"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.