SIR EDWARD COKE.
Although Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench during the reign of James I., was not a member of the Ancient and Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, yet, as his portrait hangs in the Great Hall, and as he occupied himself much in the affairs of this Inn of Court, a few words respecting this eminent lawyer may not be misplaced here.
There has probably never been a more consummate master of his profession than Sir Edward Coke. His interest in it amounted to enthusiasm. He loved to grapple with every legal difficulty, and brought to bear upon all its intricate technicalities a dispassionate calmness that unfortunately failed him in the ordinary affairs of life. For this reason he was even a greater man during the periods of his disgrace than when most triumphant.
During these seasons of enforced retirement he could devote himself to a subject that he loved, and with which he was thoroughly conversant, whereas the too great energy of his character, whilst in the enjoyment of successful power, led to his giving way to intemperate violence both of expression and action.
Like most distinguished lawyers, success came to him early in life. One of his first cases was a remarkable one, and brought him much credit.
Mr. Edward Denny was Vicar of Northlinham in Norfolk, and the then Lord Cromwell, who lived in the neighbourhood, procured two persons to preach several sermons in Mr. Denny's church.
Both these persons took the opportunity thus afforded them of inveighing against the Book of Common Prayer, styling it superstitious and impious.
For this reason, the Vicar, having learnt they had no license, when one of them came next to preach would have prevented him, but the man being protected by Lord Cromwell insisted on preaching, and did preach.
This proceeding caused warm words to pass between Lord Cromwell and the Vicar, the former saying:
"Thou art a false varlet, and I like not of thee."
To which the latter replied:
"It is no marvel that you like not of me, as you like those others" (meaning the preachers) "that maintain sedition against the Queen's proceedings."
Upon this Lord Cromwell brought an action against the Vicar, de scandalis magnatum. The defendant justified, thereupon the plaintiff demurred, and the bar was held insufficient; but upon a motion in arrest of judgment, that the declaration was insufficient, the Court gave judgment for the defendant.
Lord Cromwell then brought another action, and so the matter went on for years until Coke became engaged in the case, and he so skilfully seized the opportunity of managing and reporting it that his name was at once brought favourably before the public.
His marriage with Bridgett, daughter and co-heiress of John Paxton, Esq., a lady, with whom he had £35,000, and who was allied to some of the most powerful families in the kingdom, doubtless aided him in his career, although in after life he was wont to boast that he had triumphed neither by "pen nor purse," signifying thereby that he had never craved any man's help, nor had he ever opened his purse to buy any place.
His perfect knowledge of the laws of England, and his wonderful memory in recalling every technical circumstance bearing on or connected with those laws, was something marvellous. For this reason his judgments on all legal points have ever been held to be of exceeding value.
Unhappily in criminal trials his warmth of temper and his violence of language tended much to injure his reputation and to lessen him in the opinion of the world. Still, in spite of these great defects, his unequalled talents forced men to yield to his judgment, and however much they might condemn him they bowed to his will.
A notable instance of this occurred during the famous trial of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Sir Edward Coke, who was then Attorney-General, conducted the case on behalf of the Crown, and expressed himself with such energy against the prisoner, that Lord Cecil at length interfered and desired him to be more patient.
Much offended, Coke at once sat down, and preserved an angry silence. At length the Commissioners were compelled to entreat him to continue his address. For some time he refused; then suddenly rising, with a power and skill that electrified all present, he recapitulated the charges. So powerful were his words, so lucid were his arguments, that it was evident from that moment that the prisoner's doom was sealed.
The scene that day in the Court at Winchester, where the trial took place, must have been alike impressive and sorrowful.
The handsome, gallant Sir Walter Raleigh, the quondam favourite of the Queen, for years the popular hero of the nation, now worn and bent by age and many troubles, is standing at the bar, to be tried for his life, accused of treason against his Sovereign and against his country.
Brave he has ever been, brave he is now, and the noble face, though pale and haggard, is stern and composed. Unmoved in look or action, he listens attentively to the words of one who is urging the Judges, with all the might of burning eloquence, to pronounce him worthy of death.
Perchance for one moment a gleam of hope may have entered the prisoner's breast when he heard Lord Cecil speak, but if so, it must have been speedily dispelled when the Attorney-General addressed the Court.
Spare in form, exquisitely neat in dress, passionate in action and emphasis, the fiery and searching eye of the great lawyer seems to scan alike the thoughts as well as the faces of those on whom he looks. And his voice, deep yet penetrating, has a ring that stirs men's hearts, and brings conviction in its very accents.
With terrible minuteness, and with crushing legal skill, he states every circumstance that can tell against the accused, and each powerfully-worded sentence that fell from the lips of the Counsel for the Crown must, to the friends of the unhappy man, have been as another nail driven into the coffin that awaited him.
Long ere that famous speech was ended, hope and suspense must have been over for the prisoner. The evidence against him had been slender, but Coke's eloquence prevailed. Sir Walter was found guilty, and condemned to death.
For a month he lay in prison, daily expecting his execution. Then he was reprieved, and sent to the Tower, where he remained a prisoner for sixteen long years.
After his release, he organised an expedition to Guiana, but, failing in this, he returned to England, where he was soon after seized, imprisoned, and beheaded, not for any fresh crime or misdemeanour, but solely on the strength of his former trial and condemnation nineteen years previously. He was executed in Old Palace Yard, 1618, and died, as he had lived, a brave and resolute man.
Coke's speech on this occasion, and also another made at the trial of Sir Everard Digby, are masterpieces of skill and intelligence; but, although such brilliant displays of eloquence and learning increased his reputation as a lawyer, or rather as an orator, it was felt by the world in general that he had permitted himself a license of expression not seemly in one who held so high and responsible a position.
These speeches, nevertheless, led to his promotion, for soon afterwards he was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
This place fulfilled all his ambition, and here he would have willingly remained, but his bitter tongue, his caustic remarks, his intolerance of the least opposition, made him many enemies, many detractors.
His foes calculated that were he placed in a position of greater power, and therefore of greater prominence, his many faults of temper would, notwithstanding his profound legal knowledge, speedily lead to his downfall.
They suggested, therefore, that his talents merited a higher post, and after a time they succeeded in having him raised to the more elevated, but, in those days, perilous position of Chief Justice of the King's Bench, or as he styled himself, Chief Justice of England.
They calculated, and the result showed they were correct, that on account of the class of cases ordinarily brought within the jurisdiction of the King's Bench, the Chief Justice would ere long find himself at antagonism with the Court.
The annals of the Law Courts at this period of English history are terrible to read. It is frightful to see on what slight grounds men were accused, tried, convicted, and executed for treason.
Verily, in those days our laws appeared to have been written in blood; but, notwithstanding their severity, it was for having shown too great leniency in an affair that occurred about two years after he was made Chief Justice that Sir Edward lost the King's favour.
This extraordinary and dreadful business was the discovery that Sir Thomas Overbury had been murdered in the Tower, and as light was gradually thrown on this dark matter, it became more and more evident that great and powerful personages were deeply implicated, not only in the foul murder, but also in other crimes of the most heinous and disgraceful description.
In tracing and detecting the secrets of this black business, Lord Chief Justice Coke showed so much zeal and diligence that he succeeded in having apprehended and brought to justice some of the (apparently) principal culprits, in spite, not only of the attempts that were first made to enable them to escape, but of the influence that was afterwards employed to stay their execution.
Richard Weston, who had been Overbury's keeper in the Tower, was early brought to trial. At first he seemed resolved to be silent on every subject, induced thereto, it is said, by an immense bribe from the Earl of Somerset, but at length he was prevailed on to plead.
Poor wretch, the "persuasions" to which he yielded were the thumbscrew and the rack, but no sooner did he plead than he was speedily convicted and executed. Even at the foot of the gallows the miserable creature was not left in peace. Lord Clare, Sir John Wentworth, and Mr. Lumsden (friends of Somerset) attended him to the scaffold, and vehemently urged him to declare, in these his last moments, that a conspiracy had been concocted against Somerset.
So evident was it that Overbury's murder concealed even darker secrets, and that these secrets implicated powerful and therefore formidable personages, that Sir Edward, with his keen legal foresight, early foresaw peril. So imminent, indeed, did he consider the danger, that he went to the King at Royston to beg His Majesty would appoint a commission to assist him during the necessary investigations, and thus in some degree enable him to share the onus with others.
It has been hinted by some historians that the King knew more about this hateful matter than he cared to acknowledge.
James I. was a shrewd and prudent man; he was timid also, and ever shrank from allowing his name to be involved in any way with affairs that would be distasteful to, or unpopular amongst, his newly-acquired people. His shrewdness and his fears, however, led in several instances to his acting in both a cowardly and a treacherous manner.
In this case, whatever may have been the knowledge the King possessed, he skilfully concealed his suspicions from the chief person implicated. When informed of Overbury's murder, without a moment's delay he despatched a messenger to the Chief Justice, desiring him to arrest Lord Somerset.
Sir Edward Coke at that time lived in the Temple, and so methodically did he measure out his time, that every hour had its appointed usage. One of his rules was to go to bed at nine of the clock, and to rise at three in the morning.
The Royal messenger arrived at the Temple about 1 a.m., and at once proceeded to Sir Edward's lodging. Sir Edward's son was there, and also some friends, but the Chief Justice was in bed.
Mr. Coke therefore received the messenger, who said:
"I come, sir, from His Majesty the King, and must have instant speech with your father."
"Though you come from the King," said Mr. Coke, "you cannot and shall not see my father, for if he be disturbed in his sleep he will not be fit for any business; but if you will do as we do, you shall be welcome. In two hours my father will rise, and you can then do as you please."
To this proposal the messenger was compelled to assent, so he waited.
At three o'clock, Sir Edward rang a little bell to give notice to his servant to come to him.
The Royal messenger then entered, and gave the King's letter to the Chief Justice, who at once made out the warrant for Somerset's apprehension.
The messenger went post-haste back to Royston with the warrant, and on being introduced into the Royal presence, found the King sitting with his arm round the favourite's neck.
When the officer with the fatal document entered the room, James was saying to the man whom he himself was causing to be arrested on a charge of murder: "When shall I see thee again?" the favourite being on the eve of his departure for London.
Somerset, when arrested by Sir Edward's warrant, exclaimed indignantly at the affront thus offered to a peer of the realm, even in the presence of the King's Majesty. In his anger he appealed to James.
"Nay, man," said the King, "if Coke sends for me, I must go."
No sooner, however, was Somerset out of the room, than his wily master added:
"Now the de'il go with thee, man, for I will never see thy face any more."
It is difficult to understand what was really the King's belief, or what were really the King's motives, on this occasion.
To some persons he asserted that he did not believe Somerset had anything to do with the actual murder. Yet it was he who caused his favourite to be arrested; and when that arrest had been made and the Chief Justice had arrived at Royston, the King spoke with exceeding angry energy, charging Sir Edward to prosecute the affair with the utmost diligence.
He was to search into the very bottom of the conspiracy, and to spare no man, however great he might be; the King concluding his adjuration thus:
"God's curse be upon you and yours if you spare any of them, and God's curse be upon me and mine, if I spare any one of them."
Not only the Earl of Somerset, but his wife, the young and beautiful Countess of Somerset, was also arrested as being implicated in the crime; and whilst their trials were in course of preparation, many other persons of inferior rank were tried, condemned, and executed.
On the 7th November, Mrs. Anne Turner, who had been about Lady Somerset from her childhood, was tried, convicted, and hanged.
On the 16th of the same month, Sir George Ellways, Lieutenant of the Tower, was also convicted, and was hanged on Tower Hill on the 20th.
A week later, namely, on the 27th, James Franklin was tried, convicted, and, a few days afterwards, hanged.
It might have been supposed that so many trials and executions showed no want of zeal on the part of the Chief Justice and the other Commissioners. Yet notwithstanding so sanguinary a list, Sir Edward fell into disfavour for not hunting down and giving over to the gibbet more of these miserable victims—victims who in all probability had been but the creatures and tools of those who were far more deeply implicated, and far more deeply culpable.
It has been supposed that the friends of Somerset trusted that the nation would at length weary of so much bloodshed, and that time and political events would cause the recollection of one black crime to fade away.
At any rate, the delays which were for ever arising before Lord and Lady Somerset could be brought to trial, were mainly attributed to the unwillingness of many great personages (if not actually the Court) to have certain secret transactions disclosed.
At length, however, the trial took place, Lord Chancellor Ellesmere sitting as High Steward.
The King's instructions were produced to the Commissioners, by which they were directed to try, first:
"Whether there were good grounds to believe the Lord and Lady guilty, and if not, they were then to inquire after the authors of the conspiracy."
The same instructions were afterwards produced to the Lords, both as evidence of the King's care and impartiality, and also as proof of the Commissioners' diligence in this business.
Lady Somerset, who was tried first, gave her judges but little trouble. Great as had been her position, brilliant as were her surroundings, to this young and beautiful, but most erring and passionate woman, life had early lost its charms. She was sated both with its pleasures and its crimes, and when placed on her trial at once pleaded guilty.
The next day, May 25th, her husband, Lord Somerset, was placed at the bar, and after a trial that lasted twelve hours, his peers pronounced the verdict of guilty.
The Lord Chief Justice considered himself entitled to, and, indeed, gained much credit from the nation generally, for the zeal and acuteness he had displayed throughout the whole progress of this terrible and mysterious affair; but though the King had expressed himself with such vehemence when commanding the matter should be thoroughly sifted, from the period of this trial Sir Edward fell into disfavour, both with His Majesty and with all the Royal favourites.
From this moment they, one after another, endeavoured to accomplish his ruin. They seized every opportunity of misrepresenting his conduct to the King, and as, unfortunately for the Chief Justice, serious disputes had arisen both in the Court of Chancery and in the Court of King's Bench, the proceedings of Coke were impugned on all sides.
His arrogant temper, his haughty manner of speech, the intolerance he displayed to all who might presume to differ from him, made him many personal enemies, and created around him a very army of foes.
The very fact, also, of his being so able a lawyer, so consummate a master of his profession, did but increase the rancour of those whom he had so haughtily rebuffed.
In all such encounters he almost invariably proved he was right both in law and in fact, and then the bitter words of his scorn stung the vanquished like a whip of scorpions.
There were very few persons, therefore, who would not rejoice in his humiliation and his fall; but amongst his many opponents, the most inveterate, the most powerful, and the most rancorous, was Lord Villiers, afterwards Duke of Buckingham.
Sir Edward had opposed with no small decision some matter that concerned the favourite's imperious will and pleasure, and Villiers exerted to the utmost his powerful influence to ruin the Chief Justice.
These intrigues resulted in Coke's being suspended from his office on June 30th, 1616. Sir Randolph Carew was commissioned to go Circuit, and in the following November, Sir Henry Mountague received the appointment of Lord Chief Justice.
It was during this enforced retirement from Court and public life, that Sir Edward Coke's higher qualities exhibited themselves in their most favourable light, and he showed the world with what calmness and courage he could support adversity.
The dignity that his vehemence had so often endangered during the days of his prosperity, now in the hours of adversity never failed him; and however bitter and undeserved the attacks made upon him, he either passed them over without notice, or replied to them in words of calm moderation.
His many legal works, his many letters to friends at this period, indicate with what resignation, nay, even with what content, he bore the loss of the power that had been so dear to him. Both his actions and his words testify how cheerfully he contemplated the end of all his ambitious projects, and looked forward to a life of complete retirement.
But so admirable a lawyer, so able a judge, was not destined to be long unemployed.
After his disgrace, men of far inferior talent had been placed in high stations; but ere much time had elapsed it soon became evident that the new Ministers and judges were unfit for the places to which they had been appointed.
When the ship is in danger or in a difficult position, the best pilot, however disagreeable he may be, must be called to the helm; and thus even those who had been most active in bringing about Sir Edward's fall, found it to their own interest to smooth the way towards his restoration to the King's favour.
For some time there had been serious differences amongst the Ministers, and at length the quarrel between the Lord Keeper Bacon and Mr. Secretary Winwood rose to such a pitch that they refused to sit in Council together.
It was at this juncture that the aid of so talented a man as the late Chief Justice was imperatively needed.
Unhappily, Coke was not content to let matters take their course, and to remain quietly on the pedestal he had so deservedly gained for himself, namely, to rest on his great reputation of being the soundest and most skilful lawyer in the United Kingdom. He thought to strengthen his position by an alliance with the family of the still powerful favourite, the Earl, afterwards the Duke of Buckingham, the famous "Steenie." For this purpose he negotiated a marriage between his youngest daughter by his second wife, Lady Hatton, and Sir John Villiers, the Earl's eldest brother.
Lady Hatton, a proud, violent woman, who was incessantly insulting and quarrelling with her husband, professed the greatest indignation that their daughter should be disposed of in marriage without her (Lady Hatton's) will and pleasure having been consulted in the matter. She forthwith, therefore, carried off the young lady, and shut her up in Sir Edmund Withipole's house, near Oatlands.
Sir Edward Coke, highly incensed that his authority should be thus set at naught, wrote to Lord Buckingham, requesting him to procure immediately, from the Privy Council, a warrant that would enable him to regain possession of his daughter. Unfortunately, before the warrant could be conveyed to him, he had learnt where Miss Coke was, and, with his usual impetuosity, without waiting for legal powers, he and his sons proceeded to Sir Edmund Withipole's house and took the young lady away from thence by force.
Upon this imprudent action, Lady Hatton, who, by her letters, appears to have been beside herself, so frenzied was she by rage, not only appealed to the Privy Council, but, by her personal entreaties, gained over the Lord Keeper Bacon to her side, he, probably, being nothing loth to have again an opportunity of attacking his old enemy.
Buckingham, however, was not a man to brook contradiction, and both he and his mother, Lady Compton, treated the Lord Keeper with extraordinary rudeness. Bitterly angry, the latter appealed to the Star Chamber, and also filed an information against Sir Edward Coke.
Thus this foolish marriage became a State business, and for many months the war of words and of law processes raged with exceeding fury. As might have been expected, the favourite eventually had his way, and, somehow or other, the two ladies who had been foremost in the fight. Lady Hatton and Lady Compton, came at length to a good understanding.
The marriage, therefore, was arranged. Sir Edward Coke was admitted to the presence of the King, and made a member of the Privy Council.
On the Michaelmas Day following, Sir John Villiers was married to Mrs. Frances Coke at Hampton Court, with all imaginable splendour.
Sir Edward's plans had succeeded. He had been restored to the King's favour, he had married his daughter to the brother of the Royal favourite; but he paid dearly for these triumphs. Not only had he to bestow on his daughter the sum of £10,000, to be paid down in money on the day of the marriage, but he had to assure to Sir John Villiers a rent charge of 2,000 marks per annum during his (Sir Edward's) life, and another one of £900 during Lady Hatton's life.
He engaged, also, to settle the manor of Stoke, in Buckinghamshire, a property he had destined for his other two daughters, on Sir John and Lady Villiers and their heirs.
Lady Hatton also had from her private fortune, which was considerable, to make large settlements upon her daughter.
Lady Hatton, who, by her own showing, must have been an intolerable woman, self-willed, passionate, and overbearing, had by this time become reconciled to her son-in-law and his friends; but she still pursued her quarrel with her husband with unrelenting acrimony.
Many letters still in existence testify to the heat and resentment of both parties. At length the dispute became quite a public matter, many persons of consideration interesting themselves keenly on one side or the other.
So fiercely did the warfare rage between all the partisans, that at one time Lord Houghton (formerly Sir John Hollis) was committed to prison for having, in conjunction with Lady Hatton, framed some scandalous libels respecting Sir Edward Coke.
This most disagreeable and trying wife seems to have lost no opportunity of insulting her husband both by word and deed. One of her means of annoyance was to give costly entertainments to the King, the Duke of Buckingham, and the whole Court, ostentatiously omitting her husband.
Not only was happiness far from this divided and discordant household, but the fluctuations in Sir Edward's fortunes were frequent.
During the early session of 1621, important matters occupied the attention of the House of Commons; liberty of speech, the increase of Popery, and many popular grievances were eagerly debated.
Sir Edward spoke strongly and warmly on all these questions, and his speeches are much commended by Camden. However, his views were not those either of the Court, nor of the favourite, and were indeed so ill received by the Government, that at the end of the year Coke was committed to the Tower; his chambers in the Temple were broken open, and his papers were delivered to Sir Robert Cotton and Mr. Wilson for examination.
Soon after his committal, Sir Edward was charged with having concealed circumstances relating to the trial of the Earl of Somerset.
Notwithstanding the assertions of his enemies, nothing could be proved against him, so after a short imprisonment he was released from the Tower. He regained his liberty, but at the same time he was made to understand that he had signally incurred the Royal displeasure. He was turned out of the Privy Council, the King observing:
"That Sir Edward was the fittest instrument for a tyrant that ever was in England."
Posterity does not endorse this opinion, because His Majesty's indignant remark was called forth by Coke's having resisted an undue exercise of the Royal prerogative.
He was never again reconciled to the Court during the life of King James, and even when Charles I. came to the throne, efforts were made to keep him out of Parliament by pricking him for Sheriff.
Sir Edward objected, and successfully, that it would not be seemly in one who had held the great office of Chief Justice of England, to attend the judges at the Assizes.
He was subsequently elected Knight of the Shire for Bucks, and during the sessions of 1628, distinguished himself more than any other man in Parliament, by his bold and skilful arguments in defence of the liberty of the subject, by the energy with which he urged upon the Government the necessity that existed for the redress of many grievances, and by the strenuous support he gave towards maintaining the privileges of the House of Commons.
It was during this same Parliament that he did the greatest service to his country that was, perhaps, ever done by a private man.
He it was who proposed and framed the "Petition of Rights," and it was Sir Edward Coke also, who successfully vindicated the right of the House of Commons to proceed against any subject whatever, however exalted the position of that subject might be.
After the dissolution of this Parliament in 1629, Sir Edward retired to his country house at Stoke-Pogis, Buckinghamshire, and there he spent the remainder of his days.
Though his life was prolonged to the great age of eighty-six, he retained his marvellous memory to the last. Were a passage quoted from any of his favourite authors, he would remember and mention, not only the context, but often the page in which the words would be found, and on all legal matters he would bring forward the papers he had written on the subjects in question.
His industry in committing to writing everything that interested him was beyond example, and posterity will never cease to admire his learned and laborious works on the laws of this country.
He also wrote some religious pamphlets, for he loved much to study the great doctrines of Christianity. He especially delighted to dwell on the sublime teachings of Our Lord, and during his last years, when the interests of this life, with all its pains and pleasures, were rapidly fading away, he, like Cardinal Wolsey, frequently lamented that he had not studied Divine laws with the same care and earnestness that he had devoted to the consideration and thorough understanding of temporal laws.
Our Saviour's own prayer was the one he best loved, and the last faint words that were feebly murmured by his dying lips were:
"Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done."
Sir Edward died September 3rd, 1634, in the eighty-sixth year of his age.
He left behind him a vast mass of manuscripts and writings of all sorts, amongst them his will, in which he disposed of his very large fortune in the manner he judged best, between his children and his descendants.
On the very day of his death his papers were seized and carried away by an order from the Privy Council. Amongst other valuable documents was this will, and it is a remarkable fact, as connected with the wills of great lawyers, that this will of Sir Edward Coke's was never again found, to the great prejudice and detriment of his family and heirs.