Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/73

1616. was hanged. These gentlemen were charged in the star-chamber with an attempt to slander the king's justice, by this proceeding, and Hollis and Wentworth were thrown into prison for a year, and condemned to a fine of one thousand pounds each. Weston suffered on the 23rd of October, and Mrs. Turner on the 9th of November. This woman had played such a part amongst the court ladies, that her execution drew a vast crowd, and many great ladies and fashionable men, both noble and commoners, went in their coaches to Tyburn to see her die. She came forth dressed in great splendour, rouged and perfumed as if going to a ball, and wearing round her neck one of her celebrated yellow-starched ruffs. She made a very penitent death, and—her yellow starch went out of fashion with her.

But a circumstance now took place which greatly scandalised the public. Sir Thomas Monson, the king's falconer, was arrested by Coke on a charge of being concerned in these affairs. He was known to have recommended Weston when he was proposed as warder over Overbury, and Coke exhorted him to confess, and throw himself on the mercy of the king. Monson rejected the advice scornfully, and before Coke could reduce him to confession by the means so freely used in that age, the public were surprised by seeing a detachment of the king's guard enter, and carry him away from the very face of the judge, and convey him back to the Tower. Perhaps that is the sole example of such a daring act of arbitrary power attempted in England. The reason assigned was that Monson's evidence was necessary on the trial of Somerset, which was deferred till the arrival of Sir John Digby, afterwards earl of Bristol, the ambassador at the court of Spain, and who, it was asserted, could furnish proofs of Somerset's treasonable dealings with the Spanish court. When the public suprise and indignation at this unexampled transaction had had time to subside, Monson was quietly let out of the Tower, and gradually restored to his offices at court. Roger Coke asserts that Coke and the judges Hyde and Doddridge declared Monson as guilty as any of them.

On the 16th of November, Elwes, the lieutenant of the Tower, was executed. On the trial he strictly denied his guilt, but on the scaffold he confessed it all. The last of this miserable crew, Franklin, the apothecary, was hanged on the 9th of December.

On the plea of the necessity of having Digby present, the trial of Somerset and his wife was deferred till April, 1616. The real cause of delay, however, was probably the fear of bringing a man like Somerset, who had been so long in all James's secrets, to trial, lest he should avow something in his despair to the damage of the royal reputation. Certain it is that, when the time of trial approached, James betrayed the most extreme terror and uneasiness, and omitted no means to induce Somerset to make a full confession in private, offering him both life and restoration to his estates. He sent messenger after messenger to Somerset in prison, the attorney-general Bacon being the principal, James Hay, afterwards earl of Carlisle, another, with whom was employed Somerset's late private secretary. They did all in their power to induce Somerset to accept the king's terms, but he remained obstinate, replying, when offered life and fortune, "Of what use is life when honour is gone?" He demanded earnestly to be permitted to see the king himself, declaring that in half-an-hour's interview he could place all in so clear a light as should perfectly satisfy his majesty. This interview James declined, as well as a proposal to send a private letter to the king. These requests being refused, he assumed an attitude of menace, declaring that whenever he was brought into court, he would make such avowals as would astonish the country, and cause the king to rue his rejection of his offers.

On this James wrote to Sir George More, the lieutenant of the Tower, exhorting him to use his influence to divert the mind of the prisoner from such a course, and adding:— "God knoweis it is only a trikke of his ydle brain, hoaping thairby to shifte his tryall, but is casie to bee scene, that he wold threattin me, with laying an aspersion upon me of being in some sorte accessorie to his cryme." He says if the prisoner wishes to send a message to him it must not be private, for he cannot receive a private message till after his trial, and he holds out the hope of making all right then.

This did not move Somerset, and on the 9th of May the king sent proposals to the sullen prisoner of such a nature, that James informed the lieutenant of the Tower, if there were the least spark of grace left in Somerset, he must accept them. He did not accept them, however, though it was intimated to him that the countess had confessed all, which was the fact. On the 13th, James ordered More to repeat the offer, if he would confess, with a promise that it should even be improved. Not a soul, he added, was to know of this, but if Somerset agreed to confess, the commissioners were to be sent for instantly, but if he remained obstinate, the king desired to hear nothing of it. Nothing further came of all this running to and fro but a letter from Somerset, sent openly, which the king deigned to receive, but which only again demanded a private interview before his trial.

On the 24th of May the countess was brought before the peers, where, as she had already confessed, she had only to plead guilty. She was extremely agitated, pale, spiritless. She trembled greatly all the time that the clerk was reading the indictment, and put her fan before her face at the mention of Weston. Her words were nearly inaudible, through weeping, as she pleaded guilty, and threw herself on the royal mercy. This done, she was removed from the bar before the sentence was pronounced, during which interval Bacon delivered a speech perfectly unnecessary, as she had pleaded guilty, detailing the damning facts which he was prepared to produce, had he been compelled by her denying her guilt. This manœuvre was intended to criminate Somerset, without the hazard of his wife's declaring his innocence on hearing him implicated. Bacon's purpose being served, she was recalled, and the lord chancellor Ellesmere, who acted as high steward on the trials, pronounced sentence of death upon her.

That day Somerset was informed that he would go to trial on the morrow: they had not deemed it safe to try him and his wife together. On hearing this he went into a great rage, declaring that the king had assured him that he should never go to trial, and protesting that if they took him there, it should be by force, and in his bed. He repeated his former threats, adding the king dared not bring him into open court. More, the lieutenant of the