CECIL. 







ful purpose, since he was satisfied that the French 

 government, whether Protestant or Catholic, would 

 remain equally the rival of England. He persevered 

 . Jingly in the same cautious course, after the 

 massacre of St Bartholomew had kindled the spirit 

 of the nation to such a height as to make our nobles 

 and gentry come forward and volunteer a crusade 

 gainst the Catholics of France at the head of 30,000 

 men. 



The policy of Elizabeth, in regard to Scotland, 

 was more delicate and complicated than towards either 

 France or Spain. Mary had committed the impru- 

 dence, never to be forgiven, of assuming her title, 

 and disputing her legitimacy. She eclipsed Eliza- 

 beth, likewise, in those personal charms, of which 

 the queen of England was as jealous as the less en- 

 lightened part of her sex. On the other hand, the 

 free teuets of the Scottish Protestants were as much 

 the aversion of Elizabeth as those of her own Puri- 

 tans. When they proceeded to bring their sovereign 

 to trial, and to deprive her of her liberty and her 

 power, the high prerogative feelings of Elizabeth 

 were alarmed, and she could with difficulty be re- 

 strained from sending an army against them. The 

 long confinement to which Mary was afterwards sub- 

 jected in England, resulted from the concurrent ad- 

 vice of Cecil and of all Elizabeth's ministers, who 

 regarded her as an implacable enemy, both to their 

 mistress and their religion. They represented, like- 

 wise, that the possession of the person of the Scot 

 tish sovereign gave Elizabeth a powerful hold over 

 the Protestants in Scotland, who dreaded nothing so 

 much as the return of an offended sovereign. In the 

 trial of the unfortunate Mary, Cecil was one of the 

 leading commissioners. He was privy, also, to the 

 transmission of the warrant for her execution, though 

 by no means the principal cause of that unjustifiable 

 act, as his artful sovereign affected to declare. No 

 princess ever understood better than Elizabeth, the 

 art of shifting odium from herself ; the blame of the 

 Duke of Norfolk's death having, in like manner, been 

 charged by her on Cecil. 



To perform the various duties of the situations oc- 

 cupied by this statesman, required an extraordinary 

 share of application. Yet, by adhering strictly to me- 

 thod, and to his favourite maxim, that the " shortest 

 way to do many things is to do one thing at once," 

 he contrived to fulfil his task without either hurry or 

 confusion. In his court, he expedited more causes 

 in one term than his predecessors had been accustom- 

 ed to get through in a twelvemonth. Even when 

 labouring under severe pain from gout, he frequent- 

 ly made himself be carried to his office for the dis- 

 patch of business ; and one of his contemporaries has 

 declared, that, during a period of twenty-four years, 

 he never saw him idle for half an hour together. He 

 was remarked for preserving an unaltered counte- 

 nance in the most embarrassing situations., and for al- 

 lowing no one among his friends to acquire an ascen- 

 dency over him, so as to influence his public conduct. 

 He behaved with great command of temper towards 

 his enemies ; and as he favoured his familiar acquaint- 

 ances no more than strangers, in regard to govern- 

 ment promotions, it became a common saying, that 

 he was a " better enemy than friend." Merit in 

 their respective departments was with him the only 

 title to preferment j and never were the agents of the 



English government better chosen than under hit 

 direction. He was remarkable for obtaining early 

 intelligence of the secret plans of the queen'* enemies, 

 both at home and abroad ; and if the method* to 

 which he resorted for this purpose were exception- 

 able, we should recollect, that he lived in an age 

 when the public doctrine of his antagonist* was, to 

 " keep no faith with heretics." No man could be 

 more delicate or impartial in the administration of 

 justice, a virtue by no means common in those days, 

 when the favour of the great was the road to wealth 

 and preferment. It was common for him to receive 

 every day, during term time, a number of petitions, 

 which he took home with him, read during the even- 

 ing, and was ready with his answers to the whole 

 body of applicants the next morning. 



His stile of living was more costly than might 

 have been expected in a man so completely absorbed 

 in business. He had four places of residence, his 

 lodgings at court, his house in the Strand, his seat 

 at Theobald's, which was his favourite resort, and 

 Burleigh-house, the family residence. It was com- 

 puted, that his domestic expences at his house in 

 London amounted to L. 30 a week in his absence, 

 and L. 40 or L. 50 when he was present. This stile 

 of expence, and the open hospitality connected with 

 it, have been ascribed to the view of cultivating po- 

 pularity. It was at Theobald's that he was accus- 

 tomed to receive his share of those frequent visits 

 with which his royal mistress was accustomed to com- 

 pliment her principal ministers. In regard to the 

 queen's temper, though his gravity and respectabili- 

 ty of character exempted him from frequent returns 

 of those sallies of passion which she was accustomed 

 to vent on her courtiers, he was subjected, notwith- 

 standing, to serious mortification. At several pe- 

 riods of his long career, we find him desirous of reti- 

 ring from office ; but Elizabeth would never listen 

 to it, and used to rally him on it in letters which 

 are still preserved, and form a curious contrast to 

 the stately gravity of official communications in the 

 present day. While she would not hesitate, when 

 contradicted, to call him a froward old fool ;" 

 she was studious, at other times, to make up, by a 

 return of attention, for such occasional rudeness. 

 When, in his latter years, his gout had become very 

 troublesome, she used to make him sit down in her 

 presence, saying, " My lord, we make use of you, 

 not for your bad legs, but for your good head." 

 The attacks of this complaint concurred, with his 

 habit of business, in rendering him very temperate. 

 His rule was, to partake of few dishes, to drink only 

 thrice at a meal, and very seldom of wine. Though 

 noon was, in these days, the hour of dinner, it was 

 not unusual with him to refrain from supper. 



Burleigh was remarked for his piety, and, in re- 

 gard to his tenets, was strictly attached to the esta- 

 blished church. He was regarded, in fact, as its of- 

 ficial protector at court ; a circumstance which is 

 thought to have induced his rival Leicester to place 

 himself at the head of the Puritans. In addition to 

 his other good qualities, he was eminently charitable, 

 it being computed that he and Lady Burleigh distri- 

 buted annually L. 500 to the poor. His death took 

 place in 1598, in his 78th year. In summing up the 

 leading features of his character, we find no preten- 

 sions to the possession of oratory, or of engaging 



