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
speech I rest Your Maiesties dayly suppliant GEORGE EGLISHAM TO THE MOST HONOVRABLE THE NOBILITIE KNIGHTS AND BVRGESSES OF BOTH THE HOVSES OF PARLIAMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND The humble supplication of M. GEORGE EGLISHAM Doctor of Physicke and one of the Physitians to King IAMES of happy memorie for his Majesties person aboue the space of tenne yeares WHeras the chief humane caire of Kings and courts of parliament is the preseruation and protection of the subiects liues liberties and estates from priuat or publike iniuries to the end that all things may be caried in the equall ballance of iustice without the which no Monarchie no common wealth no societie no familie yea no mans life or estate can consist albeit neuer so little it can not be thought iniust to demand of Kings and parliaments the censure of wrongs The consideration herof was so great in our late Monarch of happy memorie King Iames that he hath often publikly protested euen in the presence of his apparent heire that if his owne sonne should cōmit murther or any such execrable act of iniustice he would not spare him but would haue him die for it and wold haue him more seuerely punished thē any other For he well obserued no greater iniustice no iniury more intolerable cā be done by man to man then murther In all other wrongs fortune hath recours the losses of honor or goods may be repaired satisffaction may be made reconciliation may be procured so long as the party inuried is aliue but when the person murthered is bereft of his life what can restore it what satisfaction can be giuen him where shall the murtherer meete with him to be reconciled to him vnlesse he be sent out of this world to follow his spirite which by his wickednes he hath separated frō his body Therfor of all iniuries of all the actes of iniustice and of all things most to be looked into murther is the greatest and of all murthers the poysoning vnder trust aud profession of freindship is the most haynous Which if you suffer to go vnpunished let no man thinke him selfe so secure to liue amongst you as amongst the wildest aud most furious beastes in the world for by vigilancie and industrie meanes may be had to resist or euite the most violent beast thar euer nature bred but from false and treacherous hartes from poysoning murtherers what wit or wisdome can defend This concerneth your lordships every one in particular as well as any They of whose poysoning your petitioner complaineth to wit king Iames the L. Marquis of Hamiltō and others whose names after shal be expressed haue beene the most eminent of the kingdome and satte on these honorable benches wheron your honors now do sitte The party whom your petitioner accuseth the Duke of Buckingham is so powerfull that vnlesse the whole body of a parliament lay hold vpō him no iustice cā be had of him For what place is there of iustice what office of the crowne vvhat degree of honor in the kingdome vvhich he hath not sold and sold in such crast that he can shake the buyers out of them and intrude others at his Pleasure All the Iudges of the kingdome all the officers of the state ar his bound vassals or allies or afeared to become his outcasts as is notorious to all his Maiesties true and loving subiects Yea so farre hath his ambitious practises gone that vvhat he vvold have done should have beene performed vvhether the king would or not and vvhat the king vvold have done could not be done if he opposed vvherof many instances may be given vvhensoeuer they shall be required neyther ar they vnkovven to this honorable assemblie Hovvsoeuer the meanes he vseth be lavfull or vnlavvfull humane or diabolike so he tortereth the kingdome that he procureth the calling breaking or continuing of parliaments at his pleasure placeing or displaceing the Officers of iustice of the counsell of the kings court of the courtes of iustice to his violent pleasure and as his ambitious villanie moueth him What hope then cā your petitioner have that his cōplainte shall be heard or being heard should take effect To obtaine iustice he may dispaire to provoke the Duke to send forth a poysoner or other murtherer to dispetch him and send him after his dead freinds allready murthered he may be sure this to be the euent Let the euent be what it will come what soeuer can come the losse of his owne life your petitioner valueth not having suffered the losse of the lives of such eminent friends esteeming his life can not be better bestowed then vpon the discovery of so haynous murthers Yea the iustnes of the cause the dearenes aud neerenes of his freinds murthered shall prevaile so farre with him that he shall vnfold vnto your honors and to the whole world these raisons against the accused and named by him the author of so greate murthers George Villiers Duke of Buckingham which against any privat man ar sufficient for his apprehension and torture And to make his complaint not very tedious he will only for the present declare vnto your honors the two most eminent murthers committed by Buckingham to wit of the Kings Majestie and of the L. Marquis of Hamilton which for all the subtilitie of his poysoning art could not be so cunningly conveyed as the murtherer thought but that God hath discovered manifestly the author And to observe the order of the time of there death because the L. Marquis of Hamilton dyed first his death shall be first related euen from the roote of his last quarrell with Buckingham albeit many other iarres have preceeded from time to time betwixt them CONCERNING THE POYSONING OF THE L. Marquis of Hamilton Bucikngham ones raised from the bottome to the top of fortunes wheele by what desert by what right or wrong no matter is it by his cariage verifyed the prouerb No thing more proud then baser broud vvhen it doth rise aloft Suffered his ambition to cary him selfe so farre as to aspire to match his blood with the blood Royall both of England and Scotland and well knowing that the L. Marquis of Hamilton was acknowledged by King Iames to be the prime man in his dominions who next to his owne line in his propre season might clame an hereditarie title to the Kingdom of Scotland by the daughter of King Iames the first and to the crowne of England by Ioan of Somerset wife to King Iames the first declared by act of parliament heretrix of England in her due ranke neuer suffered the King to be at rest but vrged him alwayes to send some of the priuy counsell to sollicit the Marquis to match his eldest sōne with Buckinghās neece making greate promises of cōditiōs which the meane familie of the bride could not performe vvithout the kings liberalitie to vvit fiftie thousand pounds sterling valueing fiue hundreth thousand florens vvith the Erledome of Orknay vnder the title of a Duke whatsoeuer the Marquis
signes and symptomes of poyson one belonging to his wine seller and another to his kitchin The fatall houre being come that my L. Marquis deceased your petitioner intreated them that were present to suffer no man to toutch his body vntill that he retourned to see it opened for then he protested earnestly that all the tyme of his sicknes he iudged him to be poysoned and in all consultations vrged allvvayes antidotes to be administred but this poyson vvas such and 〈◊〉 farre gone that none could helpe Neuerthelesse to haue the matter concealed Buckinghams folks wold haue had him buryed that same night in VVestminster church and the ceremonies of the buriall to be made aftervvard saying that such delicate bodyes as his could not be long kept But his friends taking hold of the caueat giuen them by your petitioner refused so to doe and replyed that they vvold haue him as became him buryed in Scotland in his ovvne Chappell vvhere his ancestours haue beene buryed about this four hundreth yeeres ago and that his body must be first visited by his Physitians No sooner vvas he dead vvhen the force of the poyson had ouercome the forces of his body but it begoud to svvell in such sort that his thighes vvere as big as six tymes there naturall proportion his belly became as big as the belly of an oxe his armes as big as the naturall quantitie of his thighes his necke so broad as his shoulders his cheekes ouer the tope of his nose that his nose could not be seene or distinguished the skinne of his forehead ouer his eyes and the same skinne vvith all the rest of the skinne of his head tvvo finger high svvelled his haire of his beard eyebrovves and head so farre distant one from an other as if an hundreth had beene taken out betwixt euery one and when one did toutch his haire it came avvay with the skin as easily as if one had pulled hay out of an heape of hay He Was all ouer his breast necke shoulders and armes blistered with blisters so big as ones fist with blisters I saie of six diuers colours full of vvaters of the same coulours some white some blacke some red some yeallovv some greene some blevv and that as well within his body as vvithout Also the cauities of his liuer greene his stomake in some places a litle purpurated vvith a blevvish clammie matter adharinge to the sides of it his mouth and nose foming blood mixt with froth of diuers coulors a yard high Your petitioner being sent for to come visit his body and his seruants all flocking about him saying see see presently weeping sayd he vvas poysoned and that it vvas a thing not to be suffered moreouer he sayd that albeit his speach might cost him his life yet seing his sorrovv had extorted that speech out of him he vvold make it manifest and vvold haue a iury of Physitians present Some of my L. Marquis of Hamiltons freinds sayd vve must send to my L. Duke that he may send his Phisitians but your petitioner replyed what haue vve to do vvith the Dukes Physitians let us haue indifferent men Captaine Hamilton hearing your petitioner so boldly take exceptions at Buckingham and iudging that he had good reason for vvhat he had spoken sayd for all that let vs send to the Duke and signify that they all who see the Marquis his body both Physitians and Chirurgians and others thinke that he is poysoned and that his freinds desire more Physitians out of the Colledge of London besydes the Dukes physitians to beare witnesse in what case the Marquis his body is in and then if the Dukes consciēce be guylty sayd the Captaine it will show it selfe Which in deed it did For the Duke being aduertised hereof sent for his owne Physitians and others out of London whom he caused first to be brought to him before they went to see the Marquis his body giuing them his direction in these words my masters there is a brute spred abroad that the Marquis of Hamilton is poysoned Go and see but beware what yow speake of poyson which he said in a threatning forme of deliuery for now euery noble man that dyeth must be poysoned If his conscience had not beene guilty should he not haue commanded the Physitians to inquire be all meanes possible and make it knowen rather then to suppresse the speech of the poysoning These Physitians being come your petitioner with the one hand leading Doctor Moore to the table where the Marquis his body was laid to be opened and with the other hand throwing of the clothe from the body sayd to him looke yow here vpon this pitifull spectacle At the sight therof Doctor Moore lifting up both his hands and his hat and his eyes to the heauens astonished sayd Iesus blisse me I neuer saw the like I can not know him I can not distinguish a face vpon him aud in like maner all the rest of the Doctors and also the Chirurgians affirmed that they never saw the like albeit they had traveled and practised through the greatest part of Europe only one that saw my L. of Southamptons body opened in Holland which L. was also one of Buckinghams opposits sayd that my L. of Southamptons body was blistered all within the breast as my L. Marquis his was Doctor Leester one of my L. of Buckinghams creatures seing Doctor Moore and others so amased at the sight of my lords body drew first him a syde and then the others one after an other and whispered them in the eare to silence them wherupon many went away without speaking one worde the others who remayned acknowledged that those accidents of the dead body could not be without poyson but they sayd they could not know how such a subtil art of poysoning could be brought into England your pettioner replying that money could bring both the art and the artist from the furthest part of the vvorld into England from vvhence since your petitioner departed he hath conferred vvith the skilfullest pestmasters that could be found vvho visit the bodyes of those that die of the venime of the pest They all admire the description oe my L. Marquis his body and testifie that neuer any of the pest hausuch accidents but carbuncles bubons or the spots no such huge blisters with waters and such an huge vniforme swelling to such dimēsions aboue six-tymes the naturall proportiō But he hath met with some who haue practised the poysoning of dogges to trie the forces of some antidotes and they haue found that some poysons haue made the dogges sicke for a fortnight or more without any swelling vntill they were dead and then they swelled aboue measure and became blistered with waters of diuers colours and the haire came away vvith the skin vvhen it vvas toutched The Plysitians then vvho remained were willing to certifie with there handwrit that my L. Marquis was poysoned but your petitioner tould them it was not needfull seing we must attend Gods