Project Gutenberg's The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck, by Thomas Longueville

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Title: The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck
A Scandal of the XVIIth Century

Author: Thomas Longueville

Release Date: March 4, 2005 [EBook #15257]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE

CURIOUS CASE

OF

LADY PURBECK

A SCANDAL OF THE XVIITH CENTURY

BY THE AUTHOR OF

"THE LIFE OF SIR KENELM DIGBY," "THE ADVENTURES
OF KING JAMES II.," "MARSHAL TURENNE"
"THE LIFE OF A PRIG," ETC.

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA

1909

PREFACE

The curious case of Lady Purbeck is here presented without
embellishment, much as it has been found in old books and old
manuscripts, chiefly at the Record Office and at the British Museum.
Readers must not expect to find any "well-drawn characters," "fine
descriptions," "local colour," or "dramatic talent," in these pages,
on each of which Mr. Dry-as-dust will be encountered. Possibly some
writer of fiction, endowed with able hands directed by an imaginative
mind, may some day produce a readable romance from the rough-hewn
matter which they contain: but, as their author's object has been to
tell the story simply, as it has come down to us, and, as much as was
possible, to let the contemporaries of the heroine tell it in their
own words, he has endeavoured to suppress his own imagination, his own
emotions, and his own opinions, in writing it. He has the pleasure of
acknowledging much useful assistance and kind encouragement in this
little work from Mr. Walter Herries Pollock.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
PAGE

Sir Edward Coke--Lady Elizabeth Hatton--Bacon--Marriage of Coke
and Lady Elizabeth--Birth of the Heroine 1

CHAPTER II.

Rivalry of Coke and Bacon--Quarrelling between Coke and Lady
Elizabeth--Coke offends the King and loses his offices--Letter of