CHAPTER VII.

1614-1616.

Benevolences-Coke contributes to them Presides at the trial of the murderers of Overbury-Weston-Ann Turner -Sir John Elvis-Sir Robert Monson - The Earl and Countess of Somerset-Roger Coke's account of the detection of the plot-King James' fears-The plots which attended him-Coke's address-The declining health of the Lord Chancellor-Bacon intrigues to be his successorContest between the Courts of King's Bench and Chancery -Coke consulted by the King.

ALTHOUGH openly and fearlessly opposing himself to the court of James, when it attempted to exercise an undue and overbearing interference with the judges, yet Coke was never backward in contributing to the exigences of the state, or the wants of the King. Thus, in 1614, he gave two thousand pounds as his portion of a "benevolence" to the crown, and it appears that the alacrity and liberality with which he con

tributed, were very distinguishable from the conduct of the other judges, who paid their contributions very unwillingly.*

mean.

Never were taxes more burlesqued by their name, than these vexatious and obnoxious benevolences, or forced gifts, which of necessity fell heavy upon the open hearted and the generous, but left almost untouched the sordid and the These "benevolences" originated in the reign of Edward IV; but speedily becoming unpopular, they were formally abandoned by Richard III.+ Being, however, often resumed, they were at length abolished by an act of Charles II, to whom they were granted for the last time, with the express provision, that this grant should not be regarded as a precedent: "These benevolences being often extorted without a free and voluntary consent."‡ "Benevolences"

were, in fact, as misnamed as the French "beds of justice," which were well described by a lively Frenchman, as places were justice sleeps.

From this period, until 1615, when Coke presided at the trial of the Overbury murderers, he was occupied in the peaceful and dignified dis

* Nicholl's Progresses of James I, vol. 3, p. 7.

† Stowe's Chronicles.

13 Charles II, 64.

VOL. I.

S

charge of his duties. This murder is one of the black stains upon the reign of James which time will never efface. I shall not lead the reader through the filthy details of these trials. Weston, the Earl of Somerset's agent, was tried on the 19th of October 1615, at the Guildhall in London. He was condemned for administering poison to Overbury, and was executed at Tyburn.

On the 7th of November following, Mrs. Ann Turner was tried for aiding and abetting Weston in the murder. Turner was the agent of the Countess of Somerset ;-the abandoned servant of a profligate mistress. Coke here suffered his feelings to carry him far beyond the bounds of decency, when he told her, that "she had the seven deadly sins; for she was a whore, a bawd, a sorcerer, a witch, a Papist, a felon, and a murderer."* Unfortunate indeed was the condition of any poor deserted female, who in those days was charged with either sorcery or witchcraft: her doom was sealed. It is revolting to read of such ferocious ignorance failing from the lips of a Chief Justice of England, even in a case so bad as that of Ann Turner; one in which there was no doubt of the murderer's

* State Trials, vol. 1, p. 324.

guilt, for she, as well as Weston, confessed upon the scaffold the justice of their sentence.

Sir John Elvis, governor of the Tower, was tried and condemned on the 16th of November for participating in the same crime. His execution speedily followed. However atrocious may have been the conduct of the prisoners, however clear their guilt, the government so managed the trials, as to render the whole proceeding full of mystery, real or affected—mystery which all posterior researches have failed. to clear away. Of the whole band of conspirators, the case of Sir William Monson seemed the most inexplicable. He was arraigned before Sir Edward Coke, on the 4th of December 1615, and pleaded not guilty; at the same time, desiring the presence of Sir Robert Cotton, then Lord Treasurer, who, according to Monson's professions, had the power of proving his inno

cence.

Cotton did not come: he sent, however, a letter, which Coke read to the court, in which he said: "I have heard that Sir Thomas Monson thinks I can clear him; but I know nothing of him, to accuse or excuse him; but I hope he is not guilty of so foul a crime."

"You hear," said Coke after reading this

letter, "

you hear he will neither accuse nor excuse you."

"I do not," replied Monson, "accuse my Lord Treasurer-but I desire to have an answer to my two questions."

"You shall hear more of that when the time serveth," rejoined Coke, who eventually stopped the proceedings with this remarkable speech :"I see a great assembly in this court, and, although it has been often shown to you, yet it cannot be said too often, how much the city is bound to God, and to the King his deputy on earth, and my master, for their great deliverance and exact justice. God is always just; and for the King, though they were ever so high in place, or so dear to him, though his own creatures, yet his justice is dearer to him, for which we are upon our knees to give him thanks, and also for so mild a proceeding in so great an affair; for, neither the great man's house in the Tower, nor his lady's house, (meaning those of the Earl and Countess of Essex), nor the prisoner's house, (to my knowledge) have been searched; neither hath this prisoner been committed to the custody of the sheriff, but to an alderman, a man who of all others might be most kind to him (Alderman Anderson, a con