C ITRRENT LITERAT URE.
William Cecil, Lord Burghley. (T. C. and E. C. Jack. £2 2s. net.) —This is the first of a projected series of " Historical Mono- graphs" to appear under the general editorship of Francis Pierrepont Barnard, M.A., A. C. Fox-Davies, and James L. Caw. The historical portion in the volume before us is the work of Dr. Augustus Jessopp, the architectural and the artistic come from the two editors who have respectively the charge of these two subjects. Dr. Jessopp's contribution has all the merits that we should expect to find in his work. He pronounces the very gravest censure on some of William Cecil's proceedings, especially on his unscrupulous use of torture. Of course Cecil's position was one of supreme difficulty. He had no bigotry in him ; he rather inclined to indifferentism. His principle of policy somewhat reminds us of the great dictum, " The King's Government must be carried on." And after the decisive step taken by the Roman Seo on Feb- ruary 25th, Hfl when Pius V. excommunicated Elizabeth, it could not, Cecil thought, be carried on without " thorough " measures. His own life was in danger—that seems not to have troubled him very much—so was that of the Queen, a very serious matter indeed; and the freedom of England, it might be said the very existence of England, was at stake. It is not easy to appreciate fairly the position of a statesman who had to contend with enemies so powerful, so unscrupulous, whose success would have meant an absolute overthrow of all that he held precious. Neither Cecil nor the Queen had any wish to make a man suffer for his religious belief; but if that religion so often implied treason, what were they to do ? There is the very strangest inconsistency in the arguments of Roman controversialists when they urge that severities practised on Protestants were levelled against treason, but refuse to admit the plea when it is made on behalf of the English Government after 1570. Who was really the religions bigot, Mary, who, practically safe on the throne, burnt women and children for refusing to accept a theological dogma, or Cecil, who, with the St. Bartholomew, the Armada, and conspiracies without end in his mind, dealt severely with the " crusading " priests? We cannot blame Dr. Jessopp for the position which he takes up. It does not prevent him from amply recognising Cecil's merits as a statesman. Still, one cannot but ask—Where, out of England, were statesmen restrained by the scruples which ought, he thinks, to have restrained the Ministers of Elizabeth ? The full-page illustrations are thirteen in number, and there are more than twice as many in the text. There are portraits of Lord Burghley and of some of his descendants, and there are representations of the great houses that the family have owned. William Cecil built three of these,—" Burleigh House by Stamford town" (of this full and interesting par- ticulars are given) ; Cecil House, in the Strand (Exeter Hall occu- pies part of the site) ; and Theobalds, of which no satisfactory record remains. Hatfield House was built by Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury; Wimbledon was built either by William Cecil or his eldest son, Thomas, Earl of Exeter, and was a most splendid building; Wothorpe was built by Thomas Cecil as a retreat when Burleigh was under "spring cleaning" (it was demolished in 1791) ; Cranborne Manor-house, in Dorsetshire, still stands. The genealogy of the Cecils has been elaborately worked ont by Mr. A. C. Fox-Davies. The "Known Descendants of Lord Burghley" occupy more than sixteen three-columned pages, and ' number nearly two thousand (this does not include the surviving children
of persons mentioned in the list). The Salisbury line has been far less prolific than the Exeter. Among the descendants are nearly all the Dukes, and scores of Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons.
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