._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 18, 12th August, 1617.

[26] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., No. 28, 18th August, 1617.

[27] _Life of Sir Edward Coke_. By Humphrey Woolrych. London: J. &
W.T. Clarke, 1826, pp. 146-48.

[28] _Life and Correspondence of Francis Bacon_. London: Saunders,
Otley & Co., 1861, p. 459.

[29] She was found innocent, and her accusers, Sir Thomas and Lady
Lake, were imprisoned and fined. L10,000 to the King, and L5,000 to
Lady Exeter as damages for the libel. A chambermaid who was one of the
witnesses, was whipped at the cart's tail for her perjury. Lady Roos,
the wife of Lady Exeter's step-grandson, and a daughter of the Lakes,
made a full confession that she had participated in spreading the
scandal. She was sentenced to be imprisoned during the King's
pleasure.

[30] _S.P. Dom._, James I., Vol. XCIII., 6th October, 1617. Letter
from Sir Gerald Herbert.

[31] Campbell, Vol. I., p. 303. fn. The imprisonment of what were
called "people of quality" usually took place either in the Tower or
in the private houses of Aldermen, in those times, although they were
sometimes imprisoned in the Fleet.

CHAPTER VI.

"Of all the actions of a man's life his marriage doth least
concern other people; yet of all actions of our life it is
most meddled with by other people."
SELDEN.

In all these negotiations, and caballings, and intriguings, the person
most concerned, Frances Coke, the beauty and the heiress, was only the
ball in the game. Neither her father nor her mother nor anybody else
either considered her feelings or consulted her wishes about the
proposed marriage, except so far as it was to their own personal
interest to do so.

At last the poor girl yielded, or pretended to yield. Lord Campbell
says, as well he may, "and without doubt, just as Frances had before
copied and signed the contract with Lord Oxford, at the command of her
mother, she now copied and signed the following letter[32] to her
mother at the command of her father."

"'MADAM,

"'I must now humbly desire your patience in giving me leave to declare
myself to you, which is, that without your allowance and liking, all
the world shall never make me entangle or tie myself. But now, by my
father's especial commandment, I obey him in presenting to you my
humble duty in a tedious letter, which is to know your Ladyship's
pleasure, not as a thing I desire: