HATFIELD HOUSE 209 



Burleigh's son should possess a Garden as well as 

 a House which was the envy of all. Sir Robert 

 Cecil changed the site of his new House at Hat- 

 field to a more commanding position, eastward of 

 the old Palace. John Thorpe, the architect of 

 Holland House, Kensington, has often been men- 

 tioned as the designer of Hatfield, and though 

 there is nothing to prove this the two houses bear 

 a strong resemblance. On the other hand, it is 

 said on good authority that Sir Robert was his 

 own architect ; if so, he should be remembered as 

 much on account of the beautiful House he designed 

 as for his cautious statesmanship. Hatfield is the 

 first House said to have been designed with refer- 

 ence to the landscape with which it would be 

 surrounded. Certainly it is most happily placed, 

 both sides of the great House facing down long 

 Avenues of double rows of trees, beyond which lies 

 the Park beautifully wooded, the trees being princi- 

 pally Oak. Elm, and Ash, while the undergrowth 

 of Rhododendrons makes the woods a lovely sight 

 in the Spring. Pepys evidently thought that the 

 first Lord Salisbury (Sir Robert Cecil had been 

 created Earl of Salisbury in 1605) nad bestowed 

 as much care upon his Gardens as on his 

 House, for he writes in his celebrated Diary, 1661 : 

 "July 22nd I came to Hatfield before 12 o'clock, 

 where I had a very good dinner with my hostess at 

 my Lord Salisbury's inn and after dinner though 



