There is a story of necromancy which unfortunately makes too prominent
a figure in the history of the court and character of king James the
First. Robert earl of Essex, son of queen Elizabeth's favourite, and
who afterwards became commander in chief of the parliamentary forces
in the civil wars, married lady Frances Howard, a younger daughter
of the earl of Suffolk, the bride and bridegroom being the one
thirteen, the other fourteen years old at the time of the marriage.
The relatives of the countess however, who had brought about the
match, thought it most decorous to separate them for some time, and,
while she remained at home with her friends, the bridegroom travelled
for three or four years on the continent. The lady proved the greatest
beauty of her time, but along with this had the most libertine and
unprincipled dispositions.
The very circumstance that she had vowed her faith at the altar when
she was not properly capable of choice, inspired into the wayward
mind of the countess a repugnance to her husband. He came from the
continent, replete with accomplishments; and we may conclude, from
the figure he afterwards made in the most perilous times, not without
a competent share of intellectual abilities. But the countess shrank
from all advances on his part. He loved retirement, and woed the lady
to scenes most favourable to the development of the affections: she
had been bred in court, and was melancholy and repined in any other
scene. So capricious was her temper, that she is said at the same
time to have repelled the overtures of the accomplished and popular
prince Henry, the heir to the throne.
It happened about this period that a beautiful young man, twenty years
of age, and full of all martial graces, appeared on the stage. King
James was singularly partial to young men who were distinguished for
personal attractions. By an extraordinary accident this person, Robert
Carr by name, in the midst of a court-spectacle, just when it was
his cue to present a buckler with a device to the king, was thrown
from his horse, and broke his leg. This was enough: James naturally
became interested in the misfortune, attached himself to Carr, and
even favoured him again and again with a royal visit during his cure.
Presently the young man became an exclusive favourite; and no honours
and graces could be obtained of the sovereign but by his interference.
This circumstance fixed the wavering mind of the countess of Essex.
Voluptuous and self-willed in her disposition, she would hear of no
one but Carr. But her opportunities of seeing him were both short
and rare. In this emergency she applied to Mrs. Turner, a woman whose
profession it was to study and to accommodate the fancies of such
persons as the countess. Mrs. Turner introduced her to Dr. Forman,
a noted astrologer and magician, and he, by images made of wax, and
various uncouth figures and devices, undertook to procure the love
of Carr to the lady. At the same time he practised against the earl,
that he might become impotent, at least towards his wife. This however
did not satisfy the lady; and having gone the utmost lengths towards
her innamorato, she insisted on a divorce in all the forms, and a
legal marriage with the youth she loved. Carr appears originally to
have had good dispositions; and, while that was the case, had
assiduously cultivated the friendship of Sir Thomas Overbury, one
of the most promising young courtiers of the time. Sir Thomas
earnestly sought to break off the intimacy of Carr with lady Essex,
and told him how utterly ruinous to his reputation and prospects it
would prove, if he married her. But Carr, instead of feeling how much
obliged he was to Overbury for this example of disinterested
friendship, went immediately and told the countess what the young
man said.
From this time the destruction of Overbury was resolved on between
them. He was first committed to the Tower by an arbitrary mandate
of James for refusing an embassage to Russia, next sequestered from
all visitors, and finally attacked with poison, which, after several
abortive attempts, was at length brought to effect. Meanwhile a
divorce was sued for by the countess upon an allegation of impotence;
and another female was said to have been substituted in her room,
to be subjected to the inspection of a jury of matrons in proof of
her virginity. After a lapse of two years the murder was brought to
light, the inferior criminals, Mrs. Turner and the rest, convicted
and executed, and Carr, now earl of Somerset, and his countess, found
guilty, but received the royal pardon.--It is proper to add, in order
to give a just idea of the state of human credulity at this period,
that, Forman having died at the time that his services were deemed
most necessary, one Gresham first, and then a third astrologer and
enchanter were brought forward, to consummate the atrocious projects
of the infamous countess. It is said that she and her second husband
were ultimately so thoroughly alienated from each other, that they
resided for years under the same roof, with the most careful
precautions that they might not by any chance come into each other's
presence. [215]