[31] “Hatfield, called Haethfeld, in the Saxon times, from its situation on a heath, was an ancient demesne of the Saxon kings, till it was granted by Edgar, in the tenth century, to the abbey at Ely, in Cambridgeshire. On the conversion of that foundation into a bishopric, in the reign of Henry I., it became attached to the new see; and the manor-house becoming a palace of the bishops, the town was thenceforth distinguished by the appellation of Bishops’ Hatfield. Queen Elizabeth, who had resided in the bishop’s palace some years before she came to the crown, greatly admired the situation; and by virtue of the statute which gave her the power of exchange, procured the alienation of this manor from the then bishop of Ely, Richard Cox. James I., in the third year of his reign, exchanged it for the house, manor, and park of Theobald’s, with his minister, Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, whose descendant, the Marquis of Salisbury, is the present owner.” Notwithstanding Elizabeth’s regard for Hatfield, we cannot learn that she often resided here after her accession to the throne. [32] The lowest fortune of any gentleman in that noble corps is stated, by one of its members, to have been no less than 4000_l._ a-year in land; equal, probably, to 20,000_l._ a-year at the present time. [33] Of this house--the house in which Oliver Cromwell was born--only the site remains; a modern mansion having been erected upon it, about thirty years ago, by a Mr. Rust, a banker of the town--upon whose memory let the anathema rest. A wall of a cellar, which formed part of the ancient dwelling, now alone exists. The chamber in which the Protector “first drew breath” was a sight to which visitors ran eagerly; and this, it would seem, so worried the soul of the rich banker, that he commanded its removal, and with it as far as possible every trace of a house to which tens of thousands would desire to make a pilgrimage. Mr. Rust obtained the house--and the site, to which it would seem he attached some value--so recently as the year 1810. Until then it was in the possession of a Mr. Audley, a draper, who used to show the room in which the Protector was born, “and sportively desire it might be noticed that the devil was behind the door,” alluding to a figure of Satan upon some old tapestry with which the walls were hung. The ancient fabric was built of stone, with gothic windows and projecting attics. The present dwelling is as ugly an example of modern building as could well be seen.