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.
OTHER EMINENT LAWYERS.
In the long list of eminent lawyers who were members of Gray's Inn, are
to be found the names of three of the Yelverton family: Sir William
Yelverton, Justice of the King's Bench in 1443; Sir Christopher
Yelverton, Justice of the King's Bench in 1602; and also his son, Sir
Henry Yelverton, Justice of the Common Pleas in 1625.
Emblazoned on the glass of the great window in the Hall are the arms
of Guido Fairfax, called Serjeant from Gray's Inn in 1463. Also those
of John Ernelye, Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1519; of Sir
Anthony de Fitzherbert, Justice of the Common Pleas in 1522; with those
of Lord Riche, whose son Robert, also a member of Gray's Inn, was, in
1618, created Earl of Warwick; of Justice Stamford, Justice of Common
Pleas in 1554, and of Dr. Thomas Wilson, Secretary to Queen Elizabeth
in 1577, and who ultimately succeeded Sir Thomas Smith as Secretary of
State.
Amongst the most ancient escutcheons on the walls are those of Sir
William Gascoigne, Sir John Markham, Chief Justice of the King's Bench
in 1400 and 1462, Lord Burghley, Sir Nicholas and Sir Francis Bacon,
Thomas Moyle, Reader of the Society in 1534, and in 1542 Speaker of the
House of Commons, Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Essex, of Henry
Cromwell, the second son of the Protector, and of Sir John Holt, Chief
Justice of the King's Bench in 1689.
The following sketch of Lord Chief Justice Holt is given in the
fourteenth number of the _Tatler_:
"He was a man of profound knowledge of the laws of his country, and
as just an observer of them in his own person. He considered justice
as a cardinal virtue, not as a trade for maintenance. Wherever he was
judge, he never forgot that he was also counsel. The criminal before
him was always sure he stood before his country, and, in a sort, before
a parent of it. The prisoner knew that though his spirit was broken
with guilt, and incapable of language to defend itself, all would be
gathered from him which could conduce to his safety, and that his judge
would wrest no law to destroy him, nor conceal any that could save him."
Sir John Fortescue, of whom mention has been made (an ancestor of the
present Lord Fortescue), was Lord High Chancellor of England under
Henry VI.
In 1430 he was made Serjeant-at-Law, in 1441, King's Serjeant. The
following year he became Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and
soon afterwards was raised to the dignity of Lord High Chancellor.
But he lost all on the deposition of the King. He was ever faithful to
his old master, and for many years, therefore, remained in exile with
Queen Margaret, and her son, Prince Edward.
When the Queen and the Prince returned to England, Sir John Fortescue
accompanied them, but soon after the decisive battle of Tewkesbury, he
was thrown into prison and attainted with other Lancastrians.
He was, however, subsequently pardoned by Edward IV.
Sir John, who was a man of great learning and a sound lawyer, wrote
many valuable legal works. One of these, entitled, "The Difference
between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy as it more particularly
regards the English Constitution," has passed through many editions.
The last of these editions, with amendments, was published as late as
1719.
Another of Sir John's works is "A Commentary on the Politic Laws of
England."
He also wrote many other works, some of which are still in manuscript.
It is in these papers that he describes the customs and practices of
the Inns of Court.
STEPHEN GARDINER.
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England in the
sixteenth century, was an able lawyer, a learned divine, and a shrewd
statesman.
Few men have risen higher by mere force of ability, few men have
suffered greater changes of fortune, few have been more magnified and
commended, and few more insidiously disparaged and outrageously treated
than this famous Prelate, not only during his lifetime, but also after
his decease.
The accounts given of him by contemporary historians are so confused
and contradictory, that it is difficult to arrive at any just
conclusion with regard either to Gardiner's character and disposition,
or to fathom his motives as a churchman, or his measures as a statesman.
Some writers, amongst others, Hall and Fox, describe him as a very
"devil incarnate," of a most fierce and sanguinary disposition,
delighting in bloodshed. They declare also that he was the principal
inciter to all the cruelties practised during the reign of Queen Mary.
Others again, according to Pitt and Persons, assert that the Bishop of
Winchester was a very "angel of light," being of a singularly mild and
compassionate nature, and so tender was his heart that it was through
his influence and exertions that so many Protestants escaped death.
All agree, however, that this celebrated man had great abilities, much
learning, and also an amount of general knowledge considerably in
advance of the age. He had, however, many failings, and some vices,
and either the natural bent of his mind, or the dangerous condition of
his position, induced him to adopt a policy so tortuous, that even now
it is difficult to trace the motives of some of the wisest and best,
as well as those of some of his most injudicious and apparently cruel
actions.
He was born at Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk, but the year of his birth
as well as his parentage he ever held secret. Some believe his parents
were very obscure persons; but Dugdale, a great authority in such
matters, asserts that he was the illegitimate son of a prelate nobly
descended and royally allied--namely, of Dr. Lionel Woodville, Bishop
of Salisbury, and brother of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, consort of King
Edward IV. Certain it is that for many years neither he nor his brother
bishop, Bonner, born under the same circumstances, ever used the
surnames by which they were afterwards known. One called himself Dr.
Stephens, the other Dr. Edmunds, until Gardiner, on obtaining place,
assumed the surname he has made so celebrated.
At Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he completed his education, Gardiner
was early distinguished for his talents and his quick parts, especially
for his extraordinary skill in Greek, and for the grace with which he
spoke and wrote Latin. In process of time he applied himself to the
study of Civil and Common Law, and his reputation both as a scholar and
a lawyer speedily made him known to some of the famous men of that age.
He was first taken under the protection of a generous and powerful
patron, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, but soon afterwards was brought to the
notice, and then received into the household of Cardinal Wolsey, as
secretary to that great statesman, then in the zenith of his power. He
was thus early initiated into the skilful yet dread policy that for so
long a period made the powerful Cardinal the _de facto_ ruler of this
country.
A mere accident gained for Gardiner the favour of the King. Wolsey and
the Emperor of Austria had been at one time such intimate friends that
the latter, when writing (which he did frequently) to the Cardinal,
always signed his letters with his own hand, subscribing himself, "Your
son and cousin, Charles."
After the battle of Pavia, when the French King was taken prisoner,
Wolsey unexpectedly changed sides, and from being a friend of the
Emperor's, became a strong partisan of France's. This sudden change
of sentiment may possibly have arisen from compassion, but Guiscard
suggests another and less worthy motive.
Some months previously, and for some unexplained reason, the Emperor
had ceased to write personally to the Cardinal, and only communicated
with him through his secretary in the same manner as he did with other
persons. According to Guiscard, Wolsey deeply resented this change and
lapse of friendship, hence, therefore, his animosity.
Soon after the battle of Pavia, the Cardinal projected a treaty which
was to change the aspect of affairs in all civilised Europe, which,
indeed, it did. While this treaty was in progress, the King, coming
unexpectedly to More Park, in Hertfordshire, found Gardiner busily
employed in framing several of the important articles.
Few princes understood business or could transact it better than Henry;
he rapidly, therefore, formed a favourable estimate of Gardiner's
abilities. Not only did he appreciate the secretary's talents, but
he was also pleased by his manner and conversation, and, above all,
admired the fertility of invention of which Gardiner had already given
convincing proofs. In short, Gardiner was the very man of whom the
King at that moment had especial need.
Henry was bent upon obtaining his divorce from Queen Katherine; but
though he had obtained many fair promises from Rome, he had failed
to induce the then Pontiff, Clement II., to _do_ anything towards
advancing his suit. It was in the highest degree expedient, therefore,
to send a delegate to Rome who was not only a wary diplomatist, but
also a shrewd and skilful lawyer; above all, he must be one in whom the
King could fully confide. In Gardiner were found all these essential
qualifications, and the King did not hesitate to inform the Cardinal of
the favourable impression his secretary had made.
With all his faults, there was nothing mean in the character of Wolsey.
He was truly great in this particular, that he feared no man's rise,
and grudged to none the reward due to talent. Though overbearing in
temper, haughty in manner, tyrannical and revengeful in action, it was
yet this noble quality that so strongly attached his adherents to him.
Far from viewing with displeasure the favourable impression made upon
the King, he aided his secretary's interests with all his powerful
influence; and in February, 1528, Gardiner, together with Dr. Fox,
Provost of King's College, Cambridge, left England on a special mission
to Rome.
It is evident, from many documents still extant, that the entire
confidence, both of the King and of his Minister, had been reposed in
Gardiner.
Respecting his conduct in Rome, historians are again at variance as to
his motives; but all agree in praising his talents, his dexterity, and
his diligence.
Some writers assert that he honestly endeavoured to carry out the
King's and the Cardinal's wishes; others, on the contrary, maintain
that, in order to secure his own advancement, he betrayed the Cardinal
in this embassy, and that for this end he urged forward with the
greatest eagerness proceedings which he knew his master in his heart
desired might be spun out as lengthily as possible.
However, it must be admitted that such statements are barely compatible
with the affection which Wolsey ever entertained for his secretary.
When writing to Gardiner, the Cardinal calls him "the half of himself,
than whom none was dearer to him;" and in recommending him to the Pope,
he says, when His Holiness hears him speak, it will be as if he heard
the Cardinal himself.
At any rate Gardiner spoke boldly at Rome. His diligence and activity
also were so great, that between the conflicting interests and
exertions of the various Courts of England, France, Spain, and Austria,
the unfortunate Pontiff was so pressed and harassed that he fell
dangerously ill.
The perplexities of his mind seriously increasing the sufferings of
his body, for some time he was like to die, a contingency that offered
fresh occasion for the intrigues that were so rife at that period.
Had the Pope died, every effort would have been made to procure for
Wolsey the suffrages of the Conclave; and at one time there appeared
every probability that he would have succeeded to the Pontifical
throne, but Clement recovered, and matters returned to their normal
condition.
No sooner did the Pope's health enable him to transact business, than
the matter of the English commission was again pressed forward. An
extraordinary amount of care and skill were now required, not only to
obtain the Pontiff's consent, but to pen the commission in such terms
as would satisfy Henry, and dispose the Cardinal Legate Campegio to
come to England with a good disposition towards the affair.
At length the important papers were obtained, and Fox at once
forwarded them to the King.
The joy with which they were received by Henry, the Cardinal, and Anne
Boleyn, was exceedingly great, and their satisfaction was expressed,
not only by letters, but also by the valuable presents they made to the
successful delegates.
To Gardiner, however, were allotted the greatest honours, for though
Fox had nominally been the leading personage of the mission, yet
Gardiner had in fact taken the chief part throughout the negotiations;
and so impressed was Henry by the talents evinced by his clever agent,
that the latter was speedily recalled from Rome, in order to be
entrusted with the management of the case before the Legatine Court.
Indeed, so great at this time was the Secretary's influence, that
without his advice the King was unwilling to commence his suit. No
sooner had Gardiner arrived in England than he was made Archdeacon of
Norwich, and soon after, the King took him from Wolsey's service and
made him Secretary of State.
The suit had now begun; but whether Wolsey secretly sided with Rome in
this matter, or whether he was only suspected by Henry of so doing, the
King ere long became furious with his Minister on account of the delays
that were for ever occurring to hinder the progress of the divorce.
The Pope's behaviour added much to the difficulties into which he was
thrown; and believing that the Cardinal, while apparently aiding, was
in reality fomenting the troubles by which he was beset, the King felt
convinced that either he was being duped by his Minister, or that his
Minister was allowing himself to be egregiously duped by the Court of
Rome. In either case, Henry determined to trust Wolsey no longer, and
only waited a favourable opportunity to effect his fall.
This opportunity soon presented itself. The successor who was needed
was at hand, and again an accident furnished the King with the adviser
that he so urgently required.
Dr. Cranmer, a tutor in the family of one Mr. Cressy, of Waltham Cross,
was with his pupils at their father's house at Waltham, when the King
with his Court passed a night there during one of the Royal progresses.
Drs. Gardiner and Fox were in attendance on His Majesty, and Cranmer
had supper with them.
Men's minds were so occupied with the Royal divorce that little
else was ever talked of; and the two courtiers, being already well
acquainted with the great reputation for learning and solid judgment
that Cranmer had gained for himself at Cambridge, sought to obtain his
opinion on the matter.
Cranmer modestly declined to give an "opinion," but said that in his
poor judgment it appeared to him that, if the marriage were unlawful,
it was so by Divine precept; and if that were the case, then the Pope's
dispensation could be of no effect either to confirm or annul it, for
even the Pope could not make lawful that which God had declared to be
unlawful. Instead, therefore, of continuing these long and fruitless
negotiations with Rome, it might be better to consult all the learned
men, or, indeed, all the Universities of Christendom, and then,
according to their finding, the Pope must needs give judgment.
So much impressed were Gardiner and Fox by this advice, that the next
day they laid the substance of it before the King.
Some writers say that Gardiner wished to make it appear that the
opinion came from him, but that Fox, either from generosity to Cranmer
or from spite to Gardiner, took care to mention from whence it was
derived.
At any rate, these observations of Cranmer's caused him to be presented
to the King, as Henry had at once perceived the importance of the
suggestion thus thrown out.
Brilliant talents and an admirable judgment commanded respect, while
the candour and uprightness of Cranmer's character secured for him the
esteem of all who knew him. His rise in the King's favour was rapid,
and honours were showered upon him.
In after times Henry might differ from his Minister, but he knew he
need never distrust him. The King often said that the Archbishop of
Canterbury (Cranmer) was the only Churchman he had ever known upon whom
he could implicitly rely.
Unhappily, the haughty and hasty monarch occasionally succeeded in
prevailing upon Cranmer to swerve from the strict line of wisdom and
prudence to which his opinions inclined him, but although he yielded
in action, the purity of his intentions and the honesty of his purpose
were never doubted.
The new adviser's rapid advancement was the signal of Wolsey's fall.
While that powerful Minister was apparently enjoying the plenitude of
his greatness, and triumphing in the magnificence of his position,
destruction came upon him unawares. Great and brilliant had been his
rise, equally great and fatal was his fall.
No sooner was his disgrace resolved upon than the Great Seal was taken
from him, his vast possessions were confiscated, he was banished to
his house at Asher, and informations were filed against him by the
Attorney-General.
Such a tempest of misfortunes broke at once over the head of the
unhappy man that his calamities seemed without end, and the ruin of his
fortunes was speedily followed by the destruction of his health.
When great men fall, their pseudo friends of prosperous days fall away
also. Such friendship but blossoms in the sunshine, it ever withers and
dies when clouds obscure their sun.
In this time of cruel adversity, but very few of his many followers
remained faithful to the once mighty Cardinal. Of these few the chief
was his secretary, Thomas Cromwell, who proved his fidelity not only by
his steady adherence to his master, but also by stoutly soliciting the
Court in his favour.
As Cromwell's rank did not entitle him to admittance to the King's
presence, he was compelled to have recourse to one of the Secretaries
of State.
It was to Gardiner that he addressed himself, and it is to that
Minister's credit that although, on account of Henry's hasty and
tyrannical temper, the task involved considerable risk, the quondam
secretary did not desert his old patron and master, but interceded for
him with skill, if without much heartiness.
The unhappy Cardinal's letters at this time are most dismal. In one
of them, to Thomas Cromwell, he says he has written it "with his rude
hand and sorrowful heart," and he signs himself, "T. Carlis. Ebor
misserrimus" (the most miserable Thomas, Cardinal of York).
Gardiner at this time was devoting himself to the difficult task of
obtaining from the Heads of the Colleges and from the learned men
belonging to the University of Cambridge, their declaration in the
King's cause, a business that required no small amount of dexterity and
artifice.