e. I sent
also to Sir John Butler, and after by letter to my Lady [Compton] your
mother, to tender my performance of any good office toward the match."

To this letter Buckingham sent a very chilling reply, whereupon Bacon,
in his anxiety, sent Yelverton in person to try to conciliate
Buckingham and the King, enjoining him to lie so hard and so
unblushingly as to declare that Bacon had never hindered, but had in
"many ways furthered the marriage;" that all he had done had been to
check Coke's "impertinent carriage" in the matter, which he wished had
"more nearly resembled the Earl of Buckingham's sweet disposition."

Yet after faithfully fulfilling this nefarious errand, Yelverton
failed to conciliate Buckingham, for he wrote the following very
unsatisfactory report to Bacon:--

"The Earl [of Buckingham] professeth openly against you;" whereas,
"Sir Edward Coke, as if he were already on his wings, triumphs
exceedingly; hath much private conference with his Majesty, and in
public doth offer himself, and thrust upon the King with as great
boldness of speech as heretofore."

Things were beginning to look desperate for Bacon! Indeed it seemed
as if affliction were about to "level the mole-hills," not now of
Coke's, but of Bacon's pride; "to plough" Bacon's heart and "make it
fit for Wisdom to sow her seed, and for Grace to bring forth her
increase," blessings which Bacon had so kindly & so liberally promised
to Coke in a letter already quoted.

About the middle of August, Chamberlain wrote that Frances Coke was
staying with Sir Robert Coke, Sir Edward's son by his first wife, and
that Lady Elizabeth was with her all day, to prevent the access of
others; but that, finding her friends were deserting her, and that
"she struggles in vain" against the King's will, "she begins to come
about," and "upon some conditions will double her husband's portion
and make up the match and give it her blessing." Presently he says:
"But it seems the Lady Hatton would have all the honour and thanks,
and so defeat her husband's purpose, towards whom, of late, she has
carried herself very strangely, and, indeed, neither like a wife, nor
a wise woman."

As Chamberlain says, Lady Elizabeth was determined that, if she had to
yield, she would be paid for doing so, and that her husband should
obtain none of the profits of the transaction. It was unfortunate that
that transaction should be the means of injuring her daughter whom she
loved; but