_Leicester and the reputed Poisoners of his Time_ (Vol. ii., pp. 9.
92.).--This subject receives interesting illustration in the _Memoirs of
Gervas Holles_, who at some length describes the seduction of the Lady
Sheffield, by Leicester, at Belvoir Castle, while attending the Queen on
her Progress. A letter from the Earl to the lady of his love, contained
the suspicious intimation--
"_That he had not been unmindful in removing that obstacle_
which hindered the full fruition of their contentments; that he
had endeavoured one expedient already which had failed, but he
would lay another which he doubted not would hit more sure."
This letter the Lady Sheffield accidentally dropped from her pocket; and
being picked up and given to the Lord Sheffield by his sister Holles, he
read it with anger and amazement. That night he parted beds, and the
next day houses; meditating in what manner he might take honourable and
just revenge. Having resolved, he posted up to London to effect it; but
the discovery had preceded him to the knowledge of Leicester, who
finding a necessity to be quick, bribed an Italian physician ("whose
name," says Holles, "I have forgotten") in whom Lord Sheffield had great
confidence, to poison him, which was immediately effected after his
arrival in London. Leicester, after cohabiting with the Lady Sheffield
for some time, married the widow of the Earl of Essex, who, it is
thought, says Holles, "_served him in his own kind, every way_."
In the suit afterwards instituted by Sir Robert Dudley, with the view of
establishing his legitimacy, the Lady Sheffield was examined, and swore
{303} to a private marriage with the Earl of Leicester, but that she had
been prevailed on, by threats and pecuniary largesses, to deny the
marriage, as Queen Elizabeth was desirous that Lord Leicester should
marry the widow of the Earl of Essex.
One curious circumstance arises out of the revival of these dark doings.
Are the particular drugs employed by Leicester's Italian physician "in
removing obstacles" now known and in operation? By a remarkable
coincidence, in a case of supposed poisoning at Cheltenham, some time
since, the intended victim escaped with the loss of his hair and his
nails.