The family of Cecil is one of considerable antiquity, and many of its members have distinguished themselves both in statesmanship, in the field, and in the arena of literature. The greatness of the family was laid by Sir William Cecil, the friend and adviser of Queen Elizabeth before she came to the throne, and her first chief Secretary of State. “This distinguished statesman,” says Sir Robert Naunton, “was the son of a younger brother of the Cecills of Hertfordshire, a family of my own knowledge, though now private, yet of no mean antiquity, who, being exposed and sent to the city, as poor gentlemen used to do their sons, became to be a rich man on London Bridge, and purchased (estates) in Lincolnshire where this man was born.” First he became Secretary to the Protector Somerset, and afterwards, on the accession of Elizabeth, he was appointed Secretary of State. In 1561 he was made President of the Court of Wards. His great talent and assiduity won for him much regard at court, where he was treated with great favour. In 1571 he was created Lord Burleigh, and continued to maintain his distinguished position in the state till his death. He resided chiefly at Theobalds, where he often had the honour of entertaining his sovereign, who was “sene in as great royalty, and served as bountifully and magnificently, as at anie other tyme or place, all at his lordship’s chardge,” &c. The events in the life of this statesman are so closely associated with the history of England itself in the stirring times in which he lived, that they are too well known to need more than a passing notice. After being mixed up in every affair of state from some time before the accession of Elizabeth, having taken part in all the proceedings connected with the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, and with his own hand drawn up her death-warrant, and after having for forty years mainly directed the councils of the “Virgin Queen,” Sir William Cecil, now Lord Burleigh, died on the 4th of August, 1598, in the seventh-eighth year of his age, to the great grief of Elizabeth, who is said to have wept bitter tears at his death.