THE FORERVNNER OF REVENGE Vpon the Duke of BVCKINGHAM for the poysoning of the most potent King IAMES of happy memory King of great Britan and the Lord Marquis of Hamilton and others of the nobilitie Discouered by M. GEORGE EGLISHAM one of King IAMES his Physitians for his Majesties person aboue the space of ten yeares FRANCKFORT 1626. TO THE MOST POTENT MONARCH CHARLES KING OF GREAT BRITAN FRANCE AND IRELAND The humble complaint of GEORGE EGLISHAM Doctor of Physicke and lately one of King IAMES his Physitians for his Majesties person aboue the space of tenne yeares SIr no better motiue there is for a safe gouernemēt thē the sincere meditatiō of death equalling Kings to beggers and of the seuere and exact iustice of God requiring of him that the good suffering miserie in this life should receiue ioy in the other and the wicked flourishing securely in this might be punished in the other That which pleaseth lasteth but a momēt which tormēteth is euerlasting Many things we see vnrewarded or vnpunished in this inferior world which in the vniuersall weights of Gods iustice must be counterpoised elsewhere but wilfull and secret murder hath seldome bene observed to escape vndiscouered or vnpunished euen in this life such a particular and notable reuenge perpetually followeth it to the end that they who ar either Atheists Lucianistes or Machiauellists may not trust too much to there owne wits in doing so horrible iniustice Wold to God your Majestie wold well consider what I have often sayd to my Master King Iames The greatest policie is honestie and howsoëuer any man seeme to him selfe wise in compassing his desires by trickes yet in the end he will prooue a foole for falsehood euer deceiveth her owne master at length as the deuill author of all falshood alwayes doth leauing his adhaerents desolate when they haue greatest need of his helpe No falshood without iniustice no iniustice without falshood albeit it were in the person of a king There is no iudge in the world more tied to doo iustice then a King whose coronation tieth him vnto it by solemne oath which if he violat he is salfe and periured It is iustice that maketh Kings iustice that maintaineth Kings and iniustice that bringeth both Kingdomes and Kings to destruction to fall in miserie to die like asses in ditches or more beastly deathes with eternall infamie after death as all histories from time to time doe clearly testifie What need hath mankinde of Kings but for iustice men ar not borne for them but they for men What greater what more Royall occasion in the wold could be offered vnto your Majestie to show your vnpartiall disposition in matter of iustice at the first entree of your raigne then this which I offer my iust complaint against Buckingham by whom your Majestie suffereth your selfe so farre to be led that your best subiects ar in doubt whether he is your King or you his If your Majestie Know and consider how he hath tyrannised ouer his Lord and master King Iames the worldly creator of his fortunes how insolent how ingrat an oppressor what a murtherer and treator he hath proued himselfe towards him how treacherous to his vpholding friend the Marquis of Hamilton and others your Maiestie may think the giuing way to the lawes demanded against him to yeeld a most glorious field for your Majestie to walke in and display the banner of your Royall vertues Your Majestie may perhaps demand what interest haue I therin What haue I to doe therewith that I should stirre all others being quiet Sir the quietnes or stirring of others expecteth onely a beginning from me whom they know to be so much obliged to stirre as that none can be more both in respect of knowledge of passages and in regard of humane obligation and of my independencie from the accused or any one that his powar or credit can reach vnto Many know not what I know therein others ar litle or nothing beholding to the dead others albeit they know as well as I and ar obliged as deeply as I yet dare not complaine so safely as I being out of there reach who ar inseparable from him by his enchantemēts and able to obscure my selfe vntill that the powar of iust reuenge vpon him and his adherents be obtained from God What I know sufficient against him I haue set downe in my petition to the parliament vnto which if your Majestie dismisse him sequestred from your Majestie chiefely in an accusation of treason your Majestie shall doe what is most iust and deliuer your selfe and your Kingedoomes from the captiuitie in which he holdeth them and your Majestie oppressed How easily I may ecclipse my selfe from his powar to do me harme vnlesse he hath legions of infernall spirits at his command to pursue me your Majestie may well know I being vltramarin vnto these dominions where he raigneth and rageth How farre I am obliged to complaine more then others I will only in few words expresse that neither your Majestie nor any man may thinke otherways but that I haue most iust reason not to be silent in wrongs so intolerable The interest of bloud which I haue to any of them of whose death I complaine either by the house of Balgony Lundy or by the house of Siluertonhill albeit it is easy to be made manifest and sufficient to moue me yet is it not the sole motiue of my breach of silence For birth and ancestors and vvhat vve haue not done Scarce call I ours But the interest of receaued courtesies and the heape of infallible tokēs of true affection is more then sufficient to sturre me therto vnlesse I wold proue the most ingrate in the world and senselesse of the greatest iniuries that can be done to my selfe For who hath killed King Iames and the Marquis of Hamilton in that parte of the iniurie which is done to me therein he hath done as much as robbed me of my life and of all my fortunes Friends with such constant and louing impressions of me ar neither to be recouered nor duely valued For his Majestie from the third yeare of my age did practise honourable tokens of singular fauor towards me dayly augmented them in word in writ in deed accomplished them with giftes patents offices recommendations both in priuat and in publicke at home and abroad graced me so farre that I could scarce haue asked him any thing which I could not also obtaine How much honor he hath done to me me there needeth no witnes vnto your Majestie who is sufficient for many No lesse was my Lord Marquis of Hamilton his friendship established by mutuall obligation of most acceptable offices continued by our ancestours these three generations engrauen in the tender mindes and yeares of the Marquis and me in the presēce of our soueran King Iames. For when the Marquis his father with the right hand vpon his head and the left vpon mine did offer vs young in yeares so ioyned to kisse his
leasure to discouer the author the matter being so apparent and so many hundreths hauing seene his body to witnesse it for the doores were kept open for euery man to behold and to be witnes who wold The Duke of Buckingham making some counterfeited show of sorrow to meÌ„ of great qualitie found no other shift to diuert the suspicion of the poysoning of the Marquis from his selfe but to lay it vpon his Master the King saying that the Marquis for his persoÌ„ spirite cariage was such that he was borne worthy to reigne but the King his Master hated him to death because he had a spirit too much for the commonwealth Wherby the Duke shew him selfe no good subiect of the Kings who made the Kings humor to be tyrannicall and the King a bloodthristie murtherer and a most vile dissembler hauing heaped so many honors dayly vpon the Marquis euen to the very last making him Lord high Stevvard of his Maiesties house and iudge of the verge court whom he had made before Viceroy of Scotland for the tyme of the parliament in Scotland Erle of Cambridge a priuy counselor in EnglaÌ„d and Knight of the garter as if he had raised him to all these honors that the murthering of him might be the lesse suspected to proceed from him The Kings nature hath beeÌ„ allways obserued to be so gratious and so free harted to euery one that he would neuer haue wished the Marquis any harme vnlesse that Buckingham had put great feares and ialousies in his minde for if any other had done it he would haue acquainted his fauorite therewith theÌ„ was it Buckinghams duety to remoue from the King such sinistrous conceits of the Marquis as the Marquis hath ofteÌ„ doone for Buckingham vpholding him in all occasions and keeping the King from giuing way to introduce any other fauorite Wherefore BuckinghaÌ„ in that diuersion of the crime from him selfe hath not only made the King but also himselfe guylty of the Marquis his death But Buckinghams falshood and euill intention long before vvas rightly discouered vvhen he did what he could to make the Erle of Nâ—â—esdale and my L. Gordon both neere Kinsmen of my Lord Marquis so inceÌ„sed at him that they had likely all three killed one an other if it had not been that my L. Marquis by his vvisdome did let them all knovv how they vvere abused if any dissimulation be greater then Buckinghams let any man iudge for vvhen my L. Marquis his body vvas to be transported from Whitehall to his house at Bishopsgate Buckingham came out muffed and furred in his coatch giving out that he vvas sick for sorrovv of my L. Marquis his death but so soone as he vvent to his house out of London before his coming to the King he triumphed and dominired vvith his factioÌ„ so excessively as if he had gayned some greate victorie and the next day comming to the King put on a most lamentable and mournefull countenance for the death of the Marquis of Hamilton No greater victorie could he haue gotten to his mind then to haue destroyed that man vvho could and vvould haue fetched his head of his shoulders if he had outliued King Iames to haue knovven his cariage in the poysoning him in his sicknes wherfore he thought it necessary to remoue the Marquis before hand The same day that my L. Marquis dyed Buckingham sent my Lord Marquis his sonne out of the towne keeping him as a prisoner that none could haue priuat conference with him vntill his mariage of Buckinghams neece was complete but allwayes either my L. Denbigh or my lady Denbigh or my L. of Buckingham or the countesse of Buckingham or the Dutchesse of Buckingham was present that none could let him vnderstand how his father was murthered euen your pertioner him selfe when he went to see him within few dayes after his fathers death was intreated not to speake to him of the poysoning of his father which he did conceale at his first meeting because there sorrovv vvas too recent but he vvas preuented of a second meeting Neither vvould Buckingham suffer the young lord to go to Scotland to his fathers funeralls and to take order vvith his freinds concerning his fathers estate for feare that there intended mariage should be ouer throvvne This captiuitie of the young lord Marquis lasted so long vntill that Buckingham caused his Maiestie King Charles take the young lord with him selfe and Buckingham into K. Iames his Parke discharging all others to follovv them and there to perswade and vrge the younge lord without any more delay to accomphih his mariage vvith Buckinghams neece which instantly vvas performed so that Buckingham trusteth and presumeth that albeit the young lord should vnderstaÌ„d hovv his father vvas poysoned by his meanes yet being maryed to his neece should not sturre to reuenge it but comport with it To all what is obserued before it is vvorthy to be added that the bruit vvent through London long before my L. Duke of Richemonds death or his brothers or my lord of Southamptons or of the Marquis that all the noblemen that vvere not of Buckinghams faction should be poysoued and so remoned out of his way Also a paper vvas founde in kingstreete about the tyme of the Duke of Richemonds death wherin the names of all these noblemen vvho haue dyed since vvere expressed and your petitioners name also set next to the lord Marquis of Hamiltons name vvith these vvords to embavvme him This paper vvas brought him by my lord Oldbarres dawghter cousin german to the lord Marquis Likevvays a mountebanke about that tyme vvas greatly countenanced by the Duke of Buckingham and by his meanes procured letters patents and recommendation from the King to practise his skill through all England who coÌ„ming to London offered to sell poysons to kill men or beasts within a yeere or halfe a yeare or tvvo yeares or a moneth or tvvo or vvhat tyme praefixed any man desired in such sort that they could not be helped nor yet discouered Moreouer the Christmas before my L. Marquis his death one of the Prince his footemen sayd that some of the greate ones at court had gotte poyson in his belly but he could not tell vvho it vvas Here your honors considering the premisses of my L. of Buckingham his ambitious and most vindicatiue nature his frequent quarrels vvih my L. Marquis after so many reconciliations his threatning of him his threatning of the Phisitians to speake of poyson his triumphing after my Lord Marquis his death his detayning of his sonne almost as a prisoner vntill the mariage complete vvith his neece the preceeding bruit of poysoning of Buckinghams aduersaries the paper of there names found vvith sufficient intimation of there death by the conclusion of the vvord Embavvming the poysonmunger mountibanck graced by Buckingham may suffise for ground to take him and torture him if he were a priuat man And herein your petitioner most humbly and most ernesty demandeth iustice against that
treator seing by act of parliament it is made treason to conspire the death of a priuy counsellor out of this declaration interrogatories may be dravven for examination of vvitnes vvherin more is discouered to beginne vvith all then vvas layd open at the beginning of the discovery of the poysoning of sir Thomas Ouerbury CONCERNING THE POYSONING OF KING Iames of happy memorie King of great Britan c. THe Duke of Buckingham being in Spayne aduertised by letters how that the King begoud to censure him in his absence freely and that many spoke boldly to the King against him and how the King had intelligence from Spayne of his vnworthy cariage in Spayne and how the Marquis of Hamilton vpon the suddaine nevves of the Prince his departure had noblely reprehended the King for sending the Prince vvith such a young man vvithout experience and in such a priuat and suddain manner vvithout acquainting the nobilitie or counsell thervvith vvrotte a very bitter letter to the Lord Marquis of Hamilton conceiued nevv ambitious courses of his ovvne and vsed all the deuises he could to disgust the Prince his minde of the match vvith Spayne so farre intended by the King Made hast home vvhere vvhen he came he so caryed him selfe that vvhat soeuer the King commanded in his bedchamber he controlled in the next chamber Yea received packets to the King from forraine Princes and dispetched ansvvers vvithout acquainting the King therevvith not in a great time thereafter Wheras perceiuing the King highly offended and that the Kings minde vvas beginning to alter tovvards him suffering him to be quarrelled and effronted in his Maiesties presence and obseruing that the King reserued my Lord of Bristou to be a rod for him vrging dayly his dispetch for France and expecting the Erle of Gondomar his comming to England in his absence feared much that the Erle of Gondomar vvho as it seemed vvas greatly estemed and vvonderfully credited by the King vvold secund my Lord of Brestovves accusations against him He knevv also that the King had vovved that in despite of all the deuils of hell he vvold bring the Spanish match about againe and that the Marquis of Eâ—echosa had giuen the King bad impressions of him by vvhose articles of accusation the King him selfe had examined some of the nobilitie and priuy counsell and found out in the examination that Buckingham had said after his comming from Spayne that the King vvas an old man it vvas novv tyme for him to be at his rest and to be confined to some parke to passe the rest of his tyme in hunting and the Prince to be crovvned The more the King vrged him to be gone to France the more shiftes he made to staye for he did euidently see that the King was fully resolued to rid him selfe of the oppression wherin he held him The King being sicke of a tertian ague and that in the spring which vvas of it selfe neuer found deadly the Duke tooke his oportunitie when all the Kings Doctors of Physicke vvere at Dinner vpon the munday before the King dyed without there knovvledge or consent offered to the King a white povvder to take the which the King longtime refused but ouercome by his flattering importunitie at length tooke it drunk it in wine and immediatly became vvorse and worse falling into many soundings and paynes and violent fluxes of the belly so tormented that his Maiestie cryed out aloud o this white povvder this white povvder wold to God I had neuer taken it it wil cost me my liffe In lyke maner the countesse of Buckingham my L. of Buckinghams mother vpon the fryday therafter the Physitians also being absent and at dinner and not made acquainted with her doings applyed a plaster to the Kings harte and breast wherupoÌ„ his Maiestie grevv fainte short breathed and in great agonie Some of the Physitians after dinner retouning to see the King by the offensive smell of the plaister perceiued some thing to be about the King hurtfull to him and searched what it could be found it out and exclamed that the King vvas poysoned Then Buckingham entring commanded the Physitians out of the roome caused one to be committed prisoner to his ovvne chamber and another to remoue from court quarrelled others of the Kings servants in the sick Kings ovvne presence so farre that he offered to dravv his svvord against them in the Kings sight And Buckinghams mother kneeling before the King vvith a brazen face cryed out iustice iustice sir I demand iustice of your Maiestie The King asking for vvhat she answered for that vvich there liues is no sufficieÌ„t satisfaction for saying that my sonne and I haue poysoned your Maiestie poysoned me sayde the King vvith that he turning him selfe sounded and she vvas remoued The sunday thereafter the King dyed and Buckingham desired the Physitians vvho attended the King to signe vvith there handvvrits a testimonie that the povvder vvhich he gaue the King vvas a goode and a safe medicin vvhich they refused to do Buckinghames creatures did spred abroad a rumor in London that Buckingham vvas so sory at the Kings death that he vvold haue dyed that he vvold haue killed him self if they had not hindered him Which your petitioner purposly inquired of them that vvere neere him at that tyme vvho sayd that neither in the tyme of the kings sicknes nor after his death he vvas more moued then if there had neuer happened either sicknes or death to the King One day vvhen the King vvas in great extremitie he rode post to London to pursue his sister in lavv to haue her stand in sackcloth at Povvles for adultery an other tyme of the Kings agonie he vvas bussy contriuing and concluding a mariage for one of his cousins Immediatly after the Kings death the Physitian vvho vvas commanded to his chaÌ„ber vvas set at libertie vvith a caueat to hold his peace the others threatned if they kept not good tounges in there heades But in the mene tyme the Kings body and head svvelled aboue measure his haire with the skin of his head stucke to the pillow his nayles became loose vpon his fingers and toes your petitioner needeth to say no more to vnderstanding men Onely one thing he beseecheth that taking the traitor who ought to be taken without any feare of his greatnes the other matters be examined the accessories with the guilty punished
Maiesties hand recommending me vnto his Maiesties fauour said I take God to vvitnes that this young man his father vvas the best friend that euer I had or euer shall haue in this vvorld Wherupon the young Lord resolued to put trust in me and I fully to addict myu selfe vnto him to deserue of him as much commendation as my father did of his father This Royall celebratiō of our friendship rooted it selfe so deepe in my minde that to my selfe I proposed this remembrance giuing it to the young Lord and to my familiar freinds and set it vpon all the bookes of my study Semper Hamiltonium c. Alvvayes the King and Hamilton VVithin thy breast conserve VVhat euer be thy action Let Princes two deserve Neither was it in vaine for both our loues increased with our age the Marquis promising to ingage his life and his whole estate for me if need were and to share his fortunes vvith me and not only promising but also performing vvhen euer there vvas occasion Yea for my cause offering to hasard his life in combat vvhose minde in vvishing me vvell vvhose tongue in honouring of me and vvhose hands and meanes in defending me both absent and present vnto the last period of his life hath euer assisted me I should be more tedious then vvere fit if I rehearsed euery particular fauor so manifestly knovvē to the whole court and to the freindes of both Who then can iustly blame me for demanding iustice as vvell for the slaughter of the Marquis of Hamilton as of my most gratious soueran King Iames seinge I knovve vvhom to accuse My profession of Physick nor my education to lettres can not serve to hinder me from vndertaking the hardiest enterprise that euer any Roman vndertooke so farre as the law of conscience vvill giue vvay VVhy shall I stay at thy decay Of Hamiltons the hope VVy shall I see thy foe so free Vnto his ioy giue scope Rather I pray a dolefull day Set me in cruell fate Then thy death strange vvithout reuenge Or him in safe estate This soule to heavens hand to the dead I vovve No fraudfull minde no trembling hand I haue If pen it shun the svvord reuenge shall follovve Soule pen and svvord vvhat thing but iust do craue What affection I boore to the liuīg the same shall accompany the dead For vvhen one vvhose trueth and sinceritie vvas vvell knovven to me told me that it vvere better for the cheifest of my friends the Marquis of Hamilton to be quiet at home in Scotland then to be eminent in the court of England to vvhom by the opinion of all the vviser sort his being at court vvold cost him no lesse thē his life sith that I stretching forth my arme apprehending some plottes layd against him ansvvered if no man dare revenge his death I vovve to God this hand shall revenge it scarcely any other cause cā be found thē the bond of our most close freindship vvhy in the scroll of the noblemēs names vvho vvere to be killed I hould be set downe next to the Marquis of Hamiltō in these vvordes The Marquis of Hamilton and Doctor Eglisham to enbavvme him to vvitt to the end that no discoverer or reuenger should be left This roll of names I knovv not by vvhat destinie found neere to VVestminster about the time of the Duke of Richemund his death and brought to the L. Marquis by his cousin the daughter of the Lord Oldbarre one of the priuy counsell of Scotland did cause no terrour in me vntill that I did see the Marquis poysoned and remembred that the rest therin noted vvere dead and my selfe next pointed but suruiuing Why stay I any more the case requireth the pen no more but the svvord I do not vvrit so boldly because I am amongst Buckingham his enemies but I haue retired my selfe to his enemies because I vvas resolved to vvrit and doo earnestly against him as may very vvell appeare For since the Marquis of Hamilton his death the most noble Marquis de Fiatta embassador for the most Christian King of France and also Buckingham his mother sent on euery side to seeke me inuiting me to them but I did forsake them knowing certenly the falshood of Bukingham who wold rather haue suffered the Embassador to receiue an effront then to be vnsatisfied of his bloodthristie desire of my blood to silence me with death for according to the prouerbe the dead can not bite if he could haue found me for my L. Duke of Lenox who was often crossed by Buckingham and with his brother and the Erle of Southampton and others now dead was one of the roll found of those that were to be murdered vvell assured me that where Buchinghā once misliked no apologie no submission no reconciliation could keepe him from doing mischeefe Neither do I writ this in this fashion so freely for any entertainement here present which I haue not nor for any future which I haue no ground to looke for seing Buckingham hath so misled your Maiestie that he hath caused not only here but also vnto all natiōs all Britannes natives to be disgraced and mistrusted Your Maiesties Royall word which should be inuiolable your hand and seall which should be true to be most shamefully violated and your selfe to be helde most ingrat for your most kinde vsage in Spaine which Buckinghā maketh to be requited with iniuries in a most base false māner vnder Protestatiō of friendship a bloudy warre being kindled on both sides wherby he hath buried with King Iames the glorious title of a peacemaker Kinge who had done much more iustly more advisedly if he had procured peace vnto Christiandome Wherby small hope I have of obtaining iustice in my most iust complaint vnto vvhich my true affection to my dead friends murthered and the extreme detestation of Buckinghā his violēt proceedings hath brought me Your Maiestie may find most iust forces of reason to accuse him in my petition to the parliament which shall serue for a tutchestone to your Maiestie and a whitstone to me and many other Scotsmen And which if it be neglected will make your Maiestie to incurre such a censure amōgst all vertuose men in the world that your Maiestie will be loath to heare of and I am astonied to expresse at this time a serpent lurketh in this grasse No other way there is to be found to saue your honor but to giue way to iustice against that traitor Buckingham by whom manifest dāmage apphroacheth vnto your Maiestie no otherways thē death approached vnto King Iames. If your Maiestie will take any course therin the examinations vpō oath of all those that were about the King and the Marquis of Hamiltō in there sicknes or at there death or after there death before indifferent iudges no dependers of Buckingham will serve for sufficient prooffe of Buckingham his guiltines In the meane time vntill I see what shall be the issue of my complaint without any more