WILLIAM, Lord Burleigh, treasurer of England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was the son of Richard Cecil, Esq., master of the robes to King Henry VIII. He received the rudiments of his education in the grammar-school at Grantham; and from this seminary he was removed, first to Stamford, and afterwards about the year 1535 to St John’s College, Cambridge. Here he began his studies with great enthusiasm. At the age of sixteen he read a sophistry lecture, and at nineteen a voluntary lecture in Greek. In 1541 he went to London, and became a member of the society of Gray’s Inn, with an intention of studying the law; but he had not been long in this situation before an accident introduced him to King Henry, and gave a new bias to his pursuits. O’Neil, a famous Irish chief, having brought to court with him two Irish chaplains, adherents of the Romish faith, Mr Cecil, happening to meet these ecclesiastics when on a visit to his father, had a warm dispute with them in Latin, in which he displayed uncommon abilities. The king, being informed of the circumstance, summoned Cecil into his presence, and granted him the reversion of the custos brevium at the court of common pleas. About this time he married the sister of Sir John Cheke, by whom he was recommended to the Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset and protector.

Soon after King Edward’s accession, Mr Cecil came into the possession of the office of custos brevium, worth about £240 a year; and married, as his second wife, the daughter of Sir Anthony Cook, director of the king’s studies. In 1547 he was appointed by the protector master of requests; and soon afterwards accompanying the expedition against the Scots was present at the battle of Musselburgh, where his life was miraculously preserved by a friend, who, on pushing him out of the line of a cannon-shot, had his arm shattered to pieces. The story is told in his life by a domestic. In the year 1548 Mr Cecil was made secretary of state; but in the following year when the Duke of Northumberland's faction prevailed, he shared in the disgrace of the protector Somerset, and was sent prisoner to the Tower. After three months' confinement he was released, restored to his office in 1551, and soon afterwards knighted and sworn a member of the privy-council. In 1553 he was made chancellor of the order of the Garter, with an annual fee of a hundred merks.

On the death of Edward VI. Sir William Cecil refused to take any part in Northumberland's attempt in favour of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey; and when Queen Mary succeeded to the throne, he was graciously received at court; but not choosing to change his religion, was dismissed from all his employments. During this reign he was twice elected knight of the shire for the county of Lincoln, and often spoke in the House of Commons with great freedom and firmness, in opposition to the ministry. So great was his tact and prudence, that, though a Protestant and a patriot, he was suffered to live unmolested during the whole of that reign.

Queen Elizabeth's accession, in the year 1558, immediately restored him to his former rank and influence. During the reign of her sister he had constantly corresponded with the princess Elizabeth; upon the very day of her accession, he presented her with a paper containing twelve articles necessary for her immediate despatch; and in a few days after he was sworn a privy-councillor and made secretary of state. His first advice to the queen was to call a parliament; and the first business he proposed after it had assembled was the establishment of a national church. A plan of reformation was accordingly drawn up under his immediate inspection, and the legal establishment of the Church of England was the consequence. Sir William Cecil's next important concern was to restore the value of the coin, which had been considerably debased in the preceding reigns. In 1561 he was appointed master of the wards, and, in 1571, created Baron of Burleigh as a reward for his services, particularly in having lately stifled a formidable rebellion in the north. The following year he was honoured with the garter, and raised to the office of lord high treasurer of England. From this period we find him the principal agent in every material transaction during the glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth. Notwithstanding the temporary influence of other favourites, Lord Burleigh was her prime minister, and the person in whom she chiefly confided in matters of real importance. Having filled the highest and most important offices of the government for forty years, and guided the helm of the state during the most glorious period of English history, he died on the 4th of August 1598, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. His body was removed to Stamford, and there deposited in the family vault, where a magnificent tomb was erected to his memory.

He wrote, 1. La Complainte de l'Ame pécheresse, or the Complaint of a sinful Soul, in French verse; 2. Materials for Paten's Diarium Expedit, Sectio, London, 1541, 12mo; 3. Slanders and Lies, maliciously, grossly, and impudently vomited out in certain traitorous books and pamphlets against two counsellors, Sir Francis Bacon and Sir William Cecil; 4. A Speech in Parliament, 1562, Strype's Mem., vol. iv., p. 107; 5. Precepts or Directions for the well ordering of a Man's Life, 1567, Harl. Cat., vol. ii., p. 755; 6. Meditations on the Death of His Lady, published, Mem., p. 184; 7. Meditations on the estate of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, manuscript; 8. The execution of justice in England for the maintenance of public and Christian peace, &c., Lond., 1581, 1583, Somer's Tracts, 4th Collect., vol. i., p. 5; 9. Advice to Queen Elizabeth in Matters of Religion and State, ibid., p. 101, 106; 10. A great number of Letters; 11. Several Pedigrees, some of which are preserved in the Archbishop of Canterbury's library at Lambeth.

ROBERT (1550-1612), son of the preceding, was delicate in constitution, and deformed in person, but early distinguished himself in parliament, to which he was sent as member for Westminster. In 1588, he went on board the fleet which was sent by Elizabeth against the Spanish Armada, and on his return was rapidly promoted to places of honour and trust at court. Having been knighted by the queen, he was sent as an attaché to the English embassy in France, and afterwards sworn a member of the privy-council. He held the office of second secretary of state till the death of Sir Francis Walsingham, when he was appointed principal secretary—an office which he held till his death.

During the reign of Elizabeth, he was intrusted with the conduct of numerous delicate negotiations abroad, and on the death of his father in 1598, was appointed prime minister. Having previously kept up a secret correspondence with James I., he was not only confirmed in his office, but raised to additional dignities on the accession of that monarch. It is well remarked by Lord Hailes, that this consummate politician "was no less solicitous to maintain his own power than to settle the succession to his aged benefactress Queen Elizabeth." (Pref. to Cecil's Correspond.) He was created successively Baron of Essenden, Viscount Cranbourne, and Earl of Salisbury, and notwithstanding the efforts of the Spanish court through their ambassadors to bring him into disgrace on account of his attachment to the interests of the United Provinces, he continued to rise in popular estimation.

On the death of Sir Thomas Sackville, he was appointed lord high treasurer, in which capacity he effected considerable reforms in the exchequer. He died at Marlborough in 1612, and was buried at Hatfield. He wrote A Treatise concerning the State and Dignity of a Secretary of State, with the care and peril thereof; A Treatise against the Papists; and Notes on Sir John Dee's Discourse about the Reformation of the Calendar.