ich one of the
counsel denied the validity of a grant made by the king to the bishop of
Lichfield of a benefice to be held _in commendam_. James, through Bacon,
who was then attorney-general, commanded the chief justice to delay
judgment till he himself should discuss the question with the judges. At
Coke's request Bacon sent a letter containing the same command to each
of the judges, and Coke then obtained their signatures to a paper
declaring that the attorney-general's instructions were illegal, and
that they were bound to proceed with the case. His Majesty expressed his
displeasure, and summoned them before him in the council-chamber, where
he insisted on his supreme prerogative, which, he said, ought not to be
discussed in ordinary argument. Upon this all the judges fell on their
knees, seeking pardon for the form of their letter; but Coke ventured to
declare his continued belief in the loyalty of its substance, and when
asked if he would in the future delay a case at the king's order, the
only reply he would vouchsafe was that he would do what became him as a
judge. Soon after he was dismissed from all his offices on the following
charges,--the concealment, as attorney-general, of a bond belonging to
the king, a charge which could not be proved, illegal interference with
the court of chancery and disrespect to the king in the case of
commendams. He was also ordered by the council to revise his book of
reports, which was said to contain many extravagant opinions (June
1616).

Coke did not suffer these losses with patience. He offered his daughter
Frances, then little more than a child, in marriage to Sir John
Villiers, brother of the favourite Buckingham. Her mother, supported at
first by her husband's great rival and her own former suitor, Bacon,
objected to the match, and placed her in concealment. But Coke
discovered her hiding-place; and she was forced to wed the man whom she
declared that of all others she abhorred. The result was the desertion
of the husband and the fall of the wife. It is said, however, that after
his daughter's public penance in the Savoy church, Coke had heart enough
to receive her back to the home which he had forced her to leave. Almost
all that he gained by his heartless diplomacy was a seat in the council
and in the star-chamber.

In 1620 a new and more honourable career opened for him. He was elected
member of parliament for Liskeard; and henceforth he was one of the most
prominent