to whose trust he hath committed this business. For it is the part of commissioners, as well to report the business, as to manage the business; and then his Majesty might have been sure to have had all things well weighed, and truly informed: and therefore it should have been far from M. L. to have presumed to have put forth his hand to so high and tender a business, which was not to be touched but by employed hands. Thirdly, I note to your lordships, that this infusion of a slander into a king's ear, is of all forms of libels and slanders the worst. It is true, that kings may keep secret their informations, and then no man ought to inquire after them, while they are shrined in their breast. But where a king is pleased that a man shall answer for his false information; there, I say, the false information to a king exceeds in offence the false information of any other kind; being a kind, since we are in matter of poison, of impoisonment of a king's ear. And thus much for the offence of M. L. For the offence of S. W. and H. I. which I said was in consort, it was shortly this. At the time and place of the execution of Weston, to supplant his christian resolution, and to scandalize the justice already past, and perhaps to cut off the thread of that which is to come, these gentlemen, with others, came mounted on horseback, and in a ruffling and facing manner put themselves forward to re-examine Weston upon questions; and what questions? Directly cross to that that had been tried and judged. For what was the point tried? That Weston had poisoned Overbury. What was S. W.'s question? Whether Weston did poison Overbury or no? A contradictory directly: Weston answered only, that he did him wrong; and turning to the sheriff, said, You promised me I should not be troubled at this time. Nevertheless, he pressed him to answer; saying he desired to know it, that he might pray with him. I know not that S. W. is an ecclesiastic, that he should cut any man from the communion of prayer. And yet for all this vexing of the spirit of a poor man, now in the gates of death, Weston nevertheless stood constant, and said, I die not unworthily; my lord chief justice hath my mind under my hand, and he is an honourable and just judge. This is S. W. his offence. For H. I. he was not so much a questionest; but wrought upon the other's questions, and, like a kind of confessor, wished him to discharge his conscience, and to satisfy the world. What world? I marvel! it was sure the world at Tyburn. For the world at Guildhall, and the world at London, was satisfied before; teste the bells that rung. But men have got a fashion now-a-days, that two or three busy-bodies will take upon them the name of the world, and broach their own conceits, as if it were a general opinion. Well, what more? When they could not work upon Weston, then I. H. in an indignation turned about his horse, when the other was turning over the ladder, and said, he was sorry for such a conclusion; that was, to have the state honoured or justified; but others took and reported his words in another degree: but that I leave, seeing it is not confessed. H. I. his offence had another appendix, before this in time; which was, that at the day of the verdict given up by the jury, he also would needs give his verdict, saying openly, that if he were of the jury, he would doubt what to do. Marry, he saith, he cannot tell well whether he spake this before the jury had given up the verdict, or after; wherein there is little gained. For whether H. I. were a pre-juror or a post-juror, the one was to prejudge the jury, the other as to taint them. Of the offence of these two gentlemen in general, your lordships must give me leave to say, that it is an offence greater and more dangerous than is conceived. I know well that as we have no Spanish inquisitions, nor justice in a corner; so we have no gagging of men's mouths at their death; but that they may speak freely at the last hour: but then it must come from the free motion of the party, not by temptation of questions. The questions that are to be asked ought to tend to farther revealing of their own or others' guiltiness; but to use a question in the nature of a false interrogatory, to falsify that which is res judicata, is intolerable. For that were to erect a court or commission of review at Tyburn, against the king's bench at Westminster. And besides, it is a thing vain and idle for if they answer according to the judgment past, it adds no credit ; or if it be contrary, it derogateth nothing: but yet it subjecteth the majesty of justice to popular and vulgar talk and opinion. My lords, these are great and dangerous offences; for if we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us. But now your lordships shall hear the examinations themselves, upon which I shall have occasion to note some particular things, &c. THE CHARGE OF SIR FRANCIS BACON, KNIGHT, HIS MAJESTY'S ATTORNEY-GENERAL, AGAINST FRANCES COUNTESS OF SOMERSET, INTENDED TO HAVE BEEN SPOKEN BY HIM AT HER ARRAIGNMENT, ON FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1616, IN IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GRACE, MY LORD HIGH STEWARD OF ENGLAND,† AND YOU, MY LORDS, the peers; You have heard the indictment against this lady well opened; and likewise the point in law, that might make some doubt, declared and solved; wherein certainly the policy of the law of England is much to be esteemed, which requireth and respecteth form in the indictment, and substance in the proof. This scruple it may be hath moved this lady to plead not guilty, though for the proof I shall not need much more than her own confession, which she hath formerly made, free and voluntary, and therein given glory to God and justice. And certainly confession, as it is the strongest foundation of justice, so it is a kind of corner-stone, whereupon justice and mercy may meet. The proofs, which I shall read in the end for the ground of your verdict and sentence, will be very short; and as much as may serve to satisfy your honours and consciences for the conviction of this lady, without wasting of time in a case clear and confessed; or ripping up guiltiness against one, that hath prostrated herself by confession; or preventing or deflowering too much of the evidence. And therefore the occasion itself doth admonish me to spend this day rather in declaration than in evidence, giving God and the king the honour, and your lordships and the hearers the contentment, to set before you the proceeding of this excellent work of the king's justice, from the beginning to the end; and so to conclude with the reading the confession and proofs. My lords, this is now the second time within the space of thirteen years reign of our happy sovereign, that this high tribunal-seat of justice ordained for the trial by peers, hath been opened and erected; and that, with a rare event, supplied and exercised by one and the same person, which is a great honour to you, my lord steward. In all this mean time the king hath reigned in his white robe, not sprinkled with any drop of blood of any of his nobles of this kingdom. Nay, such have been the depths of his mercy, as even those noble She pleaded guilty, on which occasion the attorney-general spoke a charge somewhat different from this. Thomas Egerton, viscount Ellesmere, lord high chancellor. men's bloods, against whom the proceeding was at Winchester, Cobham and Grey, were attainted and corrupted, but not spilt or taken away; but that they remained rather spectacles of justice in their continual imprisonment, than monuments of justice in the memory of their suffering. It is true, that the objects of his justice then and now were very differing. For then, it was the revenge of an offence against his own person and crown, and upon persons that were malcontents, and contraries to the state and government. But now, it is the revenge of the blood and death of a particular subject, and the cry of a prisoner. It is upon persons that were highly in his favour; whereby his Majesty, to his great honour hath showed to the world, as if it were written in a sun-beam, that he is truly the lieutenant of Him, with whom there is no respect of persons; that his affections royal are above his affections private: that his favours and nearness about him are not like popish sanctuaries to privilege male factors: and that his being the best master of the world doth not let him from being the best king of the world. His people, on the other side, may say to themselves, "I will lie down in peace; for God and the king and the law protect me against great and small." It may be a discipline also to great men, especially such as are swoln in fortunes from small beginnings, that the king is as well able to level mountains, as to fill valleys, if such be their desert. But to come to the present case; the great frame of justice, my lords, in this present action, hath a vault, and it hath a stage: a vault, wherein these works of darkness were contrived; and a stage with steps, by which they were brought to light. And therefore I will bring this work of justice to the period of this day; and then go on with this day's work. Sir Thomas Overbury was murdered by poison in the 15th of September, 1613, 11 Reg. This foul and cruel murder did, for a time, cry secretly in the The first time was on the trials of the lords Cobham' and Grey, in November, 1603. : ears of God: but God gave no answer to it, other- | of him, and thinking to make his own case by his own tale, resolved with himself, upon this occasion, to discover to my lord of Shrewsbury and that counsellor, that there was an attempt, whereto he was privy, to have poisoned Overbury by the hands of his under-keeper Weston; but that he checked it, and put it by, and dissuaded it, and related so much to him indeed: but then he left it thus, that it was but an attempt, or untimely birth, never executed; and as if his own fault had been no more, but that he was honest in forbidding, but fearful of revealing and impeaching or accusing great persons; and so with this fine point thought to save himself. wise than by that voice, which sometimes he useth, which is vox populi, the speech of the people. For there went then a murmur, that Overbury was poisoned and yet this same submiss and soft voice of God, the speech of the vulgar people, was not without a counter-tenor, or counter-blast of the devil, who is the common author both of murder and slander: for it was given out, that Overbury was dead of a foul disease, and his body, which they had made a corpus Judaicum with their poisons, so as it had no whole part, must be said to be leprosied with vice, and so his name poisoned as well as his body. For as to dissoluteness, I never heard the gentleman noted with it: his faults were insolency and turbulency, and the like of that kind; the other part of the soul, not the voluptuous. : But that great counsellor of state wisely considering, that by the lieutenant's own tale it could not be simply a permission or weakness; for that Weston was never displaced by the lieutenant, notwithstanding that attempt; and coupling the sequel by the beginning, thought it matter fit to be brought before his Majesty, by whose appointment Helwisse set down the like declaration in writing. Upon this ground the king playeth Solomon's part, "Gloria Dei celare rem; et gloria regis investigare rem;" and sets down certain papers of his own hand, which I might term to be claves justitiæ, keys of justice; and may serve for a precedent both for princes to imitate, and for a direction for judges to follow and his Majesty carried the balance with a constant and steady hand, evenly and without prejudice, whether it were a true accusation of the one part, or a practice and factious device of the other: which writing, because I am not able to express according to the worth thereof, I will desire your This excellent foundation of justice being laid by his Majesty's own hand, it was referred unto some counsellors to examine farther, who gained some degrees of light from Weston, but yet left it imperfect. Meantime there was some industry used, of which I will not now speak, to lull asleep those that were the revengers of blood; the father and the brother of the murdered. And in these terms things stood by the space almost of two years, during which time God so blinded the two great procurers, and dazzled them with their own greatness, and did bind and nail fast the actors and instruments with security upon their protection, as neither the one looked about them, nor the other stirred or fled, nor were conveyed away; but remained here still, as under a privy arrest of God's judgments; insomuch as Franklin, that should have been sent over to the Palsgrave with good store of money, was by God's providence and the accident of a marriage of his, diverted and stayed. But about the beginning of the progress last sum-lordship anon to hear read. mer, God's judgments began to come out of their depths and as the revealing of murders is commonly such, as a man may say, a Domino hoc factum est; it is God's work, and it is marvellous in our eyes so in this particular it is most admirable; for it came forth by a compliment and matter of courtesy. My lord of Shrewsbury, that is now with God, recommended to a counsellor of state, of especial trust by his place, the late lieutenant Helwisse,† only for acquaintance as an honest worthy gentleman; and desired him to know him, and to be But these things were not done in a corner. acquainted with him. That counsellor answered need not speak of them. It is true, that my lord him civilly, that my lord did him a favour; and that chief justice, in the dawning and opening of the he should embrace it willingly: but he must let his light, finding that the matter touched upon these lordship know, that there did lie a heavy imputation great persons, very discreetly became suitor to the upon that gentleman, Helwisse: for that Sir Thomasking to have greater persons than his own rank Overbury, his prisoner, was thought to have come to a violent and untimely death. When this speech was reported back by my lord of Shrewsbury to Helwisse, perculit illico animum, he was stricken with it; and being a politic man, and of likelihood doubting that the matter would break forth at one time or other, and that others might have the start Gilbert earl of Shrewsbury, knight of the Garter, who died May 8, 1616. + Sir Gervase Helwisse, appointed lieutenant of the Tower, upon the removal of Sir William Waade on the 6th of May, 1613, [Reliquiae Wottonianæ, p. 412, 3d Edit. 1672.] Mr. Chamberlain, in a MS. letter to Sir Dudley Carleton, dated at London, May 13, 1613, speaks of Sir Gervase's promotion in these terms. "One Sir Gervasc Helwisse, of Lincolnshire, somewhat an unknown man, is put into the place [of After it was referred to Sir Edward Coke, chief justice of the king's bench, as a person best practised in legal examinations, who took a great deal of indefatigable pains in it, without intermission, having, as I have heard him say, taken at least three hundred examinations in this business. I joined with him. Whereupon, your lordship, my lord high steward of England, to whom the king commonly resorteth in arduis, and my lord steward of the king's house, and my lord Zouch, were joined with him. Neither wanted there this while practice to suppress testimony, to deface writings, to weaken the Sir W. Waade's] by the favour of the Lord Chamberlain [earl of Somerset] and his lady. The gentleman is of too mild and gentle a disposition for such an office. He is my old friend and acquaintance in France, and lately renewed in town, where he hath lived past a year, nor followed the court many a day." Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter of the 14th of May, 1613, [ubi supra, p. 13.] says that Sir Gervase had been before one of the pensioners. king's resolution, to slander the justice, and the like. Nay, when it came to the first solemn act of justice, which was the arraignment of Weston, he had his lesson to stand mute; which had arrested the wheel of justice. But this dumb devil, by the means of some discreet divines, and the potent charm of justice, together, was cast out. Neither did this poisonous adder stop his ear to those charms, but relented, and yielded to his trial. Secondly, I shall show you the exhibiting and sorting of this same number or volley of poisons: white arsenic was fit for salt, because it is of like body and colour. The poison of great spiders, and of the venomous fly cantharides, was fit for pig's sauce or partridge sauce, because it resembled pepper. As for mercury-water, and other poisons, they might be fit for tarts, which is a kind of hotch-pot, wherein no one colour is so proper and some of Then follow the proceedings of justice against the these were delivered by the hands of this lady, and other offenders, Turner, Helwisse, Franklin. But all these being but the organs and instruments of this fact, the actors and not the authors, justice could not have been crowned without this last act against these great persons. Else Weston's censure or prediction might have been verified, when he said, he hoped the small flies should not be caught, and the great escape. Wherein the king being in great straits, between the defacing of his honour and of his creature, hath, according as he useth to do, chosen the better part, reserving always mercy to himself. The time also of this justice hath had its true motions. The time until this lady's deliverance was due unto honour, christianity, and humanity, in respect to her great belly. The time since was due to another kind of deliverance too; which was, that some causes of estate, that were in the womb, might likewise be brought forth, not for matter of justice, | but for reason of state. Likewise this last procrastination of days had the like weighty grounds and causes. And this is the true and brief representation of this extreme work of the king's justice. Now for the evidence against this lady, I am sorry I must rip it up. I shall first show you the purveyance or provisions of the poisons: that they were seven in number brought to this lady, and by her billeted and laid up till they might be used: and this done with an oath or vow of secrecy, which is like the Egyptian darkness, a gross and palpable darkness, that may be felt. some by her direction. Thirdly, I shall prove and observe unto you the cautions of these poisons; that they might not be too swift, lest the world should startle at it by the suddenness of the despatch; but they must abide long in the body, and work by degrees: and for this purpose there must be essays of them upon poor beasts, &c. And lastly, I shall show you the rewards of this impoisonment, first demanded by Weston, and denied, because the deed was not done; but after the deed done and perpetrated, that Overbury was dead, then performed and paid to the value of 1801. And so without farther aggravation of that, which in itself bears its own tragedy, I will conclude with the confessions of this lady herself, which is the strongest support of justice; and yet is the footstool of mercy. For, as the Scripture says, "Mercy and Truth have kissed each other;" there is no meeting or greeting of mercy, till there be a confession, or trial of truth. For these read, Franklin, November 16, The Countess's letter without date. THE CHARGE,* BY WAY OF EVIDENCE, BY SIR FRANCIS BACON, KNIGHT, HIS MAJESTY'S ATTORNEY-GENERAL, BEFORE THE LORD HIGH STEWARD AND THE PEERS;† AGAINST FRANCES, COUNTESS OF SOMERSET, CONCERNING THE POISONING OF SIR THOMAS OVERBURY. IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GRACE, MY LORD HIGH STEWARD OF ENGLAND, AND YOU MY LORDS THE PEERS: : In all this mean time the king hath reigned in his white robe, not sprinkled with any one drop of the blood of any of his nobles of this kingdom. Nay, such have been the depths of his mercy, as even those noblemen's bloods, against whom the proceeding was at Winchester, Cobham and Grey, were attainted and corrupted, but not spilt or taken away; but that they remained rather spectacles of justice in their continual imprisonment, than monuments of justice in the memory of their suffering. : I AM very glad to hear this unfortunate lady doth take this course, to confess fully and freely, and thereby to give glory to God and to justice. It is, as I may term it, the nobleness of an offender to confess and therefore those meaner persons, upon whom justice passed before, confessed not; she doth. I know your lordships cannot behold her without compassion: many things may move you, her youth, her person, her sex, her noble family; yea, her provocations, if I should enter into the cause itself, and furies about her; but chiefly her penitency and confession. But justice is the work of this day; the mercy-seat was in the inner part of the temple; the throne is public. But since this lady hath by her confession prevented my evidence, and your verdict, and that this day's labour is eased; there resteth, in the legal proceeding, but for me to pray that her confession may be recorded, and judgment thereupon. But because your lordships the peers are met, and that this day and to-morrow are the days that crown all the former justice; and that in these great cases it hath been ever the manner to respect honour and satisfaction, as well as the ordinary parts and forms of justice; the occasion itself admonisheth me to give your lordships and the hearers this content-lege male factors; and that his being the best masment, as to make declaration of the proceedings of this excellent work of the king's justice, from the beginning to the end. It may please your Grace, my lord high steward of England: this is now the second time, within the space of thirteen years' reign of our happy sovereign, that this high tribunal-seat, ordained for the trial of peers, hath been opened and erected, and that with a rare event, supplied and exercised by one and the same person, which is a great honour unto you, my lord steward. Given May 24, 1616. The lord chancellor Egerton, lord Ellesmere, and earl of Bridgwater. It is true that the objects of his justice then and now were very differing for then it was the revenge of an offence against his own person and crown, and upon persons that were malcontents, and contraries to the state and government; but now it is the revenge of the blood and death of a particular subject, and the cry of a prisoner; it is upon persons that were highly in his favour; whereby his Majesty, to his great honour, hath showed to the world, as if it were written in a sun-beam, that he is truly the lieutenant of Him with whom there is no respect of persons; that his affections royal are above his affections private; that his favours and nearness about him are not like popish sanctuaries, to privi ter in the world doth not let him from being the best king in the world. His people, on the other side, may say to themselves, I will lie down in peace, for God, the king, and the law, protect me against great and small. It may be a discipline also to great men, especially such as are swoln in their fortunes from small beginnings, that the king is as well able to level mountains, as to fill valleys, if such be their desert. But to come to the present case: The great frame of justice, my lords, in this present action, hath a vault, and hath a stage; a vault, wherein these works of darkness were contrived; and a stage, with steps, by which it was brought to light. |