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WILLIAM CECIL

William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, was an English statesman. He was born in 1520 at Bourne in Lincolnshire and died in 1598. He was the son of Richard Cecil, master of the robes to Henry VIII. He studied at St John's College, Cambridge, whence he removed to Gray's Inn, with a view to prepare himself for the practice of the law, but an introduction to the court of Henry VIII changed his aims. On the accession of Edward VI his interests were advanced by the protector Somerset, whom he accompanied in the expedition to Scotland. He held no public office during the reign of Mary, and by extraordinary caution managed to escape persecution. On the accession of Elizabeth he was appointed privy-councillor and secretary of state, and during all the rest of his life he was at the helm of affairs. One of the first acts of her reign was the settlement of religion, which William Cecil conducted with great skill and prudence, considering the difficulties to be encountered. The general tenor of William Cecil's policy was cautious, and rested upon an avoidance of open hostilities, and a reliance on secret negotiation and intrigues with opposing parties in the neighbouring countries, with a view to avert the dangers which threatened his own. On the suppression of the northern rebellion in 1571 Elizabeth I raised him to the peerage by the title of Baron Burleigh. Much of the glory of the reign of Elizabeth I is due to the counsels and measures of William Cecil.
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