seeing her yielding and as it +were won to geve her allowance to the late marriage," the King will +"give her all the contentment and countenance he can in hope of the +great portion she may bestow upon" Buckingham's brother, Sir John +Villiers; "for there is little or nothing more to be looked for from +Sr. Ed. Cooke, who hath redemed the land he had allotted his daughter +for 20,000L so that they have already had 30,000L of him paide +down.... She layes all the fault of her late troubles upon the +deceased secretarie," Winwood, "who not long since telling her brother +that for all her bitter speeches they two [Lady Elizabeth and her +husband] shold become goode frends again. She protested she wold +sooner be frends with the Devill." + +Lady Elizabeth was so much in the King's good graces that aspirants +for office tried to win her influence with James and Buckingham in +their favour. Chamberlain, in the letter quoted above, expresses the +wish that she might endeavour to obtain for Carleton the post of +Secretary of State, which had just then fallen vacant through the +death of Winwood. In a letter[37] written a fortnight later, however, +Chamberlain says:-- + +"Your father Savile is gon into Kent to his daughter Salley, the day +before his goings I met him and wisht him to applie the Lady Hatton, +whom he had alredy visited but moved her in nothing because the time +was not fit but she meant to do yt before he went. Some whisper that +she is alredy ingaged and meanes to employ her full force strength and +vertue for the L. Hawton or Hollis, who is become her prime privie +Counsailor and doth by all meanes interest and combine her with the +Lady of Suffolke and that house. A man whom Sir Edward Cooke can no +wayes indure, and from whose company he wold faine but cannot debarre +her." Obviously a very sufficient reason for liking him and espousing his +cause. + +Lady Elizabeth had fairly outwitted her husband; but, as will +presently be seen, she had not yet quite done with him. Another +account of her liberation is to be found in _Strafford's Letters and +Despatches_:--[38] + +"The expectancy of Sir Edward's rising is much abated by reason of his +lady's liberty, who was brought in great honour to Exeter House by my +Lord of Buckingham, from Sir William Craven's, whither she had been +remanded, presented by his Lordship to the King, received gracious +usage, reconciled to her daughter by his Majesty, and her house in +Holborn enlightened by his presence at dinner, where there was a royal +feast: and to make it more absolutely her own, express commandment +given by her Ladyship that neither Sir Edward Coke nor any of his +servants should be admitted." + +Here is another account[39] of the same banquet, as well as of one +given in return by Buckingham's mother, who was still hoping that Lady +Elizabeth would increase Sir John Villiers' allowance:-- + +"The Lady Hatton's feast was very magnificall and the King graced her +every way, and made foure of her creatures knights.... This weeke on +wensday [Lady Compton] made a great feast to the Lady Hatton, and much +court there is between them, but for ought I can heare the Lady Hatton +holdes her handes and gives not" (The original is much torn and +damaged here) "out of her milke so fouly [fully] as was expected which +in due time may turn the matter about againe.... There were some +errors at the Lady Hatton's feast (yf it were not of purpose) that the +L. Chamberlain and the L. of Arundell were not invited but went away +to theyre owne dinner and came backe to wait on the King and Prince: +but the greatest error was that the goodman of the house was neither +invited nor spoken of but dined that day at the Temple." Camden's +account of this dinner (Ed. 1719, Vol. II., p. 648), although very +abrupt, is to the point: "The wife of Sir Ed. Coke _quondam_ Lord +Chief Justice, entertained the King, Buckingham, and the rest of the +Peers, at a splendid dinner, and not inviting her husband." + +In a letter to Carlton[40] John Pory said of this dinner: "My Lo. Coke +only was absent, who in all vulgar opinions was there expected. His +Majesty was never merrier nor more satisfied, who had not patience to +sit a quarter of an hour without drinking the health of my Lady +Elizabeth Hatton, which was pledged first by my Lord Keeper [Bacon] +and my Lord Marquis Hamilton, and then by all the gallants in the next +room." + +This exclusion from her party was a direct and a very public insult to +Coke on the part of his wife, and, through consent, on that of the +King also. All Coke had gained by his daughter's marriage with Sir +John Villiers was restoration to the Privy Council. As he had made up +his mind to take his daughter to market, he should have made certain +of his bargain. This he failed to do. As has been shown, he promised +L10,000 down with her and L1,000 a year. This Buckingham did not +consider enough; but Coke refused to promise more, declaring that he +would not buy the King's favour too dear. In a letter to Carleton, +Chamberlain says that, if he had not "stuck" at this, Coke might have +been Lord Chancellor. As it was, he incurred the whole odium of having +sold his daughter, while his wife, who had gained the credit of +protesting against that atrocious bargain, quietly pocketed its price +in the coin of royal favour. Lady Elizabeth not only embroiled her own +family, but also brought discord about her affairs into the family of +another, as may be inferred from the following letter:--[41] + + "Elizabeth, Lady Hatton, to Carleton. +"MY LORDE, + +"I understande by your letter the quarrell of unkindness betweene +yourself and your wife, but having considered the cause of the +difference to proceed only from your loving respect shewne towards me, +I hope that my thankfulle acknowledgements will be sufficient +reconcilement to give you both proceedings for the continuance of your +wonted goode wille and affectione ... even though I understande by +your letter you thinke women to be capable of little else but +compliments. Wherefore to express a gracious courtesie for your +kindness as in the few wordes I am willing to utter you may assure +yourselfe yt my desire is to remayne + + "Your assured loving Frend + "(Signed) ELIZA HATTON. + +"HATTON HOUSE +"_20th March 1618._" + +One naturally wonders whether, if Carleton showed this letter to his +wife, it would tend to heal "the quarrell of unkindness" between them, +or to make it worse. Which effect was intended by the writer of the +letter is pretty evident. This little epistle might have been written +by Becky Sharpe. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[32] _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII. p. 17. + +[33] _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII., p. 17. (Brit. Museum MSS. No. 5834.) + +[34] Longmans & Co., 1811. + +[35] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 114, 6th October, 1617. + +[36] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 158, 31st Oct., 1617. + +[37] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIV., 15th November, 1617. + +[38] Vol. I., p. 5. + +[39] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIV., No. 30, 15th November, 1617. +Chamberlain to Carleton. + +[40] _S.P._, XCIV., No. 15. + +[41] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCVI., No. 69. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "What is wedlock forced, but a hell? "--_Henry VI._, I., v., 5. + + +Little is recorded of the early married life of Sir John and Lady +Villiers. Before it began they had both been mere pawns in the game, +and pawns they remained for a good many years afterwards. If before +her marriage the career of Lady Villiers had lain in the hands of her +father and her mother; after her marriage it was, for a time, in the +hands of her brother-in-law, Buckingham, as the career of Sir John +always had been and continued to be during the life of Buckingham. + +In the _Secret History of James I_.[42] we read concerning Buckingham: +"But I must tell you what got him most hatred, to raise brothers and +brothers-in-law to the highest ranks of nobility, which were not +capable of the place of scarce a justice of the peace; only his +brother, Purbeck, had more wit and honesty than all the kindred beside +and did keep him in some bounds of honesty and modesty, whilst he +lived about him, & would speake plaine English to him." If this be +true, there must have been some good in Sir John; but Buckingham was +impervious to his advice and treated him just as he pleased. It is +possible, again, that Lady Villiers, without having any of the +affection which a wife ought to have for a husband, may have had a +sort of respect for him as a man of probity, much older than herself, +who treated her well and even kindly. + +George Villiers, a mushroom-grown Duke himself, having made the King +create his mother Countess of Buckingham, bethought him of his eldest +brother and determined to make him a peer. And not only that. He also +conceived the idea of squeezing some more money out of his brother's +mother-in-law for him, by offering her a peerage, for the cash thus +obtained. It was suggested to her that she might be made Countess of +Westmorland; but "she refused to buy the title at the price +demanded."[43] Indeed, Lady Elizabeth was ready to fight anybody and +everybody. On the one hand, she resisted the attempts of the almighty +Buckingham to bleed her still further for Sir John Villiers, and, on +the other, she wrote to the King concerning her husband: "I find how +desirous he is to rubb up anie thing to make ill bloode betwixt my +sonne Villiers & myselfe."[44] Meanwhile she prosecuted her husband in +the Star Chamber. Mr. Brant wrote to Carleton: "... The Ladie Hatton +prevayleth exceedingly against her husband and hath driven him into a +numnesse of on side, which is a forerunner of ye dead palsie, though +now he be somewhat recovured." + +In May, 1619, Lady Elizabeth was informed that, if she would give that +isle, no longer an island, the Isle of Purbeck, which was her +property, to her son-in-law, she should be made Countess of Purbeck +and he Viscount Purbeck; but she refused to exchange good land for an +empty name. However, in July, Sir John Villiers was created Baron +Villiers of Stoke (Stoke Pogis) and Viscount Purbeck. This heaping up +of peerages in the Villiers family, in addition to the number of +valuable posts, and especially high ecclesiastical posts, obtained by +Buckingham for his friends, or for anybody who would bribe him heavily +enough to obtain them, led to much murmuring and ill-feeling among +those whom he did not thus favour, and greatly irritated the populace. +There was no apparent reason why Sir John Villiers should be ennobled, +and his peerages were looked upon as a glaring piece of jobbery. + +The Court also, at this time, was becoming unpopular. Buckingham was +filling it with licentious gallants and with ladies of a type to match +them. At Whitehall, there was a constant round of dissipation and +libertinism. Besides the very free and easy balls, masques and +banquets, there were what were called "quaint conceits" of more than +doubtful decency, and there was much buffoonery of a very low type. In +the _Secret History of the Court of James I._ it is recorded that, at +this time, namely, about 1618 or 1619, there were "none great with +Buckingham but bawds and parasites, and such as humoured him in his +unchaste pleasures; so that since his first being a pretty, harmless, +affable gentleman, he grew insolent, cruel, and a monster not to be +endured." + +Lord Purbeck held the appointment of Master of the Robes to Prince +Charles, and he seems to have lived in the palace of the Prince; for, +even as late as 1625, we read of Lady Purbeck remaining in "the +Prinses house."[45] In 1620 Chamberlain wrote to Carleton[46] that +when Buckingham was overpressed by business, he handed over suitors to +his brother Purbeck. On the 18th of January, 1620, a letter[47] of +Nethersole's states that Purbeck had resigned his post of Master of +the Robes, in order to become Master of the Horse to the Prince. + +At some date between that of his marriage in the year 1617 and 1622, +Purbeck was received into the Catholic Church, by Father Percy, alias +Fisher, a Jesuit. This step does not appear in any way to have +affected his position at Court. In a manuscript in the library of the +large Jesuit College of Stonyhurst,[48] in Lancashire, it is stated +that "the Viscount de Purbeck (sic) brother of the Marquis of +Buckingham, having been converted to the Catholic faith and +reconciled to the Holy Church, by Father John Persens, S.J., betook +himself to the Countess, his mother, and gave her so good an account +of the said Father, and of the consolation he had received of him, +that she greatly desired to speak to him, and sending him to call the +Father, she heard him discourse fully of the Catholic faith, &c." + +In _Laud's Diary_ there is an entry: "1622, April 23. Being the +Tuesday in Easter week, the King sent for me & set me into a course +about the countess of Buckingham, who about that time was wavering in +point of religion." And again: "May 24. The conference[49] between Mr. +Fisher [Percy] a Jesuit, & myself, before the lord Marquis of +Buckingham, & the countess, his mother." + +There are people who are of opinion that for a Protestant to become a +Catholic is an almost certain proof of madness; and such will rejoice +to hear that, some time after Lord Purbeck had been received into the +Catholic Church, he either showed, or is reputed to have shown, signs +of lunacy. + +Some authorities doubt whether Purbeck was ever out of his mind; but +on the whole the weight of evidence is against them. Yet there are +some rather unaccountable incidents in their favour. Again, when +anybody is reputed to be mad, exaggerated stories of his doings are +very likely to be spread about. Even in these days of advanced medical +science, it is sometimes difficult to decide whether a patient is +insane or not, and it is quite possible to suffer from very severe +fits of depression without being the subject of maniacal melancholia, +or from very violent fits of passion without being a madman. + +There is just a possibility, too, that Buckingham may have wished to +keep his brother quiet, or to get him out of the way, because that +brother "would speake plaine English to him" about his licentious +conduct and other matters, as we have already read. When a friend or a +relative tells a man that he is behaving scandalously, the recipient +of the information is apt to say that his informer is "cracked." + +The earliest hint of Lord Purbeck's insanity was given in 1620. "The +Lord Viscount Purbeck went abroad in the latter end of May 1620, under +colour of drinking the waters of Spaw, but in fact, as Camden tells +us, to hide his being run mad with pride."[50] The strongest evidence +of anything like actual madness is in a letter[51] from Chamberlain to +Carleton, written on 8th June, 1622. It may, however, be mere gossip. +"The Lord of Purbecke is out of order likewise, for this day +feurtnight getting into a roome next the street in Wallingford house, +he beat down the glasse windowes with his bare fists and all bloudied +&c." If this be true, may it not be possible that he was trying to +break his way out of a room in which Buckingham had locked him up on +the pretence that he was insane? Of Wallingford House the same +correspondent says in another letter: "Buckingham has bought Lord +Wallingford's house at Whitehall, by paying some money[52] making Sir +Thomas Howard, Visct. Andover, and some say, releasing the Earl and +Countess of Somerset." + +In August, 1623, the Duchess of Buckingham--this would be Buckingham's +wife and not his mother, the Countess of Buckingham--wrote to +Conway:-- + +"SIR,[53] + +"My sister and myselfe have seene a letter writt from you to Sir John +Keyesley concerning my Brother Purbeck, by his ma^ties command and +doubt not but his ma^tie hath bin informed with the most of his +distemper. Wee have bin with him the moste parte of this weeke at +London, and have found him very temperate by which wee thinke hee is +inclining towards his melancholye fitt, which if hee were in, then hee +might be perswaded any wayes, which at this instant hee will not, he +standeth so affected to the cittee and if there should be any violent +course taken with him, wee thinke he would be much the worse, for it, +and drive him quite besides himselfe. Therefore wee hould it best to +intreat Sir John Keysley and som other of his friends to beare him +companie in London and kepe him as private as they can for three or +four dayes till his dull fitt be upon him, and then hee may bee had +any whither. This in our judgment is the fittest course at this +present to be taken with him which we desire you will be pleased to +let his Ma^ty. knowe and I shall rest. + + "Your assured loving friend, + "(Signed) K. BUCKINGHAM." + +From this it would appear either that when Purbeck was in one of his +"melancholye fitts," he was quite tractable, but, at other times, he +was rather unmanageable; or that, when well, he refused to be ordered +about, but when ill, was too poorly to make any resistance. Conway[54] +replied as follows:-- + +"MOST GRATIOUS, + +"I have represented to his Ma^tie. your Letter, and he doth gratiously +observe those sweete and tender motions which rise in your minde, +suitable with your noble, gentle and milde disposition, in which you +excell your sex: especially where force or restraint should be done to +the brother of youre deare Lorde. + +"And I cannot expresse soe finely as his Ma^tie. did, how much he +priseth and loveth that blessed sweetness in you, and you in it. But I +must tell your Grace his Ma^tie. prays you, not to thinke it a little +distemper which carryed him to those publique actes, and publique +places, and to consider how irremediable it is, when his intemperance +hath carryed him to do some act of dishonour to himselfe, which may, +and must, reflect upon his most noble Brother, beyond the follies and +disprofits which he dayly practiseth. And that your Grace will not +only bee to suffer some sure course to bee taken for the conveying of +him into the country, but that you will advise it and assist it with +the most gentle (yet sure) wayes possible. That he may be restrayned +from the power and possibility of doing such acts as may scorne him, +or be dangerous to him: which these wayes of acting can never provide +for. For his Ma^tie. sayeth there cannot bee soe much as 'whoe would +have thought it,' which is the fooles answere, left for an error in +this: for whoe would not thinke that a distempered minde may doe the +worst to be done. His Ma^tie. therefore once more prayes you that his +former directions to Sir John Ersley may bee put in execution and the +safest and surest for the goode of the unfortunate noble person, and +honor of youre deare Lorde, his Ma^ties. dearest servant. + +"This is that I have in charge. My faith and duty calls for this +profession that noe man is more bound to study and endeavour the +preservation of the honor and good of those that have interest in my +noble patron than myselfe: nor noe man more bound and more ready to +obey your commandments than + + "Your Grace's most humble servant. + +"ALDERSHOT. 30 August 1623." + +The chief object aimed at by Conway and, as will be seen presently, by +the King, was to prevent any scandal or gossip about Purbeck's +behaviour injuring "his Ma^ties. dearest servant," Buckingham. +Purbeck's personal interests evidently counted for very little, if for +anything. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[42] P. 444 + +[43] Woolrych's _Life of Sir Ed. Coke_, p. 150. His authority for this +statement is Camden, Ann. Jac., p. 45. + +[44] Letter quoted by Woolrych. + +[45] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII., No. 52. + +[46] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CXII., No. 1. + +[47] _S.P. Dom._, James I., No. 18. + +[48] Stonyhurst MSS., _Angliae_, Vol. VII. And _Records of the English +Province of the Society of Jesus_, Series I., p. 532. + +[49] At a subsequent conference King James was present (_Diary of the +English College at Rome. The names of the Alumni,_ No. 181). Also +_Records of the English Province of the S.J.,_ Series I., p. 533. The +Countess of Buckingham subsequently became a Catholic, and her son, +the Duke, obtained leave from the King for Father Percy to "live on +parole in her house," which became his home in London for ten years +(_Ibid._, p. 531). + +[50] _Biog. Brit_., notice of Sir E. Coke. Footnote. + +[51] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CXXXI, No. 24. + +[52] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CXXVII., No. 35. Chamberlain to +Carleton, 19th January, 1622. James I., 1619-23, p. 337. The price +paid is said to have been L3,000. See Gardiner, Vol. IV., Chap. XL., +p. 279. Lord Wallingford was made Earl of Banbury, and the subsequent +claim to this title became as curious as that to the title of Purbeck, +which will be shown later. + +[53] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLI., No. 86. + +[54] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLI., No. 87, 30th August, 1623. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + " ... wed to one half lunatic." + _Taming of the Shrew_, II., I. + + +Poor Purbeck seems to have had many amateur keepers. The King gave +orders to a Sir John Hippisley to remove him from the Court, in +September, 1623; and on the and Sir John wrote to Conway:--[55] + +"NOBLE SIR, + +"I have received the King's command and your directions in your +letters to bring my Lord of Purbecke out of London which I have done +and have made no noise of it and have done all I could to give no +scandal to the Duke or Viscount: He is now at Hampton Court, but is +not willing to go any further till the king send express commande that +he shall not staye here. + +"Sir I have obeyed all the King's commandes and that without any +scandal to the Duke,"--always the point of main importance--"now my +humble request to you is that I may be free from entering any farther +in this business and that I may come and kiss his Maj^tes hand for now +I am fit.... There is one Mr. Aimes that knoweth my Lord of Purbecke +and fitte to be employed by rate he hath power to persuade him. I +beseech you grant me fair of this and you shall have it me + +"To be your faithfull servant ever to be commanded + + "(Signed) JO: HIPPISLEY. + +"HAMPTON COURT + "this 2 of _September_." + +From this it is very clear that Hippisley did not want to have +anything more to do with a disagreeable business; and the question +presents itself whether it was because he disliked acting as keeper to +a lunatic, or because he did not think Purbeck so mad as was +pretended, if mad at all, and objected to having a hand in a shady +transaction. + +In the same month, the King wrote himself to Purbeck.[56] The letter +is almost illegible; but its purport appears to be to urge Lord +Purbeck, out of consideration for Buckingham, as well as for his own +good, to go to, and to stay at, whatever place might be appointed for +him by the Earl of Middlesex. + +During the summer of the following year (1624), Purbeck seems to have +recovered his sanity; but only for a time, although a considerable +time. Chamberlain wrote[57] to Carleton:-- + +"MY VERY SWEETE LORD: + +" ... The Viscount Purbecke followed the court a good while in very +goode temper, and there was speech of making him a marquis that he +might go before his younger brother but I heare of late he is fallen +backe to his old craise and worse.... + + "Yo^r Lo^ps most assuredly + "at command, + + "(Signed) JOHN CHAMBERLAIN." + +This shows that, if Purbeck was insane, his insanity was intermittent; +and it could not have been chronic; for in later years we read that he +was managing his own affairs and that he married again, some time +after the death of Frances. + +From the following letter, written by Lady Purbeck to Buckingham, and +unfortunately undated, it would seem that Buckingham had driven her +from her home, when she had become the subject of a certain amount of +vague scandal, but, so far as was then known, or at least proved, of +nothing more; and that he had contrived that she should have none of +the wealth which she had brought to her husband. As will be seen, she +was apparently penniless, except for what she received from her mother +or her friends. + +"My Lord[58]:--Though you may judge what pleasure there is in the +conversation of a man in the distemper you see your brother in; yet, +the duty I owe to a Husband, and the affection I bear him (which +sickness shall not diminish) makes me much desire to be with him, to +add what comfort I can to his afflicted mind, since his only desire is +my company; which, if it please you to satisfy him in, I shall with a +very good will suffer with him, and think all but my duty, though I +think every wife would not do so. But if you can so far dispense with +the laws of God as to keep me from my Husband, yet aggravate it not by +restraining me from his means, and all other contentments; but, which +I think is rather the part of a Christian, you especially ought much +rather to study comforts for me, than to add ills to ills, since it is +the marriage of your brother makes me thus miserable. For if you +please but to consider, not only the lamentable estate I am in, +deprived of all comforts of a Husband, and having no means to live of; +besides falling from the hopes my fortune then did promise me; for you +know very well, I came no beggar to you, though I am like so to be +turn'd off. + +"For your own honour and conscience sake, take some course to give me +satisfaction, to tye my tongue from crying to God and the world for +vengeance, for the unwilling dealing I have received, and think not to +send me again to my Mother's, where I have stayed this quarter of a +year, hoping (for that Mother said you promised) order should be taken +for me; but I never received a penny from you. Her confidence in your +nobleness made me so long silent; but now, believe me, I will sooner +beg my bread in the streets, to all your dishonours, than any more +trouble my friends, and especially my Mother, who was not only content +to afford us part of the little means she hath left her, but whilst I +was with her, was continually distempered with devised Tales which +came from your Family,"--this refers to certain scandalous stories +about her own conduct--and withal lost your good opinion, which before +she either had, or you made shew of it; but had it been real, I can +not think her words would have been so translated, nor in the power of +discontented servants' tales to have ended it. + +"My Lord, if the great Honour you are in can suffer you to have so +mean a thought as of so miserable a creature as I am so made by too +much credulity of your fair promises, which I have waited for +performance of almost these five years: and now it were time to +despair, but that I hope you will one day be yourself, and be governed +by your own noble thoughts, and then I am assured to obtain what I +desire, since my desires be so reasonable, and but for mine own, which +whether you grant or not, the affliction my poor husband is in (if it +continue) will keep my mind in a continual purgatory for him, and will +suffer me to sign myself no other but your unfortunate sister + + "F. PURBECK." + +This letter may be taken as evidence of Purbeck's lunacy. On the other +hand it might possibly, if not plausibly, be argued that it may only +mean that he was in a very bad state of bodily health accompanied by +great mental depression. Some readers of these pages may have +experienced the capabilities of a liver in lowering the spirits. + +As Lady Purbeck says, her mother had now "lost the good opinion" of +Buckingham, and undoubtedly this was because she had refused to +increase his brother's allowance. So early as 28th November, 1618, +John Pary wrote to Carleton,[59] regretting that he had not applied to +Lady Bedford to use her influence in order to obtain a certain +appointment, instead of applying to Lady Elizabeth, who had fallen out +with Buckingham, and now had no influence whatever with him. + +Lady Elizabeth, therefore, after having risen by her own skill to be +one of the most influential women in England--perhaps the most +influential--and that in the face of enormous difficulties, was +beginning to fall from her high estate. And besides the bitter +disappointment of the loss of influence and of royal smiles, a +grievous and humiliating family sorrow was in store for her. + +These pages do not constitute a brief on behalf of Lady Purbeck. It is +desired that they should do her justice--full justice; but too little +is recorded of her personal character to permit any attempt to portray +it in detail, or even to make a bold sketch of its principal features. +Of her circumstances it is much easier to write with confidence. We +have already learned much about them. We have seen that she was +brought up in an atmosphere of perpetual domestic discord, ending in a +physical struggle between her father and her mother for the possession +of her person: that she was afterwards flogged until she consented to +make a marriage contract with a man much older than herself, whom she +disliked intensely--a form of marriage which was no marriage, as her +will for it was wanting and she was literally forced into it, if any +girl was ever forced into a marriage. + +An old husband hateful to a young wife would become yet more +unattractive if he became insane, or eccentric, or even an irritable +invalid. Then his change of religion would most likely annoy her +extremely. Whether a husband leaves his wife's religion for a better +or a worse religion, it is equally distasteful to her. + +Her condition would be made still further miserable when she was +turned out of her own home, and practically robbed of her own +possessions, luxuries and comforts. From what we have seen of her +mother, it is difficult to believe that she was a tenderhearted woman, +to whom a daughter would go for consolation in her affliction: nor +could that daughter place much confidence in a mother who had once +deceived her with a forged letter. To her father, who had treated her +with great brutality and had sold her just as he might have sold a +beast among his farm stock, she would be still less likely to turn for +comfort or for counsel. Add to all this that, as the wife of an +official in Prince Charles's household, and as the sister-in-law of +the reigning favourite, she was a good deal at the Court of James I. +at a time when it was one of the most dissolute in Europe; and it +will be easy to recognise that her whole life had been spent in +unwholesome atmospheres. + +When we consider the position of a very beautiful girl of between +twenty-one and twenty-four, who had had such an education, had endured +such villainous treatment, and was now placed under such trying +conditions, we can but feel prepared to hear that some or other of the +usual results of bad education, bad treatment, and bad surroundings +exhibited themselves, and surely if trouble, and worse than trouble, +was ever likely to come of a marriage that had been an empty form, +Lady Purbeck's was one after which it might be expected. + +And it came! Near Cripple Gate, at the North Wall of London, in +October, 1624, was born a boy named Robert Wright. More than a century +later the Vicar of the Parish was asked to refer to his registers +about this event, and he sent the following reply:--[60] + + "London, _April 10 1740._ + +SIR, + +"I have searched my Parish Register according to your directions and +have found the following Entry concerning Robert Wright. + + + "Christening in October 1624. + +"Robert, Son of John Wright, Gentleman, of Bishopthorpe in Yorkshire, +baptised in the Garden House of Mr. Manninge at the upper end of +White Cross Street ... 20th. + + "I am, Sir, + "Your very humble servant, + "WILL NICHOLLS, + "Vicar of St. Giles's Cripplegate." + +The father of this boy was, in reality, Sir Robert Howard, the fifth +son of the Earl of Suffolk, the Earl to whose vigilance the discovery +of the Gunpowder Plot is attributed by some authorities. But Suffolk +had incurred the enmity of Buckingham, had been deprived of the office +of Lord Treasurer, had been tried for peculation in the discharge of +it, and then condemned in the Star Chamber to imprisonment in the +Tower and a fine of L30,000. When he was liberated, he was told that +two of his sons, who held places in the King's household, were +expected to resign them; but Suffolk, in very spirited letters to the +King and to Buckingham (_Cabala_, pp. 333, 334), protested against +this. The whole family, therefore, was in bad odour at Court and with +Buckingham at this time. + +Sir Robert Howard was a brother of the first Earl of Berkshire, who +married a niece of Lady Elizabeth Hatton. It may possibly have been +through this connection by marriage that Sir Robert Howard became +acquainted and intimate with Lady Purbeck; and, to make a long story +short, let it be observed here that, in relation to the boy who was +christened Robert Wright, Lady Purbeck had had what, among the lower +classes, is euphemistically termed "a misfortune." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[55] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLIII., No. 6. + +[56] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLII, No. 13. + +[57] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXX., No. 54, 24th July, 1624. + +[58] _Cabala, Sive Scrinia Sacra_, etc., p. 318. + +[59] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CIII., No. 111. + +[60] _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII., pp. 17, 18. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." + _Henry VI._, 2, IV., 2. + + +Although Robert Wright was baptised in October, 1624, the date of his +birth is uncertain. He may have been born many months before his +baptism; but his being christened at a private house rather points the +other way. Anyhow, proceedings were instituted against Sir Robert +Howard and Lady Purbeck, long before the child was christened. In _The +Diary of Archbishop Laud_ occurs the following entry for the year +1624:-- + +"_Januar. 21. Friday._ The business of my _Lord Purbeck_, made known +unto me by my Lord Duke." This business of my Lord Purbeck may refer +exclusively to his insanity, or reputed insanity; but it seems more +probable that it has reference to the Howard-Purbeck scandal. + +A letter[61] from the Lord Keeper, Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, to +Buckingham, and written on 11th March, 1624, shows that the +proceedings against Sir Robert Howard and Lady Purbeck were in full +swing at that date. + +"May it please your Grace, + +"Sir Robert Howard appeared yesterday, and continues obstinate in his +refusal to swear. When we came to examine the Commission for our Power +to fine him for his Obstinacy, we found, that Sir Edward Coke +(foreseeing, out of a prophetical Spirit, how near it might concern a +Grand-Child of his own), hath expunged this Clause (by the Help of the +Earl of Salisbury) out of the Commission, and left us nothing but the +rusty Sword of the Church, Excommunication, to vindicate the Authority +of this Court. We have given him day until Saturday next, either to +conform, or to be excommunicated. She hath answered wittily, and +cunningly, but yet sufficient for the Cognisance of the Court: +Confesseth a Fame of Incontinence against her and Howard; but saith, +it was raised by her Husband's Kindred. I do not doubt, but the +Business will go on well; but (peradventure) more slowly, if Howard +continue refractory, for want of this power to fine and amerce him." + +That Lady Purbeck "answered wittily," or, as would now be said, +"cleverly" in court, is not to be wondered at; for was she not the +daughter of a father who had been the cleverest barrister of his day, +and of a mother who was more than a match for that cleverest of +barristers? + +A couple of days later the same correspondent wrote[62] to the Duke: +"For your Brother's Business, this is all I have to acquaint your +Grace with: Sir Robert Howard appeared, yesterday, at Lambeth, +pretended want of Council (the Doctors being out of Town) desired +respite until to-morrow, and had it granted by my Lord's Grace. Most +men think he will not take his Oath at all; I do incline to the +contrary Opinion, because, to my knowledge, he hath sent far and near, +for the most able Doctors in the Kingdom, to be feed for him, which +were great folly, if he intended not to answer. He is extreamly +commended for his closeness and secrecy by the major part of our +Auditors (the He and She Good-fellows of the Town,) and though he +refuseth to be a Confessor, yet he is sure to dye a Martyr, and most +of the Ladies in Town will worship at his Shrine. The Lady Hatton, +some nine days since was at Stoke, with the good Knight her Husband, +for some counsel in this particular; but he refused to meddle +therewithal, and dismist her Ladiship, when she had stayed with him +very lovingly half a quarter of an hour." + +There had been some sort of reconciliation between Coke and Lady +Elizabeth in July, 1621, says Woolrych in his life of Coke, "a +reconciliation effected through the mediation of the King." It was +not, however, cordial; for "we have good reason to suppose that they +lived apart to the day of Coke's death," says Campbell. At any rate +they were now on speaking terms, though that was about all; for, as we +have just seen, Coke refused to meddle in a matter upon which he was +eminently qualified to give an opinion, and he got rid of his wife +after an interview of seven minutes and a half, instead of giving her +the leisurely and lengthy advice and instructions which were the least +that she might have expected from him. Sympathy, of course, she could +not have hoped for. + +The proceedings against the two delinquents would appear to have been +in abeyance during the rest of the year; but in January, 1625, Sir +John Coke--the Secretary of State, not one of the Cokes of Sir +Edward's family--wrote[63] to Buckingham, saying that the King, +although so ill as scarcely to be able to sign his name, had put it to +the warrant sent by the Lord Chief Justice for authority to examine +into Lady Purbeck's business. This warrant, however, James either +issued with certain qualifications, or else privately advised +Buckingham only to act upon with prudence, as may be inferred from the +following letter,[64] written on February the 11th, by Buckingham to +the Lord Chief Justice:-- + +"I have moved the P. for a warrant from his ma^tie for the commitment +of Sir Ro. Howard and my sister Purbeck, but his ma^tie hath out of +his gracious and provident care of me dissuaded me in this lest upon +it coming to a publique hearing it might be thought that I had gained +power more by the way of favour than by the wayes of justice.... I +desire you to acquaint this bearer Mr. Innocent Lanier all the +particulars of this matter for I know him to be very honest, and +discreete and secret." The part of the letter immediately following is +illegible, but presently it goes on to say that Lanier[65] is much +trusted by his brother Purbeck; that Lanier will not otherwise be able +to keep his brother with him; and that, if he leaves, Sir Robert and +Lady Purbeck "by their crafty insinuations will draw from him speeches +to their advantage." + +Now, if Purbeck were still insane, or anything near it, no "speeches +drawn from him" could have had any effect for the advantage of Lady +Purbeck and Sir Robert. And it is clear from this letter that Lady +Purbeck was even at that time on good terms with her husband and able +to influence him. A reader might have been tempted to imagine that +Purbeck's "melancholy fitts" of insanity were the result of misery +about his wife's infidelity; but, if she could still "draw from him +speeches to her advantage," this cannot have been the case. The +prosecution of Lady Purbeck was pretty clearly at the instigation of +Buckingham and not of Purbeck. There is just a possibility that +Purbeck had refused to proceed against her, and that Buckingham +represented him as mad in order to act in his place, as his brother, +and divorce Lady Purbeck; although such a theory is not supported by +strong evidence. There is, however, this evidence in its support, that +Purbeck acknowledged the boy christened Robert Wright as his own son +some years later. + +It is true that, fifty years afterwards, in a petition to the House of +Lords[66] by Lord Denbigh against a claim made by a son of Robert +Wright, it is stated that Lord and Lady Purbeck had not lived together +as man and wife for two years before the birth of Robert Wright; and +that Lord Purbeck "was entrusted in the hands of physicians for the +cure of a melancholy distemper, occasioned by the cruelty and +disorders of his wife." But this claimed absence of two years, or +anything approaching two years, is very questionable, if not very +improbable; and although there is not much doubt as to the real +parentage of Robert Wright, Purbeck may have lived with his wife +sufficiently near the birth of the boy to imagine himself his father. +Indeed, as the following letter will show, she was so far at Court, as +to be living in Prince Charles's house so late as February, 1625, a +year after the birth of the boy. Moreover, as we have seen, Lord +Purbeck held office in Prince Charles's household, and from this it +might be inferred that Purbeck and Lady Purbeck were then together. +This is the more likely because in the following letter Buckingham +expresses a fear that his "brother will be also every day running to +her and give her occasion to worke on him by the subtlty of her +discourse." And if the husband and wife had access to each other when +the proceedings against the latter had gone so far, they are much more +likely to have been together during the year preceding the birth of +the boy. + +All this only affects the question whether Purbeck discredited his +wife's fidelity. Nothing has been said above in favour of the theory +that she was faithful. + +Buckingham experienced considerable difficulties in the prosecution of +Lady Purbeck. On 15th February, 1625, he wrote[67] from Newmarket to +the Lord Chief Justice:-- + +"MY LORD, + +"I understande you are not yet resolved to committ my sister Purbeck +who (if she be at Libbertie) will be still plotting and devising with +her ill counsellors to cover and conceal the truth and fowlness of her +crime and my brother will be also every day running to her and give +her occasion to worke on him by the subtlty of her discourse. It is +known that His Ma^tie was tender (at the first mention of this +business) of the hande of a Lady of her quallity but sure [if] he hath +fully understood the proofs and truth of her fault and how +dishonorably she hath carryed herself he would have no more support +showen to her than to an ordinary Lady in the like case for that she +hath by her ill carriage forfyted that hande." + +Things were not going so well now as they had been with Buckingham. +Within twelve months he was to be impeached in the House of Commons; +and, although still high in the royal favour, his King may not have +been so completely his servant at this time as he had been formerly. +Buckingham continues:-- + +"It is likewise very unfit she should remayne in the Prinses house for +defying which I thinke much aggravates her crimes and his highness +often speaks in distast of her continuance there. You are well +acquainted with the proof which is against her, so as I shall not nede +to tell you how much it reminds me to be carefull in the prosecution +of her faulte but I assure you there is nothing that more sollisits my +minde. I ... thanke you for the paynes you have always taken in this +business, which my earnest desire is to have to be fully discovered +and that you will for much oblige me by the continuance of the care +and diligence therein as that she may be tymely prevented in her +cunning endeavours to hinder the discovery of the truth of the facts +whereof she stands justly accused which (in my opinion) cannot be done +but by her present commitment. + + "And Sir, I rest, + "Your very loving friend. + +"Upon syght of the pregnancy of the proofes and the guiltiness of Sir +Rob. Howard and my sister, I desire that you will committ them to +prison with little respect, from where I heare Sir Rob. Howard is, for +an Alderman's House is rather an honour than disparagement to him and +rather a place of entertainment to him than a prison." It will be +observed that, although the accused persons had not yet been tried, +Buckingham wished them to be put into a place of punishment; a place +of mere detention would not satisfy him. + +Lanier, who, as Buckingham said in a letter quoted above, was much +trusted by his brother, seems to have been trusted by Purbeck without +reason, as he was evidently in the employment of Buckingham. + +A letter[68] written by Buckingham to Coventry, the Attorney-General, +and to Heath, the Solicitor-General, contains the following:-- + +"I perceive by your paper I have read how much I am beholding, and do +also understand by Innocent Larnier and others of the persons +themselves and my Lo: Chiefe justice have taken in the business +concerning the Lady Purbeck for which I thanke you:... but I did hope +you would have more discovered before this.... I desire you to say +what you think fitt to be done in the matter of the divorce of my +brother and to notify me your opinion thereupon and (if you thinke it +fitt to be proceeded in that) what is the speedyest worke that may be +taken therein." + +It was probably of this letter that Buckingham wrote[69] to Heath, the +Solicitor-General, on 16th February, 1625, from Newmarket:-- + +"I have written a letter to yourself and to Mr. Attorney regarding +the business of the Lady Purbeck showing that I desire you principally +only to aggravate her crimes that the Lady by my humble and your like +kind favour may yet be kept in prison, before the returne to towne, +for other my brother who hopes to be going soune will not be kept from +her and she will (if he should meet with her) so worke on him by her +subtilty and that shee will draw from him something to the advantage +of her dishonourable cause and to her end." Here again is evidence +that Purbeck "will not be kept from" his wife; and that, if they meet +"shee will draw something to the advantage of her" case in the divorce +suit. In what form could this something come? Is it possible that +Buckingham may have thought that she might induce Purbeck to appear as +a witness in her favour? Or that she might persuade him to stop the +suit if he should happen to be sane enough to do so when it came on? + +The next letter has an interest, first, because it shows that Lady +Purbeck's child was really in the custody of Buckingham. Nominally it +was probably in that of Purbeck; but, if Purbeck as a lunatic was in +the custody of Buckingham, what was in Purbeck's custody would be in +Buckingham's custody. Presently, however, we shall hear of the child +being with its mother in her imprisonment at the house of an +Alderman. + +_Innocent Lanier to Buckingham_.[70] +"May it please your grace, + +"Appon my returne to London, I presently repayred to my Lo: Chiefe +Justice, where I found Mr. Attorney and Mr. Solicitor.... I have heer +inclosed fore your Grace ther letter which before it was sealed they +showed mee, being something contrary to their resolution last nyghte, +w^ch was, to have sent for Sr. Ro: Howard this morning, and so to +comitt him closs in the Fleett, but of this I presume ther letter will +give yor. Grace such satisfaction that I shall need neither to write +more of it, nor of what is yett past. They much desier yor. Grace's +coming to towne wch. I hope wilbe speedy as it wilbe materiall. I +finde them resolved to deale roundly in this Busnes as yor. Grace +desiers and are this morning in the examination of divers witness the +better to Inform themselves agaynst my Ladies coming this afternoone. +The next Day, they Intend to fall uppon Lambe and Frodsham. My Lady +uppon the receipt of my lo: Chiefe Justice letter is something +dismayed but resolved to prove a new lodging, and new keepers. The +Childe, and Nurse, must remayne with us till farther directions, +having nothing more at this present to aquaynt yor. Grace of, wth. my +humblest duty I take leave. + + "Yor. Grace's most humble and + "obedient Servant, + "(Signed) I. LANIER. + +"DENMARK HOUSE. + "_Feb. 19, 1625._" + +"_Enclosed_. Att. Gen. Coventry and Sol. Gen. Heath to Buckingham. + +"Have consulted with Sir Henry Martin on Lady Purbeck's business, and +think the best plan would be to have the case brought before the High +Commission Court, which can sit without delay, in the vacation, and +when the crime is proved there, the divorce can be obtained by +ordinary law. Think it unadvisable to send the culprits to prison, as +it is unusual for persons of their rank but advise that they may be +confined in the houses of Aldermen, where in fact they would probably +be more closely restrained than in prison." + +The last statement sounds curious; especially as we saw, a few pages +ago, that Buckingham wrote: "an Alderman's house is rather an honour +than disparagement," and "rather a place of entertainment than a +prison." + +Buckingham now sought a fresh weapon against his sister-in-law. A +couple of scoundrels, mentioned in Lanier's letter, and named Frodsham +and Lambe, men suspected of sorcery, offered to give evidence to the +effect that Lady Purbeck had paid them to help her to bewitch both +Purbeck and Buckingham. On the 16th of February, 1625, Buckingham +wrote[71] to Coventry, the Attorney-General:-- + +"I perceive by the paper I have received how much I am beholding to +you and do also understand by Innocent Lanier and others of the paynes +[you] and my lo. Chief Justice, have taken in the business concerning +the Lady Purbeck for which I thanke you ... but I did hope that you +would have some more discovered before this tyme. If Lambe and +ffrodsham may escape the one by saying what he did was but jugglinge +and the other by seeming to affect to be thought a juggler I believe +all that hath been already discovered of the truth of this business +will be deluded. I do therefore desire that you will take some sound +course with them to make them speake more directly and truly to the +point and to bout (?) them from their shifts, for Lambe hath hitherto +by such means played mock with the world to preserve himself. I desire +you to acquaint Innocent Lanier (who is appointed by my brother to +sollicit this business) with all the particulars and publique speeche +that he may the better know how to imploy this paynes for the +discovering of the knot of this villany. I desire you to say well what +is fitt to be done in the divorce of my brother and to notify me your +opinions thereon and (if you thinke it fitt to be pursued in this) +what is the speediest work that may be taken therein. And you discover +the best serving friend. + + "I rest, &c. + +"NEWMARKET." + +If this was true it would seem that Purbeck himself suspected that he +had been bewitched. + +Yet on that very same day Buckingham wrote to Heath, the +Solicitor-General, expressing his opinion that, unless Lady Purbeck +were put in prison, Lord Purbeck would not "be kept from her," which +does not look as if he can have been afraid lest she should bewitch +him. The letter runs:-- + +"I have written a letter to yourself and Mr. Attorney concerning the +business of the Lady Purbeck which I desire you on whose love to me I +principally rely to aggravate and ayre the crimes of that Lady and her +dealings with Lambe and the like, so soon as yet she may be before my +coming to London committed to some prison for otherwise my brother who +hopes to be going hence, will not be kept from her and she will (if he +should come to her) so worke on him by her subtilty as that she will +draw from him something to the advantage of her dishonourable ends and +to his prejudice. Iff ffrodsham and Lambe once feele or be brought to +feare their punishment I believe they will unfold much more than they +yet have, for it seems they have but boath sported in their +examinations, &c." + +This letter, again, proves that Lord Purbeck was on good terms with +Lady Purbeck, and that Buckingham was striving to keep them apart; and +it adds still further support to the theory that it was not Lord +Purbeck but Buckingham who was trying to divorce Lady Purbeck, by +"aggravating and airing her crimes." + +Buckingham himself was suspected of having dealings with Lambe on his +own account; for Arthur Wilson says, in his _Life of James I._:[72] +"Dr. Lamb, a man of an infamous Conversation, (having been arraigned +for a Witch, and found guilty of it at Worcester; and arraigned for a +Rape, and found guilty of it at the King's Bench-Bar at Westminster; +yet escaped the Stroke of Justice for both, by his Favour in Court) +was much employed by the Mother and the Son," _i.e._, by the Duke of +Buckingham and his mother. If this be true, Buckingham's conduct +towards Lady Purbeck, in connection with Lambe, does not seem to have +been very straightforward. + +Lambe's "favour in Court," however, proved no protection to him in the +streets. Whitelock writes[73] in 1632: "This Term the business of the +Death of Doctor Lamb was in the King's Bench, wherein it appeared that +he was neither Dr. nor any way Lettered, but a man odious to the +Vulgar, for some Rumors that went of him, that he was a Conjurer or +Sorcerer, and he was quarrelled with in the Streets in London, and as +the people more and more gathered about him, so they pelted him with +rotten Eggs, Stones, and other riff raff, justled him, beat him, +bruised him, and so continued pursuing him from Street to Street, till +they were five hundred people together following him. This continued +three hours together until Night, and no Magistrate or Officer of the +Peace once showed himself to stop this Tumult: so the poor man being +above eighty years of age, died of this violence, and no Inquisition +was taken of it, nor any of the Malefactors discovered in the City." + +On the 26th of February Chamberlain wrote[74] to Carleton:-- + +"The Lady Purbecke w^th her young sonne, and Sr. Robert Howard are +committed to the custodie of Generall Aldermen Barkham and Freeman to +be close kept. When she was carried to Sergeants ynne to be examined +by the new L. Chiefe Justice and others she saide she marvailled what +those poore old cuckolds had to say to her. There is an imputation +laide on her that with powders and potions she did intoxicate her +husbands braines, and practised somewhat in that kinde upon the D. of +Buckingham. This (they say) is confest by one Lambe a notorious old +rascall that was condemned the last sommer at the Ks. bench for a rape +and arraigned some yeare or two before at Worcester for bewitching my +L. Windsor ... I see not what the fellow can gaine by this confession +but to be hangd the sooner. Would you thinke the Lady Hattens stomacke +could stoupe to go seeke her L. Cooke at Stoke for his counsaile and +assistance in this business?" + +It would appear that Buckingham really believed Lady Purbeck to have +possessed herself of some powers of witchcraft and that he felt +considerable uneasiness on his own account, as well as on his +brother's, in connection with it; for he seems to have consulted some +other sorcerer, with the object of out-witching the witchery of Lady +Purbeck. In some notes[75] by Archbishop Laud for a letter to +Buckingham, the following cautious remarks are to be found:-- + +"I remember your Grace when I came to you on other busyness told me +you were gladd I was come, for you were about to send for me, that you +calld me asyde into the gallerye behind yo^r lodgings bye the back +stayres. There you told me of one that had made a great offer of an +easy and safe cure of your G. brother the Ld. Purbecke. + +"That it much trobbled you when he did but beginne to express himselfe +because he sayde he would doe it bye onlye touchinge his head with his +hands[76] w^ch made yo^r Grace jealous in as much as he mentioned noe +Naturall Medicine. + +"Upon this yo^r Gr. was pleased to aske what I thought of it. I +answered these were busynesses which I had little looked into. But I +did not believe the touch of his hand, or any mans els could produce +such effects. + +"Your G. asked farther if I remembered whether you might not +entertayne him farther in discourse to see whether he would open or +express any unlawfull practises; w^ch I thought you might for it went +no farther than discourse. + +"And to mye remembrance your Grace sayde that he offered to laye his +hand on your head sayinge, I would doe noe more than thiss; And that +thereupon you started backe, fearinge some sorcerye or ye like, and +that you were not quiett till you had spoken with me about it. This, +or much to this effect is the uttermost I can remember that passed at +ye time." + +Buckingham had evidently felt some scruples about meddling with the +Black Art, and had consulted Laud on the question. It is also pretty +plain that Laud was anxious not to offend Buckingham, yet, at the same +time, wished to guard against any possibility of being accused of +approving, or even of conniving at, witchcraft. These notes occur in a +"draft of a speech, in the handwriting of Bishop Laud, and apparently +intended to be addressed to the House of Commons, by the Duke of +Buckingham. It has not been found that this latter speech was ever +actually spoken." + +So far as accusations against Lady Purbeck of witchcraft were +concerned, Buckingham must have found that he had no case; for, in a +letter[77] to Carleton, written on 12th March, 1625, Chamberlain says +that the charge of sorcery had been dropped; but that Lady Purbeck was +to be prosecuted for incontinency. He adds that Sir Robert Howard was +a close prisoner in the Fleet in spite of the advice given by the +Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General three weeks earlier--and +that Lady Purbeck was a prisoner at Alderman Barkham's, had no +friends who would stand bail for her, and was asking Buckingham to +let her have a little money with which to pay her counsel's fees. +Eleven days later Chamberlain again wrote[78] to Carleton, saying that +Lady Purbeck was acquitting herself well in the Court of High +Commission; that a servant of the Archbishop's had been committed for +saying that she had been hardly used, and that she called this man one +of her martyrs. He also states that Sir Robert Howard had been +publicly excommunicated at St. Paul's Cross, for refusing to answer. + +How long the delinquents were kept in captivity is very doubtful. +Little else is recorded of either of them during the next two years; +but, at the time of their trial in 1627, they would seem to have been +at liberty. The reason of this long interval between the trial in the +Court of High Commission in 1625 and that before the same Court in +1627 seems inexplicable. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[61] _Cabala_, p. 281. + +[62] _Cabala_, p. 282. + +[63] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXII, No. 79. + +[64] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 41 + +[65] Innocent Lanier was one of the King's musicians. + +[66] _MSS. of the House of Lords_, 228, 30th April, 1675. _Hist. Com. +MSS._, Ninth Report, Part II., p. 50. + +[67] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 52. + +[68] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 65, 16th February, +1625. + +[69] _Ibid._, No. 66. + +[70] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIV., Nos. 7 and 7.1. + +[71] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 65. + +[72] _Camden, Complete History of England_, Vol. II., p. 791 (ed. +1719). + +[73] _Memorials of the English Affairs_, etc., p. 17. + +[74] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIV., No. 47. + +[75] _S.P. Dom._, Charles I., Vol. XXVI., No. 30. + +[76] This looks like an anticipation of Mesmer. + +[77] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXV., No. 48. + +[78] _S.P. Dom._, James I., No. 99. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "Let us give great Praise to God, and little Laud to the Devil." + + (Grace said by the Court Jester, Archie Armstrong, when he + had begged to act as chaplain, in the absence of that + official, at the dinner-table of Charles I. Archbishop Laud + was little in stature.) + + +The following account of the trial of Lady Purbeck in 1627 is given by +Archbishop Laud:--[79] + +"Now the Cause of _Sir Robert Howard_ was this: He fell in _League_ +with the _Lady Viscountess Purbeck_. The _Lord Viscount Purbeck_ +being in some weakness and distemper, the Lady used him at her +pleasure, and betook her self in a manner, wholly to Sir Robert +Howard, and had a Son by him. She was delivered of this Child in a +Clandestine way, under the Name of _Mistress Wright_. These things +came to be known, and she was brought into the _High-Commission_, and +there, after a Legal Proceeding, was found guilty of _Adultery_, and +sentenced to do _Pennance_: Many of the great Lords of the Kingdom +being present in Court, and agreeing to the Sentence." + +A marginal note states that there were present Sir Thomas Coventry, +the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, the Earls of Manchester, Pembroke, +Montgomery and Dorset, Viscount Grandison, five Bishops, two Deans and +several other dignitaries, clerical and legal. + +Laud continues: "Upon this Sentence she withdrew her-self, to avoid +the Penance. This Sentence passed at _London-House,_ in Bishop +_Mountains_ time, _Novemb. 19. An. Dom. 1627_. I was then present, as +Bishop of _Bath_ and _Wells_." + +The sentence in question was that Lady Purbeck was to be separated +from her husband, and that she should do penance, bare-footed, and +clad in a white sheet, in the chapel of the Savoy; but a decree of +divorce was not given. + +No attempt shall be made here to excuse or palliate the sins of Lady +Purbeck; but it may be observed in relation to Laud's mention of her +having been found guilty of adultery by the Court, that, although she +might be guilty of that offence according to the civil law, she was +not guilty of it morally; because her so-called marriage was no +marriage at all, since she was forced into it against her will. + +It cannot be a matter for surprise that Lady Purbeck "withdrew +herself" rather than do penance, barefooted, in a white sheet in a +fashionable church, and before a crowded congregation, for a crowd +there would certainly have been to enjoy the spectacle of the public +penance of a Viscountess. For some time her place of withdrawal or, +to speak plainly, her place of hiding, was undiscovered. As we have +seen, she was sentenced on the 19th of November. She was not arrested; +but she was commanded to "present herself" on a certain Sunday at the +Savoy chapel, to perform her public penance. As might have been +expected, she did not present herself, to the great disappointment of +a large congregation, and she thereby exposed herself to arrest. The +officials did not discover her place of retreat until about Christmas. +The following story of an incident that then happened in connection +with this matter is told by Sir John Finett.[80] + +A serjeant-at-arms, accompanied by other officers of justice and their +men, proceeded to the house in which Lady Purbeck was concealed, and +at once guarded every door into the street; but admittance was +refused, and the Countess of Buckingham sent "a gentleman" to the +"Ambassador of Savoy," whose garden adjoined that of the house in +which Lady Purbeck was staying, to beg the Ambassador that he would +allow the officers to pass through his house and garden into the +garden of Lady Purbeck's house of refuge "for her more easy +apprehension and arrest that way." + +The Ambassador refused, considering it an indignity to be asked to +allow men of such a type a free passage through his house, and feeling +horrified at the idea of lending assistance to "the surprise and +arrest of a fair lady, his neighbour." After many protests, however, +he consented to the entrance of one constable into his garden, and the +man was to avail himself of an opportunity which, said the Ambassador, +would occur at dinner-time, of passing into the garden of the next +house and arresting Lady Purbeck. + +In the meantime the Ambassador called his page, "a handsome fair boy," +and, with the help of his attendants, dressed him in women's clothes. +He then ordered his coach to be brought round, and when it came, his +attendants, ostentatiously, but with a show of great hurry and fear of +discovery, ran out of the house with the sham-lady and "thrust her +suddenly into" the carriage, which immediately drove off. + +The constable, congratulating himself upon his sharpness in +discovering, as he thought, the escape of Lady Purbeck, at once gave +the alarm to his followers outside. The coach "drove fast down the +Strand, followed by a multitude of people, and those officers, not +without danger to the coachman, from their violence, but with ease to +the Ambassador, that had his house by this device cleaned of the +constable." + +While all this turmoil was going on in the Strand, Lady Purbeck went +quietly away to another place of hiding; but her escape got the +gallant and kind-hearted Ambassador into great trouble. Buckingham was +enraged when he heard of the trick. Sir John Finett shall himself tell +us what followed. Buckingham, he says, declared that "all this was +done of designe for the ladies escape, (which in that hubbub she +made), to his no small prejudice and scorn, in a business that so +nearly he said concerned him, (she being wife to his brother), and +bringing him children of anothers begetting; yet such as by the law +(because begotten and born while her husband was in the land) must be +of his fathering. + +"The ambassador for his purgation from this charge, went immediately +to the Duke at Whitehall, but was denied accesse: Whereupon repairing +to my Lord Chamberlain for his mediation, I was sent to him by his +lordship, to let him know more particularly the Duke's displeasure, +and back by the ambassador to the Duke with his humble request but of +one quarter of an hours audience for his disblaming. But the duke +returning answer, that having always held him so much his friend and +given him so many fair proofs of his respects, he took his proceeding +so unkindly, as he was resolved not to speak with him. I reported this +to the ambassador, and had for his only answer, what reason cannot do, +time will. Yet, after this the Earls of Carliel and Holland +interposing; the ambassador, (hungry after his peace from a person of +such power, and regarding his masters service and the public affairs), +he a seven night after obtained of the duke an interview in Whitehall +garden, and after an hours parley, a reconciliation." + +As has just been seen, the officers of the law lost sight of Lady +Purbeck. So also, for the present do we; but we know what became of +her; for she was taken by Sir Robert Howard to his house at Clun, in +the extreme south-west of Shropshire, where a small promontory of that +county is bordered by Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Herefordshire. +It is probable that, so long as she was far away from the Court and +from London, Buckingham and the authorities took no trouble to find +her or her paramour, and almost connived at their escape. + +During their absence from our view, it may add to the interest of our +story to observe the conditions at that time of some of the other +characters who have figured in it, and to consider certain +circumstances of the period at which we are halting. Looking back a +little way, we shall find that King James, who we noticed was so ill +as to be only just able to sign an order connected with the +proceedings against Lady Purbeck, died in March, 1625, and that the +very correct Charles I. was King during the subsequent proceedings. + +Going further back still, we find that Bacon, who had succeeded in +overthrowing Coke, was himself overthrown in 1621, three years after +the marriage of Coke's daughter to Sir John Villiers, and shortly +after Bacon himself had been created Viscount St. Albans. Bacon was +impeached on charges of official corruption, and his old enemy, Sir +Edward Coke, who was then a member of Parliament, was to have had the +pleasure of conducting the impeachment. Coke, however, was deprived of +that gratification by Bacon's plea of Guilty, and was obliged to +content himself with attending the Speaker to the bar of the House of +Lords when judgment was to be prayed, and with hearing the Chief +Justice, by order of the Lords, condemn Bacon to a fine of L40,000, +incapacity ever to hold any office again, exile from Court, and +imprisonment in the Tower during the King's pleasure. + +It was generally supposed that the exultant Coke would now be offered +the Great Seal; but, to the astonishment of the world and to Coke's +unqualified chagrin, the King proclaimed Williams, "a shrewd Welsh +parson," as Lord Campbell calls him, Lord Keeper in the place of +Bacon. After this disappointment, Coke became even fiercer against the +Court than he had been before Bacon's disgrace. Bacon's fine was +remitted, "the King's pleasure" as to the length of his imprisonment +was only four days, he was allowed to return to Court, and he was +enabled to interest himself with the literary pursuits which he loved +better than law and almost as much as power; but he was harassed by +want of what, perhaps, he may have loved most of all, namely money, +and he died in 1626, five years after his fall and condemnation. + +Although Buckingham was at the summit of his glory, everything did not +go well with him during the period at which he was scheming to rid his +brother of Lady Purbeck. In 1623 he went to Spain with Prince Charles +to arrange a marriage with the Infanta, a match which he failed to +bring about. In 1626 he was impeached, though unsuccessfully, by the +House of Commons. In 1627 he commanded an expedition to the Isle of +Rhe against the French, on behalf of the Huguenots, and completely +failed in the attempt. In 1628 a new Parliament threw the blame upon +him of all the troubles and drawbacks from which the country was then +suffering; and, in August, the same year, he was murdered by an +assassin less than twelve months after he had succeeded in his +proceedings against Lady Purbeck. + +It was not until shortly after the death of Bacon that his rival, Sir +Edward Coke, reached the zenith of his fame as a politician. Only a +few months before the death of Buckingham, Coke framed the celebrated +Petition of Rights, a document which has often been spoken of as the +second _Magna Charta_. He had gained little through his attempt to +bribe Buckingham by giving his daughter and her wealth to Buckingham's +brother, and he was now exasperated against the royal favourite and +that favourite's royal master. "In the House of Commons, Sir Ed. +Coke," says Whitelock in his _Memorials_[81] "named the Duke to be the +cause of all their miseries, and moves to goe to the King, and by word +to acquaint him." Rushworth writes[82] more fully of this speech of +Coke's. "Sir Edward Cook spake freely.... 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 causes of all our +disasters, and all will reflect upon him." And Coke was as bitter +against the King. A little later Charles I. had issued a warrant for a +certain commission, when, in a conference with the Lords, Coke +moved[83] "That the Warrant may be damned and destroyed." + +After the prorogation of Parliament which soon followed, Coke retired +into private life and lived at Stoke Pogis, where he is supposed to +have encouraged his neighbour, Hampden, in his plots against the +Court. + +In the year 1632 Lady Purbeck left Sir Robert Howard to live with and +take care of her father. She probably went to him on hearing that he +had been seriously hurt by a fall from his horse. In his diary[84] +Coke thus describes this accident: "The 3rd of May, 1632, riding in +the morning in Stoke, between eight and nine o'clock to take the air, +my horse under me had a strange stumble backwards and fell upon me +(being above eighty years old) where my head lighted near to sharp +stubbles, and the heavy horse upon me." He declares that he suffered +"no hurt at all;" but, as a matter of fact, he received an internal +injury. + +Lord Campbell says that, from this time "his only domestic solace +was the company of his daughter, Lady Purbeck, whom he had +forgiven,--probably from a consciousness that her errors might be +ascribed to his utter disregard of her inclinations when he concerted +her marriage. She continued piously to watch over him till his death." + +Lady Elizabeth was never reconciled to her husband. On the contrary, +she seems to have been very anxiously awaiting his death in order to +take possession of Stoke Pogis. Garrard, in a letter[85] to Lord +Deputy Strafford written in 1633, says: "Sir Edward Coke was said to +be dead, all one morning in Westminster Hall, this term, insomuch that +his wife got her brother, Lord Wimbledon, to post with her to Stoke, +to get possession of that place; but beyond Colebrook they met with +one of his physicians coming from him, who told her of his much +amendment, which made them also return to London; some distemper he +had fallen into for want of sleep, but is now well again." Lady +Elizabeth's keen disappointment may be readily imagined. + +It is not likely that the couple of years spent by Lady Purbeck with +her father can have been very pleasant ones. He was bad-tempered, +ill-mannered, cantankerous and narrow-minded, and he must also have +been a dull companion; for beyond legal literature he had read but +little. Lord Campbell says: "He shunned the society of" his +contemporaries, "Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, as of _vagrants_ who +ought to be set in the stocks, or whipped from tithing to tithing." + +Nor can Lady Purbeck have found him a very tractable patient. He had +no faith in either physicians or physic. Mead wrote[86]to Sir Martin +Stuteville: "Sir Edward Coke being now very infirm in body, a friend +of his sent him two or three doctors to regulate his health, whom he +told that he had never taken physic since he was born, and would not +now begin; and that he had now upon him a disease which all the drugs +of Asia, the gold of Africa, nor all the doctors of Europe could +cure--old age. He therefore both thanked them and his friend that sent +them, and dismissed them nobly with a reward of twenty pieces to each +man." Doubtless a troublesome invalid for a daughter to manage. + +At last it became apparent that the end was rapidly approaching, and +then Lady Purbeck was subjected to a most embarrassing annoyance. Two +days before her father's death she was summoned from his bedside to +receive Sir Francis Windebank, the Secretary of State, who had arrived +at the house, accompanied by several attendants, bringing in his hand +an order from the King and Council to search Sir Edward Coke's mansion +for seditious papers and, if any were found, to arrest him. + +Sir Francis, on hearing the critical condition of Sir Edward, assured +Lady Purbeck that he would give her father no personal annoyance; but +he insisted on searching all the rooms in the house except that in +which Coke was lying; and he carried away every manuscript that he +could find, including even Sir Edward's will--a depredation which +subsequently caused his family great inconvenience. It is believed +that Coke was kept in ignorance of this raid upon his house, probably +by the care and vigilance of Lady Purbeck. Thus his last hours were +undisturbed, and on the 3rd of September, 1634, in the 83rd year of +his age, died one of the most disagreeable men of his times, but the +most incorruptible judge in a period of exceptional judicial +corruption. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[79] _The History of the Troubles and Tryal of the most Reverend +Father in God, and Blessed Martyr, William Laud, Archbishop of +Canterbury_. Wrote by Himself, during his Imprisonment in the Tower: +London, R. Chiswell, 1695, p. 146. + +[80] _Finetti Philoxenis_, London, 1636, p. 239. + +[81] P. 10. + +[82]_Historical Collections_, p. 607 (ed. 1659). + +[83] Rushworth's _Collections_, p. 616. + +[84] Campbell, Vol. I., p. 334. + +[85] _Strafford Letters_, I., p. 265. + +[86] Harleian MS. 390, fol. 534. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "The circle smil'd, then whisper'd, and then sneer'd, + The misses bridled, and the matrons frown'd; + Some hoped things might not turn out as they fear'd: + Some would not deem such women could be found, + Some ne'er believed one half of what they heard: + Some look'd perplex'd, and others look'd profound." + _Don Juan_, ix., 78. + + +Soon after the death of Sir Edward Coke, up to the date of which event +his daughter had apparently been taking care of him with great filial +piety for two years and living a virtuous life, she came to London. +About this coming to London Archbishop Laud must be allowed to have +his say,[87] albeit not altogether a pleasant say:-- + +"They," _i.e._, Sir Robert Howard and Lady Purbeck, "grew to such +boldness, that he brought her up to London and lodged her in +Westminster. This was so near the Court and in so open view, that the +King and the Lords took notice of it, as a thing full of Impudence, +that they should so publickly adventure to outface the Justice of the +Realm, in so fowl a business. And one day, as I came of course to wait +on his Majesty, he took me aside, and told me of it, being then +Archbishop of Canterbury; and added, that it was a great reproach to +the Church and Nation; and that I neglected my Duty, in case I did not +take order for it. I made answer, she was a Wife of a Peer of the +Realm; and that without his leave I could not attach her; but that now +I knew his Majesty's pleasure, I would do my best to have her taken, +and brought to Penance, according to the sentence against her. The +next day I had the good hap to apprehend both her and Sir Robert; and +by order of the High-Commission-Court, Imprisoned her in the +Gate-House and him in the Fleet. This was (as far as I remember) upon +a Wednesday; and the Sunday sevennight after, was thought upon to +bring her to Penance. She was much troubled at it, and so was he." + +In the _Strafford Papers_[88] there is a letter to the Lord Deputy +from Garrard, in which he says that, after Lady Purbeck's sentence +some years earlier, she had evaded it by flight and had "not been much +looked after since;" but that "this winter she lodged herself on the +Water side over against Lambeth, I fear too near the road of the +Archbishop's barge; whereof some complaint being made, she had the +Sergeant at Arms sent with the warrant of the Lords and the Council to +carry her to the Gate-House, whence she will hardly get out until she +hath done her penance. The same night was a warrant sent signed by the +Lords, to the Warden of the Fleet, to take Sir Robert Howard at +Suffolk House, and to carry him to the Fleet; but there was never any +proceeding against him, for he refused to take the oath _ex-officio_, +and had the Parliament to back him out, but I fear he will not escape +so now." + +It is open to those who may like to do so to take Laud's words as +meaning that Lady Purbeck and Sir Robert Howard were again living +together in immorality. Possibly that may have been Laud's meaning. If +it was, he may have been mistaken. The world is seldom very charitable +and, when Sir Robert and Lady Purbeck were both in London--which was +comparatively a small place in those days--the gossips would naturally +put the worst construction on the matter. If the very proper Charles +I. heard such rumours, he would most likely believe them; so also +would Laud. + +From the meagre evidence existing on the question, there is much--the +present writer thinks most--to be said in favour of the theory that +the relations of Lady Purbeck to Sir Robert Howard were, at this time, +perfectly innocent, and that they had been so ever since she had left +him to live with her father, two years earlier. To begin with, is it +likely that if, after so long a separation, the pair had wished to +resume their illicit intercourse, they would have chosen London as the +place in which to do so? Sir Robert may, or may not, have obtained for +Lady Purbeck her lodging. If he did, there was not necessarily any +harm in that. + +Then the fact of Lady Purbeck's returning openly to London looks as if +she was conscious of innocence since she had left Sir Robert a couple +of years earlier, and as if she believed that the innocence of her +recent life was generally known. And, indeed, she might naturally +suppose that because, as Garrard wrote, she "had not been much looked +after" by the authorities, when she had gone into the country to +continue her offence many years earlier, she was perfectly safe in +returning to London now that she was living a life of virtue. + +Sir Robert Howard, says Garrard's letter, was sought for and taken at +Suffolk House, the London home of his brother, whereas Lady Purbeck +was taken at, and living at, a house "on the Water side, over against +Lambeth." This does not absolutely prove that they were not living +together; but it is certainly evidence in that direction. + +Again, although it is possible that the King and Laud may have +believed in the revival of the criminal intercourse between Lady +Purbeck and Sir Robert, it is equally possible that they did not, and +that they merely considered it "boldness" and a "thing full of +Impudence" to "publickly adventure to outface the Justice of the +Realm," when a woman under sentence to do public penance for grave +immorality--a woman who had fled to a remote part of the country to +escape from that penance--came back to London and took up her quarters +"so near the Court, and in so open view," as if nothing had happened; +and that, as the sentence had never been repealed, they thought it +ought to be executed. + +It might even be contended that the conduct of the King and Laud looks +in favour of the innocence of Lady Purbeck, at that time; for, if they +had had any evidence of a fresh offence, far from being content with +executing the sentence for the old transgression, they would probably, +if not certainly, have prosecuted her again for the new one, and have +either added to the severity of the first sentence, or passed a second +to follow it, as a punishment for the second crime. + +Be all this as it may, one thing is certain, namely, that the King and +Laud were determined to carry out the sentence which had been passed +some seven or eight years earlier, now that the escaped convict had +had what Laud calls the "Impudence" to come to the capital; and it +appears that Sir Robert was to be proceeded against in the Star +Chamber upon the old charge. + +Apart from any concern on his own account, Sir Robert was greatly +distressed that Lady Purbeck should be exposed to public punishment +for an offence of the past, of which he himself was at least equally +guilty. In the hope of saving her from it, he took into his counsel +"Sir ... of Hampshire," some friend whose name is illegible in Laud's +MS. + +We must now turn attention, for a little time, elsewhere. The first +Earl of Danby was a man of great respectability, and he had +distinguished himself in arms, both on sea and on land. He was a +Knight of the Garter and the Governor of Guernsey, and he had been +Lord President of Munster. He had always done those things that he +ought to have done, with as great a regularity as his attainted elder +brother, Sir Charles Danvers, had done those things that he ought not +to have done. + +This paragon of a bachelor, at the age of sixty-two, received a visit +at his Government House in Guernsey from a youth who requested a +private interview. This having been granted, the boy, to the +astonishment of Lord Danby, proclaimed himself to be his Lordship's +cousin, Frances, Lady Purbeck.[89] + +In a former chapter we saw that Lady Purbeck had escaped from +punishment through the medium of a boy dressed up like a woman. The +process had now been reversed: for she had escaped from the +Gate-House--a woman dressed up like a boy. The Sir Somebody Something +of Hampshire, says Laud, "with Money, corrupted the Turn-Key of the +Prison (so they call him) and conveyed the Lady Forth, and after that +into France in Man's Apparel (as that Knight himself hath since made +his boast). This was told me the Morning after the escape: And you +must think, the good Fellowship of the Town was glad of it." Lady +Purbeck, however, did not go first into France. As we have seen, she +went to Guernsey and placed herself under the protection of her old +cousin, Lord Danby. + +That old cousin must have wished devoutly that she had placed herself +anywhere else. For the Governor of one of the King's islands to +receive and to shelter a criminal flying from justice was a very +embarrassing position. On the other hand, to refuse protection to a +helpless lady, and that lady a kinswoman, much more to betray her into +the hands of her enemies, would have been an act from which any +honourable man might well shrink. The possibility that it might be +discovered in the island that he was entertaining a woman in male +attire must also have been an annoying uncertainty to the immaculate +Governor of Guernsey. Over the details of this perplexing situation +history has kindly thrown a veil; indeed, we learn nothing further +about Lady Purbeck's proceedings until we read, in the already noticed +letter of Garrard's, that she landed at St. Malo, whence she +eventually went to Paris. + +It seems safe to infer that whatever protection and hospitality her +relative, Lord Danby, may have afforded to Lady Purbeck, he was +heartily glad to get rid of her. If she had originally intended to go +to Paris, she would scarcely have made the long voyage of nearly two +hundred miles out of her way to Guernsey, and the most natural +explanation of that voyage is that she had hoped and expected to +obtain concealment, hospitality, and a refuge in the house of her +relative. Instead of conceding her these privileges for any length of +time, Lord Danby evidently speeded the parting guest with great +celerity. + +While all this was going on, Sir Robert Howard remained under arrest +in London. Laud, writing of Lady Purbeck's escape, says: "In the mean +time, I could not but know, though not perhaps prove as then, that Sir +Robert Howard laboured and contrived this conveyance. And thereupon in +the next sitting of the High-Commission, Ordered him to be close +Prisoner, till he brought the Lady forth. So he continued Prisoner +about some two or three months." + +It may be observed here that some years later, in fact in the year +1640, Sir Robert Howard turned the tables upon Laud for this +transaction. "On Munday, December 21," wrote Laud in 1640, "upon a +Petition of Sir Robert Howard, I was condemned to pay Five Hundred +Pounds unto him for false Imprisonment. And the Lords Order was so +strict, that I was commanded to pay him the Money presently, or give +Security to pay it in a very short time. I payed it, to satisfie the +Command of the House: but was not therein so well advised as I might +have been, being Committed for Treason." Laud was at that time a +prisoner in the Tower, only to leave it for execution. In addition to +this L500, Sir Robert was ordered to have a fine of L250 paid to him +by the sorcerer, Lambe, and another fine of L500 by a man named +Martin;[90] so altogether, the Long Parliament assigned him,L1,250 +damages. + +In a letter to the Lord Deputy, dated 24th June, 1635,[91] Garrard +says: "Sir Robert Howard, after one month's close imprisonment in the +Fleet, obtained his liberty, giving L2,000 bond never more to come at +Lady Purbeck, wherein he stands bound alone; but for his appearance +within 30 days, if he be called, two of his brothers stand bound for +him in L1,500, so I hope there is an end of the business." + +On the 30th of July, 1635, the same correspondent wrote of Lady +Purbeck's being "in some part of France, where I wish she may stay, +but it seems not good so to the higher powers: for there is of late an +express messenger sent to seek her with the Privy Seal of his Majesty +to summon her into England, within six weeks after the receipt +thereof, which if she do not obey, she is to be proceeded against +according to the laws of this Kingdom." + +In a letter[92] from the "Rev. Mr. Thomas Garrard to the Lord Deputy," +dated 27th April, 1637, there is an announcement which may surprise +some readers:-- + +"Another of my familiar acquaintance has gone over to that Popish +religion, Sir Robert Howard, which I am very sorry for. My Lady +Purbeck left her country and religion both together, and since he will +not leave thinking of her, but live in that detestable sin, let him go +to that Church for absolution, for comfort he can find none in ours." + +Now, "the Reverend Mr. Garrard" can scarcely have known what Sir +Robert would, or would not, "leave thinking of," and, as to his living +"in that detestable sin," he and his fellow-sinner had not been even +in the same country for nearly two years at the time when Garrard was +writing; and, as we have already shown, the unlikelihood of their +having committed the sin in question for another couple of years +before that may be more than plausibly argued. And it should be +remembered that these two people could have no object in becoming +Catholics, unless they received the benefits of the Sacraments of the +Catholic Church; and as Catholics, they would believe that their +confessions would be sacrileges, their absolutions invalid, and their +communions the "eating and drinking their own damnation," unless they +confessed their immoralities among their other sins, with a firm +purpose never to commit them again. + +It is clear, therefore, that when they became Catholics Sir Robert +Howard and Lady Purbeck must have determined never to resume their +illicit intercourse; and, so far as is known, they never did so. In a +letter to Secretary Windebanke written from Paris, in July, 1636, Lord +Scudamore, after saying something about Lady Purbeck, adds: "She +expects every day Sir Robert Howard here:" but this must have been +mere gossip, for Scudamore cannot have been in the confidence of that +fugitive from England, Lady Purbeck, as he was English Ambassador at +Paris; moreover, he was a particular ally of Archbishop Laud,[93] +therefore, not likely to have relations with an escaped prisoner of +Laud's; although, as we shall presently find, another, although very +different, friend of Laud took her part. Nor is there anything to show +that Sir Robert Howard went to Paris. + +Respecting the matter of Sir Robert's submission to the Catholic +Church, the Reverend Mr. Garrard was perfectly right in saying: "Let +him go to that Church for absolution, for comfort he can find none in +ours." Whether the Catholic religion is the worst of religions or the +best of religions, it is the religion to which those in grievous +trouble, whether through misfortune or their own fault, most +frequently have recourse; a religion which offers salvation and solace +even to the adulterer, the thief, the murderer, or the perpetrator of +any other crimes, on condition of contrition and firm purpose of +amendment.[94] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[87] _History of the Troubles and Tryal of Archbishop Laud_ (ed. +1695), p. 146. + +[88] Vol. I., p. 390, 17th March, 1635. + +[89] _Strafford Papers_, Vol. I., p. 447. Letter from Garrard to the +Lord Deputy, dated 30th July, 1635. + +[90] Lingard, Vol. VII., Chap. V. + +[91] _Strafford Letters_, Vol. I., p. 434. + +[92] _Ibid._, Vol. II., p. 72. + +[93] "The remarkably studious, pious, and hospitable life he led, made +him respected & esteemed by all good men, especially by Laud, who +generally visited him in going to & from his Diocese of St. David's & +found his entertainment as kind and full of respect as ever he did +from any friend" (Burke's _Dormant and Extinct Peerages_, p. 483). + +[94] In _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII., p. 17, may be found the following +note, after a mention of Lady Purbeck: "Sir Robert Howard died April +22, 1653, and was buried at Clunn in Shropshire, leaving issue by +Catherine Nevill, his Wife, 3 sons, who, I presume, he married after +the Lady Purbeck's death which happened 8 years before his own. The +Epitaph in my Book in Folio of Lichfield, lent me by Mr. Mitton. Sir +Robert was 5th Son to Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, Lord Treasurer of +England." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "O must the wretched exile ever mourn, + Nor after length of rolling years return?" + DRYDEN. + + +Lady Purbeck was not to be left in peace in Paris. As Garrard had +said, a writ was issued commanding her to return to England upon her +allegiance, and it was sent to Paris by a special messenger who was +ordered to serve it upon her, if he could find her. The matter was +placed in the hands of the English Ambassador, and he describes what +followed in a letter[95] from Paris to the Secretary of State in +England:-- + +"Rt. Honble. + +"Your honours letters dated the 7th March--I received the 21 the same +style by the Courrier sent to serve his Majesties writt upon the Lady +Viscountesse Purbecke. They came to me about 11 of the clock in the +Morning. Upon the instant of his coming to me I sent a servant of myne +own to show him the house, where the Lady lived publiquely, and in my +neighbourhood." + +The business in hand, it will be observed, was not to arrest Lady +Purbeck, but simply to serve the writ upon her: a duty which proved +not quite so simple as might be supposed. On arriving at the house in +which Lady Purbeck was living, "the Courrier taking off his Messengers +Badge knocked at the doore to gett in. There came a Mayd to the doore +that would not open it, but peeped through a grating and asked his +businesse. He sayd, he was not in such hast but he could come againe +to-morrow. But the Mayd and the rest of the household having charge +not to open the doore, but to suche as were well knowne, the Messenger +could not gett in." + +This first failure would not in itself have much alarmed the +Ambassador; but he says: "In the afternoone, I understood that the +Lady had received notice 15 days before, that a privy seale was to +come for her, which had caused her ever since to keep her house +close." + +This made him nervous, and he tried to push the matter with greater +speed. + +"We endeavoured by severall ways," he wrote, "to have gotten the +Messenger into the house. But having considered and tryed till the +next day in the afternoone, we grew very doubtfull that the Messenger +might be suspected and that the Lady might slip away from that place +of her residence that night." + +Unless the writ could be properly served upon her, proceedings against +her could not be carried out in England, and, once out of the house in +which she now was known, or at least believed, to be, so slippery a +lady, as she had already proved herself, would be very difficult to +find. To effect an entrance into the house and to serve the writ upon +her personally was evidently impossible, and the only alternative was +to make sure that she was in the house and then to put the writ into +it in such a way that she could not avoid learning of its presence. +Therefore, says the Ambassador, "I directed this Bearer to put the Box +with the Privy Seale in it through some pane of a lower window into +the house and leaving it there to putt on his Badge, and knocking at +the doore of the house, if they would not suffer him to enter, then to +tell that party, whoe should speak to him at the dore, that he was +sent from the K. of Grate Britaine to serve his Majesties Privy Seale +upon the Lady Viscountess Purbeck, and that in regard he could not be +admitted in, he had left the Privy seale in a Box in such a place of +the house, and that in his Majesties name he required the Lady Purbeck +to take notice thereof at her perill." So far as getting the Privy +Seal inside the house was concerned, all went well. "The Messenger +being there, found an upper windowe neath the casements open, and +threw up the Box with the Privy seale in it through that windowe into +a Chamber, which some say is the Ladies Dining Roome, others, that it +is a Chamber of a Man servant waiting upon her." + +The writ was now safely lodged in the house; but the Ambassador had +ordered the messenger to take care to call the attention of some one +in it to the fact that the writ was there. Unfortunately, says the +Ambassador, this part of his instructions had been neglected. "The +Courrier returnes to me. And finding that he had forgotten to speake +at the dore as I had directed him, I caused him presently to returne +and to discharge himself in such sort as is above mentioned, which he +will depose he did." + +This was done, but even then something was still left undone; for it +yet remained to be proved that Lady Purbeck was actually in the house +at the time when the writ was thrown into it. The Ambassador conceived +the idea of obtaining such proof by means of a female witness. For +this purpose, he very ingeniously contrived to find a sister of one of +Lady Purbeck's servants, and, no doubt by the promise of a heavy +bribe, he persuaded her to go to the house, to ask to be admitted in +order to speak with her sister, to find out, when there, if Lady +Purbeck was in the house, and, if possible, to see her. This ruse was +singularly successful, for, as will be seen, the first person whom the +girl saw was Lady Purbeck herself. + +"A woman being sent to the house under Colour of speaking with a +sister of hers the Ladies servant, the Ladye herselfe came downe to +the dore, and opening it a little, soe that the woman saw her, she +sayd her sister should have leave to go home to her that night. And +therefore the Lady was in the house at the same time that the place of +her residence was served. She hath lived in that house about a month, +and there are (as I am informed) no other dwellers in it but herself." + +The writ had now been served, although not into the very hands of Lady +Purbeck yet it was hoped sufficiently in order to satisfy the law. But +all was not yet smooth. The Ambassador wrote:-- + +"The morrow after this was done, about midnight, there came some +officers with two coaches and 50 archers to divers houses to search +for the Lady being directed and instructed by a warrant from the +Cardinal that whereas there was a Messenger sent from England to offer +some affront to your Lady Purbeck in diminution of this Kings +jurisdiction, that therefore they should find out the sayd Lady and +protect her." + +This intervention on the part of the French Government made Lord +Scudamore fear lest _l'affaire Purbeck_ might lead to international +complications, and he presently adds: "Coming to the knowledge of this +particular this Morning I thought good to hasten the Messenger out of +the way." + +Fortunately for Lady Purbeck, she was not without a friend in Paris. +About a year before she went there, a curious character had arrived in +the person of Sir Kenelm Digby, a son of the Sir Everard Digby who had +been executed for having been concerned in the Gunpowder Plot. Sir +Kenelm was well known, both at home and abroad. He had stayed at +Madrid with his relative, the Earl of Bristol, at the time when +Prince Charles had gone to Spain to woo the Infanta. He had been a +brilliant ornament at the Court of Charles I.; but, like all the +relations of Bristol, he had been hated by Buckingham. Armed with +letters of marque, he had raised a fleet and ravaged the Mediterranean +in the character of a privateer. He was literary, philosophical, +metaphysical and scientific. When he came to Paris his beautiful wife +had been dead a couple of years, and the smart courtier had thrown off +his hitherto splendid attire, had clothed himself in black of the very +plainest, and had allowed his hair and beard to grow as they would, +ragged and untrimmed. Shortly before the arrival of Lady Purbeck in +Paris, Sir Kenelm had declared himself a Catholic; and the fact that +both he and Lady Purbeck had submitted themselves to the Catholic +Church may have formed a bond of union between them. Sir Kenelm soon +contrived to interest Cardinal Richelieu in Lady Purbeck's case, and +not only Richelieu but also the King and the Queen of France. + +A certain "E.R." wrote[96] to Sir R. Puckering: "The last week we had +certain news that the Lady Purbeck was declared a papist." And then he +went on to say that Louis XIIIth and the Queen of France, as well as +Cardinal Richelieu, had sent messages or letters to Charles I., +begging him to pardon Lady Purbeck and to allow her to return to +England. He also said that the French Ambassador at St. James's was +"very zealous in the business." Shortly afterwards he added: "It is +said she is altogether advised by Sir Kenelm Digby, who indeed hath +written over letters to some of his noble friends of the privy +council, wherein he hath set down what a convert this lady is become, +so superlatively virtuous and sanctimonious, as the like hath never +been seen in men or women; and therefore he does most humbly desire +their lordships to farther this lady's peace, and that she may return +into England, for otherwise she does resolve to put herself into some +monastery. I hear his Majesty does utterly dislike that the lady is so +directed by Sir Kenelm Digby, and that she fares nothing better for +it." + +Of course anybody would naturally sneer at the suggestion that the +convert to a religion other than his own could possibly be remarkable +for either virtue or sanctity: but there is no visible reason for +sympathising with the sneers of (E.R.), or for doubting Sir Kenelm +Digby's evidence respecting Lady Purbeck. + +It may be a question whether Lady Purbeck ever intended "to put +herself into some monastery," in the sense of becoming a nun. She did, +however, put herself into a monastery in a very different way. It was, +and still is, the custom in some convents to take in lodgers or +boarders, either for a short time, for a long time, or even for life. +The peace, the quiet, the regularity, and the religious services and +observances at such establishments are attractive to some people, +especially to those who are in trouble or difficulty. The +disadvantages are that, although the lodgers are perfectly free to go +where they please and to do what they please, they can generally only +get their meals at rigidly appointed hours, that the convent doors are +finally closed at a fixed time, usually a very early one; and that +after that closing time there is no admittance. Practically the latter +arrangement precludes all possibility of society in an evening, and +the present writer knows several Catholics of the most unimpeachable +orthodoxy, zeal, piety and virtue, who have tried living in convents +and monasteries, as boarders, both in Rome and in London, and have +given it up simply on account of those inconveniences. It was, +therefore, very unjust to speak ill of Lady Purbeck for not having +lived in a convent "according to that strictness as was expected," +because she left it. But this was done in the following letter:[97] +"The Lady Purbeck is come forth of the English Nunnerie. For, the Lady +Abbess being from home, somebody forgott to provide the Lady Purbeck +her dinner, and to leave the roome open where she used to dine at +night, expostulating with the Abbess, they agreed to part fairely, +which the Abbess was the more willing unto in regard the Lady Purbeck +did not live according to that strictness as was expected. Car. +Richelieu helped her into the Nunnerie." + +It may be inferred from this letter that Lady Purbeck left the convent +for the simple reason that she was not comfortable in it--even the +"superlatively virtuous" do not like to be dinnerless--and that, +either because she was unpunctual, or because she was inclined to make +complaints, the Abbess was relieved when she took her departure. But +by Scudamore's own showing they parted "fairely;" or, as we should now +say, good friends. + +Among Sir Kenelm Digby's English correspondents, while he was in +Paris, was Lord Conway, a soldier as devoted to literature as to arms, +and a general who always seemed fated to fight under disadvantages. +Shortly after the time with which we are at present dealing, he was +defeated when in command of the King's troops at Newcastle. Meanwhile, +Sir Kenelm was endeavouring to "fit him withal," in the matter of +"curious books," from Paris. As the letter[98] from Sir Kenelm to Lord +Conway, about to be quoted, has something in it about Lord Wimbledon, +it may be well to note that he was a brother of Lady Elizabeth Hatton +and therefore an uncle of Lady Purbeck. + +After observing that England has been singularly happy in producing +men like King Arthur and others who performed actions of only moderate +valour or interest, which subsequent ages mistook for great +achievements, he says:-- + +"But none will be more famous and admirable to our Nevewes(?) than the +noble valiant and ingenious Peer, the Lord Wimbledone, whose +epistle[99] exceedeth all that was ever done before by any so +victorious a generall of armies or so provident a governor of townes, +I only lament for it that it was not hatched in a season when it might +have done the honor to Baronius,[100] his collections, to have bin +inserted among them. + +"Here is a Lady that he hath reason to detest above all persons in the +worlde, if robbing a man of all the portion of witt, courage, +generousnesse, and other heroicall partes due to him, do meritt such +an inclination of the minde towardes them that have thus bereaved +them: for surely the Genius that governeth that family and that +distributeth to each of them their shares of natures guiftes was +either asleepe, or mistooke (or somewhat else was the cause) when he +gave my Lady of Purbecke a dubble proportion of these and all other +noble endowments, and left her poore Uncle, so naked and unfurnished: +Truly my lord to speake seriously I have not seen more prudence, +sweetinesse, goodnesse, honor and bravery shewed by any woman that I +know, than this unfortunate lady sheweth she hath a rich stock of. +Besides her naturall endowments, doubtlessly her afflictions adde +much: or rather have polished, refined and heightened what nature gave +her: and you know vexatio dat intellectum. Is it not a shame for you +Peeres (and neare about the king) that you will let so brave a lady +live as she doth in distress and banishment: when her exile serveth +stronger but to conceive scandalously of our nation, that we will not +permit those to live among us who have so much worth and goodnesse as +this lady giveth show off.... + + "Yo. Lo: most humble and affectionate + "servant, + "KENELM DIGBY." + +Sir Kenelm, like Scudamore, was on a friendly footing with Lady +Purbeck's chief enemy, Archbishop Laud, but in a very different sense. +When Sir Kenelm was a boy Laud had been his tutor, and a friendship +had sprung up between the master and the pupil which was not broken by +the conversion of the pupil to a religion greatly disliked by the +master. Subsequently, Sir Kenelm gave evidence in favour of his old +tutor, before the Committee appointed to prepare the prosecution of +Laud at his trial, and he sent kind messages to Laud in the Tower. +Unlike Scudamore, however, he was no admirer of Laud's religion or of +his ecclesiastical policy, if indeed of any of his policy. + +Although Sir Kenelm Digby, the King and the Queen of France, Cardinal +Richelieu, and the French Ambassador at the Court of St. James's did +their best to obtain forgiveness for Lady Purbeck, Charles I. was long +obdurate. At first, as we have seen, he had sent a writ commanding her +to return at once to her native country for punishment. When he had +withdrawn that writ, he for some time refused to allow her to return +at all, for any purpose. But troubles were brewing for Charles +himself, and, after Lady Purbeck had spent an exile of some length in +Paris, she was permitted to come to England, without any liability to +stand barefoot in a white sheet for the amusement of the congregation +in a fashionable London church on a Sunday morning. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[95] _S.P. For._, Charles I., France. Scudamore to Coke, 25th +March--4th April, 1636. This letter was addressed to Sir John Coke, +the Secretary of State. + +[96] _Court and Times of Charles I_. By D'Israeli, Vol. II., p. 242. + +[97] _S.P._, Charles I., France. Scudamore to Windebank, I/121 July, +1636. + +[98] _S.P. Dom._, Charles I., Vol. CCCXLIV., No. 58. Sir Kenelm Digby +to Edward Lord Conway and Kilultagh, 21/31 January, 1637. + +[99] Wimbledon was Governor of Portsmouth and the letter in question +was probably one mentioned by Walpole in his _Royal and Noble +Authors_, to the Mayor of Portsmouth "reprehending him for the +Townsmen not pulling off their hats to a Statue of the King Charles, +which his Lordship had erected there." Such an "epistle" might well +excite the derision and contempt of Sir Kenelm. + +[100] The author of _Annales Ecclesiastici_. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "To err is human, to forgive divine." + POPE. + + +Concerning Lady Purbeck's life, after her return to England, we have +the following evidence from _Coles' Manuscripts_. Let us observe, +first, that in the extract there is a mistake. It was not Lady +Purbeck, but the wife of her son, whose maiden name was Danvers. +Anybody who may choose to discredit the whole, on account of this +error, can do so if he pleases; but it is certain that Lord Purbeck +"owned the son" and that the son's grandson, "the Rev. Mr. Villiers," +claimed "the Title of Earl of Bucks." Therefore we see no reason for +doubting the statement that Lord Purbeck "took his Wife again." The +"after 16 years" would seem to tally with the undoubted facts. + +"[101]Lady Purbeck's name Danvers; absent from Husband 16 years: had +by Sir Robert Howard one son who married a Bertie, and took the Title +of Lord Purbeck, which Lady Purbeck's will I have. Lord Purbeck after +16 years took his wife again, and owned the Son, which 2nd Lord +Purbeck had one Son, Father of the Rev. Mr. Villiers, who now claims +the Title of Earl of Bucks. &c." + +It will be remembered that even when Lady Purbeck was being proceeded +against for unfaithfulness to her husband, at the instigation of +Buckingham, she was on friendly terms with Lord Purbeck, and that +Buckingham had considerable difficulty in keeping them apart: +consequently it is the less to be wondered at that Lord Purbeck "took +his wife again," after her return from exile. Not only was Lady +Purbeck now a reformed character, but, like Lord Purbeck, she was a +convert to the Catholic Church; and this would probably make him the +more inclined to receive her again as his wife and to trust her for +the future. At the time of their reunion Lady Purbeck must have been +about forty, and he must have been an oldish man; although not too old +to be a bridegroom, and no longer under suspicion of insanity; for, in +addition to starting a second time as husband to Frances, Lady +Purbeck, it is recorded that after her death, which occurred in five +or six years, he married again,[102] and survived his first wife by +twelve years. + +If the beginning of married life a second time, after an interval of +sixteen years--to say nothing of certain awkward incidents which had +transpired in the meantime--may have been a little out of the common, +it is more remarkable still that Lord Purbeck should have +acknowledged the boy, Robert Wright, as his son. As was shown in an +earlier chapter, it is just possible that he may have been ignorant of +the fact that the lad was not his own child, or rather, perhaps, that +he refused to believe in that fact. On the other hand, as the boy was +born in wedlock, he had in any case the right to acknowledge him as +such, if he so pleased. That was his concern, not ours, so we need not +cavil at it. + +His doing so may be accounted for by either of the two following +suppositions: namely, that he acknowledged the boy out of affection +for, and to please, his wife--possibly it may have been one of the +inducements held out to persuade her to return to him--or that he +gradually took a fancy to the lad and chose this method of adopting +him. Whatever the cause of his acknowledging the boy may have been, +that acknowledgment encourages the idea that good relations existed +between Lord and Lady Purbeck after what may almost be called their +second marriage, or, perhaps still better called, their first real +marriage with consent on both sides. + +Purbeck called the boy Robert Villiers, and would not allow him to be +spoken of as Robert Wright. When the lad came of age, Lord Purbeck +made him join with himself, as his son and heir, in the conveyance of +some lands, under the name of Robert Villiers,[103] the most formal of +legal recognitions. + +It is likely that her life soon became that of an invalid, for she +died in the year 1645, when staying with her mother at Oxford. In that +year the Court of Charles I. was at this town, which may account for +her own and her mother's presence there. As we saw, in the first +chapter, there is some question as to whether Lady Purbeck was born in +the year 1599 or in 1600, so she may have been either forty-five or +forty-six at the time of her death. Her life, although of very +moderate length, had been one of considerable adventure, which may +have told heavily upon her constitution; if her personal concerns were +peaceful at the time of her death, we know that the conditions of the +King and of the Court, together with the prospects of all of high rank +who were loyal to the Crown, were then causing great anxiety and +excitement at Oxford: and this may well have had a bad effect upon the +health of an invalid. + +Of Lady Purbeck's character much less is recorded than of the +characters of several other leading figures in this story--her father, +her mother, Bacon, Buckingham. We know, however, that she faithfully +nursed during his last two years her surly old father, who had treated +her abominably and spoiled her life; that she never lost the +friendship of Lord Purbeck; that, in her trouble she sought the +consolations of religion in a Church which would require a full +confession of her sins, accompanied by sincere repentance and virtuous +resolutions; that she bore an excellent character in Paris; and that +she spent her last years with her husband or her mother. It is true +that she had sinned, that she had sinned grievously; but, when we +consider her education under parents who were fighting like cat and +dog, the marriage which was forced upon her, and the dissolute Court +in which she, a singularly beautiful woman, spent the early years of +her married life, we may well hesitate before we look for stones to +cast at her memory. + +And, after all, the only description of her character, of any length, +which we have been able to find, namely, that given by Sir Kenelm +Digby, is highly favourable. If an apology be required for repeating +it, that apology is humbly given. + +After declaring that of "wit, courage, generosity, and other heroic +parts," nature had given Lady Purbeck "a double share," together with +"all other noble endowments," Sir Kenelm says: "I have not seen more +prudence, sweetness, honour and bravery shown by any woman that I +know, than this unfortunate lady showeth she hath such a rich stock +of. Besides her natural endowments, doubtless her afflictions add +much; or rather have polished, refined and heightened, what nature +gave her." + +Even when we have made due allowance for the fact that the pen of Sir +Kenelm Digby was inclined to be a little flowery, sufficient is left +in this description of Lady Purbeck to make her character attractive, +and we know that nature had added to her charms by endowing her with +exceptional beauty. No attempt shall be made here to exaggerate +either her attractions or her virtues, much less to extenuate or +minimise her faults; but let us at least forgive the latter. + +There are ladies who call the story of Mary Magdalen "beautiful," yet +would on no consideration tolerate a repetition of even its most +beautiful incidents, in real life. If she now existed, the greatest +concession they would make would be to subscribe towards sending her +to a Home for Fallen Women; or, which is more likely, they would ask +for an order of admission for her from someone else who subscribed to +such an institution. From such we cannot expect a charitable view of +_The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck_. + +It would be out of place to enter into petty theological questions in +a comparatively trivial work such as this--to inquire, for instance, +into the question whether it may not be as possible to be damned for +detraction as to be damned for adultery; but we may at least believe +that Lady Purbeck spent her later years in contrition for the past and +virtue in the present. + +We have now done with the curious case of Lady Purbeck, and it only +remains to say something about the less curious cases of some of her +descendants. + +It might be supposed that "Robert Wright," who was just of age at the +time of his mother's death, would be proud to bear the name of +Villiers and to be acknowledged as the rightful heir to the estates +and title of Viscount Purbeck. As time went on, however, he became +ashamed of those privileges.[104] The son of a Cavalier, he became a +Roundhead, and three years after the death of his mother he married +one of the daughters and co-heiresses of his relative, Sir John +Danvers, subsequently one of the judges who condemned King Charles I. +to death. + +He eventually obtained a patent from Oliver Cromwell to change his +name for that of his wife, declaring that he hated the name of +Villiers on account of the mischief which several of those who bore it +had done to the Commonwealth; and as to the title of Viscount Purbeck, +he disclaimed it with contempt. + +But before the Commonwealth Robert Danvers, as he even then called +himself, sat in the House of Commons as member for Westbury. When +people want titles, they do not always find it easy to obtain them; +but, when they do not want them, they cannot always get rid of them. +Robert was summoned to the House of Lords, as a peer, to answer the +very serious charge of having said that "he hated the Stuarts and that +if no person could be found to cut off the King's head, he would do it +himself." He refused to attend, on the ground that he was not a +member of the House of Lords but of the House of Commons. This plea +was not allowed, and he was actually compelled to kneel at the bar of +the House of Lords and to beg pardon for his criminal words. + +At the Restoration he remained an obstinate Roundhead, and, instead of +showing any desire to claim the title of Viscount Purbeck, he obtained +permission from Charles II. to levy a fine of his titles in possession +and in remainder. Then he retired to an estate which he owned in the +parish of Houghton in Radnorshire, bearing the curious name of +Siluria. He died in the year 1676, at Calais, and in his will he is +described as "Robert Danvers, alias Villiers, Esq." + +Robert's wife survived him, and, now that he and his idiosyncrasies +were safely out of the way, it occurred to this daughter of a regicide +that "the Right Honourable the Dowager Viscountess Purbeck" +would sound much more euphonious than "the widow Danvers;" +accordingly--solely for the sake of others--she adopted that title. At +the same time, her two sons, Robert and Edward, resumed the name of +Villiers. + +Immediately after the death of his father, Robert, the elder of the +two sons, took as much trouble to get summoned to the House of Lords +as his father had taken to escape from it. He sent a petition on the +subject to Charles II., who referred him to the House of Lords. His +claim was opposed. First, on the ground that his father had barred +his right to honours by the fine which he had levied, _i.e._, by +renouncing those honours, and, secondly, on the ground that his father +had not been a son of John Villiers, First Viscount Purbeck, but a son +of Sir Robert Howard. A petition[105] against the claim was presented +by the Earl of Denbigh, who professed himself "highly concerned in the +honour of the Duke of Buckingham and his sister, the Duchess of +Richmond & Lennox; Petitioner's mother, Susanna, having been the only +sister of the late Duke of Buckingham," and he prayed "the House to +examine the truth of these assertions, before allowing itself to be +contaminated by illegitimate blood." + +This warning to the Lords against contaminating itself by illegitimate +blood, at a time when Charles II. was constantly enriching it with his +own illegitimate offspring, or what at least purported to be so, is +rather entertaining. On the other hand, in support of the claim, the +claimant's counsel professed to be able to prove the legitimacy of +Robert Villiers, alias Wright.[106] + +The House of Lords after considering the matter petitioned the King to +allow the introduction of a Bill to disable Robert from claiming the +title of Viscount Purbeck: but seven peers opposed this petition +stating in writing that "the said claimant's right ... did, both at +the hearing at the bar and debate in the House, appear to them clear +in fact and law and above all objection." Charles II. replied that he +"would take it into consideration." This appears to have been the last +official word ever pronounced upon the subject, and nobody has since +then been summoned to the House of Lords as Viscount Purbeck. + +The claimant, however, continued to call himself Lord Purbeck. He came +to an early end, being killed in a duel by Colonel Luttrell, at Liege, +when he was only twenty-eight; but he left a son. Nor did this son +only call himself Lord Purbeck, for on the death of the childless +second Duke of Buckingham, of whom Dryden wrote:--[107] + + Stiff in opinion--always in the wrong-- + Was everything by starts, but nothing long; + Who in the course of one revolving moon + Was chemist, fiddler, statesman and buffoon. + Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking: + Besides a thousand freaks that died in thinking; + +John Villiers, alias Danvers, alias Wright, in addition to the title +of Viscount Purbeck, assumed that of Earl of Buckingham, the reversion +of which had been secured by the first Earl and Duke to his brother +and his heirs, in the case of his own direct heirs failing. This +self-styled Earl squandered his fortune in a life of debauchery, and +then married the daughter of a clergyman, a widow with a large +jointure but about as dissolute in character as himself, which is +saying much. He left no sons. + +Such claims as there were to the titles of Purbeck and Buckingham then +lay with the Rev. George Villiers, Rector of Chalgrove, in +Oxfordshire. He was the son of Edward, the second son of the boy +christened Robert Wright. In the year 1723, on the death of his +cousin, the so-called Earl of Buckingham, this clergyman put in a +claim to the titles of Earl of Buckingham and Viscount Purbeck; but, +unlike his cousin, he does not appear to have ever "lorded" himself. + +This cleric left a son named George, who also became a parson, and +Vicar of Frodsham in Cheshire. Efforts were made in his youth to +obtain for him a summons to the House of Lords; but, in addition to +the doubtful character of his claims, he was no _persona grata_ to the +King, as he was known to be an ardent Jacobite. As Burke says: +"Republicans during the reign of the Stuarts--Jacobites during the +reign of the Guelphs--this unfortunate family seems always to have had +hold of the wrong end of the stick." As a rule, they appear to have +held that end of it, but certainly it is a rule to which George +Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham, was a remarkable exception. + +The Rev. George Villiers, who still owned property which had been +settled by Sir Edward Coke on his daughter, Lady Purbeck, died without +issue, in 1774, and his brother died a bachelor. The male line of +Villiers, alias Danvers, alias Wright, then expired. We hear no more +of any claims to the Purbeck peerage; henceforward the title which +stands at the head of this story was no longer to have any place in +living interests. At this point, let us also take leave of it; and the +author hopes that his readers, if ever reminded of this book by the +mention of Lady Purbeck, may not exclaim in the words of a character +in Macbeth:--"The devil himself could not pronounce a title more +hateful to mine ear." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[101] _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII., p. 17. + +[102] He married a daughter of Sir William Slingsby of Kippax, +Yorkshire. + +[103] Burke's _Extinct and Dormant Peerages_. + +[104] The authorities for most of what follows are _The Historical +MSS. Commission_, Ninth Report, Part II., p. 58; _MSS. of the House of +Lords_, 30th April, 5th May, and 3rd June, 1675, 14th March, 16th +June, and 9th July, 1678, and Burke's _Extinct and Dormant Peerages_. + +[105] _MSS. of the House of Lords_, 228, 30th April, 1675. + +[106] _MSS. of the House of Lords_, 228, 30th April, 1675. + +[107] _Absalom and Achitophel_, line 447, _seq._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck +by Thomas Longueville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURIOUS CASE OF LADY PURBECK *** + +***** This file should be named 15257.txt or 15257.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/2/5/15257/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. 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