'■' 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DA 306.C38D41 1914 
 
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The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://archive.org/details/cu31924027932239 
 
THE HOUSE OF CECIL 
 
Photo Emery Walker 
 
 WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY, K.G. 
 
THE 
 
 CECIL FAMILY 
 
 BY 
 
 G. RAVENSCROFT DENNIS 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 1914 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The house of Cecil rose into eminence in the 
 middle of the sixteenth century, for the latter half 
 of which Lord Burghley was the foremost states- 
 man in England. His sons, Thomas, Earl of 
 Exeter, and Robert, Earl of Salisbury, founded 
 the two branches of the family which still have 
 their seats at Burghley and Hatfield. After the 
 death of Lord Salisbury in 1612, no Cecils with 
 any great claims to distinction appeared in either 
 branch until the middle of the nineteenth century, 
 when the late Marquess of Salisbury, the " greater 
 Cecil of a greater Queen," arose to prove that the 
 spirit of his ancestor was only dormant. 
 
 Thus by far the greater part of this record is 
 taken up with the life story of three great men — 
 Lord Burghley, Sir Robert Cecil, and the third 
 Marquess of Salisbury. Of Burghley many lives 
 have been written, and I cannot pretend to have 
 discovered anything new about him. So far as I 
 know, however, no separate biography of Sir 
 Robert Cecil exists, and the chapters devoted to 
 him, inadequate as they are, contain a good deal of 
 material gathered together from various sources for 
 the first time. Since this book is intended to be a 
 history of the family, rather than of public events, I 
 have endeavoured to lay special stress on the private 
 life and character both of Burghley and his son. 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 Of the late Marquess of Salisbury, no full 
 biography has yet been published, the official Life 
 by Lady Gwendolen Cecil being eagerly awaited. 
 But the history of his public life, at least, is 
 common property, and the main outlines of his 
 character are well known. His many points of 
 resemblance to Lord Burghley have not, I think, 
 been brought out before. 
 
 For convenience, the history of the elder branch 
 of the family — the Exeter line — has been told first. 
 Thus the life of Lord Burghley is followed by 
 chapters on Sir Thomas Cecil — a man of no great 
 attainments, but of a straightforward and engaging 
 disposition, who has been unduly depreciated by 
 previous writers — and his son Sir Edward, Vis- 
 count Wimbledon. A single chapter is sufficient 
 to chronicle the later fortunes of this branch. 
 The history of the Salisbury line begins with the 
 life of Robert, the first Earl, and ends with that 
 of the late Marquess. The record of the two 
 intervening centuries is again easily contained 
 in one chapter, which, however, is not without 
 elements of human interest. 
 
 I have to thank Miss Constance Jacob for her 
 zeal in unearthing information, especially about 
 the less important people whose lives are here 
 recorded ; and Mr. S. H. Morgan for reading the 
 proofs and helping me in many ways. 
 
 G. R. D. 
 
 LUSTLEIGH, 
 
 April, 1913 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Founding of the Family i 
 
 II. William Cecil, Lord Burghley . . 15 
 
 III. William Cecil, Lord Burghley — continued. 36 
 
 IV. William Cecil, Lord Burghley — continued. 60 
 V. Thomas Cecil, First Earl of Exeter . 79 
 
 VI. Edward Cecil, Viscount Wimbledon . 103 
 
 VII. The Exeter Line 121 
 
 VIII. Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury . 146 
 
 IX. Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury — 
 
 continued ....... 171 
 
 X. Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury — 
 
 continued . . . . . . .193 
 
 XL The Salisbury Line 219 
 
 XII. The Third Marquess of Salisbury . . 247 
 
 XIII. The Third Marquess of Salisbury — continued 279 
 
 Appendix : The Manuscripts at Hatfield . . 313 
 Index 317 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 William, Lord Burghley, K.G. . . Frontispiece 
 
 By Marc Gheeraedts 
 
 Burghley House : North-west View . . Facing p. 34 
 
 Burghley House : Ground Plan . . 54 
 
 William, Lord Burghley, K.G., riding on a Mule „ 76 
 {Bodleian Library) 
 
 Thomas, First Earl of Exeter, K.G. 
 
 Burghley House : The Stone Staircase 
 
 From a drawing by Joseph Nash, 1841 
 Burghley House : The Central Court 
 
 From a drawing by Joseph Nash, 1841 
 
 Robert, First Earl of Salisbury, K.G. 
 By Marc Gheeraedts 
 
 Hatfield House : South View . 
 
 Hatfield House : Ground Plan . 
 
 William, Second Earl of Salisbury, K.G. . ,, 220 
 
 By Vandyck 
 
 Mary Amelia, Wife of James, First Marquess of 
 Salisbury ..... 
 By Sir J. Reynolds 
 
 Hatfield House : The Long Gallery . . ,, 256 
 
 From a drawing by Joseph Nash, 1841 
 
 Robert, Third Marquess of Salisbury, K.G. . ,, 272 
 By George Richmond, R.A . 
 
 Hatfield House : North View . . . . ,, 304 
 
 96 
 134 
 
 144 
 
 176 
 
 204 
 208 
 
THE CECILS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE FOUNDING OF THE FAMILY 
 
 The authentic history of the house of Cecil may 
 be said to begin with David Cyssell, or Syssell, 
 of Stamford, the grandfather of Lord Burghley. 
 Unfortunately Burghley delighted in heraldry and 
 genealogy, a dangerous hobby in those days, when 
 even the kings-of-arms were not above manu- 
 facturing a long pedigree for a man of wealth and 
 position. Numerous scraps of pedigrees and 
 genealogical notes in Burghley's handwriting exist 
 at Hatfield, which, if they prove nothing else, 
 show at least that the pedigree which was finally 
 accepted was the outcome of a dozen other ver- 
 sions which did not work out satisfactorily. 
 " The collections made for him," says Mr. Oswald 
 Barron, " are suspect in their origin and untrust- 
 worthy in detail, and it might have been better for 
 the modern genealogist had Burghley been careless 
 of his source, for we have on this side the suspicion 
 of documents tampered with, and on the other 
 
 c. b 
 
2 THE CECILS 
 
 side the suspicion that inconvenient fact has been 
 suppressed." 1 
 
 According to the official pedigree, David Cyssell 
 was the younger son of Richard Cicell of Allt yr 
 Ynys in Herefordshire, and his descent is traced 
 back through fifteen generations to one Robert 
 Sytsylt, who, in the year 1091, assisted Robert Fitz- 
 Hamon in the conquest of Glamorganshire, and was 
 the father of Sir James Sitsilt, baron of Beauport. 
 
 In the course of four centuries the family is said 
 to have become allied by marriage to many of the 
 most ancient and eminent families in the county of 
 Hereford, such as the Frenes, Pembridges, Basker- 
 villes, De la Beres, and others, yet it is a surprising 
 fact that throughout this long period its name does 
 not once appear among the sheriffs of the county, 
 nor among its representatives in Parliament, nor 
 even in the list of the gentry of Herefordshire 
 drawn up in the reign of Henry VI., though that 
 list contains many of the names which are 
 enumerated among the Cecil alliances. 2 
 
 To add further verisimilitude to the record, a 
 picturesque story is told of a great contention 
 between Sir John Sitsilt and Sir William Fakenham, 
 which took place in 1333 at Halidon Hill, near 
 Berwick. Each disputant claimed a certain coat 
 of arms s as his right, and offered to maintain the 
 
 1 Northamptonshire Families (Victoria County Histories), p. 21. 
 Mr. Barron's researches have rendered all other writers on the subject 
 obsolete. 
 
 a Blore, History of Rutland (1811), p. 76. 
 
 8 Viz., Barry of ten, argent and azure, over all six escutcheons, 
 3.2.1. each charged with a lion rampant of the field. The present arms 
 of the Cecils. 
 
THE FOUNDING OF THE FAMILY 3 
 
 same by force of arms. Edward III., however, 
 referred the dispute to the heralds, who solemnly 
 adjudged the right of bearing these arms to 
 Sir John Sitsilt, as' heir of the blood, lineally 
 descended from Sir James Sitsilt, Lord of Beauport, 
 who was killed at the siege of Wallingford in 1139. 
 In his Workes of Armorie (1597) Bossewell gives 
 transcripts of these proceedings, adding that he 
 has himself seen in the possession of Lord Burghley 
 the original writing, " being written in parchment, 
 according to the antiquity of the time." 
 
 Here again it is surprising to find that the names 
 of neither of these distinguished disputants occur 
 in any of the rolls of arms ; and although such 
 disputes did undoubtedly occur in the middle ages, 
 yet, to sum up the matter in the words of Blore, 
 " the evidence should be very decisive indeed, 
 which would induce one to credit such a dispute 
 having been maintained by a member of a family, 
 concerning at least eleven generations of which 
 there does not seem to be a single public record, 
 or another private document, even if those noticed 
 by Bossewell really existed " — or rather, we may 
 say, if they were really authentic. In fact, as 
 Mr. Oswald Barron points out, the whole pro- 
 ceedings are based on the famous suit of Scrope 
 against Grosvenor. 
 
 This version of the ancestry of the family may 
 therefore be dismissed. Two other theories must 
 be mentioned before we pass on to surer ground. 
 One of these was propounded by an ingenious 
 Frenchman in the seventeenth century, who 
 
 B 3 
 
4 THE CECILS 
 
 proved to his own satisfaction that the family was 
 descended from the Ceciles of Frasne in Burgundy, 
 and that David Cecil of Stamford was the first who 
 settled in England. 1 The other suggestion is that 
 of Richard Verstegan, who, speaking of the Welsh 
 people, says, "it is not to be doubted but that 
 during the space of about 500 years that they were 
 subject unto the Romans, divers of the Romans 
 settled and mixed themselves among them ; whose 
 posterity hath since remained in account as 
 being of the ancient families of Wales ; and I 
 do find very probable reason to enduce me to 
 think, that among others, the honourable family 
 of the Cecils, being issued from Wales, is originally 
 descended from the Romans." 2 
 
 Returning to reasonable probabilities, it may be 
 said that although the pedigrees which assign a 
 long lineage to the Cicelts or Seycelds of Allt yr 
 Ynys are entirely untrustworthy, there seems no 
 reason to doubt that a connection did exist 
 between them and the Cecils of Stamford. 
 
 The Herefordshire family, " a race of yeomen 
 or small gentry," certainly claimed kinship with 
 the Northamptonshire Cecils, and made frequent 
 requests for preferment and help on the strength 
 of the connection. The Cecils on their side 
 admitted the relationship and Burghley adopted 
 
 1 See Nares, Memoirs of Burghley, III. App. I. 
 
 2 Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities, ed. 1673, p. 346. 
 Mr Andrew Lang considered that the name of Cecil was derived from 
 the Roman Caecilius, which may very likely be the case. He also stated 
 that Russell Lowell thought the original form of the name was " Sicile," 
 and that the family were Jews from Sicily (Illustrated London News, 
 November nth, 1911, p. 762). 
 
THE FOUNDING OF THE FAMILY 5 
 
 the arms of the Seycelds, quartered with Winston 
 and Carlyon. 1 
 
 A pedigree, apparently genuine, at Hatfield, 
 shows that Philip Seyceld. of Allt yr Ynys had a 
 son Richard, whose will, October 8th, 1508, is also 
 extant. Richard had two sons, Philip, of Allt yr 
 Ynys, who seems to have died in his father's 
 lifetime, and David, who in all probability is 
 identical with the grandfather of Lord Burghley. 
 
 Philip had a son John, who died in 15 51 ; and 
 John had three sons, the eldest of whom, William, 
 died in March, 1598, leaving one son and eight 
 daughters. One of his sons-in-law, Paul de la Hay, 
 sends Burghley an account of the funeral, from 
 which we see that the family looked up to the Lord 
 Treasurer as their patron and protector. He 
 describes how the eight sons-in-law of the deceased 
 and three of his nephews followed the coffin, and 
 after them his son Matthew's wife, the eight 
 daughters, and William's sister Alice in mourning 
 attire. " His wife refused to be present, albeit 
 requested and a gown's cloth sent her." After- 
 wards a distribution of bread and money was made 
 to the poor, " and so," he continues, " in worship- 
 ful manner was the funeral celebrated to your 
 Lordship's commendations, for that to the credit 
 
 1 Mr. A. C Fox-Davies has pointed out that the fact that Lord 
 Burghley adopted these arms with quartering of Winston only (for 
 Carlyon was brought in by Winston) " would seem to indicate the 
 probability that that much of the pedigree was within his own know- 
 ledge which it may well have been." The mother of the first Philip 
 Seyceld, mentioned above, is said to have been a Winston. See The 
 Genealogy of the Cecils, in Jack's Historical Monograph on Lord Burghley 
 (1904). 
 
6 THE CECILS 
 
 of the house of Alterinis, I gave out the charge to 
 be yours, which amounted to £100." 1 
 
 Matthew, William's only son, was dangerously 
 ill at the time and died soon afterwards, not with- 
 out having tried to oppose his father's will. Two 
 of the sons-in-law also appealed to Lord Burghley, 
 on the ground that William, " wishing to continue 
 the name of Cecil in that house," had conveyed the 
 property to Sir Robert Cecil and his heirs, " to the 
 disherison of his own issue." They also accused 
 Paul de la Hay and another of the sons-in-law of 
 having seized all William's valuable personal 
 property " under a disorderly will which was 
 written by a servant of the said De la Hay." 
 
 Nor did the altercations and dissensions in the 
 family end here. Matthew's widow, Catherine, 
 caused great trouble, and De la Hay charges her 
 with " playing a lewd part of purpose to raise seed 
 to disinherit Sir Robert : with waste of goods, 
 with harbouring Lloyd a murderer, of purpose to 
 murder him [De la Hay], and with beating and 
 starving Alice the aged sister of William Cecil." 
 De la Hay, by arrangement with Sir Robert, 
 assumed control of the property, which however 
 he found so hampered with debts, dowries, heriots 
 and legacies that he says, " I shall have as good a 
 bargain as an egg for a penny." 
 
 Finally the estate was sold and came into the 
 possession of Guy's Hospital. And so we may 
 take leave of the Herefordshire Cecils. 
 
 1 Cal. of Hatfield MSS., VIII. 82. The details that follow are also 
 obtained from the Hatfield papers. 
 
THE FOUNDING OF THE FAMILY 7 
 
 The history of David Cecil, the younger son of 
 Richard, is of greater interest, as he was the 
 founder of his family's fortunes. Through his 
 grandmother he was related to Sir David Philipp, 
 who accompanied Henry VII. out of Wales and 
 fought at Bosworth Field, afterwards settling 
 at Thornhaugh in Northamptonshire. 1 Burghley 
 states that David Cecil followed Sir David Philipp 
 in the campaign, and " Davy Scisseld " proved his 
 will in 1506 as one of his executors. Further 
 proof of the identity of Burghley' s grandfather 
 with the Welsh David is afforded by the fact that 
 the former was one of the yeomen of the guard, 
 who were chiefly composed of Henry's Welsh 
 followers. 2 
 
 As for the differences in the spelling of the 
 name, a letter written by Burghley's son, the first 
 Earl of Exeter, to his uncle, Hugh Allington 
 (November 13th, 1605), is of interest. Some 
 libel having been published reflecting on the 
 origin of the family, he asks his uncle to search in 
 his study at Burghley for documents, and adds: 
 " Likewise my Lord my father's altering the 
 writing of his name maketh many that are not well 
 affected to our house to doubt whether we are 
 rightly descended of the house of Wales, because 
 they write their name Sitselt and our name is 
 written Cecyll ; my grandfather wrote it Syssell ; 
 and so in autography [sic] all the three names 
 
 1 Blore, History of Rutland. 
 
 2 A fact discovered by Mr. Oswald Barron, to whom I am indebted 
 for many of the details of David's life. See Northamptonshire Families. 
 
8 THE CECILS 
 
 differ. Whereof I marvel what moved my Lord 
 my father to alter it." * 
 
 To this it may be added that in the Patent Rolls 
 David's name is spelt : Scisseld, Cecille, Cecill, 
 Cecile, Sicile, Ceyssell, and the variants Cicyll and 
 Cecyll occur in connection with his son Richard. 
 
 David Cecil, then, settled in Stamford, and soon 
 established himself as a worthy citizen. He was 
 admitted to the freedom of the borough in 1494, 
 and was a common councillor and one of " the 
 twelve " in the following year. He was alderman, 
 or mayor of the borough in 1504, 1515, and 1526, 
 and represented it in three Parliaments. In 1507 
 he founded a chantry in St. George's Church, 
 and in 1509 his name occurs in the list of the 
 yeomen of the King's guard at the funeral of 
 Henry VII. The same year he was made Bailiff 
 of Preston, Uppingham, and Essendine, in 
 Rutland, and of Skellingthorpe, in Lincoln- 
 shire ; and in June, 1511, he received the 
 appointment of Water-bailiff of Wittlesea Mere, 
 Huntingdon, and Keeper of the Swans there and 
 throughout the waters and fens in the counties of 
 Huntingdon, Cambridge, Lincoln, and Northamp- 
 ton, for the term of thirty years. Two years later 
 he was made one of the King's Serjeants-at-Arms, 
 and in 15 17 he secured for his son Richard the 
 office of a King's page. He also obtained the 
 Keepership of Clyff Park, Northamptonshire, 
 jointly with his son, and afterwards received the 
 further appointment of Steward of the King's 
 
 1 Collins' Peerage, ed. Brydges, II. 587. 
 
THE FOUNDING OF THE FAMILY 9 
 
 manor of Colly- Weston in the same county and 
 Escheator for the county of Lincoln. In 1532 and 
 I 533 he was Sheriff of the county of Northampton, 
 " which," says Fuller, " proves him a person of 
 birth, brains, and estate ; seeing, in that age, in 
 this county, so plentiful of capable persons, none 
 were advanced to that office except esquires at 
 least of much merit." * 
 
 This long list of appointments and offices proves 
 also that David Cecil was a man of much more 
 than average energy and perseverance, as well 
 as uncommon ability. The old territorial nobility, 
 whose ranks had been depleted by the Wars of 
 the Roses, were giving place to a new nobility, 
 dependent on the favour of the King ; and the 
 large landed proprietors began to be recruited from 
 the ranks of yeomen and smaller gentry. Both 
 David Cecil and his son were quick to take advan- 
 tage of the situation, assiduously courting the King's 
 favour and acquiring lands, property and influence. 
 
 Lord Burghley has recorded in his MS. Diary 
 that his grandfather died in 1536. 2 But there is 
 evidence that he was still a yeoman of the guard 
 in December of that year, and though his will is 
 dated January 25th, 1536, which may have given 
 rise to the mistake, it was not proved till March, 
 1542. We may conclude therefore that he died 
 shortly before the later date. 
 
 He was twice married, first to Alice Dicons, 
 daughter and heir of John Dicons, alderman of 
 Stamford, who was also connected by marriage 
 
 1 Worthies, ed. 1840, II. 535. 
 
 2 " Anno 1536. David Cecil, avus meus, mortuus est." 
 
io THE CECILS 
 
 with Sir David Philipp, and secondly to Joan Roos, 
 daughter and heir of Thomas Roos, of Dowsby, 
 Lincolnshire, who had twice previously been 
 married. By his first wife he had two sons, 
 Richard and David, and by his second, one 
 daughter, Joan. 1 
 
 Among the various properties which came into 
 his hands was the manor of Burghley, near Stam- 
 ford, which he bought in 1526 — 1528 from Mar- 
 garet Chambers and Thomas Williams junior. 2 
 From this estate his grandson took his title, 
 after erecting the mansion which still remains 
 the seat of the senior branch of the family. 
 
 By his will David left to his wife all his lands for 
 the term of her life (she died in 1537) and after her 
 death to his son Richard ; among other things 
 he left her " twenty kye and a bull," three beds 
 and several pieces of silver, to one of which, " a 
 piece gilt with the wheat-sheaf in the bottom, the 
 which I gave her before our marriage," interest 
 attaches since the wheatsheaf is still the crest of 
 the Exeter branch of the Cecils. 3 
 
 1 Joan married Edmund Browne, alderman of Stamford, and from 
 this marriage was descended Richard Browne (1550 — 1633), the leader 
 of the earliest Separatists, hence called Brownists, the forerunners of 
 the present Congregationalists. When imprisoned, in 1581, he was 
 released by the influence of Lord Burghley, who afterwards presented 
 him to the living of Achurch, Northamptonshire. 
 
 2 Victoria County History, Northamptonshire, II. 524. Earlier 
 authorities state that the old and new Manors of Burghley were bought 
 by Richard Cecil, and a memorandum exists in Lord Burghley's hand- 
 writing, in which he gives a history of the manors, and adds " Ista 
 Margarita vendidit omnes suas terras Ricardo Cecill, patri meo " (Peck, 
 Desiderata Curiosa, I. So). Martin Hume, in The Great Lord Burghley, 
 and following him Dr. Jessopp, state that Burghley was brought into 
 the family by Richard's wife, Jane Heckington, but this is a mistake. 
 
 3 The Salisbury branch bears a different crest, the origin of which is 
 
THE FOUNDING OF THE FAMILY n 
 
 He left to his eldest son, Richard, two complete 
 feather beds and his best gown ; to his second 
 son, David, two more complete feather beds and 
 one other bed, a black gown lined with damask, 
 a doublet of satin and his green coat ; and to his 
 daughter Joan he left £20 to be delivered to her 
 mother for her marriage and half of his household 
 goods at Dowsby. The residue of his goods he 
 left to Richard, against whom David afterwards 
 brought an unsuccessful action on the ground that 
 his brother had fraudulently deprived him of 
 certain lands that were rightfully his. 
 
 Among the bequests made by David Cecil to 
 his son Richard was his interest in the Tabard 
 Inn, which had come to him from his father-in- 
 law, John Dicons. This suggests an explanation 
 of a story which obtained a wide circulation in 
 later years, to the effect that Lord Burghley's 
 grandfather " kept the best inn in Stamford." 
 Such an imputation, which first appeared in a 
 scurrilous Latin pamphlet issued in the Low 
 Countries under the title of Philofiatris , J touched 
 Burghley in his most sensitive part, as its originators 
 no doubt knew. It has hitherto been regarded as 
 a mere slander, but it now appears that it may 
 have had some foundation in fact. As Mr. Barron 
 
 told in a letter from F. Cordale, July 21st, 1599. Sir Robert Cecil, he 
 says, " has found a new pedigree, by his grandmother, from the Walpoles, 
 and altered his crest from a sheaf of wheat between two lions, to two 
 sheaves of arrows crossed and covered with a helmet, to distinguish his 
 retinue from his brother's " (Cal. S. P. Bom). 
 
 1 Collins' Peerage, II. 587. See also letters from Dr. Ch. Parkins to 
 Sir R. Cecil concerning this book, November 22nd and 26th, 1593 
 (Hatfield MSS., IV. 419, 423). 
 
12 THE CECILS 
 
 points out, David was probably only a trustee 
 of the Tabard Inn, yet " the inn-keeper's trade 
 was then a good one, and it is at least possible 
 that he mended his fortunes by following for 
 a while his father-in-law's calling." 1 However 
 this may be, Fuller's words remain true : "No 
 credit is to be given to their pens who tax him 
 with meanness of birth, and whose malice is so 
 general against all goodness that it had been a 
 slander if this worthy man had not been slandered 
 by them." 
 
 Richard Cecil entered into his father's inherit- 
 ance and still further increased the position and 
 the property of the family. As already noticed, 
 he was a King's page in 1517, and in this capacity 
 he attended the King at the Field of the Cloth 
 of Gold in 1520. He was afterwards appointed 
 Groom of the Wardrobe, " a place," says the 
 earliest biographer of Lord Burghley, 2 " though 
 now esteemed but mean, yet at that time of good 
 account. For then the King did ordinarily make 
 himself ready in the robes, where Mr. Cecil being 
 chief and a wise discreet man, was in great favour 
 with the King, who gave him both countenance 
 and living." He profited by the Royal favour, and 
 was appointed in turn Bailiff of the manors and 
 woods of Torpell, Maxey and Bourne, Constable 
 of Maxey Castle, Constable of Warwick Castle, 
 and Steward of the manors of Nassington, Yarwell 
 
 1 Northamptonshire Families, pp. 22, 23. 
 
 2 His Life by an unknown member of his household is printed in 
 Peck's Desiderata Curiosa. 
 
THE FOUNDING OF THE FAMILY 13 
 
 and Upton, all in Northamptonshire. He received 
 the reversion of his father's office of Bailiff of 
 Wittlesea Mere and Keeper of the Swans for a 
 term of thirty years, and in 1539 — 1540 he was 
 Sheriff of Rutland. 
 
 In addition to these appointments, he received 
 very numerous grants of lands, the most important 
 of which, dated July 9th, 1540, included the site 
 of St. Michael's Priory, near Stamford, the church, 
 and 229 acres of land in the parish of St. Martin's 
 Stamford, with the advowson, the convent house 
 in Easton, Northants, and the manor and advow- 
 son of the vicarage of Wothorpe. He also purchased 
 various estates in Rutland, as well as in Kent and 
 Lincolnshire. 1 
 
 Henry VIII. showed Richard Cecil a last mark 
 of favour by leaving him £100 in his will, but it is 
 doubtful whether he profited by this generosity, 
 as the legacy was not payable until the King's 
 debts had been discharged. He continued to act 
 as Groom of the Wardrobe to Edward VI., and died 
 at his house in Cannon Row in March, 1553, 
 being buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster. He 
 married Jane, daughter and heir of William 
 Heckington, of Lincolnshire, by whom he had one 
 son, William, afterwards Lord Burghley, and three 
 daughters : Anne (or Agnes) , who married Thomas 
 White of Tuxford, Notts : Margaret, who married 
 Roger Cave, and afterwards Ambrose Smith : and 
 Elizabeth, who married Robert Wingfield, and 
 
 1 See Blore, History of Rutland, and Barron, Northamptonshire 
 Families, 
 
14 THE CECILS 
 
 afterwards Hugh Allington. William was also 
 twice married, so that Richard's four children 
 between them underwent matrimony seven times. 
 But second marriages were much more common 
 then than now. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 WILLIAM CECIL, LORD BURGHLEY 
 
 David and Richard Cecil were successful men 
 of the world, and to them the beginnings of the 
 material prosperity of the family are due. But 
 though they planted the stock firmly on the road 
 to greatness, it was William, Lord Burghley, who 
 completed what they had begun, and made the 
 name of Cecil famous throughout the world. With 
 little to help him but his own great abilities, he 
 rose to be Secretary of State at the age of thirty, 
 and from the accession of Elizabeth till his death — 
 a period of forty years — he presided over the 
 affairs of the nation with an authority second 
 only to the Queen, guiding the country successfully 
 through the dangers and difficulties of a supremely 
 critical period, and so increasing her prestige that 
 at his death England had finally taken her place 
 among the great European powers. 
 
 William Cecil was born on September 13th, 
 1520, at Bourne in Lincolnshire, probably at the 
 house of his mother's parents. He gave evidence 
 of more than ordinary ability in his earliest years, 
 " being," we are told, 1 " in his infancy so pregnant 
 in wit, and so desirous and apt to learn, as in 
 
 1 See the Life, by a gentleman of his household, already referred to 
 (Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, p. 4). Other details of his youth and 
 character are drawn from the same source. 
 
16 THE CECILS 
 
 expectation foretold his great future fortune.' 
 He was educated at the Grammar School al 
 Grantham, and afterwards at Stamford, and ir 
 May, 1535, at the age of fourteen, he entered as a 
 student at St. John's College, Cambridge. 
 
 Here he distinguished himself by his " diligence 
 and towardness," hiring the bell-ringer to call him 
 at four o'clock in the morning, and applying him- 
 self so closely to his studies that he seriously 
 injured his health (" which was thought one ol 
 the original causes of his gout "). The Master of 
 the College, Dr. Medcalf, a man who, though no 
 scholar himself, knew how to breed scholars and 
 had made St. John's the most famous place of 
 education in England, showed special favour to 
 young Cecil, and " would often give him money 
 to encourage him." And he proved so " toward, 
 studious and rarely capable " that he read the 
 sophistry lecture at the age of sixteen and after- 
 wards read the Greek lecture, "as a gentleman 
 for his exercise upon pleasure, without pension, 
 before he was nineteen years old; which he per- 
 formed so learnedly as was beyond expectation 
 of a student of his time or one of his years or birth. 
 For at that time it was a rare thing to have any 
 perfection in the Greek tongue." 
 
 Among Cecil's acquaintances at Cambridge were 
 Matthew Parker, afterwards Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, Nicholas Bacon, father of Francis and 
 afterwards Lord Keeper, Roger Ascham and 
 John Cheke, who subsequently became Regius 
 Professor of Greek and tutor to Edward VI. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 17 
 
 With the latter he was especially intimate, though 
 Cheke was a few years his senior and was already 
 a Fellow of St. John's College, with a great repu- 
 tation as a Greek scholar. His father, Peter 
 Cheke, had been esquire-bedell of the University, 
 but his widow was left in poor circumstances and 
 supported herself and her children by keeping a 
 wine-shop in the town. Here it was that Cecil 
 met and fell in love with Mary Cheke, the sister of 
 his friend. Whether his father found out what 
 was going on we cannot tell, but in May, 1541, 
 after six years' residence, Cecil left the University 
 without taking a degree and entered Gray's Inn. 
 It is a reasonable inference that his father, who no 
 doubt had more ambitious designs for his son, 
 removed him from Cambridge prematurely on 
 account of this unbecoming attachment. If so 
 his efforts were in vain ; for in August, what is, 
 so far as we know, the only romantic episode in 
 the life of William Cecil, culminated in his marriage 
 with Mary Cheke. We learn incidentally from a 
 letter written many years later, that on this 
 occasion he incurred his father's severe displeasure. 1 
 As to his studies at Gray's Inn, little is known. 
 In view of his amazing industry throughout his 
 life, it is hardly to be supposed that he was idle. 
 Yet it is strange that in after years he is said to 
 have specially commended the study of the com- 
 mon law above all other learning, saying that " if 
 he should begin again, he would follow that 
 study " ; and his ignorance of law is confirmed by 
 
 » Roger Alford to Cecil, April gth, 1553 {Hatfield MSS., I. 435)- 
 C. C 
 
18 THE CECILS 
 
 a letter written to him by Edward Griffin, the 
 Queen's Attorney, in 1557, in which he says he is 
 sorry Cecil was never of Gray's Inn, " nor can 
 skill of no law." Probably he never intended to 
 take up the law as a profession, and if he applied 
 himself seriously to the subject at all, his studies 
 were broken off by his promotion at Court. He 
 is said to have laid the foundation at this time of 
 his knowledge of genealogy and heraldry, of which 
 mention has already been made. In these matters 
 he was afterwards recognised as an expert, being 
 specially interested in the pedigrees of Royal houses 
 and great families in England and abroad — a 
 taste he gratified by decorating the walls of 
 Theobalds with genealogical trees. Such import- 
 ance did he attach to this study, that when his son 
 was in Paris, in 1561, he was anxious that he 
 should receive instruction from a herald, so as to 
 " understand the principal families and their 
 alliances in France." 1 
 
 Whatever his intellectual occupations may have 
 been while at Gray's Inn, his " witty mirth and 
 merry temper " made him popular among his 
 fellows, and he is said to have been very fond 
 of practical jokes and other merry jests. An 
 example is given by his domestic biographer : — 
 
 " Among the rest I heard him tell this merriment of 
 himself. That a mad companion enticed him to play, 
 where in short time he lost all his money, bedding, and 
 books to his companion ; having never used play before. 
 And being among his other company, told how such a one 
 
 1 Burgon, Life of Sir T. Gresham, I. 229. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 19 
 
 had misled him ; saying he would presently have a device 
 to be even with him. And he was as good as his word ; 
 with a long ' tronke ' made a hole in the wall, near his 
 playfellow's bed's-head, and in a fearful voice, spake thus, 
 through the tronke. ' O mortal man, repent ! repent of 
 thy horrible time, play, cousenage, and such lewdness, or 
 else thou art damned, and canst not be saved ! ' Which 
 at midnight, all alone, so amazed him, as drove him into 
 a sweat for fear. Most penitent and heavy, the next day, 
 in presence of the youths, he told, with trembling, what a 
 fearful voice spake to him at midnight, vowing never 
 to play again : and calling for Mr. Cecil, asked him for 
 forgiveness on his knees ; and restored all his money, 
 bedding and books. So two gamesters were both 
 reclaimed with this merry device, and never played 
 more." 
 
 The same authority tells us how Cecil attracted 
 the notice of Henry VIII. Going down to Court 
 one day to see his father, he met two priests, 
 chaplains to Conn O'Neill, the Irish chieftain. 
 With them he fell into a disputation (in Latin), 
 " wherein he showed so great learning and wit, as 
 he proved the poor priests to have neither ; who 
 were so put down, as they had not a word to 
 say," but retired discomfited. The King, hearing 
 of this encounter, called for Cecil, and " after a 
 long talk with him, much delighted with his 
 answers, willed his father to find out a suit for 
 him. Whereupon he became suitor for a reversion 
 of the Custos Brevium office in the common pleas, 
 which the King willingly granted." Later writers 
 state that the subject of the argument was the 
 supremacy of the Pope ; but of this there is no 
 evidence. This incident must belong to the year 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE CECILS 
 
 1542, when O'Neill made submission to the King 
 and was created Earl of Tyrone. 
 
 In May of the same year, a son, Thomas, was 
 born to Cecil at Cambridge and less than a year 
 later his wife died (February 22nd, 1543). He 
 did not long remain a widower, and his father can 
 have found no fault with his second choice. In 
 December, 1545, he married the eldest daughter 
 of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Gidea Hall, Essex, one 
 of the leading exponents of the new learning. 
 Mildred Cooke, then aged twenty, was one of 
 four sisters, all of whom were " brought up in 
 learning of Greek and Latin above their sex " l 
 and were married to men of note. One of them, 
 Anne, became the wife of Sir Nicholas Bacon and 
 was the mother of Francis Bacon ; while another, 
 Elizabeth, married Sir Thomas Hoby, Ambassador 
 in France, and afterwards John, Lord Russell. 
 Of the fourth, who married Sir Henry Killigrew, 
 little is known. The connection must have been 
 socially of considerable value to Cecil. Mildred 
 herself, " a wise and vertuous gentlewoman," is 
 thus commemorated by a contemporary poet : — 
 
 " Cooke is comely, and thereto 
 In books sets all her care ; 
 In learning with the Roman dames 
 Of right she may compare." 2 
 
 Ascham, in a letter to Sturmius (August, 1550), 
 couples her with Lady Jane Grey, as the two most 
 
 1 Camden's A nnals. 
 
 2 Richard Edwardes's Praze of eight ladyes of Queen Elizabeth's Court. 
 Quoted by Naunton, Fragmenta Regalia, ed. 1824, p. 51. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 21 
 
 learned ladies in England, saying that she " under- 
 stands and speaks Greek like English, 1 so that 
 it may be doubted whether she is most happy in 
 the possession of this surpassing degree of know- 
 ledge, or in having for her preceptor and father, 
 Sir Anthony Cooke, whose singular erudition 
 caused him to be joined with John Cheke in the 
 office of tutor to the King ; or finally in having 
 become the wife of William Cecil, lately appointed 
 Secretary of State : a young man indeed but 
 mature in wisdom, and so deeply skilled, both in 
 letters and affairs, and endued with such modera- 
 tion in the exercise of public offices, that to him 
 would be awarded by the consenting voice of 
 Englishmen the four-fold praise attributed to 
 Pericles by his rival Thucydides : ' To know all 
 that is fitting, to be able to apply what he knows, 
 to be a lover of his country, and superior to 
 money.' " 
 
 On the death of Henry VIII. , in 1547, Cecil 
 was in a very advantageous position. He was 
 connected by marriage with John Cheke and 
 Sir Anthony Cooke, the young King's tutors, and 
 had already gained the good graces of the Earl of 
 Hertford, who now became the Protector Somerset. 
 He was thus identified with the rising party at 
 Court, and about this time, the office of Custos 
 rotulorum brevium, of which he held the reversion, 
 fell in, giving him, according to his own estimate, 
 an income of about £240 a year. 
 
 1 She translated a treatise of St. Chrysostom into English. 
 
22 THE CECILS 
 
 He was now twenty-seven years of age, and 
 must have already shown his abilities, for Somerset 
 in the same year appointed him his " Master of 
 Requests." This was an office, probably of a 
 secretarial nature, connected with the Court of 
 Requests set up by the Protector in Somerset 
 House " to hear poor men's petitions and suits." 
 Here he had his first experience of such complaints 
 and applications, which, throughout the rest of 
 his life, he received in greater numbers, perhaps, 
 than have ever fallen to the share of any one man, 
 before or since. 
 
 He accompanied Somerset in his expedition to 
 Scotland, in the capacity of one of the " judges of 
 the Marshalsea," i.e., in the courts-martial, 1 the 
 other judge being William Patten, the chronicler 
 of the campaign. At the battle of Pinkie, where 
 the Scots were disastrously routed (September, 
 1547), ne na< ^ a narrow escape, being " miracu- 
 lously saved by one that, putting forth his arm to 
 thrust Mr. Cecil out of the level of the cannon, 
 had his arm stricken off." 2 This was his first and 
 only experience of fighting, and indeed he was so 
 essentially a man of peaceful and sedentary habits, 
 caring nothing for any form of sport or athletic 
 exercise, that he must have felt out of place in a 
 field of battle. 
 
 He was more at home in Parliament, for which 
 he was elected to sit for the borough of Stamford 
 in November, 1547. I n the following year, Somer- 
 
 1 See Encyclopedia Britannica, nth ed., art. " Burghley." 
 
 2 Peck. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 23 
 
 set made him his private secretary, a position, 
 however, which he was not to hold for many 
 months. Somerset's well-meaning but unprac- 
 tical and impolitic measures had gradually roused 
 resentment against him in all classes, except the 
 peasantry, who had no influence ; and in the 
 autumn of 1549 matters came to a crisis. The 
 Earl of Warwick, fresh from suppressing the 
 peasants' rising in Norfolk, gathered round him 
 the malcontents in the Council, and the Protector's 
 party quickly dwindled away. On October 10th, 
 Somerset was arrested, and a few days later he was 
 committed to the Tower. Cecil retained his 
 liberty for the time, possibly owing to Warwick's 
 friendship with his father, 1 but in November he 
 too was in the Tower, where he remained until the 
 end of January. He then received his freedom, 
 but was bound under a penalty of a thousand 
 marks to appear before the Council when called 
 upon. 
 
 Somerset himself was set free soon afterwards, 
 and was re-admitted to the Privy Council. In the 
 summer the two factions were allied together by 
 the marriage of Somerset's daughter, Lady Anne 
 Seymour, with Warwick's eldest son, Lord Lisle ; 
 but one can hardly believe that anyone expected 
 a permanent alliance between men of such entirely 
 different aims and ideals. Warwick was, in fact, 
 already scheming to get rid of his rival, and in 
 October, 1551, Somerset was again arrested on a 
 
 1 Hume, The Great Lord Burghley, p. 21. See S. P. Dom., Northum- 
 berland to Cecil, May 31st, 1552. 
 
24 THE CECILS 
 
 fabricated charge of treason and felony. His trial 
 and condemnation were followed by his execution 
 in January, 1552. 
 
 Meanwhile Cecil seems to have lost no time in 
 ingratiating himself with Warwick, and on 
 September, 5th, 1550, he was appointed one of 
 the two Secretaries of State. A year later, 
 October nth, 1551, he was knighted and sworn 
 of the Privy Council, his brother-in-law, John 
 Cheke, receiving the honour of knighthood at the 
 same time. 
 
 Cecil's action at this critical time has been much 
 discussed. The facts are clear. The secretary 
 and right-hand man of the Protector, the most 
 intimate member of his circle, accepted without 
 demur, honours and office from the man who had 
 supplanted him — a man of whose sinister character 
 and ambitions he cannot have been ignorant. 
 Moreover, his behaviour to the statesman who had 
 befriended and advanced him appears to have been 
 callous in the extreme. Somerset, when he first 
 became aware of the scheme against him, sent for 
 Cecil " to tell him he suspected some ill " ; where- 
 upon Cecil is said to have replied " that if he were 
 not guilty, he might be of good courage ; if he 
 were, he had nothing to say but to lament him." 1 
 
 This incident is said to have occurred on 
 October 14th, three days after Cecil had been 
 knighted and Warwick had become Duke of 
 Northumberland. Two days later Somerset was 
 
 1 King Edward VI.'s Journal. See Tytler's History of Edward VI. 
 and Mary, II. 4. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 25 
 
 in the Tower, and though Cecil took no public 
 part in his trial, a document in his handwriting 
 exists, containing a list of questions to be put to 
 the prisoner, all of a nature to compromise him. 1 
 
 Such conduct is not that of a hero. But Cecil 
 was not cast in a heroic mould. He played for 
 safety all his life, and was quite incapable of 
 sacrificing himself to satisfy the demands of 
 gratitude or friendship, especially as no action on 
 his part could possibly have benefited his former 
 patron. 
 
 In such a matter, as in all others affecting the 
 relations between man and man, the standard of 
 conduct is regulated by customs and conventions 
 which vary from age to age ; and a course of 
 action which would meet with severe reprobation 
 at the present day was then considered highly 
 meritorious. Sir Thomas Morysine, Ambassador 
 to the Emperor, no doubt echoed the general 
 opinion when he wrote to congratulate Cecil on 
 escaping his patron's fate, and added, " For it 
 were a way to make an end of amity, if, when 
 men fall, their friends should forthwith therefore 
 be troubled." 2 That Sir William's friends thought 
 him fortunate, rather than reprehensible, is shown 
 by a letter from Sir W. Pickering, who wrote from 
 Paris (October 27th, 155 1) expressing his pleasure 
 to hear " the form of your good fortune to be found 
 undefiled with the folly of this unfortunate Duke." 3 
 
 » Cotton MSS., Titus B. n. Quoted by Hume, p. 29. 
 2 Cal. S. P. Foreign, November 18th, 1551. 
 » Tytler, II. 67. 
 
26 THE CECILS 
 
 At the same time, it is impossible to deny that 
 Cecil was ruled by the dictates of his own ambition, 
 and his cold and calculating nature led him into a 
 course of action from which a man of more generous 
 disposition would have shrunk. Worldly wisdom 
 was his guide, as the Precepts which he addressed 
 to his son Sir Robert Cecil sufficiently show. One 
 of these is concerned with the attitude to be 
 adopted towards the great, and may be quoted 
 here. " Be sure to keep some great man thy 
 friend," he says, " but trouble him not for trifles, 
 compliment him often with many and small gifts, 
 and if thou hast cause to bestow any great gratuity, 
 let it be something which may be daily in sight, 
 otherwise, in this ambitious age, thou shalt remain 
 like a hop without a pole, live in obscurity, and be 
 made a football for every insulting companion to 
 spurn at." 
 
 The hand of Cecil is to be seen in all the measures 
 of this reign. While ministers were plotting and 
 scheming, the Secretary was indefatigable in 
 business, giving his whole time and attention to 
 the affairs of state. " Of all men of genius," 
 it has been said, " he was the most of a drudge ; 
 of all men of business, the most of a genius." x 
 
 Financial reform, the liquidation of the King's 
 debt, and the improvement of commerce, were all 
 in turn the objects of his care. He also took an 
 active part in the measures for the settlement of 
 the Church, and Cranmer, before submitting the 
 new " Forty-two Articles " to Parliament and 
 
 1 Guthrie, History of England, III. 69. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 27 
 
 Convocation, referred them absolutely to Cecil and 
 Cheke, " the two great patrons of the Reformation 
 at Court." J 
 
 He must have been admitted into the intimate 
 confidence of the young King, as is shown by the 
 story that the Princess Mary, on receipt of a letter 
 from her brother enjoining her conformity, 
 remarked " Ah ! good Master Cecil took much 
 pains here." 
 
 On April 12th, 1553, he was appointed Chan- 
 cellor of the Order of the Garter, and notes in his 
 Diary, " Paid the embroiderers for xxxvj schut- 
 chyns for my servants' coats at ij s. each, iii 1. 
 xii s," 2 an entry which shows us that already he 
 kept a large establishment. 
 
 In the spring of this year the state of the King's 
 health hastened on Northumberland's mad plan 
 for securing the succession to his own family. On 
 May 21st he married his son, Lord Guilford Dudley, 
 to the Lady Jane Grey, daughter of the Duke of 
 Suffolk and grand-daughter of Henry VIII. 's 
 youngest sister Mary, Queen-Dowager of France. 
 He then persuaded the King to set aside his father's 
 will, under which the succession was to descend 
 to Mary and Elizabeth, and to draw up a new deed 
 of settlement, devising the Crown to Lady Jane 
 Grey. These manoeuvres placed Cecil in a difficult 
 and dangerous position and he did all he could to 
 avoid personal responsibility in the matter. 
 
 1 Strype. 
 
 2 Burghley invariably used Roman numerals for his accounts and 
 reckonings. 
 
28 THE CECILS 
 
 His health was never very good and he had had 
 a serious illness at Wimbledon two years before. 
 He was now again kept to his house by a grave 
 indisposition, which attacked him at so opportune 
 a moment that it is generally supposed to have had 
 a diplomatic origin. There is no doubt, however, 
 that he was over- worked, and his friend Dr. Wotton 
 wrote from Paris to urge him to moderate his 
 labours, " your complexion being not strong 
 enough to continue as you began." It was on 
 this occasion that Lord Audley sent him the 
 following simple recipes. 1 
 
 A good medicine for weakness or consumption. 
 
 " Take a sow-pig of nine days old, and flea him and 
 quarter him, and put him in a stillatory with a handful of 
 spearmint, a handful of red fennel, a handful of liverwort, 
 and half a handful of red nepe [turnip], a handful of 
 celery, nine dates clean picked and pared, a handful of 
 great raisins, and pick out the stones, and a quarter of an 
 ounce of mace and two sticks of good cinnamon bruised in 
 a mortar : and distil it together, with a fair fire ; and put 
 it in a glass, and set it in the sun nine days ; and drink 
 a spoonful of it at once when you list." 
 
 A compost. 
 " Item. Take a porpin, otherwise called an English 
 hedgehog, and quarter him in pieces, and put the said 
 beast in a still with these ingredients : item, a quart of 
 red wine, a pint of rose-water, a quart of sugar, cinnamon 
 and great raisins, one date, twelve nepe." 
 
 Whether these remedies were efficacious we do not 
 learn . But by June 14th Sir William was well enough 
 
 1 Tytler, II. 169, 170. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 29 
 
 to be at Court, and on that day the " devise " 
 of the Crown was signed by all the members 
 of the Privy Council, with the exception of 
 Sir John Hales. In this matter again Cecil took 
 the safe course. That he protested against the 
 whole proceeding is certain. His servant Roger 
 Alford states that from the first moment it was 
 in contemplation he expressed his aversion to it 
 and declared that " whatever became of it he 
 would never partake of that devise." He must 
 have realised that such a document, extorted from 
 a minor on his deathbed, could not override the 
 will of Henry VIII., which had received parlia- 
 mentary sanction ; and he no doubt foresaw that 
 Northumberland's ambition would overreach itself 
 and involve him and his abettors in ruin. 
 
 Nevertheless the violence of Northumberland and 
 the command of the King impelled him to affix his 
 signature, though he afterwards protested that he 
 signed merely as a witness — a plea that avails 
 him nothing in view of the fact that he also 
 signed the promise by which the Council bound 
 themselves " by our oaths and honour to observe, 
 fully perform and keep all and every article " of 
 the devise. 
 
 At any rate, he was so much alive to his danger 
 that he went about armed, concealed his valuables, 
 and made such a disposition of his property as to 
 secure it to his son in the event of his being 
 imprisoned or forced to leave the kingdom. After 
 the accession of Mary, he drew up a paper, in 
 which he exculpates himself by an account of his 
 
3 o THE CECILS 
 
 actions under twenty-one heads. This document 
 serves to show how he tried to throw the responsi- 
 bility onto others, and while ostensibly acting on 
 behalf of Northumberland, took steps to make 
 himself as safe as possible, whatever might 
 happen. It is interesting to read that, " when the 
 conspiracy was first opened to me, I did fully set 
 me to flee the realm, and was dissuaded by 
 Mr. Cheke, who willed me for my satisfaction to 
 read a dialogue of Plato, where Socrates, being in 
 prison, was offered to escape and flee, and yet he 
 would not. I read the dialogue, whose reasons 
 did indeed stay me." 1 
 
 The King died on July 6th, and Cecil notes in 
 his Diary " Libertatem adeptus sum morte regis et 
 ex misero aulico f actus liber et mei juris." He was 
 now free from the domination of Northumberland, 
 whose policy and methods he thoroughly disliked, 
 and whose ruin was soon seen to be certain. No 
 sooner had the Duke set out to seize the person 
 of Mary than Cecil began to intrigue actively 
 against him. He sent his sister-in-law, Lady 
 Bacon, to meet the Queen, and heard from her 
 that " the Queen thought well of her brother Cecil 
 and said he was a very honest man." He himself 
 met Mary at Newhall in Essex, and was graciously 
 received. A general pardon was granted him, but 
 he was not re-instated in his office of Secretary, 
 though he is said to have been offered the post if 
 he would change his religion, and to have refused. 
 
 1 Lansdowne MSS., 102, f. 2. The document is printed in full in. 
 Tytler, II. 192 — 195, and in Hume. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 31 
 
 The story is improbable, for he, in common with 
 many others — -the Princess Elizabeth among them 
 — conformed to the Catholic ritual during this 
 reign, going to confession, attending mass, and 
 " demeaning himself as a good Catholic," as 
 enjoined by the Government. 
 
 At this time he probably held no strong personal 
 views on the subject of religion, though he was a 
 Protestant by inclination. But he believed that 
 the Sovereign was the supreme head of the Church, 
 and that on matters of faith her word was law ; 
 and he maintained that " that state could never be 
 in safety where there was a toleration of two 
 religions. 1 For there is no enmity so great as that 
 for religion ; and therefore they that differ in the 
 service of their God can never agree in the service 
 of their country." Throughout his life he insisted 
 upon obedience to the law, and the maintenance 
 of uniformity in worship. No doubt he felt there- 
 fore that he would best serve the country and at 
 the same time benefit himself by due submission ; 
 and thus while his brother-in-law Sir John Cheke, 
 his father-in-law Sir Anthony Cooke, his friend the 
 Duchess of Suffolk, and many others suffered exile 
 for their faith, Cecil, worldly-wise as usual, stayed 
 at home and prospered. 
 
 Of his public life during Mary's reign we have 
 little record. He was one of the three commis- 
 sioners sent to Brussels in November, 1554, to 
 
 1 So, 240 years later, George III. wrote to Pitt, " No country can be 
 governed where there is more than one established religion " (Rose, 
 Pitt and the Great War, p, 359)- 
 
32 THE CECILS 
 
 meet Cardinal Pole, the Papal Legate, who was on 
 his way to London to grant absolution to the 
 Kingdom ; and in the following year he attended 
 the Cardinal to Calais on his abortive embassy to 
 negotiate peace between France and the Emperor. 
 He was chosen to represent the county of Lincoln 
 in the Parliament of 1555, and was in some 
 danger owing to his outspoken opposition to the 
 Government on the question of confiscating the 
 estates of Protestant exiles. " I spoke my mind 
 freely," he says in his Diary, " whereby I incurred 
 displeasure ; but it is better to serve God than 
 man." 
 
 Probably, however, he kept himself as much as 
 possible in the background during this reign, 
 though Lloyd says that " when he was out of 
 place he was not out of service in Queen Mary's 
 days ; his abilities being as necessary in those 
 times as his inclination ; and that Queen's Council 
 being as ready to advance him at last, as they were 
 to use him all her reign." l 
 
 Meanwhile he maintained communication with 
 the Princess Elizabeth, who had known and 
 trusted him for several years. So early as Sep- 
 tember, 1549, her " cofferer," Thomas Parry, 
 writes to him in a way which shows that Elizabeth 
 thought him the person in highest authority about 
 the Protector, and believed in his integrity. 2 In 
 April, 1553, she asked for his advice in connection 
 with the " lewd demeanour " of one Mr. Keye, the 
 
 1 State Worthies, ed. 1766, I. 358. 
 
 2 Tytler, I. 201. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 33 
 
 paymaster of the House of Ewelme, of which 
 institution she was foundress, and proposed to 
 appoint him, with others, as a commission to 
 examine into the matter, being " determined to 
 remove the violence and oppression " and to have 
 the poor thoroughly considered. At the same time 
 she sent him the patent of the stewardship of the 
 manor of Colly-Weston, signed and sealed. 1 Yet 
 these confidential relations were conducted with 
 so much caution and discretion on Cecil's part that, 
 as Dr. Jessopp has observed, " all the researches 
 of three centuries have failed to discover, in all the 
 enormous mass of documents that have come to 
 light and bearing upon this period, a single letter 
 or instrument which indicates that any intrigues 
 were going on between Elizabeth and Cecil during 
 the later years of Mary's reign." 2 
 
 During this period of his life he was living at 
 Wimbledon, though we know nothing of the house 
 he lived in. He was already a landowner on a 
 large scale. In November, 1551 — between the 
 arrest of Somerset and his trial — he received an 
 enormous grant of estates in Lincolnshire and 
 Rutland ; and his landed property was consider- 
 ably increased on the death of his father in March, 
 1553. Soon afterwards he began the first enlarge- 
 ment of Burghley House, for though that estate 
 and mansion had been left to his mother, and 
 during her life he always regarded it as hers, he 
 spent immense sums on it. 
 
 1 Cal. of Hatfield MSS., I. 434. 
 
 2 William Cecil, Lord Burghley, p. 9. 
 
 C. D 
 
34 THE CECILS 
 
 His building operations were extensive, and 
 later in life he incurred a good deal of censure for 
 his extravagance. In a letter of great interest, 
 addressed to William Herlle (August 14th, 1585), 
 he makes light of these accusations. " My house 
 of Burghley," he says, "is of my mother's inherit- 
 ance who liveth and is the owner thereof ; and I 
 but a farmer. And for the building there, I have 
 set my walls but upon the old foundation. Indeed, 
 I have made the rough stone walls to be of square ; 
 and yet one side remaineth as my father left it 
 me. I trust my son shall be able to maintain it, 
 considering there are in that shire a dozen larger, 
 of men under my degree." 1 
 
 In all of this there is great exaggeration. There 
 can never have been a dozen houses in Northamp- 
 tonshire larger than Burghley. As a matter of 
 fact, Holdenby, the palace of Sir Christopher 
 Hatton, was its only real rival. 2 And though 
 Cecil may have used the old foundations so far as 
 they went, his father's house must have been a 
 mere cottage compared with the completed man- 
 sion. According to Mr. Gotch, only part of one 
 wing — the east — can be regarded as representing 
 the original house ; and it was this wing which 
 was remodelled and enlarged between 1553 and 
 1564. The great hall and the kitchen, therefore, 
 belong to this period, as well as the stone- vaulted 
 staircase in the north front, a feature unique in 
 
 1 S. P. Dotn., CLXXXI. 42. See Gentleman's Magazine, February, 
 1836, p. 49. 
 
 2 See Mr. Gotch's article on The Homes of the Cecils in Jack's 
 
 Historical Monograph (1904). 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 35 
 
 England, though not uncommon in France. As 
 it happens, these are almost the only parts of the 
 house which remain to the present day practically 
 unaltered. After 1564 there was an interval of 
 some ten years before building again began and the 
 house was completed. 
 
 D 2 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 WILLIAM CECIL, LORD BURGHLEY (continued 
 
 Mary died on November 17th, 1558, and whi 
 the Lords of the Council arrived at Hatfield 
 announce Elizabeth's accession, they found th 
 Cecil had forestalled them. He had alreac 
 drawn up a memorandum of all the immedia 
 measures to be adopted for the security of tl 
 young Queen and for carrying on the business 
 the country. Moreover Elizabeth and he togeth 
 had decided upon the new ministers, Cecil himsf 
 being appointed Secretary of State. It was < 
 this occasion that the Queen addressed to him tl 
 often-quoted words : — 
 
 " I give you this charge, that you shall be of my Prh 
 Council, and content yourself to take pains for me and n 
 realm. This judgment I have of you, that you will n 
 be corrupted with any manner of gift ; and that you w 
 be faithful to the State ; and that, without respect of n 
 private will, you will give me that counsel that you thii 
 best ; and if you shall know anything necessary to 1 
 declared to me of secrecy, you shall show it to mys( 
 only ; and assure yourself I will not fail to ke< 
 taciturnity therein. And therefore herewith I chari 
 
 you." 1 
 
 He justified her confidence by forty years 1 
 loyal and honourable service. 
 
 1 HaringtQn, Nugts Antiques, ed. 1679, II. 311. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 37 
 
 One of the first things that claimed his attention 
 was the state of the Church, and the religious 
 settlement of 1559 was largely due to his modera- 
 tion and statesmanship. He had to steer his 
 course between the Romanists on the one hand and 
 the Puritans on the other, and the best proof of 
 the wisdom of his policy lies in the fact that each 
 party complained that he favoured the other. 
 His difficulties were increased by the fact that 
 Elizabeth was, at least at the beginning of her 
 reign, personally attracted to many of the rites 
 of the Roman Church, and was not easily 
 persuaded to go so far in the direction of reform 
 as Cecil thought necessary. The attitude of the 
 Bishops, however, made a settlement imperatively 
 necessary, and in April, 1559, the Act of Supremacy 
 which " restored to the Crown the ancient juris- 
 diction over the State Ecclesiastical " received the 
 Royal assent, after considerable opposition in the 
 House of Lords. The Act of Uniformity, which 
 enforced the use of the Revised Prayer Book, was 
 passed at the same time, and in the course of the 
 next two years, according to Strype, " the Church 
 of England was reduced to the same good state 
 wherein it was at the latter years of King Edward." 
 
 Even more credit is due to Cecil for his share in 
 bringing about an enduring peace with Scotland. 
 On the death of Henry I. of France in June, 1559, 
 Mary Stuart became Queen Consort, and her 
 pretensions to the throne of England could no 
 longer be ignored. Her mother, Mary of Guise, 
 was Regent in Scotland, and there was grave fear 
 
38 THE CECILS 
 
 lest that country should pass under French 
 domination. In order to avert this danger, Cecil 
 persuaded Elizabeth to send help to the Scottish 
 Protestants, who were hard pressed by the 
 Catholic party, supported by French troops. The 
 result was that the French army, which was 
 besieged in the town of Leith, was compelled to 
 surrender, and Sir William was sent with Dr. 
 Wotton as commissioners to arrange terms of 
 peace. The Treaty of Edinburgh which ensued 
 (July, 1560) was a triumph for Cecil's diplomacy 
 and statesmanship, and finally put an end to the 
 danger of French supremacy in Scotland. 
 
 On his return to London Cecil found himself 
 thrown into the background by Lord Robert 
 Dudley, who had become dominant at Court 
 during his absence ; and though he regained his 
 influence soon after, owing to the odium incurred 
 by Dudley after the death of Amy Robsart, his 
 difficulties from this time forward until the death 
 of his rival, in 1588, were enormously increased by 
 the unprincipled opposition of Dudley and his 
 faction. 
 
 In 1561 he was appointed Master of the Court of 
 Wards, an important and lucrative post involving 
 a great amount of work, as may be seen by the 
 innumerable letters connected with it which are 
 preserved among the Hatfield MSS. It was a 
 position which provided endless opportunities for 
 irregular emoluments and for tyrannical exactions. 
 Cecil reformed the procedure and executed his 
 office, says Camden, " providently for the benefit 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 39 
 
 of his Prince and the wards, for his own profit 
 moderately, and for the benefit of his followers 
 bountifully, yet without offence ; and in all 
 things with great commendations for his inte- 
 grity." 1 His impartiality and incorruptibility 
 were recognised on all sides. "In a case of 
 hearing," says his domestic biographer, " I had 
 rather of the two been his enemy. For if he leaned 
 any way, as willingly he never would, it was rather 
 to the foe; lest he might be taxed of partiality." 
 The same authority recurs to this characteristic 
 several times, being evidently much struck by the 
 fact that, as the Duchess of Suffolk put it in one of 
 her sprightly letters to Cecil, he would never " break 
 justice's head for friendship." 
 
 The onerous duties of this office, and the still 
 more responsible labours which fell to his lot as 
 Secretary, would have more than occupied most 
 men. But at this time Cecil was also a member 
 of Parliament for the county of Lincoln and 
 Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. The 
 latter post was by no means a sinecure, but gave 
 him so much trouble that in 1562 he wished to 
 resign, alleging his want of leisure, his unfitness for 
 the position, and above all the laxity and want of 
 uniformity in the religious observances in the 
 University. He was, however, persuaded to with- 
 draw his resignation, and two years later it was his 
 duty to superintend all the preparations for the 
 Queen's visit to Cambridge. He was then granted 
 the degree of M.A., and the same honour was 
 
 1 Annals, p. 495. 
 
4 o THE CECILS 
 
 awarded to him by the University of Oxford on 
 the occasion of the Queen's visit in 1566. 
 
 Moreover, his private affairs must have taken 
 up much of his time. Besides the house at 
 Burghley, where building was still in progress, he 
 had acquired Cecil House in the Strand, and " far 
 more beautifully increased it." This house, which 
 was also known as Burghley House and Exeter 
 House, was on the north side of the Strand, and 
 occupied a large site westward of what is now 
 Wellington Street. 1 It was not finished in July, 
 1561, when Cecil entertained the Queen to supper 
 there. In the letter to Herlle already quoted 
 (see p. 34) he says of it, " For my house in West- 
 minster, I think it so old as it should not stir any ; 
 many having of later times built larger by far, 
 both in city and country. And yet the building 
 thereof cost me the sale of lands worth £100 by 
 year, in Staffordshire, that I had of good King 
 Edward." 
 
 A far larger undertaking was the great house at 
 Theobalds, in Hertfordshire. 2 Cecil bought the 
 estate in 1563, and soon afterwards started 
 building and planting. As to this house, he says 
 that it was " begun by me with a mean measure, 
 but increased by occasions of her Majesty's often 
 coming ; whom to please I never would omit to 
 
 1 It must not be confused with another Exeter House, or another 
 Cecil House, which afterwards belonged to Sir Robert Cecil. See 
 Gotch, Homes of the Cecils, as before. 
 
 a For an account of Theobalds see Gotch, and also the Gentleman' s 
 Magazine, February, 1836, which contains an elaborate article by 
 J. G. Nichols. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 41 
 
 strain myself to more charges than building is. 
 And yet not without some special direction of her 
 Majesty. Upon fault found with the small 
 measure of her chamber (which was in good 
 measure for me), I was forced to enlarge a room 
 for a larger chamber : which need not be envied 
 of any for riches in it, more than the show of old 
 oaks and such trees, with painted leaves and 
 fruit." His domestic biographer also tells us of 
 Theobalds that " at the first he meant it but for 
 a little pile, as I have heard him say, but after he 
 came to entertain the Queen so often there, he 
 was enforced to enlarge it, rather for the Queen 
 and her grand train, and to set poor on work, than 
 for pomp and glory." 
 
 The first two courts — completing, probably, the 
 original plan of the house — were completed about 
 1570, and Cecil entertained Elizabeth there in 
 September, 1571. The final enlargement was 
 made between 1584 and 1588. 
 
 In every detail of these operations, both in 
 the building of the house and the laying out of 
 the grounds, Cecil was keenly and personally 
 interested. He frequently asked his corre- 
 spondents abroad to send him new books on 
 architecture and gardening, as well as " things 
 meet for his garden." 1 " He greatly delighted in 
 making gardens, fountains and walks," says his 
 
 1 Thus, on one occasion, Windebank, Thomas Cecil's tutor, sent him, 
 at his request, from Paris, " a lemon-tree in a tub, costing 15 crowns, 
 and 2 myrtle trees in pots, costing a crown each, with ample and curious 
 directions for the culture of these plants " (Cal. S. P. Dom., March 25th 
 and April Sth, 1562). 
 
42 THE CECILS 
 
 biographer, " which at Theobalds were perfected 
 most costly, beautifully and pleasantly ; where 
 one might walk two miles in the walks before he 
 came to their ends." The gardens are also 
 described by Hentzner, who visited them in 
 1598. 1 They were " encompassed with water, 
 large enough for one to have the pleasure of going 
 in a boat and rowing among the shrubs," and 
 there were labyrinths, a fountain with a marble 
 basin, "built semi-circularly," with statues of 
 the twelve Roman Emperors in white marble. 
 Hentzner also mentions a gallery, or cloister, on 
 the south side of the house, painted with the 
 Kings and Queens of England and, as we learn 
 from another account, with " the pedigree of 
 Lord Burghley and divers others ancient families " 
 as well as castles and battles. 2 
 
 The house itself must have been a noble pile, 
 with its three main courts, its great halls and 
 galleries, its richly ornamented ceilings and 
 chimney-pieces, and its beautiful tapestries. One 
 ceiling is described by a visitor 3 as containing 
 " the signs of the zodiac with the stars proper to 
 each," across which the sun was, by some ingenious 
 mechanism, made to pursue its course. " The 
 walls were decorated with trees, with bark so 
 artfully arranged that it was impossible to dis- 
 
 1 A translation of his Journey to England was issued by Horace 
 Walpole at the Strawberry Hill Press, 1 758. See Gentleman's Magazine, 
 February, 1836, p. 150 ; Clutterbuck's History of Hertfordshire, II. 88. 
 
 2 Parliamentary Survey taken in 1650. Quoted in Lysons' Environs 
 of London, IV. 33, sqq. ; and in the above-named authorities. 
 
 s The Duke of Wiirtemberg's secretary (1592). Quoted by Mr 
 Gotch. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 43 
 
 tinguish between the artificial and the natural ; 
 the birds themselves were deceived, and on the 
 windows being opened, perched themselves on 
 the trees and began to sing." Cecil delighted in 
 such conceits, and it is sad to think that of all 
 these glories no trace remains. No authentic 
 engraving even of the house exists, though some 
 idea of its size and magnificence may be obtained 
 from the plans made by John Thorpe in 1611, and 
 from the Parliamentary Survey of 1610. 1 
 
 For many years after Cecil's marriage with 
 Mildred Cooke they had no children. Then came 
 a daughter, Francisca, who did not long survive 
 her birth, and then, in 1556, another daughter, 
 Ann. On this occasion Sir Anthony Cooke writes 
 quaintly from abroad that " he is glad to hear his 
 daughter is well-delivered and although a son 
 might have been more welcome, yet the bringing 
 forth fruit twice in so few years and in this time 
 of her age [she was only just thirty], gives good 
 hope, though she were not happy at the begin- 
 ning." 2 Two boys were born, both named 
 William, in 1559 and 1561, but both died in 
 infancy. Then came Robert (1563), who suc- 
 ceeded his father as Secretary of State, and finally 
 a daughter, Elizabeth, to whom the Queen stood 
 sponsor (1564). 
 
 His eldest son, Thomas, the only child of his 
 first marriage, was a cause of great anxiety to 
 him. He had never been a favourite with his 
 
 1 The later history of the house is briefly related in Chapter X. 
 
 2 June 10th, 1557 (Hatfield MSS., I. 511). 
 
44 THE CECILS 
 
 father, and in 1561 he was sent to France with his 
 tutor to improve his mind. Of his subsequent 
 escapades some account will be given later, and 
 also of his marriage and subsequent career. 
 
 Meanwhile Mary Stuart, left a widow at the 
 age of eighteen through the death of Francis II., 
 had returned to Scotland in August, 1561, and 
 was for many years to be a thorn in the sides of 
 Elizabeth and Cecil. Herself the legitimate heir 
 to the English throne, she was the natural head 
 of the Catholic reaction and the centre of Catholic 
 intrigue. Her marriage with Darnley in 1565, 
 though apparently approved at first by Elizabeth, 
 raised the hopes of the Catholics throughout 
 Europe still further ; and the birth of her son 
 James in the following year, may well have 
 appeared as an assurance of ultimate victory. 
 From this catastrophe the country was saved by 
 the crimes and tragedies of the next few months. 
 The murder of Darnley and the marriage with 
 Bothwell alienated all Mary's friends, and her 
 capture and imprisonment on Loch Leven were 
 followed by her abdication in July, 1567. But 
 the troubles of the English government with 
 regard to Mary were only just beginning. With 
 her escape from Loch Leven and flight into 
 England they became acute. All the forces of 
 discontent rallied round her on her arrival in 
 England, and from this time onward Cecil, in 
 whom the Catholics at home and abroad had long 
 recognised the main obstacle to the realisation 
 of their hopes and of Mary's claims, was the object 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 45 
 
 of innumerable plots and was in constant danger 
 of his life — a fact which must be remembered in 
 judging his actions. 
 
 His chief opponents were the party of Norfolk, 
 who was scheming to marry Mary and to this end 
 seeking the aid of Spain ; and the northern lords, 
 who hated the " upstart " whose policy aimed at 
 creating a national monarchy, with a consequent 
 weakening of their authority and loss of their 
 feudal privileges. He had also exasperated the 
 Spaniards by his audacious seizure of a cargo of 
 treasure on board Spanish ships which had taken 
 refuge in English ports on their way to the Low 
 Countries — an act of violence to which, as he 
 anticipated, they were not in a position to retaliate 
 by war. Henceforward the Spanish Ambassador 
 intrigued incessantly against him, but as Cecil's 
 spies informed him of all that took place, he was 
 able to counteract his machinations. 
 
 One of the most serious plots for his destruction 
 was conceived in 1569, and in this, Dudley, now 
 Earl of Leicester, Norfolk, and the chief Catholic 
 lords were implicated. Sir Nicholas Throck- 
 morton, a follower of Leicester, advised that Cecil 
 should first be consigned to the Tower. "If he 
 were once shut up," he said, " men would open 
 their mouths to speak freely against him." The 
 plot failed, it is said, owing to Leicester himself 
 giving some hint of it to the Queen, who loyally 
 supported her minister throughout this critical 
 time. It is characteristic of Cecil that the dis- 
 covery of this plot made no difference in his 
 
46 THE CECILS 
 
 attitude to his colleagues, with whom he still 
 continued to work loyally. " I am in quietness of 
 mind," he writes to a friend, " as feeling the 
 nearness and readiness of God's favour to assist 
 me with His grace, to have a disposition to serve 
 Him before the world : and therein have I lately 
 proved His mere goodness to preserve me from 
 some clouds or mists, in the midst whereof I 
 trust mine honest actions are proved to have been 
 lightsome and clear. And to make this rule more 
 proper, I find the Queen's Majesty, my gracious 
 lady, without change of her old good meaning 
 towards me, and so I trust by God's goodness to 
 observe a continuance." He adds that " all my 
 lords " professed to bear him as much goodwill as 
 ever. This is one of the most remarkable testi- 
 monies to Cecil's character, that, however much 
 his opponents may have fought against him in 
 public, they all seem to have recognised his 
 intrinsic goodness and honesty of purpose. The 
 Duke of Norfolk, shortly before his execution, 
 wrote to the Queen, asking that Burghley might 
 act as a guardian to his " poor orphans," and 
 again two days later (January 23rd, 1572) 
 expressed his " comfort at hearing of the Queen's 
 intended goodness towards his poor unfortunate 
 brats and that she has christened them with such 
 an adopted father as Lord Burghley." 1 Another 
 of the conspirators, Lord Pembroke, made Cecil 
 one of his executors, and even Mary herself, 
 though she always looked on him as her chief 
 
 1 Hatfield MSS., II. 5. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 47 
 
 enemy, acknowledged his wisdom, and " wished it 
 might be her luck to get the friendship of so wise 
 a man." 1 
 
 Foiled in this attempt to get Cecil out of the 
 way, the Catholic lords, encouraged by the 
 Spanish Ambassador, and hoping for aid from 
 France, continued their preparations for the 
 Northern rebellion, which broke out in November 
 of the same year. It was promptly crushed and 
 was followed by the excommunication of Elizabeth 
 by the Pope in 1570. By this Bull Englishmen 
 were absolved from their oaths of allegiance and 
 were forced to choose between the Queen and the 
 Pope. They could no longer pretend to reconcile 
 loyalty to Elizabeth with intrigues in favour of 
 Mary. The Catholics did not, however, on this 
 account cease from their designs. 
 
 The Bull of Excommunication was posted on 
 the Bishop of London's door by John Felton, who 
 was subjected to torture and executed for high 
 treason. There is no doubt that Cecil authorised 
 the use of torture in this instance, 2 and for this he 
 has been justly censured. 3 Torture had never been 
 recognised as legal by the common law of England, 
 and had only been employed by Royal Warrant. 
 Its use had not been infrequent under Henry VIII. , 
 and several cases occurred in the two following 
 reigns. But it reached its culmination in the 
 latter part of the reign of Elizabeth, when, says 
 
 1 Hatfield MSS., I. 400 
 
 a Ibid., I. 473. 
 
 3 See Jessopp, as before, p. 21. 
 
48 THE CECILS 
 
 Hallam, " the rack in the Tower seldom stood 
 idle." J For this Cecil must be held mainly 
 responsible. In excuse it can only be alleged, 
 first that he never employed torture for its own 
 sake, or unless he believed that he could obtain 
 necessary information by so doing : and secondly, 
 that not only he personally, but what was of far 
 more importance, the Queen and the country were 
 in constant and dire peril from the diabolical 
 schemes of their unscrupulous enemies. Greatly 
 as we must regret that this stain should rest on his 
 character, we may be quite certain that he acted 
 as he did only under the conviction that the 
 interests of the country required it. 
 
 He was anything but a cruel man. Indeed at 
 this very time he treated the leaders of the Catholic 
 party with a magnanimity which amounted to 
 weakness. In spite of the participation of the 
 Duke of Norfolk 2 in the plots of the previous year, 
 and of his proposed marriage with Mary, with 
 whom he was still in constant correspondence, he 
 was released from the Tower in August. His 
 letters show that he owed his liberty to Cecil, who 
 even went so far as to offer him his sister-in-law, 
 Lady Hoby, in marriage. Possibly he may have 
 thought it advisable to conciliate his opponents, for 
 political reasons. 3 In June the appearance of a 
 Spanish fleet in the Channel, of which the osten- 
 
 1 See art. "Torture," in Encyclopedia Britannica, nthed., XXVII. 7. 
 
 2 Norfolk had been a Protestant, but at this time he professed himself 
 a Catholic ; on the scaffold he said he had always been a Protestant 
 (Pollard, History of England, 1547 — 1603, p. 298). 
 
 a He had several interviews with Mary herself at Chatsworth. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 49 
 
 sible purpose was to convey Anne of Austria from 
 Flanders to Spain, produced a panic in London ; 
 and one day in July the Queen was in such a state 
 of alarm and excitement that Cecil, on retiring to 
 his own apartment, cried to his wife in deep 
 distress, " O wife ! If God do not help us, we shall 
 be lost and undone. Get together all the jewels 
 and money you can, that you may follow me when 
 the time comes, for surely trouble is in store for 
 us." 1 Spain, however, was not ready to fight and 
 the danger passed away. 
 
 Next year Cecil's misplaced leniency towards 
 Norfolk was repaid by his participation in the 
 Ridolfi plot. This villainous conspiracy involved 
 the conquest of England by Spain, the assassina- 
 tion of Elizabeth and her great ministers, and the 
 elevation of Mary to the throne with Norfolk as 
 her consort. Cecil soon got wind of the scheme, 
 and with infinite patience and skill unravelled it 
 until he had sufficient evidence on which to work. 
 He then struck hard. The Duke of Norfolk was 
 sent to the Tower, other conspirators arrested, 
 and the Spanish Ambassador, Guerau de Spes, to 
 his unspeakable indignation and astonishment, 
 ignominiously expelled. His opinion of Cecil, as 
 expressed in the report of his embassy, is worth 
 quoting : — 
 
 " The principal person in the Council is William Cecil, 
 now Lord Burghley, a Knight of the Garter. He is a 
 man of mean sort, but very astute, false, lying and full of 
 
 1 Spanish State Papers. Quoted by Hume, p. 248. The authority 
 is the Spanish agent, de Guaras. 
 
 C. K 
 
50 THE CECILS 
 
 artifice. He is a great heretic and such a clownish 
 Englishman as to believe that all the Christian princes 
 joined together are not able to injure the sovereign of his 
 country, and he therefore treats their ministers with great 
 arrogance. This man manages the bulk of the business, 
 and by means of his vigilance and craftiness, together 
 with his utter unscrupulousness of word and deed, thinks 
 to outwit the ministers of other princes, which to some 
 extent he has hitherto succeeded in doing." 1 
 
 As the main plot failed, so did the attempt to 
 procure the assassination of Burghley himself. 
 The confession of Edmund Mather, one of the 
 conspirators, who stated that he was instigated 
 by the Spanish Ambassador, throws light on the 
 methods adopted. 
 
 " Of late," he writes, " I have upon discontent entered 
 into conspiracy with some others to slay your lordship. 
 And the time appointed, a man with a perfect hand 
 attended you three several times in your garden to have 
 slain your lordship." 
 
 That failing, they now intended to slay him 
 
 " with a shot upon the terrace, or else in coming late 
 from the Court with a pistolet. And being touched with 
 some remorse of so bloody a deed, in discharge of my 
 conscience and before God, I warn your lordship of these 
 evil and desperate meanings." 
 
 He adds, naively, " For the thanks I deserve, I 
 shall, I doubt not, but receive them hereafter at 
 your hands at more convenient time, when these 
 storms are past." 2 
 
 1 Quoted by Hume, p. 264. 
 
 2 Hatfield MSS., II., 1, 2. January 4th, 1572. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 51 
 
 The Duke of Norfolk, tried by a jury of peers, 
 was condemned to death in January, 1572, and in 
 spite of the reluctance of the Queen, who respited 
 him several times, he was executed in June. 
 With him the last surviving dukedom in England 
 became extinct. 
 
 Meanwhile, early in 1571, Sir William Cecil had 
 been raised to the peerage under the title of 
 Baron of Burghley.* The Queen, as Fuller says, 
 " honoured her honours by conferring them 
 sparingly," and this is the only instance during 
 her reign of the ennobling of a man who was not 
 an aristocrat by birth. The elevation was not of 
 his own seeking, and he does not seem to have 
 taken much pride in it. In a letter to Nicholas 
 White, a member of the Privy Council in Ireland, 
 he writes, " my style is Lord of Burghley, if you 
 mean to know it, for your writing, and if you list 
 to write truly, the poorest lord in England : " 
 and in letters to Walsingham at about the same 
 time he says, " My style of my poor degree is 
 Lord of Burleigh," and again, " Your assured 
 loving friend William Cecil : I forgot my new 
 word, William Burleigh." But even his enemies 
 were agreed that the honour was well deserved, and 
 the Bishop of Ross, Mary's confidential minister, 
 echoed the general opinion when he wrote, •" Your 
 virtue, wisdom and experience has merited that 
 and much more ; and happy is that commonwealth 
 where the magistrates are so selected : et quum aut 
 
 1 Also written " Burleigh " ; but " Burghley " is the spelling 
 officially adopted. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE CECILS 
 
 sapientes gubemant, aut gubernantes philoso- 
 phantur." 
 
 In the following year he received still further 
 marks of the Royal favour. Not only was he made 
 a Knight of the Garter, but on the death of the 
 Marquis of Winchester, he succeeded to his post 
 as Lord High Treasurer, an office which he 
 retained for the remaining twenty-six years of 
 his life. 
 
 If Burghley was as poor as he pretended, his 
 poverty must have been owing to the enormous 
 expenditure on his houses and estates. The two 
 principal courts of Theobalds were only lately 
 completed, and from this time onward the Queen 
 visited him there almost every year, staying 
 generally three or four days, but sometimes as 
 long as a fortnight. On these occasions the 
 entertainment was on a lavish scale, and the cost 
 was very great. We are told that " his lordship's 
 extraordinary charge in entertainment of the 
 Queen was greater to him than to any of her 
 subjects, for he entertained her at his house 
 twelve several times, which cost him two or three 
 thousand pounds each time. But his love for 
 his sovereign and joy to entertain her and her 
 train was so great, as he thought no trouble, care, 
 nor cost too much and all too little." l 
 
 The same authority tells us that he kept two 
 principal houses, one at London, and one at 
 Theobalds, " though he was at charge both at 
 Burghley and at Court." He must have spent 
 
 1 Peck, as before. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 53 
 
 most of his time in London, but even when he was 
 not at Theobalds he kept a staff of about thirty 
 servants there permanently, at a weekly charge 
 of twelve pounds. " He also relieved there daily 
 20 or 30 poor people at the gate, and besides gave 
 weekly in money, by Mr. Neale, his lordship's 
 chaplin, vicar of Cheshunt, twenty shillings to the 
 poor there. The weekly charge in setting poor 
 on work as weeders, labourers, etc. came to ten 
 pounds. And so his weekly charge at Theobalds 
 (his household being at London) was twenty-two 
 pounds." This charge was increased to " fourscore 
 pounds in a week " when he was at Theobalds, in 
 addition to the cost of his stable, which was 
 " yearly a thousand marks at the least." At the 
 same time, he kept ordinarily in his household in 
 London fourscore persons, at a charge of thirty 
 pounds a week, which increased ten or twelve 
 pounds a week when he was in London. 
 
 At Burghley, building operations had been 
 suspended for some years, though no doubt con- 
 stant improvements in the gardens and estate 
 were being made. 
 
 As before said, the house belonged to the Lord 
 Treasurer's mother, but she does not seem to have 
 taken up her abode there permanently till 1573. 
 On May 26th of that year, Peter Kemp, the 
 steward, writes that, " within ten days my mistress, 
 your mother, doth mean to go to Burghley for 
 altogether. I have almost finished her chamber 
 to her contentation. She giveth you hearty 
 thanks for your courtesy shewed her in your 
 
54 THE CECILS 
 
 letter. She did weep for joy when I read it to 
 her." l 
 
 Soon after this, building must have begun again, 
 as in September, 1575, Kemp writes asking for 
 " the upright of the face 2 of the house his 
 lordship intends building, as the workmen are 
 almost at a standstill for want of it." The addi- 
 tions now begun were to include the quadrangle 
 and the North, South and West fronts, and the 
 house was not completed until 1587. 
 
 Burghley house remains, so far as the outside 
 is concerned, very much as its builder left it, only 
 some outbuildings having been pulled down. It 
 is a typical example of late Elizabethan architec- 
 ture, and is imposing rather than beautiful. The 
 interior has been very much altered and re- 
 decorated, so that little of the original work 
 remains. There are, however, some fine ceilings 
 by Verrio, who is said to have lived at Burghley 
 for twelve years while engaged on them, and by 
 Laguerre, and there is some carving by Grinling 
 Gibbons. All of this, as well as the great collection 
 of pictures and other works of art, date from the 
 time of the fifth Earl of Exeter. 
 
 In addition to its tapestries, furniture, pictures 
 and miniatures, Burghley is famous for its plate, 
 which includes five silver-gilt dishes, used by the 
 successive Earls as hereditary Grand Almoners, 
 at coronations, as well as one which Lord Exeter 
 
 1 Hatfield MSS., II. 52. 
 
 2 I.e., the " elevation." Mr. Gotch seems to have overlooked this 
 letter (Hatfield^MSS., II. in), when he gives 1577 as the date of 
 beginning the final enlargement. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 55 
 
 had made in commemoration of the coronation of 
 Edward VII. 1 
 
 The grounds were originally laid out on a large 
 scale. There were enclosed courts on three sides 
 of the house, and on the south extensive pleasure- 
 gardens, formally arranged and including several 
 ponds, a bowling-green, a mount, the " Bantam 
 Grove," wilderness, pheasantry, melon-ground and 
 wilderness. Beyond was the park of 1,500 acres, 
 planted with long and wide avenues, the whole 
 forming a dignified and beautiful setting to the 
 house. All of this was ruthlessly swept away by 
 " Capability " Brown, who destroyed so many of 
 our finest gardens in the last half of the eighteenth 
 century, and the house now rises baldly out of the 
 grass. 2 
 
 Burghley's incessant work was already telling 
 on his health. He had always been subject to 
 attacks of gout and fever, and in the spring of 
 1572 he had a serious illness, so that at one time 
 his life was despaired of. After this attacks 
 became more and more frequent, and he was 
 inundated with extraordinary remedies for gout 
 sent him by various correspondents. In 1575 he 
 went to Buxton, where he met the Queen of Scots, 
 who had received permission to visit that watering- 
 place for the benefit of her health. Burghley's 
 enemies at Court took the opportunity to insinuate 
 
 1 See Victoria County History, Northamptonshire, II. 524 — 526. 
 
 2 The present Lord and Lady Exeter have done something to remedy 
 the evil ; they have made a formal garden on the south of the house, 
 a new rose garden and other improvements, 
 
56 THE CECILS 
 
 suspicions concerning this visit in the Queen's ear, 
 and with some success, for on his return he writes 
 to the Earl of Shrewsbury : — 
 
 " I had very sharp reproofs for my going to Buxton, 
 with plain charging of me for favouring the Queen of 
 Scots ; and that in so earnest a sort as I never looked for, 
 knowing my integrity to her Majesty, but specially 
 knowing how contrariously the Queen of Scots conceived 
 of me for many things passed to the offence of the Queen 
 of Scots." 
 
 Burghley even thought it prudent to decline a 
 proposed match between his daughter Elizabeth, 
 then nine years of age, and a son of the Earl 
 of Shrewsbury, who, as guardian of Mary, 
 was supposed to have been privy to what was 
 going on. 1 
 
 The Lord Treasurer paid several other visits to 
 Buxton — where, if we may judge from a letter 
 written by the Earl of Leicester in the summer of 
 1577, he did not always submit himself to the 
 discipline necessary for a cure. Leicester and his 
 brother thought the water would be good for him, 
 " but not if he does as they hear he did last time, 
 take great journeys abroad, 10 or 12 miles a day, 
 and use liberal diet, with dinners and suppers. 
 
 1 In this year also another offer was made for the hand of Elizabeth 
 Cecil by the Earl of Essex, on behalf of his eldest son (then aged six). 
 Essex died in 1576, and the day before his death he wrote a pathetic 
 letter, asking that his son might be brought up in Burghley's household, 
 so that he might grow up " to reverence your Lordship for your wisdom 
 and gravity and lay up your commands and advices in the treasury of 
 his heart." " It is sad to consider," says Hume, " that the son grew 
 up to be the enemy of his father's friend : to succeed, in his enmity, 
 the vile Leicester, who dishonoured his mother and deliberately ruined 
 his father," 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 57 
 
 They take another way, dining two or three 
 together now Lord Pembroke is there, having 
 but one dish or two at most and taking the air 
 afoot or on horseback, moderately," Whether 
 Burghley followed this advice we cannot say, but 
 he went to Buxton in July and at Leicester's 
 request sent the Queen a " tun of Buxton water." 
 Elizabeth's reception of it was characteristic. 
 " Your water is safely arrived," wrote the Earl, 
 " and I told her Majesty of it, who now it is come, 
 seemeth not to make any great account of it. 
 And yet she more than twice or thrice commanded 
 me earnestly to write to you for it, and after I had 
 done so asked me sundry times whether I had 
 remembered it or no, but it seems her Majesty doth 
 mistrust it will not be of the goodness here it is 
 there ; beside, somebody told her there was some 
 bruit of it about, as though her Majesty had had 
 some sore leg. Such like devices made her half 
 angry with me now for sending to you for it." 
 
 At this time Burghley's anxieties were aggra- 
 vated by the behaviour of his son-in-law, the 
 Earl of Oxford. Ann Cecil had been betrothed in 
 1569, at the age of thirteen, to Sir Philip Sidney, 
 and the settlements for the proposed marriage are 
 preserved at Hatfield. The arrangement, how- 
 ever, fell through, and in 1571 she was married 
 with much pomp to Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, 
 who had been brought up as a Royal ward in 
 Burghley's household. " Th' Erie of Oxenforde 
 hath gotten him a wyffe," wrote Lord St. John, 
 " or at the leste a wyffe hath caught him. This is 
 
58 THE CECILS 
 
 Mrs. Anne Cycille, whereunto the Queen hath 
 gyven her consent." The Earl was eccentric, 
 extravagant and dissolute, and the result was such 
 as an affectionate parent might have foreseen. 
 During Oxford's absence on the Continent in 
 1575 — 1576, he received some reports which 
 disturbed him, and coming home at Burghley's 
 request, he behaved in a most extraordinary 
 manner, refusing to see his wife, or to formulate 
 any grounds of complaint against her. In April, 
 1576, he writes to Burghley that : — 
 
 " Until he can better satisfy himself concerning certain 
 ' mislikes ' he is not determined to accompany her. What 
 these are he will not publish until it shall please him, 
 neither will he weary his life any more with such troubles 
 and molestations as he has endured, nor to please his 
 lordship discontent himself. With regard to his lord- 
 ship's offer to receive her into his own house, it doth very 
 well content him, for there, as his lordship's daughter 
 (or her mother's), rather than as his wife, his lordship 
 may take comfort of her and he himself be well rid of the 
 cumber, whereby he doubts not he will be well eased of 
 many griefs. She hath a sufficient portion for her 
 maintenance." 
 
 He expresses his regret that this had not been 
 arranged by private conference without thus 
 becoming " the fable of the world and raising 
 open suspicions, to his wife's disgrace and to his 
 own increased misliking." * 
 
 1 Hatfield MSS., II. 375. The same volume contains many docu- 
 ments dealing with this subject, including notes by Burghley of his 
 proposals for the separate maintenance of the Countess, memoranda of 
 the " good offices rendered by him from time to time to the Earl and 
 the latter's subsequent ingratitude," and notes of the amount of money 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 59 
 
 Some sort of reconciliation took place soon after, 
 as we hear of the Earl and Countess going to 
 Theobalds in the following December, " 28 servants 
 with them " ; but Oxford continued to lead a life 
 of dissipation and to treat his wife with great 
 cruelty, while his extravagance was a source of 
 constant expense to Burghley until the death of 
 his daughter in 1589. " No enemy I have," he 
 wrote to Walsingham two years before, " can envy 
 this match." 
 
 expended on his behalf. It may be mentioned that the children of this 
 union were two sons, who died in the lifetime of their father, and three 
 daughters, of whom Elizabeth married the sixth Earl of Derby : Bridget 
 married the Earl of Berkshire (ancestor of the present Earl of Abing- 
 don) : and Susan, the youngest, married the fourth Earl of Pembroke. 
 Oxford's quarrel with Sir Philip Sidney is historic. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 WILLIAM CECIL, LORD BURGHLEY (continued) 
 
 The years which followed the discovery of the 
 Ridolfi plot, if less critical for the nation, were 
 years of strenuous work and anxiety for Burghley. 
 At home he had to contend with incessant intrigues 
 on the part of Leicester and his party, and with 
 the dangers arising from the continued activity of 
 the Catholics, which culminated in the Jesuit 
 mission of Campion and Parsons. Abroad the 
 complications following the massacre of St. 
 Bartholomew, and the progress of the conflict 
 between Protestantism and Catholicism in France, 
 Holland and Germany produced a situation which 
 would have required all Burghley's caution and 
 far-seeing statesmanship to grapple with, even 
 if it had not been rendered immeasurably more 
 difficult and dangerous by the tortuous diplomacy 
 of Elizabeth. For eleven years the Queen kept 
 up negotiations for marriage with the Duke of 
 Anjou, using him as a pawn in her game, and giving 
 endless anxiety to her ministers, who, on the all- 
 important matters of the Queen's marriage and 
 the succession to the throne, were kept in a per- 
 petual state of uncertainty. 
 
 This period was marked by the increasing 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 61 
 
 prosperity of the country and by the voyages of 
 Drake and other seamen, and Burghley's connec- 
 tion with and attitude towards these matters must 
 be briefly defined. From his earliest days of 
 authority he had done everything in his power 
 to encourage the trading classes and to protect 
 and expand commerce. In the first year of his 
 Secretaryship, under Edward VI., he had done 
 away with the privileges of the merchants of the 
 Stillyard, to the great advantage of English 
 traders. Soon after the accession of Elizabeth, 
 he was responsible for the reform of the currency, 
 fine silver coin being substituted for the base 
 money issued by her predecessors ; and by this 
 measure, aided by economy in administration and 
 the prevention of waste, he had in a very short 
 time reduced the financial chaos to order and 
 restored the national credit. He was always on 
 the look-out for an opportunity to introduce new 
 industries, and established communities for foreign 
 weavers in Stamford and other towns. 
 
 Above all he encouraged and subsidised ship- 
 building and foreign trade. " A realm can never 
 be rich," he said, " that hath not an intercourse 
 and trade of merchandise with other nations," 
 and he added a maxim often forgotten at the 
 present day, " A realm must needs be poor that 
 carryeth not out more than it bringeth in." 1 
 When the Spanish Ambassador complained of 
 English expeditions to the Gold Coast, Cecil 
 replied, " that the Pope had no right to partition 
 
 1 Peck. 
 
62 THE CECILS 
 
 the world and to give and take kingdoms," 1 and 
 when the Portuguese Ambassador made a similar 
 protest he was told that, " the Queen does not 
 acknowledge the right of the King of Portugal 
 to forbid the subjects of another prince from 
 trading where they like, and she will take care 
 that her subjects are not worse treated in the 
 King of Portugal's dominions than his are in 
 hers." 2 At the same time he refused to counten- 
 ance piracy in any form, not only because it might 
 lead to war, but also because of its bad effect on 
 legitimate trade. 
 
 It is not true to say that he was unsympathetic 
 towards the magnificent achievements of the 
 Elizabethan seamen. Though he was not one of 
 those who would give up everything 
 
 " To try the sea and win undying fame," 
 
 he could acknowledge and appreciate the achieve- 
 ments of others, so long as they did not interfere 
 with the political and commercial interests which 
 it was his duty to guard. In the case of Drake's 
 famous voyage in the Golden Hind (1577 — 1580), 
 " the Queen had forbiden any revelation of the 
 voyage to Burghley, who wished to avoid the risk 
 of an open breach with Spain ; and Drake felt 
 that he had been encouraged by Leicester and 
 Walsingham in order that his aggression might 
 frustrate Burghley's efforts for peace." 8 Burghley, 
 of course, found out all about the expedition, and 
 
 1 Cal. S. P. Spanish. November 27th, 1561. 
 a Cal. S. P. Foreign. April 8th, 1561. 
 8 Pollard, p. 319. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 63 
 
 as he could not forbid it, he sent Doughty with it 
 as his secret agent, instructing him, one must 
 suppose, to thwart Drake's plans in every way. 
 The tragic sequel is well known. Doughty was 
 executed in St. Julian's Bay, after numerous acts 
 of insubordination, and Drake proceeded on his 
 voyage round the world, returning after nearly 
 three years with his ship filled with Spanish 
 treasures, of which, very naturally, the Lord 
 Treasurer refused to accept a share. 
 
 As time went on, Burghley's position became 
 more and more difficult and burdensome to him. 
 His increasing years and constant ill-health would 
 have been enough in themselves to justify him 
 in seeking some diminution of his labours. A far 
 greater source of trouble was that he was no 
 longer able to guide the affairs of the nation as he 
 wished. His opponents in the Council were be- 
 coming more powerful, and his friend and colleague 
 Walsingham, who had taken his place as Secretary 
 in 1581, now added his influence to that of Leicester 
 and encouraged the Queen in a policy which could 
 only result in war with Spain. 
 
 The death of William Wentworth, who had 
 married his daughter Elizabeth in 1582, and fell 
 a victim to the plague at Theobalds a few months 
 later; and the fact that his friend the Earl of 
 Sussex lay dying, 1 must have added to his 
 
 1 He died in June, 1583. The relations between the two men are 
 shown in their correspondence. See, especially, a letter from Sussex 
 (June 28th, 1580), in which, acknowledging a letter written by Burghley 
 to the Countess, he says : " Both she and I do love, honour and rever- 
 ence you as a father, and will do you all service we can, as far as any 
 
64 THE CECILS 
 
 sorrow and depression. It is not surprising, 
 therefore, that in the spring of 1583 he should have 
 sought permission to resign ; nor can we wonder, 
 on the other hand, that the request should have 
 been refused. For Elizabeth, however much she 
 might suffer herself to be influenced by his enemies, 
 relied at heart upon Burghley's " sound, deep 
 judgment and counsel," well knowing that, as she 
 told Sussex a few years before, " no prince in 
 Europe had such a councillor as she had." 
 
 During these years the intrigues and plots of 
 the Catholics continued without intermission. 
 The " Jesuit invasion " of Campion and Parsons 
 in 1581, though in itself a complete failure, roused 
 the nation to fury, and the discovery of plot after 
 plot to assassinate the Queen, or to raise a revolt 
 in favour of Mary, led to rigorous measures of 
 repression, which Burghley was powerless to 
 prevent, though he was able in some degree to 
 mitigate their severity. 
 
 His enemies took advantage of his moderation to 
 spread reports that he was hostile to the cause of 
 Protestantism. He was also charged with mono- 
 polising the Queen's patronage, absorbing the 
 government into his own hand, amassing enormous 
 wealth by encroaching on the realm and the 
 Commons, compelling all suitors to apply to him 
 for justice, and making England in fact " regnum 
 Caecilianum." x Burghley was informed of these 
 
 child you have, with heart and hand, and so pray you to dispose of us 
 both " {Hatfield MSS., II. 326). 
 
 1 Froude, History of England, XII. 132, note. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 65 
 
 accusations by his confidential agent, William 
 Herlle, and his indignation bursts out in his 
 reply :— 
 
 " I may say truly," he Writes, " acuerunt linguas suas 
 sicut serpentes ; venerium aspidum sub labris eorum. If 
 they think me guilty they need not fear to accuse me, for 
 I am not worthy to continue in this place : but I will yield 
 myself worthy not only to be removed but to be punished 
 as an example to all others. If they cannot prove all the 
 lies they utter, let them make any one point wherewith 
 to prove me guilty of falsehood, injustice, bribery, 
 dissimulation, double-dealing in advice in Council 
 either with her Majesty or with her councillors. 
 . . . They that say in a rash and malicious mockery 
 that England is now become regnum Caecilianum, may 
 please their cankered humours with such a device, but if 
 my actions be considered, if there be any cause given by 
 me of such a nickname, they may be found out in many 
 other juster causes to attribute other names than mine." 
 
 He goes on to speak of his houses at Theobalds, 
 Burghley and in the Strand, 1 and then proceeds to 
 complain of the small rewards he had received from 
 the Queen for all his long services. The fee for the 
 Treasurership was no more than it had been for 
 three hundred years, and would not answer the 
 charges of his stable. He had been obliged to sell 
 land of his own to pay his expenses at Court. The 
 hardest part of the public business was thrown 
 upon him. Yet of the good things which the 
 Queen had to bestow nothing had fallen to 
 kinsman, servant, or follower of the house of 
 Cecil. 
 
 1 These portions of the letter have already been quoted, pp. 34, 40. 
 C. F 
 
66 THE CECILS 
 
 " In very truth," he says, " I know my credit in such 
 cases so mean, and others I find so earnest and able to 
 obtain anything, that I do utterly forbear to move for any. 
 Whereupon many, my good friends, do justly challenge 
 me as unwise, that I seek to place neither man nor woman 
 in the chamber nor without to serve her Majesty, whereby 
 I might do my friends good ; and therefore indeed I have 
 few partial friends, and so I find the want thereof." 1 
 
 As war with Spain became more and more 
 certain, so did the presence of Mary in England, 
 as a focus of intrigue, become more evidently a 
 source of danger that must be removed. The 
 discovery of her complicity in the villainous 
 Babington plot was all that was now needed to 
 seal her fate. It was this which convinced 
 Burghley, who had hitherto been favourably 
 disposed to her, that her presence could no longer 
 be tolerated. Elizabeth was reluctantly forced to 
 the same conclusion, though, as in the case of the 
 Duke of Norfolk, she wished to avoid the responsi- 
 bility for her death. When she heard that the 
 execution, the warrant for which she had signed, 
 had actually been carried out, she flew into a 
 rage with all her ministers, and Davison, who, as 
 Secretary, was technically responsible, was made 
 a scapegoat ; he was deprived of his office, heavily 
 fined and ruined for life. Burghley himself fell into 
 deep disgrace, though how far the Queen's rage 
 was real and how far assumed for the sake of 
 appearances, it is difficult to say. It is certain at 
 
 1 Burghley to Herlle, August 14th, 1585 (S. P. Bom. Elizabeth. 
 CLXXXI. No. 42). The portion here given is quoted by Froude, XII. 
 132, note. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 67 
 
 any rate that he was obliged to retire from Court 
 for some months, and that he wrote complaining 
 that she " doth utter more heavy, hard, bitter and 
 minatory speeches against me than against any 
 other." 1 He begged to be allowed to plead his 
 excuses in person, but when at last he obtained an 
 audience, the Queen heaped him with indignities, 
 calling him " traitor, false dissembler, and wicked 
 wretch," so that he again withdrew, until he was 
 finally induced by Sir Christopher Hatton to 
 return. 
 
 If Elizabeth hoped to deceive anyone at home 
 or abroad by such conduct, she failed. The 
 character of Lord Burghley was too well known 
 for it to be supposed that, in so important a 
 matter, he had acted against her wishes. Sir 
 Edward Stafford describes the effect of her 
 behaviour on opinion at the French Court : — 
 
 " I am very sorry to hear that her Majesty continues so 
 offended with your lordship. She does herself and her 
 service great harm. I assure you it is nuts to them here to 
 hear it ; and yet for that respect she doth it, it rather doth 
 harm than good, and particularly her evil countenance 
 to you that makes the thing less believed than anything 
 else ; for all that she can do cannot persuade them here 
 that your lordship could ever be brought to do anything 
 against her express will. Those that loved the Queen of 
 Scots best will not be persuaded that you have advanced 
 her days a minute more than the Queen willed, nor bear 
 you any speech of evil will for it." 2 
 
 1 His letters to Elizabeth at this time may be found in Strype's 
 Annals, II. 371 — 374. 
 
 2 Stafford to Burghley, April 4th, 1587 (S. P. France). Quoted by 
 Froude, XII. 356, note. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 THE CECILS 
 
 Burghley still endeavoured to exert his diplo- 
 macy in the cause of peace, but his efforts were 
 continually thwarted by Leicester and his party, 
 who longed for war and plunder. When war 
 could no longer be postponed, and reports of 
 Spanish preparations caused anxiety and alarm in 
 England, he remained calm and confident. " His 
 courage never failed," says his domestic biographer. 
 " In times of greatest danger he ever spake most 
 cheerfully, and when some did often talk fearfully 
 of the greatness of our enemies and of their power 
 and possibility to harm us, he would ever answer, 
 ' they shall do no more than God will suffer 
 them.' " As usual in a crisis the Queen drove 
 her ministers distracted by her parsimony, her 
 irritability, and her vacillation ; and it was well 
 for the country that a man of Burghley's imper- 
 turbable composure was at the head of the Govern- 
 ment. The lion's share of the work of organising 
 the defence fell to him, and in spite of constant 
 illness — so that, as he wrote to Walsingham, " I 
 have no mind towards anything but to groan with 
 my pain " — he was engaged in unremitting labour 
 until the defeat of the Armada relieved the 
 immediate strain. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the death of Leicester 
 removed his life-long rival. Two years later 
 Walsingham, the other chief member of the 
 aggressive party, though a statesman of a very 
 different type, also died, leaving Burghley and 
 his friends predominant in the Council. 
 
 Death had also been busy in his family circle. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 69 
 
 In March, 1588, his mother died at Burghley 
 House, at the age of eighty-seven. On her monu- 
 ment in St. Martin's, Stamford, she is described as 
 " a very grave, religious, virtuous and worthy 
 matron," who " delighted exceedingly in the works 
 of piety and charity. She was crowned with much 
 honour and comfort and by God's great blessing 
 she lived to see her children and her children's 
 children to the fourth and fifth generation l and 
 that in a plentiful and honourable succession." 
 
 A few weeks later he lost his daughter Ann, the 
 Countess of Oxford, and in the following year 
 (April 4th, 1589) his cup of sorrow was filled to 
 overflowing by the death of his dearly-loved wife, 
 with whom he had lived in uninterrupted happiness 
 for forty-three years. Lady Burghley and her 
 daughter were both buried in Westminster Abbey 
 and Burghley composed a long Latin inscription 
 for their tomb. He also wrote a very interesting 
 Meditation on the Death of his Lady, which is still 
 extant 2 ; much of it is taken up with an account 
 of her various gifts and charities, which she kept 
 secret from her husband during her lifetime. The 
 document concludes with the words : " written at 
 Colling's Lodge by me in sorrow." 
 
 From this great affliction Burghley never 
 entirely recovered, and henceforward a certain 
 
 1 This is an exaggeration. Her eldest great-grandson, William, son 
 of Thomas, was not married until January, 1589, so that there were no 
 children of the fourth generation at the time of her death. The 
 monument, which is of white alabaster, 13 feet high, has figures of 
 Richard and Jane Cecil kneeling at a desk, with their three daughters 
 below. 
 
 8 Among the Lansdowne MSS. at the British Museum (C III. 51). 
 
7 o THE CECILS 
 
 melancholy pervaded his mind. His incessant 
 work told upon him more than ever, and once 
 more he vainly sought permission to retire. For 
 the last ten years of his life, however, he had the 
 help and loyal support of his son Robert, who after 
 the death of Walsingham, practically undertook 
 the duties of Secretary, though he was not form- 
 ally appointed to the post till 1596. Father and 
 son worked excellently together, and were on 
 terms of absolute confidence and affection. And 
 it was well that they were so ; for as Burghley's 
 infirmities increased, so did the malice of his 
 enemies become more and more persistent. In the 
 Council, Essex, on whom had fallen the mantle of 
 Leicester, followed the example of his father-in- 
 law by endeavouring to thwart the Cecils on every 
 possible occasion ; and among his chief adherents 
 were Francis and Anthony Bacon, whose hostility 
 to their uncle and cousin was bitter and un- 
 scrupulous. 
 
 The country was still torn by religious diffi- 
 culties. On the one hand, Archbishop Whitgift, 
 with the full approval of Elizabeth, was perse- 
 cuting the Puritans with a severity against which 
 Burghley protested in vain. On one memorable 
 occasion, when the two leaders of the Brownists, 
 Barrow and Greenwood, had been condemned to 
 death for sedition (1593), he sent a reprieve at the 
 last moment. " No papist had suffered for reli- 
 gion," he said, " and Protestants' blood should 
 not be the first shed, at least before an attempt 
 be made to convince them." In spite of his 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 71 
 
 efforts, however, Whitgift and the Bishops had 
 their way, and the condemned men were hanged 
 a week later. 
 
 On the other hand, the Jesuits and seminarists 
 renewed their activity and their plots against the 
 Queen and the constitution, and they in their turn 
 were met by severe methods of repression. To 
 these intriguers, who were repudiated by the 
 secular priests and the Catholic laity in England, 
 Burghley showed no mercy, but, as he says in a 
 letter written in reply to, and quoted by, the spy 
 Standen, only those who professed themselves by 
 obedience to the Pope to be no subjects to the 
 Queen were punished by death. It was the 
 political, not the religious offence, which to him 
 was intolerable. 
 
 In spite of his increasing years and failing health, 
 Burghley continued to attend to the business of 
 the State to the end. His letters to his son during 
 the last four years of his life tell a tale of un- 
 impaired devotion to the Queen and the country, 
 and are full of pathetic humour. In December, 
 1595, he writes that he is ready to attend the 
 Council, but must presume to keep his chamber, 
 " not as a potentate, but as an impotent aged 
 man." But, he adds, " if the Queen will not 
 mislike to have so bold a person to lodge in her 
 house, I will come as I am (in body, not half a 
 man, but in mind, passable)." He is obliged to 
 sign his letter with a stamp " for want of a right 
 hand." He is fond of making little jokes about 
 his health : "lam but as a monoculus, by reason 
 
72 THE CECILS 
 
 of a flux falling into my left eye," he writes to 
 Essex, in July, 1597, and in October of the same 
 year, in a letter to his son, "lam worse since my 
 physic, being now ^ovoirovs and ^ovoxa-p but not 
 monoculus." On his seventy-seventh birthday he 
 writes, " to my verie lovyng sonne Sir Robert 
 Cecile Kt. . . . Though my body be this very 
 day at the period of iij xx xvij years, and therefore 
 far unable to travel either with my body or with 
 lively spirits, yet I find myself so bound with the 
 superabundant kindness of her Majesty in dis- 
 pensing with my disabilities as, God permitting me, 
 I will be at Westminster to-morrow in the after- 
 noon, ready to attend the lords. — Your old loving 
 father, W. Burghley." 
 
 It is a mistake to speak of Burghley being left 
 alone and unfriended in his old age. It is true 
 that he outlived the friends of his youth and 
 manhood, but he was a man of strong family affec- 
 tion — a characteristic of the Cecil family — and 
 rejoiced in the company of his children and grand- 
 children. " All your offspring are here, merry," 
 he writes to Sir Robert from Theobalds a year 
 before his death, and the numerous children and 
 grandchildren of Sir Thomas Cecil were no doubt 
 often with him. " If he could get his table set 
 round with young little children, he was then in 
 his kingdom," says his domestic biographer. " He 
 was happy in most worldly things, but most happy 
 in his children and children's children. He had 
 his own children, grandchildren and great-grand- 
 children ordinarily at his table, sitting about 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 73 
 
 him, like the olive branches .. . . wherein he 
 would many times rejoice as in one of God's great 
 blessings." The last letter which he wrote with 
 his own hand was addressed to Sir Robert (July 
 10th, 1598), and shows the Queen's care for her 
 old minister : 
 
 " Though I know you count it your duty in nature so 
 continually to show you careful of my state of health, yet 
 were I also unnatural, if I should not take comfort 
 thereby, and to beseech Almighty God to bless you with 
 supply of such blessings, as I cannot, in this infirmity, 
 yield you. Only I pray you diligently and effectually let 
 her Majesty understand, how her singular kindness doth 
 overcome my power to acquit it ; who, though she will not 
 be a mother, yet she sheweth herself, by feeding me with 
 her own princely hand, as a careful nurse. And if I may 
 be weaned to feed myself, I shall be more ready to serve 
 her on the earth. If not, I hope to be in heaven a servitor 
 for her and God's Church. And so I thank you for your 
 partritches. Serve God by serving of the Queen ; for all 
 other service is indeed bondage to the devil. 
 
 " Your languishing father, 
 
 " W. BURGHLEY." 
 
 The end came on August 4th, 1598. The 
 previous evening he was seized with convulsions, 
 and exclaimed, " Now the Lord be praised, the 
 time is come." He then called his children 
 together, " and blessed them and took his leave, 
 commanding them to love and fear God and love 
 one another ; he also prayed for the Queen that 
 she might live long and die in peace." He lin- 
 gered on until the early morning, and at eight 
 o'clock passed peacefully away. The funeral 
 
74 THE CECILS 
 
 ceremony was performed in Westminster Abbey 
 " with all the rites that belonged to so great a 
 personage," the number of mourners exceeding five 
 hundred ; the body was then taken to Stamford and 
 buried in St. Martin's Church, where between the 
 north aisle and the chancel stands a fine monu- 
 ment to his memory. 1 
 
 To the Queen, the death of her old and trusted 
 minister — Pater pads patrice, as she called him at 
 his funeral 2 — was a severe blow, and on hearing 
 the news she burst into tears. She had treated 
 him as she treated no one else, allowing him to sit 
 in her presence, and saying, " My lord, we make 
 much of you not for your bad legs, but for your 
 good head." She used to visit him when ill, and 
 would hold the Council in his chamber. On one 
 occasion the story goes that she went to see him 
 at Cecil House, wearing the high head-dress then 
 in fashion, and Burghley's servant requested her 
 to stoop on going through the door : " For your 
 master's sake I will stoop," replied the Queen, 
 " but not for the King of Spain." She knew how 
 to value his sound, level-headed judgment, and 
 shrewd common sense ; and no doubt she appre- 
 ciated him all the more because, almost alone 
 among her councillors, he never flattered or cajoled 
 her, and never used his position to gain undue 
 benefits for himself or his friends. 
 
 1 " Many kinds of marble are used, and its colour and gilding and 
 excellent state of preservation make it one of the finest specimens of its 
 kind in existence" (Victoria County History, Northamptonshire II. 
 528). 
 
 2 Goodman, Court of James I., I. 21. 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 75 
 
 He has defined his own principle in dealing with 
 the Queen, where they differed on points of policy, 
 in a letter to Sir Robert 1 : — 
 
 " I do hold, and will always, this course in such matters 
 as I differ in opinion from her Majesty — as long as I may be 
 allowed to give advice, I will not change my opinion by 
 affirming the contrary. For that were to offend God, to 
 whom I am sworn first. But, as a servant, I will obey her 
 Majesty's commandment, and no wise contrary the same. 
 Presuming that she, being God's chief minister here, it 
 shall be God's will to have her commandments obeyed ; 
 after that I have performed my duty as a counseller ; and 
 shall in my heart wish her commandments to have good 
 success, as, I am sure, she intendeth. You see I am in a 
 mixture of divinity and policy. Preferring in policy her 
 Majesty above all others on the earth ; and in divinity, the 
 King of Heaven above all betwixt Alpha and Omega." 
 
 In the end, fortunately for England, his policy 
 prevailed. " Vain as Elizabeth was of her own 
 sagacity," says Froude, " she never modified a 
 course recommended to her by Burghley without 
 injury both to the realm and to herself. She 
 never chose an opposite course without plunging 
 into embarrassments from which his skill and 
 Walsingham's were barely able to extricate her. 
 The great results of her reign were the fruits of a 
 policy which was not her own, and which she 
 starved and mutilated when energy and complete- 
 ness were needed." Finally, then, the wonderful 
 results of the reign of Elizabeth, on which the 
 material and spiritual progress of the country 
 
 1 March 13th, 1596 (Hatfield MSS.). 
 
76 THE CECILS 
 
 throughout the succeeding centuries was to depend, 
 were due first of all to Burghley. To him, despite 
 his limitations, England owes a debt such as she 
 owes to few of her statesmen. 
 
 Burghley was of middle height, " of visage well- 
 favoured and of an excellent complexion." He was 
 of a gentle, good-natured disposition, considerate 
 to his inferiors, hating pomp and show, and 
 a man of real piety and devotion. He had an 
 extraordinary capacity for work, and his domestic 
 biographer states he " never saw him half an hour 
 idle in four and twenty years together." Yet, in 
 his moments of leisure, he was able to throw off 
 entirely the cares of business and, though 
 temperate in food and drink, was so " pleasant and 
 merry " at table that " one would imagine he had 
 nothing else to do." " At night, when he put off 
 his gown, he used to say 'Lie there, Lord Trea- 
 surer,' and bidding adieu to all State affairs, 
 disposed himself to his quiet rest." 1 
 
 He lived a simple life and was content with 
 simple pleasures, such as riding about his gardens 
 on his mule. 2 " He seldom or never played at any 
 game," we read, " for he could play at none. He 
 would sometimes look a while on shooters or 
 bowlers as he rid abroad." And though Elizabeth 
 used to enjoy hawking and hunting at Theobalds, 
 
 1 Fuller, Holy State, ed. 1841, p. 253. 
 
 2 One of these animals he had for twelve years. " A beast hardly to 
 be matched for my purpose, " he writes, "yet now both the ' moyle ' and 
 her master are grown very aged, and therefore, though I cannot amend, 
 yet I would be glad to amend my old beast with a new." To Sir Ed. 
 Stafford, October 2nd, 1586 (Hatfield MSS., III. 366). 
 
LORD BURGHLEY, K.G., RIDING ON A MULE 
 From the picture in the Bodleian Library 
 
WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY y7 
 
 Burghley took no part in such sport. 1 He 
 delighted in books and carried Cicero's Offices 
 about with him. He is said also to have enjoyed 
 the conversation of " learned men," but he was no 
 patron of literature or the arts, about which he 
 probably cared nothing. He neglected Spenser, 
 who revenged himself in the following stanza in 
 " The Ruins of Time " :— 
 
 " grief of grief es ! O gall of all good heartes ! 
 To see that vertue should dispised bee 
 Of him, that first was raisde for vertuous parts, 
 And now, broad spreading like an aged tree, 
 Lets none shoot up that nigh him planted bee : 
 0, let the man, of whom the Muse is scorned, 
 Nor alive nor dead be of the Muse adorned ! " 2 
 
 And the only man of letters whom he patronised, 
 so far as we know, was John Norden, the topo- 
 grapher, Whose idea of producing a series of county 
 histories would naturally appeal to his tastes. 3 
 
 Burghley's charities were extensive. He 
 founded a hospital at Stamford and endowed it for 
 the maintenance of thirteen old men for ever. 
 He was also a patron and benefactor of St. John's 
 College, Cambridge, to which he left £30 per annum 
 as well as plate. He bought up corn in times of 
 dearth and sold it at low prices to the poor, besides 
 
 1 It is stated in the Victoria County History, Hertfordshire, I. 345, that 
 he was " a keen sportsman and hunted in Herts," but the evidence all 
 proves the contrary. 
 
 2 Spenser's Poetical Works, Aldine ed., IV. 304. 
 
 3 See Hatfield MSS., IX. 255, 433, whence it appears that Sir Robert 
 Cecil refused to continue his patronage after his father's death. One of 
 Norden's MSS. in the British Museum has corrections in Burghley's 
 handwriting. 
 
78 THE CECILS 
 
 distributing money, clothing and food to those 
 who were in need, both at Theobalds and in 
 London. The amount of his regular charities was 
 computed at £500 per annum, a very large sum in 
 those days. 
 
 His property at the time of his death was less 
 than was generally expected. " Of his private 
 wealth there is but £11,000," says Chamberlain, 1 
 " of which £6000, and £800 or £900 land are left to 
 his two nieces of Oxford. His lands seem less than 
 we thought, as Mr. Secretary's share will bring but 
 £1600 a year at most." His estates included 
 manors in the counties of Northampton, Rutland, 
 Lincoln, Essex, York, Herts, Middlesex and Kent. 
 Of these the northern property, including Burghley, 
 was left to Sir Thomas Cecil, with the exception of 
 the manor and castle of Essendine in Rutland, 
 which together with Theobalds and the remaining 
 property in the home counties descended to 
 Sir Robert. 
 
 1 Chamberlain to Carleton, August 30th, 1598 (Cal. S. P. Dom.). 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THOMAS CECIL, FIRST EARL OF EXETER 
 
 At the time of Lord Burghley's death he had 
 two children only surviving — Thomas and Robert. 
 Of these Thomas was afterwards created Earl of 
 Exeter, while Robert on the same day became 
 Earl of Salisbury. The present Marquesses of 
 Exeter and Salisbury are the descendants of the 
 two brothers. 
 
 Thomas Cecil was born at Cambridge on May 
 5th, 1542. Of his youth and education we have 
 no record, but we know that his father, to use his 
 own words, " never showed any fatherly fancy to 
 him but in teaching and correcting." 1 The reason 
 for this coldness on the part of Sir William lay no 
 doubt in the character of Thomas, who was a 
 sturdy, healthy boy, with strong passions, loving 
 sport, eager for a military career, and hating 
 beyond all things the thought of a studious and 
 sedentary life. He incurred his father's heavy 
 displeasure by his " slothfulness," his extrava- 
 gance, his carelessness in dress, and his " inordinate 
 love of unmeet plays, as dice and cards." 2 That 
 
 1 Letter from Sir W. Cecil to Throckmorton, May 8th, 1561 (Cal. S. P. 
 Foreign). 
 
 2 Cecil to Windebank, September 10th, 1561 (ibid.). The letters 
 quoted in the next few pages are all to be found in the State Papers, 
 Domestic and Foreign. 
 
80 THE CECILS 
 
 a son of his should be "in study soon weary, in 
 game, never " must have been a sore disappoint- 
 ment to the hard-working, pleasure-shunning 
 statesman, and when Thomas was nineteen, he 
 determined to send him for a year to Paris with 
 his tutor, Thomas Windebank. The English Am- 
 bassador, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, offered them 
 the hospitality of the Embassy, which Windebank 
 accepted in order that the young man " might 
 learn to behave himself, not only at table, but 
 otherwise, according to his estate." Unfortu- 
 nately, Thomas had other views, and his behaviour 
 caused his father and his tutor grave anxiety. 
 
 Travelling by way of Dieppe and Rouen, Winde- 
 bank and his charge reached Paris in June, 1561, 
 and soon afterwards Thomas was presented at the 
 French Court to Mary, Queen of Scots, who was 
 pleased to say that "if he proved as wise as his 
 father, the one might be glad of the other ; for 
 though she had never seen his father, yet she had 
 heard of him, and did not let to say that the Queen 
 had a very good servant in him." At Court he 
 also witnessed " a terrible battle between a lion 
 and three dogs, in which the latter were vic- 
 torious." 
 
 Sir Nicholas recommended that Thomas should 
 " learn to ride, to play the lute, to dance, to play 
 at tennis, and use such exercises as are noted 
 ornaments to courtiers." Such advice was very 
 much to Thomas's liking, and he proceeded to 
 amuse himself in such a way as might have been 
 expected of a spirited youth, now for the first time 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 81 
 
 released from strict supervision. His father was 
 suspicious from the first. Before Thomas had 
 been in Paris a month, he writes wishing him God's 
 blessing, though " how he inclines himself to 
 deserve it, he knows not." He complains that 
 he receives no account of expenses, and exhorts 
 his son to " begin by time to translate in French. 
 Serve God daily. Take good heed of your health, 
 and visit once a week your instructions." He 
 adds, " write at every time somewhat to my wife," 
 and from phrases in other letters we gather that 
 one of his causes of annoyance was that Thomas 
 sent no messages to his stepmother. 
 
 In August he writes to Windebank that he " has 
 had a watchword sent him out of France that his 
 son's being there shall serve him to little purpose, 
 for that he spends his time in idleness." He 
 threatens to call him home, a threat which is 
 repeated a few weeks later, when, writing on the 
 subject of expenses (September ioth), he says 
 " Let me understand if the default be in my son ; 
 for if I see him so untoward and inconsiderate, I 
 will revoke him home, where he shall take his 
 adventure with as mean bringing up as I myself 
 have had. Surely I have hitherto had small com- 
 fort in him, and if he deserve no better by well- 
 doing, I will learn to take less care than I have done. ' ' 
 
 In the autumn Thomas had two attacks of ague, 
 and was rather seriously ill — a circumstance which 
 provoked not a word of sympathy, or even acknow- 
 ledgment, from his father. On his recovery, he 
 settled down for a time to a more industrious life, 
 
 c. g 
 
82 THE CECILS 
 
 if we are to believe Windebank's account of how 
 he spent his day. 
 
 " In the morning, from viii. to ix. of the clock," he 
 writes (November 12), " he hath one that readeth 
 Munster * with him : that done, he hath his hour to learn 
 to dance, and in these ii things is the whole of the forenoon 
 consumed. After dinner at one of the clock he goeth to a 
 lesson of the Institutes, whereof he wrote his determina- 
 tion himself unto you — persuaded thereunto by my Lord 
 Ambassador. Towards iii of the clock, he hath one that 
 teacheth him to play on the lute ; wherein (and an hour's 
 reading the history of Josephus de hello Judaico), he 
 bestoweth the whole afternoon. After supper, he lacketh 
 no company to talk with, for learning the tongue that way ; 
 and besides, either recordeth on the lute or taketh some 
 book in hand. This is presently the order of dividing his 
 time, which I thought my duty to let you understand." 
 
 However, this improvement did not last long. 
 Sir William continued to receive bad accounts 
 from Paris, and became more and more angry 
 with his son, and at the same time anxious lest 
 his own good name should suffer. In one of his 
 letters he writes : "Sir Henry Paget returned home 
 with great commendations and fraughted with 
 qualities ; but I see in the end my son shall come 
 home like a spending sot, meet to keep a tennis 
 court." In another, to his son, he sounds a deeper 
 note. " Children," he writes, " ought to be as 
 gifts of God, comfort to their parents ; but you, 
 on the contrary, have made me careless of all 
 children — you see how your former misbehaviour 
 hath filled me full of all discontentation ; and how 
 
 1 Munster's Cosmography. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 83 
 
 it will be cured, I leave it to Almighty God. I 
 charge you, be serviceable to Almighty God ; and 
 think of your time, that yesterday will never 
 return." 
 
 In March, 1562, he is evidently at his wits' end. 
 No good has come from sending his son to France, 
 but " discomfort and loss of money," and to 
 Thomas " shame and increase of lewdness." He 
 complains of his extravagance, and after remind- 
 ing him to write to his stepmother, " and show 
 yourself careful of the health of your brother 1 and 
 sister, wherein, besides the satisfaction of natural 
 love, you shall acquire your mother's good will," 
 ends in the following characteristic manner : "I 
 wish you grace to spare yourself, and by some 
 virtue to recover your name of towardness, being 
 here commonly reputed by common fame fleeing 
 from thence, a dissolute, slothful, negligent and 
 careless young man, and specially noted no lover 
 of learning nor knowledge. These titles be meet 
 for me to hear as thou thinkest, or else thou 
 wouldest procure me some better reports. — Your 
 father of an unworthy son." 
 
 This was followed a week later by a still more 
 pathetic letter to Windebank, which may be 
 quoted, since, as has been well said, " it shows 
 the man more clearly than reams of State 
 papers." 
 
 " Windebank," it runs, "lam here used to pains and 
 troubles : but none creep so near my heart as doth this 
 
 1 Not Robert, who was not born yet, but an infant, William, who 
 died within the year. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THE CECILS 
 
 of my lewd son. I am perplexed what to think. The 
 shame that I shall receive to have so unruled a son 
 grieveth me more than if I had lost him by honest death. 
 Good Windebank, consult with my dear friend Sir N. 
 Throckmorton, to whom I have referred the whole. I 
 would be best content that he would commit him secretly 
 to some sharp prison. If that shall not seem good, yet 
 would I rather have him sent away to Strasburg, if it 
 could be possible, or to Lorraine, for my grief will grow 
 double to see him until some kind of amends. If none of 
 these will serve, then bring him home, and I shall receive 
 that which it pleaseth God to lay upon my shoulders : 
 that is, in the midst of my business, for comfort a daily 
 torment. If you shall come home with him, to cover the 
 shame let it appear to be by reason of the troubles there. 
 I rather desire to have this summer spent, though it were 
 but to be absent from my sight. I am so troubled as well 
 what to write I know not." 
 
 Poor Windebank had lost all control over his 
 charge, and on April 26th, he writes in despair : 
 " I have foreborne to write plainly, but now I am 
 clean out of hope and am forced to do so. Sir, I 
 do see that Mr. Thomas has utterly no mind nor 
 disposition in him to apply to any learning, being 
 carried away by other affections that rule him, so 
 as it maketh him forget his duty in all things." 
 He begs Cecil to recall his son to England and 
 desires that he may himself be " discharged of this 
 burden and care, such as he never had the like." 
 " For, Sir," he is obliged to add, " I must needs let 
 you know (as my duty constraineth me) that I am not 
 able to persuade him to spend his time better or to 
 do any other thing than he liketh himself, and so he 
 hath told me plainly, and so indeed do I find it." 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 85 
 
 The immediate cause of this outburst may be 
 surmised from a letter written by Throckmorton 
 to Cecil on the following day, in which he desires 
 him to write to his son to " check his inordinate 
 affection with which he is transported towards a 
 young gentlewoman abiding near Paris, which the 
 writer and Mr. Windebank by their admonition 
 have tried to dissuade him from, but in vain. 
 She is a maid, and her friends will hardly bear the 
 violation of her." He urges Cecil to recall Thomas 
 home, or to send him into Flanders, and his kindly 
 feeling for the wayward youth induces him to add 
 a hope that Cecil " will judge of his passion as 
 fathers do when they censure their sons' oversights, 
 committed when most subject to folly and lost to 
 reason ; and not measure his son by himself, but 
 repute him as other young men." 
 
 Neither Throckmorton nor Windebank thought 
 it necessary to tell Cecil the whole truth, which was 
 that Thomas had actually made a promise of 
 marriage to the young lady, who was a nun in an 
 abbey near Paris. It appears that he had even 
 planned to carry her off, having arranged to obtain 
 a couple of horses, " upon credit of a merchant," 
 and to provide himself with money by selling both 
 his own and Windebank's clothes. He defied his 
 tutor, saying that he was sure of his position, and 
 that his father could not disinherit him. He had 
 in fact " come to an extremity of evil meaning," 
 and Windebank's anxiety to have him safely back 
 in England is not surprising. 
 
 In reply to his appeal Cecil wrote to his son 
 
86 THE CECILS 
 
 commanding him to " banish his wanton lusts," 
 but he ignored his tutor's request to be allowed to 
 resign his post, and altogether refused to let 
 Thomas come home. His injunctions, however, 
 evidently made an impression, and Thomas's 
 reply, written in French, deserves to be quoted in 
 full :— 
 
 " Mon tres honors seignour et pere, — 
 
 Vos lettres m'ont apport£s tant de facherie, que 
 rien plus : par lesquelles j'entend que vous estes fort 
 corrus^e contre moy — estant adverty que j 'employe mon 
 temps en poursuivant les vanit£s d'amour. Come je suis 
 bien marry que vous entendres chooses de moy qui sont 
 tant a mon desavantage (et d'avanture beaucoup plus 
 qu'ilz sont), ainsi, je ne puis excuser en tout : mais come 
 je suis junne, ainsi il fault que je confesse que je suis subjett 
 a les affections qui gouvernent quelque fois ceux qui sont 
 junnes. Pourtant, de paour de vous facher trop avec ma 
 longue et facheuse lettre : et que vous ne penses que, en 
 usant beaucoup de parolles, je sercherois de vous d£guiser 
 le mattier, je vous supplie bien, humblement de me donner 
 vostre benediction ! Si, par le passe, j'ay mis en oublie 
 mon devoir, je vous promette de me mestre en paine, 
 doresnevant, de me monstrer, en tout, prest de vous 
 oben : priant le Cr£atur vous avoir tousjours en sa divine 
 garde. Votre tres humble, et filz tresob&ssant. 
 
 " Thomas Cecil." 
 
 How far these admirable sentiments were 
 genuine it is impossible to say, but the immediate 
 danger at any rate was averted, and after this an 
 improvement certainly took place in Thomas's 
 behaviour. Windebank took him to Dammart, 
 twenty miles from Paris, for the summer, and 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 87 
 
 early in August the intervention of England in the 
 French war of religion, and the news of the occupa- 
 tion of Havre, compelled them to leave France 
 secretly and make their way to Antwerp. In 
 announcing this step to Sir William, Windebank 
 takes occasion to hope that he " will like Mr. 
 Thomas's personage and behaviour better than in 
 times past, and that his little folly past will 
 increase him in wisdom." 
 
 At Antwerp the travellers were hospitably 
 entertained by Sir Thomas Gresham, the English 
 agent, whose opinion of young Cecil must also have 
 comforted his father. " Without flattery," he 
 wrote, " you have as handsome a man to your son, 
 and as toward and inclined to all virtue, as your 
 own heart can desire." Sir William, however, did 
 not wish to see his son at present " for indeed the 
 wound is yet too green for me to behold him," and 
 after a short stay in Antwerp, Windebank and his 
 charge proceeded to Germany, visiting Spires, 
 Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Marburg, Leipzig and 
 other places, and making the acquaintance of the 
 Elector Palatine, and many other German poten- 
 tates. At Frankfurt, in October, they witnessed 
 the assembling of the Princes for the Diet — the 
 Elector of Saxony with 500 horse, the Duke of 
 Wiirtemberg with 300 ; the Duke of Bavaria with 
 500 ; the Duke of Cleves with 600 ; the Palatine 
 with 600 ; " and the Emperor's train with his sons 
 is said to be 5,000 horse." 
 
 In December Windebank received a letter from 
 his master, thanking him for his " continual care 
 
88 THE CECILS 
 
 towards my son " and expressing a wish that he 
 " were out of Germany, and might see Italy, and 
 pass by the Helvetians, and to Geneva. Marry, 
 I wish you to have good regard to pass as unknown 
 as you may, because of the malice that I know the 
 papists owe me ; and could be content to avenge 
 the same in my son. My meaning is that, since my 
 son is abroad, he should see all things requisite, for 
 I do mean at his return to move him to marry, and 
 then to plant him at home." Windebank, how- 
 ever, thought that Italy would be dangerous, " by 
 reason of the enticements to pleasure and wanton- 
 ness there," and thought it better to pass the winter 
 at Strasburg, where poor Thomas's " daily exer- 
 cise" was to hear a sermon in the French church, 
 that he " might profit in the French tongue and 
 in goodness also." 
 
 By this time they were both longing to be 
 home : Thomas bored beyond measure, and 
 begging to be allowed to return and " see the war, 
 which would be most agreeable to him " ; and his 
 tutor urging that " for qualities commonly com- 
 mended in gentlemen, Germany is not the place to 
 obtain them." At last Windebank, moved by the 
 state of Thomas's health, which was far from 
 satisfactory, and by the dangers to which he was 
 exposed owing to the " looseness in religion with 
 corruption of manners that reign in those parts," 
 decided in consultation with Henry Knollys, who 
 was with them, to come home, whether he had 
 permission or not. What reception Thomas met 
 with from his father we do not know, but the 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 89 
 
 experience of these two years is enough to account 
 for Lord Burghley's prejudice against foreign 
 travel. In his famous Precepts, addressed to 
 Sir Robert, he warns him not to allow his sons to 
 travel, for if by so doing " they get a few broken 
 languages, that shall profit them nothing more 
 than to have one meat served in divers dishes." 
 And we are told that in his old age, if anyone 
 came to the Lords of the Council for a licence to 
 travel, " he would first examine him of England, 
 and if he found him ignorant would bid him stay 
 at home and know his own country first." 1 
 
 Thomas Cecil returned to England in the Spring 
 of 1563, and took his seat in Parliament as member 
 for the borough of Stamford, which place he 
 represented till 1576. In the following year 
 (November 27th, 1564) he married Dorothy 
 Neville, one of the daughters and co-heirs of 
 John Neville, Lord Latimer. The marriage had 
 been strongly advocated by Sir Henry Percy, 
 afterwards Earl of Northumberland, who had 
 married Catherine Neville, the eldest daughter. 
 In a letter to Sir William Cecil 2 he gives an alluring 
 description of the first Countess of Exeter at the 
 age of fifteen. He has made, he says, " some trial 
 of the conversation of the young woman : which 
 I assure you is so good and vertuous, as hard it is 
 to find such a spark of youth in this realm. For 
 both is she very wise, sober of behaviour, womanly 
 
 1 Peacham's Compleat Gentleman. 
 
 2 January 21st, 1561-2. Printed in Burgon's Life of Sir T. Gresham, 
 I- 45i- 
 
go THE CECILS 
 
 and in her doings so temperate as if she bare the 
 age double her years ; of stature like to be goodly ; 
 and of beauty very well. Her hair brown, yet her 
 complexion very fair and clear ; the favour of her 
 face everybody may judge it to have both grace 
 and wisdom. Sir, although it be a dangerous 
 matter thus much to write of a young woman, yet 
 do I assure you I have said nothing more than she 
 deserveth." l 
 
 The young couple settled down to a quiet 
 domestic life at Wimbledon, and afterwards at 
 Burghley, and for several years we hear no more 
 of them, beyond the bare announcement of the 
 birth of their numerous children. 
 
 In 1569 Cecil took part as a volunteer in the 
 suppression of the Northern Rebellion, and gained 
 the favour of the Earl of Sussex, the Commander- 
 in-Chief. Again, in 1573, he served as a volunteer 
 in the expedition which was sent into Scotland 
 under Sir W. Drury to the assistance of the Earl 
 of Murray, and was present at the siege of the 
 Castle of Edinburgh. Two years later, on the 
 
 1 By this marriage Thomas Cecil obtained the manor of North 
 Crawley, Bucks, part of the ancient barony of Bedford, in virtue of the 
 possession of which he officiated as Grand Almoner at the coronation 
 of James I. Thus, as Mr. Oswald Barron has pointed out, the connec- 
 tion of the Marquesses of Exeter with the " stately sinecure of the 
 Grand Almonership " is territorial only. " Originally vested in the 
 Beauchamps of Bedford, it was held by the earlier Lords Latimer, in 
 co-heirship with others. From the later Lords Latimer, who, though 
 not their descendants, inherited a portion of the Beauchamp fief, some 
 of the old lands passed by marriage to the first Earl of Exeter, who was 
 appointed as Lord Burghley from among their holders, to officiate at 
 the Coronation of James I. since when the Earls have been similarly 
 selected by the Crown at certain coronations " (Northamptonshire 
 Families, p. 24). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 91 
 
 occasion of Elizabeth's memorable visit to Kenil- 
 worth, Thomas Cecil took an active part in the 
 masques and pageants which were enacted, and 
 was among those who received the honour of 
 knighthood. He again distinguished himself in 
 the tournaments and the entertainments which 
 were held in honour of the Duke of Alencon's visit 
 to England in 1581, as a suitor for the Queen's 
 hand. He was a strong supporter of the marriage, 
 and in the previous year he had addressed a long 
 letter to the Queen, containing an elaborate 
 analysis of the troubles likely to ensue if the 
 marriage were broken off, and the best means to 
 divert these perils. At the same time he assured 
 her that finding that she no longer inclined to the 
 marriage, " he is also in conscience and duty per- 
 suaded to yield to the way that may best please 
 her, not because he thinks it best for her, for with 
 his hands and heart he will defend while he lives 
 her marriage, to be her only security at home and 
 abroad, but because he is so faithfully addicted 
 to her service that he will spend his blood not 
 only in that which he thinks best for her, but in 
 any other thing that she herself would have 
 done. For himself," he concludes, " he humbly 
 beseeches her Majesty that he may be the first man 
 to be employed to spend his blood in her service in 
 the place where she thinks her first peril to be, with- 
 out exception of persons, time, place or matter." * 
 
 1 Hatfield MSS., II. 308-10, January 28th, 1580. This letter has been 
 supposed to be the work of Lord Burghley, for no reason whatever, 
 except that detractors of Sir Thomas consider him incapable of having 
 written it. 
 
92 THE CECILS 
 
 This spirited outburst, so unlike the conventional 
 addresses which the Queen was accustomed to 
 receive from her courtiers, displays the character 
 of the writer — a brave and unaffected man of 
 action, out of place in Courts, but with all the 
 finest instincts of a soldier. That he was highly 
 thought of is shown by the fact that in 1585, when 
 Leicester was about to be employed in the Nether- 
 lands, he wrote to Burghley asking that " if her 
 Majesty command my service, I may have your 
 good will for my cousin, Sir Thomas Cecil, to have 
 his company." l This request was granted and on 
 the conclusion of the treaty with the States of 
 Holland in August, 1585, Sir Thomas was appointed 
 Governor of the Brill, one of the cautionary towns 
 placed as pledges in English hands, an office which 
 he resigned in 1587. Both he and his brother 
 Robert are said to have served as volunteers on 
 board the fleet which defeated the Armada in the 
 following year, but no direct evidence of this 
 statement has been found. 
 
 Meanwhile, at home, he had been High Sheriff 
 of Northamptonshire, in 1578, when Fuller tells 
 us that his father " would not have him excused 
 from serving his country " ; and in the Parliament 
 of 1585 he was returned as Knight of the Shire for 
 the county of Lincoln. Twelve years later (1597), 
 he represented the same county, but in the 
 Parliament of 1593 he was elected member for 
 Northamptonshire . 
 
 His family now consisted of five sons and six 
 
 1 Hatfield MSS., III. 108. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 93 
 
 daughters ; two more daughters died in infancy. 
 Of the sons, William, the eldest, succeeded 
 his father as second Earl of Exeter ; Richard 
 was already (1587) member of Parliament for 
 Peterborough ; Edward, afterwards Viscount Wim- 
 bledon, was serving in the Low Countries ; and 
 Christopher and Thomas were still boys. Lucy, 
 the eldest surviving daughter, was married to 
 Lord St. John, afterwards Marquess of Winchester, 1 
 and on his return from the Netherlands, in 1587, 
 Sir Thomas wrote to Lord Burghley, to inform him 
 of the expected advent of his first grandchild. 2 
 
 Cecil was at this time superintending the 
 building operations which his father was carrying 
 out at Burghley, and in the same letter he urges 
 the purchase of some hangings which Pallavicini 
 had delivered to him, and offers to join Burghley 
 in buying them and to pay half the price ; " rather 
 than your Lordship should refuse them, being 
 already made fit for the rooms here, and hardly 
 to get the like hangings as the times are now, I will 
 strain myself therein." He adds that the buildings 
 are going on very fast, and hopes that next year 
 his father " can get leave to see the perfection of 
 your long and costly buildings, wherein your 
 posterity I hope will be thankful unto your Lord- 
 ship for it, as myself must think myself most 
 bound, who of all others receiveth the most use 
 of it." 
 
 1 Their grandson was the first Duke of Bolton, and the present 
 Marquess of Winchester is their direct descendant. 
 
 2 Hatfield MSS., III. 276. 
 
9 4 THE CECILS 
 
 At the same time he was engaged in building the 
 great mansion at Wimbledon, called Wimbledon 
 Hall, which was completed in the following year 
 (1588) .' Of this building no trace remains, but 
 it must have been, as Aubrey calls it, "a noble 
 seat." Camden says it was Wimbledon's greatest 
 ornament, " as pleasant by its prospect and gardens 
 as it was stately in its structure." On the north 
 side a series of terraces, with seventy steps in all, 
 led down to the park, across which a straight 
 avenue of elms led to Putney Common. The 
 gardens covered twenty acres and were specially 
 remarkable. 
 
 The Earl of Exeter left the house at his death 
 to his son, Sir Edward, who afterwards took his 
 title of Viscount Wimbledon from it. By his 
 heirs it was sold to Queen Henrietta Maria, and, 
 after changing hands several times, it was finally 
 pulled down by Sir Theodore Janssen in 1717. 
 
 By this time Robert Cecil — who was, it must be 
 remembered, twenty-one years younger than Sir 
 Thomas — was already making his way in the 
 political world. In spite of one or two differences, 
 there existed a very real affection between the 
 brothers, and Sir Thomas, especially, makes 
 frequent professions of his love. Writing from 
 Snape, July 9th, 1595, he apologises with charac- 
 teristic humility, for his letter as " not much 
 worth your reading," and adds " I can grace it 
 
 1 The manor of Wimbledon did not come into his hands till 1590, 
 when it was granted to him in exchange for the manors of Langton and 
 Wibberton, in the county of Lincoln (Hatfield MSS., IV. 12 ; and 
 see Gotch, The Homes of the Cecils, as before). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 95 
 
 unto you with no better a farewell than to assure 
 you, that you shall never find friend next your 
 father and your wife, that shall more truly love 
 you than I will, and upon that pledge I hope I 
 shall be assured of yours." 1 Similar expressions 
 are frequent in his letters. " I perceive the kind 
 care you have of my well-doing, which shall every 
 day tie the knot of our love harder and harder. I 
 wish in all your private and public designs a happy 
 event, and your life long and happy to do her 
 Majesty and your country service." 2 Again, "I 
 think you happy for your great and honourable 
 fortune, and happier that the Lord has given you 
 grace of judgment so to use it as to carry as much 
 love and reputation, and as little envy as ever 
 councillor had in any time." 8 Such phrases, 
 coming from such a man as Sir Thomas, who 
 despised the conventional language of flattery 
 common at the time, do equal credit to both 
 brothers, though here as in other cases the char- 
 acter of Sir Robert is much less easy to understand. 
 Sir Thomas seems to have felt no jealousy at the 
 rapid promotion of his younger brother in the 
 political world, but he occasionally grumbles that 
 he receives no advancement himself. Thus on the 
 death of Sir Thomas Heneage, in October, 1595, 
 when a most indecent scramble took place for the 
 many lucrative offices he held, 4 poor Sir Thomas 
 
 » Hatfield MSS., V. 273. 
 2 September 2nd, 1599 (ibid., IX. 345). 
 » July 21st, 1601 (Cal. S. P. Bom.). 
 
 * Sir Robert was one of the chief offenders. In sending him the 
 patent for the " Clerkship of Sarum," the Bishop of Salisbury mentions 
 
9 6 THE CECILS 
 
 writes : " The hope of that whereof you write unto 
 me promiseth little assurance ; for my friends are 
 barred to speak for me, my enemies strong to 
 dissuade, her Majesty not apt to give, nor I to 
 receive so small advancement as perhaps she 
 would allow me : so as, to conclude, there will be 
 no such office void by his death, which her Majesty 
 will think me worthy of, that I would take in place 
 of this contentment, I sue for of my travail." 1 
 Next year he asks for the office of President of the 
 North, or for the Governorship of Berwick, and 
 writes : " If my friends in this opportunity speak 
 not for me, I must not look that strangers will, 
 who think my Lord's greatness a sufficient fortune 
 for me to look for somewhat, and as for my own 
 letter to her Majesty, it hath no reply. If I be 
 forsaken by a father and a brother, who are in that 
 place, I must take it as an unkind fortune. Her 
 Majesty cannot think that my friends have been 
 much importunate, or partial unto me, having not 
 all this time moved her in anything for me." 2 
 
 Sir Thomas succeeded his father as Lord Burgh- 
 ley in 1598, being then fifty-six years old. He 
 inherited large estates in Northamptonshire, Lin- 
 colnshire, and Rutland, including of course Burgh- 
 
 that he had asked for it before Sir Thomas Heneage was dead, but had 
 requested the Bishop to conceal his request, which put him in an 
 awkward position when several other people (including the Earl of 
 Essex) also asked for it before the death of Sir Thomas. However, he 
 told them the office was not in his disposition. Sir Robert also made 
 efforts to obtain the Stewardship of Cambridge and the Recordership 
 of Colchester and Hull (Hatfield MSS., V. 417, 433, 439). 
 
 1 October 8th, 1595 (ibid., V. 401). 
 
 a July 21st, 1596 (ibid., VI. 275). 
 
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 THOMAS, FIRST EARL OF EXETER, K.G. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 97 
 
 ley House, completed some ten years before. In 
 addition, he still possessed Wimbledon Hall, where 
 he frequently entertained the Queen, 1 though her 
 visits were not an unmixed blessing to her subjects. 
 On the first occasion of her coming, she altered the 
 date of her arrival four times, till Burghley was in 
 despair, complaining that " her Majesty's so often 
 coming and not coming so distempers all things 
 with me as upon every change of coming I do 
 nothing but give directions into the country for 
 new provisions : most of the old thrown away by 
 reason of the heat." 2 He soon perceived that it 
 was not the Queen, but his father who had stood 
 in the way of his advancement, for within a few 
 months of his succeeding to the title, he was con- 
 stituted Warden of Rockingham Forest, and Con- 
 stable of the Castle there, for life, and in August, 
 1599, he was appointed President of the Council 
 of the North, and Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire. 
 He took up his new duties with enthusiasm. The 
 Queen urged a policy of greater severity towards 
 recusants, owing to the " notorious defections " 
 in the north, and Burghley had soon " filled a 
 little study with copes and mass-books." " I dare 
 promise her Majesty," he writes to his brother, 
 " that she shall be obeyed either with their purses 
 (I mean of them that be recusants), or with their 
 full obedience and loyalty." 3 His measures seem 
 to have been effective, for six months later he 
 
 1 See letter to Lady Guilford, April 8th, 1602 {HatfieldMSS., XII. 99). 
 
 2 Letters to Sir Robert Cecil, July 17th and 19th, 1599 {ibid., IX. 236, 
 
 239)- 
 8 September 1st, 1599 (ibid., IX. 344). 
 
 C. H 
 
98 THE CECILS 
 
 writes : " This county is in good order. I doubt not 
 that soon eighteen out of every twenty recusants 
 will come to the Church. In the worst parts of this 
 shire I hear that five hundred have come in this 
 three weeks, so that a notable papist complained 
 that the common people are declining from them." 
 Nevertheless he asks permission to come to town, 
 assigning among other reasons that " his health 
 requires him to take some physic this spring, and 
 he dare not trust any ' potycarye ' in this town 
 (York) being none but that are recusants." 1 
 
 It was about this time that Lord Burghley built 
 his house at Wothorpe, which, says Fuller, " must 
 not be forgot, (the least of noble houses, and best 
 of lodges) seeming but a dim reflection of Burghley, 
 whence it is a mile distant. It was built by 
 Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter, ' to retire to,' as he 
 pleasantly said, ' out of the dust, whilst his great 
 house at Burghley was a-sweeping.' " 2 This house 
 must have been of considerable size, but it was 
 dismantled at the end of the eighteenth century, 
 and only ivy-covered ruins now remain. 
 
 In February, 1601, Lord Burghley took a 
 prominent part in the suppression of the Essex 
 Rebellion. He was " Colonel General of the foot " 
 and, "with some ten horse went into London 
 and proclaimed the Earl of Essex a traitor 
 with all his adherents, by the mouth of the 
 King-of-Arms, notwithstanding that my Lord 
 of Essex with all his complices were in the 
 
 1 March ist, 1600 (Hatfield MSS., X. 48). 
 
 2 Fnller's Worthies, ed. 1840, II. 499. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 
 
 99 
 
 city. ' J On the 26th of May following he was 
 installed at Windsor a Knight of the Garter. 
 
 On the death of Elizabeth, Burghley enter- 
 tained the new King on his progress to London, 
 first for two days at York, and afterwards at 
 Burghley, " where his Highness with all his train 
 were received with great magnificence, the house 
 seeming as rich, as if it had been furnished at the 
 charges of an Emperor." 2 A fortnight later (May 
 10th, 1603) the King held his first Privy Council at 
 the Charterhouse, and Lord Burghley was sworn a 
 member of the Council and appointed Lord 
 Lieutenant of Northamptonshire. In the following 
 January he was offered an earldom, which, how- 
 ever, he refused, for reasons explained in the 
 following letter to Sir John Hobart, the Attorney- 
 General (January 12th, 1604). " Your letter," he 
 says, " found me in such estate, as rather I desired 
 three days' ease of pain, than to delight to think of 
 any title of honour. I am resolved to content 
 myself with this estate I have of a Baron. And 
 my present estate of living, howsoever those of 
 the world hath enlarged it, I find little enough to 
 maintain the degree I am in. And I am sure they 
 that succeed me will be less able to maintain it 
 than I am, considering there will go out of the 
 baronage three younger brothers' livings. This 
 is all I can write unto you at this time being full 
 of pain : and therefore you must be content with 
 
 1 Sir Robert Cecil to Sir G. Carew, February 10th, 1601 (Birch, 
 Memoirs of the Reign of Elizabeth, II. 469). 
 8 Nichols, Progresses of James I., I. 95. 
 
 H 2 
 
ioo THE CECILS 
 
 this my brief writing. And I give you my very 
 hearty thanks for your good wishes, and think 
 myself beholding to those my friends that had 
 care of me therein." 
 
 In spite of this decision, however, Burghley 
 withdrew his refusal in the following year, and on 
 May 4th, 1605, was created Earl of Exeter. 1 
 
 From this time onward the Earl appears to have 
 led a retired life at Burghley or Wimbledon. We 
 hear of his being present at the ceremony when 
 Prince Henry was created Prince of Wales, and his 
 name appears as a witness to the patent, dated 
 May 30th, 1610. In 1616 he was one of the 
 Commissioners who treated for the surrender of 
 the cautionary towns to the States of Holland, and 
 he served on other commissions in connection with 
 the laws against heresies and other matters of 
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 
 
 The first Countess of Exeter died in 1609, and in 
 the following year the Earl, then aged sixty-eight, 
 married Frances Brydges, daughter of Lord 
 Chandos, and widow of Sir Thomas Smith, Master 
 of Requests to James I. The new Countess was 
 thirty-eight years younger than her husband, and 
 younger than all of her step-children except one. 
 She survived until 1663, and we shall hear of her 
 again in connection with the feuds between her 
 husband's grandson, Lord Roos, and the Lake 
 family into which he was so unfortunate as to 
 
 1 Robert Cecil, then Viscount Cranbome, was created Earl of Salis- 
 bury on the morning of the same day, and was given precedence of his 
 brother. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 101 
 
 marry. The last few years of the Earl's life were 
 overshadowed by these and other troubles. 
 
 The unhappy marriage of his daughter, Eliza- 
 beth, the young and beautiful widow of Sir William 
 Hatton, to Sir Edward Coke, the Lord Chief 
 Justice, reached its climax soon after her husband's 
 disgrace in 1616, when she made up her mind not 
 to live with him any more and appealed against 
 his tyranny to the Privy Council. Her misery, 
 and, we may be sure, that of her father, to whom 
 she came with all her troubles, was increased by 
 the marriage between her daughter Frances and 
 Sir John Villiers, afterwards Viscount Purbeck, 
 Buckingham's elder brother, which was brought 
 about by the intrigues of the bridegroom's mother, 
 backed up by the King. Coke was bribed by 
 being restored to his seat at the Council, and his 
 wife's protestations were of no avail. 1 In addition 
 to these misfortunes, Lord Roos, Exeter's grandson 
 and future heir, died in Naples under very suspicious 
 circumstances in 1618 ; another grandson, Lord 
 St. John, son of the Marquess of Winchester, died 
 in 1621; and most grievous of all, the only child of 
 the Earl's second marriage, a daughter, named in 
 
 1 A full account of this disgraceful transaction, " the issue of which 
 was a tragedy hardly inferior to that which sprung from the marriage 
 of Lady Essex," is given by Gardiner (History of England, 1603 — 1642, 
 Vol. III., Chap. XXIV.). Lady Purbeck deserted her husband in 1621, 
 and, having given birth to a child in October, 1624, was convicted in 
 the High Court of Commission of adultery with Sir Robert Howard. 
 She died in 1645. Another grandchild of the Earl of Exeter got into 
 trouble over his marriage. This was the son of Lady Dorothy Cecil, 
 who married Sir Giles Alington. Sir Giles (the younger) married his 
 niece, and was fined in the High Court ^32,000, the marriage being 
 pronounced void (April, 163 1). 
 
io2 THE CECILS 
 
 the register of her birth, " Georgi-Anna," * died in 
 1 62 1 at the age of five. 
 
 The Earl died in February, 1623, at the age of 
 eighty, and was buried by the side of his first wife 
 in Westminster Abbey. 2 
 
 Though not a man of any great distinction, he 
 was upright, honourable and good-natured. From 
 his portrait we should judge him to have been of a 
 kindly and humorous, if somewhat hesitating, 
 disposition. James I. thought much of him, and 
 after his early escapes he seems to have led a 
 meritorious and useful life, and to have deserved 
 to be called " right pious and charitable." Some 
 years before his death he converted part of the 
 old palace of the Bishops of Lincoln, at Liddington, 
 in Rutland, into a hospital called Jesus Hospital, 
 which he endowed for the maintenance of a 
 warden, twelve brethren, and two women. He was 
 an extensive benefactor to the town of Stamford, 
 and in 161 2 he granted to Clare Hall, Cambridge, 
 lands to the yearly amount of £108, for the 
 endowment of three fellows and eight scholars. 
 
 1 Charlton, Burghley, p. 122. She was born at Wimbledon, the Queen 
 standing sponsor. The pedigree makers name her " Sophia Anna." 
 
 2 The inscription on the monument in the Chapel of St. John the 
 Baptist, states that the second Countess was also buried there, but, as 
 a matter of fact, she was buried in Winchester Cathedral. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 EDWARD CECIL, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON 
 
 Of the first Earl of Exeter's five sons, the only 
 one who distinguished himself was Edward, Vis- 
 count Wimbledon. Of his youth or education 
 nothing is recorded, until we find him, in 1594, at 
 the age of twenty-two, setting out to travel on the 
 Continent with his elder brother Richard. 1 He 
 was in Florence in 1596, and was entertained by 
 the Duke, Ferdinand de' Medici, " and which was 
 an extraordinary favour the duke gave him leave 
 to ride his own horse, and at his departure gave 
 him gifts of price." 2 Later he made his way to 
 the Low Countries, and made up his mind to serve 
 under Sir Francis Vere. His determination is 
 expressed in a letter to his uncle, Sir Robert, dated 
 February 9th, 1599, 3 in which he says : " My 
 fortune is now to follow the wars, having had 
 always heretofore a disposition thereunto. . . . 
 The profession I have taken upon me wills that I 
 
 1 Richard Cecil, of Wakerley, the second son, was born in 1570. He 
 was M.P. for Westminster, Peterborough, and Stamford, and was 
 knighted at Woodstock in 1616. He acquired the manor of Wakerley, 
 Northamptonshire, in 1618. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir 
 Anthony Cope, and his son, David, eventually succeeded as third Earl 
 of Exeter. 
 
 a Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, I, 27. 
 
 3 Dalton, Life and Times of General Sir Edward Cecil, I. 15. In 
 the Calendar of Hatfield MSS., X. 31, the date of this letter is given 
 as February 9th, 1599-1600, instead of 1598-9. 
 
104 THE CECILS 
 
 vow myself to someone that will protect me, (as 
 all men of the like profession doth) and I not 
 knowing to whom my poor service belongeth more 
 than to your Honour, maketh me hope that your 
 Honour will with some little favour help my poor 
 fortunes forward." 
 
 As usual, Sir Robert responded effectively to his 
 nephew's appeal, using his influence to obtain for 
 him the captaincy of an English foot company. 
 Edward expressed his deep gratitude for his uncle's 
 " extraordinary favours " to him and added, " I 
 hold it honour and happiness to spend my life for 
 the honour of the house ; accounting your Honour 
 the house as the principalest part of it, and myself 
 the unnecessaryest." 1 His ambition, however, 
 was to be a cavalry commander. " If you ever 
 wish to be a soldier," Sir Francis Vere told him, 
 "get up on horseback." 2 This was a much more 
 difficult matter, for there were few troops of horse 
 in the Low Countries, and the competition for 
 them was great. But Captain Cecil was strongly 
 supported by Vere, as well as by his father and 
 Sir Robert, and in May, 1600, he obtained the 
 command of a troop of cavalry, paying £500 to 
 the retiring captain, Sir Nicholas Parker. A 
 few weeks later he was present at the battle of 
 Nieuport, and distinguished himself in a decisive 
 cavalry charge. After this there was a lull in 
 the military operations, and Cecil took advantage 
 of it to return to England. 
 
 1 July 16th, 1599 (Hatfield MSS., IX. 205). 
 
 2 Dalton, I. 37. 
 
EDWARD, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON 105 
 
 In the following spring he married Theodosia 
 Noel, daughter of Sir Andrew Noel, of Dalby, 
 Leicestershire. But he was eager for active work, 
 and in July he volunteered for and was appointed 
 to the command of 1,000 men raised in London 
 for the relief of Ostend, then in imminent danger 
 of being captured by the Spaniards. On his 
 return he was knighted by the Queen at Basing, 
 the seat of his sister, the Marchioness of Win- 
 chester, and soon afterwards he was chosen 
 member of Parliament for Aldborough. Next 
 year Prince Maurice gave him the command of all 
 the English horse in the Dutch service, though 
 he was not actually raised to the rank of colonel 
 till 1605. 
 
 Determined to lose nothing for the asking, Cecil 
 begged Sir Robert, in 1602, to obtain for him the 
 post of President of Munster, and two years later 
 he again appealed to his uncle to appoint him to 
 one of the important commands vacated by the 
 death of Sir Francis Vere, who was Governor of the 
 Brill and of Portsmouth. But there were others 
 who had far better claims to these appointments 
 than Sir Edward, and Sir Robert, though always 
 ready to help his nephew in any legitimate way, 
 was not the man to use his influence unfairly for 
 the benefit of his family. 
 
 Cecil took part in the various military operations 
 of the next few years, and gained an increasing 
 reputation as a brave and capable soldier. In 
 1610 he was appointed general of the English 
 contingent of 4,000 men which took part in the 
 
io6 THE CECILS 
 
 expedition to Cleves and the siege of Juliers. His 
 experience in the Netherlands, where he had 
 assisted at the sieges of Grave, Sluys and other 
 places, had made him proficient in everything 
 connected with fortification, and at Juliers he had 
 plenty of opportunity of showing his skill as an 
 engineer, and his ability as a commander. Writing 
 to Lord Salisbury, Sir Ralph Winwood, the British 
 ambassador at the Hague, who had himself visited 
 the army investing Juliers, says, " I cannot suffi- 
 ciently represent unto your Lordship his industry 
 and diligence, and how by his example, to stir up 
 watchfulness and care in others, he doth descend 
 to the duty of a simple Captain. If anything be 
 to be desired in him, it is this, that he would be 
 more respectful of his person, which he doth often 
 hazardously expose to danger ; quern saepe transit 
 casus aliquando invenit : his horse this week was 
 killed under him by a shot of a culverin." x Other 
 writers bear witness to his activity, his reckless 
 courage, and his power of inspiring enthusiasm in 
 his men. The town surrendered on August 22nd, 
 after five weeks' siege, and Winwood declared that 
 though the honour belonged of right to Count 
 Maurice, yet for his part he would attribute the 
 successful outcome " to the diligence and judg- 
 ment of Sir Edward Cecil." 
 
 For the next few years he passed much of his 
 time at Court, where he stood high in the favour 
 of the Prince of Wales, who sent him in May, 1612, 
 as his proxy to stand sponsor to the child of 
 
 1 Dalton, I 183. 
 
EDWARD, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON 107 
 
 Count Ernest of Nassau, at Arnheim. The tragic 
 death of the Prince six months later does not 
 appear to have injured his prospects so far as they 
 depended upon Court favour, for in the following 
 year, after the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth 
 with the Elector Palatine, Cecil was appointed to 
 accompany the young couple and their train on 
 the journey to the Palatinate, in the capacity of 
 Treasurer, while his wife was one of the ladies in 
 attendance on the Princess. On the birth of 
 the Elector's first child the King sent Sir Edward 
 and Lady Cecil on a special mission to Heidelberg 
 to report on the health of his daughter and 
 grandson. 
 
 After serving in what Motley calls " the phantom 
 campaign " of 1614, he remained for the next two 
 years with his regiment at Utrecht, and there his 
 wife died in March, 1616. " I must confess it 
 inflicted a very strong sorrow upon me," he writes 
 to Sir Dudley Car let on, " for she was a dear and 
 good wife to me. But it hath pleased God to 
 allow me patience with my affliction, and accord- 
 ing to your good counsel I do humbly submit 
 myself to his pleasure." 1 A few months later it 
 was already rumoured that he was about to marry 
 again, the lady being Diana Drury, who was the 
 younger sister of the second wife of his eldest 
 brother, William, and was said to be a good 
 match, having £10,000 or £12,000. 2 The marriage, 
 however, did not take place till February, 1618. 
 
 1 S. P. Holland, 1616. Quoted by Dalton, I. 236. 
 
 9 Chamberlain to Carleton, November 23rd, 1616 (Cal. S. P. Dom.). 
 
io8 THE CECILS 
 
 In the same year he again made efforts to obtain 
 an official appointment, first as Comptroller, and 
 afterwards as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan- 
 caster, but in spite of his interest at Court, he 
 failed in each case. A much more serious dis- 
 appointment awaited him two years later. 
 
 On the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, fol- 
 lowed by the acceptance of the crown of Bohemia 
 by the Elector Palatine, the hopes of the Protes- 
 tant princes of Europe were centred on James, 
 upon whose aid they relied to prevent the conquest 
 of the Palatinate by Spain. Very tardily and 
 grudgingly James gave permission for a small 
 force to be raised for this purpose, and Sir Edward 
 Cecil had every hope of being appointed to the 
 command. The Duke of Buckingham had pro- 
 mised him the post, and the King was favourable 
 to his claim. Unfortunately, however, Baron 
 Dohna, the King of Bohemia's Ambassador, passed 
 over Cecil and other applicants, and insisted that 
 the troops should be led by Sir Horace Vere, the 
 commander of the English forces in the service of 
 the United Provinces. On receiving this infor- 
 mation Cecil was furious, and his anger was 
 increased by the fact that, notoriously, a feud 
 had long existed between Vere and himself. 
 Moreover, his appointment had been publicly 
 spoken of, and he had " made great promises to 
 himself and his friends." x 
 
 He felt himself disgraced, and at an interview, of 
 
 1 R. Woodward to F. Windebank, July ist, 1620 (Cal. S. P. Bom. 
 See Gardiner, III. 358 ; Dalton, I. 321 sqq.). 
 
EDWARD, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON 109 
 
 which full accounts have been preserved, proceeded 
 to vent his wrath on Dohna. After expatiating on 
 his own services to the King and Queen of Bohemia, 
 he complained that although he had been " nomi- 
 nated by his Majesty for the present employment, 
 and that the world took notice of it, and he 
 (Dohna) in particular," yet Dohna had waited 
 until he knew it must " prove a dishonour " to 
 him, and had then nominated " one who had 
 never done the King of Bohemia service." He 
 went on to say that while he knew what 
 was due to an ambassador, he hoped he might 
 meet him one day in another place or in another 
 rank, where they could " speak upon equal 
 terms." x 
 
 Dohna at once complained to the King of the 
 treatment he had received, and James sent for 
 Cecil, who, however, had gone to join his regiment 
 at the Hague. Sir Robert Naunton, the Secretary 
 of State, therefore wrote to Carleton, the British 
 Ambassador at the Hague, instructing him to tell 
 Sir Edward that his Majesty " will have him 
 acknowledge his fault, and ask forgiveness both 
 of his Majesty and Baron Dohna, or to expect 
 condign punishment from his Majesty whenever 
 he shall return hither." 2 Nothing was left for 
 Cecil but humbly to ask " pardon of his Majesty 
 and of the Ambassador, for having forgotten what 
 belonged to his quality." 3 With this apology, 
 
 1 Dohna's and Cecil's accounts of the interview are printed by Daltoa 
 from 5. P. Holland. 
 
 2 July 20th, 1620 (S. P. Holland). 
 
 8 Carleton to Naunton, July 27th, 1620 (ibid.). 
 
no THE CECILS 
 
 James expressed himself well satisfied, and so the 
 incident ended. 
 
 Sir Dudley Carleton also succeeded at the same 
 time in bringing about a reconciliation between 
 Vere and Cecil, thereby greatly increasing the 
 efficiency of the English army in the Netherlands. 
 
 Cecil, with the Dutch army, accompanied Vere 
 and his regiment as far as Wesel, where he had 
 the mortification of seeing his successful rival 
 march off to the seat of war, while he himself 
 remained inactive for a couple of months within 
 sight of a force of 6,000 Spaniards, with whom, 
 owing to the existence of a truce, they were on 
 the most friendly terms. The only thing of 
 interest connected with the campaign which need 
 be recorded here is the following " Military 
 Rhyme " :— 
 
 " Some say Sir Edward Cecil can 
 Do as much as any man ; 
 But I say no — for Sir Horace Vere 
 Hath carried the Earl of Oxford where 
 He neither shall have wine nor cheer. 
 Now Hercules himself could do no more." 1 
 
 On his return to England, Sir Edward was 
 elected member for Chichester, and took his seat 
 in the Parliament which met in January, 1621. 
 He has been credited with a fine speech, during 
 
 1 Court and Times of James J., II. 208. The " dissolute and reckless " 
 Earl of Oxford, who accompanied his cousin. Sir Horace Vere, to the 
 Palatinate, was the son, by a second marriage, of the Earl who proved 
 so bad a husband to Lord Burghley's daughter, as already related. He 
 was himself connected with the Cecils through his marriage wilji Lady 
 Diana, Sir Edward's niece. 
 
EDWARD, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON in 
 
 this session, on the importance of granting an 
 immediate supply to the Palatinate. This speech 
 was published under his name, and attracted con- 
 siderable attention, but there seems to be no doubt 
 that it was a forgery, and was never uttered in 
 Parliament by Cecil or anyone else. 1 He was at 
 this time a member of the Council of War, which 
 was considering the best means of securing the 
 safety of the Palatinate, and no doubt he lent his 
 name to the pamphlet, in order to promote what 
 he considered a good cause. 2 
 
 The session was a stormy one, and at the last 
 sitting before the adjournment on June 4th, Sir 
 John Perrot made his momentous speech, in which, 
 after alluding to the danger in which the true reli- 
 gion stood, both at home and abroad, and recalling 
 the King's declaration at the beginning of Parlia- 
 ment, that " if the Palatinate could not be re- 
 covered by treaty, he would adventure his blood 
 and life in the cause," he appealed to the House to 
 make a public declaration before they parted, 
 " that if the treaty failed, they would, upon their 
 return, be ready to adventure their lives and 
 estates, for the maintenance of the cause of God, 
 and of his Majesty's royal issue." 
 
 1 A copy exists in the British Museum, and it is printed in the Cal. 
 S. P. Bom., February 5th, 1620-1. Professor Gardiner, who was 
 the first to discover that it was not authentic, says : " Whoever was 
 the author, the speech does him great credit. There is a fine ring in 
 its language from beginning to end. Nothing, in the course of writing 
 this work, has been more painful than the act of drawing my pen, in 
 obedience to the laws of historical veracity, through the extracts which. 
 I had credulously inserted in the text " (IV. 29, note). 
 
 2 Dalton, I. 346. 
 
ii2 THE CECILS 
 
 As soon as Perrot sat down, Cecil rose and said, 
 " This declaration comes from Heaven. It will 
 do more for us than if we had ten thousand soldiers 
 on the march." The motion was unanimously 
 agreed to amidst scenes of enthusiasm such as 
 have rarely been witnessed in Parliament. 1 
 
 Cecil continued to advocate a war with Spain, 
 in order to save the Palatinate, but James still 
 relied on Spanish professions, and was eager for the 
 marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Infanta ; 
 and it was not until the disastrous visit of the 
 Prince and Buckingham to Madrid had destroyed 
 all hope of that alliance that a breach between the 
 two countries became inevitable. The death of 
 James in March, 1625, gave Charles and Bucking- 
 ham a free hand, and remembering the success of 
 the Cadiz expedition of 1596, the first adventure 
 they decided upon was to send a large fleet with 
 10,000 men, under the supreme command of 
 Buckingham himself, to raid the Spanish coast. 
 
 For the last few years Cecil had spent much of 
 his time in the Low Countries, and had taken part 
 in all the most important military operations. He 
 had not omitted to press his claims to advance- 
 ment, and his opportunity had now come. On 
 May 4th, 1625, the Duke of Buckingham wrote, 
 informing him of the proposed expedition, and 
 appointing him second in command to him- 
 self. " I will use no other expression to you," 
 his letter ends, " than that I have put into your 
 hands the first infinite trust and pawn of my 
 
 1 Gardiner, IV. 128, 129. 
 
EDWARD, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON 113 
 
 goodwill that ever I had in my power to bestow, 
 which I have done with confidence and affection." 1 
 Cecil's command was to be that of Lord Marshal 
 of the Army on board the fleet and Deputy to 
 Buckingham, and this appointment he gratefully 
 accepted, at once setting about the necessary 
 preparations. But the occasion was not to pass 
 without a display of his jealous and quarrelsome 
 temper. At the same time that Buckingham had 
 written to him, he had also informed Sir Horace 
 Vere that the States-General could not dispense 
 with his services, but that the King was pleased to 
 create him a Baron. 2 One would have supposed 
 that Cecil, having been chosen for so high a 
 command, though junior to Vere, would have been 
 pleased that his old comrade-in-arms should also 
 be honoured ; yet on receipt of the news, he wrote 
 to Buckingham as follows : 
 
 " The occasion of my boldness in presenting your 
 Excellency with these lines, is for that, contrary to my 
 expectation, I hear that there is a commission a drawing 
 to make Sir Horace Vere a Baron of England. It is 
 strange to me at this time to hear it, for that I know not 
 what worth there is more in him, than in those that are 
 equal in profession and before him in birth. If your 
 Excellency have made choice of me to be your second in 
 this journey of so much charge and expectation, and to 
 make me less than I was, what courage shall I have to 
 do you service ? or what honour will redound to your 
 Excellency ? But although I write it, yet I cannot believe 
 it, for that I know you of that judgment and nobleness 
 that you will rather add to your faithful servants, 
 
 1 Dalton, II. 94- 
 
 2 Ibid., II. 95- 
 
 c. 1 
 
ii 4 THE CECILS 
 
 although they beg it not, than to disgrace them and make 
 them less." 1 
 
 Meanwhile preparations for the great expedition 
 went forward, but it soon became evident that 
 success under the conditions prevailing was more 
 than doubtful. Money, food, clothing and stores 
 were all deficient, and the raw recruits who were 
 pressed into the service were ignorant of even the 
 rudiments of drill and discipline, and no attempt 
 was made to train them. The officers were little 
 better than the men, being mostly untried and 
 appointed by favour rather than merit ; and 
 the ships were mainly merchantmen hastily con- 
 verted. The expedition was unpopular from the 
 first, and distrust of Buckingham's intentions 
 was so intense that Parliament refused to grant 
 supplies. 
 
 Finally, in August, Buckingham very wisely 
 decided not to command in person, and though he 
 still absurdly styled himself " Generalissimo of the 
 fleet," he appointed Cecil to the supreme command 
 on sea and land, under the title of Admiral and 
 Lieutenant-General, " the greatest command," as 
 was said at the time, " that any subject hath had 
 these hundred years." 2 
 
 When it is considered that neither Cecil nor his 
 Vice-Admiral, the Earl of Essex, had any experi- 
 
 1 July 19th, 1625 (Dalton, II. 108). The same authority records a 
 dispute which took place in 1622 between Cecil and Sir Edward Vere, 
 who was his second in command in the absence of Sir Horace, and 
 resulted in a challenge, the duel only being stopped at the last moment 
 by the intervention of the Prince of Orange (II. 6, note). 
 
 a Court and Times of Charles I., I. 53. 
 
EDWARD, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON 115 
 
 ence whatever of naval warfare, one cannot wonder 
 that some surprise was expressed at the appoint- 
 ment. " Would any man take upon himself the 
 charge of a general by sea," wrote Admiral 
 Monson, " that had never passed further than 
 between England and Holland ? It were good to 
 know whether he sought the employment or 
 whether it was put upon him against his will ; if 
 he was led upon it by ambition let him answer his 
 error and that with severity ; if it was procured 
 by others they ought to have the same chastise- 
 ment." 1 Cecil, however, was not the man to 
 throw away so splendid a chance of distinguishing 
 himself, even had he known — as apparently he 
 did not — of the miserable condition of his ships 
 and men. Before the fleet sailed he had realised 
 that an enterprise undertaken so late in the year, 
 with unseaworthy ships, discontented crews, raw 
 troops, and ignorant officers, had little hope of 
 success, but it was then too late to draw 
 back. 
 
 On September 15th, the King, accompanied by 
 the Duke of Buckingham, came himself to Ply- 
 mouth to inspect the fleet and the troops, and to 
 endeavour to put some enthusiasm into the officers 
 and men. Buckingham, who was still sanguine, 
 induced the King to announce that Cecil was to be 
 raised to the peerage, under the title of Viscount 
 Wimbledon. 2 He seems to have forgotten, says 
 
 1 Churchill, Naval Tracts, III. 238. Quoted by Dalton. 
 
 2 Wimbledon House had come into his possession on the death of 
 his father in the previous year. 
 
 I 2 
 
n6 THE CECILS 
 
 Gardiner, " that honours granted before success 
 has crowned an undertaking are apt to become 
 ridiculous in case of failure." 
 
 And from the very beginning failure dogged the 
 ill-fated expedition. When it actually sailed, 
 early in October, it was met in the Channel by a 
 violent south-west gale, and put back in the 
 greatest disorder to Falmouth and Plymouth. 
 Finally, the fleet, consisting of seventy-six English 
 and twenty Dutch vessels, with 5,000 sailors and 
 10,000 soldiers on board, put to sea on October 8th. 
 The object in view was to destroy the King of 
 Spain's shipping, to seize some important Spanish 
 town, and above all to intercept the treasure-ships 
 coming from the West Indies and the River Plate. 1 
 But no plan of action had been decided upon, and 
 Cecil throughout proved entirely incapable of 
 coming to any decision whatever. On the slightest 
 provocation he called a council of war, and it was 
 not till the fleet had arrived, without serious 
 damage, in Spanish waters, that Puerto de Santa 
 Maria in Cadiz Bay was selected as the point of 
 attack. The operations which followed might, 
 under more favourable circumstances and under 
 less incompetent leaders, have been crowned with 
 success. The Spaniards were unprepared, and the 
 whole garrison of Cadiz consisted of 300 men ; and 
 had the first attack been followed up with energy, 
 the town could not have held out. Instead of 
 this, time was frittered away in bombarding a 
 fort and in marching hungry troops for twelve 
 
 1 Glanville's Voyage to Cadiz, p. 32. 
 
EDWARD, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON 117 
 
 miles in pursuit of a non-existent enemy. 1 By 
 this time Cadiz had received strong reinforcements 
 and " was apprehended to be so strongly fortified 
 that it was not to be carried without a siege " ; 
 moreover, the commanders were convinced by 
 experience that their troops were unfit for any 
 serious enterprise ; and, above all, it was time to 
 be on the look-out for the Plate fleet. 2 The troops 
 were therefore re-embarked, the fort evacuated, 
 and six days after its arrival in Cadiz Bay, the 
 fleet again put out to sea. 
 
 Cecil still hoped to be able to cover his ill-success 
 by the capture of the treasure-ships, and he there- 
 fore took up his position in the Atlantic to await 
 their arrival. Unfortunately, the Spanish fleet, 
 having heard rumours of war, had taken a 
 southerly course, and sailing up the coast of 
 Africa, crept into Cadiz Bay two days after the 
 English had left. Of this Cecil was ignorant, and 
 from November 4th to 17th, his foul and leaky 
 ships " beat it out at sea," until, battered by 
 storms which they were in no state to resist, and 
 with their crews diminishing daily owing to the 
 putrid condition of their food and drink, they made 
 
 1 Cecil was himself in command of this adventure. Finding that 
 there had been a false alarm, instead of returning, he marched on, in the 
 hope of something turning up. Meanwhile most of his men had had no 
 food since the previous day, and, finding a store of wine in some houses 
 near where they halted for the night, they threw off all discipline, broke 
 violently into the cellars, and very soon the whole army was raving 
 drunk. The only thing to be said for Cecil in this affair is that he had 
 given instructions that provisions should be provided, though he had 
 omitted to see whether they were carried out (Gardiner, VI. 18, 19 ; 
 Glanville, pp. 59, 60). 
 
 2 Glanville, p. 66. 
 
n8 THE CECILS 
 
 their way home as best they could. A succession 
 of gales did still further damage, and Cecil himself, 
 on the Anne Royal, arrived in Kinsale Harbour on 
 December nth, having already lost 130 men from 
 disease, and with 160 sick on board. The rest of 
 the fleet suffered as severely, and it was many 
 months before all the vessels which survived found 
 their way back into English ports. 
 
 So ended this disastrous enterprise, which was 
 fitly commemorated in the following lines : 
 
 " There was a crow sat on a stone ; 
 He flew away and there was none. 
 There was a man that ran a race ; 
 When he ran fast, he ran apace. 
 There was a maid that ate an apple ; 
 When she ate two, she ate a couple. 
 There was an ape sat on a tree ; 
 When he fell down, down fell he. 
 There was a fleet that went to Spain ; 
 When it returned, it came again." x 
 
 For the fiasco Buckingham must bear the chief 
 part of the blame. Not only was he responsible 
 for the inception of the expedition and for its 
 equipment, but he filled all the most important 
 positions with his own nominees, whom Wimbledon 
 was unable to reject. But even with the materials 
 at his command, had he shown any decision or 
 dash, Cecil should have had no difficulty in sacking 
 Cadiz and destroying the ships in the harbour ; 
 while his failure to intercept the Plate fleet was due 
 far more to incapacity than to ill-luck. He lacked 
 
 1 Court and Times of Charles I., I. 118. 
 
EDWARD, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON 119 
 
 the qualities necessary for success, and being 
 raised to a position of great responsibility, was 
 only able to prove that he was utterly unfit for it. 
 
 The Anne Royal remained in Kinsale harbour for 
 several weeks to re-fit, and on putting to sea was 
 again hindered by bad weather, so that Cecil did 
 not reach London till the beginning of March. To 
 his great indignation he was at once summoned 
 before the Privy Council to answer charges of mis- 
 management brought against him by the Earl of 
 Essex and other officers of the expedition. But 
 Buckingham stood by him, and the perfunctory 
 examination which took place resulted in his 
 acquittal. The King at first showed his disap- 
 pointment and displeasure by refusing to receive 
 him at Court ; but he soon regained the Royal 
 favour, and in a short time he seems to have 
 entirely recovered his prestige. 
 
 On May 4th, 1626, he took his seat in the House 
 of Lords as Viscount Wimbledon, 1 and at the end 
 of the year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of 
 Surrey. He was sworn a member of the Privy 
 Council in February, 1628, and on the death of the 
 Earl of Pembroke two years later, he received the 
 important appointment of Captain and Governor 
 of Portsmouth for life. 
 
 Being still a colonel of a regiment in the army 
 of the States-General, he was present at the siege 
 of Groll in 1627, and at Bois-le-duc two years later, 
 but in 1631 he relinquished the command which 
 
 1 His patent as Baron Cecil of Putney and Viscount Wimbledon is 
 dated November 9th, 1625 (Dalton, II. 258). 
 
120 THE CECILS 
 
 he had held for six-and-twenty years and took final 
 leave of Holland. 1 
 
 From this time onward he displayed great 
 energy, acting on numerous commissions and 
 enquiries as member of the Privy Council — no 
 sinecure in those days — and of the Council of War. 
 He incurred the hatred, not unmixed with fear, 
 of the civil authorities of Portsmouth, by his 
 strenuous endeavours to strengthen the fortifica- 
 tions of the town. His name is prominent in all 
 the military commissions of the time, and he was 
 recognised as the chief authority on all matters 
 connected with the Army, into which he introduced 
 many necessary reforms. 
 
 His second wife died in May, 163 1, and he had 
 still no son and heir. He therefore determined to 
 marry once more, and in 1635, ne being sixty- three 
 and his bride seventeen, he allied himself to 
 Sophia Zouch, daughter of Sir Edward Zouch of 
 Woking. His ambition was realised by the birth 
 of a son, Algernon, in December, 1636 ; but the 
 boy survived only for a few months and his father's 
 hopes were then finally shattered. 
 
 Viscount Wimbledon died on November 16th, 
 1638, and was buried in St. Mary's Church, 
 Wimbledon, where a monument of black marble, 
 erected by his daughters, preserves a record of his 
 achievements. 
 
 1 Mr. Dalton suggests that he fell into disgrace with the Dutch 
 Government, owing to a dispute about compensation for the damage 
 done by a fire at Cecil House, which Wimbledon had leased as a resi- 
 dence for the Dutch Ambassador, and that, in consequence, he was 
 removed from his command (II. 311). But he was in his sixtieth year, 
 and his activities at home demanded all his time, 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE EXETER LINE 
 
 Lord Wimbledon's eldest brother, William, 
 who succeeded his father as second Earl of Exeter, 
 was born in 1566. In spite of his own experiences 
 of foreign travel Sir Thomas sent him to Paris with 
 his tutor, Mr. Bird, at the age of seventeen, and 
 two years later he was travelling in Italy, where 
 the reputation of his grandfather, Lord Burghley, 
 stood him in good stead. He visited Rome, 
 contrary to his father's express command, and 
 wrote to Walsingham, requesting him to intercede 
 with Sir Thomas for him. 1 Enemies of the Cecils 
 reported that he had become a Catholic, 2 as they 
 did again when he was in Italy fifteen years later. 
 
 In January, 1589, he married Elizabeth Manners, 
 Baroness Roos, or de Ros, daughter of the Earl of 
 Rutland. She was only thirteen years old, and 
 being a ward of the Crown, could not marry with- 
 out licence, which she had not obtained. For this 
 offence she and her husband were fined £600, it 
 having been shown in their defence that the late 
 Earl of Rutland desired the marriage, and that the 
 Countess had given her consent to it. 8 Their 
 
 1 Cal. S. P. Bom., November 24th, 1585. 
 
 2 Hatfield MSS., III. 130. 
 
 3 Barron, Northamptonshire Families, p. 29. 
 
122 THE CECILS 
 
 happiness was short-lived, for Lady Roos died in 
 1591, after giving birth to one son, William, who 
 succeeded her as Lord Roos. The old Lord 
 Burghley greeted the birth of his first great- 
 grandson with the pious ejaculation, " God bless 
 him to follow my purposes, but not my pains nor 
 dangers," 1 a prayer which, unfortunately, was not 
 granted. 
 
 In 1600 Cecil was again travelling in Italy, and 
 had the misfortune to incur the Queen's suspicion 
 that he was " going to Rome." His wife — he had 
 married again — writes to the all-powerful Sir 
 Robert to ask him to assure her Majesty that he 
 had no such intention. " I had thought," she 
 says, " his very name in his travel would have 
 proved his greatest foe, which I see is more subject 
 to vipers at home," 2 and Cecil himself writes from 
 Venice (February 1st, 1600), " Those which in my 
 absence do slander me with coming hither for 
 remission of sins and to become a Catholic, do 
 themselves injury and not me in reporting so great 
 an untruth. I write not this to trouble you to 
 defend my innocency against these leprous tongues, 
 because it is the nature of certain poor spirits that 
 if such bitter fanns [? fangs] should not have their 
 natural passage, they would presently fall into 
 some grievous disease." 3 
 
 William Cecil was knighted in 1603, on the 
 occasion already described, when his father enter- 
 
 1 Historical MSS. Commission, Report XII., App. IV. p. 282. 
 
 2 Hatfield MSS., X. 21. 
 s Ibid., X. 25. 
 
THE EXETER LINE 123 
 
 tained King James at York. After this we hear 
 of him occasionally as taking part in functions at 
 Court, and serving on various commissions, but he 
 did not distinguish himself in any way. A thick- 
 and-thin adherent of Buckingham, his judgment 
 is shown by the fact that he wrote to the Duke 
 after the fiasco of the expedition to Rhe congratu- 
 lating him on his "miraculous success." 1 He 
 succeeded his father as Lord Burghley in 1605, 
 and as Earl of Exeter in 1623. He was Lord 
 Lieutenant of Northampton, a member of the 
 Privy Council, and a Knight of the Garter ; and 
 he died in July, 1640, and was buried in 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 
 By his second wife, Elizabeth Drury, daughter 
 of Sir William Drury, of Halstead, the Earl had 
 three daughters only : Elizabeth, who married 
 Thomas Howard, Earl of Berkshire : 2 Diana, a 
 noted beauty, who married Henry Vere, eighteenth 
 Earl of Oxford, 3 and afterwards Thomas Bruce, 
 Earl of Elgin : and Anne, who married Henry, 
 Lord Grey of Groby, afterwards Earl of Stamford. 
 Lord Exeter's only son having predeceased him, 
 his daughters conveyed considerable portions of 
 the family estates to their husbands, and the manor 
 
 1 Cal. S. P. Dom., November 3rd, 1627. 
 
 2 Their eldest daughter married John Dryden. 
 
 3 See p. no, note. " The Earl of Oxford after 20 months' imprison- 
 ment was released out of the tower and conveyed to the Earl of 
 Exeter's, and on New Year's Day married the Lady Diana Cecil, with 
 a portion of £30,000." Chamberlain to Carleton, January 3rd, 1624 
 (Court and Times of James I., II. 445). She took part in a masque 
 at Court on one occasion, and the popular cry was : " Great is Diana 
 of the Cecilians " (ibid., II. 351). 
 
124 THE CECILS 
 
 of Stamford passed to Lord Grey, who took his 
 title from it. 1 
 
 Lady Exeter survived until 1658, when she died 
 at the age of eighty, " leaving behind her an 
 example for piety, wisdom, bounty, charity, and 
 all goodness, fit for imitation of all ladies of honour 
 and virtue." 2 She was a staunch adherent of the 
 Parliament during the Civil War, and in 1643 her 
 house at Newark was sacked and her " rich 
 furniture pillaged." Three years later she sent a 
 petition to Parliament praying for relief " out of 
 the compositions of delinquents' estates," owing 
 to the great losses she had incurred " by the 
 burning, plundering, and spoiling of her houses and 
 goods about Newark and elsewhere." " I have 
 chosen," she says, " to bear these losses in silence, 
 till I can no longer forbear, on account of my many 
 wants and debts." 3 
 
 Lord Exeter's son, William, Lord Roos, 4 had a 
 
 1 The manor was bought back by the eighth Earl of Exeter, 1747. 
 
 2 From the inscription on her monument in St. James', Clerkenwell. 
 8 House of Lords MSS., Hist. MSS. Com., Report VII., App. p. 153. 
 
 At this time (1646) there were no fewer than four Countesses and 
 
 Dowager Countesses of Exeter living, as will be seen from the following 
 
 abbreviated table : — 
 
 Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl 
 (1542— 1623). 
 Married (il Dorothea Nevill (died 1609), 
 (2) Frances Brydges (died 1663). 
 
 William, 2nd Earl Richard 
 
 (1566— 1640). (1570— 1633). 
 
 Married (1) Elizabeth Manners, Lady Roos (died 1591). | 
 
 (2) Elizabeth Drury (died 1658). David, 3rd Earl 
 
 1 (? 1600 — 1643). 
 
 William, Lord Roos Married Elizabeth Egerton (died 1688). 
 
 (1591— 1618). I 
 
 Married Elizabeth Lake. John, 4th Earl 
 
 (1628— 1678). 
 Married(i), in 1646, Frances Manners (died 1669) 
 (2) Mary Fane (died 1681). 
 
 * The title was granted to him by letters of credence from the King, 
 on the death of his mother in 1591, the year after his birth. His claim 
 
THE EXETER LINE 125 
 
 brief but by no means uneventful career. He 
 spent most of his youth in travelling on the 
 Continent, and was accompanied on his first tour 
 by his tutor, John Molle. On their arrival in 
 Rome in 1608, Molle, who had rendered himself 
 obnoxious to the Papal authorities by translating 
 portions of Duplessis-Mornay into English, and 
 had been persuaded by his pupil, against his own 
 better judgment, to cross the Alps, was arrested 
 by the Inquisition and thrown into prison. To 
 all appeals for his release the Pope replied " with 
 assurances that he should be well treated and 
 efforts made for his conversion ;" and in spite of 
 the efforts of Lord Salisbury and others for his 
 release, the unfortunate man was kept in prison 
 for thirty years until his death at the age of 
 eighty. 1 
 
 Roos himself, who already felt leanings towards 
 Catholicism, was well received and entertained in 
 Rome, and afterwards at Venice, and he then 
 proceeded, " both out of curiosity and because he 
 is very rich," to visit the Courts of Vienna, 
 Munich, Buda-Pesth, and Prague. 2 We hear of 
 him next at Madrid, where he intended to remain 
 a year in order to learn the language, had not his 
 great-uncle, Lord Salisbury, expressed a wish that 
 
 to the title was afterwards disputed by the Earl of Rutland, but was 
 confirmed in his favour. On his death without issue it reverted to the 
 Manners family. 
 
 1 Court and Times of James I., I. 77 ; Cal. S. P. Bom., October 2nd, 
 1608 ; January 3rd, 1610; Cal. S. P. Venetian, September 6th, 1608. 
 
 2 See Cal. S. P. Venetian, March 30th, 1609. Roos sent home 
 from Rome a collection of statues, which he presented to the Earl of 
 Arundel. 
 
126 THE CECILS 
 
 he should leave that country. 1 The result of 
 this journey was that he became a violent partisan 
 of Spain, and was accustomed henceforward to 
 vilify every other country, including his own. 
 Early in 1611 he was in Paris, whence he carried 
 off Sir Thomas Puckering and his reluctant tutor, 
 the Rev. Thomas Lorkin, on a tour through the 
 Low Countries. Lorkin has given a sad account 
 of his behaviour, which was gross in the extreme 
 and set a very bad example to Sir Thomas. He 
 shows also that Lord Roos was at this time a 
 Catholic, " if they may be accounted of any 
 [religion], which make conscience of none." 2 
 
 In 1612 he was employed as Ambassador to 
 the Emperor Matthias, to congratulate him on his 
 accession, and in 1616 the King sent him on a 
 special mission to the Court of Madrid, " osten- 
 sibly to congratulate Philip on the recent marriages 
 of his children, but in reality to plead the cause 
 of the Duke of Savoy, 8 with whom Philip was at 
 war. Lord Roos set out in great style, with six 
 footmen, eight pages, twelve gentlemen, and 
 twenty ordinary servants, and sailed "in a good 
 and fair ship of the King's, called the Dread- 
 nought." 4 He met with a very gratifying reception 
 
 1 Winwood's Memorials, III. 104 ; Cal. S. P. Dom., March 13th, 1610 
 (wrongly calendared 1611) ; May 20th, 1610. 
 
 2 Lorkin to Sir Adam Newton, March, 161 1 (Harleian MSS., 
 No. 7002). Roos, however, in a letter to Lord Salisbury, thanks him 
 for not believing the rumours of his having turned Romanist, and 
 " hopes he will never so disgrace his parentage " (Cal S. P. Dom., 
 March 13th, 1610 (not 1611) ). 
 
 3 Gardiner, III. 50. 
 
 ' Chamberlain to Carleton, October 12th, 1616 (Court and Times of 
 James I., I. 426). 
 
THE EXETER LINE 127 
 
 as he passed through Portugal and Spain, and in 
 a letter to the Earl of Arundel 1 he has described 
 the somewhat embarrassing audiences which he 
 had with Philip III. and his son, both of 
 whom stood immovable like statues, leaning 
 against a table, and gave grave and courteous 
 replies without any change of countenance. At 
 his departure the King presented him with a 
 jewel worth £5,000, but though peace was soon 
 afterwards concluded between Spain and Savoy, 
 contemporary gossip judged that Lord Roos had 
 " succeeded ill in his negotiation, another argu- 
 ment of his great weakness." 2 
 
 Shortly before he had set out upon this mission, 
 Roos had married Elizabeth Lake, daughter of 
 Sir Thomas Lake, who had succeeded the Earl of 
 Salisbury as Secretary of State. The marriage 
 was in every way disastrous. " He was a 
 dissolute, a heartless youth, and both Lady Roos 
 and her mother, Lady Lake, were alike, artful 
 and unprincipled women. " 3 A quarrel soon arose, 
 owing to an arrangement about the conveyance 
 of some property, which the Lakes tried to extort 
 by unfair means. On Lord Roos' return from 
 Spain, he was subjected to every kind of insult 
 and threat by his wife and his mother-in-law, 
 until he could stand their " diabolical devices " 
 no longer and determined on flight. Pretending 
 
 1 January, 1617 (Lodge, Illustrations of British History, III. 286). 
 8 Ed. Sherburn to Carleton, April 6th, 1617 (Cal. S. P. Dom., IX 
 
 458). 
 
 8 Gardiner, Vol. III., Chap. XXVII. See also Spedding, Life and 
 Letters of Bacon, Vol. VII. 
 
128 THE CECILS 
 
 that he was going into Yorkshire, he took " a 
 good equipage, with sixteen or twenty men," and 
 at Huntingdon gave them the slip, saying that 
 he was called back urgently to London. He then 
 made his way to Rome, having with him letters 
 of introduction from Gondomar, the Spanish 
 Ambassador. 1 
 
 In his absence Lady Roos proceeded to make 
 public the scandalous charges with which she had 
 already frightened him in private. She accused 
 him of incestuous connection with the Countess 
 of Exeter, the young wife of his grandfather ; and 
 she further accused the Countess of endeavour- 
 ing to poison her, in order to conceal her 
 guilt. 
 
 The quarrel came to the ear of the King, 
 who did his best to have the matter settled, with- 
 out being brought into Court. This, however, was 
 impossible, and the case came before the Star 
 Chamber in March, 1618. 
 
 In order to bolster up their case, Lady Roos 
 and her mother produced a paper purporting to 
 be a full confession by the Countess of her guilt. 
 They declared that all the parties had met at 
 Wimbledon, and that the Countess had there, 
 
 1 " The Earl of Exeter complains very much of the Spanish Ambas- 
 sador, that he having from time to time afforded him many favours, 
 and given entertainment both at his house in Northamptonshire, at 
 Wimbledon, and often here in town, upon assurance that he would 
 procure the delivery of Molle out of the Inquisition of Rome, he hath 
 been so far from performing his promise, that he hath now, lastly, 
 seduced his [grand] son Roos, and sent him to Rome with such recom- 
 mendations, as he is in danger to be utterly deprived of him." Chamber- 
 lain to Carleton, January ioth, 161S (Court and Times of James I., 
 I- 454)- 
 
THE EXETER LINE 129 
 
 sitting in the window of the great chamber, 
 written and signed the confession. This being 
 denied, the King asked for further evidence, 
 whereupon they stated that one Sarah Swarton, 
 their maid, had stood behind the hangings at 
 the far end of the room and had heard the Countess 
 read over what she had written. To this Sarah 
 swore before the King, who, however, was still 
 unsatisfied, and took an opportunity of visiting 
 Wimbledon Hall and inspecting the room. He 
 then discovered, first, that the room was so large 
 that anyone speaking in the window could not 
 be heard at the far end, and secondly, that the 
 hangings were two feet short of the ground, so 
 that no one could hide behind them. " Oaths 
 cannot confound my sight," said James. 
 
 Lord Roos had already written to the King, 
 denying the charges, and hoping that his Majesty 
 " will not allow Lady Roos's title to save her 
 from any severity, she being a base creature, a 
 dishonour to his grandfather's house, and not 
 worthy to wipe the shoes of the Countess of 
 Exeter, whom she has wronged." * Anxious to 
 have Roos's own testimony, however, the King 
 sent for him by an express messenger, who also 
 brought him a formal pardon for having left the 
 kingdom without a licence. But before the 
 messenger arrived news was received by Lord 
 Burghley of his son's death at Naples. 2 " Rumour 
 
 1 Cal. S. P. Dom., June 1st, 1618. 
 
 2 Lorkin to Puckering, July 14th and July 28th, 1618 (Court and Times 
 of James I., II. 80, 83). 
 
 C. K 
 
130 THE CECILS 
 
 attributed his death to poison, but such a rumour 
 was too certain to spring up to merit attention 
 in the absence of all corroboration." * 
 
 So complicated were the charges and counter- 
 charges in the case — the documents filling 17,000 
 sheets of paper — that the trial did not take place 
 till February, 1619. It occupied five days, the King 
 being present throughout and finally delivering 
 the sentence, by which the Lakes were fined 
 upwards of £22,000, and were condemned to 
 imprisonment during his Majesty's pleasure. Lady 
 Roos was compared to the " old serpent," having 
 beguiled her daughter, Eve, while she in her turn 
 had seduced her father, Adam. Poor Sarah 
 Swarton came off very badly. She " was adjudged 
 to the Fleet, from thence to be whipt to West- 
 minster, and after from the same place to 
 Cheapside, there to be branded with F. A., 
 signifying false accusation, one letter on either 
 cheek ; to return back again to the Fleet, there 
 to remain until they do weary of her, and then 
 to be sent to Bridewell, there to spend and end 
 her days." 2 However,, the prisoners were told 
 that they would be set free, if they acknowledged 
 their guilt, and Sarah at once confessed, and her 
 sentence was remitted. Lady Roos also confessed 
 in June, but her father did not submit until the 
 following January, and her mother held out 
 until May, 1621. 
 
 I Gardiner, III. 192. 
 
 II Lorkin to Puckering February 16th, 1619 (Court and, Times of 
 James I., II. 139) 
 
THE EXETER LINE 131 
 
 The second Earl of Exeter was succeeded by 
 his nephew, David, son of Sir Richard Cecil of 
 Wakerley. 1 His estate was seriously diminished 
 by the portions allotted to his uncle's three 
 daughters, and the dowers of his aunt and grand- 
 mother. He took the side of the Parliament in 
 the Civil War, and is mentioned as having offered 
 £500 towards the cost of raising a troop of horse. 
 He was Lord Lieutenant of Rutlandshire in 1642, 
 and died on April 18th, 1643, having enjoyed his 
 title for less than three years. 
 
 David Cecil married Elizabeth, daughter of the 
 first Earl of Bridgewater, by whom he had six sons 
 and three daughters. At his death, however, only 
 two of his children survived : Frances, who 
 married Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, first Earl of 
 Shaftesbury, and John, who succeeded as fourth 
 Earl of Exeter, being then fifteen years of age. 
 Shortly afterwards, Burghley House was occupied 
 by the Royalist troops, and from them re-captured 
 by Cromwell. The operations are thus described 
 by a contemporary writer 2 : — 
 
 " Much also about the same time [July 27, 1643], came 
 certain intelligence to London by letters out of Lincoln- 
 shire, that about 1,000 of the Cavaliers from Newark and 
 Bever Castle hovered and roved about Stamford and 
 Wothrop House, a great and strong seat in those parts, but 
 were bravely molested and chased thence by that brave and 
 most worthily renowned Commander, Colonel Cromwell, 
 and at last forced to take sanctuary in a very strong and 
 
 1 See p. 103, note. 
 
 - John Vicars, in God's A*ke over-topping the World's Waves. Quoted 
 by Charlton, p. 135. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 THE CECILS 
 
 stately stone-built house, not far from Stamford also, 
 called Burghley House, situated in a large park and sur- 
 rounded with a strong stone wall, but God seasonably 
 sending Colonel Hubbard and Colonel Palsgrave to his 
 assistance, both with men and ordnance, the brave Colonel 
 with this auxiliary strength immediately advanced to the 
 said Burghley House, sat down before it, and having com- 
 modiously planted his ordnance, shot at it two or three 
 hours (beginning about three of the clock that morning), 
 but could do no good that way, the house being so strongly 
 built. 1 Then the noble Colonel sounded a parley to the 
 enemy, and offered them quarter, to have their lives and 
 liberty to depart without their weapons ; but the enemy 
 utterly refused the motion, resolutely answering, that they 
 would neither take nor give quarter. Hereupon the 
 valiant Colonel gave present order to storm and assault it 
 with his musketeers ; whereupon the fight grew very hot, 
 and was bravely performed on both sides for awhile, and 
 with much difficulty and danger on ours, the enemy being 
 very active and confident ; and thus the assault continued 
 divers hours, till at last the Cavaliers' courage began to fail, 
 ours pressing on them very fiercely and furiously, so that 
 they sounded a parley from within the house : whereupon 
 the as virtuous as valourous Colonel, commanding presently 
 that not one of his soldiers should dare to shoot or kill any 
 man during the parley on pain of death, notwithstanding 
 their former cruel and bloody answer to his foresaid 
 proffer of quarter to them : in brief they soon concluded 
 upon quarter for their lives, and so they took them all, 
 being two colonels, six or seven captains, three or four 
 hundred foot, and about an hundred and fifty or two 
 hundred horse, with all their arms and ammunition, 
 together with the pillage of the whole house." 
 
 1 Charlton states that the attack was directed against the south side of 
 the house, and that several indentations, supposed to be the marks made 
 by cannon balls are visible below the first floor windows on that side. 
 
THE EXETER LINE 133 
 
 Cromwell is said to have shown great courtesy 
 to the inmates of Burghley House after its capture, 
 and to have presented the Countess of Exeter, 
 widow of the late Earl, with the portrait of 
 himself by Walker, which is still in the collection 
 there. The Countess being a staunch Parliamen- 
 tarian, this was no more than her due. 
 
 Of John, the fourth Earl of Exeter, nothing is 
 recorded except that he was for many years Lord 
 Lieutenant of Northamptonshire and that he 
 married first, Frances, daughter of the eighth 
 Earl of Rutland, 1 and secondly, Mary, daughter 
 of the Earl of Westmorland. He died in 1678 at 
 the age of fifty. 
 
 He left two children, for both of whom he had 
 provided what he considered suitable alliances. 
 John, his son and heir, was married, all unwilling, 
 to a wealthy widow, Anne, Lady Rich, only 
 daughter of the third Earl of Devonshire and 
 Elizabeth Cecil, daughter of the second Earl of 
 Salisbury. "He can endure my Lady Rich as 
 well as any other wife," wrote a friend of the 
 family, 2 " but he had rather have none." How- 
 ever, there is no reason to suppose that he regretted 
 his marriage. 
 
 His sister, Lady Frances Cecil, was described by 
 Lady Campden 3 as " one of the impudentest 
 women as ever was known or heard of." Married 
 
 1 Another daughter married the third Earl of Salisbury. See p. 230. 
 
 2 Lady Sunderland to Lady Giffard, January 28th, 1668 (Life and 
 Letters of Lady Giffard) . 
 
 8 In a letter of August 25th, 1681. Quoted by G. E. C, Complete 
 Peerage, s.v. Scudamore. 
 
134 THE CECILS 
 
 to a worthy but elderly invalid, Viscount Scuda- 
 more, her great beauty inflamed the ardour of 
 Thomas (afterwards Lord) Coningsby, to whose 
 importunities she at last yielded. 1 The guilty 
 pair were surprised by Mrs. Coningsby, from 
 whose fury they fled on horseback — the lady in 
 the scantiest attire. As soon as he discovered 
 their flight, Lord Scudamore, " full of pity for 
 his wife's youth and frailty, resolved to tear her 
 from that infamy she was pursuing," and sent 
 his servants in all directions in pursuit of the 
 fugitives. They were soon tracked to an inn some 
 thirty miles distant, whereupon Coningsby pre- 
 cipitately mounted his horse and fled, leaving 
 Frances to her fate. Disgusted at his cowardice, 
 and now full of remorse, the unfortunate lady 
 returned to her husband, who " received her with 
 tears of tenderness and commiseration," and 
 proceeded to bring an action against Coningsby 
 " for invading his property." The villain, how- 
 ever, " did not scruple at all to sacrifice her fame 
 to his own security," and had the effrontery to 
 plead that the lady ran away with him. This 
 cowardly behaviour, we are told, " so far ruined 
 his credit with the ladies, that he was forced to 
 be regular, and confine his caresses to his wife. 
 The meanest woman would not be brought to 
 trust him for fear he should betray her, and report 
 as before, that she had seduced him." He was a 
 
 1 The story is told at great length in Mrs. Manley's New Atlantis, II. 
 217 — 240, and, if the details are more picturesque than accurate, the 
 main outline is true to fact. 
 
BURGHLEY HOUSE— THE STONE STAIRCASE 
 From a drawing by Joseph Nash, 1841 
 
THE EXETER LINE 135 
 
 violent and unscrupulous politician, and at his 
 death, in 1729, well deserved Pope's epitaph : 
 
 " Here lies Lord Coningsby : be civil, 
 The rest God knows, or else the devil." * 
 
 John, fifth Earl of Exeter, was a man of some 
 talent and considerable taste. Keenly interested 
 in art and letters, he travelled extensively on the 
 Continent, and acquired a reputation for learning 
 and culture. After the Revolution, he refused 
 to take the oath of allegiance to William III., and 
 when the King paid a visit to Burghley, while 
 passing through Stamford in 1695, Lord Exeter 
 contrived to be absent. William was so much 
 pleased with the place, that he repeated his visit 
 on the following day, and when one of his 
 attendants asked him how he liked Burghley, he 
 is said to have replied, " that the house was too 
 large for a subject." 2 
 
 To the fifth Earl is mainly due the fine collection 
 of pictures and works of art of which Burghley 
 is justly proud. Unfortunately, during a long 
 residence in Rome at the time when Luca 
 Giordano and Carlo Dolci were flourishing, he 
 employed these two second-rate painters to such 
 an extent as to produce " a surfeit " of their 
 pictures. 3 He also made considerable alterations 
 to the house itself, and was responsible for the 
 carvings by Grinling Gibbons and the ceilings by 
 Laguerre and Verrio, of whom the last-named 
 
 1 Spence's Anecdotes, 1820, p. 13. 
 
 2 Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, I. 237 ; Charlton, p. 141. 
 
 s Walpole's Letters, Mrs. Paget Toynbee's ed. XIV. 291. 
 
136 THE CECILS 
 
 was engaged at Burghley for a space of twelve 
 years, at an annual salary, it is said, of ^i.soo. 1 
 The portraits of himself, his wife and his children 
 by Lely and Kneller 2 bear further witness to his 
 love of art, and among the other artists he 
 patronised was William Wissing, who painted 
 portraits of several members of the family. 
 Wissing died while at Burghley in 1687, an d 
 the Earl erected a monument to his memory in 
 St. Martin's, Stamford. 
 
 Another still more illustrious inmate of Burghley 
 was Matthew Prior, who, about the year 1689, on 
 the recommendation of the Master of St. John's 
 College, Cambridge, was appointed tutor to the 
 Earl's sons. Several of his poems are dated from 
 Burghley, 3 notably the lines " To the Countess of 
 Exeter," beginning : — 
 
 " What charms you have, from what high race you 
 sprung, 
 Have been the pleasing subjects of my song : 
 Unskill'd and young, yet something still I writ, 
 Of Ca'ndish beauty join'd to Cecil's wit." 
 
 Lord Exeter, with the Countess and three 
 children, " in all thirty-six in family," set out in 
 September, 1699, to go to the jubilee at Rome, 
 intending to " continue in those parts " for three 
 years. He was, however, taken very ill at Turin, 
 
 1 Charlton, p. 216. 
 
 2 The Earl formed a weird society at Burghley, called " The Honble. 
 Order of Little Bedlam," of which Kneller was a member. See Hist. 
 MSS. Com., 5th Report, 399. 
 
 8 See Introduction to Prior's Poetical Works, by R. B. Johnson 
 (Aldine edition, 1892, I. xxii). 
 
THE EXETER LINE 137 
 
 on his way to Rome, and though he then recovered, 
 he returned to France and died at Issy, near 
 Paris, in September, 1700. 1 He was buried in 
 St. Martin's, Stamford, where a magnificent 
 monument of white veined marble, made at 
 Rome by Monnot, and brought home by the 
 Earl himself, commemorates his virtues and 
 talents, and the worth and beauty of his wife. 
 
 Of their children only two were married, 
 John and Elizabeth. The latter married Charles 
 Boyle, fourth Earl of Orrery, whose edition of 
 the Epistles of Phalaris originated the famous 
 controversy with Bentley. She died in 1708 at 
 the age of twenty-one, leaving a son, John, 
 afterwards fifth Earl of Orrery, the friend of 
 Pope and Swift. 2 John (1674 — 1721), who suc- 
 ceeded as sixth Earl of Exeter, was fond of 
 hawking, horse matches, and other country sports, 
 but has no other claim to distinction. Neverthe- 
 less, he added to the wealth of the family by 
 making two very judicious marriages, first with 
 Annabella Bennet, daughter of Lord Ossulston, 
 with a fortune of £30,000, and secondly with 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Brownlow, Bart., 
 of Belton, Lincolnshire, with £1,200 a year, and 
 £10,000 in money. 3 
 
 " His eldest son, John (1700— 1722), died 
 unmarried, after holding the title for only a few 
 months. He was succeeded by his brother, 
 
 1 Luttrell's Diary, IV. pp. 563, 564, 599, 681, 683, 684. 
 
 2 Elwin and Courthope, Works of Pope, VIII. 369, note. 
 
 3 Luttrell's Diary, III. 178 ; IV. 563. 
 
138 THE CECILS 
 
 Brownlow, the eighth Earl (1701 — 1754), and he 
 in his turn by his son, Brownlow, the ninth Earl 
 (1725 — 1793), a man of more activity and more 
 culture than his immediate predecessors. Besides 
 sitting in two Parliaments as member for Rutland, 
 and acting as Lord Lieutenant of that county, 
 he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the 
 Society of Antiquaries, and received the degree 
 of LL.D. at Cambridge in 1751. A keen musician, 
 he was one of the directors of the Handel Com- 
 memoration in 1784, and his private concerts 
 were famous. Further, he refurnished Burghley 
 House, and added to the library and to the art 
 collections. Though twice married, he left no 
 issue, and on his death, in 1793, the title descended 
 to his nephew, Henry, whose father, Thomas 
 Chambers Cecil, married Charlotte Gormiez or 
 Gamier (said, by family tradition, to have been 
 a Basque), and lived on the Continent, dying in 
 France in 1778. 
 
 Henry, the tenth Earl and first Marquess of 
 Exeter, was born at Brussels in 1754. For many 
 years he was member for Stamford, and like his 
 father, was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of 
 the Society of Antiquaries, but his chief claim to 
 distinction lies in his matrimonial adventures. 
 His first wife was Emma, daughter and heiress 
 of Thomas Vernon, of Hanbury, Worcestershire, 
 to whom he was married in 1776 at St. George's, 
 Hanover Square. Only one child was born, a 
 son, who died in infancy ; and in May, 1789, after 
 thirteen years of married life, Mrs. Cecil ran away 
 
THE EXETER LINE 139 
 
 with the Rev. William Sneyd, a curate. The 
 story, as divulged at the " Action for Criminal 
 Conversation," tried before Lord Kenyon on 
 June 26th, 1790, shows all the parties in a very 
 unfavourable light. Counsel for the defence 
 endeavoured to show that Mr. Sneyd " fell into 
 the snare of this young woman," who, though 
 " possessed of no personal beauty or attractions," 
 yet " from the rank and dignity which she held 
 in the country as wife of Mr. Cecil, had an oppor- 
 tunity of drawing into her snare an unfortunate 
 young man, who possessed an handsome person 
 which happened to attract her attention." He 
 went on to declare that "it is a fact absolutely 
 notorious that no person in the family dreamed of 
 anything like a criminal intercourse between these 
 parties, until it was confessed by this unhappy 
 young man, in the hour of sickness, who was 
 desirous of making some sort of atonement to the 
 person whom he had injured, and to obtain his 
 forgiveness." In spite of these protestations, the 
 cross-examination of the servants, witnesses for 
 Mr. Cecil, tended to establish the fact that the 
 whole household of twenty-four persons, and their 
 master, were perfectly well aware, for weeks before 
 the defendant's confession, of what was going on. 
 After the confession, Mr. Sneyd left Mr. Cecil's 
 house with his father, and Mrs. Cecil " fell down 
 on her knees and implored her husband to allow 
 her once more to go and see this defendant, and 
 to take her final leave of him, and to give up his 
 embraces for ever ; and that she would return to 
 
140 THE CECILS 
 
 her duty." Accordingly, Mr. Cecil took his wife 
 to Birmingham, where Mr. Sneyd was staying, 
 and leaving her there, to be brought back by 
 Mr. Sneyd senior, returned home. Mrs. Cecil, 
 however, immediately persuaded her lover to rise 
 from his sick bed, and to fly with her, partially 
 disguised, to Exeter, where they lived together 
 at an hotel under the names of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Benson. After these revelations it is scarcely 
 surprising that the jury found for the plaintiff 
 with £1,000 damages, thus entitling him to a 
 divorce, which he obtained by Act of Parliament 
 in June, 1791. 
 
 It can hardly be doubted that Henry Cecil 
 connived at his wife's seduction and elopement, 
 and, in fact, in less than a year after she had left 
 him, and before the trial, he succumbed to the 
 charms of a " village maiden," named Sarah 
 Hoggins (aged seventeen), and wooing her under 
 the name of John Jones, led her to the village 
 altar at Bolas Magna, in Shropshire (April, 1790). 
 After the divorce he married her again at 
 St. Mildred's, Bread Street, but the marriage 
 seems to have been kept secret until after his 
 accession to the title in 1793. Of the Countess 
 we know little, though Horace Walpole records 
 that he " heard a good account of her, especially 
 of her great humility and modesty on her exalta- 
 tion," and adds : "if she is brought into the 
 fashionable world, I should think the Duchess of 
 Gordon would soon laugh her out of those vulgar 
 qualities, though she may not correct her diction 
 
THE EXETER LINE 141 
 
 and spelling." l We have no reason to suppose 
 that she sank under " the burthen of an honour 
 unto which she was not born " ; and all we know 
 is that she died in 1797, at the age of twenty- 
 three, in giving birth to her fourth child. Thus 
 Tennyson's ballad, which is based on this some- 
 what sordid episode, has very little foundation 
 in fact, and it seems a pity that he should have 
 attached a real name to his romantic version of 
 the story. 
 
 The Earl was still in the prime of life. His 
 experiences of wedlock had possessed a pleasing 
 variety, but he had not yet exhausted its 
 possibilities. Having taken his first wife from 
 the landed gentry, and his second from the 
 people, it remained for him to choose a third from 
 the higher ranks of the peerage. Accordingly, 
 in August, 1800, he replaced his peasant Countess 
 by a divorced Duchess, Elizabeth, relict of the 
 sixth Duke of Hamilton. 2 In the following year 
 Lord Exeter was advanced to the dignity of 
 Marquess, and in 1804 he died, at the age of 
 fifty, leaving three young children by his second 
 wife. 3 
 
 The second Marquess, who succeeded to the 
 title at the age of nine, was educated at Eton 
 and St. John's College, Cambridge, as usual in 
 
 1 Walpole's Letters, Mrs. Paget Toynbee's ed., XV. 333. 
 
 2 She had been divorced in 1794. The Duke died in 1799. 
 
 8 The only daughter, Sophia, married Henry Pierrepont, and their 
 daughter, Auguste, married Lord Charles Wellesley, brother of the Dukf- 
 of Wellington, and was the mother of the third and fourth Dukes. 
 Another brother of the Duke of Wellington married Lady Georgiana 
 Cecil, sister of the second Marquess of Salisbury. See p. 240. 
 
142 THE CECILS 
 
 this branch of the family. In 1824, he married 
 Isabella, daughter and co-heir of William Stephen 
 Poyntz, of Cowdray. He was appointed Lord 
 Lieutenant of Rutland in 1826, and of Northamp- 
 ton in 1842 ; received the Garter in 1827, and 
 was sworn of the Privy Council in 1841. He 
 held various offices in the Household, being 
 Groom of the Stole to the Prince Consort from 
 1841 — 1846 ; Lord Chamberlain in 1852, and 
 Lord Steward in 1858 — 9. A bigoted Tory, 
 though he did not participate in the debates 
 in the House of Lords, he vote'd consistently 
 against all the great reforming measures of the 
 period. 
 
 His unreasoning hatred of reform of any kind 
 led him to oppose with all his power the proposal 
 of the Great Northern Railway to carry their 
 main line through the town of Stamford. The 
 result of his obstinacy was that the company 
 were obliged to alter their plans and carry the 
 line through Peterborough, to the irreparable 
 loss of Stamford. In the end Lord Exeter had 
 to build a branch line from Essendine to Stamford 
 at his own expense, and in order to pay for this, 
 most of his London property had to be sold. 
 
 The Marquess was a member of the Jockey 
 Club, and kept an extensive racing stud. He 
 was particularly fortunate with the Oaks, which 
 he won three times : with Augusta in 182 1, with 
 Green Mantle in 1829, and with Galatea in 1832 : 
 but he never succeeded in winning the Derby. 
 
 In 1844 he entertained the Queen and the 
 
THE EXETER LINE 143 
 
 Prince Consort at Burghley for three days, when 
 the Prince stood sponsor to the Lady Victoria 
 Cecil. The company included Sir Robert Peel 
 and other ministers, and the cost of the entertain- 
 ment was colossal. 
 
 Disraeli has given an interesting picture of 
 Burghley and its inmates at this time : — 
 
 " The exterior," he writes, " is faultless, so vast and so 
 fantastic, and in such fine condition that the masonry 
 seems but of yesterday. In the midst of a vast park, 
 ancient timber in profusion, gigantic oaks of the days of 
 the Lord Treasurer, and an extensive lake. The plate is 
 marvellous. The History of England in the golden pre- 
 sents from every sovereign, from Elizabeth and James I. 
 to Victoria and Albert — shields, vases, tankards, etc. 
 Our host shy, but very courteous ; Lady Exeter tall, 
 still handsome, engaging, and very pious. Great battues 
 every day ; five hundred head slaughtered as a matter of 
 course. The interior not equal to Belvoir, the state 
 rooms, lofty and painted by sprawling Verrio, open one 
 into each other by small side doors, like a French palace 
 or Hampton Court, and so a want of consecutive effect. 
 There is, however, a Hall as large as a college hall, and 
 otherwise very striking. But the family live in a suite of 
 rooms fit only for a squire of degree, and yet the most 
 comfortable in the world." * 
 
 On his death in 1867, the second Marquess was 
 succeeded by his son, William Alleyne (1825 — 
 1895), who sat for twenty years in Parliament 
 as member for South Lincolnshire, and afterwards 
 for North Northamptonshire, and held various 
 offices at Court. He was Militia Aide-de-Camp 
 
 1 Disraeli's Correspondence, January 24th, 1850. 
 
144 THE CECILS 
 
 to the Queen, and colonel in i860 ; Treasurer 
 of the Household, 1866 — 7 ; sworn of the Privy 
 Council, 1866 ; Captain of the Corps of Gentle- 
 men-at-Arms, 1867 — 8 and 1874 — 5. But his 
 chief interest lay in the management of his 
 estates, which were considerably encumbered by 
 his father's extravagance, and by the prevailing 
 depression. On all matters connected with agri- 
 culture he was a recognised authority, and he 
 achieved greatness in pisciculture and in breeding 
 shorthorns. Though obliged to cut down his 
 establishment, he liberally supported all local 
 charities, and performed his duties as a magistrate 
 and as a guardian. He was also an enthusiastic 
 yachtsman, and a general favourite among all 
 classes. 
 
 The third Marquess married Georgina Sophia 
 Pakenham, daughter of the Earl of Longford, a 
 foolish woman, of whom Peel said he thought 
 she was " the sort of person who would do pretty 
 well for a public man ; she wouldn't ask what the 
 division was when he came home. " * They had four 
 sons and six daughters. The eldest son, Brownlow, 
 who succeeded his father in 1895 at the age of 
 forty-six, enjoyed the title and estates for only a 
 short three years. But he had lived for some 
 time at Deeping St. James, between Spalding and 
 Stamford, and was well known and immensely 
 popular in the district. He had been Captain in 
 the Grenadier Guards (in which regiment his 
 two brothers, Lord William Cecil and Lord John 
 
 1 Sir M. Grant Duff, Notes from a Diary, January 25th, 1894. 
 
H'RGHLEV HOUSE— THE CENTRAL COURT 
 From a drawing by Joseph Nash, L841 
 
THE EXETER LINE 145 
 
 Joicey-Cecil also served), and wa& afterwards 
 Hon. Colonel of the 3rd and 4th Batallions, 
 Northamptonshire Regiment. He represented 
 North Northamptonshire in Parliament for twenty- 
 eight years before his accession, was Groom-in- 
 Waiting to the Queen in 1886, Vice- Chamberlain 
 to the Queen in 1891 — 2, and was a member of 
 the Privy Council. Like his father he took great 
 interest in local affairs, and was a familiar figure 
 on political platforms in Lincolnshire. He married 
 Isabella, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas 
 Whichcote, Bart., and the present Marquess (born 
 in 1876) was their only child. In 1901 Lord Exeter 
 married the Hon. Myra Rowena Sibell Orde- 
 Powlett, daughter of Lord Bolton, and has two 
 sons and one daughter. 
 
 Here, for the present, ends the chronicle of the 
 Exeter branch of the family. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ROBERT CECIL, FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 
 
 Turning now to the Salisbury branch of the 
 family, we are confronted with the enigmatical 
 figure of Sir Robert Cecil, the only son of Lord 
 Burghley by his second wife, Mildred Cooke. 
 
 Few great statesmen are so little known, and 
 of few is it more difficult to form a satisfactory 
 judgment. The private life of Lord Burghley 
 lies open for all to read ; the character of Sir 
 Thomas Cecil is simple and presents few problems. 
 But the first Earl of Salisbury hid his real self 
 behind a mask, and even the mass of papers at 
 Hatfield throw only a confused light on his 
 character. They tell us almost nothing of • his 
 private life, and perhaps the strongest impression 
 we gain from them is the extraordinary affection 
 shown by his friends to this man whose own 
 reserve is so impenetrable. Yet many of those 
 who knew him best seem always to have dis- 
 trusted him. He was surrounded by enemies and 
 detractors, and subjected to every form of 
 personal vilification ; and much of the mud 
 thrown both during his life and after his death has 
 stuck to him. As Gardiner remarks, it was 
 difficult for his contemporaries " to imagine that 
 the man who succeeded whilst Essex and Raleigh, 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 147 
 
 Northumberland and Bacon failed, could have 
 prospered except by the most unscrupulous 
 treachery." It is certain that the sympathy 
 naturally felt for such splendid figures as Essex 
 and Raleigh, and the suspicion that Cecil was 
 in some way responsible for the tragedies of 
 their careers, has involved him in undeserved 
 odium. 
 
 The date of Robert Cecil's birth is always said 
 to be uncertain, but one of Burghley's many 
 memoranda of family events preserved at Hatfield, 
 gives it as June 1st, 1563, a date which on other 
 grounds may be accepted as probable. He was 
 a sickly youth, and was educated at home under 
 private tutors, until he entered St. John's College, 
 Cambridge, in 158 1. Three years later he went 
 to Paris, where he acquired an excellent knowledge 
 of French. 
 
 " He was his father's own son," says Sir Robert 
 Naunton, 1 adding, " he was a courtier from his 
 cradle, and had his sufficiency from the instructions 
 of his father, the tutorship of the times and Court, 
 which were then the academies of art and 
 cunning." He early gained the favour of the 
 Queen, and in 1588 he accompanied the mission 
 sent by Elizabeth to treat with the Prince of 
 Parma, and headed by Lord Derby. From 
 Ostend, Cecil and a young Spencer were despatched 
 to Ghent to announce their arrival, and were 
 received by the Prince with elaborate politeness. 
 Writing to his father, Robert mentions that 
 
 1 Fvagmenta Regalia, p. 138. 
 
 L Z 
 
148 THE CECILS 
 
 though the garrison of Ostend had run short of 
 provisions, game was plentiful in the shape of 
 pheasants and partridges, which " flew continually 
 within the walls." He had himself " a setting 
 dog and nets," and " hoped to eat partridges in 
 tent of his own catching, asking no favours of the 
 lord of the soil." 1 
 
 On his return from Ostend he began to help 
 his father in his multifarious labours, and prac- 
 tically exercised the office of Secretary, though he 
 was not actually appointed to the post until 
 July, 1596. He was a Knight of the Shire for 
 the county of Hertford, in the Parliament of 
 1589, and continued to represent the county 
 until the end of the reign. In 1591, on the 
 occasion of the great entertainment given to her 
 Majesty at Theobalds, he received the honour of 
 knighthood, and soon afterwards was sworn of 
 the Privy Council. 
 
 That he should thus have gained a secure 
 position in a Court which prized so highly all those 
 exterior graces and accomplishments which he 
 lacked is, at first sight, somewhat surprising. 
 The Venetian Ambassador speaks of his " noble 
 countenance and features," but, as Naunton says, 
 " his face was the best part of his outside." He 
 was very short — not above five feet two inches 
 in height — and ill-formed, and though not " hump- 
 backed," as his enemies called him, had an 
 ungainly appearance, owing to his large head and 
 round shoulders, and to this, the dress of the 
 
 1 S. P. Spain, Quoted by Froude, History, XII. 403. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 149 
 
 day, and especially the large ruff, contributed. 1 
 Anthony Bacon, in a letter to Essex, 2 tells an 
 anecdote which shows that his diminutive stature 
 was a source of merriment to the Court. " Lord 
 Wemyss," he says, " coming out of the Privy 
 Chamber after an audience with the Queen, asked 
 the Lord Chamberlain for Sir Robert Cecil. 
 ' Why, Sir,' said he, ' he was within.' ' By my 
 soul,' saith the Lord Wemyss, ' I could not see 
 him.' ' No marvel,' said Sir George Carey, ' being 
 so little.' Whereat the Lord Wemyss confessed 
 he burst out of laughing." 
 
 Yet, in spite of these disadvantages, he was 
 the only one of Elizabeth's courtiers whose career 
 suffered no reverse. Her affection for his father, 
 and his own great abilities — above all, perhaps, 
 his steadiness and discretion, in which qualities 
 his rivals were lamentably deficient — counted 
 for much. But even his personal defects may 
 have helped to maintain him in the Queen's 
 good graces. She liked to treat him with a 
 mixture of affection and raillery, calling him her 
 " pigmy," or her " elf," and though such terms 
 galled him, he had the good sense and good temper 
 to hide his mortification. His very infirmities, 
 too, perhaps roused her dormant spirit of pro- 
 tection, and provoked her to defend him against 
 the slanders and malice of his rivals. A story is 
 told, which belongs to this period, and has been 
 
 1 See article on " Hatfield House," by J. S. Brewer, in his English 
 Studies, to which I am considerably indebted. 
 a January 24th, 1594 (Hatfield MSS., V. 98). 
 
150 THE CECILS 
 
 interpreted as showing that Cecil was a " man of 
 gallantry." It occurs in a letter from W. Browne 
 to the Earl of Shrewsbury, 1 and is as follows : — 
 
 The young Countess of Derby wore about her 
 neck " a picture which was in a dainty tablet." 
 One day the Queen, " espying it, asked what 
 fine jewel that was. The Lady Derby was curious 
 to excuse the showing of it ; but the Queen 
 would not have it, and opening it and finding 
 it to be Mr. Secretary's, snatched it away, and 
 tied it upon her shoe, and walked long with it 
 there ; then she took it thence and pinned it on 
 her elbow, and wore it some time there also." 
 Hearing of this, Cecil " compounded " some 
 verses, and " got Hales to frame a ditty unto it." 
 In reading this story it is well to remember, what, 
 of course, was perfectly well known to Shrewsbury 
 and his correspondent, that the Countess of Derby 
 was a daughter of the Earl of Oxford, and therefore 
 Cecil's own niece. 
 
 In September, 1592, Cecil was sent to Dart- 
 mouth as Commissioner to apportion the spoil 
 brought home in the " Great Carrack," the Madre 
 de Dios, captured by Sir John Borough in Raleigh's 
 ship, the Roebuck. The excitement caused by the 
 news of the capture, " the most brilliant feat of 
 privateering ever accomplished by Englishmen," 
 was intense, and the value of the cargo, though 
 not so great as at first estimated, proved to be 
 upwards of £141,000, equivalent to three-quarters 
 of a million in our present currency. Sir Robert 
 
 1 September 18th, 1592 (Lodge's Illustrations, III. 146). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 151 
 
 reached Exeter on September 19th, and at once 
 found it necessary to take active steps to prevent 
 embezzlement and waste. " Whomsoever I met 
 by the way," he writes to Burghley, " within 
 seven miles, that either had any thing in cloak- 
 bag or in mail which did but smell of the prizes, 
 either at Dartmouth or Plymouth (for I assure 
 your Lordship, I could smell them almost, such 
 hath been the spoils of amber and musk amongst 
 them), I did, though he had little about him, 
 return him with me to the town of Exeter ; where 
 I stayed any that should carry news to Dartmouth 
 and Plymouth, at the gates of the town. I com- 
 pelled them also to tell me where any trunks or 
 mails were. And I, by this inquisition, finding 
 the people stubborn till I had committed two 
 innkeepers to prison — which example would have 
 won the Queen £20,000 a week past — I have lit 
 upon a Londoner's [? agent], in whose house we 
 have found a bag of seed pearls." He further 
 ordered every bag or mail coming from the west 
 to be searched, and made an impression on the 
 " Mayor and the rest " by his " rough dealing " 
 with them. " My Lord," he continues, " there 
 never was such spoil ! . . . My sending down 
 hath made many stagger. Fouler ways, 
 desperater ways, nor more obstinate people, did 
 I never meet with." 1 
 
 Soon after he came to Dartmouth, Raleigh 
 arrived, having been joined with him in the 
 Commission. Raleigh was at this time in disgrace, 
 
 1 Cal. S. P. Bom., September 19th, 1592. 
 
152 THE CECILS 
 
 owing to the discovery of his liaison with Elizabeth 
 Throckmorton (who became his wife), and had 
 consequently had to give up the command of the 
 expedition to Frobisher. But when his crews 
 returned and heard that he was in prison, their 
 wrath was unbounded, and it became necessary 
 to send him down to pacify them. Cecil notes 
 that " his poor servants to the number of a 
 hundred and forty goodly men, and all the 
 mariners came to him with such shouts and joy, 
 as I never saw a man more troubled to quiet 
 them in his life. . . . Whensoever he is saluted 
 with congratulations for liberty, he doth answer, 
 ' No ; I am still the Queen of England's poor 
 captive.' I wished him to conceal it, because 
 here it doth diminish his credit, which I do vow 
 to you before God is greater amongst the mariners 
 than I thought for." 1 
 
 The following draft of a letter written by Sir 
 Robert from Dartmouth to the Queen is endorsed 
 by Burghley, and therefore was presumably 
 approved by him. All one can say of it is, that 
 though Elizabeth may have been pleased with 
 such an effusion, written in the flamboyant style 
 then current, neither Burghley himself nor Sir 
 Thomas Cecil would ever have approached her 
 Majesty in such terms : — 
 
 " It is the property of the Creator, to accept the labour 
 of men, from the abundance of their affection, without 
 measure of their abilities, to perform any action acceptable 
 to divine worthiness. Herein I am most blessed that I 
 
 1 To Sir Thomas Heneage (Edwards, I. 154). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 153 
 
 am a vassal to His celestial creature, who pleaseth out of 
 angelic grace, to pardon and allow my careful and zealous 
 desires. My services are attended with envy, I must be 
 offensive to the multitude, and to others that may be 
 revengeful, who also have many and great friends. I can 
 please none because I thirst only to please one, and malice 
 is no less wakeful in itself than fearful to others, were not 
 my trust in her divine justice which never suffereth her 
 creatures to complain. The comfort I receive of those 
 sacred lines are best expressed in silence, but I have 
 written them anew in my heart, and adjoined them unto 
 the rest of my admiring thoughts, which always travailing 
 from wonder to wonder spend themselves in contempla- 
 tion, being absent and present in reading secretly the 
 story of marvels in that more than human perfection. I 
 hope the end of this my travail shall be accepted with no 
 less than the beginning is vouchsafed, for I have no other 
 purpose of living, but to witness what I would perform if 
 I had power. If I could do more than any man it were 
 less than nothing balanced with my desires ; if I could do 
 as much as all the world, it were neither praise nor thanks 
 worthy in respect of the duty I owe and the princess 
 whom I serve." * 
 
 To Cecil's character and abilities at this time 
 Bacon has borne eloquent witness. Replying to 
 a scurrilous pamphlet published in 1592, in which 
 Burghley was charged with bringing into the 
 Council his second son, " who had neither wit nor 
 experience," he says : — 
 
 "It is confessed by all men that know the gentleman 
 that he hath one of the rarest and most excellent wits of 
 England ; with a singular delivery and application of the 
 same, whether it be to use a continued speech, or to 
 
 1 Sept. 29th, 1592 {tiatfield MSS., IV. 632). 
 
154 THE CECILS 
 
 negotiate, or to couch in writing, or to make report, or 
 discreetly to consider of the circumstances and aptly to 
 draw things to a point ; and all this joined with a very 
 good nature, and a great respect to all men, as is daily 
 more and more revealed. And for his experience, it is 
 easy to think that his training and helps hath made it 
 already such as many that have served long prentishood 
 for it have not attained the like. So as if it be true that 
 qui beneficium digno dat omnes obligat, not his father only 
 but the State is bound unto her Majesty for the choice and 
 employment of so sufficient and worthy a gentleman." * 
 
 One has to remember that Bacon was a 
 candidate for office, and the spirit of the age 
 encouraged more outspoken flattery of those in 
 power than would be possible nowadays. Making 
 every allowance for Bacon's self-seeking, however, 
 such a description remains a high tribute to 
 Sir Robert's true merit. And though Bacon was 
 his first cousin, yet he and his elder brother, 
 Anthony, had already thrown in their lot with 
 Essex, with whose party Cecil's rapid rise to a 
 position of influence brought him into active 
 opposition. The Bacons had joined Essex, 
 chiefly from admiration of that fascinating person 
 and a belief that he was the coming man, but 
 partly also out of jealousy of Cecil, by whom they 
 considered themselves slighted. Three years 
 before, a correspondent of Anthony Bacon wrote, 
 " There never was in Court such emulation, 
 such envy, such backbiting, as is now at this 
 time," and as time went on, and old Burghley's 
 
 1 " Observations on a libel, etc." (Spedding's Life and Letters of 
 Bacon, I. 206). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 155 
 
 influence waned, the bitterness between the two 
 factions increased. 
 
 Matters were brought to a pitch in 1594, by 
 the efforts of Essex to obtain the office of Attorney- 
 General for Francis Bacon, to which the Queen 
 would not consent. The Cecils evidently thought 
 that Bacon, an untried man, had no chance of 
 receiving so high a post, for which Coke, a man 
 with a great reputation and nine years Bacon's 
 senior, had far higher claims. They therefore 
 considered it injudicious to apply for it. Essex, 
 with his usual impetuosity and indiscretion, 
 spoilt whatever chance Bacon might have had 
 by urging his claims on the Queen in season and 
 out of season. On one occasion Sir Robert 
 expressed his surprise that he " should go about 
 to spend his strength in so unlikely or impossible 
 a matter," and added, " If at least your lordship 
 had spoken of the Solicitorship that might be of 
 easier digestion to her Majesty." " Digest me 
 no digesting," burst out the Earl, " for the 
 Attorneyship is that I must have for Francis 
 Bacon ; and in that will I spend all my uttermost 
 credit, friendship and authority against whom- 
 soever." The Attorney-Generalship was not filled 
 up for a year (April, 1594), but when it was finally 
 decided in favour of Coke, the Cecils both backed 
 Bacon warmly for the Solicitorship. In reply to 
 a letter in which Bacon asks him to use his 
 influence, and that of his father in his favour, 
 Sir Robert says, " I protest I suffer with you 
 in mind that you are thus yet gravelled ; but 
 
156 THE CECILS 
 
 time will founder all your competitors and set 
 you on your feet, or else I have little under- 
 standing." * The Queen, however, was still angry 
 with Bacon on account of a speech he had made in 
 Parliament in opposition to the Subsidies Bill 
 in the previous year, and, though she kept the 
 office of Solicitor - General open for eighteen 
 months, she finally gave it to Serjeant Fleming. 
 Bacon was always suspicious of Sir Robert, and 
 was led to believe that he had " wrought under- 
 hand " against him, though he afterwards con- 
 fessed he was wrong. Writing to Lord Burghley 
 in March, 1595, he says : " If I did show myself 
 too credulous to idle hearsays in regard of my 
 right honourable kinsman and good friend, Sir 
 Robert Cecil (whose good nature will well answer 
 my honest liberty), your lordship will impute it 
 to the complexion of a suitor and of a tired, 
 sea-sick suitor, and not to mine own inclination." 2 
 The venom of the Bacons, and especially of 
 the elder brother, against Sir Robert, was well 
 shown at an interview which Anthony had 
 with his aunt, Lady Russell, in September, 1596, 
 and of which he sent a long account to Essex. 8 
 Lady Russell was endeavouring, without any 
 success, to promote peace between Bacon and 
 the Cecils. After complaining that Burghley was 
 " so loth, yea, so backward," to advance his 
 nephews, Anthony said that Sir Robert, " whether 
 
 1 May, 1594 (Spedding, I. 296). 
 
 2 Spedding, I. 358. See also Bacon's letter to Sir R. Cecil (ibid., 355). 
 
 3 Birch, Memoirs of the Reign 0/ Queen Elizabeth, II. 136. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 157 
 
 with his lordship's privity, God knows," had 
 denounced a deadly feud " to an ancient lady, my 
 mother and his aunt, swearing that he held me 
 for his mortal enemy, and would make me feel 
 it when he could." " Ah, vile wretched urchin," 
 said Lady Russell ; " is it possible ? " " Whether 
 it be true or no, madam," answered Bacon, " I 
 refer to my mother, who marvelled when she told 
 me of it that I did but laugh at it, alleging and 
 expounding to her ladyship a Gascon proverb, 
 which was, ' Brane d'asne ne monte pas al ciel.' " 
 " By God," replied Lady Russell ; " but he is no 
 ass." " Let him go for a mule then," rejoined 
 Bacon, " the most mischievous beast that is." 
 Such is Anthony's version of the interview, and 
 perhaps the best comment on it is the fact that 
 Lady Russell's strong affection for Sir Robert is 
 well known ; only three months before she had 
 written to him thanking God " for the heavenly 
 breath proceeding from a saint so sweet and 
 gracious to me as you write." 1 
 
 Sir Robert had now been made Secretary, and 
 Anthony declares that he " finds the Secretaryship 
 a harder province to govern than he looked for, 
 and inwardly beginneth to be a weary of it, as 
 outwardly the world is already of him." 2 But 
 a few weeks later he informs his mother that 
 Secretary Cecil " had of late professed very 
 seriously an absolute amnesty and oblivion of all 
 misconceits passed, with earnest protestation, 
 
 1 June 15th, 1596 (Hatfield MSS., VII. 215). 
 
 2 Letter to Dr. Hawkins, December nth, 1596 (Birch, II. 227). 
 
158 THE CECILS 
 
 that to the Queen, to his father, or of himself, he 
 would be glad and ready to do Mr. Bacon any 
 kind office if the latter would make proof of 
 him." 
 
 All this is very easy to understand, and no 
 part of his relations with the Bacons redounds 
 in any degree to the discredit of Sir Robert. He 
 did all he could for them, and never allowed his 
 attitude towards them to be affected by their 
 injustice and rancour. " He had too much good 
 sense, too much self-control and moderation, to 
 be moved by the perpetual calumnies to which he 
 was exposed, wisely remarking : ' He that will 
 not be patient of slander must procure himself 
 a chair out of this world's circle.' " 1 
 
 An examination of his relations with Essex 
 produces still greater testimony to his kindness 
 of heart and forbearance. It is often said that 
 he and his future rival were brought up together 
 at Hatfield. But this is an exaggeration, as 
 Essex was not a member of Burghley's household 
 for more than a few months. It is certain that 
 Cecil was only too willing to be friendly with him, 
 but Essex, in spite of his extraordinary influence 
 at Court, felt that Sir Robert stood in the way of 
 his ambitions. The two men were, in fact, 
 antagonistic in every way. The contrast between 
 them has been well brought out by John Bruce. 2 
 
 " Essex was what in those days was termed ' full of 
 
 1 Brewer, English Studies, p. 131. 
 
 2 In his Introduction to the Correspondence of King James VI. 
 of Scotland with Sir R. Cecil, 6-c." (Camden Society, 1861). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 159 
 
 humours,' wayward, uncertain, impatient, fantastic, 
 capricious ; acting by fits and starts, upon impulses and 
 prejudices ; but ever with a dash and brilliancy that were 
 nearly allied to genius. Sir Robert Cecil was his very 
 contrary in all these respects. Brought up at the feet of 
 his pre-eminent father, he acquired, perhaps inherited, 
 the highest official qualities ; a calm, quiet, patient 
 thoughtfulness, the power of mastering and applying 
 details however intricate ; diligence that was never 
 weary, patience that could not be exhausted, temper that 
 was seldom ruffled, and a habit of comparing and sifting 
 and weighing and balancing, which generally led him to 
 right conclusions. Essex was generous in the highest 
 degree, a patron of literature, and of all noble and gentle 
 arts, and ever ready to take the lead in kind and liberal 
 deeds ; he was at the same time impetuous, fiery, 
 vehement, — a man of action ; courageous, daring, and 
 more than anything delighted with military command, 
 and with the eclat and brilliancy of a soldier's life. Cecil 
 was a man of thought and law and peace, neither a soldier 
 himself nor looking upon war in any shape save as a 
 necessity to be deplored. Consciousness of his own 
 physical defects kept the one man comparatively humble : 
 consciousness of his own power of dazzling and attracting 
 people, and of attaching them to himself, puffed up the 
 other, and led him into continual extravagances." 
 
 Essex was the leader of all the young spirits who 
 longed for adventure and for active measures 
 against Spain, while the policy of the Cecils was, 
 above all things, to avoid war. Thus Essex found 
 his rash schemes constantly opposed and balked, 
 and in his turn he neglected no opportunity of 
 thwarting his adversaries. On the death of Wal- 
 singham, in 1590, in order to prevent Cecil from 
 
160 THE CECILS 
 
 being made Secretary, he first tried to have 
 Davison restored to the office, and afterwards he 
 urged the claims of Sir Thomas Bodley, whose 
 own account of the matter has a peculiar interest, 
 as it gives the reasons which induced him to 
 retire from public life, and devote himself to the 
 formation of the library which bears his name. 
 He states that Lord Burghley had always been 
 his friend, and had told the Queen that no man 
 was so fit for the office of Secretary as himself, 
 and adds that Sir Robert afterwards told him 
 that " when his father first intended to advance 
 him to that place, his purpose was withall to make 
 me his colleague." When he returned from the 
 United Provinces in 1597, Essex, 
 
 " ... who sought by all devices to divert the 
 Queen's love and liking both from the father and the son 
 (but from the son in special) to withdraw my affection 
 from the one and the other, and to win me altogether to 
 depend upon himself, did so often take occasion to enter- 
 tain the Queen with some prodigal speeches of my 
 sufficiency for a Secretary, which were ever accompanied 
 with words of disgrace against the present Lord Treasurer 
 [Sir Robert], as neither she herself, of whose favour before 
 I was thoroughly assured, took any great pleasure to 
 prefer me the sooner . . . and both the Lord Burghley 
 and his son waxed jealous of my courses, as if underhand I 
 had been induced by the cunning and kindness of the Earl 
 of Essex, to oppose myself against their dealings. And 
 though in very truth they had no solid ground at all of the 
 least alteration in my disposition towards either of them 
 both . . . yet the now Lord Treasurer, upon occasion of 
 some talk, that I have since had with him, of the Earl and 
 his actions, hath freely confessed of his own accord unto 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 161 
 
 me that his daily provocations were so bitter and sharp 
 against him, and his comparisons so odious, when he put 
 us in a balance, as he thought thereupon he had very 
 great reason to use his best means, to put any man out of 
 hope of raising his fortune, whom the Earl with such 
 violence, to his extreme prejudice, had endeavoured to 
 dignify." 
 
 Bodley, considering " how very untowardly 
 these two Councillors were affected unto me," 
 how ill it became him to be known as a partisan, 
 and how well he was able to live for the " short 
 time of further life," if he could be content with 
 a " competent livelihood," resolved to take fare- 
 well of State employments, and to " set up his 
 staff at the Library door in Oxford." 1 The 
 Bodleian thus owes its foundation ultimately to 
 the jealous arrogance of the Earl of Essex. 
 
 The Cecils, of course, opposed Essex in the 
 matter of the Cadiz expedition of 1596. " This 
 day," writes the Earl to Anthony Bacon, " I was 
 more braved by your little cousin than ever I 
 was by any man in my life. But I am not now 
 nor was, angry, which is all the advantage I 
 have of him." 2 Yet, when it was once decided 
 upon, Sir Robert gave him all the help in his 
 power. In the same way he provided for all 
 his needs in the " Islands Voyage " of 1597, and 
 in his Irish campaign two years later, so much so 
 that Essex was led to exclaim, " You heap coals 
 
 1 Life of Sir Thomas Bodley written by Himself. Some years after- 
 wards (1604) Cecil tried to induce Bodley to be his associate in the 
 Secretary's office, but he refused. 
 
 a September 8th, 1596 (Birch, II. 131). 
 
 C. M 
 
162 THE CECILS 
 
 of kindness." Indeed, it has been suggested that 
 Cecil was actuated by the idea of giving Essex 
 rope to hang himself, feeling sure that he would 
 come to grief if given a good chance. But, as 
 Brewer points out, it is more natural and probable 
 to accept Sir Robert's own explanation, given in a 
 letter to James after Essex had charged him with 
 upholding the Spanish claim to the succession : — 
 
 " If I could have contracted such a friendship with 
 Essex, as could have given me security that his thoughts 
 and mine should have been no further distant than the 
 disproportion of our fortunes, I should condemn my 
 judgment to have willingly intruded myself into such an 
 opposition. For who know not, that have lived in Israel, 
 that such were the mutual affections in our tender years, 
 and so many reciprocal benefits interchanged in our grow- 
 ing fortunes, as besides the rules of my own poor discre- 
 tion, which taught me how perilous it was for Secretary 
 Cecil to have a bitter feud with an Earl Marshal of England, 
 a favourite, a nobleman of eminent parts, and a councillor, 
 all things else in the composition of my mind did still 
 concur on my part to make me desirous of his favour." 1 
 
 At the time of Essex's disgrace, after his return 
 from Ireland, Cecil specially befriended him, and 
 did all he could to mitigate the consequences of 
 his folly. He prevailed on the Queen not to 
 commit him to the Tower, but to place him under 
 the charge of the Lord Keeper, Sir Thomas 
 Egerton, and he further obtained permission for 
 his wife to visit him. " No time or fortune," 
 writes the Countess, " shall ever extinguish in my 
 
 1 Correspondence of King James VI. of Scotland with Sir R. Cecil, &c, 
 p. 6. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 163 
 
 Lord and me a thankful memory and due acknow- 
 ledgment of so undeserved a benefit from him 
 whom this friendly favour assures me will never 
 be proved my Lord's malicious enemy." * 
 
 " It was Cecil's speech in the Star Chamber, 
 when the conduct of the Earl was called in 
 question, that was marked with a greater tone of 
 moderation than that of any other of the judges. 
 When, to avoid being tried in the Chamber, the 
 Earl, at his own request, was brought before a 
 Commission, though Cecil condemned him for 
 abandoning his post contrary to the Queen's 
 command, he mitigated the severity of his remarks 
 by giving Essex credit for his services in Ireland. 
 His conduct on this and other occasions, when 
 the Earl was concerned, won for him general 
 approbation. ' Sir Robert Cecil,' says a writer 
 of the time, by no means his indiscriminate 
 admirer, 2 ' is highly commended for his wise and 
 temperate proceeding in this matter, showing no 
 gall, though perhaps he had been galled, if not 
 by the Earl, by some of his dependants. By 
 employing his credit with her Majesty in behalf 
 of the Earl, he has gained great credit, both at 
 home and abroad.' " 3 
 
 It was certainly mainly owing to Cecil that 
 Essex was let off so lightly, yet his followers 
 assailed Sir Robert with every species of insult. 
 " They posted lampoons on his doors in Salisbury 
 
 1 December 12th, 1599 (Hatfield MSS., IX. 411). 
 
 2 John Petit, June 14th, 1600 {Cat. S. P. Dom.). 
 8 Brewer, p. 140. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 THE CECILS 
 
 Street and elsewhere, ' Here lieth the toad at 
 Court, and here lieth the toad at London.' They 
 attributed to him ' the injustice,' as they were 
 pleased to call it, of keeping Essex in prison. They 
 vilified his person in taverns and eating-houses, 
 observing ' that it was an unwholesome thing to 
 meet a man in the morning who had a wry neck, 
 a crooked back, and a splay foot.' So powerful 
 was the influence of the Earl, and so audacious 
 were his followers, that none dared to contradict 
 them." * It must be remembered that Essex was 
 the popular favourite, and that the people were 
 quite in the dark as to the nature of his offence. 
 Then came the fiasco of the Essex rebellion. 
 One of the Earl's cries was that " the Crown of 
 England was offered to be sold to the Infanta," 
 and at his trial he tried to justify himself by saying 
 that Cecil had maintained to one of his fellow- 
 councillors that the title of the Infanta to the 
 Crown was as good as any other. Whereupon a 
 dramatic scene occurred. " Upon this his allega- 
 tion, Mr. Secretary, standing out of sight in a 
 private place, only to hear (being much moved 
 with so false and foul an accusation), came 
 suddenly forth and made humble request to the 
 Lord Steward that he might have the favour to 
 answer for himself." This being granted, Cecil 
 made an eloquent speech in his own defence, 
 and finally urged that the name of Essex's 
 informant might be given. This Essex refused, 
 but stated that the Earl of Southampton had also 
 
 1 Brewer, p. 140. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 165 
 
 heard the same report. " Whereupon Cecil 
 adjured the Earl of Southampton by all former 
 friendship (which had been, indeed, very great 
 between them) that he would declare the person ; 
 which he did presently, and said it was Mr. Comp- 
 troller (Sir William Knollys)." At Cecil's request 
 Knollys was sent for, and being questioned, 
 stated that about two years before, during a 
 casual conversation, " Mr. Secretary told him 
 that one, Doleman, had maintained in a book 
 (not long since printed) that the Infanta of Spain 
 had a good title to the Crown of England : which 
 was all that ever he heard Mr. Secretary speak ot 
 that matter." 1 This was the whole foundation 
 of the story, and it turned out that Doleman had 
 actually dedicated his book to Essex. The Earl 
 now apologised for his misunderstandings, where- 
 upon Cecil exclaimed : " Your misunderstanding 
 arose from your opposition to peace. It was 
 your ambition that every military man should 
 look up to you as his patron, and hence you sought 
 to represent me and the councillors, who wished 
 to put an end to the war, as the pensioners of 
 Spain. I confess I have said," he continued, " that 
 the King of Spain is a competitor of the Crown of 
 England, and that the King of Scots is a com- 
 petitor, and my Lord of Essex, I have said, is 
 a competitor ; for he would depose the Queen, 
 and call a Parliament, and so be King himself ; 
 but as to my affection to advance the Spanish 
 
 1 Official " Declaration of the Treasons, &c," printed by Spedding, 
 II. 279 — 281. 
 
166 THE CECILS 
 
 title to England, I am so far from it that my 
 mind is astonished to think of it, and I pray to 
 God to consume me where I stand if I hate not 
 the Spaniard as much as any man living." 
 
 We have anticipated and must return. In 
 1589 Cecil had married Elizabeth Brooke, sister 
 of the notorious Lord Cobham, and of George 
 Brooke. They had three children, a boy, William, 
 afterwards second Earl of Salisbury, and two 
 daughters, Frances, who married Henry Clifford, 
 Earl of Cumberland, and Catherine, who died in 
 infancy. Lady Cecil died in January, 1597, and 
 the occasion drew forth several letters of affection 
 and sympathy. That from Sir Walter Raleigh 
 is interesting, not only intrinsically, but also, as 
 has been pointed out before, because indirectly it 
 bears witness to the character of the recipient. 
 " No one who knew Robert Cecil so intimately 
 as Raleigh did, would have written thus, save 
 under the conviction that the man to whom he 
 was giving such consolation as he then had to 
 give had loved truly and would grieve deeply." * 
 Part of this letter must be quoted : — 
 
 " Sir, because I know not how you dispose of yourself, 
 I forbear to visit you, preferring your pleasing before mine 
 own desire. I had rather be with you now than at any 
 other time ; if I could thereby either take off from you 
 the burden of your sorrows or lay the greatest part thereof 
 on mine own heart. In the meantime, I would put you 
 in mind of this, that you should not overshadow your 
 wisdom with passion, but look aright unto things as they 
 are. There is no man sorry for death itself, but only for 
 
 1 Edwards, Life of Raleigh, II. 157. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 167 
 
 the time of death ; everyone knowing that it is a bond 
 never forfeited to God. If then we know the same to be 
 certain and inevitable, we ought withal to take the time 
 of his arrival in as good part as the knowledge, and not 
 to lament at the instant of every seeming adversity ; 
 which we are assured have been on their way towards us 
 from the beginning. It appertaineth to every man of a 
 wise and worthy spirit to draw together into suffrance 
 the unknown future to the known present ; looking no less 
 with the eyes of the mind than with those of the body, the 
 one beholding afar off and the other at hand, that those 
 things of this world in which we live be not strange unto 
 us when they approach, as to feebleness which is moved 
 with novelties, but that like true men participating 
 immortality and know [ing] our destinies to be of God, 
 we should then make our estates and wishes, our fortunes 
 and desires all one. It is true that you have lost a good 
 and virtuous wife and myself an honourable friend and 
 kinswoman ; but there was a time when she was unknown 
 to you, for whom you then lamented not. She is now no 
 more yours, nor of your acquaintance, but immortal, and 
 not needing and knowing your love and sorrow. There- 
 fore you shall but grieve for that which now is, as then it 
 was when not yours : only bettered by the difference in 
 this, that she hath past the wearisome journey of this 
 
 dark world, and hath possession of her inheritance 
 
 " Yours beyond ever the power of words to utter, 
 
 "W. Ralegh." 1 
 
 Another friend who wrote in a similar strain of 
 pious exhortation and affection was Lord Howard 
 of Effingham, the Lord Admiral. 
 
 " The Lord's will must be fulfilled " he says, " and she 
 was too virtuous and good to live in so wretched a world 
 
 1 January 24th, 1597 (Hatfield MSS., VII. 35). At this time the 
 friendship between Cecil and Raleigh was close, Sir Walter being, of 
 course, strongly opposed to Essex. 
 
168 THE CECILS 
 
 and you that hath an extraordinary judgment by His 
 gifts that doth all must with that wisdom seek now to 
 master your good and kind nature and to think that 
 sorrow nor anything else can now redeem it. And as she 
 is now most assured happier than all we that live in this 
 ' pudeled ' and troubled world, so do I assure you, as long 
 as God shall spare me life in it, there shall not be any 
 tread on the earth that shall love you better than my 
 poor self ; and I vow it to God I think none doth or can 
 do so much as I do." 1 
 
 But it was long before the Secretary could 
 rouse himself from his grief, and in June his aunt, 
 Lady Russell, found it necessary to give him a 
 characteristic exhortation : — 
 
 " If you be so without comfort of worldly delight as you 
 seem, it is most ill to the health of your both body and 
 soul ; I speak by experience, and know too well that to 
 be true which I say ; and, therefore, both am sorry to 
 hear it, and beseech the God of all consolation and 
 comfort to remedy it, with giving you a contrary mind. 
 Else will you find the Daemonius meridianus to creep so 
 far into your heart, with his variety of virtues, seeming 
 good to be yielded to (melancholy I mean) as in the end 
 will shorten life by cumbrous conceits and sickness : and 
 when it is rooted so as with peevish persuasions of good 
 thereby and solitary ejaculations, it will bring forth the 
 fruit of stupidity, f orgetfulness of your natural disposition 
 of sweet and apt speeches, fit for your place : and instead 
 thereof breed and make you a surly, sharp, sour plum, 
 no better than in truth a very melancholy mole and a 
 misanthrofios hateful to God and man ; and only with 
 persuasions seeming holy, wise and good." 2 
 
 Although Cecil had been transacting the 
 
 1 January 25th, 1597 (Hatfield MSS., VII. 39). 
 a Ibid., VII. 281. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 169 
 
 business of Secretary for several years, he was 
 not actually appointed to the office until 1596, 
 during the absence of Essex on the Cadiz 
 expedition. In the following year he was made 
 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a position 
 which he resigned when he succeeded to the 
 Mastership of the Court of Wards after his father's 
 death. In February, 1598, he was sent on an 
 embassy to France, the object of which was to 
 prevent Henry IV. from contracting an alliance 
 with Spain. He was loth to go, and extracted 
 a promise from Essex that he would do nothing 
 to his prejudice during his absence. Among the 
 many letters of congratulation he received on 
 this occasion one, from Dr. Mount, must have 
 given him great satisfaction, for he announced 
 that he was sending him " two glasses of compound 
 distilled water, the one of cinnamon, the other 
 of sage, both comfortable if at any time in your 
 travel you shall find yourself in health not well 
 affected, one spoonful or two at one time, with 
 half so much sugar." 1 
 
 His mission was successful, but while he was in 
 France he received news of his father's illness and 
 hurried home, though Lord Burghley lived till 
 the following August. During this time, and still 
 more after his death, Sir Robert must have been 
 overwhelmed with work. " In your industry," 
 writes Sir Charles Dan vers, " you seem to have 
 drawn the offices of all other men into your own 
 
 1 Hatfield MSS., VIII. 38- 
 
170 THE CECILS 
 
 hands." 1 Certainly the correspondence at Hat- 
 field shows that everybody with any grievance, 
 public or private, thought Cecil the right man to 
 apply to for relief. A typical appeal is presented 
 in the following letter from a Mrs. Anne William- 
 son : — 2 
 
 " I lived happily with my husband for twelve years, 
 until for causes to me unknown he was committed to the 
 Tower. Now, being released from thence, he utterly 
 rejects my company. I have tried the mediation of 
 friends without avail. He yields me no relief, although 
 at his request I sold and conveyed away my jointure, 
 without assurance of other living. Wherefore, forcedly 
 and with shame, I have presumed to trouble your Honour, 
 to whom the reformation of such demeanours doth 
 appertain." 
 
 1 June 20th, 1598 (Cal. S. P. Dom.). 
 
 a November 6th, 1598 (Hatfield MSS., VIII. 430). 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 ROBERT CECIL, FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 
 
 (continued) 
 
 On the death of Essex (February, 1601) the 
 power and influence of Sir Robert were largely 
 enhanced. While Essex lived, he would tolerate 
 no division of service. Those who followed him, 
 must give no allegiance to Cecil. " As for your 
 Honour," wrote Sir F. Gorges after Essex's 
 death, " the opposition was so apparent between 
 you two as there was no possibility for me to 
 ' interest ' myself in you without abjuring of 
 him, and so must have manifested my dishonest 
 humour and fickle disposition. ... I vow to God 
 I did endeavour, by what means I was able, the 
 reconciliation of your Honour and him ; but he 
 answered me that he would receive no good from 
 you or by your means. The truth of this his 
 soul can testify." x But when Essex was dead, 
 his followers soon transferred their allegiance to 
 his former rival. 
 
 It was at this time that Cecil entered upon the 
 " secret correspondence " with King James of 
 Scotland, which had so great an influence, not 
 only on his own fortunes, but on the future of 
 
 1 April 27th, 1601 {Hatfield MSS., XI. 179 ; and see Introduction to 
 that volume). 
 
i;2 THE CECILS 
 
 England. Hitherto, misled by the slanders of 
 Essex, with whom he had been in correspondence 
 for some time, James had looked upon Sir Robert 
 as an adherent of the Spanish cause. Moreover, 
 he could not forget the death of his mother, for 
 which he considered Cecil's father responsible. 
 Light is thrown upon this point, as well as on the 
 essential loyalty of Cecil, by the following letter 
 written by the Master of Gray to James, in 
 December, 1600. 1 
 
 " Of one thing I am sorry, that your Majesty should 
 speak so hardly of Mr. Secretary Cecil, for that you allege 
 my Lord his father ' cuttit ' your mother's throat. I am 
 assured your Majesty knoweth that I know more in that 
 nor any Scottish or English living, the Queen excepted, 
 and that for I do remember your Majesty of a note I gave 
 you in that matter ; that the Earl of Leicester or Sir 
 Francis Walsingham were only the cutters of her throat, 
 and inducers of Davison to do as he did. I take on my 
 conscience it was far from the Queen or his father's mind 
 that she should die when she died, as I have yet some 
 witnessing in the world. And, Sir, I assure you this, that 
 if your Majesty shall fall again in good course with the 
 Queen, Mr. Secretary will prove as good a friend as you 
 have in all England. Let them inform you of him as they 
 please, but think never to have him otherways, for he has 
 sworn to me that if he knew to be the greatest subject that 
 England ever bred, he shall never serve any other prince 
 after the Queen. And I think if it were not for love and 
 obligation, he would never endure the excess trouble he 
 has presently, nor almost is it possible for him to serve so 
 ' penibly,' for albeit he has a very well composed mind, 
 
 1 Hatfield MSS., X. 414. See also another letter in very similar 
 terms, June 13th, 1602 (ibid., XII. 18). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 173 
 
 yet the ability of the body is so discrepant that it cannot 
 correspond the capacity of the mind." 
 
 Probably the incident already recorded at the 
 Essex trial convinced the King that he had been 
 mistaken as to Cecil's opinions with regard to 
 Spain. The Master of Gray, no doubt, testified 
 to his innocence in this matter also, for Sir Robert 
 writes to him : x " I do thank you for the assump- 
 tion in my behalf that I was never so foul nor so 
 foolish as to traffic with the Spaniards, either by 
 your means or by any earthly creature. God 
 hath forgiven his soul, I hope, who was the author 
 of that poor invention." James, at any rate, made 
 overtures to Cecil through his ambassadors, and 
 the " secret correspondence " was the result. 
 Sir Robert's motives in this matter are beyond 
 suspicion. The Queen was growing old and 
 infirm, and it was essential that all arrangements 
 with regard to the succession should be perfected 
 before her death. Yet it was a subject on which 
 no public or official action could be taken, since 
 the Queen refused to discuss it. By coming to 
 an understanding with James, Cecil ensured his 
 peaceful succession, and saved the country from 
 the dangers arising from rival claims, including 
 the horrible possibility of the Papists and the 
 Spanish faction winning the day. He was also 
 able to impress on James the necessity of avoiding 
 any premature action, and to give him much 
 sound advice. 
 
 It was obviously necessary to keep this corre- 
 
 1 July 9th, 1601 (Hatfield MSS., XI. 272). 
 
174 THE CECILS 
 
 spondence private, lest the Queen's suspicions 
 should be aroused, but on one occasion the secret 
 nearly leaked out. The story is told by Sir 
 Henry Wotton. 1 
 
 " The Queen having for a good while not heard anything 
 from Scotland, and being thirsty of news, it fell out that her 
 Majesty, going to take the air towards the Heath (the 
 Court being then at Greenwich), and Master Secretary Cecil 
 then attending her, a post came crossing by and blew his 
 horn. The Queen, out of curiosity, asked him from 
 whence the despatch came, and being answered ' From 
 Scotland,' she stops the coach and calleth for the packet. 
 The Secretary, though he knew there were in it some letters 
 from his correspondents, which to discover were as so 
 many serpents, yet made more show of diligence than of 
 doubt to obey, and asks some one that stood by (forsooth 
 in great haste), for a knife to cut up the packet (for other- 
 wise he might have awaked a little apprehension) ; but 
 in the meantime approaching with the packet in his hand, 
 at a pretty distance from the Queen, he telleth her it 
 looked and smelt ill-favouredly, coming out of a filthy 
 budget, and that it should be fit first to open and air it, 
 because he knew she was averse from ill scents. And so, 
 being dismissed home, he got leisure by this seasonable 
 shift, to sever what he would not have seen." 
 
 The correspondence began between March and 
 June, 1601, and seven letters exist from James to 
 Cecil, and six from Cecil to James, 2 besides others 
 through intermediaries. Cecil's first letter is of 
 special importance, as it " contains an explanation 
 of his past conduct, a vindication of the steps 
 
 1 Reliq. Wotton , ed. 1672, p. 169. Quoted by Bruce, p. xxxix. 
 a There is a mistake in the numbering by Bruce. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 175 
 
 taken by him in opening up this secret communi- 
 cation, a full assurance of the state of the Queen's 
 mind, and plain advice with respect to James's 
 future conduct." He protests his absolute loyalty 
 to the Queen. 
 
 " I do herein truly and religiously profess before God, 
 that if I could accuse myself to have once imagined a 
 thought which could amount to a grain of error towards 
 my dear and precious Sovereign, or could have discerned 
 (by the overtures of your ministers) that you had enter- 
 tained an opinion or desire to draw me one point from my 
 individual centre, I should wish with all my heart that all 
 I have done or shall do, might be converted to my own 
 perdition." 
 
 But when he heard of the " foul impressions " 
 which James continued to receive concerning him, 
 he found it necessary 
 
 " to pluck up quickly by the roots those gross inventions 
 of my conspiracies. . . . For when I perceived that the 
 practices which were used to disgrace me, must conse- 
 quently have settled an apprehension in you of an aliena- 
 tion of heart in her Majesty towards you, which must have 
 mortised an opinion in your mind, that she must needs be 
 inclined (if not resolved) to cut off the natural branch and 
 graft upon some wild stock, seeing those that held the 
 nearest place about her were described to be so full of 
 pernicious practices against your Majesty, I did think it 
 my duty to remove that inference, by that occasion which 
 was offered me upon your Ambassadors being here, 
 though I assure myself, it being known would prejudice 
 me in her Majesty's judgment, of whom that language 
 which would be tunable in other princes' ears would jar in 
 hers, whose creature I am. But, Sir, I know it holdeth so 
 just proportion, even with strictest loyalty and soundest 
 
176 THE CECILS 
 
 reason, for faithful ministers to conceal sometime both 
 thought and action from princes, when they are persuaded 
 it is for their own greater service, as albeit I did observe 
 the temperature of your mind (in all your courses) to be 
 such as gave me great hopes that you would do always 
 like yourself, yet I was still jealous, lest some such cause- 
 less despair of the Queen's just intentions might be 
 wrought into you, as might make you (though happily not 
 dissolve the main bond of honour and amity) plunge your- 
 self unawares into some such actions, as might engage all 
 honest men, out of present duty, to oppose themselves so 
 far against you, as they would stand in doubt hereafter 
 what you would do, in the future, towards those which 
 should so lately have offended you. Wherein I will only 
 for the present lay down this position, which I know I can 
 justly maintain. That it is and will be, in no man's power 
 on earth, so much as your own, to be faber fortunae tuae." 
 
 He further counsels James as to his future 
 conduct towards the Queen, " to whose sex and 
 quality nothing is so improper as either needless 
 expostulations or overmuch curiosity in her own 
 actions." 
 
 In a later letter Cecil prophesies that " when 
 that day (so grievous to us) shall happen, which 
 is the tribute of all mortal creatures, your ship 
 shall be steered into the right harbour, without 
 cross of wave or tide that shall be able to turn 
 over a cock-boat." This prediction was fulfilled. 
 Elizabeth died in the early morning of March 24th, 
 1603. Within three hours, the Council had met 
 and agreed to the proclamation of James's 
 accession, which Cecil had drawn up in readiness. 
 " At ten o'clock the ceremony of proclamation 
 
ROBERT, FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY, K.G. 
 
 Gheeraedts 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 177 
 
 was commenced at Whitehall Gate, at eleven it 
 was repeated at the Cross in Cheapside, and that 
 same night printed copies of the proclamation 
 were transmitted to the new Sovereign. Before 
 he received them, the voice of the nation had 
 fully ratified the act of the Council ; the will of 
 Henry VIII. had been set aside ; all questions 
 respecting inheritable blood had been passed 
 over; James I. was in full possession, and the 
 act of statesmanship of Sir Robert Cecil was 
 complete." 1 
 
 He soon reaped his reward. " James's first 
 thought on receiving intelligence of the Queen's 
 death, was to express his thanks to Cecil for his 
 careful attention to his interests. ' How happy 
 I think myself,' he wrote, ' by the conquest of so 
 faithful and so wise a counsellor, I reserve it to 
 be expressed out of my own mouth unto you.' 
 The confidence which James thus bestowed was 
 never withdrawn as long as Cecil lived." 2 He 
 also gained a full share of those honours of which 
 Elizabeth was so chary. On his way to London, 
 James spent ten days at Theobalds, and took the 
 opportunity to raise his host to the peerage, with 
 the title of Baron Cecil of Essendon (May 13th, 
 1603). In August, 1604, he was created Viscount 
 Cranborne, 3 and in May, 1605, Earl of Salisbury. 
 He obtained the Garter in 1606. 
 
 1 Bruce, Introduction, p. liv. 
 
 a Gardiner, History of England, I. 91. 
 
 8 The manor of Cranborne was not actually or formally granted to 
 him till 161 1, but he began the restoration and enlargement of the 
 Manor House some years before that date. 
 
 C. N 
 
i;8 THE CECILS 
 
 But in spite of these marks of the King's 
 appreciation, he cannot have been a happy man. 
 In Elizabeth he had lost his best friend, the very 
 centre of his life, and though he worked loyally 
 for James, he can never have been in full sympathy 
 with his aims and methods. When congratulated 
 on not being obliged to speak to the King kneeling, 
 as he was used to do to Elizabeth, he replied 
 " I wish to God that I spoke still on my knees." 
 Since his father's death, he had led a lonely life, 
 and devoted as he was to work, he hated the 
 intrigues and gaieties of the Court. No wonder 
 that he wrote to Sir John Harington, in 1603 : — 
 
 " Good Knight, rest content and give heed to one that 
 hath sorrowed in the bright lustre of a Court, and gone 
 heavily even on the best seeming fair ground. Tis a 
 great task to prove one's honesty, and yet not mar one's 
 fortune. You have tasted a little hereof in our blessed 
 Queen's time, who was more than a man, and, in truth, 
 sometimes less than a woman — I wish I waited now in 
 your presence chamber, with ease at my food, and rest in 
 my bed. I am pushed from the shore of comfort, and 
 know not where the winds and waves of a Court will bear 
 me. I know it bringeth little comfort on earth ; and he 
 is, I reckon, no wise man, that looketh this way to heaven." 
 
 He certainly deserved his honours. " The 
 labours which he underwent," says Gardiner, 
 " were enormous. As Secretary, he had to 
 conduct the whole of the Civil administration of 
 the kingdom, to keep his eye upon the plots and 
 conspiracies which were bursting out in every 
 direction, to correspond with the Irish Govern- 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 179 
 
 ment and to control its policy, and to carry on 
 through the various ambassadors complicated 
 negotiations with every State of importance in 
 Europe. Besides all this, when Parliament was 
 sitting, it was on him that the duty chiefly 
 devolved of making the policy of the Government 
 palatable to the House of Commons, of replying 
 to all objections, and of obtaining the King's 
 consent to the necessary alterations. As if all 
 this were not enough, during the last few years 
 of his life he undertook the office of Treasurer in 
 addition to that of Secretary. Upon him fell all 
 the burden of the attempt which he made to 
 restore to a sound condition the disordered 
 finances, and of mastering the numerous details 
 from which alone he could obtain the knowledge 
 necessary in order to remedy the evil." 
 
 It is impossible here to touch upon all these 
 manifold activities, but a brief account must be 
 given of the " plots and conspiracies " (especially 
 in so far as they concern Cecil's relations with 
 Raleigh) ; of the religious question and his policy 
 towards Catholics and Puritans; and of his 
 financial measures. 
 
 Soon after James's accession, a Catholic 
 conspiracy, known as the " Bye Plot," came to 
 light, and during the examination of the prisoners, 
 another and more formidable plot was discovered, 
 in which Raleigh and his friend, Lord Cobham, 
 were implicated. What the whole rights and 
 wrongs of the matter were will never be known, 
 but Raleigh had certainly laid himself open to 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o THE CECILS 
 
 suspicion. He was admittedly the intimate friend 
 of Cobham, a thorough scoundrel, and he had 
 been the confidant of his designs, even if, as seems 
 probable, he had not countenanced or assisted in 
 them. Cecil had suspected him of disaffection 
 even before James came to the throne, and since 
 then he had been deprived of his office of Captain 
 of the Guard, and of the lucrative post of Warden 
 of the Stannaries, and had every reason to be 
 discontented. " Whatever may be the truth on 
 this difficult subject," says Gardiner, " there is 
 no reason to doubt that Cecil at least acted in 
 perfect good faith," and he easily disposes of the 
 ridiculous theory that the whole conspiracy was a 
 trick got up by Cecil. 
 
 The relations between the two men had pre- 
 viously been intimate. Raleigh's letter on the 
 death of Lady Cecil has already been quoted. 
 Other letters at Hatfield give further proof of 
 their friendship. " Sir Walter," writes Cecil's 
 young son, William, " we must all exclaim and 
 cry out because you will not come down. You 
 being absent, we are like soldiers that when their 
 Captain is absent they know not what to do : 
 you are so busy about idle matters. Sir Walter, 
 I will be plain with you. I pray you leave all 
 idle matters and come down to us." : 
 
 Moreover, for the past two or three years 
 Cecil had been a partner with Raleigh and 
 Cobham in various privateering enterprises, 
 
 1 1600 (Hatfield MSS., X. 459). Cecil lent Raleigh £4,000 in 1602, 
 but, perhaps, this is not a sign of friendship. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 181 
 
 and though he complained to Sir G. Carew 
 that they " used him unkindly," his inti- 
 macy and trust in Raleigh is shown by a letter 
 written so late as January, 1603, concerning 
 one of their vessels which had made captures of 
 a more than doubtful nature ; in it he says : 
 " I pray you, as much as may be, conceal our 
 adventure, or at the least my name, above any 
 other. For though, I thank God, I have no other 
 meaning than becometh an honest man in any of 
 my actions, yet that which were another man's 
 Pater noster, would be accounted in me a charm." x 
 
 At Raleigh's trial, Cecil, at his first intervention 
 in the proceedings, proclaimed both his old 
 friendship for the prisoner and his present sus- 
 picions. " I am divided in myself," he began, 
 " and at great dispute what to say of this gentle- 
 man at the bar. For it is impossible, be the 
 obligation never so great, but the affections of 
 nature and love will show themselves. A former 
 dearness betwixt me and this gentleman tied 
 upon the knot of his virtues, though slacked since 
 by his actions, I cannot but acknowledge ; and 
 the most of you know it." Probably he believed 
 Raleigh guilty, at least of favouring the claims 
 of Arabella Stuart, but at the same time he was 
 the only member of the Court who raised his voice 
 to protect the prisoner from the brutalities of Sir 
 Edward Coke, and Lord Chief Justice Popham. 
 
 After the trial Cecil continued his good offices, 
 and it was owing to him that Raleigh's wife and 
 
 1 Quoted by Edwards, I. 335. 
 
182 THE CECILS 
 
 child were saved from destitution. He also inter- 
 fered to prevent the confiscation of his estate of 
 Sherborne, at least for the time. 
 
 Raleigh at least had no doubt of Cecil's good 
 will towards him, and both he and his wife were 
 always grateful. " Your lordship hath been our 
 only comfort in our lamentable misfortune," 
 wrote Lady Raleigh, and Sir Walter expressed 
 himself still more warmly. No apology is needed 
 for introducing another of his characteristic letters, 
 written in December, 1603. 
 
 " To give you thanks, to promise gratefulness, to return 
 words, is all I can do ; but that your lordship will esteem 
 them I cannot promise myself ; no, not so much as hope 
 it. To use defences for the errors of former times, I 
 cannot. For I have failed, both in friendship and in 
 judgment. Therefore this is all that I can now say for 
 myself ; vouchsafe to esteem me as a man raised from 
 the dead, though not in body, yet in mind. For neither 
 Fortune, which sometimes guided me — or rather Vanity, 
 for with the other I was never in love — shall turn mine 
 eyes from you toward her, while I have being : nor the 
 World, with all the cares and enticements belonging unto 
 it, shall ever weigh down (though it be of the greatest 
 weight to mortal men) the memory alone of your lordship's 
 true respects had of me ; respects tried by the touch ; 
 tried by the fire ; true witnesses in true times ; and then 
 only, when only available. 
 
 " And although I must first attribute unto God, who 
 inclined : and secondly and essentially, after God, to my 
 dear Sovereign, who had goodness apt to be inclined : — 
 goodness and mercy without comparison and example ; — 
 yet I must never forget what I find was in your lordship's 
 desire, what in your will, what in your words and works, 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 183 
 
 so far as could become you as a Councillor and far beyond 
 all due to me, as an offender. These I have fixed to my 
 heart inseparably. From these, neither time nor persua- 
 sion or aught else wont to change affections or to waste 
 them, shall beat from me, or make old in me ; who will 
 acknowledge your lordship with a love without mask or 
 cover, and follow you to the end." * 
 
 And several years later, after an angry inter- 
 view with Salisbury, the occasion of which is not 
 known, Raleigh wrote to Sir Walter Cope : — 
 
 " I ever have been and am resolved that it was never in 
 the worthy heart of Sir Robert Cecil to suffer me to fall, 
 much less to perish. For whatsoever terms it hath 
 pleased his lordship to use towards me, which might 
 utterly despair anybody else, yet I know that he spake 
 them as a Councillor, sitting in Council, and in company of 
 such as would not otherwise have been satisfied. But, as 
 God liveth, I would have bought his presence at a far 
 dearer rate than those sharp words and these three months' 
 close imprisonment, for it is in his lordship's face and 
 countenance that I behold all that remains to me of com- 
 fort and all the hope I have, and from which I shall never 
 be beaten till I see the last of evils and the despair which 
 hath no help. The blessing of God cannot make him cruel 
 that was never so, nor prosperity teach any man of so 
 great worth to delight in the endless adversity of an enemy, 
 much less of him who in his very soul and nature can never 
 be such a one towards him." 2 
 
 Such expressions afford strong testimony to the 
 generous qualities of Salisbury, nor, as has been 
 pointed out, is their witness invalidated by the 
 suggestion that they were used for selfish reasons, 
 
 1 Edwards, II. 288. 
 
 2 October gth, 161 1 {Ibid., II. 329). 
 
184 THE CECILS 
 
 to flatter a man in power. " Raleigh used no such 
 flatteries to Northampton ; though he well knew 
 that Northampton, in 1603, had exhausted neither 
 his venom nor his power to sting." 1 
 
 James entered upon his reign with the intention 
 of being as tolerant in religious matters as was 
 consistent with his own prerogatives. He pro- 
 mised not to persecute any Catholics who would 
 give an outward obedience to the law, and he 
 remitted the recusancy fines " so long as they 
 behaved as loyal subjects." He made his position 
 perfectly clear to Cecil before his accession. " I 
 did ever hold persecution as one of the infallible 
 notes of a false Church," he writes ; and again " I 
 will never allow in my conscience that the blood 
 of any man shall be shed for diversity of opinion 
 in religion, but I would be sorry that Catholics 
 should so multiply as that they might be able to 
 practise their old principles upon us." As far as 
 laymen are concerned, that is to say, they should 
 be tolerated so far as was consistent with the 
 peace and safety of the realm. As to the priests 
 and Jesuits (" venomed wasps and fire-brands of 
 sedition "), he urged Cecil to put the edict of 
 banishment into execution, that they might be 
 " safely transported beyond seas, where they may 
 freely glut themselves upon their imaginated gods." 
 
 Unfortunately the Catholics increased to such 
 an extent in " number, courage, and insolence," 
 during the first months of James's reign that he 
 
 1 Edwards, I. 503. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 185 
 
 took alarm, and in February, 1604, issued a 
 proclamation for the banishment of the priests. 
 This was followed in July by a severe Act against 
 recusants. Neither of these measures was 
 enforced, but they served to show the Catholics 
 that they had little to hope for from the King, and 
 their anger and disappointment led a section of 
 them to give their sanction to deeds of violence, 
 culminating in the Gunpowder Plot. It has been 
 suggested that Salisbury deliberately egged on 
 the conspirators to their destruction, while others 
 have thought he got wind of the plot at an early 
 stage, but allowed it to proceed so as to gain more 
 credit by a dramatic discovery. On the whole, 
 however, it may be said that " in the judgment of 
 those best qualified to pronounce, the received 
 story of Gunpowder Plot remains more likely 
 to be true than any other." 1 
 
 The natural result of the plot was the introduc- 
 tion of new and still more stringent penal laws, 
 though once more James prevented their strict 
 enforcement. In this matter Cecil upheld his 
 sovereign, disliking persecution, except in so far 
 as Catholics showed themselves " absolute seducers 
 of the people from temporal obedience and 
 confident persuaders to rebellion." Strongly as 
 one must condemn the severe restrictions placed 
 on the recusants, it must always be remembered 
 that the Church of Rome " was pledged to change 
 the moral and intellectual atmosphere in which 
 Englishmen moved and breathed." 
 
 1 Professor Montague, History of England, 1603 — 1660, p. 31. 
 
186 THE CECILS 
 
 Salisbury himself defines his views in a letter to 
 Sir Henry Wotton (June 16th, 1606) } 
 
 " So clear and apparent," he writes, " is now the hatred 
 of almost all those of that profession to the present 
 government of this Church and Commonwealth, and so 
 envious are they of the long blessings of peace and plenty 
 which God hath bestowed upon our nation these many 
 years in the true profession of the Gospel, as they have not 
 only sought by all overt means to practise the destruction 
 thereof, but their masters and rabbins, the Jesuits, who 
 are now become the only fire-brands of Christendom, have 
 and do continually seek to corrupt the very souls and 
 consciences of his Majesty's simpler sort of subjects with 
 this detestable doctrine, that they may not stick at 
 rebellion and conspiracy, when they are summoned to it 
 for the good of the Church." 
 
 On the Continent Salisbury was looked upon as 
 the special enemy of the Catholics, owing to the 
 malicious reports of the Jesuits. " Among the 
 Duke of Lerma's pages of the Chamber," writes 
 Sir Charles Cornwallis from Madrid, this same 
 year " a common table talk it is, what an extreme 
 persecutor your lordship is of the Catholics in 
 England. Hereupon every man wishes that their 
 hands might give you the Pugnaladoll, that your 
 cruelty deserveth " ; to which Salisbury replies 
 with dignity, that he commends himself to God's 
 protection, and that " the more danger is laid 
 before me, the more zealous it makes me of God's 
 and my country's service." 2 
 
 1 Court and Times of James I,, I. 65. 
 
 a Winwood's Memorials, II. 236, 253. See also, for other Jesuit plots 
 II. 202, III. 49 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 187 
 
 The case of the Puritans is entirely different. On 
 opening Parliament, in March, 1604, the King 
 declared his hostility to the Puritans, who were 
 " ever discontented with the present Government, 
 and impatient to suffer any superiority, which 
 maketh their sect unable to be suffered in any 
 well-governed Commonwealth." At the Hampton 
 Court Conference in January they had stated 
 their grievances, but James had not the slightest 
 sympathy with them, and rated them soundly. 
 " If this be all they have to say," were his last 
 words, " I shall make them conform themselves, 
 or I will harry them out of the land, or else do 
 worse." Whereupon we are told that Cecil 
 thanked God for having given the King an under- 
 standing heart. Cecil's views are set forth in a 
 letter to the Archbishop of York, 1 in which he 
 says it was necessary to correct the Puritans " for 
 disobedience to the lawful ceremonies of the 
 Church ; wherein, although many religious men 
 of moderate spirits might be borne with, yet such 
 are the turbulent humours of some that dream of 
 nothing but a new hierarchy, directly opposite 
 to the state of a Monarchy, as the dispensation 
 with such men were the highway to break all the 
 bonds of unity, to nourish schism in the Church 
 and Commonwealth. It is well said of a learned 
 man that there are schisms in habit, as well as 
 in opinion, et non servatur unitas in credendo, nisi 
 adsit in colendo." Unity of belief could not be 
 
 1 February, 1605 (Lodge's Illustrations, III. 125). 
 
188 THE CECILS 
 
 preserved except by uniformity of worship. 
 Holding such opinions, Salisbury supported the 
 King in the severe measures adopted in order to 
 impose conformity on the Puritans. By the 
 Canons of 1604 the penalty of excommunication 
 was inflicted on all who " should affirm any of 
 the Thirty-nine Articles to be erroneous, or any- 
 thing in the Prayer Book to be repugnant to 
 Scripture, or any of the rites and ceremonies of the 
 Church to be superstitious, or should maintain 
 that government by bishops was contrary to the 
 Word of God." Some three hundred of the clergy 
 refused to conform and were ejected, and writing 
 of them, Salisbury says: — 
 
 " For the religion which they profess I reverence them 
 and their calling ; but for their unconformity, I acknow- 
 ledge myself in no way warranted to deal for them, 
 because the course they take is no way safe in such a 
 monarchy as this ; where his Majesty aimeth at no other 
 end than where there is but one true faith and doctrine 
 preached, there to establish one form, so as a perpetual 
 peace may be settled in the Church of God ; where 
 contrarywise these men, by this singularity of theirs in 
 things approved to be indifferent by so many reverend 
 fathers of the Church, by so great multitudes of their own 
 brethren, yea many that have been formerly touched with 
 the like weaknesses, do daily minister cause of scandal in 
 the Church of England, and give impediment to that great 
 and goodly work, towards which all honest men are bound 
 to yield their best means, according to their several 
 callings, namely to suppress idolatry and Romish super- 
 stition in all his Majesty's dominions." 1 
 
 1 Cranborne to some gentlemen of Leicestershire, April, 1605 {Hat- 
 field MSS. Quoted by Gardiner, I. 201). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 189 
 
 Salisbury succeeded the old Earl of Dorset as 
 Lord Treasurer in April, 1608. " I know not 
 anything the King hath done in that kind more 
 universally applauded," wrote Sir Henry Neville. 1 
 " So great a reformation many imagine will follow 
 that change." 
 
 The Exchequer was then in a desperate con- 
 dition. The debt amounted to nearly a million 
 and the ordinary annual expenditure exceeded 
 the ordinary revenue by £73,000. To a great 
 extent this condition of affairs was due to the 
 King's extravagance, which, in spite of real 
 endeavours on his part, he was quite unable to 
 control. A story is told which illustrates his 
 ignorance of the value of money, and at the same 
 time shows how Salisbury tried to keep his 
 prodigality in check. It appears that James 
 had ordered a large sum of money (variously 
 stated as £5,000 and £20,000) to be given to 
 his favourite, Carr, then Viscount Rochester. 
 Salisbury, " thinking it too great a sum to be 
 disposed of lightly, laid it in silver upon tables 
 in the gallery of Salisbury House ; and, having 
 invited the King to dinner, conducted him through 
 that gallery to the dining-room. The King, 
 suddenly struck with the appearance of so large 
 a heap of silver, asked what the money was for ; 
 to which the Treasurer replied that he had 
 received his Majesty's commands to give it to the 
 Viscount Rochester. The King, who had not 
 
 ' To Sir R. Winwood, May 12th, 1608 (Winwood's Memorials, II. 
 929). 
 
igo THE CECILS 
 
 before appreciated the value of the gift, said it 
 was too much, and made the favourite be 
 contented with less than half." l 
 
 One of Salisbury's first proceedings as Treasurer 
 was to impose duties to the amount of £70,000, 
 without the sanction of Parliament. At the same 
 time he lessened the duties on articles of general 
 consumption, such as currants, sugar, and tobacco. 
 In addition to this, by severe economies, by sale 
 of Crown lands, and by enforcing every payment 
 to which the King could lay claim, the debt was 
 reduced in two years to £300,000 More, how- 
 ever, was still required, and Salisbury therefore 
 endeavoured to raise money by what is known 
 as the " Great Contract." He asked the Commons 
 for a supply of £600,000 to discharge the King's 
 debts and for other outstanding expenses, and for 
 a permanent support of £200,000 a year. In 
 return for this, he promised, on behalf of the King, 
 to remit certain burdensome prerogatives of the 
 Crown, especially those connected with feudal 
 tenures, wardships and purveyance. Prolonged 
 negotiations followed, during which Salisbury, as 
 the mouthpiece of James, continually shifted his 
 ground. The Treasurer was supported throughout 
 by the Lords. As Sir Roger Aston wrote, " The 
 little beagle hath run about and brought the rest 
 of the great hounds to a perfect tune." 2 But 
 as the King continually raised his demands, the 
 Commons, influenced by the growing opposition 
 
 1 Wilson's Life and Reign of James I., p. 61. 
 
 2 July 24th, 1610 (Cal. S. P. Bom.). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 191 
 
 of the various interests affected by the proposals, 
 hardened their hearts and refused to make any 
 further concessions. The inevitable result was 
 that the whole scheme fell through, and though the 
 King was mainly to blame, the odium, both of the 
 proposals and of their failure, fell on the Treasurer. 
 Bacon, the shrewdest political observer of the 
 time, has left on record his opinion of Salisbury's 
 financial methods, in a letter to the King written 
 a few months after his cousin's death : — 
 
 " To have your wants and necessities in particular as it 
 were hanged up in two tablets before the eyes of your lords 
 and commons, to be talked of for four months together : 
 to have all your courses to help yourself in revenue or 
 profit put into printed books, which were wont to be held 
 arcana imperii : to have such worms of aldermen to lend 
 for ten in the hundred upon good assurance, and with such 
 [entreaty?], as if it should save the bark of your fortune : 
 to contract still where mought be had the readiest pay- 
 ment, and not the best bargain : to stir a number of pro- 
 jects for your profit, and then to blast them, and leave 
 your Majesty nothing but the scandal of them : to pretend 
 even carriage between your Majesty's rights and the ease 
 of the people, and to satisfy neither : These courses and 
 others the like I hope are gone with the deviser of them ; 
 which have turned your Majestyto inestimable prejudice." 1 
 
 In reading this, one has to remember Bacon's 
 personal animus against his cousin, and also the 
 fact that he was hoping to take his place. But 
 malicious as is the expression of his opinion, it no 
 doubt represents a widely held view. It is, how- 
 ever, not the whole of the truth. The fact remains 
 
 1 Bacon to the King, September, 1612 (Spedding, IV. 313). 
 
i 9 2 THE CECILS 
 
 that Salisbury did produce some sort of order out 
 of the chaos that existed before he took over the 
 office of Treasurer, and succeeded in " raising the 
 revenue to an amount which would have filled 
 Elizabeth with admiration, though it was all too 
 little for her successor." And if it is true, as has 
 been said, that the total result of his financial 
 administration was the halving of the debt, at 
 the cost of almost doubling the deficiency, it is, 
 nevertheless, to be remembered that the former 
 was the result of his own labour, while over the 
 latter he had little control. 1 
 
 Undoubtedly the system of bargaining set up 
 between King and Commons was undignified and 
 demoralising, and emphasised the divergence of 
 interests between the Sovereign and his people 
 which led to such disastrous results. It is 
 Salisbury's action in the matter of the Great 
 Contract which is thought to have been responsible 
 for the decline of his power during the last months 
 of his life. Goodman tells a story about a certain 
 un-named " great peer," who, on his death-bed, 
 sent to the King, begging him not to part with any 
 of his prerogatives, especially the Court of Wards, 
 and warning him against being ruled by " some who 
 did endeavour to engross and monopolise the King, 
 and kept other able men out of his service." After 
 which, adds Goodman, " the Earl of Salisbury, who 
 had been a great stirrer in that business, and was 
 the man aimed at, began to decline." 2 
 
 1 Gardiner, II. 144 ; Spedding, IV. 276. 
 a Court of James I., I. 141. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 ROBERT CECIL, FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 
 
 (continued) 
 
 On other matters, as well as the " Great Con- 
 tract," it is difficult to say how far the policy 
 carried out by Salisbury was in its origin his or the 
 King's. He certainly gave him good advice on the 
 subject of the Union with Scotland, urging, though 
 in vain, that the time was not ripe, and that all 
 that could be done at present was to appoint 
 commissioners to examine the whole question. 
 
 In foreign affairs his policy was to preserve 
 the independence of the Netherlands and to 
 preserve the balance of power between France 
 and Spain. Though filled with hatred of the 
 latter country, he, no doubt, agreed with James 
 in thinking peace necessary, and he was instru- 
 mental in bringing it about in 1604. And this 
 led to an incident which is very difficult to under- 
 stand or explain. On the completion of the 
 treaty, all the chief ministers of James, including 
 Cecil, accepted pensions from the Spanish 
 Ambassador. Cecil's amounted to £1,000 a year, 
 and was raised in the following year to £1,500. 
 In 1609 ne demanded a still further increase, 
 and asked that each piece of information should 
 be paid for separately. Such a transaction is, 
 of course, not to be judged by the standards of 
 
 c. o 
 
i 9 4 THE CECILS 
 
 the present day. " It was," says Dr. Jessopp, 1 
 " part of that vile system which his father had 
 established, and into which he was perhaps forced, 
 of employing every means that came to hand for 
 obtaining information of the doings of the 
 Catholics. That he gave any information, or 
 that he ever betrayed the trust committed to him, 
 there is not a tittle of evidence to show." This 
 is not strictly true, for he certainly did give 
 information, but of such a character that the 
 Spanish Ambassadors continually complained that 
 he was not keeping to his part of the bargain, and 
 as the relations between the countries grew worse, 
 the information became more and more confused. 2 
 He is said to have accepted a pension also from 
 France, and it is probable that he was able, or 
 thought he would be able, to do good services to 
 both these friendly powers, and so to further 
 the growth of good relations between them, 
 without in any way betraying the interests of 
 England. 
 
 These transactions are the more strange since 
 we know from other sources that Salisbury was 
 distinguished among his contemporaries for being 
 impervious to bribes. " The heart of man," says 
 Sir Walter Cope, " was never more free from 
 baseness and bribes : he hated the bribe and the 
 taker." 3 
 
 The corruption at Court in the early part of 
 
 1 Diet. Nat. Biog., IX. 402. 
 
 a Gardiner, I. 216. 
 
 8 " Apology for Sir R. Cecil," etc. (Gutch, Collectanea Curiosa, I. 120), 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 195 
 
 James's reign was notorious, but Cecil set himself 
 against it with all his power. As an instance, 
 we may quote from his instructions to the com- 
 missioners who were to act in a proposed scheme 
 for compounding wardships. 
 
 " And now," he writes, " because I do consider how 
 subject all men's actions are to calumny, ... I do also 
 require you to make it known particularly to all persons 
 that shall seek composition, that they shall not receive 
 their assurance from his Majesty without taking their 
 corporal oath in open court that they have neither 
 promised nor paid, directly nor indirectly, any money, or 
 other benefit, for obtaining the same, other than the sums 
 agreed upon to his Majesty's use, and the ordinary fees 
 of the clerks and officers. Thus have you now a perfect 
 understanding of his Majesty's royal intention . . . and 
 have also perceived the care I have to preserve your reputa- 
 tion as much as my own, though that is more in danger to 
 be touched, because the envious minds of men, who judge 
 others commonly by their own affections, will be apt to 
 conceive that I, who am his Majesty's principal officer in 
 the Court of Wards, would not endeavour to further this 
 his Majesty's good intention with so great care and such 
 contentment, except some way were open for me by this 
 course to derive to myself some private gain, to counter- 
 vail the diminution of that power and authority which by 
 this means is taken from me to bind or pleasure any man 
 by virtue of this office during my time." 1 
 
 This proposal came to nothing, but later in the 
 reign Salisbury handed over to the King all the 
 profits of the office of Master of the Wards. 
 
 Even Osborne, a very unfavourable witness, 
 
 1 Letter to Sir John Savile and others, October 3rd, 1603 (Lodge's 
 Illustrations, III. 41). 
 
 O 3 
 
i 9 6 THE CECILS 
 
 says : " How many soever his faults were, he 
 was of an incomparable prudence, and coming so 
 near after such an unadvised scatterer as King 
 James, he might have feathered his family better 
 than he did, but that he looked upon low things 
 with contempt ... he not standing charged with 
 any grosser bribery or corruption than what lay 
 inclusive under the ceremony of New Year's gifts, 
 or his own or servants sharing with such as by 
 importunity rather than merit had obtained 
 debentures out of the Exchequer." As to the 
 New Year's gifts, another writer states that the 
 first year he was Lord Treasurer he refused them 
 all, amounting to above £1,800, " as supposing 
 them to be some kind of bribes whereby he 
 might wink at the corruption of officers." 1 
 
 Even before he was Treasurer, his " New Year's 
 gifts " were of considerable value. The list of 
 those received at Christmas, 1602, has been 
 preserved, and is worth transcribing. 2 
 
 " From Lord Burghley, one bason and ewer of silver 
 
 white, 108 J oz. 3 plates of silver, 27 oz. 
 From the Company of Merchant Venturers, one great 
 
 standing bowl in a case. [Margin : ' sold to 
 
 Prescott.'] 
 From Sir John Roper, one other great standing bowl in 
 
 a case. [' Sold to Prescott.'] 
 From my Lord of Hertford, one pair of great Dutch 
 
 pots, gilt, 162! oz. 
 From Mr. Nicolson, one fair standing bowl. [' Sold to 
 
 Prescott.'] 
 
 1 Goodman, I. 36. 
 
 2 Hatfield MSS., XII. 527. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 197 
 
 From Mr. Owen, one other standing bowl, lesser, 8 oz. 
 
 [' Given to Sir Henry Neville's child.'] 
 From the Bishop of Winchester, one standing cup. 
 From Doc. Stanop, one other standing cup, lesser. 
 
 [' Given to Doctor Elvine.'] 
 From my Lord Nores, one cup of gold in a velvet case. 
 From Mr. Coalle, of Devonshire, one basin and ewer of 
 
 fine ' purslen,' gilt. Six fair dishes of ' purslen,' 
 
 gilt. Six lesser, of fine ' purslen,' gilt. One 
 
 perfuming pot in the form of a cat, of ' purslen.' 
 
 One fine voider of China, gilt. 
 From my Lady Digbie, one fine ' quishon,' lined with 
 
 carnation satin. 
 From Mr. Cope, one sweet-bag. 
 From Mr. Skenner, one other sweet-bag. 
 From my Lady Laiton, one chair embroidered. 
 From Comptroller of the Works, a fire shovel, tongs, and 
 
 a lock for a door. 
 Mr. Savadge, two barrels of figs. 
 From Sir Robert Crosse, one little casket. 
 From a ward, one great standing cup with scollop 
 
 shells, 66 oz. [' Given at the christening of the 
 
 French Amb : child.'] 
 From a ward, one great salt set in crystal, 106 oz. 
 From Mr. Penruddock, one salt, 28 oz." 
 
 On the subject of valuable presents, Cecil 
 expressed himself plainly in a letter to the Earl 
 of Northumberland : — 1 
 
 " I have received a coach and four horses from you," he 
 writes, " a gift greater than ever I was beholding to any 
 subject, and that I would have refused, whatsoever had 
 come of it, if I could have been present to have argued 
 with you. For first, I must say that gifts of value ought 
 
 » October gth, 1600 (Hatfield MSS., X. 347). 
 
198 THE CECILS 
 
 not to pass between those whose minds contemn all the 
 knots that utility can fasten. Toys, which argue only 
 memory in absence, may be interchanged, so long as they 
 are no other. Secondly, there is at this time something 
 in question which concerns you in profit, wherein the care 
 I have shown to further your desires will now be imputed 
 to this expectation, and so give a taint to that profession 
 which I have made only to delight in your favour, in 
 respect of your sincerity and ability to do her Majesty 
 service. Thirdly, it grieves me to think that divers of my 
 adversaries, who are apt to decry all values that are set 
 upon my coin, may think that you, who should know me 
 better than they do, find me either facile or not clear from 
 servile ends ; the conceit whereof so much troubles me 
 as it has almost made me venture a desperate refusal, 
 but that I feared to have made you doubtful that I had 
 judged you by others' scantling. Next, I pray you think 
 whether the eyes of the world can wink at these shows, 
 and whether if the Queen shall hear it, she will not be apt 
 to suspect me that I am the earnester in your cause for it. 
 But what should I now call back yesterday ? For I have 
 accepted your fair present rather than discontent you, and 
 have only reserved an assurance that this was given me 
 out of the vastness of your kindness, not out of any other 
 mistaking my disposition. For requital whereof, I can 
 only return this present, that though I have neither gold 
 nor silver, yet I have love and honesty." 
 
 The records of gifts made to Cecil are almost 
 the only indications of his tastes and private 
 occupations which his correspondence affords. 
 Thus we learn that he was very fond of horses, 
 and also of hawking. Within a few months, in 
 1593, he received four horses, as gifts from 
 different friends, as well as "a suite of four 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 199 
 
 white horses " for his coach, which he ordered 
 from Embden — and not a year passes without 
 his receiving both horses and other animals. 
 Some of these must have been embarrassing pets, 
 such as a dog sent by Sir S. Bagenall, which the 
 donor boasts is " the most furiosest beast that 
 ever I saw," or the " paraquito," given by Sir 
 John Gilbert, with instructions as follows : " He 
 will eat. all kinds of meat, and nothing will hurt 
 him except it be very salt. If you put him on 
 the table at meal time he will make choice of his 
 meat. He must be kept very warm and after 
 he hath filled himself he will set in a gentlewoman's 
 ruff all the day. In the afternoon he will eat 
 bread or oatmeal groats, drink water or claret 
 wine : every night he is put in the cage and 
 covered warm." 
 
 His correspondence bears constant witness to 
 his interest in hawking, and his friends vie with 
 each other in seconding his efforts to secure hawks 
 that will "fly in a high place." In the year 
 1600 he was stocking his park at Theobalds 
 with deer, and received many " fat bucks " 
 and does, as well as ten red deer from Lord 
 Sheffield. 
 
 Among other gifts, Bishop Bancroft sends him 
 a vat of Rhenish wine, containing six score 
 gallons, which he had brought from Embden. 
 " You should not have had it," he writes, " but 
 that I did so surfeit at Embden, in quaffing to 
 such and so many healths, not forgetting your 
 own (but remembering you better, I trust, in my 
 
200 THE CECILS 
 
 prayers), that now I can be well content to part 
 with it, and to make it as you have made me, 
 that is, your own for ever." 1 
 
 Many towns chose him as their patron and 
 protector. The Corporation of Exeter begs him 
 to accept the " small annuity which we paid to 
 our Lord, your father " ; the bailiffs of Colchester 
 present him with £10 in gold, " as their best 
 means to express their duties " ; and the Corpo- 
 ration of Waterford sends him " a pair of bed 
 coverings and two rondells of aquavite," and 
 begs his furtherance of their suits. 
 
 The Bishop of Carlisle (Henry Robinson) sends 
 him a Bible, and his letter on the occasion is 
 worth quoting : — 2 
 
 " I desire greatly to show you my gratitude. But, as 
 one said to Augustus, " effecisti ut vivam et moriar 
 ingratus." Still, hoping that you are like God, of whom 
 it is written ' If there be a willing mind, it is accepted 
 according to that a man hath and not according to that 
 he hath not,' I send you this book (indeed incomparably 
 better than all worldly treasures), &c." 
 
 One more letter must be given in this connection, 
 as it proves that Cecil was not so indifferent to 
 books as has generally been maintained, and also 
 affords additional evidence of his avoidance of 
 recompense for services rendered. A Mr. Proby 
 sends him " a collection from ancient records of 
 personal services due to the Crown, especially at 
 the Coronation," and says : " When I brought you 
 
 1 July 26th, 1600 (Hatfield MSS., X. 245). 
 
 2 January 8th, 1599 (ibid., IX. 13). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 201 
 
 the book of the state and condition of Island, 
 you told me that you esteemed books more than 
 gold, as you showed last year, when I could not 
 procure you to accept a small token of the good 
 I received by your means ; which astonished me 
 much until Sir John Stanhope told me it was 
 your practice not to take anything of charge from 
 those you liked best of." x 
 
 As to his other personal pleasures, it is not 
 necessary to pay attention to the scurrilous gossip 
 which charged him with immoral pursuits. 2 But 
 we learn that he was fond of play, and on one 
 occasion lost £600 in one night. 3 
 
 He also delighted in buying and selling land and 
 houses in all parts of the country, and engaged 
 in various mercantile and maritime transactions. 
 On one occasion he purchased a fourth share of 
 the Refusal, of Plymouth, 120 tons, " now at 
 sea, in cause of reprisal, and of all the prizes and 
 gains that have been or shall be taken during 
 the voyage." This was a most fortunate specu- 
 lation, as within a fortnight, the Refusal returned, 
 in company with two other ships, bringing two 
 prizes which they took coming out of Lisbon. 
 One was a ship of 400 tons, laden with sugar, 
 pepper, cinnamon, ginger, indigo, and other goods, 
 intended for Venice ; the other, a " flyboat " of 
 140 tons, with muskets and calivers, gum, lacquer, 
 
 1 January 3rd, 1599 (Hatfield MSS., IX. 8). 
 
 a It is curious, by the way, that in one of his letters (to his servant 
 Roger Kirkham, 1605), he speaks of " my younger son," a person not 
 known to the genealogists (Lodge's Illustrations, III. 171). What 
 became of this youth ? 
 
 8 This was in 1603 (Cat. S. P. Dom. ; James I., VI. 283). 
 
202 THE CECILS 
 
 oil, iron, calico, spices, etc., the total value being 
 estimated at £100,000. 1 
 
 Salisbury's main occupation, however, outside 
 his official labours, lay in building and laying 
 out grounds, tastes which he inherited from his 
 father. On the death of Lord Burghley the house 
 and estate of Theobalds came into his possession, 
 and though the house itself was actually com- 
 pleted some ten years earlier, he continued to 
 improve it and to beautify the estate so long as 
 it remained in his hands. The large number of 
 letters from his agents, which still exist, show that 
 he devoted much time and thought to improving 
 the grounds, making an artificial pond and lakes, 
 and enlarging the property whenever possible. 
 His extensive purchases and enclosures earned 
 him some ill-will, and in 1605, Anthony Wingfield, 
 writing to the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, 
 sends the following " homely English epigram 
 of the Contented Peer," no doubt intended for 
 him : — 
 
 " The Peer content, but not contented Peer, 
 Saith still content, but never is content : 
 For, search the wide world over far and near 
 
 None like this Peer to filthy lucre bent. 
 Content, he saith, but you must thus expound him, 
 Content to buy his neighbour's lands that bound him." a 
 
 This was one of many scurrilous lampoons 
 circulated by the envious hangers-on of the 
 
 1 April, 1602 {Hatfield MSS., XII. 83, 98). 
 
 2 Lodge's Illustrations, III. 178. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 203 
 
 Court. Another, which also refers to his 
 enclosures, takes the form of an epitaph : — 
 
 " Here lyes throwne, for the wormes to eate 
 Little bossive 1 Robin, that was so great. 
 Not Robin Goodfellow, nor Robin Hood, 
 But Robin, th' encloser of Hatfield Wood." 2 
 
 In July, 1606, Salisbury entertained James 
 and his brother-in-law, Christian IV., King of 
 Denmark, at Theobalds. The two Kings rode 
 thither in great state, and were entertained with 
 " many very learned, delicate, and significant 
 shows and devices." At the entrance of one of 
 the gates was a tree " with leaves and other 
 ornaments resembling a great oak ; the leaves 
 cut all out of green silk, and set so artificially, 
 that after certain speeches delivered, and songs 
 of Welcome sung, as the Kings' Majesties passed 
 away, even in a trice all the leaves showered from 
 the tree, both upon the heads and garments of 
 both the Kings, and of a great multitude of their 
 followers ; upon every leaf being written in gold 
 letters this word, ' Welcome,' and upon some, 
 twice ' Welcome.' " 3 
 
 The visit lasted for four days, and Sir John 
 Harington, who was one of the guests, has left a 
 lurid description of the scenes which took place. 4 
 
 " I have been well-nigh overwhelmed with carousal and 
 sport of all kinds," he says. " The sports began each day 
 
 1 Bossive, humpbacked. So Standen nicknamed him " Monsieur de 
 Bossu." 
 
 2 Secret History of the Court of James I. (1811), I. 235. 
 
 8 Quoted from a contemporary pamphlet in Outterbuck, Hist, of 
 Hertfordshire, II. 92. 
 
 4 Nugae Anliquae, ed. 1679, II. 126 sqq. 
 
204 THE CECILS 
 
 in such manner and such sort, as well nigh persuaded me 
 of Mahomet's paradise. We had women, and indeed wine 
 too, of such plenty as would have astonished each sober 
 beholder. Our feasts were magnificent and the two 
 Royal guests did most lovingly embrace each other at 
 table, and I think the Dane hath strongly wrought on our 
 good English nobles, for those, whom I never could get to 
 taste good liquor, now follow the fashion and wallow in 
 beastly delights. The ladies abandon their sobriety and 
 are seen to roll about in intoxication." 
 
 On one occasion when a masque representing 
 Solomon and the coming of the Queen of Sheba 
 was performed after a great feast, none of the 
 performers, from the Queen of Sheba downwards, 
 could stand upright, " wine did so occupy their 
 upper chambers," and the King of Denmark fell 
 down, and had to be carried to bed. " I never 
 did see such lack of good order, discretion or 
 sobriety, as I have now done," adds Sir John. 
 
 James became so enamoured of Theobalds that 
 he induced Salisbury, in 1607, to make it over to 
 him, giving him in exchange the estate and palace 
 of Hatfield. The preamble of the Act of Parlia- 
 ment for the conveyance of Theobalds to com- 
 missioners for the use of the King, states that : — 
 
 " Whereas the Mansion-house of Theobalds, in the 
 County of Hertford, being the inheritance of Robert Earl 
 of Salisbury, as well for situation in a good open air, and 
 for the large and goodly buildings, and delight of the 
 gardens, walks and park, replenished with red fallow deer, 
 as also for the nearness to the city of London northward, 
 and to his Majesty's Forest of Waltham Chase and Park 
 of Enfield, with the commodity of a navigable river falling 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 205 
 
 into the Thames, is a place so convenient for his Majesty's 
 princely sports and recreation, and so commodious for the 
 residence of his Highness' Court and entertainment of 
 foreign Princes or their ambassadors, upon all occasions, 
 as his Majesty hath taken great liking thereunto ; of 
 which the said Earl having taken particular knowledge, 
 although it be the only dwelling-house left unto him by 
 his father, most willingly, dutifully made offer thereof unto 
 his Highness, with any such other his manors and lands 
 thereabouts as should be thought fit for his Majesty's use, 
 preferring therein his Majesty's health and contentation 
 before any private respects of his own, which offer his 
 Majesty hath graciously forborne to accept, without a full 
 and princely recompense to the said Earl," etc. 1 
 
 Salisbury gave up possession with another 
 grand entertainment to the King, and Ben Jonson 
 composed a masque for the occasion. It opened 
 with a speech by the genius of the house, who 
 appeared in a melancholy posture and dressed in 
 a mourning garb. The first stanza ran as follows : 
 
 " Let not your glories darken, to behold 
 
 The place and me, her genius here, so sad ; 
 Who, by bold rumour have been lately told, 
 
 That I must change the loved lord I had, 
 And he, now in the twilight of sere age, 
 
 Begin to seek a habitation new ; 
 And all his fortunes and himself engage 
 
 Unto a seat his father never knew : 
 And I, uncertain what I must endure, 
 Since all the ends of Destiny are obscure." 
 
 James still further enlarged the Park, and 
 surrounded it with a brick wall ten miles in 
 circumference. He made it his chief country 
 
 > Clutterbuck, II. 93. 
 
206 THE CECILS 
 
 seat, and died there in 1625. In 1650 the com- 
 missioners appointed by Parliament to survey 
 the Royal palaces, reported that Theobalds was 
 an excellent building in very good repair, and 
 estimated the materials of the house to be worth 
 £8,275. Notwithstanding, the palace was pulled 
 down in 1651, the proceeds of the sale of the 
 materials being divided among the army. 1 
 
 The Manor of Hatfield, which thus came into 
 possession of the Cecils, had already a distin- 
 guished history. 2 Originally the property of the 
 monastery of St. Ethelred of Ely, it became the 
 residence of the bishops of that see, when the 
 monastery was erected into a bishopric in 1108. 
 The palace was rebuilt by Cardinal Morton, who 
 was Bishop of Ely from 1479 to i486, and of his 
 fine red-brick building, portions, including the 
 gatehouse and the old banqueting hall (now the 
 stables), still remain. In 1539 Bishop Goodrich 
 conveyed the lordship and manor to Henry VIII. , 
 in exchange for the site of Icklington Priory 
 and other lands, and the palace became a Royal 
 residence. Here Prince Edward lived with his 
 tutor, Richard Coxe ; and in 1550, in the fourth 
 year of his reign, he transferred it to his sister, 
 the Princess Elizabeth, who resided at Hatfield 
 during Mary's reign. Here, too, " under the 
 celebrated oak which tradition has associated 
 with her name, it is more than probable that she 
 learned the news of her sister's death, and her 
 
 1 Lysons, Environs of London, IV. 38. 
 
 2 Brewer, English Studies. See also Gotcb, Homes of the Cecils, as 
 before. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 207 
 
 own accession to the throne ; and here she held 
 her first Council." Throughout her life Elizabeth 
 delighted in the place, and often availed herself 
 of the opportunity it afforded for hunting, and 
 hawking, and coursing. 
 
 The old palace was not suitable for Salisbury's 
 purposes, and he lost no time in setting about 
 his new house. He paid a farewell visit to 
 Theobalds in April, and on the same day the 
 Earl of Suffolk (the builder of Audley End), the 
 Earl of Worcester and the Earl of Southampton, 
 met him at Hatfield, " to discuss the site of his 
 future habitation." The site chosen was close to 
 the old building, part of which was turned into 
 stables for the new owner. We may be sure that 
 Salisbury was aided by these three noblemen also 
 in planning his house, for he remained his own 
 architect, employing Robert Lyminge as his 
 foreman builder, and Thomas Wilson, his steward, 
 as general superintendent of the works. Building 
 was begun before the end of the year, and pro- 
 ceeded so rapidly that the house was practically 
 finished in 1612, not, however, until after the death 
 of its owner. 
 
 Burghley and Theobalds were built in the old 
 feudal manner, round courts. Hatfield occupies 
 three sides of a hollow square, open to the south. 
 In spite of two disastrous fires, one in March, 
 1667, the other in 1835, when the west wing was 
 destroyed, the exterior of the house presents 
 very much the same appearance as it did three 
 hundred years ago. Inside more changes have 
 
208 THE CECILS 
 
 been made, but much of it still retains its original 
 character. The two great chambers — one at each 
 end of the house — the Library on the west and King 
 James's room on the east, have been little altered, 
 and the Long Gallery, one hundred and sixty feet 
 long, which connects them, though the fretted 
 ceiling has been restored and other renovations 
 made, remains a noble example of a Jacobean 
 interior. The same applies to the hall and the 
 chapel ; fine oak panelling and carving — including 
 the great staircase, with its richly carved newel- 
 posts, each supporting a figure — remains a 
 characteristic feature, and bears witness to the 
 taste of the founder and to the excellence of the 
 workmanship. 
 
 Hatfield provided Salisbury with ample scope 
 to display his taste in laying out the grounds, 
 which interested him only less than the house 
 itself. Of the original garden little remains, 
 but that on the west side, called the Priory 
 Garden, with its four mulberry trees planted by 
 James I., belonged to the old palace, and the 
 rosery is also of ancient date. 
 
 Evelyn, who visited Hatfield in 1643, specially 
 mentions the garden and vineyard, " rarely 
 watered and planted " ; and Pepys also has 
 something to say about them. On his first visit 
 (July 22nd, 1661) " Mr. Looker, my Lord's 
 gardener, showed me the house, the chappell 
 with brave pictures, and above all, the garden, 
 such as I never saw in all my life : nor so good 
 flowers, nor so great gooseberrys, as big as nut- 
 
PLAN 
 
 OF GROUND FLOOR, HATFIELD HOUSE 
 
 HA-„t„A <mm the Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire with the permission 
 rf the Royal Commission and the consent of the Controller of His Majesty's Stationery Office) 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 209 
 
 megs." On another occasion (August nth, 1667) 
 he records : "As soon as we had dined, we walked 
 out into the park through the fine walk of trees, 
 and to the vineyard, and there showed them 
 that, which is in good order, and indeed a place 
 of great delight : which, together with our fine 
 walk through the park, was of as much pleasure 
 as could be desired in the world for country 
 pleasure and good ayre." * 
 
 For this vineyard Lord Salisbury received 
 from France 20,000 vines, at the cost of £50, and 
 10,000 more were expected. But though the 
 name still remains, the vines have long since 
 disappeared. From the French Queen he received 
 500 fruit trees, and other friends sent him cherries, 
 nectarines and other trees. " His two gardeners 
 were Montague Jennings and John Tradescant, 
 afterwards horticulturist to Charles I., and father 
 of the still more celebrated John Tradescant, 
 founder of the Tradescant Museum, now better 
 known as the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford." 2 
 
 Salisbury was not yet fifty years old, but his 
 incessant labours were rapidly wearing out his 
 feeble frame. He had been out of health for 
 some time, and towards the end of 1611 he had 
 a severe attack of rheumatism in his right arm. 
 This passed off, but a few weeks later he was 
 seized with ague and other complications. He 
 was reported also to be melancholy and heavy- 
 spirited ; "so as it is on all hands concluded," 
 
 1 Diary, ed. Wheatley, II. 68, 69 ; VII. 64. 
 a Brewer, p. 122. 
 
 C. P 
 
210 THE CECILS 
 
 wrote Sir John More to Winwood, " that his lord- 
 ship must shortly leave this world, or at least dis- 
 burden himself of a great part of his affairs. In 
 this short time of his lordship's weakness, almost 
 all our great affairs are come to a stand, and his 
 hand is already shrewdly missed ; carendo magis 
 quam fruendo quod bonum est perspicimus." 1 
 From this attack he recovered so far that at the 
 beginning of March he was able to " walk daily 
 in his garden," and to receive frequent visits 
 from the King and Queen. " His sickness 
 drowned all other news," we hear. 2 " Every- 
 man's care and curiosity ran that way, insomuch 
 that it seems he was never so well loved as now, 
 when they thought him so near lost." After a 
 short respite, however, his malady, which now 
 proved to be a complication of scurvy and dropsy, 
 gained upon him, and on April 27th, " the vigour 
 of his mind maintaining his weak body," he left 
 London and proceeded to Bath. Here, at first, 
 he derived benefit from the waters, but his 
 disease again got the upper hand, and his con- 
 dition became so desperate that his son, Lord 
 Cranborne, was sent for, and came posthaste 
 with Sir Edward Cecil to Bath. After some 
 sixteen days' sojourn Salisbury resolved to return 
 to London, but his strength was unequal to the 
 effort, and he died at Marlborough on May 24th, 
 1612. His body was carried to Hatfield, and he 
 
 1 February 17th, 1612 (Winwood's Memorials, III. 338). 
 * Chamberlain to Carleton, March nth, 1612 (Court and Times of 
 James I., I. 137). 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 211 
 
 was buried in Hatfield Church " without any 
 great pomp, by his special appointment." 1 
 According to his own directions the mourners 
 were to be confined to his own servants and 
 intimate friends, since he desired "to go without 
 noise and vanity out of this vale of misery as a 
 man that hath long been satiated with terrestrial 
 glory, and now contemplates only heavenly joy." 
 These words are taken from his will, which was 
 made only two months before his death. In 
 this document he makes a remarkable confession 
 of faith. 2 
 
 " Because I would be glad to leave behind me some 
 such testimony of my particular opinion in point of faith 
 and doctrine, as might confute all those who, judging 
 others by themselves, are apt to censure all men to be of 
 little or no religion, which by their calling are employed 
 in matters of State and government, under great kings and 
 princes, as if there was no Christian policy free from 
 irreligion or impiety, I have resolved to express myself 
 and my opinion in manner following. First, concerning 
 the infinite and ineffable Trinity in Unity and Unity in 
 Trinity, and the mystery of reconciliation in Christ Jesus, 
 as it concerns the Church, the saints, their sins, their souls 
 and bodies, and lastly, their retribution in heaven ; — in 
 all these points, and every of them, I do assuredly believe 
 in my heart, as I have always made profession with my 
 mouth, whatever is contained in the Apostles' Creed." 
 
 After touching on the Sacraments, he continues : 
 
 " Therefore I do here in the sight of God make profession 
 of that faith in which I have always lived, and hope to die 
 
 1 Chamberlain to Carleton, May 27th, 1612 (Court and Times of 
 James I., I. 169). See also Winwood, III. 367, 368. 
 
 2 Brewer, p. 154. 
 
 P 2 
 
212 THE CECILS 
 
 in, and fear not to be judged at that great account of all 
 flesh, and purpose to leave it behind me, as full of life and 
 necessary fruit as I can, for the direction of my children, 
 as their best patrimony, and for the satisfaction of the 
 world as the truest account I can give for myself and my 
 actions." 
 
 His debts at the time of his death amounted 
 to nearly £38,000, in spite of the fact that he had 
 recently sold Canterbury Park for £12,000. On 
 the other hand, he had lent to various friends 
 sums amounting to some £16,500, and he gave 
 directions in his will that lands and woods should 
 be sold to clear off his encumbrances. He also 
 desired that a " fair monument " should be 
 erected to his memory, and his son, the second 
 Earl, carried out his wish. In 1618 he built the 
 Salisbury Chapel on the north side of the chancel 
 in Hatfield Church, and here, in the middle of 
 the floor, is the monument to his father, in black 
 and white marble. The Earl is lying in his robes 
 on a flat slab, supported by figures of the four 
 Cardinal Virtues, while below is a skeleton lying 
 at full length. 1 
 
 " Ease and pleasure quake to hear of death," 
 said Salisbury to Sir Walter Cope in his last illness, 
 " but my life, full of cares and miseries, desireth 
 to be dissolved." It is impossible to doubt his 
 sincerity in this pathetic utterance. He felt that 
 
 1 Brewer gives a curious estimate, by Simon Basil, the surveyor, of 
 what the work ought to cost, and of the material required. The cost 
 of " sawing and carving " the six figures in white marble is estimated 
 at ^60 apiece, while the two slabs of touchstone are to cost ^60, and 
 the carriage of the tomb to Hatfield and erecting it £40. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 213 
 
 his power was passing from him. " As the case 
 stands," wrote the observer whose letters throw 
 so much light on the doings of the Court, 1 " it 
 was best that he gave over the world, for they 
 say his friends fell from him apace, and some 
 near about him, and howsoever he had fared with 
 his health, it is verily thought, he would never 
 have been himself again in power and credit. 
 I never knew," he adds, " so great a man so soon 
 and so generally censured, for men's tongues 
 walk very liberally and freely, but how truly I 
 know not." His death certainly let loose a 
 flood of ill-natured gossip, which increased as 
 time went on. " When great men die," wrote 
 the Earl of Dorset to Sir T. Edmondes, 2 " such 
 is either their desert, or the malice of people, or 
 both together, as commonly they are ill spoken 
 of. And so is one that died but lately, more I 
 think than ever any one was, and in more several 
 kinds." And Chamberlain, writing again in July 3 
 says : — 
 
 " The memory of the late Lord Treasurer grows daily 
 worse and worse, and more libels come as it were con- 
 tinually, whether it be that practice and juggling come 
 more and more to light, or that men love to follow the 
 sway of the multitude. But it is certain that they who 
 may best maintain it, have not forborne to say that he 
 juggled with religion, with the King, Queen, their children, 
 with nobility, parliament, with friends, foes, and generally 
 with all. Some of his chaplains have been heard to oppose 
 
 1 Chamberlain to Carleton, May 27th, 1612 (Court and Times of 
 James I., I. 169). 
 
 a June 22nd, 1612 (ibid., I. 179). 
 8 July 2nd (ibid., I. 180). 
 
214 THE CECILS 
 
 themselves what they could in the pulpit against these 
 scandalous speeches, but with little fruit." 
 
 Even Bacon was not above publishing a new 
 edition of his essays, " where," says Chamberlain, 
 "in a chapter of ' Deformity ' the world takes 
 note that he paints his little cousin to the life." * 
 It will be remembered that this very spiteful 
 essay begins as follows : — 
 
 " Deformed persons are commonly even with nature ; 
 for as nature hath done ill by them, so do they by nature ; 
 being for the most part, as the Scripture saith, ' void of 
 natural affection ' ; and so they have their revenge of 
 nature. Certainly there is a consent between the body 
 and the mind, and where nature erreth in the one, she 
 ventureth in the other." 
 
 When James asked Bacon for his opinion of 
 Salisbury, he replied : — 
 
 " Your Majesty hath lost a great subject and a good 
 servant. But if I should praise him in propriety, I should 
 say that he was a fit man to keep things from growing 
 worse, but no very fit man to reduce things to be much 
 better. For he loved to have the eyes of all Israel a little 
 too much upon himself, and to have all business still 
 under the hammer and like clay in the hands of the potter, 
 to mould it as he thought good, so that he was more in 
 operatione than in opere ; and though he had fine passages 
 of action, yet the real conclusion came slowly on." 2 
 
 At another time Bacon described him as 
 " doing little with much formality and protesta- 
 tion," and (expressing the same idea in other 
 
 1 To Carleton, December 17th, 1612 (Court and Times of James I., 
 
 I. 2! 4 ). 
 
 2 Spedding, IV. 279. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 215 
 
 words) accused him of "an artificial animating 
 of the negative." x He realised, of course, that 
 James would welcome some disparagement of 
 his late minister, being tired of his restraining 
 influence. 
 
 Salisbury's unpopularity at Court is, indeed, 
 easily accounted for. Amid the general corrup- 
 tion and venality, when all men were bent on 
 their own advancement and profit, he alone 
 went on his way with a single eye to the good 
 of his King and country. The main source of 
 patronage, he naturally incurred the hatred of 
 all disappointed placemen. Moreover, his power 
 and position earned him the envy of those who 
 felt that they were entitled to share them. He 
 was incapable of inspiring the almost universal 
 reverence paid to his father, and he had not the 
 strength or force of character to overcome the 
 backbiting malevolence of his enemies. Courteous 
 and affable as he was to all, he concealed his 
 real feelings, so that even those who knew him 
 well were often doubtful whether they under- 
 stood him, and were suspicious in consequence. 
 
 Though not in the front rank of statesmen, he 
 was eminently the right man in the right place, 
 and he succeeded where a more brilliant man 
 would probably have failed. He lacked creative 
 imagination, and initiated no great policy ; he 
 left behind him no followers, being out of sympathy 
 with the rising generation. But his skill as an 
 administrator, his power of mastering details, his 
 
 1 Spedding, IV. 371, 381. 
 
216 THE CECILS 
 
 sound common sense, and his unwearied industry, 
 made him invaluable to the King, at least during 
 the first few years of his reign. 
 
 Even Sir Anthony Welldon, who retails all the 
 scurrilous gossip of the day, is bound to admit his 
 fine qualities : — 
 
 " The little great Secretary," he says, " died of a most 
 loathsome disease, and remarkable, without house, with- 
 out pity, without favour of that master that had raised 
 him to so high an estate ; and yet must he have that 
 right done him ... he had great parts, was very wise, 
 full of honour and bounty, a great lover and rewarder of 
 virtue and able parts in others, so they did not appear too 
 high in place, or look too narrowly into his actions." 1 
 
 " He was plentiful in alms, charity, and good 
 works," says Sir Walter Cope ; " full of honour 
 and honest to his friends and no malicious 
 persecutor of his enemies. He loved justice as 
 his life, and the laws as his inheritance." 
 
 One instance of his " good works " may be 
 given. In December, 1608, he made an agree- 
 ment with one Morrall of Enfield, who engaged, 
 in consideration of a salary of £100 a year and 
 a house rent free, to teach fifty poor persons " to 
 be chosen by the Earl within the parish of Hat- 
 field, in the art of clothing, weaving, spinning, 
 carding, or any other suchlike commendable trade." 
 
 Ben Jonson told Drummond of Hawthornden 
 that Salisbury " never cared for any man longer 
 
 1 " Court and Character of King James," in Secret History of the 
 Court of James I., I. 324. The contemporary stories of the nature of 
 his disease are refuted by the reports of his doctor. 
 
THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 217 
 
 than he could make use of him." But this was 
 not the general opinion. " The world saith you 
 a passing good gentleman," writes Fulke Greville, 
 " and one that will, after the old manner, do 
 common courtesies to men who are never like to 
 requite you." 1 
 
 It is remarkable to notice how after the Essex 
 rebellion all the chief persons concerned turned 
 to Cecil for help — especially the Countess of 
 Essex, Lady Southampton, Lady Sandys, the 
 Earl of Rutland, and Sir Henry Neville ; and the 
 tone of their letters and the gratitude they express 
 bear very strong testimony to his generosity and 
 kindness of heart. His nieces — the Marchioness 
 of Winchester, Lady Bridget Vere, Lady Hatton, 
 Lady Tufton — write to him in the most affec- 
 tionate terms ; his nephew, Edward, afterwards 
 Viscount Wimbledon, acknowledges his constant 
 support and favour ; and his " desolate, unfor- 
 tunate aunt," as she is fond of calling herself, 
 Lady Russell, pours forth all her complaints in 
 endless letters, which, though amusing enough to 
 read, must have sorely tried the patience of the 
 hard-worked Secretary. 
 
 But perhaps the best tribute to his character 
 is to be found in the affection and trust which 
 he inspired in his friends and colleagues. Making 
 all allowance for the exuberance of language 
 common at the time, it is impossible to believe 
 that the man to whom such expressions as the 
 following were addressed can have been the cold, 
 
 1 October 17th, 1601 (Hatfield MSS., XI. 433) 
 
218 THE CECILS 
 
 heartless and designing individual that some 
 writers have imagined. Sir Edward Wotton 
 writes on the occasion of Cecil's embassy to 
 France, " My Lord Ambassador, only three words, 
 I love, I honour you unfeignedly." " I will no 
 longer live," says Lord Sheffield, " than I will 
 deserve your love." And Sir Thomas Bodley 
 writes, " Give me leave to protest, as I do very 
 truly and sincerely, that I hold it for one of the 
 greatest parts of the sweetness and comfort of 
 my life, in my later years, that I know I may 
 rely, when my need shall so require, upon your 
 favour, which I beseech you, be not weary to 
 continue still unto me." 
 
 The best testimony of all is contained in the 
 will of the Earl of Dorset, who left some jewels 
 to Salisbury, 
 
 " of whose excelling virtues and sweet conditions, so well 
 known to me, in respect of our long communication by so 
 many years in most true love and friendship together, I 
 am desirous to leave some faithful remembrance in this 
 my last will and testament, that since the living speech of 
 my tongue when I am gone from hence must then cease 
 and speak no more, that yet the living speech of my pen, 
 which never dieth, may herein thus for ever testify and 
 declare the same." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE SALISBURY LINE 
 
 On the death of Salisbury the political talent 
 of the family fell into abeyance, not to be revived 
 for two hundred and fifty years. His only son, 
 William, inherited his title, but little of his intelli- 
 gence, and none of his practical capacity for 
 affairs. He was born in 1591, Queen Elizabeth 
 acting as his godmother, and was educated at 
 Sherborne School, and St. John's College, Cam- 
 bridge. A weakly youth, of " lean, spare body," 
 his studies were interrupted by his ill-health, and 
 still more by his too indulgent father, who kept 
 him at home on the slightest pretext. He was 
 created a Knight of the Bath in January, 1605, 
 and in the following August, on the occasion 
 of the King's visit to Cambridge, both Lord 
 Cranborne, as he was now styled, and his 
 father, were granted the degree of M.A. On 
 December 1st, 1608, he was married very privately 
 to Catherine, youngest daughter of Thomas 
 Howard, Earl of Suffolk, and sister of the 
 notorious Countess of Essex, and immediately 
 after the wedding, went for a tour in France. 1 
 He was again travelling in France and Italy two 
 
 1 He was between Montreuil and Abbeville on December 15th. 
 Chamberlain to Carleton, December 23rd, 1608 (Court and Times of 
 James I., I. 83). 
 
220 THE CECILS 
 
 years later, attended by a great retinue, and in 
 the course of his travels he visited the Court of 
 Turin, where he was treated with great magnifi- 
 cence by the Duke of Savoy. At Padua he fell 
 ill of a violent fever, from which he made a very 
 tedious recovery, and when the Duke of Florence 
 offered to facilitate his journey by Bologna, he 
 refused his aid, since Lord Salisbury was unwilling 
 to incur foreign obligations. 1 
 
 On his return to England, Cranborne attached 
 himself to the Prince of Wales, bearing him 
 attendance in tilting and other sports in which 
 the Prince delighted, and " growing daily in his 
 favour." 2 At the same time he contracted a 
 warm friendship with his cousin, Sir Edward 
 Cecil, who was also in favour with the Prince. 
 
 In 1612, Cranborne succeeded to his father's 
 title and estates, and was also appointed Lord 
 Lieutenant of Hertfordshire. In the following year 
 the birth of a daughter afforded an opportunity 
 for the extravagant display in which he delighted. 
 " About this day sevennight," wrote Chamberlain, 
 " the Countess of Salisbury was brought to bed 
 of a daughter and lies in very richly, for the 
 hangings of her chamber being white satin, 
 embroidered with gold (or silver) and pearl, is 
 valued at -£14,000 " ; 3 and the same gossip 
 informs us that the " great christening " of the 
 
 1 See Cal. S. P. Bom. ; also Sir H. Wotton's and Sir D. Carleton's 
 letters. 
 
 2 Chamberlain to Carleton, January 29th, 1612 (Cal. S. P. Bom). 
 
 8 Chamberlain to Mrs. Alice Carleton, February 14th, 1613 (Court 
 and Times of James I., I. 222). 
 
WILLIAM, SECOND EARL OF SALISBURY, K.G. 
 
 Vandyck 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 221 
 
 child took place in the chapel at Court, " whence 
 the Queen, Prince Palatine, Lady Elizabeth's 
 highness, and all the company conveyed it home, 
 and went by water to the banquet." 1 
 
 We hear little of Lord Salisbury for the next 
 few years, and may conclude that he was immersed 
 in the affairs of his estate and of his rapidly growing 
 family. His first son, James, was born in May, 
 1616, but though " the King was his godfather 
 in person and held him at the font all the while 
 he was christening, and gave him the reversion 
 of all his father's places and offices, yet all these 
 favours could not prolong life," 2 and the child 
 died in the following October. Another son, 
 Charles (born, 1619), lived to have a large family 
 in his turn, though, dying before his father, he 
 did not come into the title. 
 
 Salisbury continued to enjoy the Royal favour, 
 and was created a K.G. by James, in 1624. Two 
 years later he was admitted by Charles to the 
 Privy Council, and he also received a promise of 
 the reversion of the office of Master of the Court 
 of Wards, held so long by his father and grand- 
 father, and now administered by Sir R. Naunton. 3 
 But when the latter resigned in 1635, he was 
 passed over and Lord Cottington was selected 
 for the post. " Salisbury," says Gardiner, " was 
 notoriously incompetent to fulfil the duties of 
 
 1 Court and Times of James I., I. 229. 
 
 2 Chamberlain to Carleton, November 9th, 1616 (ibid., I. 436). 
 
 3 July 27th, 1630 (Cal, S. P. Dom.). The promise is qualified by 
 the reservation: " unless, in the meantime, the King shall take some 
 pther pcpasion to express his esteem for him." 
 
222 THE CECILS 
 
 any office calling for the exercise of the most 
 ordinary ability, and a letter drawn up by 
 Cottington himself informed him that, though 
 his Majesty would not forget him, he would not 
 make him Master of the Wards." 1 
 
 This severe judgment appears to be exaggerated. 
 As a matter of fact, it had been arranged several 
 years before that Cottington should receive the 
 Mastership of the Wards, while Naunton was to 
 be " satisfied with a sum of money," and 
 Salisbury was to succeed to the posts held by his 
 father-in-law, Lord Suffolk, whose death was 
 shortly expected. As, however, the latter 
 expectation was not fulfilled, the plan fell 
 through. 2 Salisbury now received the post of 
 Captain of the Gentleman Pensioners, which he 
 filled for eight years. 
 
 On the outbreak of war with the Scots, in 
 1639, Salisbury joined the King's forces, and was 
 one of the commissioners appointed to carry on 
 the negotiations with the Covenanters, which 
 resulted in the Treaty of Berwick. After this 
 unsatisfactory peace had been signed, the Scots 
 published a paper containing " sundry strange 
 glosses and interpretations upon the Articles of 
 Pacification," and at the same time it was 
 reported that several of the English com- 
 missioners, including Lord Salisbury, had seen 
 and approved of this paper and had distributed 
 
 1 History, VIII. 70 ; Cal. S. P. Bom. ; Charles I., VII. 529. 
 3 W. Murray to Sir Henry Vane, December 18th, 1631 (Cal. S. P. 
 Dom.). 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 223 
 
 it in England. The accusation stung the Earl to 
 the quick. " The report is so false," he writes 
 to Windebank, " as there can be no man either 
 of honour or honesty that dare avow any such 
 thing. ... I am infinitely sensible of this aspersion 
 so falsely laid upon me, and did not my conscience 
 tell me how clear I am, I should not have a quiet 
 hour, especially if any such report should come 
 to his Majesty, who I know is so just as he will 
 not easily believe that I am guilty of so much 
 want of duty, either to know or to publish any- 
 thing to his disservice : my actions, past and to 
 come, have and shall ever justify the contrary." 
 The matter coming to the knowledge of the 
 King, the accused lords were able, without diffi- 
 culty, to clear themselves of the " scandalous 
 charge," and the " false and seditious paper " 
 was damned by proclamation and publicly burnt 
 by the hangman. 1 
 
 The value of Salisbury's protestations of 
 loyalty was soon to be proved. In September, 
 1640, he was one of the fifteen noblemen, " all 
 popular men," chosen by the King as com- 
 missioners to treat with the Scots at Ripon. 2 
 After this he sat on the fence, afraid to throw 
 in his lot completely with either party. His 
 sympathies seem always to have been with the 
 Parliament, and that his abilities were not so 
 negligible as Gardiner supposes is proved by the 
 fact that the Lords, in December, 1641, resolved 
 
 1 Cat. S. P. Bom. ; Charles I., XIV. 294, 402, 432, etc. 
 * Clarendon, History of the Rebellion, ed. 1826, I. 274, 279. 
 
224 THE CECILS 
 
 to recommend him as Lord Treasurer. Shortly 
 afterwards he incurred their displeasure by 
 joining the King at York, and " at that 
 distance," says Clarendon, " seemed to have 
 recovered some courage, and concurred in all 
 councils which were taken to undeceive the 
 people and to make the proceedings of the 
 Parliament odious to all the world." 
 
 He was one of those who signed the declaration 
 that the King had no intention of making war 
 on Parliament, in June, 1642 ; but having done 
 so, he suddenly became frightened and fled back 
 to London, " and never after denied to do any- 
 thing that was required of him." He became 
 an obedient servant of Parliament, and was 
 prominent in its councils. He was one of the 
 commissioners sent to treat with the King at 
 Oxford in 1643, at Uxbridge in 1645, and at 
 Newport in 1648 ; he was a member of the 
 Assembly of Divines, and in 1645 he was voted 
 a marquessate. From July to October, 1646, 
 he was a Commissioner of the Great Seal, and 
 in 1649, after the King's death, a member of 
 the Council of State. 
 
 Clarendon's character of Lord Salisbury has 
 often been quoted, but it must be remembered 
 that the fact that the Earl adopted the popular 
 side was enough to prejudice the Royalist historian 
 against him. 
 
 " The Earl of Salisbury," he says, " had been born and 
 bred in Court and had the advantage of a descent from a 
 father and grandfather who had been very wise men, and 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 225 
 
 great ministers of State in the eyes of Christendom : 
 whose wisdom and virtues died with them, and their 
 children only inherited their titles. He had been admitted 
 of the Council to King James ; from which time he con- 
 tinued so obsequious to the Court, that he never failed 
 in over-acting all that he was required to do. No act of 
 power was ever proposed, which he did not advance, and 
 execute his part with the utmost rigour. No man so great 
 a tyrant in his country, or was less swayed by any motives 
 of justice or honour. He was a man of no words, except 
 in hunting and hawking, in which he only knew how to 
 behave himself. In matters of State and council he 
 always concurred in what was proposed by the King and 
 cancelled and repaired all those transgressions, by con- 
 curring in all that was proposed against him, as soon as 
 any such propositions were made." 
 
 After describing how he joined the King at 
 York and returned in haste to London, he 
 proceeds : — 
 
 " And when the war was ended, and Cromwell had put 
 down the House of Peers, he got himself to be chosen a 
 member of the House of Commons ; and sat with them, as 
 of their own body ; and was esteemed accordingly. In 
 a word, he became so despicable to all men, that he will 
 hardly enjoy the ease which Seneca bequeathed him : 
 His egregiis majoribus ortus est, qualiscunque est, sub 
 umbra suorum lateat ; ut loca sordida repercussa sole illus- 
 trantur, ita inertes majorum suorum luce resplendeant." x 
 
 " My simple Lord Salisbury," as Pepys calls 
 him, lived to see the birth of his great-grandson, 
 afterwards the fourth Earl, and died in 1668 at 
 the ripe age of seventy-seven. He had a large 
 family, eight sons and five daughters in all. Of 
 
 1 History of the Rebellion, ed. 1826, III. 559. 
 C. Q 
 
226 THE CECILS 
 
 his sons, Charles, Viscount Cranborne (1619— 
 1660) was made a Knight of the Bath at the 
 Coronation of Charles I., and married Diana 
 Maxwell, daughter and co-heir of James Maxwell, 
 Earl of Dirletoun, and younger sister of the 
 Duchess of Hamilton. She received from her father 
 a portion of £18,000, £4,000 in jewels, £800 a year 
 in land in England, and half his Scottish land. 
 " A great portion ! " exclaims a contemporary, 
 " But I hate marriages made for money, and 
 they have lost their reputation, both son and 
 father, for this high avariciousness." 1 Lord 
 Cranborne sat in the Long Parliament, as did 
 two of his brothers, Robert and Algernon. Another 
 brother, William, of Tewin, Hertfordshire, was 
 Governor of the garrisons of Kilmore and London- 
 derry, and Colonel of the Battleaxe Guard in 
 the City of Dublin. Of their sisters, Anne, the 
 eldest, married Algernon Percy, Earl of Northum- 
 berland. 2 " Fortune," says Osborne, " did allot 
 Lord Percy a wife out of the family of Salisbury, 
 whose blood the father said would not mingle in 
 a basin, so averse was he from it." Anne does 
 not appear to have been very amiable, if we may 
 judge from the wish expressed by Lord Conway, 
 " that her child may have a face like hers, but 
 all parts like his father's." 3 Conway was, how- 
 ever, a devoted admirer of the second sister, 
 
 1 George Garrard to Lord Conway, March 28th, 1639 (Cal. S. P. 
 Dom.). 
 
 2 Writing to Dorchester to announce the birth of their first child 
 Salisbury remarks that " his daughter is a mother of a female animal 
 and himself a grandfather," August 16th, 1630 (ibid.). 
 
 8 Garrard to Conway, September 18th, 1635 (ibid.). 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 227 
 
 Elizabeth, of whom he wrote that he " hopes 
 he may find his faith and zeal in her service 
 rewarded with the gracious look that makes the 
 devils forget Hell, and the angels Heaven." * 
 Elizabeth married William Cavendish, Earl of 
 Devonshire, and dying in 1689, was buried in 
 Henry VII. 's Chapel in Westminster Abbey. 
 Their daughter, Anne, married the fifth Earl of 
 Exeter (see p. 133), and their son was the first 
 Duke of Devonshire. A third sister, Catherine, 
 married Philip Sidney, afterwards third Earl of 
 Leicester. 
 
 The second Earl of Salisbury was succeeded 
 by his grandson, James, 2 son of Charles, Lord 
 Cranborne. Born in 1648, he travelled in France 
 with his brother, Robert ; finished his education 
 at St. John's College, Cambridge ; served on 
 board the Royal Charles against the Dutch at 
 the age of eighteen ; and, in 1668, was member 
 of Parliament for Hertfordshire. In the same 
 year he succeeded to the peerage. A contem- 
 porary at Cambridge recorded his conviction 
 that " he was for loyalty, generosity and affa- 
 bility, most likely to advance the ancient and 
 noble name of Cecil to the utmost period of 
 glory," 3 but this sanguine expectation was 
 disappointed, for the third Earl did little to 
 distinguish himself. A staunch supporter of 
 Buckingham and Shaftesbury, he was sent to 
 
 1 Conway to Garrard, May 20th, 1640 {Cat. S. P. Dom.). 
 
 2 From this time onwards the eldest son has always borne the name 
 of James. 
 
 8 Barnes, Hist, of Edward III., p. 75, quoted by Collins. 
 
 02 
 
228 THE CECILS 
 
 the Tower with those lords in February, 1677, 
 for maintaining that the Parliament, which had 
 been prorogued for nearly fifteen months, was 
 in fact dissolved, and demanding that a new 
 Parliament should be called. In June he was 
 allowed to go to Hatfield, " his health being 
 much impaired, and his wife being near her 
 confinement," and at the end of July, being loth 
 to return to the Tower, he made his submission 
 and was discharged. 1 In January, 1679, he was 
 sworn of the Privy Council, and in August, 
 1680, received the Garter. 
 
 In spite of these marks of Royal favour, he 
 continued his opposition to the King. He was 
 a zealous opponent of the Duke of York's succes- 
 sion, and carried his hostility to that Prince so 
 far as to treat him on one occasion with gross 
 incivility. On October 27th, 1679, the Duke and 
 Duchess, with the Princess Anne, their daughter, 
 set out from London for Scotland, intending to 
 sleep the first night at Hatfield. Arrived there, 
 however, they found no preparations made for 
 their reception, and Lord Salisbury, instead of 
 being at home to welcome his guests, sent a 
 message from Quickswood, " to excuse his not 
 coming to wait upon his Royal Highness, for 
 that he had been let blood five days before." 
 There was no food or drink in the house, except 
 " two does upon the table, and one barrel of 
 small beer " ; no fires were lighted, though a 
 pile of faggots had been considerately left behind. 
 
 1 Cal. S. P. Dom. 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 229 
 
 Even the candlesticks had been taken away, and 
 the Duke's servants were obliged to borrow some 
 in the town, and to buy candles and all else that 
 was necessary. Some of the neighbouring gentry 
 came to the rescue and entertained members of 
 the suite, but the Duke and Duchess had to put 
 up with the greatest discomfort. By way of 
 showing his contempt for such behaviour, the 
 Duke gave orders that all that was consumed of 
 what was in the house should be paid for, and 
 the depth of degradation was reached when Salis- 
 bury's steward accepted payment for the pile of 
 faggots, and eight shillings for the barrel of beer. 1 
 In January, 1681, when the King dissolved 
 Parliament, as a result of the action of the 
 Commons after the Exclusion Bill had been 
 thrown out by the Lords, Salisbury, at a meeting 
 of the Privy Council, spoke strongly against the 
 dissolution, and, " not prevailing, desired his 
 Majesty's leave to be excused his attendance 
 in Council, which his Majesty granted accord- 
 ingly." 2 After this act of independence we 
 hear no more of his public life. In August, 
 1682, he went to France with his wife, who had 
 been ordered to " take the waters " for the 
 recovery of her health ; but " at Paris she was 
 taken ill and died, to the great grief of his 
 lordship." 3 The Earl survived her a few months 
 only, and died in May, 1683, aged thirty-five. 
 
 1 Letters of Algernon Sidney to Henry Savile. 1742, pp. 155, 156. 
 
 2 Luttrell's Diary, I. 64. 
 8 Ibid., I. 211, 215. 
 
230 THE CECILS 
 
 By his wife, Margaret, daughter of the eighth 
 Earl of Rutland, Salisbury had five sons and five 
 daughters. His eldest son, James, succeeded as 
 fourth Earl, at the age of eighteen. One of his 
 first acts was to wait on his Majesty and " beg 
 his pardon for his father's being concerned in 
 any parts against his Majesty's interest." 1 
 
 In the same year, 1683, he married Frances 
 Bennet, daughter and co-heir of Simon Bennet, 
 of Bechampton ; but as she was not of age, 
 being indeed, as we are told, " about thirteen 
 years old," she forfeited most of her fortune. 
 He afterwards travelled in France and Italy, 
 and on his return was appointed High Steward 
 of Hertford, colonel of a regiment of horse, 
 and Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James II. 
 In 1688 he was one of those who, judging from 
 the King's favour to the Catholics that the 
 moment was favourable, turned Papist. " Of the 
 renegades," says Macaulay, " the Earls of Peter- 
 borough and Salisbury were the highest in rank, 
 but were also the lowest in intellect ; for Salisbury 
 had always been an idiot, and Peterborough had 
 long been a dotard." Alas ! the nemesis which 
 waits on opportunism overtook him before he 
 had enjoyed the exercise of his new religion for 
 more than a few months. The rumour of the 
 coming of the Prince of Orange threw him into 
 a deplorable state of anxiety and trepidation. 
 About every hour he would send his men to 
 Whitehall to hear the news. " Then, when he 
 
 », Luttrell, I. 269. 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 231 
 
 heard that the Prince was coming and landed, 
 and how he was received, he lamented sadly, 
 and curst and damned all about him, crying, 
 ' O God ! O God ! O God ! I turn'd too soon, 
 I turn'd too soon.' " x 
 
 In . December the grand jury of Middlesex 
 found a bill of high treason against him for turning 
 Papist, " and presented his troop for a nuisance 
 in riding the streets armed, contrary to law." 
 He endeavoured to escape with Lord Peterborough, 
 but they were seized in Kent, and committed to 
 the Tower. In the following October, the two 
 Earls were impeached by the Commons and sent 
 back to the Tower, where they remained until 
 October, 1690, when, having petitioned the House 
 of Lords, they were brought before the bar of 
 that House and admitted to bail, each in two 
 sureties of £5,000 apiece. 2 
 
 Meanwhile, Salisbury had sent two of his 
 younger brothers, William and Charles, to "a 
 popish seminary " in Paris, and a writ de homine 
 replegiando had been brought against him in 
 June, 1689, to compel him to fetch them home. 
 This order he seems to have evaded, for soon 
 after his release from the Tower, news came that 
 the two youths " fell out in their bed and got up 
 in their shirts and fought desperately before they 
 could be parted, both of them much wounded." 3 
 The result of this quarrel was more serious 
 than at first appeared, for William died of his 
 
 1 De la Pryme's Diary (Surtees Society), p. 94. 
 
 2 Luttrell, I. 483, 487, II. 113. 
 s Ibid., II. 185. 
 
232 THE CECILS 
 
 injuries. 1 Charles also met with a sad end, being set 
 upon in the streets of Rome and murdered, in 1702. 
 
 The Earl's misfortunes were not yet at an end, 
 for in 1692 he became involved, through no 
 fault of his own, in a charge of conspiracy to 
 restore James II., and was again committed to 
 the Tower. It was, however, soon discovered 
 that the document to which his signature and 
 those of Marlborough, Cornbury, Sancroft and 
 Sprat were appended was a forgery drawn up 
 by Robert Young, of whose enterprising career 
 Macaulay has given an interesting account, and 
 the incriminated persons were released. 
 
 Lord Salisbury died in October, 1694, at the 
 age of twenty-nine, leaving a son about three 
 years old to succeed him in his title and estates. 
 Macaulay sums him up in these words : " Salisbury 
 was foolish to a proverb. His figure was so 
 bloated by sensual indulgence as to be almost 
 incapable of moving, and this sluggish body was 
 the abode of an equally sluggish mind." To 
 which repulsive portrait we may append the 
 following verses, fixed to his door in 1686, which 
 serve to show what the populace thought of him. 
 
 " If Cecil the wise 
 
 From his grave should arise 
 And see this fat beast in his place, 
 
 He would take him from Mass 
 
 And turn him to grass, 
 And swear he was none of his race." 2 
 
 1 Cal. S. P. Bom., March 17th, 1691. 
 
 a De la Pryme's Diary, p. 94. Slightly different versions are given 
 in Poems on Affairs of State, Part II. 1697 and 1716. 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 233 
 
 James Cecil, the fifth Earl (1691— 1728), was 
 a good-natured nonentity, addicted to low 
 pleasures. He was ruled by his capable wife, 
 Anne Tufton, daughter and co-heir of the 
 Earl of Thanet, and herself a descendant of Lord 
 Burghley. 1 Their son, the sixth Earl (1713 — 
 1780), inherited his father's evil proclivities, and 
 though he is said to have been unmercifully 
 beaten by his mother in his youth, 2 this discipline 
 proved ineffectual, and he brought ridicule and 
 contempt, if not disgrace, on the name of Cecil. 
 Deserting Hatfield, he took up his residence at 
 Quickswood, near Baldock, where he was able 
 to indulge in the congenial society of his 
 inferiors. 
 
 One of his exploits was to drive the Hatfield 
 coach, a proceeding which excited considerable 
 scandal. Pope alludes to him in the Dunciad : 3 
 
 From stage to stage the licensed Earl may run, 
 Paired with his fellow-charioteer the Sun. 
 
 And Hogarth, in his picture of " Night," 
 commemorates the upset of the " Salisbury Flying 
 Coach " — said to have been a not unusual incident 
 when his lordship was driving. In 1744 he 
 further shocked society by marrying Elizabeth 
 Keet, a lady of inferior rank, whose brother 
 became Rector of Hatfield. Mrs. Delany makes 
 
 1 Her great grandmother was Frances Cecil, daughter of the first 
 Earl of Exeter. Through this marriage the dormant Barony of Ogle 
 came into the family. 
 
 a J. J. Antrobus, Hatfield : Some Memories of its Past, p. 86. 
 
 3 Book IV., lines 588, 589 ; and see note thereon in Elwin and 
 Courthope's edition. 
 
234 THE CECILS 
 
 the following caustic comment on the occa- 
 sion : — 
 
 " My Lord Salisbury's match, did not surprise me ; his 
 steward, perhaps, may be a gentleman of as good a family 
 as himself, and a woman of rank and knowledge of the 
 world would not have accepted of a coachman, although 
 he was a peer of the realm ! " 1 
 
 But though Elizabeth may not have been the 
 social equal of her husband, she was a sensible, 
 virtuous woman, and a good mother. For two 
 years after their marriage they lived at Hatfield ; 
 then the Earl returned to his haunts at Quicks- 
 wood, while his wife lived, for the most part, 
 quietly in London, attending to the education of 
 her children. 2 
 
 During this time Hatfield had fallen into great 
 disrepair, and the Earl was so devoid of family 
 feeling that he even disposed of all the family 
 plate. 3 This was a loss which could not be 
 repaired ; but it fell to the lot of his son and 
 successor, not only to restore Hatfield to its 
 former splendour, but also to retrieve the honour 
 and the fortunes of the family. 
 
 " As the ashes of the Cecils are rekindling, perhaps a 
 Phoenix may arise," wrote Horace Walpole, 4 " I remember 
 Lord Hervey saying that everything degenerated and 
 dwindled, and instancing the last Lord Salisbury, who, he 
 said, was the cucumber of Burleigh [read Hatfield]. 
 Well, then, as matters, when they can go no lower, may 
 mount again, who knows what may happen, Madam ? " 
 
 1 Mrs. Delany to Mrs. Dewes, March 2nd, 1745. 
 
 2 Antrobus, Hatfield, pp. 92, 93. 
 8 Ibid., p. 92. 
 
 ' Letters, Cunningham's edition, IX. 30, November 16th, 1785. 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 235 
 
 Born in 1748, James Cecil, the seventh Earl, 
 was constituted Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire 
 at the age of twenty- three, while still Lord 
 Cranborne, and continued to hold that position 
 until his death. For forty years he was colonel 
 of the Herts Militia, and he sat in Parliament 
 as member for Great Bedwyn from 1774 to 1780, 
 when he was returned for Launceston. In the 
 same year he was appointed Treasurer of the 
 Household, and on succeeding to the title, he was 
 sworn of the Privy Council. Three years later 
 he was made Lord Chamberlain, and being a 
 great favourite with George III. he retained this 
 office for upwards of twenty years (1783 — 1804). 
 In this capacity he earned the ill-will of managers 
 of the Opera, by giving free passes wholesale to 
 " servants, it is supposed, Hertfordshire voters 
 eke," to the value of £400 in one season ; and 
 even went so far as to claim a similar right of dis- 
 tributing passes for his heirs and assigns for ever. 1 
 
 In 1773 Lord Salisbury married Lady Mary 
 Amelia Hill, daughter of the Marquess of Down- 
 shire, a woman of remarkable character and 
 abilities. They were both staunch supporters of 
 Pitt, and in the famous Westminster election of 
 1784, when the Duchess of Devonshire, on behalf 
 of the Whigs, was working strenuously to secure 
 the return of Fox, the Court party put forward 
 the Countess of Salisbury to counteract her 
 influence. 
 
 1 Walpole's Letters, Cunningham's edition, 1891, IX. 299, March 
 27th, 1791. 
 
236 THE CECILS 
 
 " In grace of person and demeanour," says Wraxall in 
 his Diary, "no less than in mental attainments, Lady 
 Salisbury yielded to few females of the Court of George III. 
 But she wanted, nevertheless, two qualities eminently 
 contributing to success in such a struggle, both of which 
 met in her political rival. The first of these was youth, 
 the Duchess numbering scarcely twenty-six years, while 
 the Countess had nearly completed thirty-four. The 
 Duchess of Devonshire never seemed to be conscious of 
 her rank : Lady Salisbury ceased not for an instant to 
 remember and to compel others to recollect it. Nor did 
 the effects fail to correspond with the moral causes thus 
 put into action. Every day augmenting Fox's majority, 
 it appeared that on the 16th of May, to which period the 
 contest was protracted, he stood 235 votes above Sir 
 Cecil [Wray] on the books of the poll." 
 
 In 1789 the Earl was advanced to the rank 
 of Marquess, 1 and four years later was invested 
 with the Order of the Garter. It is characteristic 
 of the Marchioness that she looked upon this 
 honour as hers, and immediately had herself painted 
 by Cosway, decked with the insignia of the Order. 
 
 Lord Salisbury filled no more offices except 
 a minor one, that of Joint Postmaster-General 
 in the Ministry of 1816, but he played his part 
 with dignity and distinction, and George Ticknor, 
 who saw him in 18 19, describes him as " seventy 
 years old and well preserved, and a specimen of 
 the gentleman of the last generation, with easy 
 elegant manners, and a proud, graceful courtesy." 2 
 
 1 On this occasion the King is reported to have said " Now, my Lord, 
 I trust you will be an English Marquess, and not a French Marquis." 
 Sir M. Grant Duff, Notes from a Diary, June 21st, 1898. 
 
 a Life of George Ticknor, I. 268. 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 237 
 
 He died in 1823, at the age of seventy-five, his 
 wife surviving him by twelve years. 
 
 " Old Sarum," as she was irreverently called, 
 remained to the last one of the chief leaders of 
 society. Her " assemblies " were said to be the 
 best of their class in London, and the hostess, a 
 typical " great lady " of the old school, with her 
 fine figure and courtly manners, could not fail 
 to be the centre of attraction. For nearly half 
 a century her Sunday parties and suppers in 
 Arlington Street were frequented by all the 
 most distinguished society in London. To these 
 parties no cards of invitation were sent out. 
 "It was always ' Come to me on Sunday,' to 
 those whom she met in the preceding week, and 
 all the young aspirants were anxious to attract 
 her notice." x 
 
 At one of her parties at Hatfield she had the 
 misfortune to be knocked down by some of the 
 dancers, whereupon a wit, said to have been 
 Lord Lytton, celebrated the occasion in the 
 following verses : — 
 
 " Conservatives at Hatfield House 
 Have grown quite harum-scarum ; 
 For Radicals could do no more 
 Than overturn Old Sarum." 
 
 To the last she adhered to the state of her 
 early days, going to Court in a sedan chair with 
 magnificent liveries, and driving in the park in 
 a phaeton with four black ponies. Here is a 
 
 1 Raikes' Diary, December 2nd, 1835. 
 
238 THE CECILS 
 
 picture of her drawn by Creevey on the occasion 
 of a visit of the Dowager to Stoke in 1828 : — 
 
 " Old Salisbury arrived yesterday ... in her accus- 
 tomed manner, in a phaeton drawn by four long-tail black 
 Flanders mares. She driving the wheel horses and a 
 postilion on the leaders with two outriders on correspond- 
 ing longtail blacks. Her man and maid were in her chaise 
 behind, her groom and saddle horses arrived some time 
 after her. It is impossible to do justice to the antiquity 
 of her face. If as alleged she is only 74 years old [she 
 was 77], it is the most cracked or rather furrowed piece of 
 mosaic you ever saw ; but her dress, in the colours of it at 
 least, is absolutely infantine. ... I wish you just saw 
 her as I do now. She thinks she is alone, and I am writing 
 at the end of the adjoining room, the folding doors being 
 open. She is reclining on a sofa, reading the Edinburgh 
 Review, without spectacles or glass of any kind. Her 
 dress is white muslin, properly loaded with garniture, and 
 she has just put off a very large bonnet, profusely gifted 
 with bright lilac ribbons, leaving on her head a very nice 
 lace cap, not less adorned with the brightest yellow 
 ribbons." 
 
 But it was not only as a society leader that 
 Lady Salisbury was famous. She achieved 
 perhaps even greater renown in the hunting field. 
 In early life she hunted with the Quorn hounds, 
 which belonged to the celebrated Hugh Meynell, 
 of Quorndon Hall. In those days foxhunting 
 was in its infancy, and she was one of the first 
 English ladies to devote herself to the sport. 
 In 1793 she became Mistress of the Hertfordshire 
 Hounds — called the Hatfield Hounds during her 
 reign — and hunted with them regularly until her 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 239 
 
 seventy-eighth year, clad in sky-blue habit with 
 black velvet collar and cuffs and a jockey cap, 
 the uniform of the hunt. Many tales are told 
 of her exploits in the field. Thus, in the Sporting 
 Magazine for March, 1795, there is an account of 
 her triumphs in a great run of two hours and a 
 half. " Out of a field of four score," says her 
 enthusiastic chronicler, " her ladyship soon gave 
 honest Daniel the go-by ; pressed Mr. Hale neck 
 and neck, soon blowed the whipper-in ; and 
 continued, indeed, throughout the whole of the 
 chase, to be nearest the brush." * 
 
 In her last years she is said to have been tied 
 into the saddle, and when she became too blind 
 to see the fences, a groom would lead her horse, 
 and at the critical moment would shout, " Damn 
 you, my lady, jump ! " 2 Even when she was 
 obliged to give up following foxhounds, she said 
 she thought she was good enough to hunt with 
 the harriers. 3 
 
 She was game to the end. In 1833, two years 
 before her death, she is reported as " more 
 youthful than ever," and as about to go to 
 the Berkhamsted Ball, " which she attends 
 annually." i An amusing story is told of her in 
 the following year by the Duchesse de Dino 3 : — 
 
 " Last Sunday she was at church, a rare thing with her, 
 and the preacher, speaking of the Fall, observed that 
 
 1 Quoted by the Duke of Beaufort, in Hunting, p. 15. 
 
 3 Antrobus, Hatfield, p. 96. 
 
 8 See Victoria County History, Hertfordshire, I. 349. 
 
 4 Lady Louisa Molyneux to Creevey, October 30th, 1833. 
 
 5 Memoirs, May 1st, 1834. 
 
240 THE CECILS 
 
 Adam excusing himself had cried out, ' Lord, the woman 
 tempted me.' At this quotation Lady Salisbury, who 
 appeared not to have heard of the incident before, jumped 
 up in her seat, saying, ' Shabby fellow indeed ! ' " 
 
 Her fate was a tragic one. On Thursday, 
 November 26th, 1835, she travelled to Hatfield 
 to spend Christmas with her son, as was her 
 custom. On the following evening she retired 
 to her dressing-room at five o'clock, and a few 
 minutes later her maid left her writing letters 
 by the light of three candles. She was never 
 seen again. Soon afterwards the household was 
 attracted by the smell of fire and endeavoured 
 to enter the room, but already the flames had 
 attained such a hold that entrance was impossible, 
 and before they were finally extinguished at 
 eleven o'clock at night, the whole of the west 
 wing was burnt out, while of the Dowager 
 Marchioness nothing remained but a few charred 
 bones. 
 
 She left one son, the second Marquess, and 
 two daughters, of whom the elder, Lady Georgiana, 
 married Sir Henry Wellesley, afterwards Lord 
 Cowley, a brother of the Duke of Wellington, 
 while the younger, Lady Emily, made a less 
 fortunate marriage with the Marquess of West- 
 meath, from whom she was afterwards separated. 
 
 The second Marquess of Salisbury had a long 
 and honourable career. On -leaving Oxford, he 
 proceeded to stand for Hertford at the General 
 Election of 181 2, much to the indignation of 
 Mr. Calvert, who had represented the borough 
 
Reynolds 
 MARY AMELIA, WIFE OF JAMES, FIRST MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 241 
 
 for many years. " I feel very anxious," wrote 
 Mrs. Calvert, 1 " and we all abominate that 
 miserable little animal, Lord Cranborne, for giving 
 all this trouble and expense." However, he came 
 out at the bottom of the poll, and took refuge 
 at Weymouth, which he represented from 1813 
 to 1817. He then succeeded in winning Hertford, 
 and sat for that borough as a supporter of 
 Lord Liverpool until the death of his father in 
 1823. 
 
 In 1821 Lord Cranborne married Frances Mary, 
 daughter and heir of Bamber Gascoyne, of 
 Childwell Hall, near Liverpool, and assumed, 
 by Royal licence, the name of Gascoyne, calling 
 himself Gascoyne-Cecil. For ten years (1818 — 
 1827) he acted as Commissioner for Indian affairs, 
 and in 1826 he was admitted to the Privy Council. 
 For many years after his accession to the title 
 he devoted himself to the management of his 
 estates and to local affairs. With greater wisdom 
 than was shown by his kinsman of Exeter, when 
 he saw that the railway was coming, in 1850, he 
 contrived that it should pass his very gates, and 
 at the same time he succeeded in having the Great 
 North Road diverted to its present situation, thus 
 easing the traffic, much to the benefit of Hatfield. 2 
 He was a keen agriculturist, and an active 
 magistrate, and succeeded his father as Colonel of 
 the Herts Militia, and High Steward of Hertford. 
 
 1 September 27th, 1812. An Irish Beauty of the Regency, edited by 
 Mrs. Warrene Blake. 
 
 2 Antrobus, Hatfield, p. 100. 
 
 c. R 
 
242 THE CECILS 
 
 Later in life he was Lieut.-Colonel of the South 
 Herts Yeomanry. 
 
 At the Coronation of William IV., in 1831, 
 Lord Salisbury was one of the trainbearers, and 
 he afterwards told an amusing story in connection 
 with the ceremony. The great weight of the 
 robes made each of the trainbearers perspire 
 profusely, and someone who had been near the 
 King in the Abbey remarked, in the course of 
 conversation on the subject, that his Majesty 
 appeared to suffer equally. " Ah," said Lord 
 Salisbury, " the King had an hour's rest and 
 freedom from his robes ; for after the Coronation 
 he retired for a time before he left the Abbey, 
 
 and Lord , going into the room which had 
 
 been fitted up as a dressing room, found the 
 King walking up and down in a state of nudity, 
 but with the crown on his head." * 
 
 After the tragic death of his mother, Lord 
 Salisbury not only rebuilt the burnt west wing of 
 Hatfield, but also effected great alterations at 
 Salisbury House. To commemorate the latter, 
 he gave a most brilliant party, at which the 
 Duke of Wellington, Peel, and others were present. 
 " Such a revolution ! " says Disraeli, who made 
 his first acquaintance with Lady Salisbury on 
 this occasion. 2 " There is not a vestige of ancient 
 interior ; even the staircase is entirely new and 
 newly placed ; " and Lord Ellesmere, who was also 
 among the guests, states that the walls were 
 
 1 Diary of Richard Redgrave, January 18th, 1868. 
 
 2 Letters to his Family, February, 1838. 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 243 
 
 still damp, and records his belief that Lady 
 Salisbury " caught the illness off them of which 
 she died." 1 
 
 Whether this is true or not, Lady Salisbury 
 died eighteen months later (October, 1839). She 
 was a woman of great charm and more than 
 ordinary ability, and left behind her a large 
 circle of friends among the most distinguished 
 people of the day. Of them the chief was the 
 Duke of Wellington, who placed the utmost 
 confidence in her, and had looked to her for many 
 years for help and advice in all his difficulties. 2 
 After her death he cultivated a great affec- 
 tion for her daughter, Lady Blanche, to whose 
 eldest son, Mr. Arthur Balfour, he acted as 
 godfather. 3 
 
 After his wife's death, the Marquess brought up 
 his daughters with stern discipline. " It is told of 
 him that he would return from the House of 
 Lords in the middle of the night, and at his 
 summons, ' Get up, girls ; we're going to Hat- 
 field,' his daughters had to be out of bed and 
 ready for the journey with the least possible 
 delay." Both as regards their education and 
 their physical development they were brought 
 up like boys, and they became skilled and fearless 
 horsewomen. Indeed, Lady Mildred was, in later 
 
 1 Personal Reminiscences of the Duke of Wellington, pp. 95, 96. 
 
 2 Many extracts from her Journals and Correspondence (preserved 
 at Hatfield) are given in Sir Herbert Maxwell's Life of Wellington. It 
 is to be hoped that they may one day be published in full. 
 
 B See Lady Blanche Balfour: A Reminiscence, by the Rev. James 
 Robertson. She married James Maitland Balfour of Whittingehame. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 THE CECILS 
 
 years, declared by Rarey, the American horse- 
 tamer, to be the best lady whip in England. 1 
 
 In 1847 Lord Salisbury married Lady Mary 
 Catherine, second daughter of Earl de la Warr, 
 he being then fifty-six and she twenty-three. 
 Disraeli, who was present at a Ball at Hatfield, 
 " a splendid place in the highest state of 
 renovation," four years later, speaks of Lady 
 Salisbury as "an admirable hostess and a very 
 pleasing woman ; great simplicity, quite a Sack- 
 ville, with four most beautiful young children — 
 a boy just like a young Cantelupe." 2 
 
 Another visitor, Richard Redgrave, gives a 
 pleasant picture of these children, and of family 
 life at Hatfield a few years later. Among the 
 guests was Lord Chelmsford, who had just been 
 made Lord Chancellor. 
 
 " There is a grand baronial style of living kept up at 
 Hatfield. Prayers are said in the chapel every morning 
 by the Chaplain. Dinner takes place in the old Eliza- 
 bethan hall. The band of the militia, of which the 
 Marquis is Colonel, plays during the meal in an outer 
 apartment. Each lady, as she passes into the dining 
 hall, is presented with a handsome bouquet, in a neat 
 little wicker holder. At breakfast, one morning, the 
 youngest child, three years old, came in to see the 
 Marchioness. She said to the baby, ' This is the Lord 
 Chancellor ; won't you speak to him ? won't you say 
 "How do you do, Lord Chancellor " ? ' ' No,' answered the 
 child, ' I shall call him " Chance." ' ' Very good,' said Lord 
 
 V 1 Lady Blanche Balfour : A Reminiscence. Lady Mildred married 
 Alexander Beresford-Hope, M.P. for Cambridge University. 
 2 Disraeli's Correspondence, December 10th, 1851. 
 
THE SALISBURY LINE 245 
 
 Chelmsford ; ' a very good name — it was indeed a 
 chance.' 
 
 " I thought it a very nice allusion to his long expecta- 
 tion and almost unhoped for attainment of that honour. 
 I was much pleased on the second evening with an elder 
 boy of ten. He was not in the room when the other and 
 younger children bade their mother good-night ; but as 
 the company were about to proceed to the dining room, 
 as we crossed the hall to enter it, the boy rushed from a 
 side door, knelt, took up the skirt of her ladyship's robe, 
 pressed it to his lips, and passed rapidly upstairs." 1 
 
 Lord Salisbury was appointed Lord Lieutenant 
 of Middlesex in 1842, and in the same year he 
 received the Garter. He joined Lord Derby's 
 first ministry in 1852 as Lord Privy Seal, and 
 his second ministry in 1858 — 9 as Lord President 
 of the Council, but on each occasion the Govern- 
 ment was so short-lived that his experience of 
 Cabinet rank was but slight. He died in 1868, 
 leaving two sons and two daughters by his first 
 wife, and three sons and two daughters by his 
 second. With the latter we are not concerned 
 here. The two daughters of the first marriage, 
 Lady Mildred Beresford-Hope, and Lady Blanche 
 Balfour, have already been mentioned. The sons 
 were Lord Robert, the third Marquess, and Lieut. - 
 Colonel Lord Eustace Cecil, formerly Surveyor- 
 General of the Ordnance (1874 — 1880) , now 
 Director of the Great Eastern Railway. An 
 elder son, James, Lord Cranborne, lost his sight 
 in early life and died unmarried in 1865. He 
 
 1 Diary of Richard Redgrave, August 6th, 1858. 
 
246 THE CECILS 
 
 wrote a volume of Biographies of Great Monarchs 
 for young people, and published two series of 
 historical essays. 
 
 Two years after her husband's death, Lady 
 Salisbury married the Earl of Derby. She died in 
 1900, at the age of seventy-six. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 the third marquess of salisbury 
 
 Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne - Cecil, 
 second son of the second Marquess of Salisbury and 
 his first wife, was born at Hatfield on February 3rd, 
 1830. He was educated at Eton and Christ 
 Church, Oxford, and took his B.A. degree in 
 1850, obtaining an " Honorary Fourth " in mathe- 
 matics. After a visit to Australia, which kept 
 him out of England for two years, he was 
 elected a Fellow of All Souls' in 1853, and the 
 same year he was returned for Parliament as 
 member for Stamford in the Conservative interest. 
 Having acted as Secretary and Treasurer of the 
 Oxford Union, he had already had some practice 
 in public speaking, and on April 7th, 1854, ^ le 
 made his maiden speech on the second reading 
 of the Oxford University Bill, receiving a well- 
 deserved compliment from Gladstone, who spoke 
 of the young member whose " first efforts, rich 
 with future promise, indicate that there still 
 issue forth from the maternal bosom of the 
 University men who, in the first days of their 
 career, give earnest of what they may afterwards 
 accomplish for their country." He made his 
 mark by further speeches on educational matters 
 and on foreign politics, and in July, 1855, when 
 
248 THE CECILS 
 
 Roebuck moved his famous vote of censure, 
 based on the report of the Sebastopol Committee, 
 Lord Robert Cecil was chosen to second the 
 " previous question," moved by General Peel. 
 The Aberdeen Ministry, which was responsible 
 for the mismanagement of the war, had been 
 turned out of office six months before, and it 
 was thought by a large section of the Opposition 
 to be inopportune to press the vote of censure, 
 since they were not prepared to take the respon- 
 sibility of taking Palmerston's place and carrying 
 on the war. The attitude adopted by Cecil was 
 patriotic in the highest degree, and his action in 
 opposing his own leaders displayed his charac- 
 teristic independence of thought. General Peel's 
 amendment was carried by a large majority, and 
 thus the Aberdeen ministry, of whom Gladstone 
 was one, escaped the " severe reprehension " of 
 the House of Commons. 
 
 At the General Election in 1857, Cecil was 
 again returned for Stamford unopposed, and in 
 the first session of the new Parliament he made 
 his first attempt at constructive legislation by 
 bringing in a measure to institute a system of 
 voting at elections by means of voting papers 
 distributed among the electors. This sensible 
 proposal (adopted in 1861 for University voting) 
 was withdrawn owing to Liberal opposition after 
 a short debate. 
 
 In the same year he married Georgina Caroline, 
 daughter of Sir E. H. Alderson, Baron of the 
 Exchequer, and afterwards a celebrated judge. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 249 
 
 The marriage was not approved of by Lord 
 Salisbury, who, indeed, seems to have cared 
 little about his first family, concentrating all his 
 affection on the children of his second wife. 
 But it is not true that he marked his displeasure 
 by cutting off supplies. Persistent stories to 
 this effect were due, no doubt, to the fact that 
 for many years Lord Robert Cecil increased his 
 income by journalism, in which he was assisted 
 by his clever wife. From 1857 to 1865 he con- 
 tributed to the Saturday Review, founded by his 
 brother-in-law, Beresford-Hope, but his most 
 important essays were written for the Quarterly 
 Review, of which, for several years, from April, 
 i860, scarcely a number appeared without an 
 article from his pen. These essays deal mainly 
 with contemporary politics, both home and foreign, 
 but include a few biographical articles, such as 
 those on Castlereagh and Pitt, and one of a 
 scientific nature, on photography. " Written with 
 all the freedom which the traditional anonymity 
 of the Quarterly Review guarantees," says the 
 writer, who first made known to the public the 
 extent of Lord Salisbury's contributions to that 
 periodical, 1 " these essays more truly portray 
 the man than anything he said or did within the 
 cramping limitations of parliamentary procedure, 
 or under the restraining influence of party and 
 ministerial responsibility. We have here not 
 
 1 Quarterly Review, January, 1904. A full list of these articles, 
 thirty-three in all, is given in the Diet. Nat. Biog., 2nd Supp. I. 343. 
 Several have been reprinted, in two volumes (Essays : Biographical, and 
 Essays: Foreign Politics, Murray, 1905). 
 
250 THE CECILS 
 
 only elaborate discussions of the political questions 
 of the day, which have an abiding historical 
 value, but also weighty statements of political 
 theory, and many an instructive glimpse of 
 ethical motive and of the origin, • growth, and 
 modification of opinion. In finish of style, in 
 controversial resource and subtlety, in the wide 
 range of their scholarship and worldly wisdom, 
 in the loftiness of their ideals and the strange 
 combination of polemical bitterness with the 
 most generous sympathies, these articles present 
 us with an absolutely new picture of Lord 
 Salisbury." 
 
 In 1858 appeared a volume of " Oxford Essays," 
 which contained a paper by Lord Robert Cecil on 
 " The Theories of Parliamentary Reform," a 
 subject upon which his opinions are of special 
 interest in view of his action nine years later. 
 The upshot of his argument is that there is no 
 objection to the extension of the franchise, so 
 long as mere numbers are not allowed to pre- 
 dominate over every other power in the State. 
 Our whole constitution is " anomalous and 
 irregular," but the anomalies and irregularities, 
 the growth of ages, tend to counteract one 
 another ; and " to remove one evil without 
 removing that which is its counterpoise, to 
 withdraw one poison from the prescription with- 
 out withdrawing the other which is its antidote, 
 is the maddest course of all. Better far to recon- 
 struct the whole ; better still to let that which 
 has worked well, work on." And he concludes 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 251 
 
 with a sentence which sums up his opinion on 
 the subject : " Whichever course is taken, the 
 condition in the representative system which it 
 is our duty to maintain, even at the cost of any 
 restriction or any anomaly, is that the intellectual 
 status of the legislature shall not be lowered, and 
 that sufficient weight, direct or indirect, shall 
 be given to property to secure it from the 
 possibility of harm." 
 
 His first article in the Quarterly Review (April, 
 i860) dealt with the same subject, and was a 
 severe and trenchant criticism of Lord John 
 Russell's Reform Bill. The article caused a 
 considerable stir in political circles, and Lord 
 John Russell felt it necessary to defend himself 
 in a speech in the House. The Bill was soon 
 afterwards dropped. 
 
 During the uneventful years of Palmerston's 
 last administration (1859 — 1865), Lord Robert 
 Cecil continued to increase his reputation as a 
 ready debater and a brilliant speaker. " Beware 
 of that young man," said Palmerston to one of 
 his colleagues ; " he is master of one great secret 
 of success in debate. Instead of defending him- 
 self, he attacks you." He was strongly interested 
 in all educational questions and in all matters 
 affecting the well-being of the poor, and his 
 staunch churchmanship won him the confidence 
 of the High Anglican party, whose recognised 
 spokesman in Parliament he became. These years 
 are memorable for his contests with Gladstone, 
 which began over the Bill for the Repeal of the 
 
252 THE CECILS 
 
 Paper Duties. The general opposition to this 
 measure was based on the contention that the 
 state of the national finance did not permit of so 
 large a loss of revenue, and, moreover, it was 
 regarded as a sop offered to the extreme Radicals 
 to secure their support for other proposals of the 
 Government. Lord Robert Cecil was courageous 
 enough to oppose it on its own merits. " Can it 
 be maintained," he said, " that a person of any 
 education can learn anything worth knowing 
 from a penny paper ? It may be said that 
 people may learn what has been said in Parlia- 
 ment. Well, will that contribute to their 
 education ? " Such unbending Conservatism reads 
 strangely at the present day ; yet had the speaker 
 lived to witness the development of the half- 
 penny press in this country, it is probable that 
 he would have congratulated himself on the 
 wisdom of his attitude. 
 
 Palmerston himself was opposed to the Bill, 
 and even wrote to the Queen to the effect that if 
 the House of Lords threw it out, they would 
 " perform a good public service." Gladstone, 
 however, when the Lords did their duty, became 
 all the more determined to have his way, and in 
 the following year he again proposed the repeal 
 of the Paper Duties. Hitherto it had been the 
 invariable custom to make the different taxes 
 which composed the Budget into separate Bills, 
 each of which was passed through the Commons 
 and sent up to the Lords. The Upper House 
 could thus reject — though they could not amend 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 253 
 
 — any one Bill without upsetting the whole of the 
 financial arrangement of the year. Gladstone 
 now embodied all his financial proposals, including 
 the repeal of the Paper Duties, in one Bill, thus 
 compelling the Lords either to accept it as it 
 stood, or to go to the extreme length of rejecting 
 the whole. Whatever may be said as to the 
 merits of the Bill, it cannot be denied that this 
 action was a piece of trickery deserving the 
 strongest censure of all who valued straight- 
 forwardness in public life. Throughout the 
 debates Lord Robert Cecil distinguished himself 
 by the unsparing vigour of his attacks, both on 
 the principle of the measure, and on the methods 
 by which it was being pushed through the House. 
 
 On one occasion he denounced the action of 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer as " more worthy 
 of an attorney than a statesman," and on being 
 invited to " reconsider his vocabulary," he 
 solemnly rose to apologise for having done a 
 great injustice — to the attorneys. 
 
 It was in the course of one of these debates, 
 when complaints had been made from the Govern- 
 ment benches of the violence of Lord Robert 
 Cecil's remarks, that Disraeli took the opportunity 
 to say that he had " listened with satisfaction 
 to the noble Lord, as it appeared to him that he 
 had never heard more constitutional opinions 
 expressed in more effective language." 
 
 During these years he perfected himself as a 
 parliamentary debater. He lost no opportunity 
 of attacking Gladstone's methods and principles, 
 
254 THE CECILS 
 
 so that in reading these debates one seems to be 
 listening to a later Cecil pointing out the iniquities 
 of a later Chancellor of the Exchequer. But 
 Gladstone, in spite of his doctrines, inspired 
 respect and admiration in his opponent, of whose 
 character and abilities, as will be seen later, he 
 conceived a high opinion. 
 
 Lord Robert Cecil was now, as ever, a close 
 student of foreign politics, upon which he spoke 
 with increasing authority. His speeches on the 
 Brazilian difficulty in 1863, when he accused 
 Earl Russell of adopting " a sort of tariff of 
 insolence in his correspondence with foreign 
 powers," and on the Government's policy toward 
 Denmark in 1864, were marked by wide 
 intellectual grasp and considerable oratorical 
 power. 
 
 On the death of his elder brother (June 14th, 
 1865), Lord Robert succeeded to his title as 
 Viscount Cranborne, and became heir to the 
 Marquessate. 
 
 The death of Palmerston, in October, finally 
 closed the period of compromise between the 
 aristocratic and democratic tendencies in British 
 politics, and the new era was ushered in with 
 Gladstone as leader of the House of Commons, 
 pledged to Reform. Of the ill-fated Reform 
 Bill of 1866, Lord Cranborne was one of the most 
 vigorous opponents. 
 
 Liberal opposition to the Bill was so strong 
 that it had little chance of passing, but there is 
 no doubt that Lord Cranborne's eloquent and 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 255 
 
 incisive speeches, and his article in the Quarterly 
 Review (March, 1866), which provoked an out- 
 burst of irritation from Gladstone, played their 
 part in procuring the defeat of the Government. 
 He was now marked for promotion, and in 
 spite of the fact that he had held no office 
 previously, no surprise was felt when Lord 
 Derby invited him to join his Cabinet as Secretary 
 of State for India. At the same time he was 
 sworn of the Privy Council (July 12th, 1866). 
 Within a week of this date, he was called upon 
 to introduce the Indian Budget, and astonished 
 the House by his mastery of the intricate details 
 of Indian finance. But his first tenure of office 
 was of short duration. The question of Reform 
 had now become urgent owing to the Hyde Park 
 riots and the action of the Reform League ; and 
 in February, 1867, Disraeli made an attempt to 
 settle it by consent of the whole House. This 
 proving unsuccessful, as might have been expected 
 under the circumstances, a Bill was introduced, 
 and three members of the Cabinet, Lord Cranborne, 
 General Peel and Lord Carnarvon, resigned. 
 The history of the events which led to this 
 defection has often been told. It appears that 
 two alternative measures, one of which granted 
 household suffrage under certain conditions, while 
 the other was based on a £6 franchise, were 
 considered by the Cabinet, and on Saturday, 
 February 23rd, the former was agreed upon. 
 On the Monday morning, the three doubtful 
 ministers, having carefully examined the statistics 
 
256 THE CECILS 
 
 and safeguards on the strength of which they 
 had agreed to the Bill, informed Lord Derby that 
 they found them insufficient, and threatened to 
 resign. The Cabinet was hurriedly summoned 
 half an hour before Derby was to address a 
 meeting of the party, and in ten minutes the 
 second measure was adopted instead of the 
 first. The details of this proposal were explained 
 by Lord Derby at the meeting in the afternoon, 
 and by Disraeli in the House of Commons in 
 the evening, but met with so cold a reception 
 from their friends and such indignation from 
 their opponents, that the Bill was withdrawn on 
 the following day. Thereupon the three ministers 
 resigned, and Disraeli brought in his original 
 Bill. 
 
 Lord Cranborne explained his action in a 
 speech in the House, and it is interesting to note 
 the impression created at the time upon one who 
 afterwards became a devoted friend and colleague 
 of Lord Salisbury : " Lord Cranborne's speech," 
 writes Robert Lytton, 1 " though uttered with 
 much dignity and apparent sincerity of conviction, 
 was certainly not generous, and certainly was 
 suicidal to his reputation as a statesman, for his 
 views are impossible." And he adds a doubt 
 whether the speaker, though obviously very 
 clever, would ever be a great man : "he wants 
 heart, and seems never to rise above the level of 
 a Saturday Reviewer." 
 
 The progress of the Bill through the House of 
 
 1 Personal and Literary Letters of Robert, Earl of Lytton, I. 218, 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 257 
 
 Commons justified all Lord Cranborne's fears. 
 One by one all the " checks and safeguards " 
 disappeared, until, in its final form, he described 
 the measure as " the result of the adoption of 
 the principles of Bright at the dictation of 
 Gladstone," and denounced it as "a political 
 betrayal which has no parallel in our annals, 
 which strikes at the root of all that mutual 
 confidence which is the very soul of our party 
 government, and on which only the strength and 
 freedom of our representative institutions can be 
 sustained." In his famous article, entitled, " The 
 Conservative Surrender," which appeared in the 
 Quarterly Review in October, he enlarged on this 
 theme, combining a merciless exposure of the 
 tactics of his leaders with a lofty appeal for 
 adherence to principle in public life. 
 
 He was, in fact, almost in despair at this time, 
 feeling, as he said, that " the monarchical principle 
 was dead, the aristocratical principle was doomed, 
 and the democratical principle triumphant." But 
 worse than his fears for the future were his wrath 
 and scorn for his leaders who had betrayed the 
 party and the nation, by passing, when in office, 
 a measure practically identical with the one they 
 had succeeded in throwing out the year before. 
 " My opinions belong to the past," he wrote to 
 Lord Coleridge in 1868, 1 " and it is better that 
 new principles in politics should be worked by 
 those who sympathise with them heartily." 
 
 This depression, however, soon passed away, 
 
 1 Life of Lord Coleridge, II. 156. 
 C. S 
 
258 THE CECILS 
 
 and he set himself to put into practice the principle 
 he had himself laid down. "It is the duty of 
 every Englishman, and of every English party," 
 he had written, " to accept a political defeat 
 cordially, and to lend their best endeavours to 
 secure the success or to neutralise the evil of the 
 principles to which they have been forced to 
 submit." Now, as throughout his career, he was 
 able before long to accept the accomplished fact ; 
 and his fears of the results of Reform not being 
 realised, he succeeded, while zealously upholding 
 the old Tory doctrines of his great exemplars, 
 Pitt and Castlereagh, in giving them a wider 
 interpretation and in adapting them to the 
 changed conditions of modern politics. 
 
 So far from being a hide-bound Tory, as he is 
 sometimes painted, he understood, far better 
 than do the doctrinaire Radicals of his or of our 
 time, that change is inevitable in political 
 doctrine. " The axioms of the last age," he 
 wrote in 1861, " are the fallacies of the present ; 
 the principles which save one generation may be 
 the ruin of the next. There is nothing abiding 
 in political science but the necessity of truth, 
 purity and justice." Like Pitt, he was " far too 
 practical a politician to be given to abstract 
 theories, universal doctrines, watchwords or shib- 
 boleths of any kind. He knew of no political 
 gospel that was to be preached in season and out 
 of season." * And it is this " untheoretic mind " 
 
 1 Essay on Stanhope's Life of Pitt. Reprinted in Essays: 
 Biographical. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 259 
 
 which puzzled Gladstone, as will be seen later on, 
 and has puzzled other students of Lord Salisbury. 
 
 Lord Cranborne's last speech in the House of 
 Commons was delivered in March, 1868, in the 
 debate on Gladstone's resolution with regard to 
 the Irish Church, which gave him an opportunity 
 of defending in powerful and eloquent language 
 the principle of an established Church. On 
 April 12th, his father died and he succeeded to 
 the title, and took his seat in the House of 
 Lords. 
 
 He soon gained the ear of this assembly, and 
 took a leading part in the debates. His most 
 important intervention in the session of 1868 was 
 on the second reading of the Irish Church 
 Suspensory Bill, which had passed through the 
 Lower House by large majorities. Besides pul- 
 verising the measure itself, and showing the 
 futility of attempting to conciliate the Fenians 
 by destroying the Church, he laid down in 
 admirable terms the principle which should 
 guide the House of Lords when it found itself 
 in opposition to the Commons. This principle 
 he consistently upheld, and his words are worth 
 quoting at the present time, when there are still 
 people who think that the House of Commons 
 invariably represents the judgment of the nation, 
 and that the duty of the Lords is merely to 
 register its decrees : — 
 
 " When the opinion of your countrymen has declared 
 itself," he said, " and you see that their convictions— their 
 firm, deliberate, sustained convictions— are in favour of 
 
 S 2 
 
2 6o THE CECILS 
 
 any course, I do not for a moment deny that it is your duty 
 to yield. It may not be a pleasant process ; it may even 
 make some of you wish that some other arrangement were 
 existing ; but it is quite clear that whereas a member of a 
 Government, when asked to do that which is contrary to 
 his convictions, may resign, and a member of the Commons 
 when asked to support any measure contrary to his con- 
 victions, may abandon his seat, no such course as this is 
 open to your Lordships ; and therefore on these rare and 
 great occasions on which the national mind has fully 
 declared itself, I do not doubt your Lordships would yield 
 to the opinion of the country ; otherwise the machinery 
 of government could not be carried on. But there is an 
 enormous step between that and being the mere echo of 
 the House of Commons." 
 
 That the Lords did right in rejecting the 
 Suspensory Bill cannot be questioned, and that 
 Lord Salisbury was willing to act up to the 
 principles he had so ably laid down, was proved 
 in the following year. At the election of 1868, 
 the Liberals were returned by a large majority, 
 and Gladstone immediately set about his mission 
 of " pacifying Ireland," by introducing the Bill 
 for Disestablishing and Disendowing the Irish 
 Church. When this measure reached the Upper 
 House, Lord Salisbury, arguing that the general 
 election had been fought on this question, used 
 all his influence to secure its passage ; and, acting 
 in co-operation with Archbishop Tait, was able to 
 compose the difference which arose between the 
 Houses on the subject of the Lords' amendments, 
 and thus to avert a serious constitutional crisis. 
 At the same time, the result of his moderating 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 261 
 
 influence was to obtain better terms for the dis- 
 established Church. 
 
 Always willing to promote rational reforms, 
 Lord Salisbury was connected this session with 
 two measures, one of which is still urgently wanted, 
 while the other appears to many people to be 
 eminently reasonable. The first was the Parlia- 
 mentary Proceedings Bill, which he introduced 
 himself. The object of this measure was to do 
 away with the hard and fast rule that all Bills 
 must be passed through both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment in the same session, and to provide that, 
 subject to the assent of the Crown and of the 
 two Houses, any Bill which had passed through 
 one House might be considered by the other 
 House in the following session. This Bill was 
 read a second time in the Lords, and referred to 
 a joint committee of the two Houses, but the 
 Government were not interested in the subject 
 and it was allowed to drop. 
 
 The other measure, to which Lord Salisbury 
 gave strong support, was Lord Russell's Bill for 
 the Creation of Life Peerages. He believed that 
 such a reform would strengthen the House of 
 Lords in the opinion of the public, who, then as 
 now, are easily caught by the absurd cry that 
 the Peers are " not representative." " We must 
 try," he said, " to impress on the country the 
 fact that because we are not an elective House, 
 we are not a bit the less a representative House ; 
 and not until the constitution of the House plainly 
 reveals the fact, shall we be able to retain 
 
262 THE CECILS 
 
 permanently, in face of the advances of the 
 House of Commons, the ancient privileges and 
 constitution of this House." The Bill was 
 thrown out on the third reading. Twenty years 
 later Lord Salisbury made a second attempt to 
 introduce this reform, but with no greater success. 
 His Life Peerage Bill of 1888, after passing its 
 second reading, was withdrawn, and has never 
 since been heard of. 
 
 At this time (1868 — 1872), Lord Salisbury was 
 chairman of the Great Eastern Railway, and he 
 was associated with Lord Cairns as arbitrator in 
 connection with the affairs of the London, Chatham 
 and Dover Railway in 1871 — 72. In November, 
 1869, he was elected by a unanimous vote to the 
 office of Chancellor of the University of Oxford, 
 rendered vacant by the death of the old Lord 
 Derby. A scholar and a student by nature, it 
 was a post for which he was in many ways excep- 
 tionally well qualified ; but though he held it 
 for the rest of his life, he refrained from active 
 participation in University matters. His interest 
 in University Reform is shown by his appointment 
 of the Universities Commission in 1877. 
 
 The remaining years of the Gladstone Govern- 
 ment may be passed over with little comment. 
 While applying himself to the amendment and 
 improvement of several of the chief measures 
 introduced by the Government, such as the 
 Irish Land Bill, the Education Bill, and the 
 University Tests Bill, and supporting others, such 
 as the Peace Preservation Bill of 1870 and the 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 263 
 
 Bank Holidays Bill of the following year, Lord 
 Salisbury was unsparing in his attacks on Liberal 
 abuses of power, as shown, for example, in the 
 Abolition of Purchase in the Army by Royal 
 Warrant, after the rejection of the Bill in the 
 House of Lords ; in the attempt to force the 
 Ballot Bill through the Upper House without 
 allowing opportunity for discussion ; and in the 
 disgraceful jobbery in the matter of appointments, 
 of which the case of Sir Robert Collier and the 
 " Ewelme Scandal " were particularly gross. 
 
 The election of 1874 proved that, as he antici- 
 pated, the people were tired of " heroic legislation," 
 and were determined to impose a truce on " these 
 perpetual attacks on classes and institutions and 
 interests, which are fatal to the union, the peace, 
 and the prosperity of the country." For the 
 first time for thirty years the Conservatives were 
 returned to power with a commanding majority, 
 and Gladstone at once resigned. 
 
 In Disraeli's new Cabinet, Lord Salisbury 
 again occupied the position of Secretary for 
 India. He was at once called upon to deal 
 with a critical situation created by the famine 
 in Bengal, and by upholding the action of the 
 Viceroy, Lord Northbrook — his political opponent 
 — against that of Sir. G. Campbell, the Lieut- 
 Governor of Bengal, he showed that he was not 
 only capable of taking large views of a serious 
 question, uninfluenced by personal or party con- 
 siderations, but was also courageous enough 
 to maintain his opinion in the face of popular 
 
264 THE CECILS 
 
 clamour. The policy adopted — of importing rice 
 into Bengal without interfering with the export 
 trade — was completely justified by its success. 
 
 The Public Worship Regulation Bill, of 1874, 
 gave Lord Salisbury another opportunity to 
 expound his views on the Church of England and 
 the relation between the Church and the State. 
 With much eloquence he defended his position, 
 that the existence of the establishment depends 
 on its frank and loyal tolerance of three 
 schools in the Church — the " Sacramental," the 
 " Emotional " and the " Philosophical" — which 
 arise, " not from any difference in the truth 
 itself, but because the truth must necessarily 
 assume different tints, as it is refracted through 
 the different media of different minds." " The 
 problem you have to solve," he said, " is how to 
 repress personal and individual eccentricities, if 
 you will, how to repress all exhibitions of wilful- 
 ness, of lawlessness, of caprice : but, at the same 
 time that you do that, you must carefully guard 
 any measures which you introduce from injuring 
 the consciences or suppressing the rights of either 
 of the three schools of which the Church consists. 
 On this condition alone can your legislation be 
 safe." In this attitude, he showed himself far 
 more moderate and statesmanlike than the 
 majority of the Lords, who passed the Bill in 
 sympathy with the popular cry against Ritualism. 
 
 This Bill, which was officially supported by 
 Disraeli, was again the occasion of a difference of 
 opinion between the Premier and the Secretary 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 265 
 
 for India. The debates further led to an incident 
 which has become historical. In urging the 
 Lords to stand firm in rejecting an amendment 
 inserted by the Commons in deference to the wishes 
 of the extremists, Lord Salisbury referred to the 
 argument that the Peers ought to pass the clause 
 because of the majority in the Commons, and of 
 the danger to the Bill if the clause were rejected ; 
 and he further remarked that there was " a 
 good deal of that kind of bluster when any 
 particular course has been taken in the other 
 House of Parliament," adding that it was the 
 duty of the Lords to take the course which they 
 deemed right. The clause was accordingly 
 rejected, and the Commons accepted the alteration 
 rather than lose the Bill. But Disraeli, mis- 
 understanding Lord Salisbury's words, took the 
 opportunity to refer to " my noble friend " as 
 " not a man who measures his phrases ; one who 
 is a great master of gibes and flouts and jeers," 
 but, he added, " I do not suppose there is anyone 
 who is prejudiced against a member of Parliament 
 on account of such qualifications. My noble 
 friend knows the House of Commons well, and 
 he is not perhaps superior to the consideration 
 that by making a speech of that kind, and taunting 
 respectable men like ourselves with being ' a 
 blustering majority,' he probably might stimulate 
 the amour propre of some individuals to take the 
 course which he wants and to defeat the Bill." 
 Lord Salisbury took the first opportunity of 
 protesting against this interpretation of his 
 
266 THE CECILS 
 
 remarks, which, of course, referred to the argu- 
 ments of a previous speaker in the Lords, and not 
 to anything said in the other House. 
 
 Some surprise had already been expressed at 
 his acceptance of office under the leader with 
 whom he had quarrelled so violently seven 
 years before, and this episode gave rise to a 
 great deal of malevolent gossip about the relations 
 between the two men. There were even rumours 
 of the impending resignation of Lord Salisbury, 
 but they were silenced by Disraeli's speech at 
 the Lord Mayor's banquet, in which he paid 
 a well-deserved tribute to his colleague in regard 
 to his Indian administration. It is, in fact, very 
 greatly to the credit of both that, in spite of their 
 difference of temperament, they were able to act 
 in harmony for the remainder of Disraeli's life. 
 As Dr. Traill pointed out, in his monograph on 
 Lord Salisbury, " both enjoyed the inestimable 
 advantage of being opposed by a politician whose 
 influence in undesignedly healing feuds among 
 his political adversaries has so often earned him 
 the benediction pronounced upon the peace- 
 makers." Their common hostility to Gladstone 
 no doubt helped to unite them, but it is hardly 
 enough to account for the subsequent cordiality 
 between the two colleagues, which enabled Lord 
 Salisbury to say, on the death of his chief, that 
 there was " never a cloud between them through 
 all their arduous labour." * 
 
 1 Life of Lord Cranbrook, II. 136. In saying this, Lord Salisbury 
 must surely have forgotten the incident just related. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 267 
 
 In 1876, the crisis in the Near East turned 
 all thoughts away from home affairs, and the 
 course of events provided Lord Salisbury with 
 his first experience as a diplomatist. Servia and 
 Montenegro declared war on Turkey in July, 
 and in the autumn Gladstone's agitation over the 
 Bulgarian atrocities stirred up passions and 
 created an atmosphere in which sane diplomacy 
 found its difficulties enormously increased. In 
 November, Turkey granted an armistice at the 
 instance of Russia, and Britain at once suggested 
 a conference of the Powers, which sat at Constanti- 
 nople from December nth, 1876, to January 20th, 
 1877. To this conference Lord Salisbury was sent 
 as the English plenipotentiary, and the selection 
 was warmly approved by Gladstone. 
 
 " I think it right," he wrote to a correspondent, " at 
 once to give you my opinion of Lord Salisbury, whom I 
 know pretty well in private. He has little foreign or 
 Eastern knowledge, and little craft ; he is rough of tongue 
 in public debate, but a great gentleman in private society ; 
 he is very remarkably clever, of unsure judgment, but is 
 above anything mean ; has no Disraelite prejudices ; 
 keeps a conscience, and has plenty of manhood and 
 character. In a word the appointment of Lord Salisbury 
 to Constantinople is the best thing the Government have 
 yet done in the Eastern question." * 
 
 Accompanied by Lady Salisbury, Lord Cran- 
 borne, and Lady Maud Cecil, the British 
 representative left London on November 20th, 
 and after visiting Paris, Berlin, Vienna and Rome, 
 
 1 Morley, Gladstone, Life of, ed. 1905, II. 168. 
 
268 THE CECILS 
 
 and exchanging views with the foreign ministers in 
 those capitals, he arrived at Constantinople early 
 in December. The object of the Conference, as he 
 afterwards pointed out, was " first of all to restore 
 peace between Turkey and Servia and Montenegro, 
 and then to obtain good government for the 
 Turkish provinces ; but," he added, " undoubtedly 
 we also went into the Conference to stop a great 
 and menacing danger, namely, the prospect of 
 war between Russia and Turkey." The British 
 proposals, which formed the basis of discussion, 
 included the conclusion of peace, and the restora- 
 tion of the status quo in Servia and Montenegro ; 
 the concession of local self-government to Bosnia 
 and Herzegovina ; and a guarantee for the good 
 government of Bulgaria. These proposals the 
 Porte rejected, and the Conference broke up, 
 with the inevitable sequel that Russia declared 
 war. 
 
 For the first nine months of the war, England 
 maintained a strict neutrality, keeping, however, 
 a watchful eye upon any action which might 
 affect her interests. But after the fall of Plevna, 
 the Russian advance began to threaten Constanti- 
 nople, and the British Government decided, in 
 January, 1878, to send the fleet through the 
 Dardanelles — a course of action for which Lord 
 Salisbury, " worn out by Russian duplicity," 
 was more eager than anyone else. 1 Then came 
 the Treaty of San Stefano, and the consequent 
 proposal for a Congress of the Powers, to which 
 
 1 Life of Lord Cranbrook, II. 46" 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 269 
 
 Russia agreed, while arrogantly reserving to her- 
 self the liberty of accepting for discussion only 
 such points as she thought fit. Negotiations were 
 consequently broken off, the reserves called out, 
 and to the relief of the Government, Lord Derby, 
 who had for some time been in disagreement with 
 his colleagues, finally resigned (March 28th). 
 
 In explaining the reasons for his resignation 
 in the House of Lords, some months later, Lord 
 Derby said that the Cabinet had decided to 
 send a " secret naval expedition " to seize the 
 island of Cyprus, together with a point on the 
 Syrian coast. Thereupon Lord Salisbury " very 
 pointedly contradicted him, on the authority, 
 not only of his own memory, but of the memories 
 of several of his colleagues " ; 1 and he further 
 proceeded to compare his revelations with those 
 of Titus Oates. This regrettable misunder- 
 standing arose, according to Sir Stafford Northcote, 
 from the failure of Lord Derby " to distinguish 
 between a conversation about certain undecided 
 points, and a decision about another point, the 
 Reserves." 2 The difference of opinion was 
 accentuated by the personal antagonism which 
 always existed between the two men, in spite 
 of their close connection by marriage. Lord 
 Derby afterwards joined Gladstone's ministry as 
 Colonial Secretary, and Lord Salisbury remarked 
 of him that he " never strayed far from the 
 frontier lines of either party, where he expended 
 
 1 Andrew Lang, Life of Sir S. Northcote, II. 107. 
 a Ibid., II. 108.. 
 
270 THE CECILS 
 
 his great powers in being disagreeable to his 
 former friends." 
 
 A few days later (April ist), the appointment 
 of Lord Salisbury as Foreign Secretary was 
 announced, and next day there appeared in the 
 Press the famous " Salisbury Circular," a note 
 addressed to the British representatives abroad, 
 which summed up in masterly fashion the objec- 
 tions to the Treaty of San Stefano, chief among 
 which was the proposed creation of a " big 
 Bulgaria," and at the same time set forth, in 
 courteous but clear and resolute language, the 
 aims of British policy. The effect of this 
 memorable document — the " Happy Despatch " 
 as it was called — was to prove to Europe in general, 
 and Russia in particular, that England was 
 prepared to take the necessary steps to defend 
 her interests. She was seen to be in earnest, and 
 her declaration of policy was welcomed both at 
 home and abroad. Negotiations were conse- 
 quently resumed on a sounder basis, and on 
 June 3rd the Government were able to announce 
 that the Congress would meet in Berlin in ten 
 days' time, and that all the provisions of the 
 Treaty would come under discussion. Great 
 Britain was to be represented by the Prime 
 Minister and the Foreign Secretary. 
 
 Meanwhile, meetings had taken place between 
 Lord Salisbury and Count Shuvalov, the Russian 
 Ambassador, and as a result a private agreement 
 had been arrived at as to the basis of the proposed 
 compromise. An outline of this agreement was 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 271 
 
 surreptitiously divulged to the Globe newspaper 
 by a Foreign Office copyist, and Lord Salisbury 
 was asked in the House of Lords whether there 
 was any truth in the statement. His reply that 
 the " statement was wholly unauthentic and not 
 deserving of the confidence of your Lordship's 
 House," has been the subject of much criticism, 
 and has been described as " the most debatable 
 incident in a singularly honourable career." ] 
 But it is surely not open to doubt that there 
 are occasions when a statesman, whose duty is 
 to uphold the interests of his country, must 
 act in obedience to higher principles even than 
 verbal accuracy. In the present case silence 
 would have been equivalent to acquiescence, 
 and an affirmation of the authenticity of the 
 agreement would have rendered it useless as a 
 basis of discussion, and, in all probability, have 
 stultified the Congress altogether. " For my 
 own part," says Dr. Traill with much wisdom, 2 
 " I do not hesitate to avow that a statesman who, 
 so situated, should deliberately prefer to sacrifice 
 what he conceived to be the highest interests of 
 the State to his private scruples, would deserve 
 that his head should be first crowned for his 
 fidelity to his own conscience, and then struck 
 off for treason to his country." 
 The Congress sat for a month, and the resulting 
 
 1 Diet. Nat. Biog., 2nd Supp., I. 334. 
 
 2 Life of Lord Salisbury, p. 176. Mr. (now Sir Henry) Lucy wittily 
 fathered on Lord Derby the proposal that " a familiar proverb shall 
 henceforth be quoted cumgrano Salis-bury " (Diary of Two Parliaments, 
 I. 445)- 
 
272 THE CECILS 
 
 treaty followed closely the lines of the Salisbury- 
 Shuvalov agreement. The most dangerous pro- 
 vision of the Treaty of San Stefano, by which a 
 greater Bulgaria, extending southwards to the 
 Aegean, was formed into an autonomous 
 principality, was abrogated, and instead two 
 autonomous provinces were formed — Bulgaria 
 with an elected prince, and Eastern Roumelia, 
 south of the Balkans, with a Christian governor 
 nominated by the Porte. Russia obtained Bess- 
 arabia as well as Kars and Batoum, the latter to 
 be made into a free commercial port. Montenegro, 
 Servia and Roumania were confirmed in their 
 independence, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were 
 handed over to be administered by Austria. The 
 latter arrangement was Lord Salisbury's own 
 proposal, and was in accordance with his strongly 
 held opinion, that " in the strength and indepen- 
 dence of Austria lie the best hopes of European 
 stability and peace." 1 
 
 By a convention with Turkey, concluded before 
 the Conference met, the protectorate of Cyprus 
 was transferred to England, who, in return, 
 undertook to guarantee the integrity of the 
 Sultan's Asiatic possessions. 
 
 Though the provisions of this treaty have not 
 proved lasting, great credit is due to the British 
 plenipotentiaries for their share in it ; and of 
 this credit, Lord Salisbury, in spite of Bismarck's 
 unkind description of him as " a lath painted to 
 look like iron," deserves almost, if not quite, as 
 
 1 Speech at Manchester, October, 1879. 
 
G. Richmond 
 
 ROBERT, THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY, K.G. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 273 
 
 much as his colleague. On their return to 
 London, they were received with popular ovations, 
 and the Queen expressed her appreciation of 
 their services by investing them with the Order 
 of the Garter — the only honour Lord Salisbury 
 accepted from the Crown until the end of his 
 long career. 1 
 
 Beaconsfield's " peace with honour " was no 
 inapt description of an agreement which averted 
 war while curbing the ambitions of Russia. 
 " Give Russia an inch," said a wit, " and she will 
 take the Dardanelles " ; and English policy was 
 largely governed by that fear. Thus, although the 
 treaty did not satisfy those enthusiasts who 
 wanted the Turk swept " bag and baggage " 
 out of Europe, reasonable people perceived that 
 at any rate Turkish opportunities of oppressing 
 the Christian population of the Balkans had been 
 considerably curtailed. 
 
 As to the wisdom of British policy as a whole 
 in regard to Russia, that is too large a subject 
 to touch upon here. But there is no doubt that 
 Lord Salisbury himself had misgivings on the 
 subject. Many years later, when he spoke of 
 our having " put all our money upon the wrong 
 horse," he was referring to the rejection of the 
 Emperor Nicholas's overtures in 1853, which 
 committed this country to an an ti- Russian 
 policy ; and on the same occasion 2 he defended 
 the Treaty of Berlin on the ground that " when 
 
 1 He was created G.CV.O. on his retirement in 1902 
 
 2 Speech in the House of Lords, January 19th, 1897. 
 
 C. T 
 
274 THE CECILS 
 
 a step of this kind has once been taken, you are 
 practically obliged to go on," and " all that Lord 
 Beaconsfield did was to carry out the policy 
 which his predecessors had laid down." He 
 added that Beaconsfield was not free from mis- 
 giving, but " still entertained hopes, which I 
 did not entertain. Those hopes have not been 
 realised." 
 
 During the next two years, the popularity of 
 the Government declined, and in 1880 the 
 Liberals were again returned to power, with 
 Gladstone as Prime Minister. A year later, on 
 April 19th, 1881, Lord Beaconsfield died, at the 
 height of his reputation, and Lord Salisbury 
 succeeded him as Conservative leader in the 
 House of Lords. Sir Stafford Northcote still 
 led the Opposition in the Commons, and this 
 system of " dual control " continued for the 
 next four years. 
 
 At this time Lord Salisbury was by no means 
 universally recognised as the future Prime 
 Minister. Great as was his ability, he was thought 
 to be wanting in tact and moderation, and his 
 personal reserve prevented him from being in 
 any sense a popular figure. " He has many of 
 the most necessary qualities of a leader," wrote 
 Lord Lytton at this time ; " great powers of 
 work, and a charm of manner very attractive 
 to those who are immediately about him. But 
 he makes bitter personal enemies, and the country 
 at large mistrusts him, I think." 1 
 
 1 Letters of Robert, Earl of Lytton, II. 233. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 275 
 
 He did little while in opposition to increase 
 his reputation. To Gladstone's reckless and 
 demoralising Irish legislation he offered no 
 effective resistance. The Irish Land Bill of 
 1881 was allowed to pass, after Gladstone had 
 accepted the Lords' amendments, and the same 
 course was adopted with the infamous Arrears 
 Bill of the following year ; though in the latter 
 case it is only fair to Lord Salisbury to remember 
 that he wished to insist on the Lords' amendments, 
 and so defeat the Bill, which he described as an 
 act of simple robbery, but he was overruled by 
 his followers. 
 
 In the last two articles which he contributed 
 to the Quarterly Review, 1 he subjected Liberal 
 policy at home and abroad to the most scathing 
 and damaging analysis. The writer's enunciation 
 of sound Conservative principles, and his searching 
 insight into the psychology of Radical legislation, 
 render these articles not only eminently readable, 
 but applicable for page after page to the events 
 of the present day. Whether he deals with the 
 increasing influence of that school of political 
 thought, whose " distinguishing mark is that in 
 any issues which may arise between England 
 and any other population, foreign or dependent, 
 they usually find reason for thinking that England 
 is in the wrong " ; or dilates on the dangers of 
 hasty and ill-considered legislation, or of the 
 uncontrolled powers of the House of Commons ; 
 
 1 October, 1881, "Ministerial Embarrassments" and October, 1883, 
 " Disintegration." 
 
 T 2 
 
276 THE CECILS 
 
 or gives expression to the anxiety caused by 
 attacks on landed property and appeals to class 
 hatred : it is difficult to believe that he is writing 
 of the current politics of thirty years ago. 
 
 In the article entitled " Disintegration," he 
 sums up admirably what should be the aim of the 
 Conservative party : " The object of our party 
 is not, and ought not to be, simply to keep things 
 as they are. In the first place, the enterprise is 
 impossible. In the next place, there is much in 
 our present mode of thought and action which 
 it is highly undesirable to conserve. What we 
 require in the administration of public affairs, 
 whether in the executive or the legislative depart- 
 ment, is that spirit of the old constitution which 
 held the nation together as a whole, and levelled 
 its united force at objects of national import, 
 instead of splitting it up into a bundle of 
 unfriendly and distrustful fragments." 
 
 Another passage in the same article, written, 
 be it remembered, before any prominent politician 
 had advocated Home Rule, contains so wise and 
 so prophetic a pronouncement on the subject 
 that it deserves to be quoted : — 
 
 " The highest interests of the Empire, as well as the 
 most sacred obligations of honour, forbid us to solve this 
 question by conceding any species of independence to 
 Ireland ; or, in other words, any licence to the majority 
 in that country, to govern the rest of Irishmen as they 
 please. To the minority, to those who have trusted us, 
 and on the faith of our protection have done our work, it 
 would be a sentence of exile or of ruin. All that is Protes- 
 tant, nay, all that is loyal, all who have land or money to 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 277 
 
 lose, all by whose enterprise and capital industry and 
 commerce are still sustained, would be at the mercy of the 
 adventurers who have led the Land League, if not of the 
 darker counsellors by whom the Invincibles have been 
 inspired. If we have failed after centuries of effort to 
 make Ireland peaceable and civilised, we have no moral 
 right to abandon our post and leave all the penalty of our 
 failure to those whom we have persuaded to trust in our 
 power. It would be an act of political bankruptcy, an 
 avowal that we were unable to satisfy even the most sacred 
 obligations, and that all claims to protect or govern 
 anyone beyond our own narrow island were at an end." 
 
 The disastrous policy of the Government in 
 Ireland, their " blunders, shortcomings and mis- 
 adventures " abroad — in South Africa, in Egypt 
 and the Sudan, in Afghanistan and elsewhere — 
 and the violent dissensions in the Cabinet and the 
 party, afforded incomparable opportunities to 
 the Opposition of which, however, they did not 
 take sufficiently active advantage. In 1884, 
 Gladstone introduced a Franchise Bill, by which 
 he proposed to add 2,000,000 voters to the 
 register. It was resisted mainly on the ground 
 that it was riot accompanied by a redistribution 
 scheme, and on the second reading in the Lords, 
 an amendment on these lines was carried by a 
 majority of fifty-nine. The Bill was consequently 
 withdrawn, to be reintroduced in an autumn 
 session, when negotiations between the Conserva- 
 tive and Liberal leaders resulted in an agreement 
 that a Redistribution Bill should be brought in 
 and the Franchise Bill be allowed to pass. These 
 meetings between Lord Salisbury, Sir Stafford 
 
278 THE CECILS 
 
 Northcote and Gladstone are interesting, as 
 marking the first time on record when a measure 
 has been discussed before its introduction by the 
 leaders of both sides. Gladstone was good enough 
 to say that he was much struck with the quickness 
 of Lord Salisbury, and found it a pleasure to deal 
 with so acute a man. At the same time he 
 declared that Lord Salisbury was entirely devoid 
 of respect for tradition, and that he himself was 
 a strong Conservative in comparison. 1 The fact 
 was, no doubt, that here, as always, Lord Salisbury 
 showed that he cared nothing for abstract theories, 
 and was prepared to consider any proposal on 
 its merits without reference to party catchwords, 
 a state of mind naturally unintelligible to his 
 opponent. 
 
 1 Morley's Life of Gladstone , II. 378. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY (continued) 
 
 The abandonment of Gordon and the fall of 
 Khartoum, in February, 1885, aroused, in Lord 
 Salisbury's words, " not only sympathy and 
 regret, but bitter and burning indignation." 
 Gordon, he declared, had been " sacrificed to 
 the squabbles of a Cabinet, and the necessities 
 of Parliamentary tactics," and this shameful 
 betrayal, combined with the universal feeling that 
 the honour and reputation of England were not 
 safe in the hands of the Government, finally 
 decided their fate. They hung on till June, when 
 they were defeated on a Budget vote of no 
 importance, and at once resigned. The Queen 
 sent for Lord Salisbury, who consented to take 
 office, although the Conservatives were in a 
 minority of nearly 100 in the House of Commons, 
 and owing to the new Redistribution Bill, a 
 general election was not possible until November. 
 
 Difficulties arose, first owing to Gladstone's 
 unwillingness to pledge himself to give the 
 necessary support to the Government in the 
 conduct of public business, and secondly, because 
 Lord Randolph Churchill refused to serve if 
 Sir Stafford Northcote still led the House of 
 Commons. The first difficulty was settled by 
 
280 THE CECILS 
 
 the intervention of the Queen, and the second by 
 the promotion of Northcote to the Peerage, as 
 Earl of Iddesleigh, with the post of First Lord of 
 the Treasury The Prime Minister himself went to 
 the Foreign Office, and Sir M. Hicks-Beach became 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the 
 House of Commons. The difficulty of the dual 
 leadership of the party was thus finally overcome. 
 These negotiations rendered the formation of 
 a ministry more than usually troublesome, and 
 Lord Cranbrook, who was Lord President of the 
 Council, records in his Diary that " Salisbury, 
 weary of the self-seekers, the beggars, the imprac- 
 ticables, and above all, of one who played such 
 pranks, would gladly have thrown up his task, 
 and gone almost into private life ; but his feeling 
 for the Queen, who cannot retire or resign, was 
 such as to overbear all other considerations." 1 
 Lord Salisbury, as the same observer notes, 
 " abhorred patronage and its littleness," and 
 though he loved the Foreign Office, and would 
 not willingly have given that up, he would 
 probably have gladly resigned the Premiership 
 at any time. 2 
 
 In this ministry, Mr. A. J. Balfour, Lord 
 Salisbury's nephew, took office for the first time, 
 as President of the Local Government Board. 
 
 At home the Government had little to do beyond 
 the necessary winding-up of business in prepara- 
 tion for the election in the autumn. But Lord 
 
 1 Life of Lord Cranbrook, II. 220. 
 
 2 Ibid., II. 286. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 281 
 
 Salisbury managed to pass a useful Bill for the 
 Housing of the Working Classes, based on the 
 report of a Commission for which he had moved 
 in the previous year. 
 
 Abroad the situation was full of embarrass- 
 ments. Isolated in Europe, the country was 
 embroiled in quarrels all over the world, and was 
 on the brink of war with Russia on the Afghan 
 frontier. In this matter, which arose out of 
 what is known as the Penjdeh incident, the 
 Liberal Foreign Minister, Lord Granville, had 
 made concession after concession, justifying Lord 
 Salisbury's taunt that " the Government go 
 into every danger with a light head, and then 
 they make up by escaping from it with a light 
 foot." He took a more firm attitude, and the 
 Russians, seeing that he was in earnest, agreed 
 to the appointment of a boundary commission. 
 War, which a few months earlier had appeared 
 to be inevitable, was thus avoided. In Egypt 
 and elsewhere, Lord Salisbury's handling of the 
 problems left him by his predecessors had good 
 results, and even won the approbation of 
 Gladstone, who said " he could not object to one 
 item of his foreign policy " ; on hearing which, 
 Lord Salisbury remarked, " I fear I must have 
 done wrong." 1 But before his work could be 
 perfected, the general election (December, 1885) 
 again put the Liberals in office, a result due to 
 the gratitude of the newly enfranchised agri- 
 cultural labourers. 
 
 1 Life of Lord Cranbrook, II. 239. 
 
282 THE CECILS 
 
 Hostile critics have made much capital out of 
 Lord Salisbury's supposed philanderings with 
 Home Rule. In a speech at Newport (October 7th, 
 1885), which Lord Morley describes as " one of 
 the tallest and most striking landmarks in the 
 shifting sands of this controversy," he used words 
 which have been taken as an indication that he 
 considered the creation of an Irish Parliament 
 as more satisfactory than a mere extension of 
 Local Government. Yet, later in the same 
 speech, the following words occur : " With respect 
 to the larger organic questions connected with 
 Ireland, I cannot say much, though I can speak 
 emphatically. I have nothing to say but that 
 the traditions of the party to which we belong 
 are on this point clear and distinct, and you 
 may rely upon it our party will not depart from 
 them." Surely this explicit statement is at least 
 sufficient to show that in his previous remarks 
 he had not the " larger organic questions " in 
 mind. In fact, no construction of this kind would 
 ever have been put on the speech had not an 
 event come to light which seemed to point in a 
 similar direction. It appeared that, in the 
 preceding June, the Irish Viceroy, Lord Carnarvon, 
 with the approval of the Prime Minister, had an 
 interview with Parnell, at which, according to 
 the subsequent report of the Irish leader, Lord 
 Carnarvon outlined a scheme of Home Rule with 
 which Parnell found himself " in complete accord." 
 In spite of the Viceroy's denial of the accuracy 
 of this report, the incident was, of course, eagerly 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 283 
 
 seized upon by partisans on the look-out for any 
 stick with which to belabour their opponents. 
 It is one of the commonest and cheapest forms 
 of political controversy to accuse your adversary 
 of secret attachment to the particular line of 
 policy which he spends his life in opposing. Had 
 Lord Salisbury shown any leanings towards Home 
 Rule, indications of his state of mind would 
 certainly have appeared in his private corre- 
 spondence. This has not yet been published, 
 but we are told by a writer who has had access 
 to it that it contains " nothing to show that he 
 even contemplated anything more than the 
 measure of Irish Local Government, which, in 
 fact, he afterwards granted." 1 
 
 Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill was introduced 
 in April, and while the debate was at its height, 
 Lord Salisbury committed one of his " blazing 
 indiscretions," of which his opponents were quick 
 to take advantage. In a speech in St. James's 
 Hall (May 15th, 1886) he propounded his recipe 
 for the pacification of Ireland — " twenty years' 
 resolute government." And he went on to say 
 that Ireland was not one nation, but two nations. 
 " There were races like the Hottentots, and even 
 the Hindus, incapable of self-government. He 
 would not place confidence in people who 
 had acquired the habit of using knives and 
 slugs." 
 
 With regard to these and similar " calculated 
 brutalities " of speech, the opinion of Lord Robert 
 
 1 Mr. Algernon Cecil in the Diet. Nat. Biog., 2nd Supp. I. 336. 
 
284 THE CECILS 
 
 Cecil may be quoted. 1 After speaking of his 
 father's hatred of all hypocrisy and cant, and his 
 contempt for all trivial and unnecessary con- 
 ventionalities, he says : — 
 
 " It is to this side of his character that belong his so- 
 called ' blazing indiscretions.' These I take to have been 
 not the mere efflorescence of a reckless wit, still less the 
 outcome of a cynical disbelief in lofty ideals, but the 
 result of his anxious desire that those whom he was leading 
 should know, as far as possible, the real opinions of their 
 leader. When he described ' twenty years' resolute 
 government ' as the alternative policy to Home Rule, 
 when he said villagers would find a parish circus more 
 amusing than a parish council, he was not only speaking 
 the literal truth, as subsequent events have proved, but 
 he was deliberately putting before the electors in a striking 
 form an aspect of the question under consideration which 
 he thought important, and which the party managers 
 were anxious to keep in the background. Other mental 
 or moral characteristics — for in Lord Salisbury the two 
 were often indistinguishable — were no doubt partly 
 responsible for the ' indiscretions.' Himself incapable of 
 self-deception, he thought it the most dangerous of all 
 mental defects. Any phrase or opinion arising from this 
 cause or even from want of clearness of thought he 
 regarded as noxious. And he did not shrink from 
 attacking intellectual insincerity, even though he might 
 wound feelings otherwise entitled to respect." 
 
 To which it may be added that he cared less 
 than nothing about public opinion, and, therefore, 
 spoke exactly what he thought, checked by no 
 fear of " what people would say." 
 
 1 Monthly Review, October, 1903. The article appeared anony- 
 mously, but has since been acknowledged by Lord R. Cecil 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 285 
 
 The Home Rule Bill was defeated by a majority 
 of thirty (June 8th), and a dissolution followed. 
 The resulting election gave the combined Unionists 
 a majority of 118 over the Gladstonians and 
 Nationalists. 
 
 After a magnanimous attempt to induce Lord 
 Hartington, the leader of the Liberal Unionists, 
 to form a Government, Lord Salisbury again took 
 office on July 26th, 1886. He himself became 
 First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Iddesleigh 
 going to the Foreign Office, while Lord Randolph 
 Churchill was Chancellor of the Exchequer and 
 leader of the House of Commons. Mr. Balfour was 
 made Secretary for Scotland, and was admitted to 
 a seat in the Cabinet a few months later. Friction 
 soon arose between Churchill and his chief ; and 
 at Christmas, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 as a protest against Lord Iddesleigh's foreign 
 policy, and the growth of expenditure on arma- 
 ments, tendered his resignation, which, to his 
 great surprise, was accepted. 
 
 At this crisis the Prime Minister again 
 approached Lord Hartington, with the proposal 
 that he should either form a coalition government 
 or enter the ministry as leader of the House of 
 Commons. 1 In spite of the strong desire expressed 
 by the Queen that he should accept this offer, 
 Hartington felt unable to comply. It was, how- 
 ever, by his advice that Goschen joined the 
 ministry as Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 W. H. Smith became First Lord of the Treasury 
 
 1 Bernard Holland, Life of the Duke of Devonshire, II. 179. 
 
286 THE CECILS 
 
 and leader of the House of Commons, and Lord 
 Salisbury himself returned to the Foreign Office 
 in place of Lord Iddesleigh, whose enforced 
 resignation coincided with his tragic death. 
 
 Another important change in the Cabinet 
 occurred in March, when Mr. Balfour took the 
 place of Sir M. Hicks-Beach as Irish Secretary, 
 and began the five years' tenure of that office 
 which formed so epoch-making a period in the 
 government of Ireland. It also proved the 
 making of his career. At the time of appoint- 
 ment he was hardly taken seriously as a politician, 
 being looked upon as a clever but rather indolent 
 trifler, though Lord Salisbury, whose private 
 secretary he had been at the time of the Berlin 
 Congress, was no doubt aware of his ability. 
 Yet within a remarkably short space of time he 
 was not only recognised as one of the best debaters 
 in the House, but had shown himself possessed 
 of the highest qualities of statesmanship. 
 Mastering the facts of the situation, and making 
 up his mind that law must be maintained in 
 Ireland at all costs, he refused to be turned from 
 his purpose either by threats or sophistries, and 
 the final result of his regime was that crime in 
 Ireland practically ceased. Moreover, he became 
 one of the most popular figures in Parliament, 
 and won the respect even of the Irish members, 
 who had received the announcement of his 
 appointment with scornful laughter. And on 
 the death of W. H. Smith, in October, 1891, 
 Mr. Balfour was recognised as his natural successor, 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 287 
 
 and became First Lord of the Treasury and 
 leader of the House of Commons. 
 
 Apart from the actual Irish legislation of these 
 years, the Crimes Act and the Land Act of 1887, 
 and the Land Purchase Act of 1891, Irish affairs 
 played a very large part in Lord Salisbury's 
 second administration. The articles in the Times 
 on " Parnellism and Crime," the Pigott forgeries, 
 the Parnell Commission, the revelations in the 
 divorce court and the consequent Parnellite split 
 — all these events were crowded into the six 
 years from 1886 — 1892. Yet, in spite of the 
 Irish incubus, the Government was able to pass 
 such important measures as the Local Govern- 
 ment Acts (1888 and 1889), the Imperial Defence 
 Act (1889), the Free Education Act (1891), the 
 Factory Act (1891), and the Small Holdings 
 Act (1892). 
 
 Lord Salisbury's interests and labours lay, of 
 course, mainly in the sphere of foreign affairs. 
 The early part of his administration was a period 
 full of danger, which needed a strong man at the 
 helm. It saw the formation of the Triple Alliance 
 — unreservedly welcomed by Lord Salisbury— 
 the Boulanger movement in France, and the 
 death of the Emperor William and of the Emperor 
 Frederick in Germany. But the most important 
 and critical work of the Foreign Secretary was 
 contained in the negotiations with Germany, 
 Portugal and France, which led to the delimitation 
 of the respective spheres of influence of these 
 powers in Africa. 
 
288 THE CECILS 
 
 Since 1884 Germany had been active in seizing 
 African territory, and Lord Granville had adopted 
 a most complaisant attitude towards their schemes. 
 Nor was Lord Iddesleigh more alive to British 
 interests. During his short term of office, he 
 actually completed an arrangement with Germany 
 by which England might have been cut off 
 altogether from the upper Nile. Lord Salisbury, 
 however, was able to counteract the effects of 
 this arrangement by granting a Royal Charter 
 to the British East Africa Company, founded by 
 Sir William Mackinnon. Gradually, under Lord 
 Salisbury's influence, the rivalry between England 
 and Germany entered on a less threatening phase, 
 and in 1889, Bismarck, who a few years before 
 had adopted an aggressive and bullying attitude 
 to this country, declared, in a speech on colonial 
 matters, that " we have proceeded, and always 
 shall proceed, in harmony with the greatest 
 colonial power in the world — England." But it 
 was not till after Bismarck's fall that the pro- 
 tracted negotiations culminated in the Anglo- 
 German Agreement of 1890, by which the spheres 
 of influence of the two countries in East and 
 West Africa were determined. Germany relin- 
 quished all claim to Uganda and the Upper 
 Nile, and recognised England's protectorate of 
 Zanzibar, receiving in exchange the island of 
 Heligoland. This agreement is one of Lord 
 Salisbury's greatest achievements as a diplomatist ; 
 and though the cession of Heligoland met with 
 strong opposition at the time and in the light of 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 289 
 
 recent developments appears even more regret- 
 table, yet the solid benefits received in exchange 
 should more than counterbalance the loss. 
 
 In the same year, by an agreement with France, 
 our protectorate of Zanzibar, and our sphere of 
 influence in the Hausa States and Bornu, were 
 recognised by that country, while we in return 
 recognised the French protectorate of Madagascar 
 and her claims to the Sahara. Meanwhile, 
 British differences with Portugal had also been 
 settled, though not so amicably. Portugal had 
 put forward claims to all the territories lying 
 between Angola on the west and Mozambique on 
 the east, and these claims were recognised by 
 France and Germany in 1886. Such pretensions 
 it was impossible to admit, and Lord Salisbury 
 at once protested against " any claims not 
 founded upon occupation." He also informed 
 the Portuguese Government that the Zambesi 
 must be regarded as the natural northern limit of 
 British South Africa. In 1889, the charter 
 granted to the British South Africa Company for 
 the development of what is now Rhodesia 
 occasioned fresh disputes with the Portuguese, 
 who made further efforts to assert their claims 
 in the Zambesi region. Finally, the news that 
 an expedition had been despatched to the Shire 
 highlands compelled Lord Salisbury to send an 
 ultimatum to Lisbon, and the expedition was 
 disavowed and withdrawn. Prolonged negotia- 
 tions followed, resulting in a convention by 
 which, while consideration was given to the just 
 
 c. u 
 
2Q0 THE CECILS 
 
 claims of Portugal, the frontiers of Rhodesia 
 were defined and Nyasaland secured for Great 
 Britain. 
 
 " The best justification of Lord Salisbury's 
 policy between 1885 and 1892," says a writer in 
 the Quarterly Review, 1 " is that he found Great 
 Britain confronted by a hostile European coalition, 
 a prey to innumerable humiliations and perplexi- 
 ties and on the brink of war, and that he left 
 her at peace, enjoying the friendship of all 
 the great Powers, and pursuing her Imperial 
 course with unfettered hands and undiminished 
 lustre." 
 
 The Conservative Government came to a natural 
 end at the close of the session of 1892, and at 
 the general election the Opposition were returned 
 with a majority of forty. Lord Salisbury 
 accordingly gave place to Gladstone, whose second 
 Home Rule Bill was passed by the House of 
 Commons in 1893 and rejected by a majority 
 of 419 against 41 in the House of Lords. 
 Gladstone did not venture to appeal to the country, 
 which heartily approved of the action of the 
 Peers, and the Liberal Government remained in 
 office until 1895, when it was defeated on a snap 
 division on the Cordite Vote (June 21st). Lord 
 Rosebery, who had succeeded Gladstone as 
 Prime Minister in the previous year, at once 
 resigned, and Lord Salisbury was summoned to 
 form an administration for the third time. 
 
 He was now able to secure the co-operation of 
 
 1 October 1902, p. 665. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 291 
 
 the Liberal Unionist leaders, who had drawn closer 
 to the Conservatives during the past three years, 
 and with their aid he formed the strongest and 
 most successful Government of modern times. 
 He again went to the Foreign Office, while 
 Mr. Balfour led the House of Commons, Sir 
 Michael Hicks-Beach was Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, the Duke of Devonshire, President 
 of the Council, Mr. Goschen, First Lord of the 
 Admiralty, and Mr. Chamberlain, Colonial 
 Secretary. Mr. Balfour's brother, Gerald, was 
 Secretary for Ireland, and the Government con- 
 tinued their Irish policy by two excellent measures, 
 the Irish Local Government Bill (1898), and the 
 Bill which established the new Department of 
 Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland 
 (1899). They also passed a number of other 
 useful Bills, the most important being the 
 Workmen's Compensation Bill of 1897. 
 
 Lord Salisbury's share in initiating and carrying 
 through domestic legislation cannot at present be 
 determined. It is certain that the Foreign Office 
 occupied the greater part of his time. Indeed, 
 the experience of these years is enough to prove 
 that no Prime Minister should, in the future, be 
 his own Foreign Secretary. The duties of that 
 office are too arduous and too engrossing to be 
 combined with the adequate supervision of the 
 work of the Cabinet as a whole. It was at this 
 point that Lord Salisbury failed. Instead of 
 being personally responsible for every department 
 of State, he allowed his colleagues to go their 
 
 U 3 
 
292 THE CECILS 
 
 own way, without attempting to guide them. 
 " He himself," says Lord Robert Cecil, 1 " was 
 very averse to collaboration, and it was natural 
 for him to think that his colleagues would equally 
 dislike it. He did his own work best when left 
 entirely to himself. He had no fear of respon- 
 sibility, and it only hindered him to have to 
 explain to others the reasons of his actions. 
 The plan which suited him best he assumed to 
 be the best for others also." But although the 
 result of this defect in administration was a 
 certain lack of cohesion in the policy of the 
 Government, its success as a whole was remark- 
 able. 
 
 In the domain of foreign policy, Lord Salisbury 
 set the seal to his previous achievements, and for 
 many years before his death he was recognised 
 as the first statesman in Europe. Through these 
 eventful years he threw the whole of his immense 
 influence into the scale on the side of peace and 
 in favour of arbitration, and his record is one 
 of which he might well be proud. 
 
 He took office at a critical moment. The 
 massacres in Armenia had roused public opinion 
 to such a pitch of horror -that, in view of the 
 obstructive attitude of Russia, and the indifference 
 of the other Powers to anything but their own 
 interests, it seems to be clear that Lord Kimberley 
 had decided to apply coercion to the Sultan 
 unaided, and that war was, in fact, imminent. 
 But although Lord Salisbury was a " sincere 
 
 1 Monthly Review, October, 1903. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 293 
 
 sympathiser with the Christians of Turkey, and 
 regarded the Government of that country as 
 mimical to civilisation," *• he was not prepared 
 to undertake a crusade on their behalf in the 
 face of Europe. At the Guildhall banquet 
 (November 9th), however, he denounced the 
 Sultan in very strong terms, and used threatening 
 language, which drew an angry protest from 
 Abdul Hamid. Lord Salisbury never made threats 
 which he did not intend to carry out, but on the 
 present occasion no action followed, and it is 
 understood that another Power had promised to 
 co-operate with Great Britain, but afterwards 
 withdrew. It was certainly not his fault that 
 the tedious negotiations of the next eighteen 
 months resulted only in a scheme of paper reform 
 which was never put into force. 
 
 In the settlement of the Cretan question he 
 achieved more success, and the result of his 
 unwearied patience and skilful leading of the 
 Concert of Europe was that an autonomous 
 regime, with Prince George of Greece as Governor, 
 was set up in Crete at the end of 1898, and the 
 island entered on a period of unwonted peace 
 and prosperity. It was Lord Salisbury who 
 reorganised the Concert as a great engine of peace 
 — " the embryo of the only possible structure of 
 Europe which can save civilisation from the 
 effects of a disastrous war." At the same time 
 he recognised its cumbrous methods, and quoted, 
 with approbation, the remark that " the Cretans 
 
 1 The late Canon MacColl in The Spectator, August 29th, 1903. 
 
294 THE CECILS 
 
 may be evil beasts, but the Powers are certainly 
 slow bellies." * 
 
 Meanwhile, England had been on the brink of 
 war both with Germany and with the United 
 States. The German Emperor's telegram to 
 Kruger after the Jameson Raid excited extra- 
 ordinary indignation in England, but the prompt 
 mobilisation of a flying squadron, and other 
 military and naval precautions, were sufficient 
 to show that German intervention in South 
 Africa would not be permitted, and the incident 
 closed. It is probable that the mobilisation may 
 have been ordered with a view to impressing 
 the United States as well as Germany. A fort- 
 night before the Jameson Raid (December 17th, 
 1895), President Cleveland had sent to Con- 
 gress a preposterous message concerning the 
 Venezuelan boundary question, in which he 
 practically threatened England with war. The 
 first shock of surprise was followed by such an 
 exacerbation of feeling on both sides of the 
 Atlantic, that for some days it seemed as though 
 hostilities could not be avoided. Lord Salisbury, 
 however, preserved an imperturbable attitude, 
 the excitement died down, and eventually an 
 international commission was appointed which 
 decided the matter almost entirely in favour of 
 Great Britain. Following upon this award, Lord 
 Salisbury proposed a general treaty of arbitration 
 with the United States, and this was actually 
 
 1 Sir Mountstuart Grant-Dufi's Notes from a Diary, February 23rd, 
 1897. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 295 
 
 negotiated by Sir Julian Pauncefote and signed 
 on January nth, 1897. The Senate, however, 
 refused to ratify it, and the main result of the 
 negotiations was to revive anti-British feeling 
 in the States. In spite of this rebuff, Lord 
 Salisbury exerted himself unremittingly to 
 establish more cordial relations between the two 
 countries. On the outbreak of the Spanish- 
 American war, in 1898, it was his firm attitude 
 which prevented European intervention ; and 
 he gave further practical proof of friendship by 
 resigning to the United States, in the Samoa 
 Convention of 1899, certain Samoan islands, thus, 
 in effect, making them a " free gift of the finest 
 harbour in the Pacific." x Finally, the Hay- 
 Pauncefote Treaty, signed in 1900, enabled the 
 United States to build the Panama Canal, with 
 the results which we all know. The outcome of 
 his endeavours was undoubtedly to improve the 
 official relations between London and Washington, 
 and if he did not achieve all that he hoped, his 
 efforts " will always rank brightly among the 
 lofty strivings by which the whole of his long 
 and fruitful career has been inspired." 2 
 
 Turning to events in the Far East, one cannot 
 help feeling that Lord Salisbury felt less at home 
 in this sphere, and that he probably took little 
 interest in it. When Germany seized Kiao Chau, 
 and Russia, in defiance of treaty rights and specific 
 assurances, took possession of Port Arthur, he 
 
 1 H. Whates, The Third Salisbury Administration, p. 101. 
 
 2 Quarterly Review, October, 1902, p. 675. 
 
296 THE CECILS 
 
 protested mildly and then tamely acquiesced ; 
 while his withdrawal of British ships from Port 
 Arthur, where they had every right to be, at 
 the bidding of Russia, is very difficult to defend. 
 Nor were these diplomatic reverses counterbalanced 
 by the acquisition of Wei-Hai-Wei. On the 
 other hand, he obtained the extension of the 
 limits of Hong Kong; the opening up of the 
 inland waters of China to foreign trade and the 
 assurance that the Yangtse basin should not be 
 alienated ; and many very valuable railway 
 concessions. He fought consistently for " the 
 open door," and successfully opposed any granting 
 of exclusive or differential rights. Lord Salisbury, 
 indeed, " redressed the partial failure of his 
 efforts in international diplomacy by the triumphs 
 won, in spite of the influence of powerful rivals, 
 in the field of commercial concessions and 
 additional trade advantages." 1 Moreover, the 
 signature of the Anglo - Russian agreement 
 (April 28th, 1899) marked the beginning of a 
 better understanding with Russia, which bore 
 fruit later. 
 
 Of the success of the Government's Egyptian 
 policy, which resulted in the reconquest of the 
 Sudan and the extension of peaceful civilisation 
 to that unfortunate province, its strongest 
 opponents can now entertain no doubt. While 
 strongly approving of this policy, Lord Salisbury 
 told Lord Cranbrook that he could " claim no 
 share in it " — a strange admission for a Prime 
 
 1 Whates, p. 164. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 297 
 
 Minister to make. He added, however, that it 
 was he who " insisted upon the employment of 
 Kitchener, much against the grain of the great 
 men in London." * The battle of Omdurman 
 (September 2nd, 1898) was followed by the 
 Fashoda incident, which brought France and 
 England to the verge of war. In the firm attitude 
 which he took up in this matter, Lord Salisbury 
 received the support of the whole nation, and the 
 tact with which he handled the delicate situation 
 provided France with as easy a way of retreat 
 as the circumstances allowed. Finally, an agree- 
 ment was arrived at by which France withdrew 
 all claims to the Nile Valley ; and at the same time 
 by the Niger Convention, signed in June, 1898, 
 but not ratified during the Fashoda dispute, the 
 boundaries of British and French territories in 
 West Africa were satisfactorily settled. The way 
 was thus paved for the more comprehensive 
 agreement with France, which was concluded 
 by Lord Lansdowne in 1904. 
 
 Lord Salisbury had thus placed to his credit 
 another fine diplomatic achievement. War was 
 a thing hateful to him, and he had worked 
 unceasingly and with success to prevent a breach 
 of the peace. Thus, when the Boer war broke 
 out in October, 1899, though he realised that it 
 was unavoidable and never for a moment doubted 
 the justice of our cause, it came to him, neverthe- 
 less, as a grievous blow. In the actual conduct 
 of the dispute with Kruger, he was not directly 
 
 1 Life of Lord Cranbrook, II. 368. 
 
298 THE CECILS 
 
 concerned, but he cannot avoid some share of 
 responsibility for the early disasters of the war. 
 Had he exercised a stricter supervision over his 
 colleagues, he would have been able to insist 
 that the information supplied to the War Office 
 by the Intelligence Department and from other 
 sources was not ignored and that adequate 
 preparations were made. But when once 
 hostilities broke out he did signal service to the 
 nation by making it clear to other Powers that 
 no intervention would be allowed. 
 
 To this public anxiety was added an over- 
 whelming private sorrow — the death of his wife 
 (November 20th, 1899). To Lady Salisbury he 
 was united in the closest bonds of affection and 
 comradeship. He gave her his unreserved con- 
 fidence, and looked to her for encouragement 
 and help in political and other matters, relying 
 on her alert intelligence, her keen sense of humour, 
 her sound common sense and her ability to see 
 the bright side of things. Though little known 
 outside a select circle, she was the object of 
 deepest affection to her friends and her family, 
 and her influence on all who were admitted to 
 her intimacy is known to have been extraordinary. 
 How much Lord Salisbury himself owed to her, 
 politically, was shown at the time of his election 
 as leader of the party in the House of Lords, 
 when the Duke of Richmond said to him : "If 
 Lady Salisbury were the Duchess of Richmond, 
 you would never have been leader." * 
 
 1 Life of Lord Cranbrook, II. 163. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 299 
 
 In the summer of 1900 the Boxer outbreak 
 and the siege of the legations in Pekin necessi- 
 tated a revival of the Concert of Europe in a 
 new sphere, and still further increased the work 
 and anxieties of the Foreign Secretary. In 
 September the Government dissolved Parliament, 
 and at the " khaki election," which followed, 
 Lord Salisbury secured a majority of 134. Had 
 he consulted his own wishes, he would now have 
 retired from public life. " He was borne down 
 with domestic grief and physical weakness ; and 
 yet he felt himself unable to lay down his burden 
 lest the enemies of his country should take courage 
 from the ministerial and electoral difficulties 
 that might, and indeed did, follow his resignation. 
 He remained at his post, and his countrymen 
 honoured his determination. But very few of 
 them knew what the effort was costing him, and 
 how much sorer was the self-sacrifice involved in 
 holding office in 1900 than in resigning it thirty- 
 three years before." 1 
 
 He did, however, hand over the direction of 
 the Foreign Office to Lord Lansdowne, taking 
 himself the post of Lord Privy Seal. But he 
 
 1 Lord R. Cecil in the Monthly Review, October, 1903. After the 
 election of 1900, the Government contained so many members and 
 connections of the Cecil family that it was nicknamed " The Hotel 
 Cecil, Unlimited " — thus recalling the " Regnum Caecilianum " of 
 300 years before. In addition to Viscount Cranborne (Under-Secretary 
 for Foreign Affairs), Mr. A. J. Balfour (First Lord of the Treasury), and 
 Mr. Gerald Balfour (President of the Board of Trade), one of Lord 
 Salisbury's daughters was married to Lord Selborne (First Lord of the 
 Admiralty), and one of his nieces, Mary Beresford-Hope, was the wife 
 of Mr. J. W. Lowther, then Chairman of Ways and Means, and now 
 Speaker. 
 
300 THE CECILS 
 
 maintained a special interest in foreign affairs, 
 and the policy which resulted in the Japanese 
 Alliance of 1902 was approved of, and controlled 
 by him. 
 
 The death of Queen Victoria, in January, 1901, 
 was another break with the past, and to few of 
 her subjects can the sense of personal loss have 
 been greater than to Lord Salisbury. Following 
 the example of his illustrious ancestor, this 
 " greater Cecil of a greater Queen " served his 
 Sovereign with a devotion and loyalty which 
 won her utmost confidence and esteem. Bishop 
 Boyd-Carpenter records that she " spoke with 
 admiration of Lord Salisbury, as of one in whom 
 she had great confidence. The impression left 
 on my mind was that she gave him, if not the 
 highest, an equal place with the highest among 
 her ministers." He adds that " the two Prime 
 Ministers who held high place in her mind, 
 were Sir Robert Peel and Lord Salisbury," and 
 she thought the latter " greater than Lord 
 Beaconsfield." 1 
 
 On the conclusion of peace with the Boers 
 (May 31st, 1902), there was no longer any valid 
 reason to defer his retirement, though, if it had 
 not been for King Edward's unfortunate illness, 
 he would have remained Prime Minister until 
 after the Coronation. On July nth he placed 
 his resignation in the hands of the King, who 
 was then convalescent, and thus ended his long 
 
 1 Some Pages of My Life, by the Rt. Rev. W. Boyd-Carpenter, late 
 Bishop of Ripon. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 301 
 
 premiership of nearly fourteen years. He was 
 succeeded as Prime Minister by Mr. Balfour. 
 
 For many years his health had been gradually 
 failing, and on several occasions he had been 
 obliged to go abroad — to Chateau Cecil at Puys, 
 near Dieppe, to his villa at Beaulieu, to Royat or 
 elsewhere — to recoup, leaving the conduct of 
 the Foreign Office to Mr. Balfour. At Whitsuntide, 
 1903, he had an acute attack of nephritis, accom- 
 panied by heart weakness, from which he never 
 really recovered, and on August 22nd his death 
 occurred at Hatfield. There, in the church which 
 contains the ashes of so many of his ancestors, 
 he lies buried by the side of his wife. 
 
 " Never was a life more complete," said Lord 
 Rosebery, 1 summing up the sentiments of the 
 nation with his usual felicity. " We can speak 
 of him without a feeling of regret. Happy those 
 who have so long mixed in public life of whom 
 that may be said." 
 
 No one can read the story of Lord Salisbury's 
 life, or study his character, without being con- 
 stantly reminded of his great ancestor, Lord 
 Burghley. Intense devotion to their Queen, 
 single-hearted patriotism, freedom from personal 
 ambition, Olympian serenity and aloofness, genuine 
 piety, strong family affection, these and many 
 other characteristics are common to the Eliza- 
 bethan and to the Victorian statesman. 
 
 Lord Salisbury's personal reserve and hatred 
 
 1 Speech at the Oxford Union, November 14th, 1904. 
 
302 THE CECILS 
 
 of publicity removed the details of his private 
 life from the region of public comment, and, 
 until the able pen of his daughter and secretary 
 gives the long promised biography to the world, 
 no truly adequate account of the man is possible. 
 Yet the main features of his character are known. 
 He was, above all, a profoundly religious man, 
 and his chaplain has testified, " without any 
 reservation whatever, that his life was a conse- 
 crated life. Each day, whatever the pressure of 
 work might be, he was to be seen taking part 
 in the devotions in the little private chapel, 
 where it was my privilege to administer." * Of 
 the depth of his loyalty to the Queen we have 
 already spoken, and to these two qualities, 
 forming together the very springs of his nature, 
 must be added his affection for his home and 
 family. 
 
 Like Lord Burghley, he made few intimate 
 friends. His pleasure lay in the home circle, 
 and he was never happier than when surrounded 
 by his family. It was his greatest delight to 
 gather round him on Sunday evenings as many 
 members of the family as possible, and it is said 
 that he was never seen to such advantage as 
 on those occasions. 2 It was, in fact, the universal 
 testimony of his guests that he was seen at his 
 best in his own home. In early days, soon after 
 his accession to the title, Bishop Wilberforce 
 met Gladstone at Hatfield, and they agreed 
 
 1 Report of Sermon by the Rev. E. A. Smith, Times, August 24, 1903. 
 
 2 Speech of Lord Rosebery, November 14th, 1904. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 303 
 
 that they " never saw a more perfect host." 
 The Bishop also gives a glimpse of the house and 
 its inmates : "I particularly enjoyed my Hatfield 
 visit," he writes. 1 " The house is perfect, and 
 the park very striking of its kind. But the 
 great pleasure was the inmates, as hearty and 
 kind as possible, and he full of high patriotic 
 views." He was much impressed by his host's 
 lofty ideals — " so fair, so kind, so simple and 
 high-minded." 2 
 
 An extremely shy man, Lord Salisbury went 
 little into society, and though he and his wife 
 did their duty nobly, and successfully, at all the 
 great gatherings and entertainments necessitated 
 by his position, they both hated functions of all 
 kinds. Both of them, too, despised appearances, 
 and cared nothing for such things as fine clothes or 
 smart carriages, though they could assume pomp 
 when necessary, and on occasions Lady Salisbury 
 might be seen driving about the county in a 
 chariot with four horses and outriders. Lord 
 Salisbury's reserve and silence made him, at times, 
 a most embarrassing neighbour at a public dinner 
 or other function, for he had no small-talk, and 
 made no effort to maintain any general conversa- 
 tion. Yet, when he was at ease among friends, 
 his conversational powers were considerable. 
 " His qualities as a talker are not familiarly 
 known," wrote Mr. G. W. E. Russell. 3 " He is 
 
 1 To Sir C Anderson, November 26th, 1868. 
 
 2 Life of Wilberforce, July 16th, 1872. 
 
 3 Collections and Recollections, 1st Series. 
 
304 THE CECILS 
 
 painfully shy, and at a club or in a large party 
 undergoes the torments of the lost, yet no one 
 can listen, even casually, to his conversation, 
 without appreciating the fine manner, full both 
 of dignity and of courtesy : the utter freedom 
 from pomposity, formality, or self-assertion, and 
 the agreeable dash of genuine cynicism which 
 modifies, though it does not mask, the flavour of 
 his fun." 
 
 As a public speaker, he was impressive and 
 weighty, and was capable of fine flights of 
 eloquence. But, in spite of the literary perfection 
 of his style, he did not rise to the first rank as 
 an orator, despising the tricks of rhetoric, and 
 refusing to practise the arts which win popular 
 applause. 
 
 He had an immense power of sustained work, 
 and is said to have sat at his desk for thirteen 
 hours out of twenty-four. All his vast corre- 
 spondence was written by his own hand, and as 
 he was extremely neat and methodical in his ways, 
 his papers — the bulk of which is enormous — 
 were kept in immaculate order. He was a most 
 considerate landlord, but he left the management 
 of his estates chiefly to his wife. Unlike his 
 father, he confessed that he was " entirely 
 ignorant of practical agriculture, and was hardly 
 able to distinguish a turnip from a cow." His 
 only form of sport was rabbit shooting with 
 ferrets, at which he was proficient. His great 
 hobby, however, was science, and much of his 
 leisure was spent in his laboratory at Hatfield. 
 

 ^-fMi 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 305 
 
 From his early days chemistry fascinated him ; 
 later on he took up electricity, and when electric 
 light was installed at Hatfield he planned and 
 superintended the work, of which he was 
 immensely proud. Of his article on photography, 
 which appeared in the Quarterly Review (October, 
 1864), it has been said : " There is no more lucid 
 account of the chemistry of photography extant. 
 Even at this distance of time, it may be read in 
 preference to many a modern manual. Full of 
 valuable suggestion, it anticipates not a few of 
 the recent artistic and scientific achievements of 
 photography." 1 In 1894 the British Association 
 acknowledged his scientific attainments by electing 
 him President, and he delivered a thoughtful and 
 characteristic address on " Evolution." 
 
 As a statesman he will live in history as one 
 of the greatest of the foreign ministers of Great 
 Britain. In domestic legislation he left little 
 mark. For he did not share the strange belief, 
 which grew up in the nineteenth century and 
 persists, in spite of all experience, to this day, 
 that social evils can be remedied by revolutionary 
 Acts of Parliament. Such reforms as " commend 
 themselves to sober and patriotic opinion, and 
 leave no resentment behind," he was always willing 
 and anxious to further, but he held that " the 
 proper legislative work of Parliament was to 
 deal with matters on which parties do not 
 contend," and that "it is detained 'from its 
 normal labours by the perpetual intrusion of 
 
 1 Quarterly Review, January, 1904, p. 299. 
 r X 
 
306 THE CECILS 
 
 revolutionary projects." He laid it down as 
 the central doctrine of Conservatism " that it is 
 better to endure almost any political evil than 
 to risk a breach of the historic continuity of 
 government." Inspired by such principles, it was 
 natural that he should oppose Home Rule with 
 relentless energy, and the nation owes him a 
 great debt of gratitude for the skill and tact 
 with which he succeeded in welding the Conserva- 
 tives and the Liberal Unionists into a homogeneous 
 party, " the most formidable combination for the 
 defence of constitutional principles and social 
 justice known to modern history." x 
 
 In other respects the domestic record of his 
 administrations is one of which no Prime Minister 
 need be ashamed, but the supreme value of his 
 tenure of power lies in the fact that he gave to 
 the country a long period of internal peace and 
 prosperity in which to recover from (and to 
 prepare for) the disturbance and unrest inseparable 
 from the advent of a Radical Government. 
 
 It is generally recognised that he regarded 
 Pitt and Castlereagh as models upon whom he 
 formed his own principles. That he learnt much 
 from his study of those great men cannot be 
 doubted, and it is true that very much of what 
 he wrote of them may be applied to himself. 
 Yet it is a striking fact that the very qualities 
 which he praises in them — the cautious, patient, 
 unemotional diplomacy, the " calm, cold self- 
 contained temperament " of Castlereagh, the 
 
 1 Quarterly Review, October, 1902, p. 654. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 307 
 
 " pure and self-denying patriotism," and the 
 lofty morality of Pitt — were also the distinguishing 
 characteristics of Lord Burghley. Hereditary 
 tendency may, therefore, have had more to do 
 with the development of his character than 
 conscious discipleship. Moreover, the task which 
 he successfully accomplished was not unlike that 
 which had confronted his ancestor. For it was 
 his to guide the nation safely through a period 
 of extreme danger, at the same time enormously 
 increasing her prestige and extending her posses- 
 sions. And just as Burghley was compelled to 
 throw cold water on the hot-heads, whose love 
 of adventure, noble in itself, could not fail to 
 bring about the war which it was his life-long 
 labour to avoid ; so when the Jingoes clamoured 
 for reckless action, Lord Salisbury remained cool 
 and imperturbable, hearing, no doubt, amid the 
 tumult, ancestral voices prophesying war. As he 
 wrote of Castlereagh, " no tinge of that enthusiastic 
 temper which leads men to overhunt a beaten 
 enemy, to drive a good cause to excess, to swear 
 allegiance to a formula, or to pursue an imprac- 
 ticable ideal, ever threw its shadow upon his 
 serene, impassive intelligence." Like Castlereagh, 
 too — and again like Lord Burghley — " he had 
 not the talents that captivate the imagination, 
 or the warmth of sympathy that kindles love. 
 Men felt to him as to the pilot who had weathered 
 an appalling storm, the physician who had 
 mastered a terrible malady. They recognised 
 his ability, and were glad in a moment of danger 
 
 x 2 
 
308 THE CECILS 
 
 to have such a counsellor at hand ; but they do 
 not appear to have been drawn to him by the 
 bonds of that intense personal devotion which 
 has united so many great statesmen with their 
 political supporters." 
 
 But if he did not evoke the enthusiasm or the 
 love of the public — and he made no effort to do 
 so — he inspired complete confidence. The nation 
 felt that in his hands the honour and interests 
 of the Empire were safe. And among his 
 colleagues he aroused unwavering loyalty and 
 esteem. " My relations with Salisbury are 
 delightful," wrote Lord Lytton, 1 when he was 
 Viceroy of India. "He is so generous, so loyal, 
 so considerate and sympathising, that it is a 
 real privilege to work with him." His own 
 loyalty and patriotism were so intense, his aims 
 so pure, his disinterestedness so unassailable, 
 that he set a noble example to all his followers, 
 and we may truly say of him, as he said of Pitt : 
 ' ' the lapse of years only brings out in brighter 
 lustre the grandeur of his intellect and the loftiness 
 of his character." 
 
 Lord Salisbury was succeeded by his eldest 
 son, James, Viscount Cranborne. The fourth 
 Marquess was born in 1861, and was educated 
 at Eton and University College, Oxford. He 
 sat in Parliament, first for the Darwen division 
 (1885— 1892), and afterwards for Rochester 
 (1893— 1903). In the South African War he 
 
 1 Letters of Robert, Earl of Lytton, II. 32. 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 309 
 
 served as Lieut.-Colonel of the 4th Battalion, 
 Bedfordshire Regiment, and was mentioned in 
 despatches and made C.B. On his return to 
 England he was appointed Under-Secretary for 
 Foreign Affairs in the ministry of 1900, and three 
 years later, on succeeding to the title, he was 
 sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Lord 
 Privy Seal. In 1905 he acted for a short time as 
 President of the Board of Trade, and in 1909 was 
 created G.C.V.O. He married, in 1887, Lady Cicely 
 Alice Gore, daughter of the Earl of Arran, and has 
 two sons and two daughters, the elder of whom 
 has married the Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore, M.P. 
 
 The third Marquess left four more sons and 
 two daughters, of whom the elder, Lady Beatrix 
 Maud Cecil, is now the Countess of Selborne, 
 while Lady Gwendolen, who was her father's 
 secretary and is writing his life, remains unmarried. 
 The sons are : the Rev. Lord William Cecil (born 
 1863), Rector of Hatfield and Rural Dean of 
 Hertford ; he married Lady Florence Bootle- 
 Wilbraham, daughter of the Earl of Lathom, 
 and has seven children : Lord Robert Cecil 
 (born 1864), K.C., M.P. for Hitchin, who married 
 Lady Eleanor Lambton, daughter of the Earl 
 of Durham : Colonel Lord Edward Cecil (born 
 1867), D.S.O., who has had a brilliant career in 
 the Army, and has held various posts in the 
 Egyptian Government ; he married a daughter 
 of Admiral Maxse, and has two children : and 
 Lord Hugh Cecil (born 1869), LL.D., M.P. for 
 Oxford University, unmarried. 
 
310 THE CECILS 
 
 Such is the record of the Cecils, and it is one 
 of which any family may be proud. For though 
 neither branch of the family did much to dis- 
 tinguish itself during the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries, yet to have produced three 
 such statesmen as Lord Burghley, Robert, Earl 
 of Salisbury, and the third Marquess of Salisbury, 
 is to have deserved well of the nation. And 
 surely never were such men and the ideals they 
 represent more needed than at the present day. 
 Our English tradition, which impels the heir to 
 a great name to devote his life to the service of 
 his country, and sets ever before him the highest 
 standard of conduct both in public and private 
 life, is an asset to the nation of incalculable value. 
 It is the growth of centuries ; it may be destroyed 
 in a generation. And democracy is essentially 
 destructive. All special rights and privileges are 
 an abomination to it, and the accompanying duties 
 and responsibilities it ignores and decries. Nor 
 does it stop to enquire whether such privileges 
 are, on the whole, good or bad for the nation. 
 It is enough that they exist ; and better that 
 the whole population should grovel together in 
 the ditch than that any of its members should 
 occupy a " privileged " position on the bank, 
 however much they may thereby be enabled to 
 help their less fortunate fellows. Against these 
 forces of destruction families such as the Cecils 
 present a powerful bulwark. Staunch upholders 
 of the Church and the Constitution ; keenly 
 interested, as landlords, in the cultivation and 
 
THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 311 
 
 maintenance of their estates and the welfare of 
 their tenants ; patriots whose disinterestedness 
 is above suspicion ; above all, men of the highest 
 personal integrity — can the nation afford to 
 throw away their willing service at the bidding 
 of those to whom tradition means nothing and 
 the " hereditary principle " is a mere anachronism ? 
 As far as the Cecil family is concerned, its 
 energies are far from exhausted. There is cer- 
 tainly plenty of talent left, and with the fine 
 traditions of public service to inspire them, it 
 is not unreasonable to hope that Cecils may yet 
 arise whose achievements will equal, if they do 
 not eclipse, those of their great ancestors. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 THE MANUSCRIPTS AT HATFIELD 
 
 The following account of the origin and contents of 
 the famous Hatfield MSS., which have provided so much 
 material for the foregoing pages, is condensed in the 
 main from the Introduction to the first volume of the 
 Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Hon. the Marquis 
 of Salisbury, K.G., etc., etc., etc., preserved at Hatfield 
 House, Hertfordshire, published for the Historical MSS. 
 Commission (1883). 
 
 In early times, before the State Paper Office was 
 established in 1578, each of the principal Secretaries of 
 State, of whom there were always two, and sometimes 
 three, had the custody of the documents and correspon- 
 dence which passed through his hands, and their future 
 destination depended in great measure " upon accident, 
 upon the care or negligence of the individual or of his 
 clerks, and above all, upon the good or evil fate which 
 awaited the Secretary when he resigned his Seals." It 
 was thus a mere chance whether the documents were 
 preserved intact, or whether, as frequently happened, they 
 were dispersed or destroyed. 
 
 Robert Cecil, the first Earl of Salisbury, made an effort 
 to collect all his father's papers and others in his care, 
 and place them together in an official library at Whitehall. 
 On his death in 1612 a warrant was issued directing all 
 his papers to be delivered to the Keepers of the Records, 
 who had been appointed two years before to take charge 
 of " Papers and Records concerning matters of State 
 and Council." One of these Keepers, Thomas Wilson, 
 
314 APPENDIX 
 
 in a memorial made about the year 1613, stated that 
 there were then two sorts of papers in the State Paper 
 Office, " those that have been long kept at Whitehall, 
 and those brought from Salisbury House by himself 
 since the Lord Treasurer's decease, which were far the 
 greater in number." In spite of this transfer, however, 
 a large quantity of papers must have been retained 
 by the secretaries of the late Lord Treasurer ; and of 
 these one portion is preserved at Hatfield, while the 
 other forms the most important part of the Lansdowne 
 MSS. at the British Museum. 
 
 The collection at Hatfield, which was pronounced by 
 Mr. Brewer to be " perhaps the largest, certainly the most 
 valuable, of any private collection in this kingdom," 
 consists of upwards of 30,000 documents, the great 
 majority of which are bound up in 210 large volumes. 
 Many of these papers have been discovered in recent 
 times through researches instituted by the second 
 Marquess of Salisbury, and also by the late Marquess. 
 The documents may be divided into two classes, the 
 first of which comprises grants from the Crown, Privy 
 Seals, and other Records of a strictly legal character, 
 together with various illuminated manuscripts, theological 
 treatises, rolls of genealogy, common-place books, plans, 
 charts, etc. The second consists of manuscripts of a 
 more directly historical nature, as State Papers, treaties, 
 despatches, correspondence of public personages, and 
 political memoranda. The Commissioners on Historical 
 Manuscripts have expressed an opinion that the value 
 and extent of the correspondence, " to which every 
 person of any note at the time contributed, may be 
 judged from the fact, that scarcely a day passes in any 
 year from the accession of Edward VI. to the close of 
 the century [and for many years beyond], which does not 
 produce one or more letters connected with passing 
 events, and generally from those whose rank and position 
 
APPENDIX 315 
 
 enabled them to furnish the most correct and authentic 
 intelligence. In these papers the history of the times 
 writes itself off from day to day, and almost from hour 
 to hour, with the minuteness of a daily journal, but with 
 a precision to which no ordinary journal could make 
 any pretence." 
 
 Lord Burghley's papers illustrate the times from the 
 beginning of his ministry, on the accession of Queen 
 Elizabeth, to his death in 1598. Those of his son, Sir 
 Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, which are even 
 more voluminous than his father's, continue the record 
 to the date of his death in 1612. The papers of Sir Walter 
 Raleigh and of the Earl of Essex are also among the 
 manuscripts at Hatfield. 
 
 Two large volumes of selections from these documents 
 were published in the eighteenth century : the first 
 (1542 — 1570) edited by the Rev. Samuel Haynes and 
 published in 1740 ; and the second (1571 — 1596) edited 
 by the Rev. W. Murdin and published in 1759. In these 
 volumes the documents given are printed in extenso, 
 but they have been superseded for most purposes by the 
 Calendars issued by the Historical Manuscripts Com- 
 mission. Of these twelve have now been published, 
 containing resumes of papers up to the year 1602. Many 
 historians have had access to the later papers, the most 
 important for the purpose of the present volume being 
 Professor Gardiner, Mr. Edwards for his Life of Raleigh, 
 Professor Brewer for his article on " Hatfield House," 
 so often quoted, and Mr. Dalton for his Life of Viscount 
 Wimbledon. 
 
 The papers of the late Marquess of Salisbury at Hatfield 
 are said to rival in interest and importance those of 
 Lord Burghley and his son, but at present they are not 
 accessible to the public. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Alderson, Georgina Caroline, Marchioness of Salisbury, 248, 298 
 
 Alencon, Duke of, 91 
 
 Alington, Sir Giles, 101 note 
 
 Allington, Hugh, 7, 14 
 
 AUt yr Ynys, the Cecils of, 2, 4 — 6 
 
 Armada, the, defeated, 68 
 
 Armenian massacres, 292 
 
 Ascham, Roger, 16, 20 
 
 Anjou, Duke of, 60 
 
 Bacon, Anthony, 70, 154, 156, 157, 158, 161 
 
 Bacon, Francis, 16, 20, 70, 153, 154, 155, 156, 158, 191, 214, 215 
 
 Bacon, Sir Nicholas, 16, 20 
 
 Bacon, Lady (Anne Cooke), 20, 30 
 
 Balfour, Arthur James, 243, 280, 285, 286, 291, 299 note, 301 
 
 Balfour, Lady Blanche, 243, 245 
 
 Balfour, Gerald, 291, 299 note 
 
 Bismarck, Prince, 272, 288 
 
 Beaconsfield, Lord. See Disraeli. 
 
 Beresford-Hope, Alexander, 244 note, 249 
 
 Beresford-Hope, Lady Mildred, 243, 244, 245 
 
 Beresford-Hope, Mary (Mrs. Lowther), 299 
 
 Bennet, Annabella, Countess of Exeter, 137 
 
 Bennet, Frances, Countess of Salisbury, 230 
 
 Berkshire, Thomas Howard, Earl of, 123 
 
 Berlin, Congress and Treaty of, 270 — 274 
 
 Berwick, Treaty of, 222 
 
 Bodleian Library, 161 
 
 Bodley, Sir Thomas, 160, 218 
 
 Boer War, 297, 298 
 
 Bootle-Wilbraham, Lady Florence (Lady William Cecil), 309 
 
 Borough, Sir John, 150 
 
 Boxer outbreak, 299 
 
 British East Africa Company, 288 
 
 British South Africa Company, 289 
 
 Brooke, Elizabeth, wife of Sir Robert Cecil, 166 
 
 Brown, " Capability," 55 
 
 Browne, Edmund, 10 note 
 
 Brownists, the, 10 note, 70 
 
 Brownlow, Elizabeth, Countess of Exeter, 137 
 
 Brydges, Frances, Countess of Exeter, 100, 102 note, 124 note, 
 
 128, 129 
 Buckingham, Duke of, 101, 108, 112— 115, 118, 119, 123, 227 
 
318 INDEX 
 
 Burghley, Lord. See Cecil, William. 
 
 Burghley, manor of, 10 
 
 Burghley House, 33—35. 4°. 53—55. 93. 131— 1 33. 135. 136. 138, 
 
 143 
 Bye Plot, the, 179 
 
 Cadiz Expedition (1596), 161 
 
 Cadiz Expedition (1625), 112 — 119 
 
 Carleton, Sir Dudley, 107, 109, no 
 
 Carnarvon, Lord, 255, 282 
 
 Castlereagh, Lord, 306, 307 
 
 Cavendish, Anne, Lady Rich, Countess of Exeter, 133 
 
 Cecil family, pedigrees and early history, 1 sqq. ; arms, 4, 5 ; 
 
 crests, 10 and note 
 Cecil, Algernon (son of the second Earl of Salisbury), 226 
 Cecil, Ann, Countess of Oxford, 43, 57 — 59, 69 
 Cecil, Anne, Countess of Stamford, 123 
 Cecil, Anne, Countess of Northumberland, 226 
 Cecil, Lady Beatrix Maud, Countess of Selborne, 267, 299 note, 
 
 309 
 
 Cecil, Lady Blanche (Balfour), 243 
 
 Cecil, Brownlow, eighth Earl of Exeter, 137, 138 
 
 Cecil, Brownlow, ninth Earl of Exeter, 138 
 
 Cecil, Brownlow, second Marquess of Exeter, 141 — 143 
 
 Cecil, Brownlow, fourth Marquess of Exeter, 144 
 
 Cecil, Catherine, Countess of Leicester, 227 
 
 Cecil, Charles, Viscount Cranborne (son of the second Earl of 
 Salisbury), 221, 226, 227 
 
 Cecil, Charles (son of the third Earl of Salisbury), 231, 232 
 
 Cecil, David, of Stamford, 1, 2, 5, 7 — 12 
 
 Cecil, David, third Earl of Exeter, 103 note, 131 
 
 Cecil, Diana, Countess of Oxford, no note, 123 
 
 Cecil, Dorothy, Lady Alington, 101 note 
 
 Cecil, General Sir Edward, Viscount Wimbledon, 93, 94, 210, 217, 
 220 ; serves in the Low Countries, 103 — 105, 107, no, 119, 
 120 ; his first marriage, 105 ; at the siege of Juliers, 106; 
 his second marriage, 107 ; quarrels with Baron Dohna, 108, 
 109; commands the expedition to Cadiz, 112 — 119; created 
 Viscount Wimbledon, 115, 119 ; appointed Governor of 
 Portsmouth, 119 ; his death, 120 
 
 Cecil, Lord Edward, 309 
 
 Cecil, Elizabeth, (daughter of Lord Burghley), 56, 63 
 
 Cecil, Elizabeth, Lady Hatton, afterwards Lady Coke, 101, 217 
 
 Cecil, Elizabeth, Countess of Berkshire, 123 
 
 Cecil, Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire, 133, 226 
 
 Cecil, Elizabeth, Countess of Orrery, 137 
 
 Cecil, Lady Emily, Marchioness of Westmeath, 240 
 
 Cecil, Lieut. -Colonel Lord Eustace, 245 
 
 Cecil, Frances, Countess of Shaftesbury, 131 
 
 Cecil, Frances, Countess of Cumberland, 166 
 
 Cecil, Frances, Lady Scudamore, 133, 134 
 
 Cecil, Lady Georgiana, Lady Cowley, 141 note, 240 
 
 Cecil, Lady Gwendolen, 309 
 
INDEX 319 
 
 Cecil, Henry, tenth Earl and first Marquess of Exeter, 138 — 141 
 
 Cecil, Lord Hugh, 309 
 
 Cecil, James, third Earl of Salisbury, 227 — 230 
 
 Cecil, James, fourth Earl of Salisbury, 230 — 232 
 
 Cecil, James, fifth Earl of Salisbury, 233 
 
 Cecil, James, sixth Earl of Salisbury, 233, 234 
 
 Cecil, James, seventh Earl and first Marquess of Salisbury, 
 
 235—237 
 
 Cecil, James Gascoyne-, second Marquess of Salisbury, 240 — 245, 
 249, 259 
 
 Cecil, James, Viscount Cranborne, 245, 246, 254 
 
 Cecil, James, fourth Marquess of Salisbury, 267, 299 note, 308, 309 
 
 Cecil, Jane (mother of Lord Burghley), 10 note, 13, 33, 34, 53, 54, 
 69 
 
 Cecil, John, fourth Earl of Exeter, 131 
 
 Cecil, John, fifth Earl of Exeter, 54, 135 — 137 
 
 Cecil, John, sixth Earl of Exeter, 137 
 
 Cecil, John, seventh Earl of Exeter, 137 
 
 Cecil, Lord John Joicey-, 144, 145 
 
 Cecil, Lucy, Marchioness of Winchester, 93, 105, 217 
 
 Cecil, Lady Mildred (Beresford-Hope), 243, 244, 245 
 
 Cecil, Richard (father of Lord Burghley), 10 — 13, 69 note 
 
 Cecil, Sir Richard, of Wakerley, 93, 103 
 
 Cecil, Sir Robert, first Earl of Salisbury, 6, n note, 43, 70, 78, 92, 
 122, 125 ; Burghley's last letters to him, 71 — 73 ; relations 
 with his brother, 94, 95 ; helps his nephew Edward, 103 — 105 ; 
 his birth and early life, 147, 148 ; his position at Court, 148, 
 149 ; Bacon's opinion of him, 153, 154, 191, 214, 215, 
 relations with the Bacons, 154 — 158 ; made Secretary, 157, 
 169 ; relations with Essex, 158 — 166, 171 ; his marriage, 
 166 ; goes on a mission to France, 169 ; correspondence with 
 James, 171 — 176 ; created Earl of Salisbury, 177 ; relations 
 with Raleigh, 179 — -184 ; his religious policy, 184 — 188 ; 
 his work as Lord Treasurer, 189 — 192 ; his foreign policy, 
 193 ; accepts a pension from Spain, 193, 194 ; his incor- 
 ruptibility, 194 — 196 ; presents received by him, 196 — 201 : 
 his personal tastes, 198 — 202 ; lampoons on him, 202, 203 ; 
 entertains the King at Theobalds, 203 — 205 ; exchanges 
 Theobalds for Hatfield, 204 — 206 ; rebuilds Hatfield, 207, 
 208 ; his last illness and death, 209, 210 ; his confession of 
 faith, 211, 212; slandered after his death, 213, 214; his 
 character, 215 — 218 
 
 Cecil, Robert (son of the second Earl of Salisbury), 226 
 
 Cecil, Lord Robert, 283, 284, 292 
 
 Cecil, Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-, third Marquess of Salis- 
 bury ; his birth and education, 247 ; early years in Parlia- 
 ment, 247 sqq. ; his marriage, 248, 249 ; his contributions to 
 the Quarterly Review, 249, 250, 251, 255, 257, 275, 305 ; his 
 views on Reform, 250, 251, 254, 255 ; his contests with 
 Gladstone, 251 — 255 ; appointed Secretary for India, 255, 
 resigns, 255, 256 ; succeeds to the title, 259 ; his action 
 towards the Irish Church Disestablishment Bill, 260, 261 ; 
 Chancellor of Oxford University, 262 ; again Secretary for 
 
320 INDEX 
 
 India, 263, 264 ; his views on the Church, 264 ; his relations 
 with Disraeli, 264 — 266 ; at the Conference of Constantinople 
 267, 268 ; Gladstone's opinion of him, 267, 278, 281 ; his 
 relations with Lord Derby, 269, 270 ; Foreign Secretary, 
 270 ; at the Berlin Congress, 270 — 273 ; succeeds Beacons- 
 field as leader in the Lords, 274 ; on Home Rule, 276, 277, 
 
 282, 283 ; Prime Minister, 279 ; his " blazing indiscretions," 
 
 283, 284 ; his second administration, 285 — 290 ; his third 
 administration, 290—299 ; defects of his ministry, 291, 292 ; 
 death of his wife, 298 ; his fourth administration, 299, 300 ; 
 resigns, 300 ; his death, 301 ; compared with Lord Burghley, 
 301, 302, 307 ; personal characteristics, 301 — 305 ; his place 
 as a statesman, 305 — 308 
 
 Cecil, Sophia, wife of Henry Pierrepont, 141 note 
 Cecil, Sir Thomas, first Earl of Exeter, 7, 20, 43, 44, 78, 121 ; his 
 birth, 79 ; his adventures on the Continent, 80 — 88 ; his 
 marriage, 89 ; appointed Governor of the Brill, 92 ; relations 
 with his brother, 94, 95 ; succeeds as Lord Burghley, 96 ; 
 appointed President of the North, 97 ; created Earl of 
 Exeter, 100 ; his last years and death, 100 — 102 
 Cecil, Thomas Chambers, 138 
 Cecil, Lady Victoria, 143 
 
 Cecil, William, second Earl of Exeter, 93, 107, 121 — 123 
 Cecil, William, Lord Roos, 100, ioi, 122, 124 — 130 
 Cecil, William, second Earl of Salisbury, 166, 180, 210, 212, 
 
 219 — 225 
 Cecil, William, of Tewin (son of the second Earl of Salisbury), 226 
 Cecil, William (son of the third Earl of Salisbury), 231 
 Cecil, Colonel Lord William, 144 
 Cecil, Rev. Lord William, 309 
 
 Cecil, William Alleyne, third Marquess of Exeter, 143, 144 
 Cecil, William Thomas Brownlow, fifth Marquess of Exeter, 54, 
 
 55 and note, 145 
 Cecil, William, Lord Burghley, 4 — 7, 9, n, 13, 14, 122, 146, 152, 
 160, 169, 172 ; his interest in genealogy and heraldry, 1, 18 ; 
 birth and education, 15, 16 ; his first marriage, 17 ; advance- 
 ment at Court, 19, 21 ; second marriage, 20 ; in favour with 
 Somerset, 21 — 23 ; appointed Secretary of State, 24 ; his 
 behaviour to Somerset, 24 — 26 ; evades responsibility for 
 Northumberland's plot, 29 ; his bad health, 28, 55 ; his 
 position during Mary's reign, 30 — 32 ; his attitude to 
 religious questions, 31, 70, 71 ; his relations with Elizabeth, 
 32, 33 ; receives grants of land, 33 ; enlarges Burghley 
 House, 33 — 35, 40, 53 — 55 ; Secretary of State under 
 Elizabeth, 36 ; his share in the religious settlement of 1559, 
 37 ; negotiates the Treaty of Edinburgh, 38 ; made Master 
 of the Court of Wards, 38, 39 ; enlarges Cecil House, 40 ; 
 builds Theobalds, 40 — 43 ; his children, 43 ; plots against 
 him, 44, 45, 49, 50, 64 ; authorised use of torture, 47, 48 ; 
 his magnanimity to opponents, 48 ; created Lord Burghley, 
 51 ; made Lord Treasurer, 52 ; his expenses, 52, 53 ; meets 
 Mary Queen of Scots at Buxton, 55, 56 ; marriage of his 
 daughter to the Earl of Oxford, 57 — 59 ; his encouragement 
 
INDEX 321 
 
 of trade, 61 ; his treatment of Drake, 61 — 63 ; his disgrace 
 after the death of Mary, 66, 67 ; death of his wife, 69 ; last 
 letters to his son, 71 — 73 ; his death, 73 ; Elizabeth's affection 
 for him, 74 ; his policy and its results, 75, 76 ; personal 
 characteristics, 76, 77 ; his property and will, 78 ; relations 
 with his son Thomas, 79 — 89, 97 ; compared with the late 
 Lord Salisbury, 301, 302, 307 
 
 Cecil House, 40, 120 note 
 
 Ceciles, the, of Burgundy, 4 
 
 Chamberlain, Joseph, 291 
 
 Charles I., 112, 222, 223, 224, 225 
 
 Charles II., 228, 229 
 
 Cheke, Sir John, 16, 17, 21, 24, 31 
 
 Cheke, Mary, wife of William Cecil, 17, 20 
 
 Chelmsford, Lord, 244, 245 
 
 Christian IV., King of Denmark, 203, 204 
 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, 279, 285 
 
 Cleveland, President, 294 
 
 Cobham, Lord, 166, 179, 180 
 
 Coke, Sir Edward, 101, 155, 181 
 
 Coningsby, Thomas, Lord, 134, 135 
 
 Constantinople, Conference of, 267, 268 
 
 Conway, Lord, 226 
 
 Cooke, Sir Anthony, 20, 21, 31, 43 
 
 Cooke, Mildred, wife of William Cecil, 20, 21, 43, 69 
 
 Cope, Sir Walter, 183, 194, 212, 216 
 
 Cottington, Lord, 221, 222 
 
 Cranborne, manor of, 177 note 
 
 Cranborne, Viscounts. See Cecil. 
 
 Cranbrook, Lord (Gathome Hardy), 280, 296 
 
 Crete, 293 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 131 — 133 
 
 Cumberland, Henry Clifford, Earl of, 166 
 
 Cyssell. See Cecil. 
 
 Davison, William, 66, 160, 172 
 
 De la Hay, Paul, 5, 6 
 
 Delany, Mrs., 233, 234 
 
 Derby, fourteenth Earl of, 245, 255, 256, 262 
 
 Derby, fifteenth Earl of, 246, 269 
 
 Derby, Elizabeth, Countess of, 150 
 
 De Ros, Lord. See Roos. 
 
 De Spes, Guerau, 49, 50 
 
 Devonshire, William, third Earl of, 227 
 
 Devonshire, Duke of, 285, 291 
 
 Devonshire, Georgiana, Duchess of, 235, 236 
 
 Dicons, Alice, 9 
 
 Disraeli, Benjamin (Lord Beaconsfield), 143, 242, 244, 253, 255, 
 
 256, 263, 264, 266, 273, 274, 300 
 Dohna, Baron, 108, 109 
 Dolci, Carlo, 135 
 Dorset, Earl of, 189, 213, 218 
 Doughty, Thomas, 63 
 
 C. Y 
 
322 INDEX 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis, 61 — 63 
 
 Drury, Diana, second wife of Sir Edward Cecil, 107 
 
 Drury, Elizabeth, Countess of Exeter, 123, 124, 133 
 
 Dryden, John, 123 note 
 
 Dudley, Lord Guilford, 27 
 
 Dudley, Lord Robert. See Leicester, Earl of. 
 
 Edinburgh, Treaty of, 38 
 
 Edward VII., 300 
 
 Egerton, Elizabeth, Countess of Exeter, 124 note, 131 
 
 Egerton, Sir Thomas, 162 
 
 Elector Palatine, the, 107 — 109 
 
 Elgin, Thomas Bruce, Earl of, 123 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 32, 33, 36, 40, 41, 47, 52, 60, 66, 67, 74, 91, 97, 
 
 *47 — 1 5°. i5 2 . 155. 156, 172 — 176, 178, 206, 207 
 Elizabeth, Princess, daughter of James I., 107 
 Essex, Robert Devereux, second Earl of, 56 note, 70, 98, 114, 119, 
 
 154. I 55. 158—165, 169, 171 
 Essex, Walter Devereux, first Earl of, 56 note 
 Essex, Countess of (Frances Walsingham), 162, 217 
 Essex, Countess of (Frances Howard), 219 
 Evelyn, John, 208 
 Exeter, Earls and Marquesses of. See Cecil. 
 
 Fakenham, Sir William, 2 
 
 Fane, Mary, Countess of Exeter, 133 
 
 Fashoda incident, the, 297 
 
 Felton, John, 47 
 
 Fox, Charles James, 235, 236 
 
 France, agreement with (1890), 289 ; the Fashoda incident, 297 ; 
 
 agreement with (1904), 297 
 Franchise Bill (1884), 277 
 
 Gascoyne, Frances Mary, Marchioness of Salisbury, 241 — 243 
 
 Gascoyne-Cecil. See Cecil. 
 
 George III., 235 
 
 Germany, agreement with (1890), 288 ; and the Jameson Raid, 
 
 294 ; in China, 295 
 Gibbons, Grinling, 135 
 Giordano, Luca, 135 
 Gladstone, W. E., 247, 248, 251 — 255, 259, 263, 266, 267, 274, 
 
 275, 277 — 279, 281, 290, 302 
 Gondomar, Count, 128 
 Gordon, General, 279 
 
 Gore, Lady Cicely Alice, Marchioness of Salisbury, 309 
 Goschen, G. J. (afterwards Lord), 285, 291 
 Grand Almonership, the, 54, 90 note 
 Granville, Lord, 281, 288 
 Gray, Master of, 172, 173 
 Gresham, Sir Thomas, 87 
 Grey, Lady Jane, 20, 27 
 Gunpowder Plot, the, 185 
 
INDEX 323 
 
 Hamilton, Elizabeth, Duchess of, Marchioness of Exeter, 141 
 
 Hampton Court Conference, 187 
 
 Harington, Sir John, 178, 203, 204 
 
 Harrington, Lord. See Devonshire, Duke of. 
 
 Hatfield House, 204, 206 — 209, 234, 242, 302, 303, 305 
 
 Hatton, Sir Christopher, 34, 67 
 
 Hatton, Frances, Lady Purbeck, 101 
 
 Hatton, Sir William, 101 
 
 Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, 295 
 
 Heckington, Jane. See Cecil, Jane. 
 
 Heligoland, 288, 289 
 
 Heneage, Sir Thomas, 95 
 
 Henry, Prince of Wales, 100, 106, 107, 220 
 
 Hertford, Earl of. See Somerset. 
 
 Hicks-Beach, Sir Michael (Lord St. Aldwyn), 280, 286, 291 
 
 Hill, Mary Amelia, Marchioness of Salisbury, 235 — 240 
 
 Hobart, Sir John, 99 
 
 Hoby, Sir Thomas, 20 
 
 Hoby, Lady (Elizabeth Cooke), 20, 48 
 
 Hoggins, Sarah, Countess of Exeter, 140, 141 
 
 Home Rule, 276, 277, 282, 283 ; Bills, 283, 285, 290 
 
 Hong-Kong, 296 
 
 Housing of the Working Classes Bill, 281 
 
 Howard, Catherine, Countess of Salisbury, 218, 220 
 
 Howard of Effingham, Lord, 167 
 
 India, 255, 263, 264 
 
 Irish Church Suspensory Bill, 259, 260 ; Disestablishment Bill, 
 
 260, 261 ; Land Acts, 275, 287 ; Local Government Act, 
 
 291 
 
 James I., 99, 102, 108 — no, 112, 115, 128 — 130, 171 — 179, 
 
 184 — 193, 195, 196, 203 — 206, 214, 215, 221, 222 
 James II. (Duke of York), 228, 229, 232 
 Jameson Raid, 294 
 Japan, alliance with, 300 
 Joicey-Cecil. See Cecil. 
 Jonson, Ben, 205, 216 
 Juliers, siege of, 106 
 
 Keet, Elizabeth, Countess of Salisbury, 233, 234 
 
 Kiao Chau, 295 
 
 Kimberley, Lord, 292 
 
 Kitchener, Lord, 297 
 
 Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 136 
 
 Knollys, Sir William, 165 
 
 Laguerre, Louis, 135 
 
 Lake, Elizabeth (Lady Roos), 127 — 130 
 
 Lake, Sir Thomas and Lady, 127 — 130 
 
 Lambton, Lady Eleanor (Lady Robert Cecil), 309 
 
 Lansdowne, Lord, 297, 299 
 
 Latimer, John Neville, Lord, 89 
 
324 INDEX 
 
 Leicester, Philip Sidney, third Earl of, 227 
 
 Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, 38, 45, 56, 57, 60, 62, 63, 68, 92, 
 
 172 
 Lely, Sir Peter, 136 
 Life Peerage Bills, 261, 262 
 Lorkin, Rev. Thomas, 126 
 Lowther, J. W., 299 
 Lyminge, Robert, 207 
 Lytton, Robert, Lord, 256, 274, 308 
 
 Manners, Elizabeth, Lady Roos, Countess of Exeter, 121, 122 
 
 Manners, Frances, Countess of Exeter, 124 note, 133 
 
 Manners, Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, 230 
 
 Mary, Queen, 30 — 32, 36 
 
 Mary Stuart, 37, 44 — 47, 49, 55, 66, 80, 172 
 
 Mather, Edmund, 50 
 
 Maurice, Prince, 105, 106 
 
 Maxse, Violet (Lady Edward Cecil), 309 
 
 Maxwell, Diana (Lady Cranborne), 226 
 
 Medici, Duke Ferdinand de', 103 
 
 Molle, John, 125 
 
 Morley, Lord, 282 
 
 Nassau, Count Ernest of, 107 
 
 Naunton, Sir Robert, 109, 147, 148, 221, 222 
 
 Neville, Dorothy, Countess of Exeter, 89, 100 
 
 Neville, Sir Henry, 189, 217 
 
 Nieuport, battle of, 104 
 
 Noel, Theodosia, wife of Sir Edward Cecil, 105, 107 
 
 Norden, John, 77 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, 45, 46, 48, 49, 51 
 
 Northbrook, Lord, 263 
 
 Northcote, Sir Stafford (Earl of Iddesleigh), 269, 274, 277, 279, 
 
 280, 285, 286, 288 
 Northumberland, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Duke of, 23, 24, 
 
 27, 29, 30 
 Northumberland, Sir Henry Percy, eighth Earl of, 89 
 Northumberland, Henry, ninth Earl of, 197 
 Northumberland, Algernon, tenth Earl of, 226 
 
 O'Neill, Conn, 19, 20 
 
 Orde-Powlett, Myra Rowena Sibell, Marchioness of Exeter, 145 
 
 Orrery, Charles Boyle, fourth Earl of, 137 
 
 Orrery, John Boyle, fifth Earl of, 137 
 
 Oxford, Edward Vere, seventeenth Earl of, 57 — 59 
 
 Oxford, Henry Vere, eighteenth Earl of, no, 123 
 
 Pakenham, Georgina Sophia, Marchioness of Exeter, 144 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, 251, 252, 254 
 
 Panama Canal, 295 
 
 Paper Duties, repeal of, 251 — 253 
 
 Parker, Archbishop, 16 
 
 Parliamentary Proceedings Bill, 261 
 
INDEX 325 
 
 Parnell, C. S., 282 
 
 Pauncefote, Sir Julian (afterwards Lord), 295 
 
 Peel, General, 248, 255 
 
 Penjdeh incident, the, 281 
 
 Pepys, Samuel, 208, 209, 225 
 
 Percy, Sir Henry. See Northumberland, Earl of. 
 
 Perrot, Sir John, in, 112 
 
 Peterborough, Earl of, 230, 231 
 
 Philip III. of Spain, 126, 127 
 
 Philipp, Sir David, 7, 9 
 
 Philopatris, n 
 
 Pitt, William, 306, 307 
 
 Port Arthur, 295, 296 
 
 Portugal, Convention with (1890), 289, 290 
 
 Poyntz, Isabella, Marchioness of Exeter, 142 
 
 Prior, Matthew, 136 
 
 Puckering, Sir Thomas, 126 
 
 Purbeck, Viscount, 101 
 
 Quarterly Review, the, 249 — 251, 255, 257, 275, 305 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, 150 — 152, 166, 167, 179 — 184 
 Raleigh, Lady, 181, 182 
 Redgrave, Richard, 244, 245 
 
 Reform and Reform Bills, 250, 251, 254 — 257, 261 
 Rich, Anne, Lady, Countess of Exeter, 133, 136 
 Richmond, Duke of, 298 
 Ridolfi Plot, the, 49 
 Robsart, Amy, 38 
 
 Rochester, Robert Carr, Viscount, 189 
 Roos, Lord. See Cecil. 
 
 Roos, Elizabeth Manners, Lady, Countess of Exeter, 121, 122 
 Roos, Joan, 9 
 Rosebery, Lord, 290, 301 
 Ross, Bishop of, 51 
 
 Russell, Lord John (afterwards Earl), 251, 254, 261 
 Russell, John, Lord, 20 
 
 Russell, Lady (Elizabeth Cooke), 20, 156, 157, 168, 217 
 Russia, war with Turkey, 268 ; in the Far East, 295, 296 ; agree- 
 ment with (1899), 296 
 Rutland, Edward, third Earl of, 121 
 Rutland, John, fourth Earl of, 125 note 
 
 Salisbury, Earls and Marquesses of. See Cecil. 
 
 Salisbury Circular, the, 270 
 
 Salisbury House, 242 
 
 Samoa Convention, 295 
 
 San Stefano, Treaty of, 268, 270, 272 
 
 Saturday Review, the, 249 
 
 Scudamore, Viscount, 134 
 
 Seycelds, the, of AUt yr Ynys, 4 — 6 
 
 Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, 131 
 
 Sheffield, Lord, 199, 218 
 
326 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Shrewsbury, Earl of, 150, 202 
 
 Shuvalov, Count, 270 — 272 
 
 Sidney, Sir Philip, 57, 59 note 
 
 Sitsilt, Sir James, 2, 3 
 
 Sitsilt, Sir John, 2, 3 
 
 Smith, Sir Thomas, 100 
 
 Smith, W. H., 285, 286 
 
 Sneyd, Rev. William, 139, 140 
 
 Somerset, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, Duke of, 21 — 25 
 
 Southampton, Earl of, 165, 207 
 
 Southampton, Countess of, 217 
 
 Spanish- American War, 295 
 
 Spenser, Edmund, 77 
 
 Stafford, Sir Edward, 67 
 
 Stamford, Earl of, 123, 124 
 
 Stuart, Arabella, 181 
 
 Sudan, reconquest of the, 296, 297 
 
 Suffolk, Thomas Howard, first Earl of, 207, 222 
 
 Suffolk, Duchess of, 31, 39 
 
 Sussex, Earl of, 63 
 
 Tait, Archbishop, 260 
 
 Theobalds, 40—43, 202 — 206 
 
 Throckmorton, Sir Nicholas, 45, 80, 84, 85 
 
 Tradescant, John, 209 
 
 Triple Alliance, the, 287 
 
 Tufton, Anne, Countess of Salisbury, 233 
 
 Tufton, Lady (Frances Cecil), 217, 233 note 
 
 Turkey, war with Russia, 268 ; Armenian massacres, 292, 293 
 
 United States of America, 294, 295 
 
 Venezuela, 294 
 
 Vere, Lady Bridget, 217 
 
 Vere, Sir Edward, 114 note 
 
 Vere, Sir Francis, 103 — 105 
 
 Vere, Sir Horace, 109, no, 113 
 
 Vernon, Emma, wife of Henry Cecil, 138 — 140 
 
 Verrio, Antonio, 135, 136 
 
 Victoria, Queen, 142, 300, 302 
 
 Villiers, Sir John, Viscount Purbeck, 101 
 
 Walsingham, Sir Francis, 59, 62, 63, 68, 75, 121, 159, 172 
 
 Warwick, Earl of. See Northumberland, Duke of. 
 
 Wei-Hai-Wei, 296 
 
 Wellesley, Lord Charles, 141 note 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, 141 note, 242, 243 
 
 Wentworth, William, 63 
 
 West, Lady Mary Catherine, Marchioness of Salisbury and 
 
 afterwards Countess of Derby, 244 — 246 
 Westmeath, Marquess of, 240 
 Whichcote, Isabella, Marchioness of Exeter, 145 
 Whitgift, Archbishop, 70, 71 
 
INDEX 
 
 Wilberforce, Bishop, 302, 303 
 
 William II., the Emperor, 204 
 
 William IV., 242 
 
 Wilson, Thomas, 207 
 
 Wimbledon Hall, 94, 97 
 
 Winchester, William, fourth Marquess of 93 101 
 
 Windebank, Thomas, 80 — 88 
 
 Wingfield, Anthony, 202 
 
 Winwood, Sir Ralph, 106 
 
 Wissing, William, 136 
 
 Worcester, Earl of, 207 
 
 Workmen's Compensation Act, 291 
 
 Wothorpe House, 98 
 
 Wotton, Sir Edward, 218 
 
 Wotton, Sir Henry, 174, 186 
 
 Young, Robert, 232 
 
 Zouch, Sophie (Viscountess Wimbledon), 120 
 
 327 
 
 BtfADBURY, AfJNEW, & CO. LO., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. 
 

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