"That Sir Edward was the fittest instrument for a tyrant that ever was in England." Posterity does not endorse this opinion, because His Majesty's indignant remark was called forth by Coke's having _resisted_ an undue exercise of the Royal prerogative. He was never again reconciled to the Court during the life of King James, and even when Charles I. came to the throne, efforts were made to keep him out of Parliament by pricking him for Sheriff. Sir Edward objected, and successfully, that it would not be seemly in one who had held the great office of Chief Justice of England, to attend the judges at the Assizes. He was subsequently elected Knight of the Shire for Bucks, and during the sessions of 1628, distinguished himself more than any other man in Parliament, by his bold and skilful arguments in defence of the liberty of the subject, by the energy with which he urged upon the Government the necessity that existed for the redress of many grievances, and by the strenuous support he gave towards maintaining the privileges of the House of Commons. It was during this same Parliament that he did the greatest service to his country that was, perhaps, ever done by a private man. He it was who proposed and framed the "Petition of Rights," and it was Sir Edward Coke also, who successfully vindicated the right of the House of Commons to proceed against any subject whatever, however exalted the position of that subject might be. After the dissolution of this Parliament in 1629, Sir Edward retired to his country house at Stoke-Pogis, Buckinghamshire, and there he spent the remainder of his days. Though his life was prolonged to the great age of eighty-six, he retained his marvellous memory to the last. Were a passage quoted from any of his favourite authors, he would remember and mention, not only the context, but often the page in which the words would be found, and on all legal matters he would bring forward the papers he had written on the subjects in question. His industry in committing to writing everything that interested him was beyond example, and posterity will never cease to admire his learned and laborious works on the laws of this country. He also wrote some religious pamphlets, for he loved much to study the great doctrines of Christianity. He especially delighted to dwell on the sublime teachings of Our Lord, and during his last years, when the interests of this life, with all its pains and pleasures, were rapidly fading away, he, like Cardinal Wolsey, frequently lamented that he had not studied Divine laws with the same care and earnestness that he had devoted to the consideration and thorough understanding of temporal laws. Our Saviour's own prayer was the one he best loved, and the last faint words that were feebly murmured by his dying lips were: "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done." Sir Edward died September 3rd, 1634, in the eighty-sixth year of his age.