with, she suffered herself to be at length mollified, and received him again into favour.*

We have now taken a survey of the part acted by Cecil in regard to religion, to domestic and to foreign policy. A striking characteristic, and one hardly ever possessed to an equal degree by other statesmen, was a uniformity in his plans, the result of a mind always cool and deliberate, seldom blinded by prejudice, and never precipitated by passion. On some occasions we may dissent from his opinion, and in a few we may suspect the qualities of his heart; but, in general, we must allow that the measures which Elizabeth pursued in opposition to his sentiments were the chief defects of her government; while those which she adopted in conformity to his counsels produced the boasted prosperity and glory of her reign.

It has long since been observed, that the most successful statesman is scarcely an object of envy; that his pre-eminence is dearly purchased by unceasing disquietudes, and that his honours are an inadequate compensation for his mortifications and dangers. While nations, like individuals, are liable to be agitated by violent passions, and misled by false views of interest, the advocate of moderation and peace is often the object of popular reproach. Such was not unfrequently the case of Cecil. So wildly were the minds of men possessed with the prospect of military glory and Mexican gold, that his opposition to the continuance of the Spanish war subjected him even to personal danger from the populace. The more violent among the clergy, because he attempted to restrain their persecuting spirit, reviled him as a puritan in disguise, as a secret enemy to the church; while the more zealous dissenters were no less suspicious of his endeavours to persuade them into conformity. From his supposed influence in public affairs, the enemies of government were also his personal enemies. The friends of Mary queen of Scots, and the partisans of the popish religion, regarded him as their capital foe;

* Strype's Annals, vol. iii. p. 370.

and not satisfied with incessantly defaming him by libels, they attempted more than once to take him off by assassination. In one of these attempts, for which two assassins were executed, the Spanish ambassador was suspected to have been concerned, and was, in consequence, ordered to depart the kingdom.

His influence with Elizabeth exposed him to equal hatred from the majority of the courtiers. The earl of Leicester was at the head of all the intrigues against him, and made, on one occasion, a bold effort to accomplish his ruin. In concert with the principal courtiers, he planned that Cecil should be unexpectedly accused before the privy council, arrested without the knowledge of the queen, and immediately sent to the Tower. When thus removed from the queen's presence, abundance of accusations, it was imagined, might be procured to elicit her consent to his trial and condemnation.* This plot had nearly reached its accomplishment, and Cecil was resisting his accusers in the privy council with very little effect, when Elizabeth, who had been privately informed of the design, suddenly entered the room, and addressed, to the astonished counsellors, one of those appalling reprimands which were more distinguished for vigour than delicacy.†

As a compensation for these disquietudes, and a recompense for his services, we should not be surprised to find Cecil loaded with the favours of his sovereign. But that princess was proverbially frugal of her rewards. Her love of economy was frequently carried to a blameable excess, and her confidential ministers abridged of the means to serve her with advantage. There remain various letters of sir Francis Walsingham, complaining of his being wholly unable, on his scanty appointments, to support his establishment, though very inadequate to his quality of ambassador in France. Other ministers had equal reason for complaint; and there were many more fortunes spent than made in her service. In the

*Life of William Lord Burghley, p. 19.

+ Harleian MSS. in British Museum, No. 260.

+ Camden's Annals Eliz.

distribution of honours her frugality was no less conspicuous, and could be ascribed only to sound policy, uninfluenced by meaner motives. Aware that titles,

unless accounted indicative of real merit in those on whom they were bestowed, would cease to confer distinction, she distributed them with a careful and sparing hand; and the honours of the earl of Leicester afford perhaps a solitary instance, in her reign, of a title acquired without desert. A title from Elizabeth was consequently a real reward, and was deemed an adequate retribution for the most important services.

If Cecil was better rewarded than the other ministers, we must own that his claims were greater; and we shall find that the favours which he received were neither hastily bestowed, nor carried beyond his merits. In consequence of his efforts in repressing the rebellion which attended the duke of Norfolk's first conspiracy, he was created a baron, the highest title he ever attained. The other favours which he received, consisting in official situations, could hardly be denominated rewards, since they brought him additional business, which he executed with punctuality and diligence. After concluding the treaty of Edinburgh, he was appointed master of the wards, an office in virtue of which he had to preside in the court of wards, and (to determine a variety of questions between the sovereign and the subject. Eleven years afterwards, lord Burleigh (such was his new title) was raised to the office of lord high treasurer, which, along with great dignity, brought him an immense addition of complicated business. accumulation of offices in the hands of one man naturally led to much envy, and was certainly a very blameable precedent; but the fidelity and ability with which he executed their duties must, in his case, alleviate the censure of posterity.

An

Lord Burleigh continued minister during a period of unexampled length, and in an age when men in office were exposed to the rudest assaults of faction and intrigue. To investigate the means by which he main

tained his station cannot fail to be instructive, devoid as they were of the craft and subtlety so frequently connected with the name of politician. The arts to which he owed his success were not less honourable than skilful, and would have raised him to influence and reputation in the walks of private life. For nothing was he more remarkable than for his unremitting diligence

and scrupulous punctuality. Whatever the engage

66

ments of others, whether the pursuit of pleasure or the cabals of the court, Burleigh was always found at his post, intensely occupied with the duties of office and the cares of government. A young courtier of those times, while describing the intrigues with which all around him were busied, observes, My lord treasurer, even after the old manner, dealeth with matters of state only, and beareth himself very uprightly."* The degree of his industry may be estimated from its effects, which were altogether wonderful. As principal secretary of state, and for a considerable time as sole secretary, he managed a great proportion of the public business, both foreign and domestic: he conducted negotiations, planned expeditions, watched over the machinations of internal enemies, employed private sources of intelligence, assisted at the deliberations of the privy council and parliament, and wrote many tracts on the state of affairs. When created lord high treasurer, his concern with the general affairs of government continued, while he had, moreover, to attend to the receipts and disbursements of the nation, to devise means for replenishing the treasury, and to sit occasionally in the court of Exchequer, as judge between the people and the officers of the revenue. master of the court of wards, he had much judicial occupation during term; for his equitable decisions brought before him an unusual accumulation of suits. Nor did he neglect those numerous petitions with which he was perpetually importuned, some demanding the reward of services, others imploring the redress of

As

*Letter from Gilbert Talbot to the Earl of Shrewsbury, in Lodge, vol. ii. p. 100.

injuries; and, amidst all these avocations, his private affairs were managed with the same precision as those of the state.

All this load of business he was enabled, by assiduous application and exact method, to despatch without either hurry or confusion. In conformity to his favourite maxim, that "the shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once," he finished each branch of business before he proceeded to another, and never left a thing undone with the view of recurring to it at a period of more leisure. In the courts where he presided, he despatched as many causes in one term as his predecessors in a twelvemonth.* When pressed with an accumulation of affairs, which frequently happened, he rather chose to encroach on the moderate intervals usually allowed to his meals and his sleep, than to omit any part of his task. Even when labouring under pain, and in danger of increasing his malady, he frequently caused himself to be carried to his office for the despatch of business. An eye-witness assures us that, during a period of twenty-four years, he never saw him idle for half an hour together; and if he had no particular task` to execute, which rarely happened, he would still busy himself in reading, writing, or meditating. By incessant practice, he acquired a facility and despatch which seemed altogether wonderful to idle courtiers; it prov of incalculable advantage to government, and to himse it gave a decided superiority over his less industrio rivals.

Next to his unequalled diligence and punctuality we are to rank his invincible reserve, whenever reserve was necessary. While he avoided that system of deception by which statesmen have so often undertaken to gair their ends, he succeeded in concealing his real views, by the mere maintenance of a guarded secrecy. Perfectly impenetrable to the dexterous agents who were employed to sound him, his unaltered countenance and unembar*Life of William Lord Burghley, p. 21.

Ibid. p. 65.

+ Ibid. p. 24.