EARLY
CRIMINAL TRIALS. II. THE GREAT OVER OF POISONING. THE case of Sir Thomas Overbury was one of the great sensations of its day. And this fact is calculated to stimulate inter est, for the reign of James I. was not exactly prosaic. Beside the absorbing interest of the affair itself, it touched in so many ways the life of the time that it may justly be called the most celebrated murder case to be found in the early State trials. It is still known as "The Great Oyer of Poisoning." Sir Thomas Overbury, the unfortunate subject of the story, was an English gentle man of good birth and, for his time, a man of considerable scholarship. He was a poet of some pretensions, and enjoyed the friend ship of Ben Jonson and other literary celebrities of the later Elizabethan period. On a journey to Edinburgh in 1601 he made the acquaintance of Robert Carr. the future Duke of Somerset, then only a page to the Earl of Dunbar. This friendship, which was destined to bear such bitter fruit in after life, was continued when young Carr came to London in 1603 to seek his fortune. The rapid progress made by this young Scotchman in the favor of James 1 is a matter of history. He soon became the King's favorite, and was advanced with dazzling rapidity in the line of political pre ferment. Overbury partook in a measure of the success of his friend, and acquired a certain position in court circles. He seems to have acted as a sort of tutor and general adviser to Carr, whose mental equipment was not calculated to sustain, much less to win, the position thrust upon him by his infatuated sovereign. Everything went along smoothly until the youthful favorite suc cumbed to the charms of Lady Frances Howard, Countess of Essex. This lady, whose scorn was to cost Overbury his life, was then experienced beyond
her years. For reasons of family policy she had been married while still a child to the Earl of Essex, the son of Queen Elizabeth's unhappy favorite. The Earl, who was then only fourteen, was forthwith sent to the continent to travel and acquire the education and experience requisite to his rank. Mean while the girl wife grew up in the fetid atmosphere of court gaiety and intrigue and became an accomplished flirt. Carr was attracted by her beauty and a liaison soon followed. Overbury assisted his friend in this love affair to such good purpose that it is asserted that Carr owed his success in no small measure to the fervid poems and letters which Overbury wrote for him. Overbury himself was not without experience in such matters, having written his best-known poem, "A Wife," with a view to securing favor in the eyes of the Countess of Rutland, Sir Philip Sidney's daughter. At all events the young favorite's advances met with suc cess. In the midst of their liaison the young Earl of Essex returned to claim his bride. She received him with disgust. He pressed his authority and took her for a time away from the court. But he could make no head way against her repugnance and finally gave up in despair. Lady Frances pursued her advantage and determined to secure a divorce. With a view to marrying Carr, who was then Viscount Rochester, she resolved to obtain a divorce from Essex. A divorce was in those days no easy matter. But the Earl of Essex was now thoroughly indif ferent, and seems to have agreed to admit any charge that his wife saw fit to make against him. The King, in the interest of his favorite, openly exercised his influence, and in the end, in an undoubtedly collusive proceeding, a divorce was eventually granted on revolting grounds with the consent of
