this time Salisbury suggested to the king a mode of benefiting Carr without injury to himself (The King to Salisbury, undated, Hatfield MS. 134, folio 149). Though Raleigh had conveyed the manor of Sherborne to trustees to save it from forfeiture, a flaw had been discovered in the conveyance. The land was therefore legally forfeited in consequence of Raleigh's attainder (Memoranda of the King's Remembrancer, Public Record Office, Mich. Term, 7 James I, 253), and on 9 Jan. 1609 it was granted to Carr, the king making a compensation, the adequacy of which is a subject of dispute, to the former owner (Gardiner, History of England, ii. 47).
In the winter session of 1610, Carr, irritated by the feeling displayed in the commons against Scottish favourites, incited his master against the house, and did his best to procure the dissolution which speedily followed (Correspondence in the Hatfield MS. 134). On 25 March 1611 he was created Viscount Rochester (Patent Rolls, 9 James I, Part 41, No. 14), being the first Scotchman promoted by James to a seat in the English House of Lords, as the right of sitting in parliament had been expressly reserved in the case of Hay.
In 1612, upon Salisbury's death, Rochester, who had recently been made a privy councillor, was employed by James to conduct his correspondence, without the title of a secretary (cf. Court and Times of James I, 171,173,179). James seems to have thought that a young man with no special political principles would not only be a cheerful companion, but a useful instrument as well, and would gradually learn to model himself upon his master's ideas of statesmanship. He forgot that conduct is often determined by other motives than political principles. The new favourite was already in love with the Countess of Essex, a daughter of the influential Earl of Suffolk, and a great-niece of the still more influential Earl of Northampton, the leader of the political catholics.
In the beginning of 1613 Lady Essex was thinking of procuring a sentence of nullity of marriage, which would set her free from a husband whom she detested, and enable her to marry Rochester. Her relatives, the chiefs of the Howard family, who had hitherto found Rochester opposed to their interests, grasped at the suggestion, and on 16 May a commission was appointed to try the case. James threw himself on the side of his favourite, and on 25 Sept. the commissioners pronounced, by a majority of seven to five, in favour of the nullity (State Trials, ii. 785).
When Rochester began his courtship of Lady Essex, he had given his confidence to Sir Thomas Overbury, a man of intelligence and refinement. At first Overbury assisted Rochester in ‘the composition of his love-letters’ (Winwood, Memorials, iii. 478), but afterwards, perhaps when he had discovered that his patron contemplated marriage instead of an intrigue with a lady whose relations were the leaders of the Spanish party in England, Overbury threw all his influence into the opposite scale, and exposed himself to the fatal anger of Lady Essex.
The king, too, was jealous of Overbury's influence over his favourite, and suggested to him a diplomatic appointment. Overbury, on refusing to accept it, was committed to the Tower (Chamberlain to Carleton, 29 April 1613, State Papers, Dom., lxxii. 120). There seems to be little doubt that both Rochester and Northampton were consenting parties to the imprisonment. Their object is a matter of dispute. On the whole, the most probable explanation is that they merely wanted to get him out of the way for a time till the divorce proceedings were at an end (see Gardiner, History of England, ii. 178–80).
Lady Essex's wrath was much more dangerous. She made up her mind that Overbury must be murdered to revenge his personal attack upon her character. She obtained the admission of a certain Weston as the keeper of Overbury in the Tower, and Weston was instructed to poison his prisoner. Weston, it seems, did not actually administer the poison, and Lady Essex is usually supposed—for the whole evidence at this stage is contradictory—to have mixed poison with some tarts and jellies which were sent by Rochester to Overbury as a means of conveying letters to him, the object of which was to assure him that Rochester and Northampton were doing everything in their power to hasten his delivery. Rochester, too, occasionally sent powders to Overbury, the object of which was said to be to give him the appearance of ill-health so that his friends might urge the king to release him. The evidence on the point whether the tarts were eaten by Overbury is again conflicting, but the fact that he did not die at the time seems to show that they remained untasted. Later on poison was administered in another way, and of this Overbury died. Whether Rochester was acquainted with the lady's proceedings can never be ascertained with certainty, though the evidence on the whole points to a favourable conclusion (Gardiner, History of England, ii. 183–6).
At the time, at all events, no one guessed at the existence of this tragedy. Rochester
