born 1536, Buckhurst, Sussex, Eng.
died April 19, 1608, London
English politician and poet.
A London barrister, he entered Parliament in 1558. He was a member of the Privy Council (1585) and conveyed the death sentence to Mary, Queen of Scots , in 1586. He later served on diplomatic missions to The Hague and served as lord high treasurer (1599–1608). He was also noted as the coauthor of The Tragedie of Gorboduc (1561), the earliest English drama in blank verse, and for his "Induction," the most famous part of the verse collection A Myrrour for Magistrates (1563).