] 56 CHARGE AGAINST MR. LUMSDEN, &c. 



talk of impoisonment, I hope I am safe ; for I have 

 no enemies ; nor I have nothing that any body should 

 long for : Why, that is all one ; for he may sit at 

 table by one for whom poison is prepared, and have 

 a drench of his cup, or of his pottage. 



And so, as the poet saith, &quot; concidit infelix alieno 

 &quot; vulnere ;&quot; he may die another man s death. And 

 therefore it was most gravely, and judiciously, and 

 properly provided by that statute, that impoison 

 ment should be high treason ; because whatsoever 

 offence tendeth to the utter subversion and disso 

 lution of human society, is in the nature of high 

 treason. 



Lastly, it is an offence that I may truly say of it, 

 &quot; non est nostri generis, nee sanguinis.&quot; It is, thanks 

 be to God, rare in the isle of Britain : it is neither 

 of our country, nor of our Church ; you may find it 

 in Rome or Italy. There is a region, or perhaps 

 a religion for it : and if it should come amongst us, 

 certainly it were better living in a wilderness than 

 in a court. 



For the particular fact upon Overbury. First, 

 for the person of Sir Thomas Overbury : I knew the 

 gentleman. It is true, his mind was great, but it 

 moved not in any good order ; yet certainly it did 

 commonly fly at good things ; and the greatest fault 

 that I ever heard of him was, that he made his 

 friend his idol. But I leave him as Sir Thomas 

 Overbury. 



But take him as he was the king s prisoner in 

 the Tower; and then see how the case ^tands. In 



