THE CHARGE OF SIR FRANCIS BACON, 

 KNIGHT, HIS MAJESTY S ATTORNEY-GENERAL, 



BY WAY OF EVIDENCE, BEFORE 

 THE LORD HIGH STEWARD, AND THE PEERS, 

 AGAINST ROBERT, EARL OF SOMERSET, 



CONCERNING THE 

 POISONING OF OVERBURY. 



It may please your Grace, my lord High Steward oj England, and 

 you my lords the Peers : 



You have here before you Robert earl of Somerset, 

 to be tried for his life, concerning the procuring and 

 consenting to the impoisonment of Sir Thomas Over- 

 bury, then the king s prisoner in the Tower of Lon 

 don, as an accessary before the fact. 



I know your lordships cannot behold this noble 

 man, but you must remember his great favour with 

 the king, and the great place that he hath had and 

 borne, and must be sensible that he is yet of your num 

 ber and body, a peer as you are ; so that you can 

 not cut him off from your body but with grief; and 

 therefore that you will expect from us, that give in 

 the king s evidence, sound and sufficient matter of 

 proof to satisfy your honours and consciences. 



As for the manner of the evidence, the king our 

 master, who among his other virtues excelleth in that 



