off a match between him and a daughter of the Earl of CHAP. Shrewsbury, afterwards married to the Earl of Lennox.

XLV.

Notwithstanding these tender sentiments, Elizabeth did Collared by not distinguish him from her other courtiers, by abstaining the Queen. from the public manifestation of her resentment when he offended her; for as she gave a blow on the ear to the Earl Marshal, and spat on Sir Matthew Arundel, on one occasion she collared Hatton before the whole Court.* By this missive, he tried to appease her: - "If the woundes of the thought wear not most dangerous of all wthout speedy dressing, I shold not now troble yor Maty wth the lynes of my co'playnt; and if whatsoever came from you wear not ether very gracious or greevous to me, what you sayd wold not synke so deepely in my bosome. My profession hath been, is, and ever shalbe, to your Maty all duty wthin order, all reverent love wthout mesure, and all trothe wthout blame; insomuch as when I shall not be fownde soche as to yor Highnes Cæsar sought to have hys wife to himselfe, not onely wthout synne, but also not to be suspected, I wish my spright devyded from my body as his spouse was from his bedde; and therefore, upon yesternight's wordes, I am driven to say to yor Mat, either to satisfye wronge conceyts or to answer false reports, that if the speech you used of yo Turke did ever passe my pen or lippes to any creature owt of yor Highnes' hearing, but to my L. of Burghley, wth whom I have talked bothe of the man and the matter, I desyre no less condemnation then as a traytor, and no more pardon then hys ponyshment; and, further, if ever I ether spake or sent to the embassad. of France, Spayne or Scotland, or have accompanied, to my knowledge, any that conferres wth them, I doe renownce all good from your Maty in erthe, and all grace from God in heaven; wch assurans if yor H. thinke not sufficyent, upon the knees of my harte I hu'bly crave at yor Matys handes, not so much for my satisfaction as you own suerty, make the perfitest triaall hearof; for if upon such occasions it shall please yor Mat to syfte the chaffe from the wheate, the corne of yo co'monwealth wolde be more pure, and myxt

CHAP.
XLV.

His letter

of Essex.

granes wold lesse infect the synnowes of yor suerty wch God must strengthen, to you Matys best and longest preservation."*

The following letter, addressed to the young Earl of Essex to the Earl while commanding the English forces at the siege of Rouen, where his younger brother, Walter, had fallen, was written by Hatton a few months before his death (as is supposed) by the command of the Queen, who had become alarmed for the safety of her new favourite; and it must have been a cruel task to impose upon the old Chancellor to pretend to take such an interest in the youth who had supplanted him: "My good Lord, lett me be bolde to warne you of a matter that many of yor frendes here gretely feare, namely, that the late accident of yo noble brother, who hathe so valiantly and honorably spent his lyfe in his Prince's and countrey's service, draw you not, through griefe or passion, to hasard yor selfe over venturously. Yo Lop best knoweth that true valour consisteth rather in constant performenge of that wch hath been advisedly forethought than in an aptnes or readiness of thrusting yor person indifferently into every danger. You have many waies and many tymes made sufficient proof of yo valientnes. No man doubteth but that you have enough, if you have not overmuche; and therefore, both in regard of the services her Maty expecteth to receve from you, and in respect of the greife that would growe to the whole realme by the losse of one of that honorable birth, and that worthe wch is sufficiently known (as greater hathe not been for any that hathe beene borne therin these many and many yeeres) I must even, before Almighty God, praye and require yor Lop to have that circumspectnes of yor selfe wch is fitt for a generall of your sorte." †

Grants to him from Queen.

The Queen made him a grant of the Isle of Purbeck, and compelled the Bishop of Ely to cede to him a large territory in Holborn, a part of which is still called Hatton Garden, and where he built the magnificent mansion in which he resided when Chancellor.

At Stoke Pogis, in Buckinghamshire, he had a country house constructed in the true Elizabethan taste. Here, when he was Lord Chancellor, he several times had the honour to CHAP. entertain her Majesty, and showed that the agility and grace which had won her heart when he was a student in the Inner Queen at Temple remained little abated.

XLV.

Stoke

Pogis.

To raise the ceiling's fretted height,
Each panel in achievements clothing,
Rich windows that exclude the light,
And passages that lead to nothing.

Full oft within the spacious walls,
When he had fifty winters o'er him,
My grave Lord Keeper* led the brawls,
The Seal and maces danc'd before him.

His bushy beard and shoe-strings green,
His high-crown'd hat and satin doublet,
Mov'd the stout heart of England's Queen,
Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it

1

lations.

Sir Christopher Hatton left considerable estates to the son His colof his sister by Sir William Newport. This nephew took the lateral rename of Hatton, and married the daughter of the first Lord Exeter, the granddaughter of Lord Treasurer Burghley, and afterwards famous as "the Lady Hatton," - a beauty at the Court of James I., courted in second marriage by Sir Francis Bacon and Sir Edward Coke. She having the bad taste to prefer the Chief Justice, he got possession of Chancellor Hatton's estate, along with a companion who kept him in trouble for the rest of his days.

Christopher Hatton, who, by a collateral branch, was the heir at law of the Lord Chancellor, was ennobled in the reign of James I., by the titles of Viscount Gretton and Baron of Kirby, in the county of Northampton, but the family is now extinct.†

• By a pardonable contraction, Gray might have allowed Sir Christopher to retain his just rank of Lord Chance'lor, instead of reducing him to "Lord Keeper."

† Grandeur of Law, ed. 1684. p. 16.

CHAP.
XLVI.

A. D. 1591. On death of Sir

Christo

CHAPTER XLVI.

LIFE OF SIR JOHN PUCKERING, LORD KEEPER OF THE
GREAT SEAL.

THE Queen heard of the death of Sir Christopher Hatton in the evening of the 20th of November, but, from ancient recollections and a little remorse, she was too much affected to give any directions respecting the Great Seal till the next morning. She then ordered two Knights of the Garter, pher Hat- Lord Cobham and Lord Buckhurst, to bring it to her. They found it locked up in an iron chest*, in the house of the late Chancellor in Holborn, and forthwith delivered it to her Majesty in the palace at Westminster. She was still more perplexed than she had ever been before as to the disposal of it.

ton, Great Seal delivered to the Queen,

Her reluctance to appointment of Puckering on account of his

uncouth

manners.

Although the last experiment had turned out better than could have been reasonably expected, such heavy complaints had reached her ears against the appointment, that she would not venture again to select a Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper merely from his good looks and fashionable accomplishments. Her Court consisted of two orders, - favourites and men of business. She now felt that it was among the latter she was bound to look for the first Judge of the land. But Puckering, her Prime Serjeant, who was next in succession to the office, - a profound Jurisconsult it is true, - was in manners and appearance such a contrast to his gay and gallant predecessor; he was so dull, heavy, and awkward; his whole deportment was so "lawyer-like and ungenteel," - that she for

a long time could not summon resolution to consent to his Two Com- appointment. Meanwhile an expedient was resorted to which, I believe, was quite new, and has never since been followed, - of having two Commissions for doing the duties of the Great Seal. Lord Burghley, Lord Hunsdon, Lord Cob

XLVI.

ham, and Lord Buckhurst were appointed to seal writs, CHAP. patents, and decrees; and Sir Gilbert Gerrard, the Master of the Rolls, and others, were authorised to hear and decide

causes in the Court of Chancery.*

from this

Things went on according to this plan for seven months, Difficulties but not very satisfactorily; for there were disputes between arrangethe two sets of Commissioners respecting jurisdiction and ment. fees; and Gerrard's colleagues not deferring, as he expected they would, to his experience and rank, - from their division of opinion the decrees pronounced by them had less weight.

ING, Lord Keeper.

Prime Serjeant Puckering had about this time pleased her PUCKERMajesty by the able manner in which he had conducted the trial of Sir John Perrot, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, before the Star Chamber, and at last she consented to his having the May 28. Great Seal, with the lower rank of Lord Keeper.

JOHN PUCKERING is an instance of a man, without possessing brilliant parts or committing any dishonourable action, - by industry, perseverance, and good luck, raising himself from obscurity to the highest civil office in the state.

April 27.

1592.

1592.

He was the younger son of a gentleman of very small His origin. fortune, residing near Flamborough Head, in the county of York, who had great difficulty in giving him a decent education, and could give him nothing more.

It is doubtful whether the future Lord Keeper ever had Education. the advantage of being at a University. He studied law with A great great assiduity in Lincoln's Inn, and in the mootings in lawyer. which he engaged he displayed much familiarity with the Year Books, which he pored over day and night. As an apprentice, or utter barrister, he had not much practice in common matters; but he had a great reputation for learning, and he was consulted in cases of weight and difficulty. He A. D. 1580. was called to the degree of Serjeant at Law in the twenty- Serjeant. second of Elizabeth, along with Clench, Walmesley, Fleetwood, Periam, and other distinguished lawyers; and now, being entitled to practise in the Court of Common Pleas, his extraordinary knowledge of the law of real actions, exclu