This acknowledgment or act of submission was devised by the Lord Chancellor, Chief Justices, and Attorney General. In this, for the defence and support of Lady Roos his daughter, he acknowledged that the sentence handed down against him on the preceding 13 February, was just, because his fault was disgraceful, hateful, and scandalous to the said Countess. But he was misled by his great credulilty, indulgence, and ignorance. Furthermore he acknowledged that he had erred in incarcerating Luke Hutton on 22 February 1618 and George Williams out of self-interest, and professed that it grieved him to his heart to have defended such a disgraceful, hateful, and scandalous case. Begging the Countess’ forgiveness, he sincerely petitioned the Lords to intercede with the King for favour and mercy. Intriguingly, on 22 February William Camden notes in his diary that: "Peacock of Cambridge, who had claimed he had employed magical tricks to sway the King's mind from sound judgement in the case of Thomas Lake, is put to torture in the Tower of London. Some pronounced him a madman, others an impostor." On 10 March Lake's wife was temporarily freed from the Tower "because of her ill health, under the condition that at the beginning of term she be returned unless she has made her submission". Lake finally kissed the royal hand on 15 May but his wife stubbornly refused to make her submission and remained in the Tower after his release. She was still there on 27 September when Lake was struck by a vehicle and broke his arm and on 16 November when she was to be brought to the Star Chamber to acknowledge her offence against the Countess of Exeter, "she wrote a letter to her derogatory to the kingdom's justice, and, quoting verses from Psalm 136, summoned the Countess to Divine Judgement," and hence was returned to the Tower. A month later on 14 December she was freed from prison without public explanation. Lake did not return to his post as Secretary of State but he and the King were reconciled and he was readmitted to Court. In 1625 he was elected MP for Wells in 1625 and in the 1626 he became MP for Wooton, which position he until his death on 17 September 1630. He was survived by his widow, Mary (daughter of Sir William Ryder, Lord Mayor of London, and a first cousin of John Ryder, Anglican Bishop of Killaloe), three sons, Arthur (died 1633), Thomas (died 1653) and Lancelot (died 1680), and four daughters, including Lady Roos (who had remarried George Rodney) and Bridget, who married Sir William Domville, Attorney General for Ireland.