Besides his Norfolk purchases, Coke bought some large estates in Essex among these were the Manor of Pitsey in 1582, and that of Crustwic in the parish of Wiley in 1580.* By degrees, he also possessed himself of various lands in Dorsetshire, for instance, the manor and village of Durwarston and Shillingston; lands and houses in the borough of Wareham, and certain fisheries adjoining. In the Manor of Corfe Castle, by his marriage with Lady Hatton, he acquired only a life interest, for immediately after his decease in 1635, this high spirited lady sold the property to Chief Justice Banks, in the possession of whose descendants it still remains.‡ With the same lady, Coke also received a life interest in the mansion and estate of Stoke in Buckinghamshire, where he resided in his old age, and Hatton House in Holborn, built by, and formerly the town residence of, the Lord Chancellor Hatton.§

* Morant's History of Essex, vol 1, P. 256-474.

+ Hutchin's Dorsetshire, vol 2, p. 161. Vol 1, p. 24-89. Ibid, vol 1, p. 174.

§ This house was built on the orchard ground of the Bishop of Ely, who long refused to alienate it, until he was frightened into compliance by the well known short and energetic letter of Queen Elizabeth, threatening to "unfrock" him if he did not immediately comply with her favourite chancellor's request. Hatton Garden now occupies the site of this mansion.

CHAPTER II.

1578-1582.

Coke's early career at the bar-Account of his first causeStyle of pleading-His emoluments-His legal contemporaries-Plowden-Bacon Lord Ellesmere - Sir George Croke-Sir Harbottle Grimstone-Sir Henry YelvertonSir Lawrence Tanfield-Dodderidge-David Jenkins.

THE thirty years which Coke spent at the bar, as a barrister, solicitor-general to Queen Elizabeth, and lastly as attorney-general were the happiest of his life. He was then rising rapidly in his profession, had wealth and honours daily thrown in his way, and in his first wife, Bridget Paston, had an excellent and affectionate companion. The court had not then entangled him; parliamentary affairs and family broils had not yet rendered him notoriously uncomfortable and ridiculous.

This portion of his life, however, is not the richest in furnishing materials for his biographer,

since, even in his own admirable reports of cases in which he appeared, there is little mention of himself. The pleadings are but rarely given, and, when they are added, they turn upon mere points of law, and the cases are detailed in the driest style, uninteresting to any but the student. Blackstone had not yet written; Mansfield, Ellenborough and Lyndhurst had not then convinced the legal profession, that it was possible to render even law an attractive and agreeable study. The conduct of Coke, at the bar, partook of the spirit of the age; he was deeply read, both in the statute, and the common law. Of the last, perhaps, no man possessed so much, neither was he deficient in classical lore; but these advantages lost much of their effect for want of a polished manner and some humility of deportment.

Of his style of pleading, we have no very correct account. His recorded speeches are distinguished for their legal knowledge, their learning and their close adherence to the facts of the case; there is little trace of imagination; he was seldom figurative and still more rarely eloquent. His speeches, to a modern reader, will often appear tedious from the mass of facts with which they are inelegantly crowded; and their effect is by no means assisted by the writers whom it was his fate to have as reporters.

I have already stated that the first cause in which Coke was engaged was in Trinity term 1578, when he appeared as counsel for the defendant, in the case of the Lord Cromwell against Denny.* From this case, which was an action for slander, his client the Rev. E. Denny, vicar of Norlingham in Norfolk, appears to have had the misfortune of such a neighbour as the Lord Cromwell, who introduced as preachers into Norlingham Church two unlicensed persons. These, in their sermons, denounced the book of Common Prayer as impious and superstitious. For this reason, when they again came to preach, the vicar endeavoured to prevent them, but, being supported by Lord Cromwell, they succeeded in gaining possession of the pulpit. At this time, some high words passed between Mr. Denny and Lord Cromwell who exclaimed in his anger, "Thou art a false varlet, and I like not of thee." To this the former replied, " It is no marvel that you like not of me, for you like of these (meaning the preachers) who maintain sedition against the Queen's proceedings." In the action for these words, the Lord Cromwell failed, another was then commenced, but finally the matter was compromised.

* Coke's Reports, 4, fol. 13.

"It

✓ Coke's practice as a lawyer was certainly very great; we have it from good authority that he was employed in most of the great causes in Westminster Hall,* and the tradition among the members of the bar is, that his emoluments were equal to those of a modern attorney-general.

This is, probably, a correct report, when the difference in the value of money is taken into the account; for otherwise, such were the comparative smallness of the fees then usually paid to a barrister, that the gross amount of the sums received by him could not have amounted to the receipts of a modern lawyer in first rate practice.

Coke had for his contemporaries at the bar, some of the ablest lawyers which this country has produced; men alike distinguished for their learning and their probity. Among the foremost of these, I may mention Plowden, Bacon, Egerton, Croke and Yelverton; and there were, besides these, Hobart and Tanfield, afterwards chief justices, Heath and Dodderidge. Of these great lawyers it will be well to give a short notice, since they were mixed up with many of the chief events of Coke's life, were his rivals at the bar, his contemporaries on the bench,

* Preface to his own Reports.