"A true remembrance of the abuse I received of Mr. Attorney-General, publicly in the Exchequer, the first day of term, for the truth whereof I refer myself to all that were pre

sent.

"I moved to have a re-seizure of the lands of George More, a relapsed recusant, a fugitive, and a practising traitor, and shewed better matter for the Queen against the discharge by plea, which is ever with a salvo jure. And this I did in as gentle and reasonable terms as might be.

"Mr. Attorney kindled and said: ' Mr. Bacon, if you have any tooth against me, pluck it out; for it will do you more hurt than all the teeth in your head will do you good.' I answered coldly, and in these words: Mr. Attorney, I respect you; I fear you not; and the less you speak of your own greatness, the more I will think of it.'

"He replied: 'I think scorn to stand upon terms of greatness towards you who are less than little, less than the least;' and other strange light terms he gave me, with that insulting which cannot be expressed.

"Herewith stirred, yet I said no more than this Mr. Attorney, do not depress me so far,

for I have been your better, and may be again when it please the Queen.'

"With this he spake, neither I nor himself could tell what, as if he had been born attorneygeneral; and, in the end, bade me not meddle with the Queen's business, but with my own, and that I was unsworn, &c. I told him, sworn or unsworn, was all one to an honest man; and that I ever set my service first and myself second, and wished to God he would do the like.

"Then he said it were good to clap a capias ut legatum upon my back; to which I only said, he could not, and that he was at a fault, for he hunted upon an old scent.

"He gave me a number of disgraceful words besides, which I answered with silence, and shewing that I was not moved with them."

The accusation of Essex and Southampton was the last important trial in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that Coke conducted. Many grave historians have asserted with some shew of probability, that the end of this great Queen was hastened by the trial and execution of her favourite, Essex. It is certain she survived his death little more than a twelvemonth.

SIR EDWARD COKE.

153

To Coke, Elizabeth was always a tender and generous mistress; discerning his merits, advocating his superior pretensions as a barrister, and commanding his promotion to the best law office then in the gift of the crown, even when Essex was warmly pleading for his friend, the great Bacon. Her favour followed him even into private life, for, at the christening of one of his children in 1600, she presented him with a gilt bowl and cover, weighing forty-three ounces and a half.*

The gifts of Elizabeth were valuable from their rarity; she bestowed them as she did her titles of honour, not without they were well deserved. Money could not buy them, flattery was powerless. In the wise disposal of public rewards, this Queen evinced a discernment never excelled in any after age. She reigned in a period when her country was contending for its very existence against the most powerful monarchy of the day, was surrounded with difficulties, beset with papal intrigues and traitors, and yet by a wise unerring choice of her ministers, officers and judges, she set all her enemies at defiance, and triumphed over every difficulty.

*Nichol's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 8, p.p. 467,

568.

King James, her successor, continued most of her ministers, and amongst the Coke was retained in his office of attorney

rest,

general.

CHAPTER V.

1602-1606.

Coke knighted-Trial of Raleigh-His speech - Raleigh's defence-His condemnation-Sir Henry Montague's speech to him on judgment being passed-Notice of Raleigh-The gunpowder plot-Trial of the conspirators-Coke's speech to the judges-Notice of this plot and of the conspiratorsMany of its particulars doubted-Coke made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas-Coke's emoluments when at the bar -His fees of office.

Ir was not usual for the solicitor and attorneygeneral of those days to receive the honour of knighthood, when they obtained their appointments. Coke was not made a knight until the 22nd of May, 1603. The King being then at Greenwich, bestowed upon him this ho

nour.

*

* Nichol's Progresses of King James I.