He Was Born, As They Say, In Lincolnshire, But, As Some Aver Upon
Knowledge, Of A Younger Brother Of The
Cecils 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 {52} in Lincolnshire, where this man was born.
He was sent to Cambridge, and then to the Inns of Court, and so came
to serve the Duke of Somerset in the time of his Protectorship as
Secretary, and having a pregnancy to high inclinations, he came by
degrees to a higher conversation with the chiefest affairs of State
and Councils; but, on the fall of the duke, he stood some years in
umbrage and without employment, till the State found they needed his
abilities; and although we find not that he was taken into any place
during Mary's reign, unless (as some say) towards the last, yet the
Council several times made use of him, and in the Queen's {53}
entrance he was admitted Secretary of State; afterwards he was made
Master of the Court of Wards, then Lord Treasurer, for he was a
person of most excellent abilities; and, indeed, the Queen began to
need and seek out men of both guards, and so I conclude to rank this
{54} great instrument amongst the TOGATI, for he had not to do with
the sword, more than as the great paymaster and contriver of the war
which shortly followed, wherein he accomplished much, through his
theoretical knowledge at home and his intelligence abroad, by
unlocking of the counsels of the Queen's enemies.
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