ffice
of Lord Treasurer, had been tried for peculation in the discharge of
it, and then condemned in the Star Chamber to imprisonment in the
Tower and a fine of L30,000. When he was liberated, he was told that
two of his sons, who held places in the King's household, were
expected to resign them; but Suffolk, in very spirited letters to the
King and to Buckingham (_Cabala_, pp. 333, 334), protested against
this. The whole family, therefore, was in bad odour at Court and with
Buckingham at this time.

Sir Robert Howard was a brother of the first Earl of Berkshire, who
married a niece of Lady Elizabeth Hatton. It may possibly have been
through this connection by marriage that Sir Robert Howard became
acquainted and intimate with Lady Purbeck; and, to make a long story
short, let it be observed here that, in relation to the boy who was
christened Robert Wright, Lady Purbeck had had what, among the lower
classes, is euphemistically termed "a misfortune."

FOOTNOTES:

[55] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLIII., No. 6.

[56] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLII, No. 13.

[57] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXX., No. 54, 24th July, 1624.

[58] _Cabala, Sive Scrinia Sacra_, etc., p. 318.

[59] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CIII., No. 111.

[60] _Coles' MSS._, Vol. XXXIII., pp. 17, 18.

CHAPTER IX.

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
_Henry VI._, 2, IV., 2.

Although Robert Wright was baptised in October, 1624, the date of his
birth is uncertain. He may have been born many months before his
baptism; but his being christened at a private house rather points the
other way. Anyhow, proceedings were instituted against Sir Robert
Howard and Lady Purbeck, long before the child was christened. In _The
Diary of Archbishop Laud_ occurs the following entry for the year
1624:--

"_Januar. 21. Friday._ The business of my _Lord Purbeck_, made known
unto me by my Lord Duke." This business of my Lord Purbeck may refer
exclusively to his insanity, or reputed insanity; but it seems more
probable that it has reference to the Howard-Purbeck scandal.

A letter[61] from the Lord Keeper, Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, to
Buckingham, and written on 11th March, 1624, shows that the
proceedings against Sir Robert Howard and Lady Purbeck were in full
swing at that date.

"May it please your Grace,

"Sir Robert Howard appeared yesterday, and continues obstinate in his
refusal to sw