masqueraded under that name, by fanning the flames of Lady Elizabeth's
fiery hatred against her husband. Hitherto, Coke had had it all his
own way. He had snubbed and insulted Bacon in the law courts, and he
had snatched a wealthy and beautiful heiress from his grasp. The wheel
of fortune was now about to take a turn in the opposite direction.

About the year 1611, King James entertained the idea of reigning as an
absolute sovereign. Archbishop Bancroft flattered him in this notion,
and suggested that the King ought to have the privilege of "judging
whatever cause he pleased in his own person, free from all risk of
prohibition or appeal." James summoned the judges to his Council and
asked whether they consented to this proposal. Coke replied:--

"God has endowed your Majesty with excellent science as well as great
gifts of nature; but your Majesty will allow me to say, with all
reverence, that you are not learned in the laws of this your realm of
England, and I crave leave to remind your Majesty that causes which
concern the life or inheritance, or goods or fortunes of your subjects
are not to be decided by natural reason, but by the artificial reason
and judgment of law, which law is an art which requires long study and
experience before that a man can attain to the cognizance of it."

On hearing this, James flew into a rage and said: "Then am I to be
_under_ the law--which it is treason to affirm?"

To which Coke replied: "Thus wrote Braxton: 'Rex non debet esse sub
homine, sed sub _Deo et Lege_.'"[8]

Coke had the misfortune to offend the King in another matter. James
issued proclamations whenever he thought that the existing law