OVERBURY, SIR THOMAS, a learned Englishman, was born in 1581, and studied at Queen's College, Oxford, after which he removed to the Middle Temple, London. He then travelled for some time, and returned a most accomplished person; after which he contracted an intimate acquaintance with Sir Robert Carr, knight of the Bath, who being soon afterwards taken into his majesty's favour, procured Overbury the honour of knighthood. Sir Thomas perceiving the familiarity which subsisted between his patron Carr, now Viscount Rochester, and the Lady Frances, the wife of Robert Earl of Essex, was so much displeased at it that he endeavoured to dissuade Lord Rochester from keeping her company, and from proceeding in the base design he had formed of having her first divorced from her husband, and then marrying her. The viscount, resenting this honest advice, told all he had said to the lady, who was as remarkable for her wickedness as for her beauty; upon which they immediately resolved to effect his destruction. About this time, the king having occasion to send an ambassador abroad, Rochester recommended Sir Thomas Overbury. His majesty approved the choice, and the viscount imparted the king's intentions to Sir Thomas; but, under a treacherous show of friendship, dissuaded him from accepting of that employment, as it might hinder him from a better way of advancement, promising that he would prevent his majesty from being displeased at his refusal. The viscount then went to the king, and having artfully incensed his majesty against Sir Thomas for refusing to obey his commands, the latter was, on the 21st of April 1613, committed for contempt to the Tower, where he continued a prisoner till he was despatched by poison on the 15th of September following. About two years afterwards the whole contrivance of his death was discovered. On this several persons were condemned and executed; but though Carr, now Earl of Somerset, and the Lady Frances, his countess, were condemned to death for contriving the murder, and hiring the persons who were concerned in it, the king only banished them from court, and afterwards pardoned them. Sir Thomas Overbury obtained considerable reputation as an author, both in prose and in verse; but it is probable that the compassion excited by his unhappy end may have at first imparted to his works a degree of popularity which they have not since retained. The principal are, 1. The Wife, a long poem, filled with sentiments, maxims, and observations, such as considerable experience and a correct judgment of mankind could alone supply; and, 2. Characters and Descriptions of the Properties of Sundry Persons, which afford a favourable specimen of his prose style.