I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 52.

[68] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 65, 16th February,
1625.

[69] _Ibid._, No. 66.

[70] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIV., Nos. 7 and 7.1.

[71] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIII, No. 65.

[72] _Camden, Complete History of England_, Vol. II., p. 791 (ed.
1719).

[73] _Memorials of the English Affairs_, etc., p. 17.

[74] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXIV., No. 47.

[75] _S.P. Dom._, Charles I., Vol. XXVI., No. 30.

[76] This looks like an anticipation of Mesmer.

[77] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. CLXXXV., No. 48.

[78] _S.P. Dom._, James I., No. 99.

CHAPTER X.

"Let us give great Praise to God, and little Laud to the Devil."

(Grace said by the Court Jester, Archie Armstrong, when he
had begged to act as chaplain, in the absence of that
official, at the dinner-table of Charles I. Archbishop Laud
was little in stature.)

The following account of the trial of Lady Purbeck in 1627 is given by
Archbishop Laud:--[79]

"Now the Cause of _Sir Robert Howard_ was this: He fell in _League_
with the _Lady Viscountess Purbeck_. The _Lord Viscount Purbeck_
being in some weakness and distemper, the Lady used him at her
pleasure, and betook her self in a manner, wholly to Sir Robert
Howard, and had a Son by him. She was delivered of this Child in a
Clandestine way, under the Name of _Mistress Wright_. These things
came to be known, and she was brought into the _High-Commission_, and
there, after a Legal Proceeding, was found guilty of _Adultery_, and
sentenced to do _Pennance_: Many of the great Lords of the Kingdom
being present in Court, and agreeing to the Sentence."

A marginal note states that there were present Sir Thomas Coventry,
the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, the Earls of Manchester, Pembroke,
Montgomery and Dorset, Viscount Grandison, five Bishops, two Deans and
several other dignitaries, clerical and legal.

Laud continues: "Upon this Sentence she withdrew her-self, to avoid
the Penance. This Sentence passed at _London-House,_ in Bishop
_Mountains_ time, _Novemb. 19. An. Dom. 1627_. I was then present, as
Bishop of _Bath_ and _Wells_."

The sentence in question was that Lady Purbeck was to be separated
from her husband, and that she should do penance, bare-footed, and
clad in a white sheet, in the chapel of the Savoy; but a decree of
divorce was not given.

No attempt shall be made here to excuse or palliate the si