CECIL, William, Lord Burghlcy, treasurer of England in the rcign of Queen Elizabeth, was the son of Richard Cecil, Esq. master of the robes to King Henry VIII. He was born in the house of his grandfather, David Ceci), Esq. at Bourn, in Lincolnshire, in the year 1520, and received the rudiments of his education in the grammar school at Grantham. From this seminary he was removed to Stamford, and about the year 1535 was entered of St John’s College, Cambridge. Here he began his studies with a degree of enthusiastic application very uncommon in young gentlemen of family. At the age of sixteen he read a sophistry lecture, and at nineteen a voluntary Greek lecture, which was the more extraordinary as at that time the Greek language was by no means universally understood. In 1541 he went to London, and became a member of the society of Gray’s Inn, with an intention of studying the law; but he had not been long in this situation before an accident introduced him to King Henry, and gave a new bias to his pursuits. O’Neil, a famous Irish chief, having brought to court with him two [7:6:269]Irish chaplains, violent bigots to the Romish faith, Mr Cecil, happening to meet these ecclesiastics when on a visit to his father, had a warm dispute with them in Latin, in which he displayed uncommon abilities. The king, being informed of the circumstance, ordered the young man into his presence, and was so pleased with his conversation that he commanded his father to find a place for him. He accordingly requested the reversion of the custos brevium, which Mr Cecil afterwards possessed. About this time he married the sister of Sir John Cheke, by whom he was recommended to the Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset and protector.

Soon after King Edward’s accession, Mr Cecil came into the possession of the office of custos brevium, worth about L.240 a year; and his first lady dying in 1543, he married the daughter of Sir Anthony Cook, director of the king’s studies. In 1547 he was appointed by the protector master of requests, and soon afterwards attended his noble patron in his expedition against the Scots, and was present at the battle of Musselburgh. In this battle, which was fought on the 10th of September 1547, Mr Cecil’s life was miraculously preserved by a friend, who, on pushing him out of the line of a cannon-shot, had his arm shattered to pieces. The sight and judgment of his friend must have been as extraordinary as his friendship, to perceive the precise direction of a cannon-ball; unless we suppose that the ball was almost quite spent, in which case the thing is not impossible. The story is told in his life by a domestic. In the year 1548 Mr Cecil was made secretary of state; but in the following year the Duke of Northumberland’s faction prevailing, he suffered in the disgrace of the protector Somerset, and was sent prisoner to the Tower. After three months’ confinement he was released, restored to his office in 1551, and soon afterwards knighted and sworn of the privy council. In 1553 he was made chancellor of the order of the Garter, with an annual fee of a hundred merks.

On the death of Edward VI. Sir William Cecil prudently refused to have any concern in Northumberland’s attempt in favour of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey; and when Queen Mary succeeded to the throne, he was graciously received at court; but not choosing to change his religion, was dismissed from all his employments. During this reign he was twice elected knight of the shire for the county of Lincoln, and often spoke in the House of Commons with great freedom and firmness, in opposition to the ministry. Nevertheless, though a protestant and a patriot, he had die address to steer through a very dangerous sea without suffering shipwreck.

Queen Elizabeth’s accession, in the year 1558, immediately dispelled the cloud which had obscured his fortunes and ministerial capacity. During the horrid reign of her sister he had constantly corresponded with the princess Elizabeth; upon the very day of her accession, he presented her with a paper containing twelve articles necessary for her immediate dispatch; and, in a few days after, he was sworn of the privy council, and made secretary of state. His first advice to the queen was to call a parliament; and the first business he proposed after it had assembled was the establishment of a national church. A plan of reformation was accordingly drawn up under his immediate inspection, and the legal establishment of the church of England was the consequence. Sir William Cecil’s next important concern was to restore the value of the coin, which had been considerably debased in the preceding reigns. In 1561 he was appointed master of the wards, and, in 1571, created Baron of Burghley as a reward for his services, particularly in having lately stifled a formidable rebellion in the north. The following year he was honoured with the garter, and raised to the office of lord high treasurer of England. From this period we find him the prime mover of every material transaction during the glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth. Notwithstanding the temporary influence of other favourites, Lord Burghley was, in fact, her prime minister, and the person in whom she chiefly confided in matters of real importance. Having filled the highest and most important offices of the government for forty years, and guided the helm of the state during the most glorious period of English history, he departed this life on the 4th of August 1598, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. His body was removed to Stamford, and there deposited in the family vault, where a magnificent tomb was erected to his memory.

He wrote, 1. La Complainte de l , Ame pécheresse, or the Complaint of a sinful Soul, in French verse; 2. Materials for Patten’s Diarium Exped. Scoticae, London, 1541, 12mo; 3. Slanders and Lies, maliciously, grossly, and impudently vomited out in certain trãiterous books and pamphlets against two counsellors, Sir Francis Bacon and Sir William Cecil; 4. A Speech in Parliament, 1562, Strype’s Mem. vol. iv. p. 107; 5. Precepts or Directions for the well ordering of a Man’s Life, 1637, Harl. Cat. vol. ii. p. 755; 6. Meditations on the Death of his Lady, Ballard’s Mem. p. 184; 7. Meditations on the state of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, manuscript; 8. The execution of justice in England for the maintenance of public and Christian peace, &c. Lond. 1581, 1583, Somers Tracts, 4th Collect, vol. i. p. 5; 9. Advice to Queen Elizabeth in Matters of Religion and State, ib. p. 101, 106; 10. A great number of Letters; 11. Several Pedigrees, some of which are preserved in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s library at Lambeth.