Chief yustice Coke. 95 



him to enter her house in London except by the back 

 door. The poor man bore his hen-pecking in silence 

 for many years, but at last she went one step too far. 

 During his absence in London she packed up and re- 

 moved from Stoke to one of her own houses his plate 

 and other valuables. The outraged husband forcibly 

 entered her house and reclaimed his property, taking, 

 as she said, some of hers also. This led to legal pro- 

 ceedings, in which she, through the aid of Bacon, got 

 the better of him, and a reconciliation took place. 



The next year the broil took another phase. Lady 

 Hatton — she always refused to take Coke's name — had 

 borne him a daughter, who was the heiress of her 

 mother's estates as well as of Coke's wealth. Her hand 

 had been sought by Sir John Villiers, but as he was 

 poor his suit had been rejected. A turn came in the 

 tide. Coke, shorn of most of his honors, was in disgrace, 

 and the Duke of Buckingham, Sir John's brother, was 

 King James's favorite and the dispenser of immense 

 patronage. Coke, with the object of winning back the 

 royal favor and of humbling Bacon, his great enemy, 

 now determined to ally himself with the rising house, 

 and offered his daughter to Villiers. Lady Hatton, who 

 had not been consulted in the matter, refused her con- 

 sent, ran away with her daughter, and concealed her 

 in the house of a kinsman. But Coke found out her 

 hiding place, and with a dozen stout fellows broke into 

 the house and seized his daughter. Lady Hatton, 



