Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. THE CURIOUS CASE OF LADY PURBECK A SCANDAL OF THE XVIITH CENTURY BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF SIR KENELM DIGBY," "THE ADVENTURES OF KING JAMES II.," "MARSHAL TURENNE" "THE LIFE OF A PRIG," ETC. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 1909 PREFACE The curious case of Lady Purbeck is here presented without embellishment, much as it has been found in old books and old manuscripts, chiefly at the Record Office and at the British Museum. Readers must not expect to find any "well-drawn characters," "fine descriptions," "local colour," or "dramatic talent," in these pages, on each of which Mr. Dry-as-dust will be encountered. Possibly some writer of fiction, endowed with able hands directed by an imaginative mind, may some day produce a readable romance from the rough-hewn matter which they contain: but, as their author's object has been to tell the story simply, as it has come down to us, and, as much as was possible, to let the contemporaries of the heroine tell it in their own words, he has endeavoured to suppress his own imagination, his own emotions, and his own opinions, in writing it. He has the pleasure of acknowledging much useful assistance and kind encouragement in this little work from Mr. Walter Herries Pollock. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE Sir Edward Coke--Lady Elizabeth Hatton--Bacon--Marriage of Coke and Lady Elizabeth--Birth of the Heroine 1 CHAPTER II. Rivalry of Coke and Bacon--Quarrelling between Coke and Lady Elizabeth--Coke offends the King and loses his offices--Letter of Bacon to Coke 10 CHAPTER III. Coke tries to regain the favour of Buckingham and the King by offering his daughter to Sir John Villiers--Anger of Lady Elizabeth--Lady Elizabeth steals away with her daughter 21 CHAPTER IV. Coke besieges his wife and carries off his daughter--Coke and Winwood _v_. Lady Elizabeth and Bacon--Charges and counter-charges 30 CHAPTER V. Lady Elizabeth tries to recover her daughter--Her scheme for a match between Frances Coke and the Earl of Oxford--Bacon, finding that he has offended both Buckingham and the King, turns round and favours the match with Villiers--Trial of Lady Exeter--Imprisonment of Lady Elizabeth at an Alderman's house 39 CHAPTER VI. Frances is tortured into consent--The marriage--Lady Elizabeth comes into royal favour and Coke falls out of it--Lady Elizabeth's dinner-party to the King--Carleton and his wife quarrel about her 52 CHAPTER VII.