Burghley, WILLIAM CECIL, LORD, one of England's greatest statesmen, was born at Bourn, Lincolnshire, his grandfather's seat, 13th September 1520. His father, Richard Cecil of Burghley, Northamptonshire, rose high in favour with Henry VIII., and left large estates at his death in 1552. Educated at the grammar-schools of Stamford and Grantham, young Cecil thence passed in 1535 to St John's College, Cambridge, where he was remarkable alike for his diligence and aptitude in learning, but where he formed an imprudent attachment for a wine-seller's daughter, Mary Cheke, the sister of the great Greek scholar. They were married in 1541, two months after his entering Gray's Inn, but she died three years later, leaving him one son. At Gray's Inn he devoted himself assiduously to the study of law. History, genealogy, and theology also formed part of his studies at this time; and his knowledge of the last recommended him to the notice of Henry VIII., who in 1547 presented him with the valuable office of eustos brevium. His second marriage (1545), to the daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, procured him the patronage of the Protector Somerset, who in 1547 made him Master of Requests, and in the following year his secretary. He shared in Somerset's disgrace, even to two months' imprisonment in the Tower; but in 1550 his pre-eminent abilities secured for him the post of secretary of state, and in 1551 the honour of knighthood. During his second secretaryship,
Cecil effected most important and beneficial changes in the commercial policy of the country. With a sagacity far beyond the spirit of his age, he endeavoured to throw trade open, and did succeed in abolishing some monopolies; but others proved too strong for him, standing as he did alone, at a time when exclusive privileges were considered the only sureties of a profitable trade. During Mary's reign he conformed to Catholicism, and was one of Pole's escort from Brussels to England, but to him was mainly owing the rejection of the bill introduced into parliament to confiscate the estates of Protestant refugees. Prior to Mary's death, he had entered into correspondence with Elizabeth, who, on her accession to the throne (1558), at once recognising Cecil's capacity for government, appointed him chief secretary of state. A life of Cecil from this time until his death would be a forty years' history of England, when England was greatest, seeing that he was alike the originator and director of that policy which made Elizabeth's reign memorable above that of any other English sovereign. For although Elizabeth, in occasional caprice, might favour other courtiers, Burghley was the statesman whose judgment she relied on in all matters of consequence. His policy at home and abroad was at once shrewd and cautious, liberal and comprehensive, while he displayed a power of decision, ready and stern, when necessity demanded. As a statesman, he was above animosities and favouritism; his enemies never suffered, and his friends profited nothing, by his power. Capacity, truth, and honour were what he sought in public men. Had he been less just, history might have been more generous to his memory, whose darkest blot is his employment of a whole army of spies. The queen created him Baron Burghley in 1571, and conferred on him the Order of the Garter in the succeeding year, when he was also made lord high treasurer, an office he held till his death. His emoluments were as nothing to his expenditure, which was especially lavish in the building and beautifying of his stately mansions—Burghley, Theobalds in Herts, and Cecil House in the Strand. He died at the last of these on 4th August 1598, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. From his first-born, Thomas (1542-1622), created Earl of Exeter in 1605, was descended Henry, eighth earl (1754-1804), who in 1801 was made Marquis of Exeter, and whose marriage, as 'John Jones' in 1790, three years before his accession to the earldom, to a Shropshire maiden, Sarah Hoggins (1773-97), furnis the theme of Tennyson's 'Lord of Burleigh.' From the second son, Robert (1563-1612), created Earl of Salisbury in 1605, came James, seventh earl, who was raised to the Marquise of Salisbury in 1789.
See the Memoirs of Lord Burghley by Nares (3 vols. 1828-31), the Life by Martin Hume (1898), and works cited at ELIZABETH.