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.
[Illustration: _Burleigh House, from the Park._]
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.”
[Illustration: _West View._]
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.
[Illustration: _North View._]
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.
[Illustration: _East View._]
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—
[Illustration: _The Quadrangle, looking West._]