

OVERBURY, SIR THOMAJ8. 



OVERSTONE, LORD. 



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od otbrrwiu in his intrigue with the Countess of Essex ; bat when it 

 was propmed (Rochester reckoning on his influence with the king) to 

 procure a divorce in order that be might marry her, Overbury vehe- 

 mently oppoxd the project, applied terms of contumely to the lady, 

 : .1 it u said, on the authority of his father, wrote his poem of ' The 

 Wife,' with the hope of preventing luch a measure. Overbury't 

 op] e-siliou of course wai communicated to the lady by her lover ; she 

 wu furious ; and finding that there wu a quarrel existing between 

 Orerbury and Sir David Wood, offered Wood 10002. to assassinate him, 

 but be declined, without a previously secured pardon, "saying he 

 would not hesitate to bastinado him, but would not go to Tyburn to 

 please any woman." She then bad recourse to her uncle, the ambitious, 

 hypocritical, treacherous, immoral, but clever Earl of Northampton. 

 He wu himself jealous of Overbury 's influence ith the king's favourite, 

 and to get him out of the way suggested that Overbury should be 

 appointed to a foreign embassy by the king, which Rochester should 

 persuade him to refuse. Sir Henry Wotton gives an account of the 

 result of the scheme, and his impressions concerning it " BO far as I 

 am able to wade in so deep a water." He says it is conceived that the 

 king bad a distaste of him " for too stiff a carriage of his fortune," 

 besides an offence given to the queen ; and that he had resolved to 

 "ever him from my Lord of Rochester." Overbury declined the 

 mission proposed, though Sanderson (' Aulica Coquinaria ') says he at 

 first accepted it, and on April 21, 1613, be was summoned before the 

 council, before whom, continues Wotton, wbo was present, be "refused 

 to be sent abroad, with such terms u were by the council interpreted 

 pregnant of contempt," and he was thereupon committed to the Tower. 

 " Now in this whole matter," says Wotton, " there is one main and 

 principal doubt, which doth gravel all understandings ; that is, whether 

 the whole was done without the participation of my Lord of Rochester; 

 .... for if it were done without his knowledge, -we must expect 

 of himself either a decadence or a ruin." The decadence or ruin were 

 not yet at band. Again prompted by Northampton and her own 

 father the Karl of Suffolk, and supported by the king, a suit was 

 commenced against Essex for a divorce on the ground of impoteucy. 

 A commistiou of bishops and lawyers, with a jury of women, were 

 appointed to try this scandalous cause. Essex appears to have offered 

 DO very strenuous opposition, probably glad to be relieved from such a 

 woman. There is little doubt but that the countess procured a substi- 

 tute in the examination that took place, and a sentence of divorce was 

 pronounced, though Abbott, the archbishop of Canterbury, argued 

 strongly against it, and thereby drew upon himself a long letter t'roui 

 the king, exhorting him to "reverence and follow my judgment'' 

 Abbott was firm, and with four out of the seven lawyers, voted against 

 the divorce, while the four other bishops and three lawyers voted in 

 it* favour. 



In the meantime Overbury in the Tower, wholly unsuspicious of his 

 patron's baseness, wrote, sueing him for his continued favour, and for 

 bis deliverance from confinement But bU enemies were implacable. 

 He died on September 15, 1013, under circumstances to be presently 

 told ; and on December 26, Rochester, created on the occasion Karl of 

 Somerset, and the Countess of Essex, were married, the bride " in her 

 hair " as a virgin, with all the pomp and splendour that wealth and 

 talent could furnish. Donne wrote an eclogue ; Ben Jonson produced 

 The Challenge at Tilt '; and Lord Bacon presented 'The Masque of 

 Flowers," performed by members of GrayVinn, at an expense to him 

 of 20002. 



At length matters took a turn. VUIiers was becoming a favourite, 

 and the decadence bad commenced. Somerset, with a prescience of 

 his fall, endeavoured to make use of his remaining influence by pro- 

 curing a general pardon for " all manner of treasons, luisprisions of 

 treasons, murders, felonies, and outrages whatsoever, committed, or 

 hereafter to be committed," to which James consented, but to which 

 the Chancellor Ellesmere n fused to put the great seal. A suspicion 

 bad prevailed ever since the death of Overbury that it bad been 

 unfairly procured. Trumbull, the British ambanador in the Nether- 

 lands, having procured some evidence, communicated it to Winwood 

 the secretary ; and, with James's consent, the Earl and Countess of 

 Somerset were srrested and ordered to be tried. A truly disgusting 

 account of James's hypocrisy in parting with las old favourite is pre- 

 strved. He kissed him affectionately, and when Somerset wu gone to 

 await bis trial, exclaimed, " Now the deil go with tbee, for I will 

 never see (by face more," and exhorted the judges to see justice done 

 on him. After Coke had taken a number of examinations, the trial 

 commenced on the 24th of May 1616, when the countess, first indicted 

 for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, pleaded guilty. The earl's 

 trial began the next day. It was pioved that after Overbury'a com- 

 mittal to the Tower the previous lieutenant-governor, Sir William 

 Wade, wu removed, and Sir Jenrsa Klwes (or Helwiess) wu appointed ; 

 but Klwes had bad to pay 2000/. for the place ; and Wotton writes 

 that the appointment was obtained " by the mediation of the house of 

 Suffolk, notwithstanding that my lord of Rochester wu the corn- 

 mender of Sir John Keys to that charge." Weston wu appointed bis 

 attendant, who received no wages u a pruon official. He acknow- 

 ledged receiving poisons from the countess, .most of which, be says, 

 be threw away, and a white powder from the earl, who declared that 

 it wu only an emetic, and whii h certainly produced intense sickness ; 

 it certainly did not produce death. Both tarl and countess expressed 



impatience at his surviving so long. Overbury, at the same time, 

 becoming convinced of Somerset's treachery, addressed several 

 threatening letters to him. reminding him of certain secrets of which 

 he wu poascsncd, and telling him, You owe me for all the fortune, 

 wit, and understanding that you have." Somerset, on the other hand, 

 wu irritated, and said, "either ho or myself must die for it" 

 Frauklyn, another accomplice, acknowledged that he, directed by 

 Mrs. Turner (whose starched ruffs and love philters had given her a 

 dangerous reputation), had procured arsenic for the countess ; and 

 that Weston had given Overbury "as much poison u would kill 

 twelve men." Overbury became very ill; and Lobell, n French 

 apothecary, who attended him in the Tower, says that Somerset 

 "willed him to write to Dr. Mayerne," the king's physician, who 

 prescribed a glyster, after administering which Overbury died. An 

 inquest, composed of six warders and six other persons, was held 

 upon the body, and a verdict returned of natural death. Mayerne 

 waa not examined. Fronklyu, in bis confession, says, " the king used 

 an outlandish physician and an outlandish apothecary about him, and 

 about the prince deceased. Therein lyeth a long tale." This Mayerne 

 left a book wherein all his prescriptions were entered, but the leaves 

 relating to Prince Henry's illness are torn out The king also 

 employed Sir George More to keep Somerset quiet, and if he 

 attempted to reveal anything to remove him from the bar by force. 

 He also wrote to More, that if Somerset would confess his guiltiness, 

 " I will not only perform what I promised by my last messenger, both 

 towards him and bis wife, but I will enlarge it, according to the 

 phrase of the civil law, quod gratia; sunt auip Handle. 1 ' Somerset 

 wu found guilty, and after him Klwes, Mrs. Turner, Weston, and 

 Frauklyn, who were executed ; but Somerset and his wife, after one 

 or two reprieves, were ultimately pardoned though the earl when 

 offered a pardon refused it, declaring himself innocent They retired 

 into the country, where James allowed him a pension of 40002. a year. 

 The countess died in 1632 ; the earl in 1645, but not before (in 1024) 

 his old master had endeavoured to make his peace with him, in order 

 to effect a scheme to release himself from his yoke under Yilliers and 

 Prince Charles. 



It is a curious story. Questions arise that are not easily answered. 

 Why was Overbury detained so long in prison for so trifling an offence .' 

 why was not Mayerne examined ? why wire the subordinates, whoso 

 conduct, however atrocious, was not the immediate cause of Overbury 's 

 death, so unhesitatingly executed ? and what possible motive could 

 James have had for desiring either the death of Overbury or that of 

 his son, to which suspicion has long pointed ? 



None of Overbury 's works were published in his lifetime. His 

 poems consist of ' The Wife,' 1614; aud 'The First and Second Part 

 of the Remedy for Love,' 1620, a paraphrase from Ovid. They 

 ore not remarkable as poetry, but they contain good sentimeuta, occa- 

 sionally expressed with more vigour than elegance; and his description 

 of a virtuous wife was so just that the work was highly popular. His 

 ' Characters ' (published with the second edition of ' The Wife ' in 

 1614) are in a very different vein ; they are well drawn, varied, and 

 full of antithesis and wit His ' Newes from any whence, or Old 

 Truths under a Supposal of Novelty,' are partly in the same strain, 

 and were appended to the ' Characters.' The ' Observations on the 

 Seventeen Provinces ' did not appear till 1626, though licensed by the 

 Stationers' Company in 1615-16. ' Crumms fallen from King James's 

 Table, or his Table Talk,' not published till 1715, are a collection of 

 the king's sayings, eome of which are remarkable enough : among 

 them are, " The way to make vices less than they are is to make 

 punishments for them greater than they deserve, for so the laws grow 

 to contempt and to be neglected ; " and, " The people still desire war 

 till they have it, and they desire it presupposing good success ; but 

 one overthrow, an ill journey, or taxes imposed to maintain it, they 

 require peace u much. A new edition of Overbury 's works, with 

 a 'Life/ by K. F. Rimbault, wu published in 1856. 'The 

 Oyer of Poisoning : the Trial of the Earl of Somerset for the Poison- 

 ing of Sir Thomas Overbury in the Tower of London, and various 

 matters connected therewith, from contemporary MSS., by Andrew 

 Amo*,' wu published in 1846. This work contains much curious 

 matter. Mr. Amos has shown that the printed report of the trial 

 varies in many respects from a manuscript report in the British 

 Museum, and that the variations are generally favourable to the 

 opinion "f Somerset's minor culpability. 



OVERSTONK, LORD. SAMUEL JONES LOYD, first Lord Over- 

 stone, is the only son of Mr. Lewis Loyd, formerly minister of a 

 Welsh diatenting congregation at Manchester, who married Miss Jones, 

 the only daughter of John Jones, Esq., a wealthy merchant of that 

 city, and afterwards entering into partnership with that gentleman, 

 established the banking bouse of Jones Loyd and Co. in Lothbury, 

 London. He wu born in 1796, and having received bis early edu 

 nt Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, entered parliament in 1819 ss 

 member for llythe. He did not however retain his seat longer thau 

 the year 1826. Though he remained out of parliament, still his great 

 reputation for commercial sagacity, aud long connection with bunking 

 business, led the government to consult him on important measures 

 of a fiscal nature from time to time. In 1850 Mr. Junes I. <>;,! \\ . 

 elevated to the peerage u Lord Overstoue. Since that time he has 

 acted u member of a comiuusiou appointed to inquire into the 



