Sackville
THOMAS, Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset, an English statesman; born in Buckhurst, England, 1536. At Oxford and Cambridge he distinguished himself by his Latin and English poetry, and as a student of the Inner Temple he wrote, in conjunction with Thomas Norton, the tragedy of "Gorboduc," or "Ferrex and Porrex" (published in 1561), remarkable as the first example in English of regular tragedy in blank verse. The "Mirror of Magistrates," and the "Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham," contain fine passages. He took a prominent and creditable part in some of the chief events of Elizabeth's reign. He was a member of the court which tried Mary Queen of Scots; he succeeded Lord Burleigh as lord high treasurer; and presided at the trial of the Earl of Essex. From 1587 1588 he suffered imprisonment at the instigation of the queen's favorite Leicester. In 1566 he had succeeded to his father's ample estate; was raised to the peerage as Baron Buckhurst shortly afterward; and James I. created him Earl of Dorset in 1604. He died in London, April 19, 1608, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.