he wonder of the civilized world, imploring to be counsel
_against_ his best friend and benefactor, and leaving no base means
untried to bring that high and chivalrous spirit to the scaffold.
Prerogative never boasted so rare a sacrifice; the might of kings never
extorted so signal an acknowledgment.

On the 27th of June, 1598, Coke lost his wife, who had borne him ten
children. His memorandum-book feelingly describes the virtues of the
departed; but within four months of her burial the disconsolate widower
had taken unto himself a second mate, whose beauty, though
extraordinary, was still surpassed, as before, by the brilliancy of the
marriage portion. Lady Hatton, daughter of Thomas Cecil, was the widow
of the nephew of Lord Chancellor Hatton, and but 20 years of age when
she agreed to become the wife of a man whom she disliked on her
wedding-day and hated ever afterward. Bacon, her cousin, had preferred
his suit to be rejected, although Lord Essex, then powerful enough, had
declared to the lady that "if he had a daughter of his own he would
rather match her with the accomplished lawyer than with a man of far
greater titles." To spite Bacon, and to add to his heaps, Coke consented
to a private marriage, to break the law, and to listen complacently to
the openly declared aversion of his bride. He enjoyed all the happiness
he had earned. The lady refused to adopt her husband's name, spurned his
company and dry pursuits, took her pleasure abroad, and, giving birth to
a daughter, flatly refused to live with him any longer; and greater
punishment came hereafter.

Upon the death of Elizabeth, James I. conferred upon Coke the dignity of
knighthood, and continued him in his office. The first appearance of the
Attorney-General as public prosecutor in the new reign was at the trial
of the adventurous Raleigh, the judge upon the occasion being the
reformed highway-robber, Popham, who made amends for the delinquencies
of his youth by hanging every criminal within his reach. Raleigh laid
down the law as Coke himself years afterward knew how to define it; but
the legal tools of the Court were neither to be shamed nor argued from
their purpose. Coke disgracefully bullied the high-souled prisoner.
Popham shrunk from his calm and unanswerable defense; but both contrived
to prove him guilty. The instance is one of a hundred. So long as Coke
could find payment for unclean work, he betrayed no uneasy desire to
wash his fingers. It was n