The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck

Table of

ys been at da

ther clappe

udibras, H

ton, the Attorney-General, to institute a prosecution against Sir Edward Coke, in the Star Chamber, for

similar method. Gerrard wrote to Carleton[20] that Lady Elizabeth, having heard that Frances was t

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 L

ortune, as well as a defeat for Lady Elizabeth; for while she failed to rescue her daughter, she also gave

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

medy, 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-ha

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

eton 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 C

eement 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." O

ouncil'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 t

at the end of the last chapter, that he had received a very sharp letter from the King; and now the roy

London, by some of my friends, that you have carried yourself with much scorn and neglect

st as much so was a letter which came from

e, we wonder you make no mention of the riot and violence of them that

ion 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 pr

Carleton[24]

im 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 Villie

sently

ch a ster in the Towne as never was: Nothi

00 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

st, if not quite, a State affair. Nearly three w

f 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

Frances Coke was talked about. George Ge

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 Lov

ich will before twenty years passe bee nigh 6000￡ a yeare besydes two houses well furnisht. A Greate fortune for my Ld.

ich Gerrard believed, as well he might, that Carleton "never

, 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 break

ances Coke i

deare

za H

10, 1

ncy 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, dau

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 Bucki

, if anything, for the match so that they may no longer account on [my] assistance. I sent also to Sir John Butler,

, 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 h

Yelverton failed to conciliate Buckingham, for he wro

already on his wings, triumphs exceedingly; hath much private conference with his Majesty, and in p

ot 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

er 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." Presen

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

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,

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,

y 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 res

TNO

s I., Vol. XCII, No.

ell, Vol.

ell, Vol.

bid.,

s I., Vol. XCII, No.

I., Vol. XCIII., No.

I., Vol. XCIII., No.

y Humphrey Woolrych. London: J.

f Francis Bacon. London: Saund

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

. XCIII., 6th October, 1617.

e of quality" usually took place either in the Tower or in the private houses o