I S3 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET. [Book IY. 



ham and fawn upon the king were the first steps 

 towards regaining the favour he had lost and the royal 

 road to higher dignities and enhanced opulence. On 

 receiving a hint that his compliance with a private 

 job of Buckingham's would prevent his dismissal, he 

 ostensibly refused the temptation, saying, " A judge 

 must not pay a bribe or take a bribe." Nevertheless, 

 we find him at Newmarket, early in December, perpe- 

 trating bribery of the most gross description by the 

 sale of his youngest daughter to Buckingham's eldest 

 brother, Sir John Villiers ; for he knew it would, be 

 an effectual way to propitiate the favourite. This, 

 however, occasioned a violent dispute and quarrel 

 betv/een Coke and his second wife, who, resenting her 

 husband's attempt to dispose of his daughter without 

 asking her leave, carried away the young lady, and 

 lodged her at Sir Edward Withipole's house, near 

 Oatlands. Upon this Coke wrote immediately to 

 Buckingham, to procure a warrant from the Privy 

 Council to restore his daughter to him ; but before he 

 received an answer, discovering where she was, he 

 went and took her by force, which occasioned his wife 

 to complain in her turn to the Privy Council. Much 

 confusion followed ; and this private match became at 

 length an affair of state. Eventually the differences 

 were made up, and Sir John Villiers married Frances 

 Coke at Hampton Court, with all the splendour 

 imaginable. This alliance, however, cost Coke an 

 enormous sum in dower and settlements, and, as we 

 shall subsequently have occasion to record, proved 

 an unhappy one for the bride — the future Countess 

 of Purbeck. 



