406 LETTERS RELATING TO 



the exchequer for a confe 

 rence. 



16. Suits for lega- The practice hath gone 



cies ought to be in against this ; and it is fit, the 



their proper dio- suit be where the probate is. 



ceses, and not in And this served but to put a 



the prerogative pique between the archbi- 



court ; although shops courts and the bishops 



the will be proved courts. This may be again 



in the prerogative propounded upon a confe- 



court upon &quot; bona rence of the judges, 

 notabilia&quot; in seve 

 ral dioceses, com- 

 mendams, etc. 



SIR FRANCIS BACON TO SIR GEORGE VILLIERS, TOUCH 

 ING THE EXAMINATION OF SIR ROBERT COTTON UPON 

 SOME INFORMATION OF SIR JOHN DIGBY *. 



I RECEIVED your letter yesterday towards the even- 



* Secretary Winwood, in a private letter to Sir Thomas Ed- 

 mondes, printed in the Historical View of the Negotiations be 

 tween the Courts of England, France, and Brussels, p. 392, men 

 tions, that there was great expectation, that Sir John Digby, 

 just then returned from Spain, where he had been ambassador, 

 could charge the earl of Somerset with some treasons and plots 

 with Spain. &quot; To the king,&quot; adds Sir Ralph, &quot; as yet he hath 

 used no other language, but that, having served in a place of 

 honour, it would ill become him to be an accuser. Legally or 

 criminally he can say nothing: yet this he says and hath writ 

 ten, that all his private dispatches, wherein he most discovered 

 the practices of Spain, and their intelligences, were presently 

 sent into Spain ; which could not be but by the treachery of So 

 merset.&quot; 



