especial friend, had taught her the secret, before this last good
lady had been hanged for Sir Thomas Overbury's murder" (p. 264).

A close study of several documents relating to the Overbury
affair, as Hawthorne called it, reveals many striking parallels be-
tween the facts of that case and the novel. Could there be any
connection between this murder and the story of The Scarlet
Letter? To indicate how this question might be answered, it will
be necessary first to outline the incidents in the Overbury murder,
to describe several works relating to it, to present evidence validat-
ing Hawthorne's knowledge of these works, and to make a detailed
comparison between the novel and these accounts of the case.

The Scarlet Letter need not be retold here, but the sequence of
events in the Overbury murder is less widely known and far more
complicated. The affair was set in motion in 1606 by a forced
marriage of convenience between the children of influential courtly
families, Frances Howard, aged 13, and Robert Devereux, Earl of
Essex, aged 14. Deemed too young to live with his still more
youthful wife, Robert was sent on a grand tour of the continent,
and in his absence, Lady Frances fell in love with Robert Carr,
Viscount of Rochester and King James's rising favorite. Carr, who
had early in his career cultivated the friendship of Sir Thomas
Overbury, an aspiring courtier, had gained royal favor largely
because of Overbury's prudent counsel. At first, Overbury had
countenanced and even encouraged his friend's adulterous liaison
with the child bride of Essex, but on learning that Carr and Lady
Frances were planning to marry, Overbury protested vigorously
his friend's marriage to an unfaithful woman on the ground that
she might in turn be unfaithful to her new husband. This inter-
vention incurred the hatred of both Lady Frances and Carr, whose
influential position enabled him to persuade King James to appoint
Overbury to a foreign diplomatic assignment, a post he Janus-like
advised Overbury to decline. When Overbury refused to accept
the appointment, as Carr had hoped, the young knight was prompt-
ly committed to the Tower -- this was in April, 1613 -- thus opening
the way for the lovers to proceed with plans to obtain Lady Frances'
divorce from Lord Essex. While a commission was deciding her

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