Chapter XXII: Introduction (5)

The elder of these sons, Thomas Howard, inherited Audley End and the other family estates from his mother. Having, by Act of Parliament, 27th of Elizabeth, been restored in blood, he was, in 1588, knighted for his gallant behaviour in the engagement with the Spanish Armada, and in 1597 was created Baron Howard of Walden. “He was a brave sea officer, and successively employed upon many trying occasions, sometimes as chief, sometimes as second in command, during that reign, and in particular contributed greatly to the reduction of the town and castle of Cadiz.” In 1597 he was installed Knight of the Garter, and, according to some accounts, was made Constable of the Tower. On the accession of James I., Lord Howard was, in 1603, sworn a Privy Councillor, created Earl of Suffolk, and made one of the Commissioners for the office of Earl Marshal. In 1608 he was appointed Lord Chamberlain, and in 1614 Lord High Treasurer of England. He it was who, with Lord Monteagle, made the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot while performing the routine business pertaining to his office of Lord High Chamberlain on the 4th of November, 1605.

Lord Suffolk was married twice: first, to Mary, sister and co-heiress of Thomas, Lord Dacres of Gillesland, by whom he had no issue; and, secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Knevett, of Charlton, and widow of Richard, eldest son of Lord Rich, by whom he had four daughters—viz. Elizabeth, who married successively William Knolles, Earl of Banbury, and Edward, Lord Vaux; Frances, married first to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, from whom she was divorced, and next to Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, Margaret; and Catherine, married to William Cecil, Earl of Salisbury—and eight sons, viz. Theophilus, who succeeded him; Sir Thomas, who was created Earl of Berkshire, and is the direct ancestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire—the earldom of Suffolk having reverted to this branch in 1733—whose descendants later on succeeded to the titles; Henry, who married Elizabeth Bassett, of Blore, by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth, who became successively the wife of Sir John Howard, of Swarkeston, in Derbyshire, and of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle; Sir Charles; Sir Robert, “a gallant cavalier soldier, was but too notorious in his own day for his intrigue with the Viscountess Purbeck, the beautiful and ill-assorted daughter of the Chief Justice Coke;” Sir William; Sir John; and Sir Edward, who was created Baron Howard of Escrick.

The first Earl of Suffolk built the magnificent mansion of Audley End, over which he is stated to have expended the enormous sum, for those days, of more than £190,000. It is said of him that although he had, from his many high and lucrative offices and his large estates, more ample means of displaying his magnificence than had any of his ancestors, he eclipsed them all in extravagance and show. His wife, Lady Suffolk, too, “was unfortunately a woman of a covetous mind, and having too great an ascendancy over her husband, used it in making him a party to her extortions on persons who had business to transact at the Treasury, or places to obtain at Court; and her husband was charged with embezzlement, deprived of his office, and fined £30,000, but which was reduced by the King to £7,000. He was generally considered to have been chiefly guilty in concealing the malpractices of his wife, who eventually died in debt and difficulty.” Probably one great reason for these things being laid to his charge was that, through having for a son-in-law the fallen and disgraced courtier Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, he had become obnoxious to the new favourite, Buckingham, through whose influence it appears he and his countess were, for a short time, committed to the Tower. He died at Suffolk House (where Suffolk Street, Strand, now stands), in 1626, and was buried at Walden. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Theophilus Howard (who during his father’s lifetime had been summoned to Parliament as Lord Howard of Walden) as second Earl of Suffolk. He was a Knight of the Garter, Lord Warden, Chancellor, and Admiral of the Cinque Ports, Constable of Dover Castle, &c., and married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of the Earl of Dunbar, by whom he had issue four sons and five daughters, three of the sons becoming successively Earls of Suffolk.

He was succeeded by his son James (third Earl of Suffolk), who, like his father, for a time resided at Audley End in quiet retirement. The cost of the building had so greatly involved the first earl that, at the time of his committal to the Tower, he was about £40,000 in debt, although he had then but recently sold the Charter House to Mr. Sutton for £13,000, and his property at Aynhoe, in Northamptonshire, for a considerable sum. The charges thus entailed on the estate, and the cost of maintaining it, so affected his successors that they were unable to support an establishment commensurate with the size and magnificence of the house. After the Restoration, Earl James, therefore, gladly took the opportunity which offered of selling the park and mansion of Audley End to the King, Charles II.

The purchase-money of this estate (which, as already stated, in building alone had cost £190,000) was £50,000, of which but £30,000 was paid by the King, the remaining £20,000 being left on mortgage. This was in 1666, and in 1670 the Court was regularly established at Audley End; the Queen very frequently resided there; and, being convenient for Newmarket, festivities were kept up on a large scale.

After the sale of the house, the Earl of Suffolk and his successor, the fourth earl, resided in comparative retirement, Audley End being, by the King, “committed to the charge of one of the family, who held the office of housekeeper and keeper of the wardrobe, with a salary; and this arrangement continued till 1701, when the house and park were reconveyed” back to the Suffolk family. The £20,000 left on mortgage continued unpaid by the King at the revolution of 1688, “nor is it clear that any interest had ever been paid upon it” during the many years it had remained. In 1701, therefore, the demesne was, as just stated, conveyed back to the Howards, the fifth Earl of Suffolk, on receiving it, relinquishing his claim on the Crown for the debt.

James, the third Earl of Suffolk, already spoken of, married, first, Susan, daughter of the Earl of Holland, by whom he had an only daughter, Essex, married to Edward, Lord Griffin of Braybrooke; secondly, Barbara, daughter of Sir Edward Villiers and widow of Sir Richard Wenman, by whom he had a daughter, who became the wife of Sir Thomas Felton; and, thirdly, to Anne, daughter of the Earl of Manchester, by whom he had no issue. Dying in 1688, he was succeeded by his brother, George Howard, as fourth earl, who enjoyed the title only three years; when, dying without surviving male issue, he was succeeded by his brother, Henry Howard, as fifth earl. This nobleman married twice: first, Mary, daughter of Lord Castle Stewart, by whom (besides a daughter) he had three sons—Henry, Edward, and Charles—who each successively became Earl of Suffolk; and, secondly, the widow of Sir John Maynard, by whom he had no issue. He died in 1709, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Howard, created in his father’s lifetime Baron Chesterford and Earl of Bindon, who was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles William, as seventh Earl of Suffolk, and second Earl of Bindon and Baron of Chesterford. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Astrey, but had no issue; and, dying in 1721-2, the titles of Baron of Bindon and Earl of Chesterford became extinct, while those of Earl of Suffolk and Baron Howard of Walden passed to his father’s brother Edward, and, at his death, to _his_ brother Charles, as ninth earl. He dying in 1733, left one only son, Henry Howard, who thus became tenth Earl of Suffolk. This tenth earl married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Irwin, but died without issue in 1745, his widow afterwards becoming the wife of Viscount Falkland.

On the death of the tenth earl, the title of Earl of Suffolk, &c., passed to his distant relative, Henry Bowes Howard, Earl of Berkshire, Viscount Andover, &c., who, descended from Sir Thomas Howard, second son of the first Earl of Suffolk, was direct ancestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, the barony of Howard de Walden remaining in abeyance between the descendants of the two co-heiresses of the third earl.

These were, as already shown, Essex, wife of Edward, Lord Griffin of Braybrooke, and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Felton. The representatives of the elder of these were the Hon. Elizabeth Griffin, married, first, to Henry Neville Grey, and, secondly, to the Earl of Portsmouth; and her sister, Ann, wife of William Whitwell. Lady Portsmouth having no issue by either of her husbands, the real descent lay with the son of Mrs. Whitwell, in whose favour the abeyance terminated, and who thus became Lord Howard of Walden. The possession of the Audley End estates was disputed by Thomas Howard, second Earl of Effingham, who claimed under a settlement in his favour, made by the seventh Earl of Suffolk, who, however, having been proved to have himself only been a tenant for life, the claim was disallowed, and the estates passed to Lady Portsmouth, from whom, by bequest, they ultimately came to John Griffin Whitwell, Lord Howard of Walden.

This nobleman was created Baron Braybrooke in 1788, with remainder to his relative, Richard Neville, whose father, Richard Aldworth, was maternally descended from the Nevilles; and, dying without issue, the title of Lord Howard of Walden passed to a distant descendant of that family. He was succeeded, as second Baron Braybrooke, in 1797, by this Richard Neville, who assumed the name of Griffin. He married, in 1780, Catherine, daughter of the Right Hon. George Grenville, who was maternally descended from Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk, and sister of the first Marquis of Buckingham, and had by her, besides other issue, the Hon. Richard, who succeeded him, and who, by arrangement with the deceased peer’s only sister and heiress (wife of the Rev. Dr. Parker), obtained immediate possession of the mansion and unentailed portion of the estate, the other portion coming to him at the death, without issue, of that lady.

Richard, third Baron Braybrooke, born in 1783, succeeded his father in 1825, and married the Lady Jane, eldest daughter of Charles, Marquis Cornwallis, by whom he had issue five sons—Richard Cornwallis Neville, Charles Cornwallis Neville, Henry Aldworth Neville, Rev. Latimer Neville (now Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, and heir-presumptive to the title), and Grey Neville—and three daughters. Lord Braybrooke was well known as the author of the “History of Audley End,” and as the editor of the “Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys.” He was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard Cornwallis Neville (better known as the Hon. R. C. Neville), as fourth Baron Braybrooke. This nobleman, who was born in 1820, was an eminent antiquary, and was author of several important works. He was educated at Eton, and in 1837 entered the army, serving in Canada till 1838. Ill-health, which continued throughout his life, compelled him to retire from the army in 1841, and he devoted himself thenceforward to the study of history and antiquities. He became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a member of other learned bodies, and contributed many papers to the _Archæologia_ and to the _Transactions of the Archæological Association_ and _Institute_. Having undertaken and carried out some important excavations at Chesterford, &c., he published his “Antiqua Explorata,” which afterwards he followed by another volume, “Sepulchra Exposita.” In 1852 he issued his great work, “Saxon Obsequies;” and, later still, the “Romance of the Ring; or, the History and Antiquity of Finger Rings.” His lordship married, in 1852, the Lady Charlotte Sarah Graham Toler, sixth daughter of the second Earl of Norbury (who afterwards married Frederick Hetley, Esq., and died in 1867), by whom he left two daughters, and, dying in 1861, was succeeded by his brother, the Hon. Charles Cornwallis Neville, the present peer.

Charles Cornwallis Neville, fifth Baron Braybrooke, was born in 1823, and educated at Eton and at Magdalen College, Cambridge, of which he is Hereditary Visitor. In 1849 he married the Hon. Florence Priscilla Alicia Maude, third daughter of the third Viscount Hawarden, by whom he has issue one daughter, the Hon. Augusta Neville, born 1860. The heir-presumptive to the title is, therefore, his brother, the Rev. Latimer Neville, Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, and Chaplain to the Bishop of Rochester, who is married to Lucy Frances, eldest daughter of John Le Marchant, Esq., by whom he has issue.

Lord Braybrooke is patron of seven livings—viz. Arborfield, Waltham St. Lawrence, and Wargrave, in Berkshire; Shadingfield, in Sussex; and Littlebury, Saffron Walden, and Heydon, in Essex. His arms are—quarterly, first and fourth, _gules_, on a saltire, _argent_, a rose of the field; second and third, _or_, fretty, _gules_, on a canton of the first, a lymphad, _sable_. Crests—first, a rose, seeded and barbed, _proper_; second, out of a ducal coronet, _or_, a bull’s head; third, a portcullis, _proper_. Supporters—two lions reguardant, _argent_, maned, _sable_, gorged with wreaths of olive, _proper_. Motto—“Ne vile velis.”

The history of Audley End has been pretty fully told in the history of the families to whom it has belonged; but little, therefore, need be added. The architect of the mansion has been variously stated to be Bernard Jansen and John Thorpe, but the weight of evidence seems to be in favour of the latter. Regarding the house itself, and especially the “admirable drink” kept in the cellar, we have two striking pictures written by “quaint old Pepys” in 1659-60 and 1667. “Up by four o’clock,” he says on the 27th February, “Mr. Blayton and I took horse and straight to Saffron Walden, where, at the White Hart, we set up our horses, and took the master of the house to show us Audley End House, who took us on foot through the park, and so to the house, where the housekeeper showed us all the house, in which the stateliness of the ceilings, chimney-pieces, and form of the whole was exceedingly worth seeing. He took us into the cellar, where we drank most admirable drink, a health to the king. Here I played on my flageolette, there being an excellent echo. He shewed us excellent pictures; two especially, those of the Four Evangelists, and Henry VIII. After that I gave the man 2_s._ for his trouble and went back again. In our going, my landlord carried us through a very old hospital, or almshouse, where forty poor people was maintained; a very old foundation: and over the chimney-piece was an inscription in brass, ‘Orate pro animâ Thomæ Bird,’ &c., and the poor-box also was on the same chimney-piece, with an iron door and locks to it, into which I put 6_d._ They brought me a draft of their drink in a brown bowl tipt with silver,[45] which I drank off, and at the bottom was a picture of the Virgin and the Child in her arms, done in silver. So we went to our Inn, and after eating of something, and kissed the daughter of the house, she being very pretty, we took leave, and so that night, the road pretty good, but the weather rainy, to Epping, where we sat and played a game at cards, and after supper and some merry talk with a playne bold mayde of the house we went to bed.” Again, in 1667, he says: “I and my wife and Willet (the maid), set out in a coach I have hired with four horses, and W. Hewer and Murford rode by us on horseback; and before night come to Bishop’s Stortford. Took coach to Audley End, and did go all over the house and gardens; and mighty merry we were. The house indeed do appear very fine, but not so fine as it hath heretofore to me; particularly, the ceilings are not so good as I always took them to be, being nothing so well wrought as my Lord Chancellor’s are; and though the figure of the house without be very extraordinary good, yet the stayre-case is exceeding poore; and a great many pictures, and not one good one in the house but one of Henry VIII., done by Holbein; and not one good suit of hangings in all the house, but all most ancient things, such as I would not give the hanging up of in my house; and the other furniture, beds, and other things, accordingly. Only the gallery is good, and above all things the cellars, where we went down and drank of much good liquor. And indeed the cellars are fine: and here my wife and I did sing to my great content. And then to the garden, and there eat many grapes, and took some with us; and so away thence exceeding well satisfied, though not to that degree that by my old esteem of the house I ought and did expect to have done, the situation of it not pleasing me; thence away to Cambridge, and did take up at the Rose.”

Evelyn, who wrote a little before Pepys—in 1654—says he “went to Audley End, and spent some time in seeing that goodly palace, built by Howard, Earl of Suffolk, once Lord Treasurer. It is a mixed fabric ‘twixt ancient and modern, but observable for its being completely finished; and it is one of the stateliest palaces in the kingdom. It consists of two courts, the first very large, winged with cloisters. The front hath a double entrance; the hall is faire, but somewhat too small for so august a pile; the kitchen is very large, as are the cellars, arched with stone, very neat, and well disposed. These offices are joyned by a wing out of the way very handsomely. The gallery is the most cheerful, and, I think, one of the best in England; a faire dining-roome and the rest of the lodginges answerable, with a pretty chapel. The gardens are not in order, though well inclosed; it has also a bowling-alley, and a nobly walled, wooded, and watered park. The river glides before the palace, to which is an avenue of lime-trees; but all this is much diminished by its being placed in an obscure bottom. For the rest it is perfectly uniform, and shows without like a diadem, by the decoration of the cupolas and other ornaments on the pavilions. Instead of railings and ballusters, there is a bordure of capital letters, as was lately also in Sussex House.”

In 1721, on the advice of that man of little taste, Sir John Vanbrugh the architect, the three sides of the grand quadrangle, which formed so magnificent an entrance to this splendid mansion, were destroyed, along with the kitchen and offices, which were behind the north wing. The chapel and cellars, which projected from the gallery wing at each end, soon shared the same fate. The inner court thus was alone allowed to remain untouched, and the mansion was confined to one hollow square. In 1747 the house was in a state of dilapidation, and projects were set on foot both for pulling it down, and for converting it into a silk manufactory. Two years later, the eastern wing, whose feature was the magnificent gallery, was pulled down. The house was, at an enormous expense, restored, repaired, and made habitable by the first Lord Braybrooke, and, though there remains but a small portion of the original edifice, it is yet a noble and stately building.

We have left ourselves scant space for a description of the noble and very beautiful house, one of the best of those of the Elizabethan era that time has left us, though it is not now as it was when Evelyn pictured it in the quotation we have given; but the gardens are charmingly kept, and have been laid out with taste and skill; the classic river Cam runs in front, and it is here of considerable breadth, Art having utilised the small stream, and made what is technically termed “a sheet of ornamental water;” it is also used to supply fountains and _jets d’eau_ in various parts of the grounds.

The house is distant about a mile from the pretty and picturesque town of Saffron Walden, whose Church holds rank among four of the most perfect examples in Great Britain; and close to it is a Museum containing much that is deeply interesting—many specimens of the earliest races by whom this island was inhabited in the pre-historic ages.

We give several engravings of the house; one of its principal Lodge, one of its attractive Gardens, and one of a comparatively modern structure in the grounds, called the Temple of Concord, built, it is said, to commemorate the recovery of George III. from his first afflicting illness.

Before we reach the house, proceeding from the Audley End station, we may pause awhile to examine the Abbey Farm-buildings and a square of venerable and very comfortable Almshouses, in which “nine old ladies” are passing in ease the residue of their lives—blessing, as we bless, the lord who founded them.

The grand feature of the house is the Hall: it is not, as Evelyn thought it was, “somewhat too small,” but is finely proportioned, in some parts admirably carved, and it contains many portraits—among others that of the founder and his wife and daughter. The ceilings throughout the mansion are of much beauty, and, besides several grand examples of the ancient masters and “throngs” of family portraits, there are some rare specimens of china. There are other curious relics—among them the chair of Alexander Pope, and the carved oak head of Cromwell’s bed, converted into a chimney-piece.

Audley End is not often visited: it is somewhat out of the highway of England, but of a surety it will largely repay those who love Nature and appreciate Art, and who rejoice that one of the grandest and most beautiful of our landmarks of family history is yet in its perfection and thoroughly “well cared for.”

BURLEIGH.

“BURLEIGH HOUSE by Stamford town,” as Tennyson has it in his simple and beautiful ballad, “The Lord of Burleigh,” stands in a noble park just outside the fine old town of Stamford. Stamford is in two counties—Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire—on the river Welland, which here divides them, and at the same time separates six parishes, five being in Lincolnshire, and the sixth, St. Martin’s, or Stamford-Baron, in Northamptonshire. In this latter county are Burleigh House and its surrounding demesne. The park for pedestrians is conveniently entered at Burleigh Lane, one of the outer streets of the town; thus the grounds, being so ready of access, are an incalculable boon to the inhabitants. The principal Lodges are on the North Road, immediately south of St. Martin’s, and are noble and important buildings, erected in 1801 at a cost of more than £5,000, by the tenth earl, the approach being greatly improved in 1828 by his immediate successor.

The park, nearly seven miles in circumference, was planted by “Capability Brown,” and besides its attractions of wood and temples, grottoes and other buildings, contains a fine sheet of water three-quarters of a mile in length, spanned by a handsome bridge of three arches, with noble sculptures of lions. The Roman road, Ermine Street, may be traced in some parts of the park on its way from Caistor to Stamford. The park, which contains about fourteen hundred acres, was principally laid out by the first Lord Burleigh, but has been since then considerably extended and improved, one of the greatest improvements being the filling up of the fish-pond, and the formation of the serpentine lake on the south front. The house is a mile distant from the Grand Lodge entrance, the approach being, for a considerable distance, among magnificent oak and other forest trees, through beautiful upland scenery.

In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Burleigh (variously spelled Burleigh, Burghley, and Burley) was let to farm by the Church at Burgh to Alfgar, the King’s chaplain, at whose death it was seized by the Crown, and afterwards redeemed for eight marks by Abbot Leofric, and was confirmed to Peterborough Abbey in 1146. At the time of taking the Domesday survey it was held of the Abbot of Peterborough by Goisfrid. In the reign of Henry III. it is stated to have been in like manner held by Thomas de Burghley, who died in 1280, and remained in that family for two or three generations. “Peter de Burlegh, it appears,” says Sharpe, “held possession here in the twenty-fourth of Edward I., and obtained a grant of free warren in the third of Edward II. Geoffry, his son, succeeded him, but, dying without issue, his widow, Mariot, married John de Tichmersh, who, in her right, held the manor in the third of Edward III., and continued to do so until the twentieth year of the same reign.” Somewhat later it is said to have belonged to Nicholas de Segrave, it “having descended to Alice de Lisle as part of the inheritance of John de Armenters. From Nicholas de Segrave it passed to Warine de Lisle, who, with others, took up arms against the king, was defeated at Borough Bridge, and executed at Pontefract. By Edward III., Gerard de Lisle, son of Warine, was restored to his father’s possessions, and held Burleigh with the other estates.” In 1360, Sharpe states, Burleigh was in the possession of Robert Wykes, one of whose descendants, Margaret Chambers, sold it to Richard Cecil, father of the Lord Treasurer, who also purchased the adjoining manor of Little Burleigh.

The present mansion was commenced in 1575 by the first Lord Burleigh, whose principal residence was, however, at Theobalds, in Hertfordshire. The old structure was mainly retained, the existing portions being “in the eastern part of the present building, and are exceedingly fine and substantial; they are—the kitchen, with a groined roof of vast extent and most peculiar construction (perhaps the largest apartment in Europe devoted to culinary purposes); the imposing banqueting-hall, with its magnificent bay window and open carved roof, surpassed by only one other in England (Westminster); and the chapel, reached by a unique vaulted stone staircase, elaborately ornamented, and remarkable for its radiating arch.” The building, when completed and finished, was said to be the most complete and splendid in the kingdom. It is recorded that when, in the civil wars, Burleigh was taken by the Parliamentarians, Cromwell and his officers and army behaved with the utmost consideration and courtesy to the family. Cromwell himself, “when he beheld it (Burlegh), forgot his rage for destruction, and, charmed with its magnificence, displayed his republican generosity by depositing his own picture (by Walker) among those of its fine collection.” It is also recorded that later on, William III., when he saw Burleigh, “with a jealousy and a littleness of spirit unworthy of a monarch, declared that it was much too gorgeous for a subject.”

Queen Elizabeth delighted to visit Burleigh; and we read that “twelve times did he (Lord Treasurer Cecil) entertain the Queen at his house for several weeks together, at an expense of £2,000 or £3,000 each time.” It is traditionally said that on one of her visits, when the Lord Treasurer was pointing out its beauties to Elizabeth, her Majesty, tapping him familiarly on the cheek, said to him, “Ay, _my_ money and _your_ taste have made it a mighty pretty place!” Burleigh was, in 1603, visited by King James I. on his way from Scotland, and in 1695 by King William III. The most magnificent royal visit was, however, that of Queen Victoria with the Prince Consort in 1842, when she was accompanied by her ministers and the Court.

The family of Cecil seems to be derived from Robert ap Seisylt, or Sitsilt, or Seisel, a Welsh chieftain, who, in 1091, assisted Robert Fitzhamon in his conquest of Glamorganshire, for which he received a grant of lands in that county. Without entering particularly into the genealogy of the early members of this family, it will be sufficient for our present purpose to say that fifteenth in succession from this Robert ap Seisylt was David Sicelt, who, having joined the Earl of Richmond (Henry VII.) in Brittany, was rewarded for his service by a grant of land in Lincolnshire. Under Henry VIII. he “was constituted Water Bailiff of Wittlesey, in the county of Huntingdon, as also Keeper of the Swans there and throughout all the waters and fens in the counties of Huntingdon, Cambridge, Lincoln, and Northampton for the term of thirty years; also, in the fifth of Henry VIII., he was made one of the King’s Sergeants-at-arms; and, having this employment at court, obtained for Richard, his son and heir, the office of a page to the Crown. Likewise, in the eighth of Henry VIII., he obtained a grant for himself and son of the Keepership of Clyff Park, in the county of Northampton; and in the fifteenth of Henry VIII. (continuing still Sergeant-at-arms) was constituted Sheriff of the King’s Lordship of Coly Weston, in that county; and was Escheator of the county of Lincoln from November 15th, 1529, to November 15th following. In the twenty-third of Henry VIII. he was constituted Sheriff of Northampton; and having been three times Alderman of Stamford,” departed this life in the year 1541. He married the heiress of John Dicons, of Stamford, by whom he had a son, Richard Cecil, who succeeded him.

This Richard Cecil, as a page, attended Henry VIII. at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and afterwards became Groom and Yeoman of the Robes, Constable of Warwick Castle, Bailiff of Whittlesea Mere, with the custody of swans, and steward of several manors. He purchased the manors of Burleigh and Little Burleigh, and had grants of land at Maxey, Stamford, &c. He married Jane, daughter and heiress of William Heckington, of Bourn, by whom he had, with other issue, a son, William Cecil, the famous Lord Treasurer.

This William Cecil, first Lord Burleigh, was born in 1520 at his mother’s house at Bourn, and early received marks of royal favour under Henry VIII. Under Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth he held, with other offices, that of Secretary of State; and by the latter was made Lord High Treasurer of England, and created Baron Burleigh of Burleigh, and installed a Knight of the Garter. His lordship remained Lord Treasurer until within a few days of his death in 1598. Lord Burleigh married twice, each time gaining a large increase both to his fortunes and to his social and political influence. His first wife, to whom he was married in 1541, was Mary, sister of Sir John Cheke, who, within a year of their marriage, died, after giving birth to his son and successor, Thomas Cecil. In 1545 he married, secondly, Mildred, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, by whom he had, with numerous other issue, a son, Robert Cecil, who was created Earl of Salisbury, and was the progenitor of the present Marquis of Salisbury. Lord Burleigh died in 1598, and was succeeded by his son—

Thomas Cecil, second Baron Burleigh, who held many important offices, and was, by King James I., in 1605, created Earl of Exeter. He married, first, Dorothea, one of the co-heiresses of John Nevil, Lord Latimer, and by her had issue five sons—viz. William, who succeeded him; Sir Richard, whose son David also became Earl of Exeter; Sir Edward, who was created Baron Cecil of Putney and Viscount Wimbledon; Christopher; and Thomas—and eight daughters. Lord Burleigh married, secondly, a daughter of the fourth Lord Chandos and widow of Sir Thomas Smith, by whom he had issue one daughter.

William Cecil, third Baron Burleigh and second Earl of Exeter, married, first, Elizabeth, only child of Edward, Earl of Rutland, by whom he had issue an only child, William Cecil, who, in his mother’s right, became Baron Roos, but who died without issue in his father’s lifetime; and, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Drury. Dying in 1640, he was succeeded by his nephew, David Cecil, as fourth Baron Burleigh and third Earl of Exeter; he married Elizabeth, daughter of John, Earl of Bridgewater; and, dying in 1643, was succeeded by his son, John Cecil, who was only fifteen years old at his father’s death. He married, first, Lady Frances Manners, daughter of the Earl of Rutland; and, secondly, Lady Mary, daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland and widow of Sir Bryan Palmes. By his first wife he had issue one son, John, who succeeded him; David, who died young; and a daughter, Frances, married to Viscount Scudamore. He died in 1687, aged fifty-nine, and was buried at Stamford. John Cecil, who succeeded his father as sixth Baron Burleigh and fifth Earl of Exeter, espoused Lady Anne Cavendish, only daughter of the Earl of Devonshire and sister of the first Duke of Devonshire (widow of Lord Rich), by whom he had issue, John, who succeeded him, and other children.

John Cecil, seventh baron and sixth earl, married, first, Annabella, daughter of Lord Ossulston; and, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Brownlow, by whom he had, with other issue, John and Brownlow, who succeeded as seventh and eighth earls. He died in 1721. John Cecil, his eldest son, who succeeded on his father’s death in 1721 as seventh earl and eighth baron, died unmarried in 1722, when the titles and estates devolved on his brother, Brownlow Cecil, who thus became ninth Baron Burleigh and eighth Earl of Exeter. This nobleman married, in July, 1724, Hannah Sophia, daughter and heiress of Thomas Chambers, of Derby and London, a beautiful and amiable woman, to whom a monument is erected in the gardens, bearing the following touching lines:—

“Oh, thou most loved, most valued, most revered,
Accept this tribute to thy memory due;
Nor blame me, if by each fond tie endeared,
I bring again your virtues unto view.

“These lonely scenes your memory shall restore,
Here oft for thee the silent tear be shed;
Beloved through life, till life can charm no more,
And mourned till filial piety be dead.”

By this lady, who died in 1765, aged sixty-three, the Earl had issue three sons—Brownlow Cecil, ninth Earl of Exeter; Thomas Chambers Cecil, whose son ultimately became tenth earl; and David Cecil—and two daughters, viz. Margaret Sophia and Elizabeth (who became the wife of John Chaplin, Esq.). His lordship died in 1754, and was succeeded by his son.

Brownlow Cecil, tenth baron and ninth earl, succeeded to the titles and estates in 1754, and having married Letitia, only daughter and heiress of the Hon. Horatio Townsend, he died without issue in 1793, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his nephew, Henry Cecil, only son of the Hon. Thomas Chambers Cecil, by his wife, Charlotte Garnier.

Henry Cecil, eleventh Baron Burleigh, tenth Earl of Exeter, and first Marquis of Exeter, was born at Brussels in 1754, and for many years in his early life was M.P. for Stamford. His lordship was married three times: first, to Emma, only daughter and heiress of Thomas Vernon, Esq., of Hanbury, from whom he was divorced in 1791, after having issue by her one son, Henry, who died young; secondly, to Sarah, daughter to Thomas Hoggins, of Bolas, Shropshire, by whom he had issue four children, viz. the Lady Sophia Cecil, married to the Hon. Henry Manvers Pierrepoint (whose daughter married Lord Charles Wellesley, second son of the first Duke of Wellington, and was mother of the present heir-presumptive to that dukedom); Lord Henry Cecil, who died young; Lord Brownlow Cecil, who became second Marquis of Exeter; and Lord Thomas Cecil, who married Lady Sophia Georgiana Lennox; and, thirdly, to Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton, by whom he had no issue. The second of these three marriages has supplied a theme to many novelists and dramatists. They have used the poet’s license somewhat; but it is certain that the bride and her family had no idea of the rank of the wooer until the Lord of Burleigh had wedded the peasant-girl. Thus Moore pictures Ellen, the “hamlet’s pride,” loving in poverty, leaving her home to seek uncertain fortune. Stopping at the entrance to a lordly mansion, blowing the horn with a chieftain’s air, while the porter bowed as he passed the gate, “she believed him wild,” when he said, “This castle is thine, and these dark woods all;” but “his words were truth,” and “Ellen was Lady of Rosna Hall.”

The story is more accurately and more plaintively poetically told by the Laureate Tennyson, who undoubtedly adheres more literally to fact when he describes the lady as bowed down to death by the heavy weight of honour laid upon her, “unto which she was not born.” Tennyson’s ballad of “The Lord of Burleigh,” in which the story of the “village maiden,” from her wooing when she was plain Sarah Hoggins to the time of her early death as Countess of Exeter, is so sweetly and touchingly told, is too sadly beautiful to be omitted here. It is as follows:—

“In her ear he whispers gaily,
‘If my heart by signs can tell,
Maiden, I have watched thee daily,
And I think thou lov’st me well.’

“She replies, in accents fainter,
‘There is none I love like thee.’
He is but a landscape painter,
And a village maiden she.

“He to lips that fondly falter
Presses his without reproof,
Leads her to the village altar,
And they leave her father’s roof.

“‘I can make no marriage present,
Little can I give my wife,
Love will make our cottage pleasant
And I love thee more than life.’

“They by parks and lodges going,
See the lordly castles stand;
Summer woods about them blowing,
Made a murmur in the land.

“From deep thought himself he rouses,
Says to her that loves him well—
‘Let us see these handsome houses,
Where the wealthy nobles dwell.’

“So she goes by him attended,
Hears him lovingly converse,
Sees whatever fair and splendid
Lay betwixt his home and hers.

“Parks with oak and chestnut shady,
Parks and order’d gardens great,
Ancient homes of lord and lady,
Built for pleasure and for state.

“All he shows her makes him dearer;
Evermore she seems to gaze
On that cottage growing nearer,
Where they twain will spend their days.

“Oh, but she will love him truly,
He shall have a cheerful home;
She will order all things duly,
When beneath his roof they come.

“Thus her heart rejoices greatly,
Till a gateway she discerns,
With armorial bearings stately,
And beneath the gate she turns;

“Sees a mansion more majestic
Than all those she saw before;
Many a gallant gay domestic
Bows before him at the door.

“And they speak in gentle murmur,
When they answer to his call,
While he treads with footstep firmer,
Leading on from hall to hall.

“And, while now she wonders blindly,
Nor the meaning can divine,
Proudly turns he round and kindly,
‘All of this is mine and thine.’

“Here he lives in state and bounty,
Lord of Burleigh, fair and free,
Not a lord in all the county,
Is so great a lord as he.

“All at once the colour flushes
Her sweet face from brow to chin;
As it were with shame she blushes,
And her spirit changed within.

“Then her countenance all over,
Pale again as death doth prove;
But he clasp’d her like a lover,
And he cheer’d her soul with love.

“So she strove against her weakness,
Tho’ at times her spirits sank,
Shaped her heart with woman’s meekness
To all duties of her rank.

“And a gentle consort made he,
And her gentle mind was such,
That she grew a noble lady,
And the people loved her much.

“But a trouble weigh’d upon her,
And perplex’d her night and morn,
With the burthen of an honour
Unto which she was not born.

“Faint she grew, and even fainter,
As she murmur’d, ‘Oh, that he
Were once more that landscape painter,
Which did win my heart from me.’

“So she droop’d and droop’d before him,
Fading slowly from his side;
Three fair children first she bore him,
Then before her time she died.

“Weeping, weeping late and early,
Walking up and pacing down,
Deeply mourn’d the Lord of Burleigh,
Burleigh House by Stamford town.

“And he came to look upon her.
And he look’d at her and said,
‘Bring the dress and put it on her
That she wore when she was wed.’

“Then her people, softly treading,
Bore to earth her body, drest
In the dress that she was wed in,
That her spirit might have rest.”

The Countess, whose story is thus so plaintively told, died on the 18th of January, 1797, at the early age of twenty-four, and her portrait, preserved in the house, cannot but interest every visitor. The Earl, her husband, was in February, 1801, advanced to the dignity of Marquis of Exeter, and in May, 1804, he died, and was succeeded by his son by this romantic and happy, though brief, espousal.

This son, Brownlow Cecil, second Marquis and eleventh Earl of Exeter, and twelfth Baron Burleigh, was only nine years of age when, on the death of his father in 1804, he succeeded to the titles and estates. In 1824 his lordship married Isabella, daughter of William Stephen Poyntz, Esq., by whom he had issue eleven children—viz. William Alleyne, Lord Burleigh, the present Marquis of Exeter; a daughter, born in 1826; Lord Brownlow Thomas Montague Cecil; Lady Isabella Mary Cecil, who died in infancy; Lady Mary Frances Cecil, married to Viscount Sandon, M.P., heir to the earldom of Harrowby; Lord Edward Henry Cecil; Lady Dorothy Anne Cecil, who died in infancy; Lord Henry Poyntz Cecil; a son, who died as soon as born; Lord Adelbert Percy Cecil, to whom Queen Adelaide stood as sponsor; and Lady Victoria Cecil, to whom her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort were sponsors, married to the Hon. William Charles Evans-Freke, brother of Lord Carbery. His lordship died in 1867, and was succeeded by his son—

The present noble peer, William Alleyne Cecil, third Marquis and twelfth Earl of Exeter, and thirteenth Baron Burleigh of Burleigh, a Privy Councillor, and Hereditary Grand Almoner of England, who was born on the 30th of April, 1825, and was educated at Eton and St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated as M.A. in 1847. He sat as M.P. for South Lincolnshire from 1847 to 1857, and for North Northamptonshire from 1857 to 1867, in which year he succeeded to the titles, and took his seat in the Upper House. In 1856 he was appointed Militia Aide-de-camp to the Queen, and in 1866 was made Treasurer of her Majesty’s Household. In 1867 and 1868 he was Captain of her Majesty’s Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, and he holds many local and other appointments. His lordship married, in 1848, Lady Georgiana Sophia Pakenham, second daughter of the second Earl of Longford, and has issue living—Brownlow Henry George Cecil, Lord Burleigh, born in 1849, and married to Isabella, daughter of Sir Thomas Whichcote, Bart.; Lord Francis Horace Pierrepoint Cecil, born 1851, married to Edith, youngest daughter of W. Cunliffe-Brooks, Esq., M.P.; Lord William Cecil, born 1854; Lord John Pakenham Cecil, born 1867; Lady Isabella Georgiana Katharine Cecil, born 1853; Lady Mary Louisa Wellesley Cecil, born 1857; Lady Catherine Sarah Cecil, born 1861; Lady Frances Emily Cecil, born 1862; and Lady Louisa Alexandrina Cecil, born 1864.

His lordship is patron of seventeen livings, five being in Rutland, one in London, and eleven in Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire.

The arms of the Marquis of Exeter, engraved on our initial letter, are—barry of ten, _argent_ and _azure_; six escutcheons, three, two, and one, _sable_, each charged with a lion rampant, _argent_. Crest—on a chapeau, _gules_, turned up, _ermine_, a garb, _or_, supported by two lions rampant, the dexter _argent_, the sinister _azure_. Supporters—two lions, _ermine_. Motto—“Cor unum via una.” His seats are Burleigh, near Stamford, and Brookfield House, Ryde, in the Isle of Wight.

The visitor to Burleigh House is admitted by the Porter’s Lodge into the Outer Court, which is a quadrangle surrounded by the domestic and business offices of the establishment. He then passes into the Corridor, decorated with bas-reliefs by Nollekens, and so reaches the Great Hall, or Queen Victoria’s Hall, a banqueting-room of magnificent size and of matchless beauty, with open-work timber roof, stained-glass windows, richly carved gallery, and royal and other portraits. This noble apartment, shown in the accompanying engraving, which, with others of our series, is taken from a photograph by F. Robinson, is 68 feet long, 60 feet in height, and 30 feet in width, with, in addition, a deeply recessed bay window.

It has a magnificent open timber-work roof of carved oak, and the lower portions of the walls are wainscoted; and at one end is a music gallery, the cornice of the panelling and the gallery being supported on a number of richly carved spiral Corinthian columns. The fire-place is remarkably fine, and the window is filled with stained glass. Among the pictures in the Hall are a portrait of the Prince Consort in his Garter robes, presented to the Marquis by the Prince; Dahl’s full-length portraits of George I., George II., and the Queen of George II.; and portraits of Viscount and Viscountess Montague, Earl of Peterborough, Sir Walter Raleigh, &c. From the Hall, passing through Vestibule and Corridor, which contain busts of the Cæsars and other examples of sculpture, and the Ancient Stone Staircase—a part of the original building, shown in the opposite engraving—the Chapel is reached. The Chapel contains, among its other attractions, a fine assemblage of carving, said to be by Grinling Gibbons, and among the best of his productions; an altar-piece by Paul Veronese, the subject being the “Wife of Zebedee;” the seat used by Queen Elizabeth when she worshipped here, and used also for the same purpose by Queen Victoria; and many good paintings. The communion-table and altar-rails are of cedar-wood, and the pulpit and reading-desk of mahogany. The magnificent chimney-piece of various marbles was brought from a convent near Lisbon. The Ante-chapel is also an interesting room. The Chapel-room contains many paintings by Carlo Dolce, Domenichino, Lanfranco, Albert Dürer, Guercino, Andrea Sacchi, Parmigiano, the Carracci, Guido, Teniers, Bassan, Rubens, Carlo Maratti, Bolognese, Giulio Romano, Le Brun, and others.

The Billiard-room, panelled with Norway oak and enriched with a decorated ceiling, is hung with family and other portraits. Among them are Lawrence’s full-length group portraits of the tenth Earl and Countess—Sarah the “village maiden”—and their daughter, the Lady Sophia; several other Earls and Countesses of Exeter, and others of their families; the first Duke and Duchess of Devonshire; Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland; Duchess of Montrose, &c.

We will not, however, go through the various rooms in the order in which they are visited, but select, here and there, an apartment for notice, our object being, not to furnish a guide for the visitor’s use, but to give a general sketch of the mansion and its surroundings.

The Ball-room has its walls and ceiling painted by Laguerre in his best style, the subject of the latter being described as the “History of the Planetary System.” On the east side of the walls is painted “The Battle of Cannæ,” and on the west “The Continence of Scipio;” the others being “The Loves of Antony and Cleopatra,” &c. The Brown Drawing-room, lined with oak, contains many valuable paintings as well as some exquisite examples of Gibbons’s carvings, as also do the Black and Yellow Bed-rooms. In this latter room is the ancient state bed from which it takes its name. This is hung with black satin, ornamented with fine old needlework, and lined with yellow silk. In the windows is some good stained glass, and over the chimney-piece a fine example of Gibbons’s carving. Among the paintings in this and the West and North-west Dining-rooms are pictures by Guercino, old Franck, Libri, Angelica Kauffmann, Rubens, Scilla, Cimabue, Giordano, the Carracci, Elsheimer, Van Balen, Salvator Rosa, Castiglione, G. Bolognese, Van Eyck, Murillo, Claude Lorraine, Domenichino, Mola, Jordaens, and others.

In the China Closet, besides several good paintings, a case of ceramic treasures is preserved.

Queen Elizabeth’s Bed-room is one of the most interesting apartments in the mansion, “and presents almost the same appearance as on the day when the great virgin queen first reposed therein—the very bed on which her royal form reclined, the same rich ancient tapestry which then decorated the walls, and the same chairs which then furnished the room, and upon some of which Elizabeth herself was once seated. The bed is hung with dark green velvet, embroidered with gold tissue, and the walls are hung with tapestry representing Bacchus and Ariadne, Acis and Galatea, and Diana and Actæon.” Queen Elizabeth’s Dining-room, or the Pagoda Room, looks out upon the lawn, in the centre of which is a majestic and venerable tree planted by the “Virgin Queen,” the “Good Queen Bess,” herself. In this room are a Chinese pagoda and many interesting portraits and other paintings. Among these are Shee’s portrait of the late marquis; Cranach’s head of Luther; Holbein’s Henry VIII., Thomas Cromwell, Edward VI., Queen Mary, Duke of Newcastle, and Queen Elizabeth; Mark Gerard’s Queen Elizabeth and the Lord Treasurer Burleigh; Zucchero’s Robert Devereux; Rembrandt’s Countess of Desmond; and admirable examples of Van Eyck, Annibale Carracci, Velasquez, Titian, Cranach, Paul Veronese, Cornelius Jansen, Dobsone, Vandyke, old Stone, Dance, Romney, and others. The Purple Satin Rooms are also hung with valuable paintings, and the furniture is of superb character.

The George Rooms, as a magnificent suite of five apartments, occupying the south side of the mansion, are called, have the whole of their ceilings painted with allegorical and mythological subjects by Verrio. These are the apartments specially set aside for royalty, and have been repeatedly so occupied. The first George Room has its floor of oak inlaid with walnut, and the carvings over the doors are among the best existing examples of Gibbons. The Jewel Closet has a similar floor and equally good carvings; and in the centre, in a large glass case, are preserved numerous jewels and curiosities of great separate and collective value. “Here are a plate of gold, a basin, and spoons, used by Queen Elizabeth at her coronation; a curiously ornamented busk, also used by Queen Elizabeth, and a jewelled crystal salt-cellar, supposed to have belonged to that great queen; a minute jewelled trinket sword, once belonging to the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots; a handkerchief of William III.; Cæsar’s head carved in onyx (a choice antique, 2½ inches oval, and set in diamonds); Henry VIII. and his children cut in sardonyx; the head of the Lord Treasurer Burleigh on the back of an antique intaglio of Caracalla, depending from which is a small head of Elizabeth, both cameo on onyx. There are, besides, a multitude of enamelled trinkets, miniature vases in gold filigree, amber, diamonds, precious stones, &c., &c. To this collection have been added, of late years, a chrysanthemum wreath worn by Queen Victoria at the baptism of the Lady Victoria Cecil, youngest daughter of the second marquis, and a pair of white kid gloves worn by her Majesty at the same time: the wreath has been incrusted with metal by a process of electro-gilding, but in effecting this it was broken into several pieces. There is also a very elaborately ornamented trowel, used by Prince Albert, in 1842, in the ceremony of laying the first stone of the present building of the Royal Exchange, London, and presented by him to the Marquis of Exeter, who attended his Royal Highness at the time as Groom of the Stole. There are also here a magnificent jewelled crucifix, several feet in height, and of great value, some rare china, and other articles. One other object remains to be noticed in this apartment: this is a beautiful specimen of carving in white wood of a bird, nearly the colour and about the size of a canary: it is represented as dead, hanging by one leg from a nail, and so exquisitely is it worked, that looking upon it it is difficult to believe it merely the resemblance of reality.”

The State Bed-room, or second George Room, is the bed-room set apart for the repose of royalty, and its furniture and decorations are of great richness. A magnificent bed was here erected by the then marquis, in preparation for a visit from George IV. when Prince of Wales, and was subsequently several times used by various members of the royal family; but when Queen Victoria visited Burleigh in 1844, a bed even more rich and costly was substituted, in which her Majesty and her royal consort, Prince Albert, reposed during their stay. The hangings are of crimson velvet lined with white satin. The walls are hung with rare tapestry.